Season of Creation

We are now in the Season of Creation, a special time in the Church calendar when we are called to reflect on the gift of God's creation and our responsibility to care for the Earth. Running from September 1st, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to October 4th, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, this season invites us to deepen our appreciation of the natural world, protect it and promote sustainable living in our communities. Let us join in prayer, action and reflection, as we honour our common home and work together for a more just and green future.

Season of Creation 2024 Prayer

Triune God, Creator of all,
We praise you for your goodness, visible in all the diversity that you have created, 
making us a cosmic family living in a common home. 
Through the Earth you created,
we experience love and nourishment, home and protection.
We confess that we do not relate to the Earth as a Mothering gift from you,
our Creator. 
Our selfishness, greed, neglect, and abuse have caused the climate crisis,
loss of biodiversity, human suffering as well as the suffering of all our fellow creatures. 
We confess that we have failed to listen to the groans of the Earth,
the groans of all creatures, 
and the groans of the Spirit of hope and justice that lives within us.
May your Creator Spirit help us in our weakness,
so that we may know the redeeming power of Christ and the hope found in him. 
May the groans of the Spirit birth in us a willingness to serve you faithfully, 
so that we may hear and heal Creation, to hope and act together with her, 
so that the firstfruits of hope may blossom.
Loving and Creator God, 
we pray that you will make us sensitive to these groans 
and enable us to have the same compassion as that of Jesus, the redeeming Lord. 
Grant us a fresh vision of our relationship with Earth, and with one another, 
as creatures that are made in your image.
In the name of the one who came to proclaim the good news to all Creation,
Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Thursday 12th September - Wollongong Diocesan Launch of Catholic Mission Month

This Thursday, our school captains, Raine and Henry, will have the special honour of representing St John’s at the Diocesan Launch of Catholic Mission Month. Catholic Mission Month is a time for schools and parishes across Australia to unite in prayer, reflection and action to support the vital work of Catholic missions around the world. This year’s theme is “Go and invite everyone to the banquet”. Our captains will join with others from across the diocese to launch this important month of awareness, fundraising and solidarity. It’s a wonderful opportunity for them to embody our school’s commitment to mission work, and we look forward to hearing about their experience as they carry our prayers and support with them. 

2024 - THE YEAR OF PRAYER - in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee Year ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.

The Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven,
May the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos 
in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,
a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer 
throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever. 
Amen

Prayer Intentions

We pray for all families in our school community who are in need of our prayers.
We pray for the needs of our country and our world. 

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, pray for us.
St John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Kylie Stephens
Religious Education Coordinator

PB4L is an evidence-based framework that emphasises school-wide systems of support for all students and staff. These include proactive strategies for defining, teaching and supporting appropriate student behaviours. Positive behaviour supports are implemented for all students, across all school settings, by all staff, at all times. This continuum of support ensures students’ academic and social outcomes.

All student behaviour expectations are founded on our three school rules – Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe.

Week 7

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week, the students at St John’s enjoyed the Student Wellbeing Afternoons for Term 3. They participated in fun activities that promoted their wellbeing and loved their sausage sizzle for lunch. I’d like to thank all of the staff members who created and ran activities to support our students’ wellbeing. A few of our students share their experience below:

I did the chalk art and beat boxing for wellbeing. My favourite was the chalk art, I drew a house, an aeroplane and balloons. The sausage sizzle was very yummy!

Aiden Year 1

I did the chalk art and beat boxing for wellbeing. My favourite was the chalk art, I drew a house, an aeroplane and balloons. The sausage sizzle was very yummy!

Belicia Year 1

I enjoyed doing the chalk art with my friend Gwendolyn. I drew flowers and balloons. We went outside to draw with with Mrs Thomson.

Cassidy - Year 3

For Wellbeing Afternoon, I liked the origami session where I made a paper heart. It was fun.

Gracia - Year 3

I liked doing my activities and really enjoyed having the sausage sizzle for lunch.

On Monday of week 7 for stage 3 was wellbeing day. Everybody got to pick two activities that they wanted to do. The first activity I did was board games and Lego, I enjoyed this one because I played twister basically the whole time and it got very, very intense as we had a tournament. For wellbeing day, we didn't pack lunch because we got sausage sizzles. I had 3! I was lucky because there were leftovers for people. The second activity was oil pastel art. We got to select what video we wanted to copy from and then draw it. Overall, I thank the teachers for organising these activities and to Mr De Battista and any others who cooked the sausages. Thank you soooo much.

