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- Tuesday 5 October - Term 1 commences
Please go to our school calendar on the website or SZapp for more details.
We did it! Well done everyone!
Thank you teachers, students and families for all of your wonderful work over the last 5 weeks. I am constantly grateful for your effort and resilience. Thank you to all of our parents and carers for their support for students and the school.
Did you see all of the fabulous Lip Sync Challenge videos throughout the week? It was so nice to see everyone have lots of fun together.
Remote Learning in Term 4
I'm sure that on Tuesday you were eager to hear the news about the duration of lockdown and when we are likley to return to school. If you were a little disappointed that is perfectly understandable. I was hoping to see our students a little sooner as well.
I can confirm that following advice from the ACT Government and Chief Health Officer, remote learning will continue for all Catholic Education primary school students during the first four weeks of Term 4. Term 4 officially begins on Tuesday 5 October. Remote Lerning will begin on that day.
Catholic Education will be working over the school holidays to develop further plans for a phased return to face-to-face teaching on school grounds as soon as it is safe to do so. Any plans will of course be completely subject to health advice, including in relation to case numbers and vaccination rates. The health and safety of students and staff is our number one priority.
During remote learning our school will continue to remain available for children of essential workers or experiencing vulnerability. They will continue to be supervised by a skeleton staff as they undertake the remote learning program on-site.
Remote Learning Platforms over the school holidays
One way to help students and staff to manage their wellbeing over the school holidays is to 'switch off' from school demands. To assist everyone to do this we will remove student permissions to post in MS Teams during the school holiday period. MS Teams will be still be accessable, only teachers will be able to post. This way students will not feel the need to check it on a regular basis.
We will maintain the Seesaw platform so that Kindergarten to Year 3 teachers and parents can continue to communicate if required. Our teachers of Years 4 - 6 are still contactable via email.
COMPASS Parent Portal
Have you received your email inviting you to register for the Compass Parent Portal? Our entire Catholic Education system is moving to a new app/web portal called COMPASS beginning next term. It will make communication and information access between home and school much, much smoother.
Please register as soon as possible so that when we begin using it in Term 4, you won't miss out on any important information. Please note that Student Semester 2 Reports will be distributed through Compass Parent Portal.
I hope everyone has a peaceful and healthy school holidays with plenty of opportunity to play and rest as a family.
God Bless
Shout out to the Inclusion Team
I just wanted to give a big shout out to our wonderful Inclusion Team at St John's. Our Inclusion Assistants have been working hard to run interventions and connect remotely with many students across our school over the past five weeks. Thank you to Mrs Rebecca Neiberding, our Inclusion Teacher, who has continued to run MiniLit interventions for some of your Year 1 and Year 2 students during remote learning.
Thank you to Stewart, our Student Welfare Officer who has continued to check in and run Art Club for many students across the school. Kate, our school Counsellor has continued to run counselling sessions remotely with students. These inclusion supports will continue into remote learning for next term. Please let us know if there is anything the Inclusion Team can do to support your children.
Community Council Hampers
Just a reminder about the Hamper Raffle. You can purchase tickets on the Qkr app under Community Council Events/Fundraising.
It has been a little tricky to fundraise for the Community Council, so if you are able to, it would be fantastic if you could support this fundraising activity.
If you can't make a decision on which hamper to choose, then the "All Hampers" ticket is the one for you. Purchase one ticket for $10 and you will get one ticket in each hamper.
The price of tickets are as follows:
- 1 ticket = $2
- 3 tickets = $5
- 5 tickets = $7
The following hampers are available:
Happy Holidays
These holidays are going to be a little different for most people. However, I hope it is a nice opportunity to spend time with family and to have a break from the chaos of remote learning.
Rebekah Brown
Assistant Principal and Inclusion Coordinator
Catholic Life and Reflection
If you had told me before I started teaching that I would be doing what we are doing now, I would have laughed at you! Mainly because Google was not even heard of yet when I was studying. Yup, I old schooled it. Text books, photocopies and highlighters were the tools of my learning way back then!
It has been tough to not be face to face with my class. You get so much energy from kids when they are learning. They laugh (a lot), they shout with excitement and skip with joy. Sure, they cry and yell too sometimes but the good outweighs it by far.
It was thrilling to laugh out loud this week when I was providing feedback to some of my students.
