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- Recent School Calendar Updates
- School Focus & Positive Behaviour
- Principal's Corner
- Teaching & Learning and Inclusion
- Catholic Life & Reflection
- Happy Birthday
- Celebration of Positive Behaviour
- School Photo Day - Tuesday 29 March 2022
- Canteen Closed 22-23 March
- Year 5 1- to - 1 Technology Payments
- St John's Photo Gallery
- The Uniform Shop
- Schoolastic Book Club LOOP
- Parenting Ideas
- Community Notices
Please go to our school calendar on the website or COMPASS for more details.
Term 1
- Harmony Day Celebration - Friday 25 March (week 8)
Term 2
- Term 2 Commences Wednesday 27 April
- Cross Country Carnival - (week 1)
- Catholic Schools Enrolment Period - (weeks 2-5)
Please note that the first day of Terms 2 and 3 (26 April and 18 July) are both pupil free days for professional learning for staff. Students do not attend school on these days. OSHClub will be available.
Dear St John the Apostle families,
Congratulations to 1 Maroon teacher Mr James Doepel who is getting married today! We wish he and Ellie all the very best with their celebration. Mr Doepel returns next Thursday to his class. Thank you to Ms Sharon Hardy who has been teaching 1 Maroon in his absence.
Harmony Week
Next Week is our Harmony Week where we get to celebrate the cultural diversity of Australia and our local community.
To celebrate we will hold a few activities on Friday 25 March. Mrs Macdonald has been teaching students a song and we have a few class based activities organised. We would also like to encourage all students to dress in an item that is orange or represents their own cultural background.
On the day we are going to ask children to tell us where in the world their family may have an identified history, particularly if they speak another language sometimes at home. It would be very helpful if parents could clarify this for their children before Friday.
Did you know that across our school our students speak over 25 different languages at home as either their main language or an additional language to English! I didn't have the opportunity to do this as a child and I would have loved to. Other than English the most widely spoken languages spoken at home are Hindi, Vietnamese and Dinka. We also have students who speak Finnish, French, Tongan, Japanese, Igbo, Dzongkha and a number of others! How fortunate they are and how fortunate for our community.
Rise in COVID positive Cases
We have a large number of COVID positive cases in Year 6 at the moment. Thank you to all of our parents who are diligently monitoring their child for symptoms and regularly undertaking testing. Your actions support not just your child but also help reduce any impact for the rest of the school community.
At present the COVID positive case in other year levels are very isolated incidents, most likely developed from outside the school context and the risk of infection for other students in their class is quite low.
Would you like to be involved but can't commit to being on the Community Council?
At the last Community Council meeting we discussed the Council’s focus areas for this year:
- building community engagement within the school as well as the broader community,
- fundraising and
- development of the outdoor playground.
Community Council members are forming working groups to develop ideas for each of these areas but these groups are not limited to Community Council members only. If you are interested in being involved please send an email to sjapscommunitycouncil@gmail.com and we’ll be in touch very soon.
God bless,
Matthew Garton
NAPLAN Year 3 and 5
Today I sent out detailed information to Year 3 and 5 parents about NAPLAN 2022.
Year 3 and 5 students will participate in NAPLAN from Tuesday 10th May to Friday 13th May (Week 3, Term 2). There will be make-up testing week the following week (Week 4). Students will also participate in a practice test next Friday (Week 8, Term 1). If you would like your child to be withdrawn from NAPLAN testing, please contact me directly at rebekah.brown@cg.catholic.edu.au
There is a public demonstration site that can be accessed by students and their parents. The demonstration site has tests which can be used by students to familiarise themselves with the types of questions and related functionalities available in the online NAPLAN assessment. You can access the public demonstration site at the following link:
https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site
World Maths Day
On Wednesday 23rd March, it is World Maths day.
Engaging in maths activities is a fun way to enjoy this day by using these tips:
- Practice maths problems and equations online
- Create maths inspired art
- Join mathletics as a family
Students can also participate in the worlds largest online mathematics competition. For more information click here.
Fun Fact:
Curious about how many maths competitors have competed against one another at one time? The Guiness World Record for the largest maths competition was set on World Maths Day, March 3, 2010 with 1,204,766 participants from 235 countries around the globe.
Cross Country
Cross Country for 2022 will be taking place on Friday 29th April (Friday Week 1, Term 2). We are starting to get organised and would love to have some parent and carer volunteers. If you are able to assist, could you please email Brett Seaman at brett.seaman@cg.catholic.edu.au
Rebekah Brown
Assistant Principal and Inclusion Coordinator
What students are learning about
Last week Year 6 participated in the Journey with Jesus Retreat. It was a grace filled day. The students were so engaged and responsive. They enjoyed fun games and time to reflect on scripture. The aim of the day is to have other young people talk to students about faith and show them the fun side of joining together in prayer and reflection.
Catholic Life and Reflection
This morning a Year 1 student was chatting to me about how he is saving up for a new game that was completely digital. Then, in less than a minute, he and a few others were making shadow puppets with their hands on the side of the After School Care building and giggling.
I was struck at the contrast of his world. In one moment, the complex digital world and in the next a game I used to play well before the internet took over.
I love that about kids. Their capacity to be free in both spaces. What a joy it is to seem them slip from one to another so seamlessly. Sometimes I worry that the digital is taking over but today was evidence that kids will still play when we let them. Today there was another group having running races and still another that decided to roll a log from one end of the playground to the other. And finally, a small group that discovered a rolly polly bug and were trying to smuggle it home in their school bag!
These are the simple pleasures I get to witness on playground duty when I have time to really watch kids play and interact. What a gift.
God bless you all, I hope you find pleasure and joy in your children this weekend.
“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you’ll look back and realize they were big things.”
Ecclesiastes 11:9 You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
God bless you all.
Stephanie Stewart
Religious Education Coordinator
Notices from the Parish
Happy birthday to Campbell G, Daniel S, Patrick G, William L, Katie N, Madison S, Phoebe B, Byron H and Rose H who all celebrated a birthday during the 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 will receive an award for the fortnightly Positive Behaviour Focus.
| Class | ||
| KB | Ryan D | Evelyn W |
| KM | Patrick G | Madelyn B |
| 1B | Iylah B | Andrew S |
| 1M | ||
| 2B | Aluel A | Harvey I |
| 2M | ||
| 3B | Thomasina N | Leo K |
| 3M | Josie A | William B |
| 4B | Jack R | Lorenzo S |
| 4M | Knox K | Bailee K |
| 5B | Elsie I | Nikhil S |
| 5M | Lovette E | Alaina S |
| 6B | Cooper N | Sally W |
| 6M | Elizabeth D | Daniel S |
| Performing Arts |
Year 5 1 - to - 1 Technology
Payments for Chromebook are past due. Payments are due week 5 of every term, unless you pay multiple terms.
Payments are to be made via the QKR app.
Please contact Debbie Milne either by email finance.sjaps@cg.catholic.edu.au or phone 6258 3592, if you need to discuss this payment.
The Uniform Shop will be open on the following dates:
Friday 25th March 9:00am-10:00am
Parents are able to attend in person. Please make sure you check-in using the CBR Check-in QR code, wear a face mask and abide by all social distancing requirements set by ACT Health.
If you have any questions or concerns please email the uniform shop on stjohnsclothingpool@gmail.com.
