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

Please note that the last day of Term 4 (17 December) is a pupil free days for professional learning for staff. Students do not attend school on this day. OSHClub will be available.

Term 4 Weeks 7-10

Yr 1 excursion - Arboretum (week 7)
Yr 4 excursion - Questacon (week 7)
Yr 6 - SFX Orientation Morning (week 8)
End of Term Awards (week 8)
Kindergarten Nativity (week 8)
End of Year Mass (week 8)
Christmas Picnic (week 8)
Sue Ferguson Award (week 9)
One Up Afternoon (week 9)
Yr 6 Graduation Mass (week 9)
Cornerstone Ceremony (week 9)
Teachers vs Students Netball (week 9)
Colour Run (week 9)

2024 Theme

Filled With the Spirit

The school positive behaviour focus this week was:

Wear the correct uniform.

Ngunnawal word of the week:

Dhari (means 'stand')

Dear St John the Apostle families,

This week we had a lot of new students visit the school. They will start in Kindergarten and other year levels in 2025.

I would like to thank our students for their exceptional welcome to these children. They really embraced and looked after them. Thank you in particular to our Year 4 students who met the new Kindergarten children and began that important supportive connection they will remember for a very long time.

Relational Aggression

This week I've spent some time with our Year 4 cohort teaching about relational aggression. For those of you who attended the session the school counsellor and I ran last year you would be aware of what relational aggression can look like among children.

Children are still developing and learning how to maintain healthy and positive relationships. They don't have fully developed brains and this impacts on their social reasoning and capacity. It's so easy to ascribe to children the same understanding and motivations that we ascribe to adults. It's important to remember that they are learning.

Every year I like to teach a few lessons about relational aggression to the older year levels. Relational aggression is just one form of bullying that can occur in any workplace, team, school or community organisation. It can be secretive, misunderstood and confusing because it happens between friends. It occurs whenever any human beings work and play a lot together.

To teach about it very early we help ensure children:

Recognise when it is happening
Report it to people who can help stop it
Refuse to participate or accept it

Not only do we want to enable someone to not become a part of it, we also want to empower the people who see it to step in and help. These people are often called bystanders.

Teaching about relational aggression gives our older students the capacity to have more positive and healthy relationships in high school.

School Fees 2025

Catholic Education have determined the school fees for 2025 and these will be sent out early next week to assist families with future planning.

I wish everyone a very joyful and productive weekend.

Matthew Garton

Principal

Colour Run

Please save the date for this year's Colour Run which will be held on Friday 13th December, 2024 from 1.00pm - 2:45pm (Week 9, Term 4). The Colour Run is a great opportunity to support the school by raising money for:

Catholic Missions - depending on how much money we fundraise, we will donate at least $500 to Catholic Missions.
Interactive TVs - the rest of the money will go towards installation of new Interactive TVs across the school (in every classroom).

Relations, friends, neighbours or businesses are all great sources of sponsorship! Proceeds of past fundraising events have seen major improvements to our school (eg. new school playgrounds, air conditioning, readers, Maths resources etc.) and all of these have been of direct benefit to the students at St John’s.

Prizes

We are offering three prizes for the following:

The student who raises the most money will receive a Nintendo Switch.
For every $10 that each child raises, they will get a ticket in a draw to win another Nintendo Switch.
The class that raises the most money will get an ice cream at the end of the Colour Run.

When children are requesting their sponsorships, we are not asking them to wander around the streets unsupervised or to talk to strangers, but they should ask family members, relatives, friends, friendly neighbours etc.

Sponsorship Card

Use the attached card to record donations. Spare cards are available from the Front Office.

Donations can be:

sent as cash to the office each week. All money should be returned in a plastic zip lock bag, clearly labelled with your child’s name and class.
sent as a Qkr payment. Individual sponsorships can be made via Qkr. Families can also collect cash and make the equivalent payment via Qkr. The total amount must match the record on the sponsorship card. You can find the Qkr payment under the Community Council tab.

We would like the money to be returned before the Colour Run as this allows us to tally final amounts and to present prizes on Monday of Week 10. It also enables us to promote the Colour Run more successfully as the sponsorship tally rises each day.

The Community Council would also like to provide the students with a free special lunch. This will happen prior to the Colour Run, from about 12pm. If you can volunteer with cooking a BBQ, organising the special lunch or helping with the Colour Run, please email Rebekah Brown (rebekah.brown@cg.catholic.edu.au).

Thank you for your support in our fundraising efforts.

Closer to the event, I will send out information about what to bring on the day and the timetable of the Colour Run. However, if you want to start preparing, students will need white clothes. Last year I wore a shower cap to ensure my hair didn't get coloured (this could be improtant for students with light coloured hair).

