Principal’s Message Week 2 2025
We welcome you to Term 2 and hope your children had a fantastic first week back at school. We especially welcome 3 new families to our school community this term – the Davis family (Year 1, 4 and 5), Ryder family (Year 1 and 3) and Jones family (Year 1). It has been heartwarming to see how quickly our new students have gained a sense of belonging with us and we are very grateful for these wonderful additions to St John’s! This term, we are focusing on the new school value of:
Stay tuned for our weekly social media Spotlight posts created by teachers and Mrs Kath Dunlop, Administration Officer, sharing how “We are adventurous’ in our everyday school life. Being adventurous is our Term 2 Chapel theme and we love God’s reminder from Joshua 1:9 to be strong and courageous, knowing He is always with us as we learn about and serve the world around us in His love.
Anna-Marie Bothe
Interim Principal
Wednesday 21/5 National Simultaneous Storytime
Friday 23/5 5/6PV Leading Chapel AND Riverina LCA Youth Group 6:30pm
The FULL school calendar can be found via Parent Orbit or our website
Calendar
New Sports Equipment Thanks to Your Support!
Families might remember at the end of last year, St John’s engaged in a Colour Run Fundraising Initiative. Students had a wonderful afternoon getting colourful, while fundraising at the same time. We’re thrilled to announce that, thanks to your generous support, we’ve been able to purchase brand-new sports equipment for our Sports Drawer! The Sports Drawer is maintained by our House Captains and is opened each lunch and recess for all students. We’ve purchased high-quality AFL balls, soccer balls, netballs, basketballs, tennis racquets to name just a few! These new additions will help our students enjoy their lunch and recess playtime even more.
A huge thank you to everyone who contributed—you’ve made a real difference!
A special thanks to Mrs Nic and Mrs Gordon, who were part of the working committee last year and worked behind the scenes this year to order the equipment and pump up the balls!
Lunchtime Clubs
As we are at the start of another term, we have reset our lunchtime clubs and are accepting new student ideas. We are so proud of our student’s initiative, and adventurous nature, and are impressed with the level of creativity that students come up with in these clubs each term. We encourage you to speak to your child/ren to see if they are wanting to run a club this term!
School Library
Our library has reopened, moving into one of the buildings at the student entrance to the school. Mrs T has spent a lot of time making it feel like a warm and cozy place to read and hang out. We look forward to many more exciting times ahead in this space!
Alison Jafari
Deputy Principal
FRIDAY NIGHT CHAPEL
Join us for family fun at our Friday Night Chapel! This term we have two new year 5 bands leading us in musical worship! The first band played last Friday night, and the second will join us next week! If you love School Chapel, you’ll love Friday Night Chapel as well!
Contact Chappy Pete for more information – [email protected]
Riverina LCA Youth Group
If you have children in high school, they might like to join our new Youth Group! The group is run by teenagers for teenagers! Food, games, discussions and more. You’ll find us at St John’s School Hall every second Friday.
Click here to register
Click here to register.
Click here to subscribe to our Church Newsletter
We believe in exploring the world God made, with excitement and wonder, bravely venturing through the unknown.
Adventure is the sense of excitement, curiosity and courage in which we approach our learning.
Adventure is play, creativity, taking thoughtful risks and seeing challenges as opportunities for growth.
Adventure is how we understand the world around us and our place within it. There are limitless possibilities that spark motivation and drive our learning.
STUDENT PROFILE:
STAFF PROFILE:
What a day! Clear blue skies, sun shining, sausages cooking, music playing and 180+ kids ready to RUUUNNNNNN! We couldn't ask for anything more.
Thanks to everyone who helped out on the day, with a special thanks to Mrs Emily Sarroff for organising, and the Year 8, 9 and 10 students from St Paul's for helping us out on check points, running with and encouraging our students and helping us pack up. We couldn't have done it without you!
Ivy Tervet represented St John's at the NSW CIS Primary Swimming Championships in Sydney on Wednesday 26 March. The highlight of Ivy's program at the Olympic Pool was her 50m freestyle, in which a pb of 35.94 seconds saw her not only win her heat but earn a ranking of 11th place overall. Ivy followed this up with strong swims in the 50m breaststroke, 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly, coming away with top-25 finishes in each event.
This season Ivy has raced in Sydney, Melbourne, Griffith, Wagga Wagga, Wangaratta and Corowa as well as the local pools in Albury-Wodonga. She won four silver medals at the Ovens & Murray Championships and made it all the way through NSW Country to the Speedo NSW Junior State Age Championships.
We asked Ivy a few questions after she swam at CIS on Wednesday.
How did you feel at the start of the day? Really nervous because I didn't know how the day was going to go!
How did you feel at the end of the day? Extremely proud for getting under 36 seconds in the 50m freestyle.
What do you love about swimming? That you are trying to beat yourself and not others.
What is the hardest thing about swimming? When you don't get a PB.
What can you tell us about your training? I train 3-4 times a week at Albury Swim Centre. Sessions for my squad are on Monday and Wednesday, from 5-6.30pm, and Tuesday and Thursday, 5.30-7am. I have to set my alarm for 4.30am on those days.
What is your proudest moment in the pool so far? Going to the highest level of club swimming for my age group this year (NSW Junior State).
What do you hope to achieve in the future? Go to the Olympics in Brisbane in 2032!
