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Yours in Christian service,


Brad Moss
Principal

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Brad navy

There is an important reason why GRIT and PERSEVERANCE forms part of our Learner Profile. We are intentionally supporting students to view challenges and mistakes as an opportunity to grow. We emphasise the importance of developing a positive mindset and reinforce there is always a resolution to any issue we are confronted with. We acknowledge that the resolution may require creativity and hard work to overcome.

Grit and perseverance are also commonly referred to as resilience.

Resilience is important for a child’s mental health. It is their ability to bounce back from failure, challenges, adversity and stress. It’s not something that children have or don’t have but a skill that they develop over time as they grow.

Building resilience not only helps a child deal with current difficulties, but it also helps develop a resilient mindset that will help them deal with challenges later in life. All children are capable of working through challenges and coping with stress, but they require guidance and support from both the school and the home.

 

I encourage you to spend time looking through the below resources on building resilience:

Resilience | St John's Lutheran Primary School - Jindera (schooltv.me)

Resources | St John's Lutheran Primary School - Jindera (schooltv.me)

An important area we are focusing on this year is building connections with our families and school community.

We are looking to create a St John’s Parent/Family Team. In theory, it will operate similar to a P&F.

There is a clear purpose for this group. One focus area is on school events that build relationships. The second area will focus on fundraising. The aim is to enhance our family engagement and small community feel.

We are seeking expressions of interest from our families via the form response below. Once we have gathered responses, we will hold a meeting at 2:30pm on Thursday 16 March, in the Hall to further discuss how we implement this new initiative.

BUILDING COMMUNITY,

THE IMPORTANCE OF BUILDING GRIT AND PERSEVERANCE IN OUR STUDENTS

Fill out my online form.

AROUND THE GROUNDS

Parents can see that we have a very busy schedule of lunchtime activities that students can choose to participate in. These are a great way for students to engage with others that have common interests, but may not be in the same year level.

Student Led Clubs!
Over the first few weeks of school, Mrs Bothe and Mrs Jafari invited students to collaborate together and propose ideas for new lunchtime clubs. We were amazed with the number of innovative and exciting ideas that students came up with, ranging from coding clubs to sporting clubs to fidget clubs and everything in between!

PARTNERSHIP MEETINGS:
On Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th March we are holding Partnership meetings. Ten-minute appointments can be made via our online booking system for any times between 3:30 and 7pm. Partnership meetings are an important date on our calendar as they allow the relationship between home and school to be strengthened. More detailed information, including how to book, has been emailed home to families. Please contact the office if you require assistance with booking in.  

Here are some images from around the grounds...

IMPORTANT DATES

Gould Swimming Lessons Yrs 3-6
Monday 20 to Thursday 23 February
-
Swimming Carnival Yrs 3-6
Jindera Pool
Friday 24 February
-
Kindergarten First Full Week
Monday 6 March
-
Future Kindergarten Student Information Session
School Hall
Monday 6 March 6.00-7.30pm
-
RAS Swimming
Oasis Aquatic Centre, Wagga Wagga
Wednesday 8 March
-
TheirCare Welcome Breakfast - all families welcome
Further information from TheirCare to follow
St John's School Grounds
Thursday 9th March 8.45-9.20am
-
Friday Night Chapel - all families welcome
School Hall
Friday 10 March 6.00-7.30pm

2023 NAPLAN


The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a point in time assessment of literacy and numeracy skills. Each year students in Years 3 and 5 participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

From 2023, NAPLAN is moving to Term 1 and will take place from Wednesday 15 March to Tuesday 21 March. Catch up days will be provided if necessary. The reason for this change is so that results can be returned to schools earlier in the year which will support teachers to understand the learning needs of their students and plan accordingly.

NAPLAN tests are just one part of our school learning assessment program and questions are primarily based on knowledge, understanding and skills gained from the prior year of schooling.

In preparation for NAPLAN 2023, our school will undertake activities to help students to become familiar with the format and functionality of the online tests. These activities are not an assessment of student ability and will not be marked. Students and parents can access the public demonstration site (https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site) to familiarise themselves with NAPLAN and the types of questions and tools available. Excessive preparation for NAPLAN is not required nor recommended.

