Dear St John the Apostle community, 

We've had a very succesful enrolment period recently. We are currently processing all of our Kindergarten enrolments for 2024 and any enrolments for other year levels. We have quite a few to get through and its exciting to meet each of these families and to hear about their hopes for their child and share how we can be part of this journey with them.

Community Council News

We had a very productive Community Council meeting on Wednesday evening. Thank you to all who attended.

We have begun planning the Fete for next year. A big thank you to Jen Sheppard (of Emily in Kindergarten) and Sally Walsh (of Desmond in Kindergarten) who have volunteered to coordinate our fete for 2024. We have a lot of great ideas for new stalls and we're looking forward to it already!

We will also hold a Parent Forum on Wednesday 2 August. Our Parent Forum will be focused on supporting positive and healthy friendships with a particular focus on understanding relational aggression. More information will be posted in coming weeks about this but I encourage you to put the date in your diary! It will be informative for children in every age (and a few adults as well).

Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart Day!

Today we celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart. A highlight was our Mass together in the hall, celebrated by our new assistant priest Fr Cheung. It was a joy to see so many children wearing red today and particpating in our fundraising activities for St George's, Kenya, giving to others in need. I would like to say a very big thank you to Mrs Rebecca Stevenson (Acting REC) who has organised the entire day!

I feel very fortunate to lead a school whose charism is 'to Be on Earth the Heart of God'. It is such a beautiful reminder each day that we don't need to wait to experience the love and acceptance of God. We can be God's love for each other, here and now, every day. We can give this gift to each other.

My favourite faith-based children's song is all about this. The lyrics (see below) explain just how we can be God's love for each other. It's such an uplifting song. On this special day in our community I'm very happy to share it with you.

Be God's (by Danielle Rose)

Where the world is merciless, be God's mercy.
Where the world is hopeless, be God's hope.
Where there is injustice, be God's justice.
Where there is sadness, be God's joy.
Where the world is doubting, be God's faith.
Where there is ingratitude, be God's grace.
Where there is confusion, be God's truth.
Where there is weakness, be God's strength.

Let your life change the world one person at a time.
Let your life be the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As the bread becomes his body, we can be the living sign.
With God's love, change the world with your life.

Where the world is wounded, be God's healing.
Where the world is weeping, be God's song.
Where there is despairing, be God's beauty.
Where the world is crumbling, be God's rock.
Where there is no tenderness, be God's child.
Where there is loneliness, be God's smile.
Where the world is dying, be God's life.
Where there is darkness, be God's light.

Let your life change the world one person at a time.
Let your life be the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As the bread becomes his body, we can be the living sign.
With God's love, change the world with your life.

If you want the world to change, be God's love.
Use your gifts to bless this day, be God's love.
God has greater plans for you, be God's love.
Plans to make a saint of you! Be God's love!
Heaven will fall down to earth, thank you, Father.
When you live a life of love, thank you, Son.
The lame will walk, the blind will see,
Thank you Spirit.
Jesus dwells in me!

Let your life change the world one person at a time.
Let your life be the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As the bread becomes his body, we can be the living sign.
With God's love, change the world with your life.

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Today let us all be God's love for each other. When we each focus on giving that love away we'll find that it will be given back to us ten fold, without even seeking it.

Matthew Garton

Principal

Follow Up - K-2 Parent Reading Session

Thank you to all of the parents and carers who attended the Parent Reading Session last Tuesday. We had over 80 families from Kindergarten to Year Two who attended the session. It was so rewarding to see the staff and families work together on a common goal for our students. 

Some of the points that I missed in my presentation are that each of the assessments we complete are one-to-one for one minute each, except for the last assessment completed for Year 2 students. This is a comprehension assessment completed for 3 minutes independently. DIBELS is a standardised assessment, which means that it is administered in the same way to every student and no adjustments are made during testing. I also wanted to confirm that on the Parent Report, Beg. means Beginning of the Year and Middle means Middle of the Year. We completed the DIBELS assessments during the beginning of the year in Weeks 5 and 6 of Term 1 and we completed the assessments during the middle of the year in Weeks 5 and 6 of Term 2. The End of Year assessment will be completed in Weeks 4-6 of Term 4. Please see here the presentation I gave about Parent Reports. 

We are welcoming any feedback on the Parent Reading Session. If you have any feedback, further questions about the session or your child's reading, please contact myself or your child's classroom teacher. We hope it was as valuable for you as it was for us!

Spelling Mastery and Maths Mastery Awards

Congratulations to all of the students who received Spelling Mastery and Maths Mastery Awards this morning. 

Rebekah Brown

Happy birthday to Olivia A, Charlotte S, Ryan D, Xavier B, William M and Ryan L who all celebrated a birthday over the last week.

Its time for our Jump Off Day for Jump Rope for Heart!  

A huge thank you for the effort skipping and fundraising for the Jump Rope for Heart program this term. Together we raised an incredible $6, 400 and this money will all go towards vital heart research and education programs. So Fantastic!!

We’ve loved seeing so many smiling faces skipping on the playground and in sports lessons.

Our Jump Off Day will be coming up Wednesday of Week 9 - 21^st June 2023 at 2:15pm. We have the amazing Canberra Jazzy Jumpers Skipping Team joining us this day, who can show us some skills! All students can wear their School Sports Uniform Wednesday to participate in this.

I would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all the students and families at St John the Apostle Primary, the dedication not only to fundraising but to skipping whenever they can was a huge testament to our school community. Keep up the skipping and thanks again for the hard work!

Prizes will be sent out to our school in the coming weeks and will be handed out at an assembly - we will keep you updated on this. 

The Uniform Shop will open on:

Friday 23 June - 8.30-9.30

If you have any questions or concerns please email the uniform shop on stjohnsclothingpool@gmail.com