St John's School Roma eNewsletter

Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Friends of St John's,

Last Friday 11^th February, was an opportunity to recognise three groups of student leaders. Tom McCoy was installed as the Male School Captain (replacing Jak McVeigh-Davy who relocated to North Queensland), and Ruby Taylor was also installed as Xaverian House Prefect. The Year 12 student cohort received their senior badges, ties and cravats, symbolising their ascension individually as leaders, whilst Student Council Representatives from Years 5-10 received badges anointing their election. Fr Tom Duncan explained the importance as a leader and role model of being able to turn the other cheek when wronged, whilst I explained the concept of Servant Leadership. Servant Leadership requires leaders to place the needs of others before oneself. Servant leaders empower, provide voice and remove barriers for those they lead. The expansion of the Student Council Leadership Team is a direct outcome of feedback received in last year’s school review and provides leadership opportunities for younger students.

Students from P-12 were also recognised for their academic achievements from Semester Two, 2021. The top three performing students from each year level (P-6) were awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze whilst students in Years 7-12 who achieved 85% As, 70% As, or 60% As in combination with Bs received similar awards respectively. These awards are recognition of sustained effort and learning over a six-month period and I commend all students who attained such high academic standards. Students who demonstrated exceptional diligence towards their studies combined with Mercy values were awarded Veritas Awards. A list of recipients and photos follows in this newsletter. Unfortunately, both the Student Leadership Liturgy and Academic Awards Ceremony were student and staff only events. Both events were live streamed on the school’s Facebook page and can still be viewed. Individual photographs were also taken of all senior leaders; these photographs will be made available to students and families.

Swimming trials were recently held for students seeking selection for the South-West Queensland Swimming Team. Students were required to meet qualifying times through these trials or supplied Swimming Club times. Successful students will be notified shortly. Thank you to Sports Coordinators, Meg Lyons and Sam Valentine for organising the trials.

Congratulations to all of our students who have been selected in the Roma and District Basketball Teams. It was pleasing to see so many students experience success. A list of selected students can be found further in this newsletter.

As has been indicated in previous correspondence to families, there have been COVID positive cases of both students and staff in the last week. As of last Tuesday, the school has been advised of 17 students who have tested positive whilst there have been 44 close contacts of positive cases in our school community. In line with the current requirements, these students were isolated at school and subsequently sent home with parents to undertake testing and home isolation.

As COVID-19 remains active in our community, we ask you to continue to monitor your child’s/children’s health and if they develop any flu-like symptoms:

Keep your child/children at home
Seek a PCR or Rapid Antigen test where it is recommended
Follow the advice of Queensland Health.

If your child tests positive, please inform the school by phoning/emailing so we can support the student and take any necessary action at a school level.

As we continue to navigate the pandemic, please remind your child/ren to:

wear a mask when it is required or when they cannot physically distance
maintain good hand hygiene at all times
cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or the inside of their elbow and dispose of tissues in the bin immediately.
practise social distancing from others where possible

I remind all families that supervision of students does not commence until 8.10am each morning. This means that there is not any supervision by staff before this time. Industrial agreements prevent staff from being rostered any earlier, accordingly students should not be on site prior to the above time. Whilst I acknowledge the pressures of working lives in our families, I am concerned when I see very young students being dropped off sometimes as early as 7.40am. I appreciate your assistance in keeping our young people safe.

I would like to thank parents for your assistance with school drop-offs from 8.10am each morning and pick-ups from 2.55pm, and adhering to social distancing practices at school events. These processes have ensured that as a school community we are being COVID safe.

Now that we are coming to the end of our second week back at school, we have made some adjustments to the drop-off arrangements for Prep and Year 1 students. Between 8.10 and 8.25am each morning, Prep students should now be dropped at the QUAD area, where all P-6 students gather prior to school. I also request that parents of Prep and Year 1 students move promptly off site after drop-offs and goodbyes. This makes the transition for students into class smoother for all involved.

