In this issue

Student Free Day – Friday 2 September 2022

Just a reminder that Friday 2 September is a Student Free Day; school will be closed.

Should you require care on this day, please do not hesitate to contact our Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) on 0409 759 831 for more details.

Child Protection Week

Child Protection Week aims to raise awareness of the issues connected to child protection; including abuse prevention, treatment, research, education, and service provision. This year, the Bundaberg Child Protection Action Group is partnering with St John’s Lutheran Primary School in support of this important week. In doing so, Mindful Movement sessions will be taking place on Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 September. Please see the BCPAG Calendar of events and Mindful Movement flyer for further details.

One way in which parents can start the conversation in supporting children to keep and remain safe is with – The circle of friends. Children come in to contact with many people in the community, and it’s important for them to understand how those different relationships support them, as well as where boundaries should lie. The circle of friends activity helps your child understand the different people in their life – what their relationship is with these people, how your child should behave with them, and what behaviour is OK from those people. It can help keep them safe!

Additional Child Protection Week Resources:

2022 Child Protection Week Colouring In Comp

Bundaberg CPW Local Activity List 2022

CPWAG Think U Know Flyer 2022 PDF

Understanding Emotions NCPW Flyer

Family Fun and Family Faith Evenings

You may be aware, St John’s Church and St John’s Lutheran Primary School have been partnering together to provide an opportunity for school families to attend fortnightly Family Fun and Family Faith Evenings. Last Friday, a Family Fun Winter Games evening took place. Thankyou to those who came along to see what these evenings are about. We look forward to seeing the number of school families grow, as the weather warms up. Thankyou also to Pastor Graham for coordinating the Winter Games. If you have any questions regarding these evenings, please do not hesitate to contact our church or school office (41525900 – Church Office and 41326888 – School Office).

Acts of Service at Home

How do we encourage young people to participate in acts of service? A great place is to begin in the home. Whether it’s washing dishes, mowing the lawn, or cleaning the bathroom, acts of service at home help children to feel more invested in their families. It also teaches them important life values and skills. For more information on Acts of Service and many other great resources, visit www.growministries.org.au

Market Morning

Congratulations to our Year 6 students for their incredible stalls at the recent Friday morning market. This market morning, with stalls held by our Year 6 students was a culminating event for their business unit. Student were required to build a small business – aimed to create sustainable products to sell. They learnt how businesses provide goods and services and consider the effect of consumer and financial decisions on individuals, the community and the environment.  This was a busy morning with our school community all invited along to purchase goods from the Year 6 stalls. The profits from each business will be donated to Angels Community Group.

Thank you to Mrs Bester, Mr Rewald, Year 6 students and parents for your roles in supporting this learning event. Thank you also to those who were able to come along and support our stall holders.

Reading

We were delighted to celebrate book week last week with our school. Our staff loved seeing students visiting the Book Fair with so many students eager to read their new books. Did you know that reading benefits the brain in many different ways?

• Reading improves vocabulary
• Better comprehension across topics and storylines
• Develops critical thinking skills
• Improves memory
• Improves results at school and work
• Improves analytical skills
• Builds confidence and supports emotional health
• Helps you socialize and share your reads with others
• Broadens horizons as you read about people, cultures, events and stories
• Improves writing skills
• Improves focus and concentration
• Makes you more empathetic
• It develops emotions and empathy for points of view
• Readers are leaders
• Learn at your own pace

Reading is an important skill for our children and us as adults. What was the last great book you have read that you could tell someone else about to share the joy of reading! Thank you, Mrs Anderson and all staff for empowering and supporting our children to read, read, read!

A Very Big Thank You!!!

We would like to thank you all for making our 2022 Book Week a wonderful success. Throughout the week, students and staff celebrated this year’s Book Week theme, Dreaming with Eyes Open by reading many of the awarded shortlisted books, class activities, adding to the whole school dream wall, browsing through the book fair, writing wish lists and taking part in the school’s fancy dress day.

Book Week culminated on Friday with students and staff dressing as a book character or something they would like to be when they grow up. Students came dressed as nurses, doctors, artists, animal carers, construction workers, rock stars, policemen and women, astronauts, dancers, farmers, and truck drivers to name just a few. We also saw many well-known book characters such as, Ginger Megs, Claris, Steve Irwin, Alice in Wonderland, Queen of Hearts, Dorothy, and Mary Poppins.

Each class had a dance off against their buddy class. They showed their dancing moves and enjoyed seeing the different characters that other students came dressed as. It was a wonderful finish to the week and the whole school was buzzing with excitement.

Once again, our Book Fair was very successful and well supported with the total coming in just under $8000 worth of books being sold. We receive 20% commission of these sales from Dymocks, which enables us to purchase more books and great literature for our school library.

A BIG THANK YOU to all the families who donated books to our library from the Book Fair. Through your donations our Library is kept well stocked with the latest books and authors for all the students to enjoy for years to come.

Wreckers or Builders

This is a poem I came across many years ago and I think it has a powerful life message for us all.

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
As the men you’d hire if you had to build?”
He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!
Just common labour is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do.”
And I tho’t to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labour of tearing down?

— Unknown

We are all human and of course as human beings we can be prone to the ‘evils’ of ‘wrecking’. Often the attributes of being dishonest, telling untruths, making misguided comments, or even gossiping are not the way set out to be! Unfortunately, without the facts, and speaking only through our perceptions, can be demeaning, degrading, and hurtful to those around us. This can particularly be the case as we work toward the end of the term. Adults are tired and so are the children. Unless one actually witnesses an event or has the facts, here-say doesn’t make it the truth. Fortunately, we have a school whose principles, beliefs and ethos are based, among other things, on the notions of truth, trust, honesty and ‘building’.

Working together makes us feel good about ourselves and creates trust in others. It fosters relationships. It seems not much in fashion these days to talk about the benefits of such but the benefits are undeniably there and they are valuable and worth the trouble. I see it daily in our students, staff and parents.

We truly do have a terrific school which is a direct result of teachers, parents and students working together – even though we find ourselves operating in unique times! Communication and relationships remain a key focus for all of us at St John’s!

Have you ever worked on a jigsaw puzzle without a completed picture of the puzzle?

It can make it very hard to put the pieces altogether!

Sometimes reading the Bible can be a bit like this. We read and know a number of random Bible Stories, but we don’t know how they all fit together as a whole. We may recognise that there is an Old Testament and a New Testament but we don’t really get the BIG picture. It is only when we see that, from the beginning, after people first sinned, God put into action a plan of how He would save people. Then we start to see the picture forming.

So the Old Testament is ‘the story’ of how God planned to rescue people through the Promised Saviour. The people of the Old Testament (OT) looked forward to the time when God would send the Saviour who would save them from their sins.

The New Testament (NT) tells the account of that Promised Saviour coming to earth as baby Jesus.  He lived and moved among people and showed people who God was and what He is like. He fulfilled God’s plan to rescue people by suffering, dying and rising to life again and rescuing people from the consequences of sin. Believers then shared this message of hope throughout the world.

So, both the OT and the NT point to Jesus, and the picture of the pieces of the bible comes together in God’s rescue plan through Jesus.

As John 20:31 says:

^“But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Then, by believing, you may have life through his name.”

Presentation of Australian and Aboriginal Flags

On Tuesday morning staff and students at St John’s had a special guest visit from the Hon. Keith Pitt MP. Mr. Pitt gave of his time to present our school with a new Australian Flag and Aboriginal Flag. Thank you, Mr. Pitt for taking the time to speak with our students about our democracy. We will proudly fly the Australian flag alongside our Queensland flag, Torres Strait Islander flag and Aboriginal flag.