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Bundaberg Zone Primary School Sport The 2022 sporting trials calendar has been released outlining the dates for the respective trials for 10 to 12 year …

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Sporting News

Bundaberg Zone Primary School Sport

The 2022 sporting trials calendar has been released outlining the dates for the respective trials for 10 to 12 year old students for Bundaberg representative teams.

These trials are only for students in the 10 to 12 years age group (born 2010, 2011, 2012) who display a high level of skill and understanding of their sport. As these trials often have large numbers in attendance all students must be nominated by Mr Higgins (PE Teacher).

If your child is interested in trialling for a representative team and fits the criteria above please contact Mr Higgins on 4132 6888 or school@stjohnsbundaberg.qld.edu.au for further information and nomination forms.

Nathan Higgins

HPE TEACHER

« Community News & Events St John's Lutheran Community Kindergarten News »
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St John’s Lutheran Community Kindergarten News

What a wonderful start to 2022 we have had.  We welcome all our new and existing families back to Kindy for what will be a …

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St John’s Lutheran Community Kindergarten News

What a wonderful start to 2022 we have had.  We welcome all our new and existing families back to Kindy for what will be a great year of fun, learning, exploring and growing.

We have been developing our friendships with all of our new friends and educators, building relationships that will continue to form and grow throughout the year and that will continue to grow and flourish as the children transition to prep and their schooling years.

We have been offering a variety of experiences that assist us in developing our fine motor skills such as playdough, pegs and tweezers. These types of activities help to strengthen our small muscles and build the skills required to hold a pencil.  Without these skills the children will not have the ability to hold a pencil which will affect their ability to draw and write.

Construction is always a busy area in our room.  We have been offering a variety of building blocks including lego, mobile, gears, wooden blocks and stickle bricks.  These provide the opportunity for social interactions and encourage the development of sharing and turn taking as well as assisting in building on our fine motor skills.

Outdoor play is a great opportunity for the children to extend on their play in nature and develop their skills.  Bringing the inside experiences outside gives the children the opportunity to explore and develop their play.  Our Kindergarten Guinea Pigs are well cared for by our Kindy children and families.  They enjoy the scraps our families bring in from home as well as the food scraps we save them during the day.

If you are considering enrolling your child for 2023 please email the Kindergarten at stjohns.kgtbundy@qlecs.org.au

Nicole Turner

SERVICE LEADER

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Pastoral Care & Wellbeing

Grace and Peace to you all, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the Director of Pastoral Care and Wellbeing at …

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Pastoral Care & Wellbeing

Grace and Peace to you all,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the Director of Pastoral Care and Wellbeing at St John’s Lutheran Primary School for 2022. My name is Tamara Carroll and I have been an educator for approximately 20 years. I am so very blessed to be joining your wonderful school community in this role. I look forward to supporting our school as we grow and learn to flourish together throughout this school year.  As we know, Pastoral Care is significantly more important now, than ever. Important for our students. Important for parents. Important for staff and the wider school community. Pastorally, we play such a crucial role at St John’s Lutheran Primary School in supporting one another and forging strong partnerships.


Pastoral Care you may be asking; What exactly does that mean?

Pastoral Care is not new to St John’s Lutheran Primary School. It encapsulates all that has been done and all that is, on a day-to-day basis. Lutheran Education Queensland describes Pastoral Care as; ‘not simply a structure or a program. It is an expression of the nature and ethos of a school – the way in which a school works. The way in which students and staff develop and show care for one another. Informed by appropriate pastoral care approaches – all members feeling an environment of love, care, support, worth and value.’ I am sure you will connect with this definition of Pastoral Care in some shape or form and what it has meant to you, to your family, to your circumstances.

As per our Parent Handbook, your child’s teacher is always the first and foremost point of contact. However, as teachers are unable to come to the phone during class time, please leave messages at the office and the teacher will contact you at the earliest convenience. Urgent messages will be relayed to the teacher before the end of the day. Communication between parents and teacher is important. Informal chats are a good way of communicating; however, please understand that in the morning teachers have preparations for the day to complete and may not be able to talk for long. It would be better to arrange an interview about lengthier matters after school. Sometimes a short note via the student’s diary is an ideal way of leaving a message. Teachers will have communicated their preference of communication, whether it be via the class Seesaw app, via email, phone etc. That said, as Director of Pastoral Care and Wellbeing, I too am available for support of students and families.


Uniform Expectations and Reminders

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:65

It has been an absolute pleasure to see the students of St John’s Lutheran Primary School dressed neat and tidily for school in their formal uniform across the first week of school. As you would agree, St John’s Lutheran Primary School prides itself in applying consistently high standards of uniform wear and student grooming. The school uniform expectations were communicated via correspondence dated 21 and 28 January 2022.  Our uniform expectations states “the students are to view themselves as ambassadors of the school in that the uniform is worn correctly.”