An absolutely amazing effort Ivy and what a goal! We too would love to watch you compete in Brisbane in 2032!!
Fletcher Barber is another super star of St John's who represented Albury/Wodonga in the U10 mixed soccer carnival held in Bendigo over the weekend. His team, AWFA white team won their division 3-0 to Avondale in the Grand Final and were the Boys and Girls FC Champions 2025.
We asked Fletcher a couple of questions about the day.
What was the highlight of the carnival? Winning the Tournament
How many games did you play over the weekend? 7
What position did you play? Centre back - a defender position.
What's the best thing about soccer? Scoring goals!
Well done Fletcher!
We know our students at St John's are amazing and now we want the rest of the community to know so if your child is doing amazing things outside of school, please reach out to Mrs Dunlop in the front office so we can include their achievements in future newsletters. Sports, arts, crafts, hobbies we want to hear about it!
In Design Lab, Kinder have been learning about light. In this activity one student secretly put an item in the box and their partner had to look through a tiny sliver to try to guess the item. We talked about how much light was needed to be able to see inside the box. Kinders loved tricking their friends with different items!
Challenge closes on Friday 22 August 2025
What is the Premier's Reading Challenge?
The NSW Premier's Reading Challenge is on again! It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely. Its aim is to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure and to enable them to experience quality literature. The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is open to all NSW students in Kindergarten to Year 10, and many students have rushed to express their interest in participating this year. The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) involves students reading books from predetermined lists, logging them online and at the end of the Challenge, receiving a certificate of completion. Any books on the Premier’s Reading Challenge booklist that your child has read or you have read to your child during the summer holidays can be counted towards this year’s challenge, just note the title and the author.
The PRC Booklist can be found
HERE
How do students participate in the Premier's Reading Challenge?
In order to complete the Challenge, students are required to read the following number of books:
To log in
Use this link
Go to ‘Logon’ on the left pull down box.
Then enter your child’s username and password (emailed home)
NSW Premier's Reading Challenge 2025
Click here
This is the link to find books to read......
If you have any queries regarding the Premier’s Reading Challenge visit the PRC website NSW Premier's Reading Challenge or send me through an email with your concerns and I will endeavour to answer your questions - [email protected]
Your school’s PRC coordinator is Mrs Therese Schmidt ..Mrs T.
At St John's, we pray for our students and their families and staff members.
We are praying for:
Week 1
Edward and Audrey Sarroff
Lily and Grace Ross
Arthur Lieschke
Georgia Tension
Emily Sarroff
Week 2
Toby Paech
Charlotte and Beatrix Phelps
Morgan and Wesley Mason
Bastian Triffett and Grace Phelps
Melanie Barnes
Week 3
Poppy Wills
Amelia and Anthony Yong
Eloise Sutcliffe
Benji Lustig
Daniel Stopp and Hugh Sutcliffe
Tracey Stevens
Week 4
Benjamin and Emilia Baird
Mannix and Ava Dowell
Adeline Moll and Leo Delhunty
Sarah Baird
Week 5
Kaitlyn Holmes
Alexander and Edith Hoek
Delilah Harrigton
Claire Schwarz
Anna-Marie Bothe
WEEK 7
Kinder
Edith Hoek and Beau Kotzur
Year 1
Ava Jones and Ella Lewis
Year 2
Piper Barber and Jonti Noordam
Year 3/4 LK
Edward Sarroff and Norah Heath
Year 3/4 GC
George Shipp and Max Ley
Year 5/6 PV
Isaac Hartley and Ian Wang
Year 5/6 DB
Tennyson Deegan and Ivy Tervet
WEEK 8
Kinder
Ellena Murtagh and Samuel Busch
Year 1
Deliah Harrington and Indigo Sutcliffe
Year 2
Daria Jafari and Jimmy Schmidt
Year 3/4 LK
Evelynn Tyrell and Tilda Gurney
Year 3/4 GC
Gloria Wang and Chloe Oates
Year 5/6 PV
Layla Forrester and Ari Severin
Year 5/6 DB
Jethro Harper and Sarah Bergmeier
WEEK 9
Kinder
Madelyn Swift and Lance Taylor
Year 1
Ziggy Saggers and Phillipa Louwrier
Year 2
Archer Walker and Stevie Thies
Year 3/4 LK
Ryder Bakes and Eli Johnston
Year 3/4 GC
Amelia Yong and Evie Noordam
Year 5/6 PV
Johan Klaassen and Ivy McWaters
Year 5/6 DB
Maison Holm and Evy Groenwald
WEEK 10
Kinder
Xavier Biggs and Walter Cottrell and
Blair Thomson
Year 1
Arthur Lieschke and Theo Bakes
Year 2
George Tuohey and Theo Merkel
Year 3/4 LK
Tom Hancock and Maeve Bryant
Year 3/4 GC
Sophie Chang and Ivy Lawrence
Year 5/6 PV
Leo Jensen and Jett Smith and Henry Edwards
Year 5/6 DB
Cruz Smith and Kade Anderson
Use the footpath to enter school
Walk
Use dedicated parking bays
DO NOT walk/ride/scooter through the carpark
DO NOT park in driveways
Be like George!
Label your hat
Keep your hat in your bag
Wear your hat if the UV is 3 or higher
Look after your hat