Dear St John's families,

Thank you all for a fabulous Term 2.

I was observing our Kindergarten students this week as they were learning in the classroom, walking around the school and playing outside. It is quite amazing how much they grow in the first half of the year and how confident they become.

I then observed our Year 6 students and how they toured visitors, undertook their duties in the playground and presented their learning to their classes. I remember them as little Kindergarten students and was reminded what an amazing experience it is to work in an environment where you have the privilege of helping and watching young children grow.

Thank you for the privilege of being part of your child's journey.

Archbishop's visit 

Today we welcomed Archbishop Christopher Prowse to the school as part of his visit to our parish. He was taken on a tour of the school by our very capable School Captains. He visited Kindergarten, who enthusiastically sang to him. He also spoke with the the Year 3 and 6 classes, having participated in Sacraments this year.

Over the course of the weekend he will have a lunch with parishioners and will also say mass for everyone. Archbishop Christopher makes a great effort to stay connected to each parish and we really appreciate his visit to our school and parish community this week.

Changes to Catholic Education

Earlier this year, Archbishop Christopher announced changes to the governance arrangements for Catholic Education within the Archdiocese from 2025. This will result in a change to the proprietor of each Catholic School in the ACT but will not otherwise materially impact school operations. If you would like further information about this change, or you would like to provide feedback about the change in proprietor, please contact governance@cg.catholic.edu.au by 19 July 2024.

What does respect mean at school?

As I wrote last week, there are five components to our Positive Behaviour for Learning Policy. They include:

• Developing a culture of positive behaviour
• Acknowledging positive behaviours
• Creating a positive environment
• Discouraging and responding to problem behaviours
• Responding to and supporting students with highly complex behaviours

One of the ways we support students to display positive learning behaviour at school is to be very clear and concise about what positive learning looks like and sounds like at St John the Apostle.

When I first began as Principal I asked students what the school rules were. Their response would always be "Hands Off, Feet Off". That's it. There were no other rules that they could remember for me.

I realised that students didn't know how to describe what positive relationship and learning behaviour was. As young children, they needed the opportunity to learn it. 

I also knew that we had some expectations called 'Respect Others, Respect Self and Respect the Environment' though students weren't really sure what this meant. So I spent time with students and staff and asked them what these would look like in various situations or places in the school. 

From here we developed the posters that you often see around the school:

These posters define what Respect Others, Respect Self and Respect the Environment looks and sounds like at our school in very specific scenarios. They form the baseline of expectations for positive behaviour across the school from Kindergarten to Year 6. 

To help students learn and understand these we:

• have a full set of posters in every classrooms
• place relevant posters in specific places
• teach the behaviours from the posters at the beginning of every year and refresh ourselves during the year
• pick one statement each fortnight as our focus for practise
• use these behaviours as the focus for acknowledgement through our brag tag system
• review and update them each year in line with any new routines in the school

The outcome of all of this work?

Students can tell you that 'Respect Others, Respect Self and Respect the Environment' are our school expectations/rules. They can remember specific descriptions such as 'Safe hands, safe words, safe feet'. They understand more clearly what is expected at school to be successful. Teachers have a clear set of expectations and can be consistent with all students. We have a shared way of being. Classrooms and playground are much more settled and predictable learning environments.

NAIDOC Week Stories

As part of our NAIDOC Week celebrations some of our teachers recorded themselves reading aloud a story by a First Nations author or about First Nations culture and values. Each day classes were asked to watch one of the stories and discuss it.

Thank you to Mrs Alcock, Ms Brown, Mrs Love, Mrs Fraser, Ms Macdonald, Mrs Stewart and Ms Etzrodt for taking time to record their stories.

I would love to share with you Ms Etzrodt's story. We think she'd make a great Playschool presenter!

I hope everyone has a healthy and warm break and feels very refreshed on the return to school next term.

We look forward to seeing our students on Tuesday 23 July follwing our pupil free professional learning day.

Kind regards,

Matthew Garton

Principal

Personalised Plan Reports

On Wednesday afternoon, Mrs Beth Fear sent Semester One Personalised Plan Reports via email to all parents/carers of students with Personalised Plan. 

It is always a pleasure to read all of the Personalised Plan Reports across the school. There is always so much growth and personal goals that have been met. 

If you have any questions about your child's Personalised Plan Report, you can contact your child's classroom teacher, Mrs Beth Fear or myself. 

Trivia Night - Thursday 8 August

The Community Council will be holding a '90s' themed Trivia Night on Thursday 8 August (6.30pm for a 7.00pm start). This is a free event and hot finger food will be provided. 

Please RSVP at the following link: 
httpss:/stjohnfloreyyschoolzineplusscomm/form/80

There are two options available when you RSVP:

• Option 1 - You would like to be included on a table organised on behalf of the Community Council. 
• Option 2 - You wish to organise a table and nominate 8-10 people to be on the table. Please list the names of all people to be added to the table.

Please note this is an ADULT ONLY event. 

The Community Council would love to see you there. 

Brag Tag, Spelling Mastery and Maths Mastery Awards

A big congratulations to all of the students who received an award today. 

