Term 2, Week 2, 8 May 2025
Principal's Message
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Welcome back to what is shaping up to be another busy and exciting term at St John's. We hope you all had a restful break and are ready for the learning adventures that Term 2 has in store.
Week 1 saw a smooth transition back into the school routine, with students settling in well and eager to reconnect with their friends and teachers. It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces back in the classrooms and on the playground.
As we move forward, I'd like to share some important events and dates that you should mark in your calendars. Please note, all of these dates are currently in the School Google Calendar and Compass Calendar for your convenience.
Tell Them From Me Survey: We value your feedback and insights into our school community. The Tell Them From Me Survey will be available for parents to fill out from May 12th to May 30th. Your participation is crucial in helping us understand and address the needs of our families effectively.
Mother's Day Liturgy and Morning Tea: Join us on Friday, May 9th, from 8am onwards for a heartwarming Mother's Day prayer service and delightful morning tea. Let's celebrate and honour the wonderful mothers and mother figures in our community.
School Photo Day: Smile! School Photo Day is scheduled for Monday, June 2nd. It's the perfect opportunity to capture cherished memories of your child's school year. More details will be shared closer to the date.
Pupil Free Days: Please note that Friday 6th June is designated as a Pupil Free Day. There will be no classes held on this day.
School Athletics Carnival: Get ready for a day of camaraderie at our School Athletics Carnival on Tuesday, June 3rd at the Cavanbah Centre. We encourage all students to participate and showcase their athletic talents.
King's Birthday Public Holiday: A reminder that Monday, June 9th, is a public holiday in honour of the King's Birthday. The school will be closed on this day.
Semester One Report Cards: Semester One Report Cards will be available to parents on Tuesday, July 1st. Please stay tuned for further instructions on accessing and reviewing your child's progress report.
- School Disco: Wednesday 2nd July TBC.
- Last Day of Term 2: Term 2 will conclude on Thursday, July 3rd. We look forward to celebrating the achievements and growth of our students throughout the term. We will have a celebration of Learning at 2pm on this day.
Pupil Free Day: Friday, July 4th, will be observed as another Pupil Free Day. There will be no classes held on this day.
Additionally, please note that assemblies will continue to be held fortnightly on Mondays at 2:20 pm on even weeks. We encourage parents to join us and witness the accomplishments of our students during these assemblies.
If you have any questions or require further information about any of the events mentioned above, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your continued support and involvement in our school community. Together, we can create enriching experiences for our students and foster a love for learning that lasts a lifetime.
Warm regards,
Dave
Mother's Day Celebration
All Mothers and Motherly Figures are invited to join us tomorrow Friday, 9th May for a Morning Tea, starting at 8am and Yoga starting at 9am.
We will also have a Mother's Day Stall running again tomorrow (Friday), where students are asked to bring in $5 to purchase a gift for their Mother or Motherly Figure.
School Uniform
Our school uniform plays an important role in fostering a strong sense of identity, unity, and respect within our Catholic community. We believe that adhering to the uniform policy helps to:
- Promote a Sense of Belonging and Community: By wearing the same uniform, students feel a stronger connection to their school and their peers. It helps to break down social barriers and fosters a sense of collective identity as members of the St John's family, united by our shared values and faith.
- Reinforce our Catholic Identity: The uniform often incorporates colours and styles that reflect the traditions and values of our Catholic ethos. It serves as a visual reminder of our shared faith and the values we uphold.
- Create a Focused Learning Environment: When students are dressed appropriately, the focus shifts from individual appearances to learning and personal growth. The uniform helps to minimise distractions and promotes a more disciplined and respectful atmosphere conducive to academic achievement.
- Develop Pride in our School: Wearing the uniform neatly and with pride reflects positively on both the individual student and the school community as a whole. It instils a sense of responsibility and encourages students to be good ambassadors for the school.
- Ensure Safety and Security: The uniform makes it easier to identify our students, particularly during excursions or school events, contributing to their safety and security.
- Teach Respect for Rules and Expectations: Adhering to the uniform policy is an important way for students to learn about and respect rules and expectations, a valuable life skill that extends beyond the school gates.
We appreciate your ongoing support in ensuring your child wears the correct school uniform each day, including correct socks, footwear and jumper. If you have any questions regarding the uniform policy, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.
Attendance
Regular school attendance is classified as being above 95% and is important for your child's growth both academically and socially.