One was a beautiful heartfelt and honest reflection on how to show kindness. Her example was sharing her chicken nuggets with her siblings with a tone of voice that expressed her true desire to eat them all! And the second a train of thought message from a student on her google doc about how she was discovering a tricky answer and her excitement when she worked it out.
I am so grateful that we have the capacity to be connected. So grateful that this week when the news was a little sobering that I was reminded of the joys of my work. So grateful that students are still eager to share their life with me.
I hope that the holidays provide you some deep rest. Sleep-ins, cups of tea and good books are on the agenda for me.
Mark 6:31
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”
God bless
Stephanie Stewart
Religious Education CoordinatorNotices from the Parish
Live Streaming of Mass
Praying the Rosary
Happy birthday to Ky M, Dante L, Liam D, Sophie N, Isabella D and Adelaide N who all celebrated a birthday over the last week.
Please note that we ask students to not bring home made cupcakes to share with the class for their birthdays. This is a precautionary measure for health and hygiene. The Canteen offers a number of options to share with the class. Purchases can be made through the QKR app.
Congratulations to the following students who received the End of Term Awards.
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Academic |
Consistent Effort |
Discipleship |
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Academic |
Consistent Effort |
Discipleship |
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KB |
Summer L Austin M |
Oliver W Spencer C |
Archie A Mackenzie K |
KM |
Charlotte M Reedhee P |
Lachlan F Liam M |
Lewys C Charlotte S |
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1B |
Edith B Matthew H |
Ashley C Fiesita M |
Steven P Katie W |
1M |
Sahasra M Viliami M |
Shanya S Henry K |
Alex S Skyla P |
|
2B |
Amelia S Henry T |
Vincent N Jordi M |
Aashna A Isabelle J |
2M |
Evie M Allira R |
Lincoln A Lachie L |
Xavier G Sophia C |
|
3B |
Sophia N Benjamin B |
Brenda G Sophia Y |
Tessa V Joseph G |
3M |
Ethan B Charlotte S |
Charlotte K Aston B |
Emily T Nate S |
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4B |
Uasi T Jessie A |
Emry W Elsie I |
Alaina S Aiden S |
4M |
Erin V Ryan S |
Zoe S Cooper P |
Vincent B Dante L |
|
5B |
Bernice K Daven M |
Mau'lupe M Sally W |
Arok G Lila W |
5M |
Amy S James H |
Claire B Alexis M |
Toby F Mia A |
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6B |
Star H Evan P |
Ronan H Emily K |
Harrison R Evangeline J |
6M |
Samson S Hudson H |
Hayden S Emma T |
Nelson K Harrison H |
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KB |
Austin M | KM | Lewys C Pia G Lillah J Andrew S |
Charlotte M Annika N Tymon A |
Rubi S Reedhee P Heny G |
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1B |
Ernest E Matthew H Tyler H |
Henry J Marian L Jackson M |
Katie N Rylan R Katie W |
1M | April M | Sahasra M | Skyla P |
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2B |
Aashna A Xavier B Kiri F Henry T |
Isabelle J Jordi M Hana N |
Evelina N Alana S Amelia S |
2M | Samiya C Sophia C Roman D |
Lachlan L Evie M |
Thomasina N Charlie W |
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3B |
Anabelle T | 3M | Keijo K | Vanessa O | |||
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4B |
Bior A Nuer A Ngawang C |
Charlotte H Cruise M AidenS |
Uasi T Joshua W |
4M | Eva G Izabella H |
Jacob N Zoe S |
Xavier T Mason W |
| 5B | 5M | Bailey C | |||||
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6B |
6M |
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Find out what is happening in our School Library Community September 2021 |
As we approach the end of Term 3 we would like to thank all the family, friends and carers who have encouraged their children to continue reading throughout Remote Learning. It is so important that children read for fun and for leisure and to have a break from the screens that take up the bulk of their day. With this in mind, we will be setting up a booking system for students to be able to come into school and pick up books that they have requested. Students will also need to return any books that they may still have at home before picking up new ones. We ask that all students log onto Oliver to make sure that the books that they want are available before emailing Mrs Hudson with a collection time. Oliver can be accessed at: http://oliver5.cg.catholic.edu.au/
Collection times will only be on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-3. Students only need to come into the Front Office to pick up their books, not the Library. You can email Mrs Hudson your request on lauren.hudson@cg.catholic.edu.au and she will get back to you with a time confirmation. You can also email Mrs Hudson if you have any questions about how to borrow books during Remote Learning.