The school is seeking nominations for two parent representatives on the St John’s School Board. Further details can be found later in this newsletter. The Parents and Friends Association is seeking parents who are looking to make a tangible contribution to supporting the school. Meetings occur every third Wednesday of the month, commencing 5.30pm at the White Bull Function Room.

God bless.

Jim Brennan

School Board Nominations

St John’s is seeking parent nominations for two positions on St John’s School Board, due to recent resignations. Please forward your nomination to roma@twb.catholic.edu.au outlining your suitability for this governance structure. The School Board provides advice to the Principal and Executive Leadership Team on strategic and governance issues.

St John’s School Board meets the second Wednesday of each month in the VB Room at 6pm. Nominations for these positions are due by Friday 25^th February.

School Support Services

Welcome back! We have had a different start to the year, and it has been wonderful to see the students back this week. Mrs Kate Row has now been appointed to the role of Middle Leader Inclusion P-12. The role is now a full-time role, which is wonderful for our school. This has given us an opportunity to slightly change the structure of Learning Support at St John’s. Mrs Katarina Silvester will now oversee Prep – Year 4, Mrs Kate Row Years Five – Nine, and Mrs Yenda Emery Years Ten – Twelve. Mrs Toni Densley will continue to work with our EAL/D students in Prep – Twelve.

It is important to remember that your child/ren’s class teacher is your first point of contact when seeking the support of the school's Inclusion Staff.

Academic Awards - Semester Two 2021

Academic Awards - Semester Two 2021

ACADEMIC AWARDS – Semester 2 2021

St John’s recently celebrated our Academic Awards Ceremony. We would like to take the opportunity to congratulate the following students:

