ST JOHN'S NEWSLETTER INSPIRING
STUDENTS FOR LIFE
TERM 2 WEEK 8

previous newsletters

TERM 2 WEEK 2

TERM 2 WEEK 4

TERM 2 WEEK 6

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Some quick updates

Our Whole School Refurbishment Project is well-underway. After successfully receiving a BGA grant in 2022, we are now two learning studios into a 12-room refurbishment. We will also be building additional outdoor learning environments connected to each learning space. During the past few years, we have spent time working with Louka Parry and Anne Knock on the power of agile learning spaces. We also partnered with LEVNT and modelled contemporary learning spaces. We are excited to see our vision come into reality.

Developing a Clear Vision

We are about to embark on developing a new strategic plan for 2025-2028. I look forward to collaborating with families in Term 3 to discuss what you value and expect from our school.

As we pull together information and data on who we are, what we value and where we want to be, we are drawing on several current key frameworks that outline how we operate.

One framework is our Student Learner Profile. This document is used daily as a reference point for inspiring student learning and as a tool to set expectations on who we are as learners. Students self-assess their growth in these areas and we also report student growth formally to parents throughout the year.

Yours in Christian service,

Brad Moss
Principal

The second framework is our Staff Profile. This document clearly frames professional expectations for us and is a point of reference for how we positively contribute to the life of our school.

IMPORTANT DATES

Week 9

Tuesday 25 June - Year 1 UPA visit

Friday 26 July - Year 5/6 Canberra camp permission DUE

Friday 28 June - Bush Dance 6pm start

Week 10

Friday 5 July - Gould Swimming permission DUE

Friday 5 July - Community Fun Day and Last Day of Term 2

Holidays

Monday 8 July - Friday 19 July

Term 3

Monday 22 July STAFF PD Day (No students)

Tuesday 23 July - STUDENTS RETURN

Term 3 Week 2

Monday 29 July to Friday 2 August - K-2 Gould SwimmingThursday 1 August - Choir competing at Albury Eisteddfod

Friday 2 August - RAS Athletics Carnival

Term 3 Week 3

Wednesday 7 August - Friday 9 August - 5/6 Canberra Camp

From the deputy desk

'Be you' wellbeing support

Be You is a federal government mental health and wellbeing initiative for Australian learning communities. As a registered Be You school, St John’s has access to advice from wellbeing consultants who provide free evidence-informed tools and resources that are designed to complement our school’s Christian care for each other and Bounce Back!, our social and emotional learning program. Be You works in conjunction with Beyond Blue and HeadSpace and we are incredibly grateful for the expert support they provide, which is often behind the scenes but so effective.

Classroom renovations

We are excited to have the opening of the renovated Year 3/4 classroom this week and are so excited to have both of our Year 3/4 classes now in their new learning spaces. Year 2 are now in our ‘transition’ classroom with the renovation of their classroom beginning.

Community Fun Day

This end of term event will take place on the last day of Term 2, Friday 5th July. Students are allowed to wear casual clothes for a gold coin donation and will participate in a range of activities. More detail will be provided soon!.

Illness

Last week an email was sent to school families with fact sheets about influenza and whooping cough, as we have had such a high incidence of illness at school. Thank you for keeping your children at home if they are unwell to help prevent the spread of viruses.

New School Reports System

Our amazing teachers are currently busy preparing school reports for their students. The reports will be sent home in the last week of term.

For the first time, our semester reports will be digital!

Near the end of term, an email will be sent to all families explaining how to access your children’s Semester One Report. The format is slightly different but covers the same information on student progress. We are excited to roll out this new reporting method!

Bush Dance

Please see the flyer in this week’s newsletter for details on our school bush dance. It’s going to be a fantastic school community event and we hope you can all come!

Alison Jafari and Anna-Marie Bothe

FROM THE CHAPLAIN

Games Club

Every Wednesday the Fox and Brew run a community board and cards games club for kids. Come along and have some fun between 4:00 and 5:30pm! Kristy provides a variety of free snacks, and you can also purchase drinks and finger food from the café.

Peter Reed, Chaplain

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

CIS CROSS COUNTRY

Last week we had two students, Angel and Johan attended the CIS Cross Country in Sydney. Under wet conditions both students performed exceptionally well.

Johan's mum said 'It had been raining all night and for most of the day of the race so the track was like a slosh pit! There were 112 children in Johan's race alone and whilst he didn't get the place that he wanted it is an amazing achievement just to be selected to race'. Joey reflected 'I felt very nervous because I thought that I would fall over in the mud. A kid fell over going downhill because it was so wet and muddy. There were three rows of kids at the starting line so it was very squishy. In the race before mine a kid passed out at the finish line.'

