Term 4, Week 8, 30 November 2023
Principal Message
Dear St John's Community,
We have had a fantastic last couple of weeks with only 10 days to go for the year.
This week Advent officially begins on Sunday 3rd December.
Advent Season is a very special time of year that sometimes gets lost in the bright lights of the Christmas season it precedes. The first day of Advent is the first day of a new Liturgical (or church) calendar and begins a four week period of preparation for the nativity of Jesus Christ at Christmas. The word Advent is from the Latin adventus for “arrival” and is associated with the four weeks of time of preparation for Christmas. Historians have traced the first Advent celebrations to 5th century northern Italy.
The Advent Season is all about reflecting on how we can prepare our hearts and homes for Christ’s birth in the world as it is today. It is a time for our community to remember, through prayer, reflections, music, and good deeds what the true meaning of Jesus’ birth is. The Advent season invites us to step away from what can be a frenzied time of parties, shopping, and holiday noise to consider how we commemorate the birth of Jesus, one of the holiest times in our faith.
Carols on the Green
As we approach the end of another wonderful school year, the St John's Staff and students would like to invite you to join us for an evening of music, dance and holiday cheer at our 'Carols On The Green' Christmas Concert on Thursday December 7th! This event is a perfect way to showcase the talents of our students, share some of the moves they have been learning in dance lessons throughout the term and to come together as a school community. Each class group will be performing a carol and a song .
The show will begin at 6:00pm so please ensure students have arrived at least 10 minutes prior to commencement. Families, friends, Grandparents, and neighbours are all welcome. Bring along a picnic rug or a camp chair and make yourself comfortable on the grass.
There will be a free BBQ dinner to follow, and drinks will be available for purchase.
Feel free to don your festive attire! Christmas t-shirts, Santa hats, reindeer ears and jingle bells are encouraged.
2023 St John's Tea Towel
Our limited-edition 2023 St Johns Tea Towel is now available for order.
This limited-edition Tea Towel is made up of self-portraits drawn by all our children & staff and printed onto premium 100% organic cotton tea towels.
Don’t forget to order a few extras for family members and your keepsake box. Only $18ea or SAVE by ordering 2 for $30.
Tea towels can be ordered by completing the form provided to students and returned to the office by Friday 8th December.
If you require another order form, please contact the school office.
Big Talks for Little People
Last Term our Stage 2 and Stage 3 Students started an evidence-based Social Skills and Anti-Bullying Program called 'Big Talks For Little People'. The intention of the implementation of this program was to further upskill our students in identifying and acting on unproductive behaviours. Recently we were able to gather some fantastic feedback from the Stage 3 students.
This feedback also included how this program could be improved, which we have passed on to the Program Developers - Flinders University Professor Philip Slee and Dr Grace Skrzypiec.
One Question that was asked was 'What is one key piece of information that you have taken from the Big Talks program?' ~ See Answers below!
Big Talks Feedback
Upcoming Dates
Please find a list of date savers below.
- Thursday 7th December - Carols on the Green @ St John's
- Tuesday 12th December - Report Cards Released to parents on Compass
- Wednesday 13th December - Year 6 Graduation Mass @ 9:30am
- Wednesday 13th December - Year 6 Fun afternoon 11am-3pm
- Wednesday 13th December - K-5 Pool Fun Day 12pm-2:30pm
- Friday 15th December - Last Day of Term 4 (no canteen)
Kind Regards,
Dave Bermingham
Assitant Principal
Mindblowing Writing!
It is great to see the fantastic growth in writing across all classes this term. Kindergarten have focused on adding adjectives befor a noun to make their writing more descriptive. There’s also been tremendous development in the details students include when writing. I hasd the pleasure of visiting S1 this morning and the descriptive language was so impressive I was able to paint a very clear picture in my mind of what they were describing. The sentences was top quality because they used all five senses, strong verbs and adjectives and some students included adverbs to describe how they did the action.
My mindblowing writing journey continued into S2 and S3. S2 also focused on using their senses,including figurative language and adding descriptive detail to enhance the quality of their work. Their writing has certainly ‘bumped up’ throughout the term. I asked Rose to write a short explanation of their learning which I have included below.
Earlier this term S3 went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. This was the launchpad for their informative writing focus this term. S3 have been investigating the creation of documentaries through their unit, “Documentary Daze”. They have investigated what it takes to be a rookie reporter, chosen a topic to report on, researched their topic, organised and presented their information as a script and are currently creating their own documentaries using the green screen. It is clear we definitely have some future David Attenborough’s in the making! Once again, the quality has been in the description, the organisation of their texts and the depth of detail they’ve included.
Congratulations to all our students for your focused efforts in writing. I wish I could include more samples but please enjoy a selection of student work.
Writing in S2 by Rose Beaton
Informative and fiction,descriptive and factual,funny and entertaining! In Stage 2 we are WRITING, WRITING, WRITING! We are imagining what will happen to our senses and exploring a world of gastronomic bliss. From Mars Bars, to Violet Crumbles, to Creaming Soda and even Sour Patch Kids (I personally despise them) it has been an adventurous ride. We have been using figurative language to express our senses and the pure pleasure of being captured in time by the delicious world of writing and what foods it has to offer. My personal favourite foods to write about were Space Patch
Kids- the great rip off and Mars bar.
SCHOOL INFORMATION
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"
Our Birthday people:-
Bray, Harper, Awatea & Finn
SCHOOL FEES School Fee accounts need to be finalised for 2023. Please arrange to make any outstanding payments through compass or the office.
CORRECT INFORMATION
Please make sure that the school has your correct contact info. If you have moved house! updated your phone! or changed email addresses! Please advise the school office via Compass, email; sjpmull@lism.catholic.edu.au or phone the office.
Absentees If you know that your child will be away from school for any reason, please let the office know.
Compass is having some issues with adding reasons for absence, please phone or email the school with this info.
Letters regarding absentees, have been sent out today. If you have received a letter please complete and return to the school.