Zac - Year 5

Father's Day celebrations at St John's involved a Father's Day Stall, fathers, grandfathers and carers were treated to a steak sandwich from the Outback Steakhouse restaurant. Fathers, grandfathers and carers had an opportunity to listen to Tim Wemyss a guest speaker from the fathering project who spoke about the importance of male role models in the family and being present for our children. This was followed by handball games on the playground and open classrooms.

Thank you to the St John's Parents and Friends Executive for organising the Father's Day stall and our wonderful parent helpers. Thank you to the Outback Steakhouse restaurant for catering for our event, the steak sandwiches were amazing!!

We had a great day celebrating with our fathers, grandfathers and carers and thank you for all your amazing contributions to our school community!!!

Students, staff, parents and carers had the opportunity to listen to Dr Justin Coulson speak about happiness and resilience on Wednesday 28th August.

Dr Coulson presented a fabulous workshop to students in Years 4 to 6 on strategies for happiness including connection, being active, learning, giving to others and taking notice. Students were impressed by Dr Coulson's engaging stories.

Dr Coulson presented a very informative and engaging workshop for parents and carers on resilience and strategies to support children to be resilient.

Thank you to the St John's Parents and Friends Executive for organising Dr Coulson to present the workshops.

Dr Justin Coulson is a dad to 6 daughters. He is the parenting expert and co-host of Channel Nine’s Parental Guidance, and he and his wife host Australia’s #1 podcast for parents and family: The Happy Families Podcast. He has written 9 books about families and parenting. In the article below Dr Justin Coulson outlines the importance of involvement in the life of your child. In the article below Dr Justin Coulson outlines some strategies to support siblings getting along with each other.

As you are aware over the past three years the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) have engaged in the review of the NSW curriculum. This is the first comprehensive reform of the NSW school curriculum in 3 decades. In response to the release and implementation of the new English and Mathematics syllabus’, there are a number of changes that have been made that will impact on students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2.
These include, but are not limited to: 

• The outcomes and content taught in English and Mathematics 
• Reporting structures and formatting
• Resourcing

At St John’s we strive to implement best practice informed by evidence - based teaching and learning strategies. All K-2 classes teach reading through a systematic, synthetic phonics program that teaches essential knowledge and skills for beginning readers. These include:

• Segmenting
• Blending
• Phoneme (letter sound) isolation
• Phoneme (letter sound) manipulation

According to the research, 

"Explicit teaching of phonics is a cornerstone of effective early reading instruction. Around one third of children will have difficulty learning to read without systematic teaching in how to ‘crack the code’ of written English, and another third will not learn to read at all without it." (Jennifer Buckingham)

To reinforce the explicit teaching of phonics and reading at St John’s, students require access to texts that consolidate target phonic knowledge and provide opportunities for students to apply this phonic knowledge in context. Decodable texts offer students this opportunity and follow the groups of phonemes being explicitly taught in your childs’ class.

On behalf of the students and staff, we extend our thanks to the St John's Parents and Friends for their generous contribution towards the purchase of some new decodable texts. These books have recently arrived and are currently being prepared for use in classrooms and for home reading. It’s very exciting to have new, engaging reading material for our students.

Mathematics Syllabus Implementation

On Wednesday, 4 September, Mrs Huckstepp, Mrs Garrett, and Mrs Thomas participated in professional learning with other curriculum leaders from schools across our diocese. This session was part of our ongoing work in implementing the NSW Reformed Mathematics Syllabus. The focus of the day was on creating engaging teaching and learning programs using the backward design model.

Teachers at St. John’s will continue to participate in professional learning to ensure our programs help students develop a deep understanding of Mathematics outcomes and apply their knowledge to real-world problems.

These efforts align with our commitment to our Annual Improvement Goal: "All students are appropriately challenged and demonstrate growth in Mathematics."

English Syllabus Implementation

Over the next three weeks, K-6 teachers will continue to deepen their understanding of the NSW Reformed English Syllabus.

Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 teachers will review and refine their current Phonics Scope and Sequence, focusing on enhancing learning sequences to align with the new syllabus. They will also deepen their knowledge of teaching reading using decodable texts, so that they can use them effectively to move students forward in their learning.