Angel said the race was 'very fast and fun but it was really muddy and hard to run because it felt like I puffed out quicker and it felt longer than the RAS Cross Country. There was mud up the back of my shoes and my back but I managed to overtake someone in the stadium at the last bit'

We congratulate Johan and Angel on their outstanding achievements!

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL RESULTS

HOUSE CUP RESULTS ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 2024

1st Place: Dight (404.83 points)

2nd Place: Goessling (386.16 points)

3rd Place: Luther (363 points)

Book here!

Year 6 Cooking Team

The Year 6 Cooking Team will be having a Cookie Stall on

Thursday 27th June

to raise funds for the Albury CareVan.

We will be selling them at lunchtime for $1 each.

Gluten Free cookies will be available, but we will only have a limited supply. We won’t be able to support any other dietary requirements. All cookies will be nut free.

Students will only be able to buy max of 2 cookies, but if we have extra, we will sell them at Recess time.

The Year 6 Cooking Team.

STUDENT INFORMATION
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN CLASS

KINDERGARTEN

MATHS

Maths in Kinder is so much fun!! Especially Fridays. On Fridays the students engage in what we have called Choices. Choices is where the teachers plan and set up hands on activities and games that will consolidate the maths concepts students have been leaning and then they get to pick which activities they do and for how long. For the last few weeks, the students have been learning about teen numbers, 3D shapes, number bonds and position.

This week in Maths Choices the students:

- played with 3D blocks and described their creations

- made 3D sculptures out of magnetic shapes

- played snap but instead of matching the same number, they had to match number pairs that equal 10

- wrote numbers and number names on the large white board

- used position words to help put the bear in the right spot in the cave

- used buttons to practice counting to 20

- used unit blocks to make number pairs to 10

- made Left and right arm bands

- played 3D shape bingo

- Used number blocks to make number pairs to 10

YEAR 1

ART

We have been looking at the artist Van Gogh during our art lessons the last few weeks. We have focused on one of his most popular paintings ‘Sunflowers’. Van Gogh did lots of different paintings of sunflowers and each of them were different. We noticed he used a lot of yellow in his paintings, which we think shows happiness. There were a lot of steps to create these wonderful paintings and the success can be seen in each and everyone’s paintings. It was so nice to hear the students lifting each other up along the way by telling each other ‘good job, that looks so nice, that’s amazing and that’s beautiful’. We also had many students who vocalized how proud they were of their work, which was great to hear.

YEAR 2

COMMUNITY GARDEN

We had our second visit to the Jindera Community Gardens this week. We planted potatoes then covered them in compost, bark and ashes. We also planted succulents that we brought from school. To make the gardens more colourful we painted rocks and plaster figurines which turned out great.

A very special thank you to Kristy Wenke for supervising students Sophie and Holly Wenke, Charlotte Phelps and Sophie Chang. The group baked cookies for the Community Garden fundraiser that was held on the weekend.

MOSAIC TRIAL

On Monday the 3rd of June we went on an excursion to Myrtleford and did the mosaic trail. We learnt that this trail was created by two ladies known as the “crack pots.” They wanted people to be curious and stop and wonder when spotting their mosaics. It was like going on a treasure hunt and it motivated us to search and walk some more. All the mosaics have been made from leftover tiles and broken crockery. Lots of the mosaics displayed features of place and connection to the Myrtleford community, which is one of the main focuses of our PBL this term.

YEAR 3/4 PV

MELBOURNE CAMP

After talking all year about our school camp to Melbourne- we finally got to go. We got to experience all the seasons of Melbourne in 2 days- light showers, wind and sunshine. Lucky it didn’t snow 😊

Some students shared their highlights from camp:

Ari - I loved seeing the reptiles and the lemurs at the Melbourne Zoo.

Noah - School camp was great! I loved seeing the Tasmanian devils at the zoo. They were so cute when they were sleeping! I also loved the museum. I got to buy a Tasmanian devil teddy!

TyIer - I loved the 4D movie at Sea Life.

Gloria - I liked dinner at CYC (hamburgers with wedges) and especially pavlova for dessert.

Lincoln – I loved the pythons and the museum gift shop and when I bought my squishy gummy bear.

Jasmine - I loved seeing the meerkats at the Zoo. I was wondering what they eat.

Eden - The food was really good at CYC and the beds were really comfy.

Frankie - I loved seeing the animals at the Zoo, Sea Life and I loved the 4D movie. It was a great time bonding with everyone at camp.