VERITAS AWARDS RECIPIENTS

Year 1 Tessa Lee, Harry Sperling, Aubree Davis

Year 2 Isabelle Ewert, Jade Birch, Angel Kellock

Year 3 Maddie Walsh, Huxley Lucas, Daniel Sullivan

Year 4 Breeanna Selmes, Hollie Reilly, Oliver Dart

Year 5 Brydee Williams, Locke Williams

Year 6 Claire Selmes, Kyle Howard, Indiana Meyer

Year 7 Charlee Shepherd, Lachlan McInnerney

Year 8 Katrina Rathjen, Emily Aisthorpe, Ethan Ewert

Year 9 Faith Ireland, Alex Cox, Holly Coonan

Year 10 Charlee O’Donohue, Beau Cramer

Year 11 Maya Jackson, Isabel Lucas, Luke Carroll, Bronte Jones

BRONZE MEDAL RECIPIENTS

Year 1 Heidi Bond

Year 2 Amelia Wilson

Year 3 Raffie Cawilan

Year 4 Zara Parker

Year 5 Yasmin Bond

Year 6 Caelen McDonald

Year 7 Rebe Cunningham, Macy Lemon

Year 8 Camilo Garcia

Year 10 Sean Dawes

SILVER MEDAL RECIPIENTS

Year 1 Toby Flesser, Pippa Warner

Year 2 Tilly Wells

Year 3 Kianzie Cruz

Year 4 Jana Bugarin

Year 5 Grace Pollock

Year 6 Storm Gould

Year 8 Hughen Coffey, Elle Duff, Ruby Ferrier, Erl Ren Solana

Year 9 Mitchell Boland

Year 10 Lalitha Cooper, Cadence Ogilvie

Year 11 Mackenzie Brider, Briony Burns

Year 12 Emily McNulty

GOLD MEDAL RECIPIENTS

Year 1 Samantha Nixon

Year 2 Elsa Smith

Year 3 Rachael Bond

Year 4 Kevin Zhang

Year 5 Piper Waldron

Year 6 Lauren Brindley

Year 7 Imogen Ries

Year 8 Eadi Bruton, Allie Ey, Millie Filan, Bayley Melcer, Nikita Otto

Year 9 Leo Ey, Taylor Forrest, Erl Nino Solana, Connor Walsh

Year 10 Kissea Cruz

Year 11 Hannah Coffey

Marian House

As we welcome 2022, Marian continues to celebrate our success in the 2021 Interhouse Spirit Cup. This outcome is ultimately the result of our House victory and triumph at the Swimming Carnival, Mercy Day and accumulated points cards, by virtue of Marian students' constant involvement in extracurricular activities. Despite our learning looking slightly different in 2022, Marians continue to persevere and engage in learning throughout primary and secondary school. The academic excellence and sheer dedication to school life displayed by Marian students were recently commended, as various students were awarded Veritas, Bronze, Silver and Gold Academic Awards. Not only are these mighty Marians relishing in their own achievements, but earning valuable spirit points for our house as the exciting race begins for the Spirit Cup of 2022. On behalf of the Marian leadership team, we are highly enthusiastic as we perceive all the amazing possibilities and memories this year is yet to offer us. Remember, just like our Marian Lion be ‘Mighty & Glorious’ in your studies, extracurricular activities and as a person...

Heath Waugh and Hannah Coffey – Marian House Prefects

Marian_Photo_Academic_awards_ceremony.jfif

X1 - Student of the Week

Isabel Lucas in Year 12 is an exceptional member of our Xaverian 1 Community. She is always enthusiastic and active in all aspects of Pastoral Care life and is a willing volunteer for any task. Isabel is cheerful, friendly, punctual and hardworking. She is unfailingly caring about others; the perfect example of which being the hard work she put into organising last year’s St Vincent de Paul hamper contributions for St John's. Well done Isabel!

Year Two Maths

As we missed the first two weeks of school, students have hit the ground running with Maths. To start the term off, the students have been exploring the calendar. They have ordered the months by making paper chains to display in the classroom, identified the seasons in those months and learnt how to write the date in a variety of ways.

This term, the Year two students will be exploring numbers beyond 100. They’ll be modelling and representing 3-digit numbers using MAB blocks and ordering them according to their value.

The students have been practising their skip counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and will be introduced to skip counting in 3s.

They will also be practising to use mental addition and subtraction strategies by drawing on their knowledge of doubles and rainbow facts to solve simple additions and subtractions.

Year Four English

Year Six

Year Seven Religion

To begin the year, Year 7 students are studying Sacraments and Liturgical Seasons. We are focusing on the Initiation Sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation. We have looked at initiation rites from other cultures – some of these look painful and terrifying!

Later in the term, when we begin our study on the Liturgical Seasons, we will be designing a new vestment for Father Tom that fits a particular season. You may not be aware that the priestly vestments were destroyed in the sacristy fire. Who knows – maybe Father Tom will want to use one of our designs in his new vestment!

Year Eight English

Senior Physical Education

In Senior P.E. this term, students have engaged in integrated learning experiences about tactical awareness and the application of body and movement concepts, specialised movement sequences and movement strategies in authentic tennis environments. They have been optimising their personal performance in tennis, exploring various task, learner and environmental constraints that limit or enable movement at the baseline or at the net. This is the first year St John’s has run alternate sequence in Physical Education, meaning, we have students in both Year 11 and 12. We are looking forward to the year ahead with bigger numbers than previous years in PE, which will give us more opportunities to explore further units.

Mr Valentine

Children's Liturgy

Sporting Update

R&D 13-15 Boys Basketball Team

Riley Waldron- St John's

Runako House- St John's

R&D 13-15 Girls Team

Meekah Schuurman- St John's

Ashlyn Wheatley- St John's

Maddison Murphy- St John's

Tahlya Marshall- St John's

Grace Horn- St John's

R&D 16-19 Boys Team

Adam Pienaar- St John's

Nathaniel Bracamonte- St John's

Jayrold Bugarin- St John's

R&D 16-19 Girls Team

Shae Taylor- St John's

SW 13-19 Tennis Team

Riley Burns

Camilo Garcia

Spencer Henricks

Erin Brindley

Students representing St John’s at South West Swimming Trials in Chinchilla:

Eadi Bruton

Mia Bruton

Isla Allwood

Gemma Lee

Maeve Moloney

Bray Kenafake

Patrick Moloney

Darcy Harth

Sam Anderson

Career planning for students on the autism spectrum – a webinar for parents and carers | Wednesday 9 March | 4.00pm (AEDT)

For 20 years, myfuture has been a trusted source of career information within the Australian education community providing content that is practical, targeted and developed by experts. As well as supporting students, teachers and career practitioners, myfuture provides tools and resources to help parents and carers support their child’s career exploration, engage them in career conversations, and raise awareness of post-school options.