 If you have any questions regarding uniform wear, suitability of footwear and student grooming; including that of hair styles, please do not hesitate to arrange a time to discuss such with me or contact the administration office for a copy of the Uniform Expectations for our school.

Just a reminder that our uniform expectations state that students from Grades 1-6 are expected to wear plain leather lace-up shoes (Velcro permitted for Grades 1-2.) Hair is to be clean, tidy in a moderate style with no severe variations in hair length permitted.


St John’s Core Values – 6 R’s

Equally, it has been delightful to see students out and about during play, adhering to the St John’s way. As you may be aware, our Core Values at St John’s are:

Respect – ‘for self and others’

Rigour – ‘work hard, work tough’

Responsibility – ‘for learning and actions’

Resilience – Keep on keeping on

Random Acts of Kindness – ‘It’s cool to be kind’

Relationships – ‘the reason’

We will continue to reinforce our core values in everything that we do, fostering a safe and supportive learning and teaching environment for all. Thankyou for partnering with us to reinforce such an important ethos.


Self-Care

As we face the challenges of what has been a less than ideal start to the school year, I encourage you to be kind to yourself, and apply your own oxygen mask first. As has been said, it is important to look after yourself, knowing that you are most effective in helping others if you are caring for yourself also. Stay calm and trust in yourself, your family, friends and our school, and our Lord in this time of need.

The Black Dog Institute suggests this of self-care.

‘Self-care refers to the activities and practices that we deliberately choose to engage in on a regular basis to maintain and enhance our health and wellbeing. Self-care helps to prevent stress and anxiety. By incorporating self-care activities into your regular routine, like going for a walk or socialising with friends, you give your body and mind time to rest, reset, and rejuvenate, so you can avoid or reduce the symptoms of stress and anxiety. When you take time for yourself and give your body the food, rest, and activity it needs, you will actually have more energy to meet the demands of daily life – however unusual they might be. Bringing more balance to your daily routine will help you be more productive and more resilient to stressors.

If you find yourself or your loved ones in a situation of need, or you simply can’t find the balance required for self-care, can I encourage you to reach out?  Please consult these helpful resources.

Black Dog Institute – Anxiety

Qld Children’s Health – Anxiety

Beyond Blue – Coronavirus Support

Tamara Carroll

DIRECTOR OF PASTORAL CARE & WELLBEING

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Curriculum Connections

Welcome back to the new school year – what a start it has been already. I am so pleased that we are be part of …

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Curriculum Connections

Welcome back to the new school year – what a start it has been already. I am so pleased that we are be part of our school community at St John’s – working together and supporting one another.

General Curriculum

We have had a disruptive start to the school year, and we continue to have some students needing to be absent due to illness or close contact isolation. During the additional 2 weeks of holidays, we worked with teachers to deeply analyze curriculum for Term 1 (and the year) and streamline learning so that students are not disadvantaged for needing to stay at home. Please be reassured students will receive the learning they need this year and teachers will be in contact with you regularly throughout the year to discuss progress.

If your child/ren do need to take time away from school, we can provide homework and passwords to access online programs. We are not able to offer a full program as teaching staff are teaching in the classrooms during the term. If your child is well enough at home, you could try some of the following activities:


NAPLAN

NAPLAN 2022 is scheduled for Year 3 and Year 5 students on Tuesday 10 May, Wednesday 11 May and Thursday 12 May. Please be vigilant in ensuring that you do not book appointments for your child on these days.

More information will be sent home regarding NAPLAN to relevant families in the coming weeks.


Seesaw

Seesaw is a wonderful platform for teachers, students and parents to record classroom happenings, learning and general messages. Please be reminded that teachers are not checking Seesaw during the day whilst they are teaching, nor are they expected to answer parent messages out of working hours. If you have an urgent message, please phone the front administration office. If you would like to arrange a time to speak about your child’s progress, please send your class teacher an email to arrange a suitable time to chat. We love to keep in contact at St John’s so if you do have questions, please reach out.

Jocelyn Bakker

DIRECTOR OF LEARNING & TEACHING

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From the Principal

Welcome It has been wonderful to see so many happy smiling faces in and around the school over the past two weeks as our students …

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From the Principal

Welcome

It has been wonderful to see so many happy smiling faces in and around the school over the past two weeks as our students dive deeper into the 2022 academic year. What I love about the new year at St John’s is not just catching up with familiar faces but also getting to know the new people in our community. We have continued to welcome new families this year.

