ST JOHN'S NEWSLETTER INSPIRING
STUDENTS FOR LIFE
TERM 1 WEEK 6

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A MESSAGE FROM THE

PRINCIPAL

Principal’s Message Week 6 2025

As many of you already know, this term we are focusing on our school value of “We are COMPASSIONATE” in Chapel each week, classroom discussions, class expectations created by students, and our ‘’Values Spotlight’ weekly social media posts highlighting how compassion has been shown in a particular class.

The Bible verse that underpins “We are COMPASSIONATE” is:

“Be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.”

1 Peter 3:8

Some of the ways our students have displayed compassion this term are:

  • encouraging and helping others at the Swimming Carnival, regardless of ability level
  • our Year 6 students collaborating with Year 6 students from Victory Lutheran College, Lutheran School Wagga Wagga and St Paul’s Lutheran Primary Henty at our Riverina Year 6 Leadership Day
  • helping students who have hurt themselves
  • learning about and respecting the cultural backgrounds of some members of our school community at our Week 4 Friday Night Church
  • apologising and forgiving each other in Restorative Chats


Our school values are a big part of our everyday school life!

Anna-Marie Bothe

Interim Principal

IMPORTANT DATES

Week 6

  • Wednesday 5/3 - KINDER off class
  • Friday 6/3 - YEAR 3/4GC CHAPEL and KIDS CHURCH

Week 7

  • Wednesday 12/3 - NAPLAN Starts and KINDER fulltime
  • Thursday 13/2 - SNOW CONES for sale (Year 6 leadership)
  • Friday 14/2 - YEAR 3/4LK CHAPEL

Week 8

  • Monday 17/3 - Friday 21/3 NAPLAN continues and NEURODIVERSITY                                                                 CELEBRATION WEEK
  • Friday 21/3 - NATIONAL RIDE2SCHOOL DAY and CAPTAINS AND VICE                                       CAPTAINS CHAPEL and KIDS CHURCH
  • Saturday 22/3 - ALWS WALK MY WAY
  • Sunday 23/3 - ALWS 75th ANNIVERSARY THANKSGIVING SERVICE

Week 9

  • Monday 24/3 - NAPLAN finishes
  • Thursday 27/3 - CROSS COUNTRY
  • Friday 28/3 - RAS NETBALL and 1MP CHAPEL

The FULL school calendar can be found via Parent Orbit

or our website https://www.stjls.nsw.edu.au/dates

From the deputy desk
School Happenings!

Welcome to term 1, 2025!

St John’s proudly advocates for student agency as a central part of our identity. Giving students agency means that they have an active role in their own learning and they are engaging in activities that match their strengths and passions. One way we do this is through our student-led clubs, which are entirely driven by students. We encourage students to come up with new ideas for what they might lead and then they are asked to present this to our school leadership team. Their proposal includes logistics of when, where, for how long etc. It has been amazing to see the variety of different clubs that have been developed over the past few years, and even more amazing that students keep coming up with new ideas!

Encouraging student agency also fosters a sense of responsibility, independence, and confidence, helping students to become lifelong learners who are capable of navigating challenges both inside and outside of the classroom.

Year 6 Leadership Groups

Another way we foster student advocacy is through our Year 6 leadership groups. These groups are developed by the students based on their interests and passions. They meet in their groups on a regular basis and come up with initiatives that can help to build relationships within our school community, fundraise for charities, or sometimes for just some plain old fun!

The MasterChefs leadership team is holding a snow cone fundraising event on Thursday 13th March (Week 7). Snow cones will be $4 each, and if students wish to purchase a snow cone they should give their money to their classroom teacher during morning roll call. All monies raised will be donated to Cancer Council Australia.

The Aussie Legends are hosting a Ride2School event on Friday 21st March (Week 8). If students have bikes and would like to ride to school they would be most welcome! The Aussie Legends will be running bike riding lessons for classes throughout the day. If students do not have their bike at school, we have bikes (some with training wheels) and helmets available for use.

 

Alison Jafari

Deputy Principal

FROM THE CHAPLAIN

FRIDAY NIGHT CHAPEL

Do you enjoy school Chapel?

Do you wish it was longer and had more games?

Well Friday Night Chapel is for you!

The concept of Friday Night Chapel is simple.

Church run by kids for kids!

Get involved this term with our messages through games, crafts, stories and much more. Help us act out bible stories, lead dancing, and share in life together.

Friday Night Chapel is open to everyone!

Contact Chappy Pete for more information – [email protected]

 

HARMONY DAY

We held a special Harmony Day service two weeks ago where we tried delicious food from many cultures. One of our school Dads, Jake Yong, taught us to use his traditional Chinese Dragons after the service! Even Mrs Bothe gave it a go!