Stage 2 and Stage 3 teachers will participate in professional development aimed at expanding their knowledge in the area of "Creating Texts." They will explore the English 3-6 Syllabus to gain a deeper understanding of this important component.

This professional learning supports St. John’s School's Strategic Improvement Goal: By 2027, all learners will experience high skill and high challenge in English, Mathematics, and Religious Education.

Mrs Kate Thomas and Mrs Christine Garrett

Instructional Coaches 

On Tuesday 10 September, Year 3 headed to the Minnamurra Rainforest to deepen their studies on the natural features of Australia which they are looking at as part of their learning in Human Society and Its Environment. 

Read the recounts that a number of students in Year 3 wrote about their experience: 

I liked seeing the lyrebirds

Cassidy 3R

I liked the walk because it was wonderful seeing the waterfall at the end 

Charli 3R

I liked the activity about the time line of nature because I guessed the answer 3 times!

Nash 3R

I liked looking at the lyrebirds- we saw 3! 

Clara 3B

I loved walking with my friends and talking while we walked! 

Leela 3B

I loved the waterfall!

Amelia 3G

I loved completing the historical time line. I learnt about what Minnamurra was like 65000 years ago all the way until now. 

May 3G

Students in Gunyah 1 and Gunyah 2 have been working very hard in their classrooms and would like to share their learning. Congratulations to all the students in Gunyah 1 and Gunyah 2 for your amazing work and congratulations!!

St John's Sport Update

Congratulations to Ash Garnero who represented MacKillop at the NSW PSSA All Schools Softball Championships. MacKillop won the NSW PSSA Softball Championships for the second year in a row. Well done Ash we are very proud of your achievements!! 

Congratulations to Preston Tanevski who represented MacKillop at the NSW PSSA All Schools Football (soccer) Championships in Tamworth. MacKillop were duel Champions Sydney East. Preston was 1 of 12 players selected to represent the NSW at the Australian Championships held in Western Australia in October. Well done Preston we are very proud of your achievements!! 

We wish Gianni Oiteirinho all the very best as he competes at the upcoming MacKillop Athletics Trials on the 25th September. Good luck Gianni!!

Sport Dates for Term 3 Week 9

Week 9 Thursday 19 September Diocesan Basketball Junior Boys & Girls (Years 3&4)
Week 9 Friday 20 September Diocesan Basketball Senior Girls & Boys (Years 5&6)

Throughout Term 2 and 3 our Aboriginal students have worked with Uncle Mark and Aunty Jo to create an artwork that tells the story about their family, where they are from and why they are proud indigenous people who enjoy culture and learning about it. These students also shared their artwork at our week 7 assembly.

We're wearing our footy colours for kids with cancer! — for a donation.

Each year, over 950 children in Australia are diagnosed with cancer, causing them to miss more than six months of school and social connections during treatment. We're participating in Fight Cancer Foundation's Footy Colours Day to support these kids. Funds raised will help provide accommodation and support for cancer patients and their families, as well as fund life-saving research. The Foundation’s accommodation centres give families a "home away from home" during challenging times, easing the financial and emotional burden. Please donate to help make a difference in the lives of kids with cancer!

Over the past few weeks a number of students at St John's have been involved in the creation of a St John's Parish and School Journal. An edition will be published each term and will feature the profiles of 4 students, a staff member and a parishioner.  We are grateful for those who have shared their stories and we celebrate  their story. This project involved close collaboration between the school and parish, developing our sense of community. A special thanks to Ms Angela Boyd-Skinner and the wonderful team of student reporters, Gabby B, Millicent W, Evie S, Chloe F, Riya A, Emily Z, Isabelle N, Serene Rose T, Hannah S, Giorgia L and Jasmine P who gave their time to be part of this project. 

See the first publication below.

With warmer weather approaching, students may begin wearing the summer uniform and parents and carers have a choice if they would like their child to wear their summer or winter uniform dependent upon the weather. The official date for the children to switch to their summer uniform is Tuesday, 15 October Week 1 Term 4. 

Parish News

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2024 Scouts Dapto

2024 Scouts Dapto 153.62 KB

St_John_s_VAC_Program_October_2024.pdf

St_John_s_VAC_Program_October_2024 _pdf 1.21 MB

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