Dear Parents/Carers,

Almighty God, we give you our school. We give you all the teachers and staff who work here, we give you all the children who study here. We pray our school will be place of great discovery, adventure and creativity. May it be a place where we love to learn and where we learn to love, a place where every one is respected and all are deeply valued. We ask all this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our beginning year Mass was held yesterday, at which we prayed for God's blessing on all our students, staff and families that we will support each other as we learn and grow together in faith. Fr John reminded all of us that God is always in our midst and we need to find those moments when we can make that visible and known to others. It was wonderful to have quite a number of parents and visitors join us for this celebration. We look forward to providing many opportunities during the year for you to celebrate Mass with us.

We also acknowledged our Year 6 student leaders and presented each of them with their leadership badge. We look forward to them being a guide and support to our younger students, showing them what it means to be an inclusive and welcoming member of St John's.

Meet & Greet sessions

Thank you to the parents who were able to make an appointment for a 'Meet & Greet' with your child's teacher. We greatly value the opportunity to work with you in supporting your child's learning and growth. If you were unable to meet this week, our teachers are more than willing to meet with you at another time. Research shows that students have greater success in their learning when the teacher and parents are working together in a positive and hope-filled way. 

P & F Meeting (AGM)

Next Wednesday at 7.00-8.00pm is the AGM for the Parents and Friends' Association. This meeting will be held in the Tiered Learning Space (entry via Kindergarten). It is a great way for parents to get involved in our community. New parents and carers are particularly welcomed so that you can find out about the P & F and how you can get involved.

School Open Day for enrolments

You may have started to see promotions for a School Open Day on Wednesday 1 March. This is a day specifically for families seeking enrolment at St John's for 2023-2024. We are seeking support from existing parents in two ways:

1. Promoting the event with any family, friends and neighbours who would like to know more about our school

2. Helping on the day with meeting prospective families and assisting with morning tea. Please let the office know if you are able to help.

Student supervision before and after school

Please note that before-school supervision of students commences at 8.15am. Some students are arriving as early as 8.00am and are left waiting outside the school gates unsupervised. For the safety of your children, it is best that they not be left unsupervised before the school gates open.

In the afternoon, supervision of the students under the COLA concludes at 3.30pm. You are asked to ensure your child is collected by that time. 

If these times in the morning and/or afternoon are difficult for you to manage due to work or other commitments, you may want to consider using the Outside of School Hours (OOSH) care that is run by Aspire. They can be contacted on 0477 702 514.

End of Term 1

Please note that the last day of Term 1 for students will be Wednesday 5 April. The following day is an allocated Staff Professional Development Day. 

Wishing you a safe and blessed week,

Paul Moroney
Principal

POLICE LIAISON TO DISCUSS ONLINE SAFETY

On Monday, 20 February, a police liaison officer will meet with our Stage 2 & 3 students to discuss online safety. It will be an opportunity for students to learn about important issues when they are engaged in an online environment. 

The aim of the discussion is to:

• identify and establish personal online safety boundaries
• develop skills to identify problematic situations which may impact their online safety 
• consider appropriate help-seeking and reporting strategies for dealing with unsafe situations online.

In our next newsletter, some of our class captains will report on the presentation and share their experience.

MEET AND GREET

Thank you to parents/carers for their attendance at our ‘Meet and Greet’ this week. The purpose of this is to provide a greater insight into the learning and well being needs of the children in our care. 

The feedback from these meetings has been positive by parents,carers and teachers. If there are any matters that arise during the year about your child, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

STUDENT LEADERS

It is wonderful to be recognised for leadership qualities. We have had many students from years 1- 6 recognised for such qualities by their peers and teachers. We congratulate the children who have been selected as Class Captains for Term 1. These students will receive their Class Captain badges on 20 February at our Monday morning assembly.

Our Year 6 leaders were also recognised at our Opening School Mass yesterday. At the Mass they received their badges and recited our pledge, as a promise to serve and represent our school with pride. We thank them in anticipation for their commitment in their roles throughout the year.

We are confident that our student leaders will be great examples for others and continue to demonstrate our Good Samaritan values.

2023 Year 6 Student Leadership Team

School captains

Elena Krupljanin

Michael Southby

Vice captains

Marlena Gonzales Apolinario – Leader of Forgiveness

Noah Villarosa – Leader of Listening

Oliver Bailey – Leader of Justice

Anna Ouhan – Leader of Welcoming

St Joseph Red House Captains

Raquel Bayon

Cooper Anderson

Polding Blue House Captains

Fisiilose Feiloakitohi

Sienna Galea

Vaughan Green House Captains

Phoenix Turner

Daniel Bader

Therry Gold House Captains

Faith Purba

Xavier Abi-Khattar

TIGERS BLITZ- STAGE 3 DISCUSS WELLBEING & RESILIENCE

What a fabulous afternoon for our Stage 3 students!! It was a wonderful opportunity to discuss the important topic of well being, with a particular focus on resilience. 

The bonus was that the presentation was delivered by two Wests Tigers players, Brandon Wakeham and Tommy Talau. Both players were excellent role models for our Stage 3 students yesterday and engaged the students. Their focus on well being and resilience really hit the mark. A special thank you to Mitchell (NRL Game Development Officer) who coordinated the discussion.

Below is a brief report by some of our Stage 3 students:

Nimo & Phoenix 6R

Yesterday, Stage 3 - year 5 and year 6 students met three West Tigers members, their names were Tommy, Brandon and Mitchell. We discussed what resilience looks like and how it relates to teamwork. 

It was really amazing meeting the West Tigers players, as they taught us that if we work hard, we can achieve anything. 

Three words that stood out to us from the session were TRY, LEARN and GROW.

We wrapped things up by asking lots of questions.

Clare 5B

On Tuesday stage 3, which is year 5 and 6,went to the hall to talk to Brandon Wakeham and Tommy Talau, two West tiger players who came to St John’s. There was a person named Mitchell who did the talking and produced the videos and pictures. We went to talk about resilience and what it means. They played two little games with some people and introduced themselves to us. They told us they had a dietitian to keep them healthy and they train really hard every day. They said that it is ok to lose and teamwork is important. They showed us videos on what other football players said about what they thought about resilience. They showed us many different slides, told us that we have to be resilient in whatever we do and that it won’t always go our way.

Kinara 5B

On Tuesday Year 5 and 6 went into the hall to talk to Brandon Wakeham and Tommy Talau,two west tigers players came to St John’s to speak to stage 3 about resilience. Mitchell, who did the most talking, showed us a presentation.They told us how they bounced back and showed us videos, they showed us the rules for the NFL, they played games and it showed us  teamwork,it’s okay to lose and don’t give up. Then they asked us "have you ever been through a rough time and what made you bounce back?,” and who can we tell.They told us how they stay healthy and how they have a dietitian and that they train really hard to achieve their goal, but even  if they don’t lose they bounce back. After they told them a little bit about themselves.

We hope future visits will be offered by the Wests Tigers so we can have students in other stages engage in similar opportunities.

Happy Birthday to the following students and staff who are celebrating their birthday this week  12th February - 18th February

  It is important that you let the office know as soon as possible, via email or phone, if you are picking your child up prior to normal dismissal (including time).  We can then arrange to have them in the office ready for you.

Please note we are unable to arrange collection of your children during break times,

Please do not enter late arrivals or early departures into compass, this needs to be done by the school office.

Thank you for your assistance with this matter.