More information was emailed to our Year 3 and 5 families on Monday 20th February. If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact one of our Deputy Principals. 

TEAM APPRECIATION

Our St John's team is an amazing group of individuals who contribute to our wonderful school, and the lives of your children!

Our ICT Administrator – where would we be without you! Your dedication to the school, staff and students, ICT knowledge and overall kind nature does not go unnoticed – we appreciate you!
Also, Happy 10-year work anniversary at St John’s!
Mr Morey enjoys helping others perform their role to their best abilities through the ICT support he offers and loves to play the guitar in his spare time.
Mr Morey - THANK YOU

ST PAUL'S COLLEGE WALLA WALLA

2024 EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR ENROLMENT
St Paul's College Walla Walla is St John's feeder school from Primary to Secondary education.
Please see below information on round 1 applications and deadline - very limited places are available!

CELEBRATING 75 YEARS

SPECIAL EVENTS

FUTURE KINDERGARTEN STUDENT INFORMATION SESSION
We're excited about our upcoming Future Kindergarten Student Information Session in a couple of weeks - details below! Please encourage your families or friends, with future Kindergarten Students due to commence in 2024, 2025 or 2026 to register and attend the evening - light refreshments will be served!

LEARNER PROFILE IN ACTION WITH YEAR 5/6

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JUNIOR PRIMARY INITIALIT

Year 1
This week during Junior Primary InitiaLit, our year 1 students have been practicing ‘tricky’ words and having regular short spelling tests to review their progress.Today, the students paired up for reading in fluency whilst enjoying the beautiful day outside!

DESIGN LAB

TO INVENT, YOU NEED A GOOD IMAGINATION, AND A PILE OF JUNK. - Thomas Edison

 


This fortnight we launched into our classes by exploring this quote. We watched a short advertisement about a girl called Molly. Molly becomes annoyed by her dad when he asks her to take out the rubbish when it is raining. Upon completing the task, she has a lightbulb moment, when she realizes there may be an easier way for her to get the rubbish outside. With the help of a bike, some rope and a drill, she’s able to create a system that allows her to send the rubbish to its respective bin from the comfort of her bedroom. As the ad continues, Molly comes up with more ingenious inventions and finishes with her as an adult working for a coding company. This video got the students thinking about how they too have the gifts and skills to be inventors (as well as all the different things they would like to invent to avoid doing their own chores!).  

The first challenge of this year was to build a mini lemonade stand with twenty-five paddle pop sticks, blue tac, tape, two sticky notes, two pipe cleaners and four toothpicks. The stand had to be able to hold the weight of a lemon. I am so impressed with their design thinking and growth mindset.

Each challenge this term is going to include being collaborative, as per the learner profile. These groups will mainly be chosen at random, so your children learn and develop in how to navigate working with different people in a team.

Thank you for the families that have kindly donated Maker Space items. We will be collecting these items all year round.

Mrs Jessica Cottrell

Design Lab Teacher

HAPPY 29TH TEACHING ANNIVERSARY BOB


Bob has been a part of the St John's family now for 29 years teaching our students guitar and ukulele - Happy Anniversary Bob - we appreciate your commitment, effort and care for each of your students!

The students love their lessons with you, the music they learn, the way you teach and the beats they make!

BOOK CLUB

We'd like to encourage our families to order your book club online! Please see the below quick tips on how to do so!

BOOK COVERING VOLUTEERS NEEDED
If you have some time to assist us by covering some books for the School, please contact the office.

CIS Sport Expression of Interest

The NSW Combined Independent Schools Sports Council, known as CIS, aims to provide a pathway to state and national level competition in a wide variety of sports for students in the independent sector. For certain sports there are no RAS trials/events, however, we can provide the opportunity for students to directly attend the CIS trials/events upon nomination.  

The level of competition at CIS trials is extremely competitive, therefore it is expected that your child is dedicated to the sport and particularly talented. There is a nomination fee which the school pays which is non-refundable and it would be expected your child attend the trial/event unless injured. All individual trials require parents/guardians to organise their own travel and accommodation to the trials.  

Included is a list of the available sports and the dates of the CIS trials/event for which I am seeking expressions of interest from those who would like to be considered for nomination. (Not all expressions of interest will result in students being nominated.) Please complete the digital CIS Sports Expressions of Interest form using the following link by 9am Thursday 2nd March 2023.

Felicity Habermann
Physical Education Teacher

SPORT

TRIALS/EVENT DATE

Boys/Girls Basketball

Friday 10th March

Girls Soccer

Monday 13th March

Boys Soccer

Thursday 16th March

Boys AFL

Monday 3rd April

Boys/Girls Touch Football

Wednesday 26th April

Boys/Girls Hockey

Monday 8th May

Boys Rugby League

Monday 8th May

Girls Rugby 7's

Tuesday 30th May

Boys Rugby Union

Wednesday 14th - Thursday 16th June

Boys/Girls Golf

Monday 24th July

Boys/Girls Softball

Wednesday 2nd August

STUDENT INFORMATION
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN CLASS

KINDERGARTEN

It been a busy week in the kinder classroom. The children have continued to settle in and get to know the routines and each other. They have also been busy developing their alphabet recognition skills. They have been playing games and engaging in small and large group activities to help the children learn the names of the letters, as well as the correct sequential order.
Lots of fun has been had.

YEAR 1

In maths we have been looking at how we use maths in real world contexts. The students have been grasping the content really well and are enjoying learning maths in a fun new way. Working in pairs to come up with solutions to create a collaborative space seems to be something the students thrive at.

In PBL we continue to look at the weather and the different forecasts. The students have enjoyed looking into the different weather and what rain means to them. The snowball game was a particular favourite with the students scrunching up their ideas on a piece of paper and throwing it around the classroom.    

YEAR 2


This week Year 2 have been learning about different ways of spelling the "oo" sound in English and counting collections in groups of ten maths and exploring other cultures.
PBL for this term, the students are learning about diversity and for their entry event, each created their own library bags to demonstrate just how different we all are!

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YEAR 3/4 PV

The library is a great space to find a comfortable spot and read during our borrowing time. Thank you to those students who remember to bring in their library bags.

The hot weather has been a perfect time to enjoy an icy treat. Sarah celebrated her 9th birthday and shared icy poles with the class. On another day, Mrs Vaccaro promised the class a Zooper Dooper if everyone remembered their swimming gear for their practice at the Jindera pool. Could you believe everyone remembered!

Violin lessons for Year 4s with Damien commenced with the first group this term. First step- how to hold a violin correctly.

Students have started using laptops in class. We follow a program ‘Typing Club’ which enables students to practice skills to learn touch typing. They go at their own pace and complete levels as they progress. James Morey, our ICT Administrator has enabled students to have their own folder to access some work using OneNote.

Swimming lessons at Gould have kicked off. It will be amazing to see how the students' progress during the week in preparation for the swimming carnival on Friday.

YEAR 3/4 LK

SWIMMING
This week the students have really enjoyed themselves at Gould swimming lessons. It is wonderful to see them growing I confidence and improving their skills.

PBL
During our PBL unit the students are learning about Australia and our unique landforms. They have begun by building their background knowledge and vocabulary. Some new words the class are learning about include co-ordinates, legend, scale, cartographer, longitude and terrain.

YEAR 5/6

PBL JUDY COLE
On the 16th of February we had a special guest come into class to help us with our PBL. Her name was Judy Cole and she works at the Op shop, in Jindera. She answered all our many questions, and she was incredibly helpful for everyone. Some of the things we learnt is that any items that are dirty or damaged are not sold. Lots of items are donated to special charities and given to people in need. All the people at the Op shop are volunteers and Judy and the workers love helping the community.
By: Jake Gaston (St News)

PBL CATWALK
On the 13th of February, the 5/6 and Kinder classes were delighted by a special (and funny) surprise. To start their PBL the teachers organised a catwalk for the 5/6 students. We also invited our kinder buddies to come along with us. We had some incredible designs from skeletons with lightsabers to kung fu masters. Plus all of them were 100% reused items from our very own local Jindera Op shop!

