Please go to our school calendar on the website or COMPASS for more details.

Please note that Friday 15 December is a pupil free day. The first and second day of Term 1 (29 & 30 January) are also pupil free days for professional learning for staff. Students do not attend school on these days. OSHClub will be available.

Term 4

Sue Fergusson Award Presentation (week 8)
Kinder Nativity (week 8)
Brag Tag Celebration (week 9)

2023 Theme

'Walking Together'

The school positive behaviour focus this week was:

Respect for Environment.

The school "Yerrabi" fact this week was:

Bindirradirrik - means: 'plovers'.

Dear St John's families,

Today was the the second Grandparents Day celebration and we welcomed our visitors with morning tea, a choir performance and visits to the classrooms. There were smiles all around!

Uniform Feedback

At Wednesday evening's Community Council Meeting our fantastic volunteers who run the Uniform Shop shared some feedback regarding children's and parent's request for a skort option for the every day and sport uniform. This was originally taken out when the uniform changes were brought in several years to try to keep it simple and to allow families to hand down uniform options more easily.

We've listened and we're going to investigate some options for skorts that work well with our current uniform. Leave it with us and we'll let you know what's happening regarding this. Thank you to our volunteers who do an amazing job in the Uniform Shop.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

We often share about the impactful and successful literacy and numeracy teaching practices we've introduced and while literacy and numeracy are fundamental to children's development we also put a lot of effort into other important areas, such as the social emotional development of our students.

Prior to school, children's social and emotional development is largely learnt from home. Students come to Kindergarten with 5 years of having developed age appropriate social skills, emotional regulation and capacity to negotiate their needs and wants. Parents still play a very big role in modelling and co-regulating these developing skills.

Many have had the opportunity to go to child care and/or preschool. These experiences provide an opportunity for children to apply their developing social skills and strategies. Early childhood educators are well trained to support children in these instances.

Once at school students begin to expand their circle of long term, regular relationships to include their peers and other adults. The world becomes bigger than 'home' and family, stretching their social emotional development through a variety of new contexts and people.

To support students in this area of their development we draw upon a number of Second Step Program programs, one of which is Second Step.

Second Step is a school-wide social-emotional learning program designed to teach children social-emotional skills to help them get along with peers, manage emotions, and succeed in school and throughout their lives. In Kindergarten through Grade 3, the program also includes activities targeted at developing executive-functioning skills—such as focusing, listening, and paying attention—which can help them do better in the classroom and later in high school and work.

Examples of the what students learn through the Second Step Program include:

Skills for Learning

Empathy

Emotion Management

Listening

Focusing Attention

Being Assertive

Using self-talk

Identifying Feelings

Same and different feelings

Showing Compassion

Feelings in my body

Stop and name feelings

Calming down

Managing learning challenges

Problem Solving

Friendship Skills

S: Say the Problem

T: Think of Solutions

E:Explore the Consequences

P: Pick the Best Solution

Inviting others to play

Playing fairly

Handling conflict

Making amends

The lessons span throughout the year and, combined with our Positive Behaviour for Learning Policy, our Protective Behaviours programs, our Bulliying Program (also through Second Step) and of course Religious Education, we work hard to teach, support and champion positive relationships, emotional development and compassionate living.

If you ever have concerns for your child's social and emotional development please Marymead CatholicCare do contact your child's teacher to discuss your concerns and they will provide you with information about what they are learning at school and how you can support them at home. Our CatholicCare school counsellor, Nik, is also always available to speak with parents just as much as with students. Please contact the Front Office with more details to contact her.

Thank you for working together to help your child to grow and learn.

Matthew Garton

Principal

Class Allocations for 2024

During this term, we will finalise our staffing arrangements for 2024. When it comes to class placements for students we aim to ensure a fair, considered and just process in allocating students to classes for the next school year.

Teachers are in the best position to decide a child’s placement because they know all the children in their classes and have a view of the ‘big picture’ and what the learning needs are for each child. However, I invite parents to inform me of any educational concerns that you feel need to be considered, for your own child’s well-being or development.

There are only two classes each year at St John the Apostle Primary School. One of the benefits if this is that every child is known across the school community. Every year we mix the classes to help children spend time with different people as well as reconnect with others they haven't shared a class with for some time. We do keep a history of previous considerations for the arrangements. When forming balanced class lists the following factors are taken into consideration:

gender;
diverse needs;
work habits;
personal plans;
intervention needs and supports;
friendships;
behaviour;
health considerations;
religious identity(to assist in achieving a balance between classes, especially in Sacramental years) and
common names;
new students enrolled for the following year.