A lot of students are sitting below this percentage. Please note that full-day absences, frequent late arrivals and/or early departures all contribute to a student’s overall attendance profile.
It should be noted that the Education Act (1990) NSW and Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools require parents/carers to ensure that children of compulsory age attend school on each day that the school is open for instruction. Please don’t hesitate to contact the school if you feel there is any important information of which we should be aware. Parents are required to give a reason for any absences.
For students who have a low attendance pattern that does not improve, an attendance improvement plan meeting may be required to discuss a students attendance and how they can best be supported in their academic, social and emotional development.
My child likes staying at home. What can I do?
A day at home can be very appealing to a child or young person particularly if they are engaging in enjoyable activities throughout the day. While you work with the school and/or other professionals to improve your child’s school attendance, try hard to ensure that a day at home reflects a day at school.
Remove access to devices and put passwords on streaming services. Have your child work in the lounge room, not a bedroom. Have your child get up and dressed by school time and provide them with tasks to do such as reading, writing and mathematics. Limit extended one-on-one time with a parent until after school hours. No sleeping or lounging in bed unless genuinely sick.
Please find below - School Avoidance Factsheet for Parents/ Carers
LEARNING @ ST JOHN'S
Shaping Success: How Classroom Setup Impacts Learning
Have you ever walked into a classroom and instantly felt a certain vibe? Believe it or not, that feeling often stems from the simple yet powerful arrangement of the learning environment. The way a classroom is set up can significantly influence student engagement, teacher effectiveness, and, ultimately, learning outcomes.
Last term, Mrs Loane and I visited an ES1 classroom in Woodburn. We were focusing on writing, but came away with so much more! Consider the humble U-shaped table formation. It is a small thing, but it can have a BIG impact. This setup offers many advantages that empower students and teachers for learning.
For educators, the U-shape acts like a panoramic window into student learning. With all students facing inwards, teachers can easily scan the room, monitoring progress, engagement and identifying student needs. This constant visibility allows for immediate feedback to students. A quick nod of encouragement, a clarifying question, or a prompt to dig deeper can be delivered in real-time, keeping students on track and fostering a dynamic learning environment. This allows for responsive teaching – the ability to adjust learning on the fly to meet the diverse needs of the students. After Mrs Loane shared this with us other teachers adopted the practice.
From a student's perspective, the U-shape fosters a sense of connection, belonging and engagement. The open design encourages interaction and discussion. It also makes it incredibly easy for teachers to transition between different teaching modes. One moment, the entire class can be engaged in a whole group discussion, the next, students can break into small groups for collaborative tasks, and then the teacher can effortlessly move around the U, providing individualised teaching and support. This fluidity keeps the learning dynamic and caters to different learning styles.
Our teachers put a lot of time and thought into creating flexible learning environments. Their use of write-on tables offers a fantastic avenue for spontaneous brainstorming, quick note-taking, and collaborative problem-solving directly at the learning surface. Furthermore, designated individual spaces are crucial for fostering independent learning habits, which allow students to focus without distraction, work through individualised programs and develop self-reliance.
Complementing these focused zones, the inclusion of calm-down spaces acknowledges the importance of social-emotional well-being. These designated areas provide a safe and quiet retreat where students can learn to self-regulate their emotions, take a break when needed, and return to their learning feeling more grounded and ready to engage. By strategically incorporating these diverse zones, teachers at St John’s create a truly holistic learning environment that caters to a wide range of academic and emotional needs.
Ultimately, the classroom setup is more than just furniture arrangement; it's a strategic tool that can significantly impact the learning journey.
Classroom Learning
Mission News
News from Mission
📣 Parent Information Night 📣
For Families of Children Receiving Sacraments in 2025
You're warmly invited to our Parent Information Night for all families with children preparing to receive any of the Sacraments this year — including Reconciliation, First Holy Communion, or Confirmation.
📍 Where: Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Brunswick Heads
🗓 When: 15th of May
⏰ Time: 4:00 PM – Information Session
🙏 Followed by Mass at 5:00 PM
This is an important opportunity to learn more about the sacramental journey, meet the teachers and parish team, and ask any questions you may have.
✨ All family members are welcome! ✨
We look forward to sharing this special part of your child’s faith journey with you.
🌟 Announcing Our 2025 Mission Team! 🌟
We are proud to introduce our newly appointed Mission Team for 2025, a group of student leaders chosen to help share the spirit of faith, service, and community throughout our school.