Christmas Picnic and Gelato Orders

We will be holding a Christmas Picnic on Thursday 5th December from 5.30pm. At this picnic, each year level will do a performance and we will farewell Mr Matthew Garton as a community. More details of student performances, costumes and timings will be available at the beginning of the week.

As it is a picnic, we will be asking families to bring their dinner or a snack. The Community Council has organised the opportunity to pre-purchase tubs of gelato (155ml) for the picnic. Community Council will also pay more than half of the cost of each gelato tub. If you would like to order gelato for the picnic, you can do this on Qkr for $2.50 per tub under the Community Council tab. Please make sure you enter your child’s name with the order. Please be aware that pre-orders will close once we have reached our ordering limits.

The options are:

Chocolate (Gluten, Egg and Nut Free)
Strawberry Cream (Gluten, Egg and Nut Free)
Vanilla Bean (Gluten, Egg and Nut Free)
Mango (Dairy, Gluten, Egg, Nut Free)

Awards

Congratulations to the students who received Spelling Mastery and Brag Tag Awards today.

Rebekah Brown

Assistant Principal and Inclusion Coordinator

What Teachers are Learning About

Myself, Mrs OG and Mrs Stevenson all participated in the final CECG Collaborative RE Planning groups for this year. We worked on the first unit for 2025. By the end of next year almost every unit of work will have a draft set of activities and assessments for teachers to work from, creating a rich curriculum for Religious Education across the school.

I am excited to continue to work on this project in 2025.

What Students are Learning About

Kindergarten are rehearsing for their much anticipated Kinder Nativity. This is an opportunity for them to deepen their understanding of the gospel of Luke and Matthew. The songs help them to engage in the story and often the older students join in. Of course, they are always so cute to watch and their costumes are lovely but it is important to remember that it is also a signficant liturgical experience from them.

Watch this space for further updates.

Catholic Life and Reflection

I have been blessed with a student teacher in Year 6 for most of this term. She is from Queensland so finding the cooler weather a little challenging and can often be seen on the playground with a fur lined coat on!

Having a student teacher is always a growing experience for everyone involved. Obviously for the teacher themselves but also the students and myself.

For the student teacher it is an intense experience to be faced with a group of students in a school you don’t know. Having to step up almost straight away and be “in charge” during a lesson. How do I manage behaviour? What do I need to prepare?

The students benefit from having to listen and learn from someone else. Accepting that things might be done differently for a little while. In Year 6 this a great stepping stone for high school.

For me it is always a reminder of what I need to learn next. What is it that I need to improve? What did I need to know as an early career teacher? How do I guide an aspiring teacher to be who they are in the classroom and bring their own unique gifts and talents?

Jesus, the ultimate teacher, knew about listening and learning from others. He also understood about the uniqueness of each of us and that teaching is a gift from God.

Ephesians 4:11-13

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Ms Byrne has reminded me so much of myself as a young teacher. Brilliant with relationships and just happy to be in the classroom. She has been a blessing to our community this term and we wish her well in her future classrooms.

Catholic Mission Fundraiser

Some very enthusiastic Year Six students wil be selling zooper doopers for $1 on Friday 29th of Nov. This will be at lunch time from the canteen. All proceeds will go to Catholic Mission.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas 2024

As always we are asked to donate non-perishable food items to our local chapter of St Vincent de Paul. Please send the items to your child's classroom. These donations have a signficant impact on those familes that struggle during this time of the year. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Non-perishable food donation suggestions

Jar of Jam/peanut butter/honey
Jar of coffee/packet of teabags
Large packet of chips
Packet of shortbread biscuits
Jar of pasta sauce or similar
Packet of Pasta or Rice
Packet of Savoury Biscuits
Box of Christmas Bon Bons
Packet of Lollies
Cans of Spaghetti or baked beans
Small Christmas pudding
Carton of custard (long life)
Nuts (jar or packet)
Tin of Milo
Bottle of Cordial or Fruit Juice
Tomato or BBQ sauce
Chocolates (bar, bag or jar)
Can of Fruit
Box of Breakfast Cereal
Packet of sweet biscuits

Food Gift Cards 2024

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God bless,

Stephanie Stewart

Notices from the Parish

Latest Parish Compact 24 November 2024

Happy Birthday to Aluel Ajang, Amelia Nguyen, Daniel Koroma, Pia Gallana, Emiy Sheppard and Zane Guidolin who all celebrated a birthday over the last week.

Opening Hours

The Uniform Shop will be open during the following:

Friday 29th November - 8:30am-9:30am

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

How to Really Play With Your Kids

Playing with your kids. It’s supposed to be fun—an enriching and bonding experience. Yet, for many of us—the overworked, the stressed, the ones who’ve traded sleep for a few more hours of productivity—the idea of one more demand on our time and energy can feel… daunting. Let’s be honest, sometimes Netflix and chill sound a hell of a lot better than another round of hide-and-seek.