Ideally, we aim for an equal spread of all characteristics in a class. Where practical, parental requests based on educational concerns may be considered. At St John the Apostle, we will use the following principles and guidelines when considering the placement of students each year:

Every care will be taken to ensure that each child is placed in the best situation to enhance learning and social development;
Teachers will ask students to name three people they would like to be in the same class as next year and teachers will endeavour to make sure that one of those is met;
Parents who wish to raise particular concerns regarding the placement of their children in particular classes should put the concern in writing and email it to me directly (matthewgarton@cg.catholic.edu.au) by Friday of Week 5 of Term 4 (Friday 10 November);
Parent concerns regarding educational needs of students will be considered during the process. It must be clearly understood, however, that no definite guarantees can be given regarding parental concerns. No requests for specific teacher will be accepted. All teachers work hard to provide the best possible learning opportunities for their students;
Where appropriate, advice will be sought from the Inclusion Teacher, School Counsellor and Student Welfare Officer alongside the current class teacher during this process;
Considering all the factors listed above, the current class teachers compile class lists from mid-term, Term 4. These are then handed to me to confirm;
Children will be informed of their class placement for the 2024 school year in December (usually the last week of school) and the opportunity will be provided for them to spend some time with their new class teacher;
Throughout this process, after appropriate consultation, I reserve the right to make final professional decisions regarding the placement of children.

As you can see, these decisions are given very careful consideration and we look to balance the needs of all students. Every school does this. Once class lists are finalised we select the teacher best suited to each group.

Catholic Life and Reflection

A dear friend of the family, who I called Aunty, passed away last week and I went to Brisbane for her memorial. It was a true celebration of the smart, kind, and compassionate woman she was. In the 1970’s Autism was not understood but she provided a safe and loving environment for my siblings whenever we were with her, although David, her youngest son would hide his Lego when he knew we were coming!

When family members were speaking about her, they constantly referred to her showing up, completely accepting who they were and the choices they made and always, always being pleased to see them. She loved a good party not because of the food but the people. She travelled around the world to see her children perform, listened to poetry written by grandchildren, and reveled in swimming lessons.

She is the kind of woman I want to be. Show up, love unconditionally, and be involved in the small and big things that make up life. I am sure you know people like this. Aunty Anne-Mari was one of the most Christian people I know but she did not belong to a faith community.

A reminder that it was what we do and say in our daily lives that makes us who we are. Do everything with love.

Thank you for all those people in my life who show me what it is to LOVE.

Vale Aunty Anne-Mari.

John 13:34-35

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition

'I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

What Staff are Learning About

This week Principals and REC’s were given a copy of the new Religious Education Scope and Sequence. This covers all students from Kindergarten through to Year 10 across our Archdiocese. In the coming weeks Matthew and I will be looking through this document to see how we can continue to grow Religious Education in our school.

God bless,

Stephanie Stewart
Religious Education Coordinator

Latest Parish Compact - 29 October 2023

Happy birthday to Angelica F, Madeline O, Madelyn B, Henry P, Xavier T, and Martin H who all celebrated a birthday over the last week.

NOTE: If you have tried to contact Rebekah Brown about the Fete and clicked on the below email link it may not have sent to her. If you have emailed her and haven't heard back, please contact her again. All donations can start to be dropped off in the Front Office from now until the Fete.

Our school Fete will be on Friday 15 March 2024 from 4-8pm (Term 1, Week 7). We are already well on our way with preparations. Please see information below about requesting volunteers in the lead up to the Fete and requests for donations. We really rely on our school community working together to ensure the success of our school Fete.

Store Convenors

Before the end of this year, we will send out information regarding volunteers for the Fete Day. We are currently requesting store convenors for the following stores in the preparation and lead up to the Fete. The Fete Coordinators will also support each of the store convenors and provide more details on the roles once allocated. Please contact Rebekah Brown r ebekah.brown@cg.catholic.edu.au if you would like to take on one of these roles or if you have any questions.

Store	Role of the Store Convenor
Hampers	Collect all of the donations on Friday Week 6, Term 1 2024 and pack the hampers.
Plant Store	Start to pot and grow plants in time to sell for the Fete Reach out to organisations (Bunnings, garden centres etc.) for donations of plants.
Book Store	Sort the book donations prior to the day of the Fete Allocate prices.
Fish and Chips Store	Organising a menu for Fish and Chips. Ordering and purchasing of products.
Drinks Store	Gradually purchasing drinks when they are on sale (purchasing to start as soon as possible).
Cake Store	Organisation of plates and instructions to be sent home in the week prior to the Fete. Allocation of prices on the day.
Biscuit Decorating	Purchasing of biscuits (arrowroot biscuits) and items to decorate biscuits. This role will include creating a process around biscuit decorating and different ways children can decorate the biscuits. Available on the day of the Fete to set up.
Badge Making	Organisation of designs/artworks for the badge making. Purchasing of any products required for this. Cutting out the circles for children to decorate.

