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Please go to our school calendar on the website or COMPASS for more details.
Please note that the first day of Term 3 and the last day of Term 4 (22 July, and 17 December) are also pupil free days for professional learning for staff. Students do not attend school on these days. OSHClub will be available.
Term 2 Week 7-10
- Kinder - National Zoo excursion (week 7)
- Friday Fitness (weeks 7-9)
- Yr 5 Basketball Clinic (weeks 7-10)
- Kinder, Yrs 1 & 2 Tennis Clinic (weeks 7-9)
- Maths Games Contest 2 (week 7)
- Athletics Carnival (week 8)
- Parent-Teacher Interviews (week 9)
- Semester 1 Reports distributed (week 10)
- Archbishop visit (week 10)
Term 3 Week 1
- Pupil Free Day (Monday 22 July)
The school positive behaviour focus this week was:
Follow instructions of staff.
Ngunnawal word of the week:
Ngaralda (means 'sorry')
Dear St John's families,
Today we celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Thank you Fr Chung for celebrating Mass with us today. We appreciate your presence and care every week for classroom visits, class liturgies or whole school masses.
I would like to thank Mrs Stephanie Stewart who organised the entire day for students and staff. There was plenty of red and plenty of fun. The Year 6 students were a fantastic help for Mrs Stewart.
Have you ever wondered why we celebrate this as our Feast Day and not the Feast Day of St John the Apostle?
Firstly, there's a very practical reason. The Feast Day for St John the Apostle is December the 27th. Of course, we're well and truly on holidays at that time. It makes sense to look to another important feast day to celebrate our parish and school identity.
Secondly, our parish has been very blessed over many, many years to be pastored, shaped and nurtured by priests from the order of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (msc's). We are the only parish in the ACT that is looked after by this international order of priests. They are an order of priests founded by Jules Chevalier 170 years ago. Their own vision is "that the sacred heart of Jesus be everywhere loved" (hence we say this it the end of every school/class/meeting prayer) and their mission is 'to be on Earth the Heart of God'. Our parish identity, and therefore our school identity, has been imbued with the spirit and mission of the msc's. As a result we share in their Feast Day celebration each year: The Feast of the Sacred Heart.
What does it mean 'to be on Earth the Heart of God?' Over the next few weeks I would like to reflect briefly each week on an aspect of this, to help us all share an understanding of our community identity. Each week I will share my own answer to a question that is raised by this charism statement, such as:
- What is the 'Heart of God'? How do we know what the 'Heart of God' is?
- When we say 'on Earth' who and what does that include?
- How do we be the 'Heart of God'? Do I need to be perfect?
I look forward to beginning this next week. What are your thoughts to the questions above?
I hope you all enjoy a lovely long weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone next Tuesday.
Matthew Garton
Principal
Rocket Maths
Over the last two weeks, I have had the absolute pleasure of teaching 5 Blue. It has made me realise how much I miss being a classroom teacher. I have really enjoyed getting to teach on a daily basis all of the programs that I have been supporting staff to implement over the last couple of years.
One of these programs is Rocket Maths. Rocket Maths is an engaging and effective program designed to help children master basic math facts with ease and confidence. Through a series of fun, fast-paced practice activities, Rocket Math promotes fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It utilises a systematic approach, encouraging students to progress at their own pace while providing immediate feedback and positive reinforcement.
Over the next two weeks, we have a number of visitors from other schools coming to observe how we do Rocket Math. Today, I took a visitor from Mother Teresa to watch 1 Blue and 5 Blue in Rocket Maths action. Our visitor was very impressed.
2025 Fete Committee
I know we aren't even half way through the year yet, however I am calling for volunteers to be on the 2025 Fete Committee. Stephanie Juskevics (Kindergarten Parent) has offered to be the Fete Coordinator. Thank you Stephanie!
The Community Council has decided to structure the Fete Committee differently for 2025. We are asking for one volunteer per year group to be on the Fete Committee. A volunteer's role will be to convene one larger/a few smaller stalls for their child's year level. Each year level Fete Convenor will also support organising volunteers from that year level to volunteer on the stall/stalls they are convening.
If you are interested in being a year level Fete Convenor, please email Stephanie at stephanieh1978@hotmail.com
Awards
A big congratulations to the student who received Brag Tag, Spelling Mastery and Maths Mastery Awards today.
Rebekah Brown
Assistant Principal and Inclusion Coordinator
What Students are Learning About
Year Six Service Outreach
Our focus this year for Year Six has been 'acts of service'. There's an enthusiastic group of Year 6 girls that love to do crochet and craft, and are keen to vounteer in the community. You may have seen them at the fete where they sold their creations and donated to Save the Children Gaza appeal.
They are hoping to work with eldery people or people who live with disabilities.
If you have any suggestions of where they should go, please contact stephanie.stewart@cg.catholic.edu.au
Thank you Liliana and Magdelena.
Sacred Heart Day
The Feast of the Sacred Heart is a very important day. We love to celebrate it with faith, food and fun. We celebrated Mass with Father Chung. Staff shared a special lunch and Year 6 helped students decorate cookies.
We raised $590.00 for St George's Academy in Kenya. Thank you for all your support.
Saint of the Week by Lorenzo Scarano
In Religious Education we have been studying our chosen saint. I have been doing St Joseph of Cupertino. I will list some of the information I have researched and a picture.
