St John's Newsletter - 17th March 2022
- Principal's Report
- Prep
- Prep
- Prep
- Year Two
- Year Four
- Year Nine
- Year Ten
- Marian One Student of the Week
- Theresian House
- NAPLAN
- Career Development
- Easter In The Country
- Guidance Councillors
- Phonics to Spelling Program
- History Competition
- AUSTDRIVE Youth Defensive Driving
- 2022 Next Step Survey
- School Cleaner Position
- R & D and Southwest Permission Forms
- All Saints Mass Times
- Tuckshop
Dear Parents and Friends of St John's,
As we enter the second week of the Lenten period, God asks us to consider how we can make time for him in our lives. Last Friday 11th March, our school community demonstrated this beautifully through the fundraiser event ‘Fiver for the Floods’ whereby $2248 was donated. The St John’s School Community will be forwarding these funds to St Patrick’s Catholic School in Gympie which will support their efforts to assist flood affected residents. The residents of Gympie and surrounding areas were significantly impacted by the recent flooding events and many Roma residents will recall the kindness offered when Roma experienced similar situations between 2010 and 2012.
On Friday 18th March, St John’s students and staff recognised the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. This year’s theme is ‘Kindness Culture; it starts with you’. Personal responsibility can be as simple as calling out bullying type behaviour or modelling kind behaviours. The St John’s School values of Compassion, Respect and Justice align well with this year’s theme of kindness. Our values form the basis of school rules and desired behaviours in the playground.
COVID 19 continues to be active in both the St John’s and Roma Community. Since school returned, the number of students isolating as close contacts or positive cases has reduced by 75%. This week, all teaching staff have been available for duty, which has been most welcomed. I remind all families of the importance of remaining at home should you experience COVID like symptoms.
Parents will be aware that the school has been utilising a digital platform (SENTRAL) which provides on- line access to student attendance through a parent portal. Students also have access to school notices and their timetables through a student portal. SENTRAL has a reporting function which enables parents to receive student reports, which can be downloaded and printed. It is the intention of St John’s School to move towards issuing student reports through the SENTRAL platform. Term One reports will be provided in both hard copy and through the parent portal; however, Semester One reports (mid-year) and beyond will only be issued through the portal. The school will be providing further information to parents on how to sign into the parent portal over the next three months. Hard copies of reports will be made available to families who have difficulty with internet access.
Annual NAPLAN testing will be administered again during May across the country. St John’s students will complete individual assessment tasks between May 10 – 20. The knowledge and cognitions assessed in NAPLAN are practised through the delivery of the National Curriculum in all subject areas. St John’s students will undertake two practice tasks on Wednesday and Thursday of Week 10 this term. These practice tasks allow students to familiarise themselves with the structure of the assessments and for the school to assess on-line testing infrastructure.
I have had the pleasure of observing several classes in the last week. Miss Evan’s Prep class demonstrated their understanding of the sound the letter ‘M’ makes and were able to write the letter accurately. In Miss Roger’s Year 10 Legal Studies class, I witnessed student learnings about judicial sentencing, while Miss Osborne’s Year 7 English class engaged in persuasive writing. Each lesson demonstrated the development of critical literacy skills which underpin success in all subject levels and the literacy continuum that exists across the thirteen years of schooling at St John’s School.
I am pleased to announce that Mr Vincent Kwan has been appointed as the Instrumental Teacher for strings at St John’s commencing Term Two. Mr Kwan will conduct lessons each Monday.
As part of the St John’s Maintenance and Enhancement Program, a number of minor works will commence shortly or during next term including the provision of shade umbrellas in the new senior eating area ($5000), construction of new playground equipment in the P-6 oval area ($50,000) and
landscaping and refurbishment of the Years 7-12 drop off area ($70,000). The new playground equipment is a result of the funds raised by the P&F through the last St John’s Race Day and Moonlight Fair.
God bless.
Jim Brennan
Year Nine students are currently studying Linear Equations and Linear Functions. The topics include:
Graphing Straight Lines
Lines with one Intercept
Gradient
Gradient and Direct Proportion
Gradient/Intercept form
Finding the equation of a line
Modelling Linear functions
Midpoint and Length of a line
Perpendicular and Parallel lines
The students are fortunate to have access to SmartLab to assist with their studies. This is a digital diagnostic and learning platform. The students are currently in a developmental stage of learning how to utilise the tool correctly. SmartLab provides the opportunity for students to do problems that are targeted to the work being studied in class. In the case of Year Nines, this is Coordinate Geometry. Once the Targeted Module has been completed, students can then act on the feedback from their results and observe videos or complete worksheets to consolidate their understanding of the topic.
Year Nine students are currently studying for their Term One exam which will be held in their double lesson in Week Nine.
Mr Penrose, Miss Tiley and Mr Creeley
Elsie Irwin in Year Eight is an extraordinary member of our Marian One Pastoral Care class. Elsie consistently demonstrates the St John’s values of respect, compassion, justice and excellence. She always shows initiative and lends a hand in all aspects of our Pastoral Care class. Elsie is a hardworking, enthusiastic and diligent role model for the younger students in M1. She has recently accepted a position on the Student Representative Council, working in cooperation with other students to make student voices heard. Well done Elsie!
As Guidance Counsellors, we are often asked about children not wanting to go to school or are finding it difficult to leave mum or dad. This occurs quite frequently at the start of every year and it is quite normal in the early years of schooling.
Unfortunately, this can also make the child upset during the day.
Many psychologists call this ‘separation anxiety’, and parents, teachers and schools need to work together to help the child overcome fears such as this.
Parents, especially, have a big role to play in this process by reassuring the child when they leave, developing a clear plan (including a morning drop-off ritual) with the teacher, helping the child by explaining that it is normal and that everyone feels this way at some stage (including parents), keeping calm, cheerful and positive, reinforcing positive behaviour, and, most of all, being an example of positivity for the child.
Should you wish to find out more on this topic, then the Be You website has some fabulous resources to help. https://beyou.edu.au/resources/news/how-to-support-an-anxious-child
Remember that it takes a ‘village to raise a child’, so working with the school and your child’s teacher will be the most effective strategy in helping your child to become the best that they can be.
Have a great day!
Troy Williams and Jenny Bye
2022 Next Step Survey
The Queensland Government is conducting its annual statewide survey of all students who completed Year 12 in 2021. The Next Step survey is a brief, confidential survey that gains a comprehensive picture of the employment, study and life choices made by Queensland school completers in the year after they finish Year 12.
Between March and June, all our students who completed Year 12 last year can expect to receive instructions to complete a web-based survey or a telephone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office. Please encourage them to take part. If their contact details have changed, please assist the interviewer with their updated details or forward the survey to their new address so they can participate.
Thank you for your support of the Next Step survey in 2022.
Further information on Next Step, including results from previous years, is available online at www.qld.gov.au/nextstep or on toll free telephone 1800 068 587.
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.