At times, we may need to ask the store convenor to purchase some of the items required for the store. However, this money will be reimbursed as quickly as possible.

Donations

The Fete Committee has decided to send out all of the requests for donations for the 2024 Fete at one time so that families don't feel like there are requests every week or two. We rely on our community to donate a couple of items per child. Please see below a list of the items we are requesting. All of these items can be sent to school with your child or delivered to the front office. Thank you in advance for your donations and support.

Tombola

For the 2024 Fete, we are doing Tombola a little differently. We are asking that a full jar is donated. In the past, we have asked for empty jars and the Store Convenor has filled the jars. The items also don’t need to be in a jar. They could be in a zip lock bag, a plastic container or anything that is enclosed and we can stick a raffle ticket on.

Items that can be put in the tombolar jars/containers:

Lollies and chocolates
Jar of trinkets - small toys, erasers, stickers, hair accessories, craft supplies, stationary etc.

Hampers

We are asking that each child in each year group, donates one or more items for the below hampers. Each year level has been allocated a theme. Year 6 has not been allocated a theme, as they will no longer be at St John’s in 2024. If Year 6 students would like to donate an item, they can choose any theme. Please see below images of past hampers.

Kindergarten - Baby hamper (e.g. wraps, clothes, nappies, rattles, baby toys, wipes etc.)

Year 1 - Pet Hamper (eg. pet toys, treats, feeders, bowls etc.)

Year 2 - Kids Toy hamper (e.g. puzzles, fidget toys, board games, balls etc.)

Year 3 - Pamper hamper (eg. bath salts, candles, body products etc.)

Year 4 - Parents hamper (eg. wine, beer, chocolates, nuts etc.)

Year 5 - Home hamper (eg. tools, cleaning products, Bunnings gift card etc.)

Books

We will be having a book stall. We would love donations of books to sell at the Fete. These can be picture books, children and adult novels, recipe books etc.

Lucky Lock

We will be having a Lucky Lock competition again for the 2024 Fete. An esky is filled with wine and beer and locked with a padlock. We sell keys and one key opens the lock. This lucky person wins the esky and its contents. To run this competition, we would love donations of the following:

Wine, beer etc.
Old keys that are no longer useful

Pre-loved Soft Toys

We are asking for clean and in good condition pre-loved soft toys to be donated.

Thank you so much for all of your support in making out 2024 Fete a success.

Kind regards,

Fete Committee

The Uniform Shop Opening Hours

Friday 27 October - 8.30-9.30

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

Last week our school received an award for the Chief Minister's Reading Challenge. This was due to all students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 completing the challenge, with support from the teachers and library staff. Annika and Charlotte M accepted the award on behalf of the school. We are so proud to be acknowledged for our students' passion for reading. I would also like to mention the students in Years 3 to 6 who also participated in the challenge. We will be having a celebration at school in a few weeks. My goal is for all students from Kindergarten to Year 6 to complete the challenge next year.

If there’s one thing, more than anything else, that our children need to thrive, it’s healthy involvement. It’s us. Being there. Not just for them, but with them. We don’t just have their back. We’re at their side… in healthy ways.

What involvement looks like

Involvement comes from the Latin: involvere. It means “to envelop, surround”, or literally to “roll into”. Involvement is showing love, warmth, and affection.

In a practical sense, involvement can be ferrying children from one activity to another or eating together; bathing a young child or having bedtime stories. It’s being across their academic, sport, or cultural experiences. How are they going at school or on their sports team? Are they aware that you care, and that you’re there to support them if they need you?

At a deeper level, involvement is being present in their spaces, their conversations, and their activities: their world. This involvement can often be (and probably should most often be) benign background involvement. Perhaps you’re in the kitchen while they’re in the living room or the back yard. But you’re present and aware. You’re having regular conversations to know about their daily discoveries, their friendships, and their life.

It’s also their involvement in your world. Are they cleaning their room with you, or peeling vegetables for dinner with you? Are they involved in dinnertime conversations with you, playing music with you, learning a new game with you, and exercising with you? Our children want to be in our world, particularly when they’re young. Are your little ones – and your big ones – welcome at the dinner table while you’re chatting with friends after a barbecue? Do they get to be involved in your work, your hobbies, and even your chores?

Healthy vs unhealthy involvement

According to Professor Wendy Grolnick, a psychology researcher at Clark University in the USA, involved parents do three thing

Invest time, attention, and energy
Gain knowledge about their children’s lives, and
Provide support.

The crux of this conversation comes down to how we do these things.

We can do this in a controlling way, or we can do it in a need-supportive way. Investing time, attention, and energy into our child’s school experience can be helpful or harmful. It depends on how we do it.

When we invest time and attention in a controlling way, we pore over our children’s results, push our child to do better, corral them into extracurricular coaching, and harangue them for failing to win the dux of kindergarten award! It’s that whole ‘parent harder’ kind of approach to involvement. The investment, the knowledge, and the support are set up with the best of intentions. But it’s us setting the expected standard for them and pushing (sorry … supporting) them to achieve it because we have unilaterally determined that it matters. There’s that intense and controlling involvement that undermines individual motivation and wellbeing. The involvement we share is targeted towards other ends rather than being an end in itself.

A form of involvement in schoolwork that supports relationship needs looks more like us taking an interest, asking how they’re doing, and inviting them to think about how they’d like to do at school, and why. And it’s based on developmentally appropriate timing. Our six-year-old doesn’t need to be chasing straight As! It’s not important for our Grade 3 child to be reading at a high-school level! But … if they love reading and happen to be doing well, great; because they’re volitionally seeking it. Perhaps they’re doing it for the sake of the activity itself. It lights them up. Learning is intrinsically motivating! Our
support and involvement will facilitate rather than undermine that motivation.

In the mid-1980s, Professor Grolnick completed a study of mothers with their one-year-old children. The mothers were asked to play with their children on the floor with a toy for three minutes while being video recorded. The results were analysed to show their style of involvement. The researchers found that mothers were involved in their children’s play in different ways. Some were controlling, trying to help their child play ‘the right way’. Others were supportive, exploring together and allowing their child to experience the natural delight that comes through their own discovery. Involvement that supports children’s sense of autonomy and positive relationship creates connection; that sense of being seen, heard, and valued. Involvement that is controlling disrupts the
experience of connection and autonomy.

This healthy supportive (but non-controlling) involvement requires effort. We have to break away from the inertia of our screens, the couch, or our agendas. We also have to break away from the inertia of our upbringing, our insecurity, our ego, and our desires for our children to fulfil their potential based on our preferences. Instead we need to focus on just three things:

Competence. Support their competence needs by developing structures and boundaries with them.
Connection. Helping our child feel seen, heard, and valued. And
Autonomy support. Giving our children a voice and the freedom to figure things out (with our gentle guidance and direction where needed).

Kids thrive under these conditions. And we become better parents.

The Family Photo Fundraiser is on again on 11 & 12 November and is still only $25!

You only have a few week to secure your place so act fast – if you want to get an A4 sized (10″ x 13″) professional family photo for only $25, then please book ASAP here https://www.fundraisingsjaps.online You will need to go to the website and click on the photo menu, then scroll down and pick your selected date.

Sessions will be outside at the Lake Ginninderra Western Foreshore to adhere to COVID guidelines unless it is raining and then will be in the school library. We have been doing this fundraiser for a number of years now as it is great value for families to get a professional family photo at such a cheap price. There’s more information available on the website, but if you have any questions please email me at Belinda.duke@hotmail.com.au

Belinda Duke (Emma’s mum)

Click here to buy

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18 Nov	Term 4, Week 6 18 Nov 2024 - 23 Nov 2024

21 Nov	2025 - New Students Transition Day (Yrs 1-6) 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM

25 Nov	Term 4, Week 7 25 Nov 2024 - 30 Nov 2024

2 Dec	Term 4, Week 8 02 Dec 2024 - 07 Dec 2024

2 Dec	Kinder Nativity 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

4 Dec	Yr 6 - SFX Orientation Day 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

5 Dec	End of Term Awards 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM

5 Dec	Christmas Picnic 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

6 Dec	End of Year Thanksgiving Mass - Whole School 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

9 Dec	Term 4, Week 9 09 Dec 2024 - 14 Dec 2024

11 Dec	Sue Ferguson Award 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM

11 Dec	One Up Afternoon 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

11 Dec	Graduation Mass 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

13 Dec	Cornerstone Ceremony (Yr 5-6) 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

13 Dec	Teachers v Students Netball 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

13 Dec	Colour Run 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

16 Dec	Term 4, Week 10 16 Dec 2024 - 17 Dec 2024

17 Dec	Pupil Free Day All day

2023 Theme

'Walking Together'

The school positive behaviour focus this week was:

Respect for Environment.

The school "Yerrabi" fact this week was:

Bindirradirrik - means: 'plovers'.

Uniform Feedback

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Class Allocations for 2024

Catholic Life and Reflection

What Staff are Learning About

Store Convenors

Donations

Tombola

Hampers

Lucky Lock

Pre-loved Soft Toys

The Uniform Shop Opening Hours

The How-to's of Healthy Parental Involvement

What involvement looks like

Healthy vs unhealthy involvement

Dr Justin Coulson

Save with the entertainment book.