But here’s the reality: engaging with your kids, truly engaging, is not just good for them. It’s an investment in your relationship, your sanity, and quite possibly, your future. Studies show it makes them happier, and it makes us happier. Those moments of genuine connection? They’re the dividends of the time and energy investment parents make in play. Forget the Pinterest-perfect crafts and the expensive toys. The best games are organic, spontaneous, a little ridiculous, and tailored to your kids’ unique quirks and interests. And remember, their primary interest is time with you.

A Note on Play With Older Kids

Remember that play can evolve. Think about activities that spark their interests—video games can turn into a bonding experience when you join them in co-op mode, or a friendly competition in a family trivia night can unleash a whole new level of engagement. Encourage your teens to show you their world. Challenge them to teach you their favourite game. Join them in their latest obsession, whether that’s cooking a new recipe together or diving into their favourite shows for a critique. You’ll not only bridge the gap between generations but also remind them that you’re still in their corner, willing to connect.

Remember, it’s about creating shared experiences—messy, spontaneous, and sometimes ridiculous—that deepen your bond and show them that playing together doesn’t stop just because they’ve outgrown the toys.

Simple, Fun Games You’ll Actually Enjoy

Ditch the guilt, put down the phone, and get into it. It might be messy, it might be loud, and it is all-but-certain to be tiring, but I promise you, it’ll be worth it. And who knows, you might even have some fun along the way.

Here’s a bunch of ideas that have worked in our family home over the years that I reckon your kids will love.

Hide and Seek: It’s an endless delight how much mileage this old-school game still gets in our home. Kids hiding in kitchen or bathroom cabinets; me hiding in places my body doesn’t really want to clamber into anymore; and hours of fun. We tend to play at night time with no lighting other than what comes into the windows from the street. The game has a slightly scary tinge to it that the kids thrive on.

Push Dad Off the Bed: This is perfect for the tired parent. Lie on the bed. Put all your weight into staying put. Then challenge the kids to push you off. For the first minute or two, you’ll be too tired to move. And then, their laughter becomes infectious. Their efforts (needling you in the ribs) force you to move. And energy creates energy. The kids win—and the game is over—when they push you off the bed. (If your kids are really small, you can make it easy for them… or have them call in reinforcements in the form of another parent—if available—to help them out.)

Build a Fort: Blankets, pillows, the dining table or lounge—use anything you can. Make it extra fun by having dinner in the fort. Perhaps you can make it big enough for a sleep-out?

Run Away People: We created this as Part II of “Push Dad off the Bed”. Once the parent is on the floor, recovering from the beating they’ve just taken, all the kids jump onto the bed. The parent’s job is simple: get all of the kids off the bed so that none of them are touching the bed in any way. Then the parent is allowed to get back on the bed and “be tired” all over again. With six kids who, from eldest to youngest, are fifteen years apart, this was a big challenge in our home. It required strategy, stacks of energy, and a soft touch. More fun than you can imagine.

Pull Dad’s Socks Off: When “Push Dad off the Bed” wasn’t working because the kids were too weak and big sisters were away, the kids discovered that pulling my socks off annoyed me. I’d try to keep my socks on. Then I’d be off-balance. And the kids could push me off the bed! Soon enough, “Pull Dad’s Socks Off” became a stinky, kind of gross, stand-alone game.

Security: This one is really for kids under about seven years of age. A parent is on “patrol”. They must only walk in one direction (e.g., down the hall) until they hit the wall. Then they can turn and go in another direction. The goal is for the kids to be outside the house and try to “break in” and get to a designated point (like the fridge where the treats are) without security turning around and catching them. If they are behind “security”, the parent can’t turn around and catch them unless they come to a wall, which requires a shift in direction.

Tickle-Monster Chase: This one’s simple. You (the parent) are the tickle-monster. You make lots of “roar” sounds and chase your kids around the house. When you catch them, you tickle them. When they say stop, you let them go and chase them again.

Making Memories Through Play

Screens are addictive, attention spans are shrinking, and our kids are growing up in a world that’s more chaotic than ever. But know this: roughhousing on the bed, building a pillow fort, or chasing your kids around the house like a maniac? That’s the antidote. It’s not just about being a ‘good parent’. It’s about joy. It’s about resilience. It’s about time. That’s how kids spell L-O-V-E; they spell it T-I-M-E.

So despite all that we have to deal with each day, let it go and be in the moment. Go make some memories. Your kids will thank you, and frankly, so will your future self.

Dr Justin Coulson

Dr Justin Coulson is a dad to 6 daughters and grandfather to 1 granddaughter. He is the parenting expert and co-host of Channel 9’s Parental Guidance, and he and his wife host Australia’s #1 podcast for parents and family: The Happy Families podcast. He has written 9 books about families and parenting. For further details visit www.happyfamilies.com.au.

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