St Joseph is the saint of the city of Cupertino, the city of Osimo, aviation, pilots, astronauts, intellectual disbilities, examinations, and students. He was born on the 17th of June 1603 in Cupertino Italy and died on the 16th of September Osimo Italy, his feast day is on the 18th of September.
A special thing about St Joseph was he had the power to levitate when he prayed but this humbled him. He has also helped the poor, made the blind see and lifted up sick children to be healed. I chose St Joseph of Cupertino because he is the patron saint of astronauts and aviators and I love science, technology and space.
Catholic Life and Reflection
One of my students brought in a bible that is more than 100 years old to show me. I loved this for many reasons. I do love the smell of an old book! Mostly it touched my heart because he knew that I would appreciate it. We looked up some scripture we knew to make sure it was there... John 1:1...luckily it was.
The Word Became Flesh (John 1:1)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
I was reminded that the word of God doesn't change, it changes us. We may shift our understanding as we experience different life events but the words remain.
What scripture speaks to you? What scripture do you come back to often?
God bless,
Stephanie Stewart, Religious Education Coordinator
Happy Birthday to Benjamin Bevan, Harvey Irvine, Harper Ollevou, Brody Loricchiella, Jackson Moulds, Allira Richardson, Alyssa Sammons, James Maddox, Sophia Nott and Rubi Shean who all celebrated a birthday over the last week.
Students in Year 2 have been learning about “How Living Things Change” as part of an unit in Science. In particular, we looked at the life cycles of humans, plants and animals. We studied chickens and other species of animals.
We entered the Canberra Poultry Show art competition for schools. We discussed the theme, "Feathers, Fowl, and Fancy." We incorporated this theme into our artworks through multi-media. We discussed how to make them “fancy?” including gold, creative colours, textures and adding 2 dimensional nests. The artworks have been created in small groups across two Year 2 classes. We designed and discussed how we could make these artworks in small teams.
- Bettina, Lillah and Madelyn
- Addison and Sky
- Ebube and Rigdzin
- Aarzah, Julia and Rihaan
- Joseph and Charlie
- Abel, Simon, Jacob and Maxwell
- Rylee and Henry
- Amelia, Alessia and Kaylie
- Beau, Nate and Ryan
- Allegra, Sophie, Alexandra and Emma
- Toby, Cameron and Bevan
- Ayla and Mehar
- Patrick and Alexander
- Evelyn and Grace
They will be judged as part of a competition from Saturday 8th June - Sunday 9th June on display in the main show area. Building D, Exhibition Park in Canberra. Flemington Road, Mitchell, ACT, 2911.
Winners will be announced on Friday 7th June, 2024 and listed on the website: www.royalcanberrapoultryshow.com.au and the Canberra Poultry Show Facebook page.
Second Hand Uniform Donations
The Uniform Shop would love to receive second hand uniform donations. If you have school uniforms at home that you no longer need please send them into school. Thank you.
Opening Hours
The Uniform Shop will be open during the following:
Friday 14 June - 8.30am-9.30am
If you have any questions or concerns please email the uniform shop on stjohnsclothingpool@gmail.com
Teaching Children That Mistakes Are Okay
You won’t find a child more chuffed with themselves than a preschooler who is learning to write their own name. In the beginning, they courageously create a jumble of mixed-up letters and back-to-front S’s to piece together the first iteration of what will become their signature. Very quickly, those mistakes lead to mastery, and they’re equipped with a skill they’ll use hundreds of thousands of times throughout their lives.
As our children grow, their fearlessness in the face of mistakes often gives way to a paralysing fear of failure. They become less willing to take risks, try new things, and broaden their experience because of the risk of not getting it “right” straight away.
How do we help our kids overcome perfectionism and make friends with mistakes again?
Here are my top tips for parents and educators:
#1: Talk it through.
Whether it’s learning to ride a bike or writing a story, when a child shows reluctance to try before they start, ask them what they’re worried about. Give them the chance to share their fears and talk it through. Ask them, ‘What’s the worst thing that can happen?’ Putting words around their fear can help contextualise and minimise it, making ‘the scary thing’ seem smaller and easier to handle.
#2: Share your story.
Younger children love to hear stories from their parents and trusted adults. Share a story with them of when you were scared, then tried, failed, and learned something from making a mistake. You can make it funny to lighten the load and help diffuse their worry.
#3: Resilience.
Making mistakes and learning from mistakes helps children build resilience, which will stand them in good stead later in life. If they have tried, failed, and then tried again, it helps them build confidence to tackle bigger, more daunting tasks down the track. Failure is not the enemy; failure to try is! Failure, ironically, can build success. As the saying goes, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, then try and try again.’
#4: Reward the effort.
If you have coached and coaxed your child or student into trying something new for the first time, or if they have worked hard to conquer their fear, then regardless of the outcome, let them know they are champs for trying. This way, the reward is linked, not to whether they failed or succeeded, but to the effort they made in the first place. Being a ‘doer’ with a positive ‘at least I tried’ attitude will help children build a positive approach to tackling new activities and tasks later in life.
#5: Practice makes perfect.
Perfect is of course not needed but practice is important. Give children plenty of opportunity to keep trying their chosen activity, whether they’ve taken up a new sport, musical instrument, or hobby, or whether they’re plucking up courage to make new friends at school. Help them stay positive and celebrate their achievements and learnings with them along the way. Whether they tell you this or keep it to themselves, kids love it when their parents, carers and teachers are their support team (and they’ll remember it later too!).