Thank you, students, on your behaviour and enthusiasm. You made the experience of camp A W E S O M E !

YEAR 3/4 LK

MELBOURNE AND NEW LEARNING SPACE

What a huge fortnight the class has had! An amazing time at camp in Melbourne and moving into our beautiful new learning space. The class got to share their Melbourne trip with their Buddies when they came for a visit to check out our new room.

YEAR 5/6

PBL PERFORMANCES

In PBL this term, we have been diving into Australian History prior to the Federation of our country. To learn about specific events, Year 5 and 6 were put into groups and asked to create a skit or presentation about an allocated event. The students performed and presented about Pemulwuy’s Rebellion, Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve, Ned Kelly’s Last Stand, the Gold Rush, the Tenterfield Oration and Women’s Suffrage.

Great work team!

WELLBEING and the flu season

Flu season

It's that time of year again when coughs, colds and covid are about in the community.

NSW Health advise we are currently in the moderate level of COVID-19.

For everyone to stay well this season please follow the recommendations of the NSW Government and keep your child home when sick.

You can find out more via the following links

https://education.nsw.gov.au/schooling/covid-19/advice-for-families#Staying1

https://www.nsw.gov.au/health/covid-19/testing-managing/symptoms

Whilst we understand how challenging it is to be called at work, we also know parents value a safe school and we thank you for your support.

STAY HOME WHEN SICK!

PRAYING FOR YOU

At St John's, we pray for our students and their families and staff members.
This week, we are praying for:

Week 7

Scarlett, Fletcher & Piper Barber

Zoe & Thomas Hancock

Lola Armstrong

Samuel Meade & Mia Williams

Mrs Jenny Kilo

Week 8

Eve & Molly Barclay

Luke Schulz

Beau, Ivy & Ruby McWaters

Sophie Lewis

Mrs Fiona Schulz

MERIT AWARDS

Kinder
Mia Thomson - Arthur Liescke

Beatrix Phelps - Lola Delphin - Lee
Year 1

Hannah Thomson - Morgan Mason

Theo Merkel - Zoe Bergmeier
Year 2

Clea Merrett - Ryder Bakes

Brooklyn Severin - Grayson Cox

Year 3/4 LK

Ivy McWaters - Betty Blackman

Year 3/4 PV

Noah Merrett - Ayeva Walters

Year 5/6 GC

Isabel McGrath - Meggie Kinning - Darcy Smith

Lara Male- Johan Klaassen

Year 5/6 DB

Mackenzie Perdon - Annabel Johnston

Poppy Ley - Eloise Schilg

THEIRCARE
BEFORE & AFTER SCHOOL CARE

11/06/24 – 14/06/24

03/06/24 – 07/06/24

Reminder

Strict 'no hat no play' rules apply at here at ThierCare, so remember to bring one along just in case and we can enjoy the sunshine together outside.

Winter is here and in full force, so to welcome the return of knit and sweater season we dedicated a week around all things ice and snow. There was lots of craft and creating that was done and you can now see it gorgeously displayed around the room. On Monday we got busy making paper snowflakes using templates we found online. These were very tedious, but worth the patience as they look amazing! Tuesday was busy, the morning and afternoon was buzzing with lots of children! We played plenty of games in the hall and some students stayed inside to create cute handprint penguins. It was back to basics with our cooking on Wednesday, but it was something that had zero complaints which was expected. We quickly whipped up some mini pizzas using English muffins and a variety of toppings. After a short time melting in the oven, we all enjoyed our creations. 😊

It was only a short 4-day week, but we packed as much in as we could! We welcomed everyone back Tuesday morning feeling fresh and ready to go after the long weekend. We shared stories of our get aways and activities during group time and it was fun to hear about what everyone got up to. The theme this week, with the help of the children, was ‘Zootopia’, there is never a shortage of craft ideas when we involve animals! We made super cute sloths out of paper plates, these turned out so well and you can now see them hanging around the room. We love using our handprints to help craft and create, so on Wednesday we made Koala’s and on Thursday we made parrots by doing just that! We got baking again this week, and we happy to announce it was another success! A quick a simple milo biscuit recipe seen us enjoying our creations and wishing there was more. 😊

Summer Harris

CARPARK - SAFETYEVERYONES RESPONSIBILTY!

Use the footpath to enter the school

Walk

Use dedicated parking bays

DO NOT walk/ride/scooter through the carpark

DO NOT park in driveways

ST JOHN'S NEWSLETTER INSPIRINGSTUDENTS FOR LIFETERM 2 WEEK 8