 

THIS WEEK (WEEK 6)

This week marks the start of the Christian season of Lent. This Tuesday, some of our amazing Chapel volunteers cooked pancakes at the school to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. All proceeds are being donated to children in need overseas via Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS).  

FRIDAY NIGHT

This Friday we’re celebrating Ash Wednesday (on the wrong day!). Pastor John from Walla Walla will lead us in a series of activities explaining the meaning of Ash Wednesday. We’d love you to join us for a free BBQ and music led by our year 5 band from 6pm!

 

Click here to subscribe to our Church Newsletter

FROM THE LIBRARY

Library Borrowing

  • Please don’t forget that the library is open each lunch time for quiet reading and the opportunity to borrow books.
  • Class time is also allocated for weekly borrowing.
  • Students will require a library bag for the safe transportation of library books between home and school.

2025 NSW Premier's Reading Challenge

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 (Sent home this week by their class teacher)

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.

TERM 1 VALUE

 

COMPASSIONATE

Compassion is empathy and Christ’s love in action. At St John’s, empathy is the most important aspect of our five Learner Profile characteristics.

Compassion is how we show respect for the diversity of different perspectives, experiences and needs within our community and beyond. It opens our hearts and minds to be inclusive in how we view and treat each other.

Compassion is at the heart of our school approach to wellbeing. We learn how to reflect on our behaviour and make choices that have positive impacts on others. We forgive and heal hurt through God’s grace.

 

STUDENT PROFILE:

  • I can understand and respect others' perspectives and experiences.
  • I can adapt my behaviour to positively affect others.
  • I can show compassion and consider the needs of others.  

STAFF PROFILE:

  • We demonstrate compassion and respect each other’s perspectives
  • We constructively resolve conflict, showing Christ-like forgiveness through restorative practices.
  • We respectfully hold ourselves and each other accountable to demonstrate ‘above the line’ behaviour.
  • We place our students’ needs at the centre of all of our decisions.

SHROVE TUESDAY

pancake day

The tradition of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday is because it’s the day before the Christian season of Lent. Many people choose to fast during Lent, and pancakes were a way of using up eggs, milk and flour before that time of fasting.

This year, St John’s Chapel members cooked pancakes for students and staff. Pancakes were $1 each, with all proceeds donated to the Australian Lutheran World Service’s Children's appeal. A special thank you to Chappie Pete, Mrs T, Alison Viedt and our wonderful Year 6 Cooking Team.

Swimming champs and RAS CARNIVAL

Our Swimming Champions from St John's Swimming Carnival were presented with their medallions and certificates at last week Assembly.


What a fantastic day at RAS Swimming Carnival in Wagga. All our students swam with determination and great sportsmanship. The team cheering and encouragement shown towards one another was amazing to see as was the resilience of each team member.

Ivy Tervet had a great day qualifying for CIS and will represent St John's in Sydney on March 26. We look forward to hearing about her experience in our next newsletter.

Mrs Sarroff

STUDENT INFORMATION
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN CLASS

LITTLE SAINTS

 

The Little Saints children are having an amazing time exploring and learning about the butterfly life cycle! We’ve been watching our chrysalis closely and even discovered butterfly eggs in our outdoor play spaces.

The excitement and curiosity in the children is buzzing as we learn about these incredible creatures up close and watch them emerge from their chrysalises to fly away. We even had one sit in the tree to watch us!

KINDERGARTEN

 

The Kinders 19 days at school have been full of fun and learning. They have started their ‘On The Mat’ literacy sessions where they have been looking at rhyming words and are about to start their first sound ‘m’ next week. In Maths, they have been looking at the days of the week, patterns and the numbers 1-10.

The new classroom is amazing, and everyone is enjoying all the space and the nice calm colours. They are learning to take care of the new spaces and the resources in them. They are doing a great job of working together to pack away after their learning or play sessions. The cubbies are a favorite place to sit and the new Lego trough is very popular.  

 

YEAR 1

We have been busy exploring numbers using MAB blocks and place value charts to represent them. We’ve also completed our first art project, where we used warm and cool watercolours to paint beautiful backgrounds, then added leaf imprints on top. We’ve really enjoyed using our whiteboards to practice tricky words during initiaLit. The teachers are very proud of how the students are supporting each other, both inside and outside the classroom.

YEAR 2

What a great start to the term! The year 2’s seem to be really enjoying our classroom and the environment we have created. This term we are focusing on creating a narrative and what a narrative includes. We have been completing story plans before we write on our book to write down all the details that are important in a narrative. The students worked in pairs to complete this and came up with some amazing ideas for a narrative. It was great to see the collaboration and creativity in these lessons.