Rebekah Brown

What Students are Learning About

The students in KM, Year 3 and Year 6 were lucky enough to meet with the Archbishop today.  He visited the classes to talk about the Sacraments and to hear Kinder sing a song.  We apprecaite his Grace visiting as he is very busy and has a lot of school in his archdiosce to take care of.

Year 6 Service Outreach

Our focus for Year Six is 'acts of service'. There's an enthusiastic group of Year 6 girls that love to do crochet and craft, and are keen to volunteer 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 elderly 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

WE ARE STILL LOOKING FOR OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES FOR TERM 3!

Also if anyone has an old wooden hall table that they would like to donate I am looking for one to use as a display.  Please let me know via email on stephanie.stewart@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Saint of the Week by Alexa Chilley

St Sebastian

St Sebastain is the patron saint of sport, St Sebastian was born in Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire in Ad 255 and he died in Rome, Italy AD 288. St Sebastian died by getting beaten up till his death. He is the patron of sport because of his physical endurance and his energetic way of spreading and defending the Faith. 

Why I chose St Sebastian as my Saint

I chose st Sebastain as my saint because he is the Patron Saint of Sport and I wanted to pick a saint that has a connection to myself. I love sport and so I thought St Sebastian would be a perfect fit for myself to connect. He is also brave and I feel like being brave is a big part in life is to not be scared no matter what, St Sebastain was getting arrows thrown at him but he was still really brave which is a very impressive thing to do.

My Painting of St Sebastian 

My Painting has a white dove in the middle then for the background I have a peachy colour because peach is one of St Sebastian's colours. All around the dove are basketball to represent a sport since Sebastian is the patron saint of sports so I chose one sport to focus on and that was basketball since it is my favourite sport.

Catholic Life and Reflection

The parable of the mustard seed continued to be felt this week.  It is small things that have big impact when people are tired.  Miss E organised a coffee van, we had a hot lunch together on Wednesday for Winter Warmers and Vietnamese for lunch on Friday with the Archbishop. 

Fr Chung reminded us that it is the small seed of hope, joy or love that grows to overflow our cup.

I hope in the coming weeks that you are able to find those small moments that grow to fill your heart. 

Matthew 13:31-32

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³¹ He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; ³² it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’

God bless,

Stephanie Stewart, Religious Education Coordinator

Happy Birthday to Zara Fearne, Amara Byrne, Heidi Pearson, Imogen Clark, Katie Wedd, Joseph Hedges, Isabella Speechley, William Mullins and Ivy Juskevics who all celebrated a birthday over the last week.

Congratulations to the following students who received the End of Term Awards. 

What a wonderful community of readers we have at St John’s! I’m so excited to announce that 94% of our students completed the Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge this year. In  order to complete the challenge, students were required to read 30 books in the first two terms of this year. They were supported during their library lessons and in class, as well as encouraged to record the books they read at home. A total of 338 students completed the challenge, with a school total of more than 10000 books read. We will celebrate this fabulous achievement later in the year.

I am also really pleased to share with you that I have already achieved my 2024 reading goal to read my height in a year - and only halfway into the year! I’m going to keep recording my reading progress on the library door - maybe I can read my height twice this year? I’ll keep you updated! Displaying my reading habits in this way has been a great conversation starter for students to discuss their reading habits. Many students have decided to complete a similar challenge for themselves, and some are using my book list as a way to find recommendations. I have also noticed many students measuring themselves against my book stack, and tracking my progress by counting the books.

Unicorn Boy By Dave Roman

I loved this book! Unicorn Boy has action, black cats, the Gran Reaper, a trip to the underworld and defies gender stereotypes. A must have for a primary school aged graphic novel fan.

A Small Collection of Happinesses By Zana Fraillion and Stephen Michael King

I did not want this book to end! A small collection of happinesses indeed! A friendship grows between a young girl and an old woman. Yet another book that shows old people as interesting and strong, having lived eventful lives. 

Wurrtoo: The wombat who fell in love with the sky By Tylissa Elisara and Dylan Finney 

A little bit “Winnie the Pooh” and a little bit “Muddle-headed Wombat”, Wurrtoo is a lovely story about a wombat who falls in love with the sky and goes on an adventure to marry her. This book gave a wonderful explanation of sky country, which I have been discussing with the Year 5 and 6 students this term. Wurrtoo also learns important lessons on caring for Country.

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

Thank you to the Year 5 and 6 students from St John the Apostle Primary School for participating in the Australian Catholics Young Voices Awards.

The students selected their own topics as part of the theme, “Do Good, Be Good, Share the Good News.” They worked on their entries as part of Media Arts in Performing Arts.

The judges commented that, “The time and effort that every entrant spent was obvious”.

The list of winners and highly commended, along with some of the winning entries, will be printed in the upcoming Australian Catholics Spring edition

Congratulations to Olivia Ayton in Year 6 for being awarded highly commended in the Junior Digital category for her entry titled ‘Our journey’.  

Congratulations to Grace Payne in Year 5 and Sophie Youssef in Year 6 for being awarded highly commended in the Junior Article category for their entries titled ‘Pack Pack Pack!’ and ‘Sharing smiles, one memory at a time!’.  

A friendly reminder that St Johns is a nut free school. Thank you.