Student Work in Remote Learning for Library Lessons
Students in kindergarten have shared some of their favourite books:
Students in Year 1 have created some fantastic super villains!
Reading Apps
Is your child looking for a new online read?
Check out these apps perfect for online reading:
The Sora eBook and Audiobook service is available, at no charge, for access by students and staff.
Sora may be accessed on any Tablet, laptop, mobile phone, desktop computer, or loaded onto eReaders for offline. https://soraapp.com/welcome
Wushka is an Australian-developed, cloud-based digital reading program, accessible from all common browsers and devices. https://wushka.com.au/
Epic is the leading digital reading platform—built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world’s best publishers—that safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. https://www.getepic.com/sign-in
Happy Reading,
Lauren Hudson (Teacher/Librarian) lauren.hudson@cg.catholic.edu.au
Kirsty Vera (Library Assistant) kirsty.vera@cg.catholic.edu.au
Hello Families,
Term 4 is fast approaching, which means a return to students wearing the summer uniform.
The summer uniform ensembles consist of
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Everyday Uniform: |
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Shirt and Pants |
Dress |
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OR
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Sport Uniform: Wednesday and Friday |
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The Uniform Shop is fully stocked with all summer uniforms. If you are looking to purchase uniforms over the school holidays, you can place an order via the QKR app by selecting 'Order for Delivery' as we will be providing a Click and Collect service on Wednesday, 22 September between 9:00am and 10:00am; and on Friday 1 October between 9:00am and 10:00am.
We ask parents to please wait at the carpark adjacent to the Uniform Shop where we will deliver your order to you.
Please note that orders take up to 24 hours to be processed by QKR, and will need to be placed by midnight on Monday, 20 September for Wednesday collection, or by midnight on Wednesday, 29 September for collection on Friday in week 2 of the school holidays.
If you have any concerns or unable to attend during this time, please email the uniform shop on stjohnsclothingpool@gmail.com and we can make other arrangements.
We thank you for your patience for during this time as we continue to keep everyone safe.
Kind regards,
Belinda Clifford
Make time for down-time
If your teenage children live wound-up, highly scheduled lives then they need to rediscover the lost art of down-town.
Down-time is like mucking around except that it’s passive. It’s about kids relaxing, doing whatever it is they feel like doing – whether that’s watching a screen, hanging around with siblings or mates, reading a book or simply daydreaming.
There are three compelling reasons to allow kids down-time:
- It’ s great for mental health. Hard-driven kids need some time to rest their brains. The thinking wheels can’t keep spinning all the time.
- It builds relationships. You’ve got to be close to someone to feel comfortable down-time with them. A household needs to be relaxed and free from tension for down-time to happen.
- It feels good, which is good reason to do something.
The art of down-time comes with age
Toddlers are too active for down-time. Their physiology ensures that when they have some free time they’ll generally keep moving and exploring.
Kids in primary school start to learn the value of down-time. They generally spend down-time on their own or by mucking around with their friends.
Teenagers are natural down-timers. They do it without trying. Teens take up a lot of space during down-time at home, tending to sprawl out and fill living rooms. Many don’t mind down-time with their parents if their friends don’t see them.
Many parents feel uncomfortable when their kids spend too long in down-time. Busyness is seen as a virtue. Sure, it’s good for our kids to be occupied a lot of the time, but active lives need to be balanced with opportunities for inactivity.
Don’t confuse down-time with brooding
Brooding, like ruminating, involves a young person repeatedly visiting their thoughts, going over past mistakes, or worrying about the future. Down-time is different as it enables a young person to chill out and relax. It’s free-range mindfulness, or unstructured meditation.
Down-time is a lifetime mental health, relationship-building, and happiness habit. It’s something to be encouraged, rather than clamped down.
Michael Grose
Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s an award-winning speaker and the author of 12 books for parents including Spoonfed Generation, and the bestselling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It. Michael is a former teacher with 15 years experience, and has 30 years experience in parenting education. He also holds a Master of Educational Studies from Monash University specialising in parenting education.