“It was very funny, entertaining, surprising and it certainly got my attention.” Says fellow year 6 classmate, Harper Baird.
“When I finish my teaching career, I am going to become a model on the catwalk, as I enjoyed our presentation so much.” 5/6 teacher Mrs Schulz jokingly states.
“I think Mr Morey really stood out.” Pointed out year 5 student Gan Ney Cole.
“Mrs stein looked like the queen of England!”
Year 6 student Jake Gaston says.
By Ben Code

WORKING MATHEMATICALLY
In mathematics the Year 5/6’s have enjoyed playing a number of problem solving games using their number knowledge with place value, addition and subtraction.
In pairs students:
Take turns to throw 2 0-9 sided dice
Use the numbers you roll to create a 2, 3 or 4-digit number, for example a 5 and a 2 could be recorded as 25 or 52.
Record your number somewhere along the path from 0 and 100.
Numbers must be placed in order from 0 – 100 so you must think carefully about the best place to put your number!
If numbers cannot be placed, you miss your turn.
Continue taking turns to roll the dice, creating numbers and filling in the pathway on the gameboard.
The winner is the first to fill all of the places!

THIS WEEKHEADING

As we say goodbye to Summer I thought it would be a good idea to celebrate it one last time. So, in saying that, our theme is going to be 'last week of Summer’. We will get creative and make things like paper plate suns, sunflowers and beach themed cookies. The children will use an arrowroot biscuit as their base and then go on to create a beach with different coloured icing and treats to decorate. If weather permits, we will put our hats and sunscreen on and enjoy the sunshine outside while it lasts. Can’t forget about our group games! They will continue as normal inside the hall each morning- the kids will never let me forget about those, it’s a favourite!!

LAST WEEK

Last week at St Johns Thiercare our theme was ‘Love’ in honour of valentine’s day. On Monday morning it was a pleasure to have Thomas join our team, he was a great help as there were lots of children booked in. He had the kids engaged in Valentine’s Day card making, colourings and different craft. Some of the children even attempted his Rubik’s cube! Uno and go fish were big hits this week and beados were being made left right and centre. The valentine theme continued and it saw some of the girls get creative by making origami love hearts to decorate the room. We played a game of love themed bingo, and we were very clever and created a photo board to display all our awesome pictures for parents and guests to see on arrival.

THEIRCARE
BEFORE & AFTER SCHOOL CARE

THINGS TO REMEMBER

We will be having pancakes on Tuesday morning in BSC, so come along with empty bellies and we will cook up a storm! Gluten free options available also.
Don’t forget we need hats and water bottles in this heat! No hat, no play.

THEIRCARE ALL-SCHOOL BREAKFAST
To celebrate TheirCare commencing at St John's as the before and after school provider and showcase what we are all about, we're hosting an all-school welcome breakfast for all St John's Families!
Further information to follow!
Thursday 8th March -  8.45-9.20am - St John's School Grounds

MERIT AWARDS

Year 3/4 LK
Eloise Schilg & Emma Sumbler
Leo Jensen & Kade Anderson

Year 3/4 PV

Tully Heath & Noah Merrett
Luke Schulz & Lucas Ballentine
Year 5/6 GC
Gan Ney Cole
Noah Pitman & Ricky Jensen
Year 5/6 FS
Xavier Sarroff & Annabel Johnston
Kael Jervois & Charlie Schilg

Little Saints
Mary-Beth Carcacello and Audrey Vitullo
Kinder

George Tuohey & Stevie Thies
Molly Barclay & Jimmy Schmidt
Year1
Eddyson Allen-Cameron & Holly Wenke
Grace Ross & Sophie Chang
Year 2
Nathaniel Pallett & Evelyn Tyrell
Ava Goode

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 3
Holly, Sophie & Ben Wenke
Jake & Emma Sumble
Gabrielle Cotter

Week 4
Darcy Smith
Ryan Pisani
Elsie & Theodore Merkel
Lara Male
Kellie Kimpton

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