Congratulations to:
- Kindergarten – Ivy Bryant-Swinson
- Year 1 – Lucia Carillo
- Year 2 – Avalon King
- Year 3 – Gemma Armstrong
- Year 4 – Summer Human
- Year 5 – Tiana Weber
- Year 6 – Charleen O'Brien
These students have shown a deep commitment to living out the values of our Catholic faith and will support our school's mission throughout the year.
We will celebrate their appointment with a special Blessing of the Mission Badges during our Whole School Mass on:
📅 Wednesday, 21st May
⏰ 9:30 AM
📍 St John's Church
Families and friends are warmly invited to join us for this special occasion.
Let us keep our 2025 Mission Team in our prayers as they begin their journey of service and leadership.
🌸 Mother's Day Liturgy 🌸
We warmly invite all families to join us for a special Mother’s Day Liturgy on Friday, 9th May from 8:50 AM to 9:00 AM.
This heartfelt service will be led by our newly appointed 2025 Mission Team and will include prayers, reflections, and blessings for all mothers, grandmothers, and mother figures in our community.
It’s a beautiful opportunity to celebrate the love and care that mothers provide and to give thanks for their presence in our lives.
We look forward to seeing you there as we gather to honour and celebrate the wonderful women who make such a difference in our community.
SCHOOL INFORMATION
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"
Our Birthday people
Marlo, Ollie, Alariah, Samara & Summer
Year 6 Shirts
Our Year 6 Shirt Design Adventure Between last year and this year, our Year 6 class started on an exciting project, designing our 2025 year six shirt. Each of us created a design to present to our principal, Mr. Bermingham, and our year 6 classmates. It was exciting to show our creativity in an artistic type of way and work together as a team.
Presenting Our Designs We each had the chance to show our own designs, explaining what styles we used. It was cool to see the variety of ideas and styles, some were bold patterns and others were simple. Mr. Bermingham and the students looked at each design, discussing what we liked and how different bits could go together.
Creating Our Final Shirt After looking at all the designs, we used the best sections from each one to create our final shirt. We added some tweaks to the final shirt. This was it, our year six shirt.
The Big Reveal Once the final design was ready, Mr. Bermingham showed the completed shirt to us. It was exciting to see what we created. The shirt not only represents our patron saint eagle, it also includes aboriginal artwork, and it also showed our school values, Inspiring, Creative, Caring.
What’s on the shirt On the shirt, it has many different designs and meanings:
We have our Eagle, representing our patron saint, Saint John.
We have people and a meeting circle, representing our school community.
We have our school values, representing who we are as a school, what we stand for, and what we show to others. Inspiring, creative, and caring.
We have the three flags, the Aboriginal flag, the Torres Strait islander flag, and the Australian flag. The flags represent the diversity of the school, meaning we welcome all cultures/religions.
We have the Diocese of Lismore logo and the St John’s emblem to represent our specific school within the Lismore Diocese.
We have the river running along both sides on the shirt to show our school location and connection to the Brunswick Heads River.
We have the year 2025 on the back and the words ‘Year 6 Leaders’ to show our position in the school.
We have also used the school colours light blue, navy blue and yellow in our design to match our other school uniforms.
We hope you like our final design.
Written by Josie and Ella.
School Photos
School photos will be taken on Monday 2nd June.
ordering can be done online (see below). Collect envelope from the office.
St John's Beanies
We have beanies for sale at the school office for when the weather cools down. These are part of our school uniform, but are not to replace hats which students are still required to wear whilst playing. Beanies are $15.
Visitors at St John's today
A big thankyou to Louis & Theo's grandparents Kevin & Margaret, for bringing some puppies into visit today. They made everyone happy.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
BRUNSWICK VALLEY GIRL GUIDES
Brunswick Girl Guides plan to hold a fun & free Give Girl Guides a Go event on Sunday 1 June 1-4pm at the Brunswick Heads Guide Hall, 22 Byron Street to introduce girls aged 7-14 years to Guiding.
Girl Guides NSW, ACT & NT offers girls aged five-17 a weekly program that combines learning with friendship and fun. Activities focus on the outdoors, life skills and service to others. Girls grow in confidence and gain leadership skills.
Our mission is to empower girls and young women to discover their potential as leaders of their world. www.girlguides-nswactnt.org.au
Brunswick Girl Guides will be visiting St John's in the lead up week and speak to the girls in years 2-6 about what Girl Guides do & invite them along.