In this Insights webinar, Associate Professor Marina Ciccarelli from Curtin University, and Cheryl Mangan from Autism CRC will provide information about the myWAY Employability evidence-based resources available to assist young people on the autism spectrum in transition planning, to build their employability, and maximise their potential.

Join us as the team from myWAY Employability discuss such topics as:

Starting challenging conversations about the future
Identifying personal strengths, interests, and sensory preferences to guide career exploration and work experiences
Providing a just right challenge
Building self-determination.

Register now for this free event: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1366920972620471309

Career Development

Career Development

Bussamarai Andanu Workshop

Bussamarai Andanu Workshop is a unique experience for indigenous children to learn and share indigenous art and culture in efforts to strengthen their connection and confidence.

All programs will be run by Ngarrumban Art & Cultural Experience and are proudly funded by FRRR & Highways and Byways.

This will be an after school program running on
Monday 28th February
Tuesday 1st March
Wednesday 2nd March
Thursday 3rd March
Time: 4pm - 6:30pm
Afternoon tea and dinner supplied to attendees.

If you’re interested in your children attending, bookings are essential, please contact Megan on 0439 726 952 or via email on soaringsouls20@gmail.com

Troy Williams

Hello! My name is Mr Troy Williams. I am one of the new Guidance Counsellors at St John’s this year. I have come from St Mary’s in Goondiwindi where I was the Careers Counsellor. I have been teaching in Queensland schools since 1998, teaching Mathematics and History (mainly), and have worked in many pastoral settings in this time. I am looking forward to working with Jenny Bye and the St John’s Community to continue the great work that Sarah Clear has been doing. I can be contacted at troy.williams@twb.catholic.edu.au, or by ringing the office. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for you. Have a great day!

Debutante Ball

2022 Collection Notice

2022 Collection Notice

School Photos

R & D and Southwest Permission Forms - Copy

R_D_Form_Updated.pdf

SW_Regional_Trial_Permission_Form_2022.pdf

All Saints Mass Times

Garden Club

Tuckshop

Parents

Please remember to change your child’s year level on Flexischools to correspond with their new year level. This can be changed in the PROFILE tab at the bottom of the App.

New Parents

Tuckshop orders are received and paid for through Flexischools, which you can access online or by downloading the App. You can find our school by typing in Roma, then finding St John’s. Cut off time is 8am on the morning of Tuckshop (every Tuesday and Thursday). It’s important to let your child know if you have only ordered for one break and which break you have ordered, as students will sometimes get confused about the day or the break. It is very easy to think you have ordered First Break but accidentally put Second Break, and also it is quite easy to order for the wrong day, so be careful to check this before sending through. Flexischools will send you an email to confirm your order, so it is a great idea to check this to make sure there are no errors.

At the Tuckshop, we proceed to get the orders together which, for Primary, are put in their class boxes and picked up by Year Six students and taken to the classrooms. The students will need to come back to the Tuckshop, with their bag, if they have ordered an iceblock. Secondary students will collect their orders from the Tuckshop individually. If your child does not receive their order, please let them know to come to the Tuckshop or tell a teacher as we never let a child go hungry. Sometimes, it is just ordered for the next break, a different day or maybe another child has accidentally picked it up out of the box.

If you have any questions regarding Tuckshop orders, or volunteering at tuckshop, please do not hesitate to contact Anita Crawford on 0418985276.

St John's Newsletter - 17th February 2022