There continues to be a wonderful vibe around the place as we settle into school. As I move around the grounds at recess and lunch there is a palpable sense of something fresh and exciting. I believe that this reverberates through our students and teachers as well and as a result the place really hums. It really is a joy to be part of something so special. Alongside our own positive start, there is something crazy and mixed up about the world you see – evidenced by our different start to the school year.

Things can be great and terrible at the same time. It is tricky to deal with the conflicting emotions and realities that we are often faced with but there is one constant. Our God of Love remains the same. He has given us a great school and a wonderful community to be part of and He surrounds us with people to support us in our times of need too. I pray that your time at St John’s in 2022 continues to be a time of blessing for your entire family as we work together through the stuff of life in service of our community.


Light the way

As may have been the case for you and your family over the recent holidays, the Mallett family sat down together to watch the odd movie or 3 – not-the-least-of-which was a viewing of the movie hit – Encanto.

Spoiler alert – please don’t read on if you have not yet watched the film and intend to do so.

My reasons for sharing such is in relation to the key messages which result, and how applicable they are to our children and us! The story goes……….

Following a tragic incident, Abuela Alma Madrigal has been blessed with a miracle in her candle that gave refuge to her family in a magical Casita. Fifty years later, the Madrigals are a respected kinship wherein each member of the family possess a unique ability. That is, except Mirabel (or so thought). While Encanto may be typically described as a light-hearted comedy, it has several meaningful underlying messages. The film sheds light on personal struggles with vulnerability, self-acceptance, and embracing imperfections. Every viewer can relate to Mirabel’s journey of self-discovery that leads to a gratifying ending – Mirabel too, finds her worth, meaning and purpose.

The reasons I reference this story and movie ‘Encanto’ is that, whether intended or not by the writers and producers, I personally see parallels in and of our Christian walk and lives. It is an excellent film that can inspire its younger audience to recognize their own gifts and potentials. Overall, the film is a beautiful amalgamation of laughter, adventure, light mystery, music and dance. But most importantly, I reference this film from the perspective of inclusivity, compassion, care, grace and love – all of which result through life’s ups, downs, twists and turns.

So what does literature and scripture say about the 3 core premises of self-acceptance, vulnerability and imperfections?

Why do I need to accept myself? Self-acceptance enables you to understand and be honest about your strengths and weaknesses. By accepting yourself, you open the door to self-care and a much more positive attitude towards who you really are. This will create the opportunity to develop and improve yourself and your life.

Self-Acceptance“Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:8

VulnerabilityBut he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Imperfection – Is as great a natural truth as mortality. … Perfect imperfection is seeing the beauty in something that others miss, this makes it perfect as “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. You do not need to “deal with” your imperfections, only to look at them in a new light and see that they make you perfect.

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48

We are all gifted in many and varied ways. I thank God each day for the special and unique gifts and talents of our students, parents and staff. Some have been gifted in the arts, some gifted with sporting talents, some in areas of academics, others with the ability to connect and share. My plea……. acknowledge and praise our creator God for who you are and how you’ve been shaped and created with the gifts you’ve been given. No one individual is the same – even identical twins have slight variations and differences.

Even on the tough days, those days when you may not feel like getting out of bed and you feel that life is so much to shoulder, know that you are not alone and have been uniquely made in His image. Our creator God’s unconditional love, grace, peace and mercy surrounds and abounds. For this we can be thankful. In the movie Encanto, there was imagery of a ‘magical’ candle which ‘kept the fire burning’ in the hearts and lives of the family.

Well, we too have a wonderful ‘candle’ that lights our path and that is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus. Look to the light and, like Mirabel, you too will find your way, your meaning, your purpose, and your reason for being. Leave it in His hands.


To our students – valuing each other

Often at school we talk about supporting each other in whatever you are doing. We have a great school built on the foundations of love, trust, grace, peace, openness and togetherness. We have wonderful friends, supportive parents and friendly teachers. Together, we are very keen to help you to do the best that you can do. As this term unfolds I encourage you to keep on doing your best. It is so important that you look after yourselves and your friends. Remember to always include others in your play and to play fairly. One of our very important messages at our school is our ‘Respect’ message.

Respect for self, Respect for others and Respect for your school.

Remember:

  • Wear your uniform and present yourself well
  • Help others in your class to learn by being a good learner yourself
  • Always strive to have a positive and happy demeanour
  • Use your greetings and manners when walking around the school grounds.

Above all, talk to your teachers when you need to – they all care very much for you.


iPAD Agreements

Just a friendly reminder regarding the student iPad agreement forms. If your child/ren have not yet returned their form, could I please encourage them to do so by the end of this week.

Thank you for working in partnership with us.

Grace and Peace

Chris Mallett

PRINCIPAL

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