In maths the last couple of weeks, we have been focusing on 2- and 3-digit numbers and the value of each of the numbers. We got out the MAB blocks and were able to show the value of the numbers on the board with the correct blocks.

YEAR 3/4 LK


The students have been utilising all the different learning spaces in our wonderful classroom. Each student is finding spots where they work best. Some spaces work well for collaboration and getting to know each other. The students have been busy learning about Australia and its natural landforms. In English we are learning to write a persuasive text titled Everybody Should Go Camping. There have been some very creative reasons given for both sides of the argument.

YEAR 3/4 GC

With a very busy start to the term, our class has been enjoying slowly getting into our weekly routines. To begin the term, in English, students have been working on a narrative about a trip. It has been great to see their creativity shine with stories about trips to the future, inside claw machines and to Willy Wonka Land. In PBL, we have been building our knowledge about the Earth’s surface and Australian landforms. In sport, we been enjoying joining 3/4 LK as we learn to play European Handball.

YEAR 5/6

SWIMMING

Swimming lessons at Gould benefited students as they practiced their strokes in preparation for the Swimming Carnival. It was a tiring week for students, but many happy faces receiving ribbons from the carnival.

UNPACKING SCHOOL VALUES

With the introduction of our new School Values, students worked collaboratively as they brainstormed together different ways we are…COMPASSIONATE, CONNECTED, ADVENTUROUS and EMPOWERED students at St John’s.

PBL EXCURSION

Students were introduced the world of recycling by walking down to the Jindera Op Shop and examining all the treasures to be found. As they say, “Someone’s trash is someone’s treasure.” A trip to Halve Waste will give them further insight and knowledge for their learning in PBL.

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 6

Jimmy & Emilia Schmidt

Jackson and Evie Pendergast

Coby Miller

Ava Jones

Elsie Clarke & Scarlett Jones

Therese Schmidt

Week 7

Evie and Jonti Noordam

Ivy and Ruby McWaters

Grace Allan

Amelia Carroll & Thomas Sawyer

Penny Baker

Week 8

Johan Klaassen

George and Andy Tuohey

Chloe Oates

Chad McPherson

Georgia Evans & Jax Marshall

Tanya Stein

Week 9

Indigo and Harper Sutcliffe

Emma Sumbler

Max Ley

Philippa Louwrier

Patrick Louwrier

James Walsh

AFL NSW

After-School Clinics at St John's

MERIT AWARDS

WEEK 3

 

Kinder

Piper Tyrrell and Bryce Knobel  
Year 1

Henry Whitehouse and Ezra Harper  
Year 2

Betty Margery and Ivy Lieschke  

 

Year 3/4 LK

Meredith Heinrich and Kayla Bowditch  

Year 3/4 GC

Emily Proos and Benji Busch  

Year 5/6 PV

Jim Berry and Emma Sumbler  

Year 5/6 DB

Lincoln Heinrich and Eloise Schilg

WEEK 4

 

Kinder

Beau Armstrong and Emilia Schmidt
Year 1

Lennon Clinton and Maxton Marshall  
Year 2

Amelia Pallett and Leon Bradbury  

 

Year 3/4 LK

Winston Field and Betty Blackman  

Year 3/4 GC

Grayson Cox and Benji Lustig

Year 5/6 PV

Scarlett Barber and Jack Mighalls  

Year 5/6 DB

Noah Merrett and Harrison Connelly

WEEK 5

 

Kinder

Isaac White and Wesley Mason  
Year 1

Judd Miles and Octavia Chettleburgh  
Year 2

Alex Hoek and Isla Gorton

 

Year 3/4 LK

Will Jensen and Dulcie Margery  

Year 3/4 GC

Coby Miller and Fletcher Barber  

Year 5/6 PV

Joel James and Louise Jarick  

Year 5/6 DB

Elsie Merkel and Luke Schulz

WEEK 6

 

Kinder

Oliver Cummins and Zara Courts  
Year 1

Christopher Cummins and Liam Thomson  
Year 2

Ava Dowell and Archie Brandon

 

Year 3/4 LK

Lachlan Kalina and Lily Knight  

Year 3/4 GC

Harper Sutcliffe and Evie Pendergast  

Year 5/6 PV

Indi Knight and Deon Byers

and Audrey Sarroff

Year 5/6 DB

Tully Heath and Billie Groenewald

CARPARK - SAFETY IS EVERYONES RESPONSIBILTY! 

             Use the footpath to enter school

             Walk

             Use dedicated parking bays  

 

             DO NOT walk/ride/scooter through the carpark

             DO NOT park in driveways

Hats 

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

THEIRCARE
BEFORE & AFTER SCHOOL CARE

UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS