Volleyball Australia Regional Camp

The next Volleyball Australia Emerging Talent Program Regional Camp in the Wide Bay region is being held on the weekend on 14 – 15 May 2022 at Aldridge State High School (Maryborough).

The weekend camp will provide male and female athletes in the Wide Bay and Burnett region (and beyond) an opportunity to advance their skills under the guidance of the high-performance Volleyball Australia national junior program coaches and athletes. Athletes will enjoy a total of 9 hours of on-court coaching over the weekend and learn the skill concepts and training/playing styles employed by the Australian junior and senior national teams.

For more information, please click on the attached flyer – Wide Bay Emerging Talent Camp Flyer – May 2022

Bargara Little Athletics 2022 Season 

The Bargara Little Athletics Season has just kicked off. For more information, please click on the attached flyer – 2022 Promo Flyer – Bargara Little Athletics

Meet Our Executive Committee Members

Hello, my name is Christine Ewald and I am the current President of the P&F Committee.

My family have been at St John’s for almost 2 years now. My oldest Savannah is in Grade 6 and my youngest Lachlan is in Grade 4 and we all absolutely love the St John’s community and spirit. Everyone has been so welcoming and supportive.

Previously, I have been President of my children’s last school”s P&C Committee for 3 years and last October I was honoured to be elected the President of St John’s P&F Committee.

I am excited to meet more members of our wonderful community and even though a few things had to be cancelled or postponed last Term, I hope that we are able to hold some more events leading into Term 2 and onwards unhindered.

In the meantime, if you have any suggestions or ideas, we would love to hear them. Please don’t hesitate to contact us via email at pandf@stjohnsbundaberg.qld.edu.au

Grace and Peace

Christine Ewald

P&F PRESIDENT

Parents & Friends (P&F) General Meeting – Tuesday 3 May 2022

The P&F committee are excited to advise that the first General Meeting for this year will take place next Tuesday 3 May from 5:30 – 6:30pm. This meeting will be held in the Hall with access through the main Administration building doors. We encourage all families, new and old, to join as we are always looking for new and fresh ideas.

Annual Membership Forms will be available on the night for completion should any new members wish to join. Otherwise please find attached a link to the Membership Form should you wish to complete this in advance of next week’s general meeting. For all current members, could we please kindly remind you that membership forms need to be completed on an annual basis to ensure that all records are kept up to date.

St John’s Lutheran Primary School P&F Membership Form – 2022 P&F Membership Registration Form

End of Term 1 Hot Cross Buns

Each year we are always very proud to provide students and staff within the school community with a Hot Cross Bun each.  On behalf of the rest of the P&F Committee we would like to thank Gillian Croft (one of our executive members) for picking up and sorting these into the classes for the students to enjoy. We hope that the students and staff enjoyed them.

It was agreed that any remaining full packets of hot cross buns would be donated to Angels Community Group.   Thank you to Tamara Carroll, Director of Pastoral Care and Wellbeing and some of our Year 6 leaders who kindly delivered the remaining packets to the Angels Community Group. This was a surprise delivery to Angels and was very graciously accepted by the staff.

St John’s Interhouse Cross Country Carnival

St John’s annual Cross Country was held on Friday 22 April at the Flint Street Oval. Students in all age groups showed tremendous commitment and resilience as they completed their respective races. Students in the 6 to 8 Years Age Groups got our events underway as they took part in a short fun run. The 9 to 12 Years Age Groups then competed for their respective age champion medallions and overall House victory. It was wonderful to see so much encouragement and support for all of our students.

Reuther took out the overall victory for 2022 outscoring Biar by 90 points to 85. Congratulations to all participants for your outstanding efforts this year.

Congratulations to the Age Champions for this year:

9 Years: Scarlett Porter and Nikith Tarigopula

10 Years: Abbey-Rose Gaston and Utah Robertson

11 Years: Alaina Midgley and Knox Kewley

12 Years: Summa Midgley and Ky Ditchmen

Thank you to all parents and friends of St John’s who were able to join us for the day. Your support is always greatly appreciated and helps to make these events a special time for the students. Thank you to all our St John’s staff for your wonderful efforts in assisting in all aspects of this event.

Nathan Higgins

PE TEACHER

Bible Presentations – Friday Chapel Service 

This Friday, 29 April during our School Chapel Service, all Year 3 students as well as new students enrolling at St John’s in Year 4 to 6 will receive a copy of the NIV Children’s Adventure Bible as a gift from our School and Church Community. Chapel Service will commence at 8:45am.

We especially invite our Year 3 and new student families to attend and celebrate this special occasion with their child.

Mothers’ Day Stall – Wednesday 4 May 2022

This year we will be holding our Mothers’ Day Stall in the hall on Wednesday 4 May.  There will be many different products available.

The stall will run during class time on Wednesday and each student will have the opportunity to purchase a gift with their class.

Purchasing a gift is not compulsory.  If you would like your child to participate, gifts are available ranging in price from just $1.00 to $10.00.

A complimentary gift bag service will be available.  So, as well as your Mothers’ Day gift being inexpensive, it will be a real surprise!

Parent help is always greatly appreciated in order to help run the stall. If you are available to help in any way big or small, please kindly email the office school@stjohnsbundaberg.qld.edu.au by Friday 29 April, 2022.

REMINDER: School Photo Day – Thursday 5 May 2022

The school has engaged MSP Photography to capture our school photos this year and you are invited to purchase prints of your child/ren. A reminder that photo day will take place on Thursday 5 May 2022. Every student will be photographed regardless of whether you are purchasing or not. Photo order forms were sent home at the start of the term. If you have not yet returned your form, please ensure that your child brings their form with them on the day.

Uniform Expectations – A reminder that all students must come to school in their full day uniform. The normal expectations, including all leather black shoes, neat hair, no makeup, no nail polish, and no jewellery (other than plain silver or gold studs or sleepers for girls) apply on this day.

Ready Set Prep Day – Saturday 14 May 2022

Are you looking to enrol your child in Prep in 2024 and beyond?

Come along to our upcoming Ready Set Prep Day on Saturday 14 May from 9am – 11am. Meet our Senior Staff – Talk to Teachers – Tour our School – Let them Play – Enjoy Morning Tea!

Click on the link for more details and to register to join us on the day – Ready Set Prep Day – Reserve your spot today!

Year 6 Poetry

One of our Year 6 students, Ruslan, set himself a challenge to create a poem using all of his spelling words! Mrs Elizabeth Bester, Year 6 teacher, wanted to share Ruslan’s creative talents. Fantastic work Ruslan!

Student Awards

TERM TWO WELCOME

Welcome to Term Two. We hope that our families have returned after a well-deserved break, and a blessed Easter with family and friends. Our staff are looking forward to partnering with our students, parents/caregivers and school community for a productive, happy and healthy term ahead.

HELP MIA WORK WONDERS

Last Wednesday, our wonderful St John’s School Community supported one of our students – Mia, who is now in remission from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, to give back to a very important cause; raising awareness, and also much-needed funds for the Children’s Hospital Foundation. Students from across the school dressed casually in exchange for a Gold Coin Donation. Thank you to our St John’s community for the loving support shown on this day.

STUDENT SERVICES REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL AND LAKE ELLEN HERITAGE PARK AND PLAYGROUND CONCEPT PLAN DESIGN

The St John’s Student Services and Representative Council met for the first-time last Thursday, during their morning tea, to discuss their ideas for service and in support of our school. Students elected by their peers in grades two to six form this council. It was a wonderful opportunity to come together and share thoughts about what the role of the SSRC is, and the possibilities for involvement and action in 2022.  In addition, our SSRC have been invited to team with representatives from the Bundaberg Regional Council today, Thursday 28 April, and will be involved in a variety of consultative activities relating to the Lake Ellen Heritage Park and Playground Concept Plan design project including:

1. Thoughts on what ‘Play time’ at Lake Ellen looks like/feels like.
2. Voting on favourite current and future Play Equipment.
3. Vision Boards – What captures your imagination?

Lake Ellen Heritage Hub Park and Playground Concept Plan | Our Bundaberg Region

ANZAC DAY

Thank you to our students, parents/caregivers and staff for their commitment and participation in Monday’s ANZAC Day services held at Bargara and also in Bundaberg. It was lovely to see our students conducting themselves responsibly and respectfully as they joined together in honouring our Australian and New Zealand soldiers, that have served and died in all wars, conflicts and peace keeping operations. We recognise and are eternally grateful for the sacrifices that were made for us. Our students wore their uniforms with pride, and upheld our core values as a school community exceptionally well.

FAMILY FUN NIGHT

Are you looking for some family fun on a Friday Night? Well look no further … St John’s Lutheran Church will be holding a Family Fun Night on Friday 13 May from 6:30pm -9:00pm. We would love to see our school families join us for a night of intergeneration Fun, Fellowship and Faith.

INSTALLATION OF NEW PASTOR

We would like to advise our school community and extend an invitation for our school families to join us at St John’s Church, next Sunday 1 May at 9:00am for the installation of a new Pastor, Pastor Graham Pfeffer. We would love to have our St John’s School community joining us for this service, to welcome Pastor Graham and his wife Judy. Please bring along a plate of shared morning tea and join us under the Mango Tree following the service.

Grace and Peace,

Tamara Carroll

DIRECTOR OF PASTORAL CARE AND WELLBEING

NAPLAN – YEAR 3 and YEAR 5 students

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.

If you have questions around NAPLAN or are wishing to withdraw your child, please book an appointment at your earliest convenience to discuss this.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If your child is to be included in the NCCD the classroom teacher will always make you aware of the adjustments being made at school for your child.

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school to make an appointment.

Grace and Peace,

Jocelyn Bakker

DIRECTOR OF LEARNING & TEACHING

Welcome to Term 2!

I hope that you have had a relaxing and enjoyable Easter break with your family and that you are ready for another exciting term. Term 2 will present many wonderful opportunities for our students to strive for their personal best in a variety of pursuits. We ask that you continue to work with us as educators, so that together we can encourage our children to give their best effort always.

Failing Forward

There is a lot of pressure surrounding our young people in a post-modern society. Take technology for instance – not only the device but the social upheavals that prevail. Notwithstanding such, I speak often with our students about the notion that I call ‘Failing Forward’. In essence allowing ourselves a ‘second chance’ to master a skill or idea is something worth enabling. I’m happy to say that at St John’s this is exactly what happens. Seldom in life is it the case that we ‘just know’ the answer. We’re not born into this world immediately able to speak or walk. We have to learn ‘how’ to do so. We do so by observation of those around us. We babble and gurgle until one day the noise that passes our lips is one that is recognizable and able to be understood by those around us. Similarly, as we desire to become more mobile as an infant – seldom is it that the first time we stand, we walk. Rather, the opposite occurs. We stand, we stumble, we fall – repeatedly, until we stumble and fall less than the last time.

My point is that it remains the same at school. Sure, some have an innate ability which they are able to understand what they are reading more quickly than others, or that they are able to hold a tune and keep a rhythm or understand the social-emotional cues of others. But ultimately comes a time when we just don’t know the answer. I say to our students that that is why we call it learning, not knowing. Learning is the reason we come to school. And it just so happens that in order to learn, we need to ‘fail forward’. Every time an infant desires to walk, they ‘fail forward’ when they fall less frequently. Over time we ‘learn’ how to walk. Does that mean that we never trip over? Of course not. When we trip less, we become confident enough to run. Are we afraid to walk or run because of a trip…. no. We inherently get back up and have a go.

This term I can’t wait to see our children ‘fail forward’. The more I see, the more I know I am not seeing ‘knowing’ rather I’m seeing ‘learning’. That after all is why we are here!

God Says

I don’t know about you but from time to time, as life presents, I find myself feeling lost and helpless. Perhaps check out the below. It certainly helps me!

You say: It’s impossible
God says: All things are possible (Lk.18:27)

You say: I’m too tired
God says: I will give you rest (Mt. 11:28-30)

You say: Nobody loves me
God says: I love you (Jn 3:16)

You say: I can’t go on
God says: My grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9)

You say: I can’t figure things out
God says: I will direct your steps (Prov.3:5-6)

You say: I can’t do it
God says: You can do all things (Phil.4:13)

You say: I’m not able
God says: I am able (2 Cor. 9:8)

You say: It’s not worth it
God says: It will be worth it (Rom. 8:28)

You say: I can’t forgive myself
God says: I forgive you (1 John 1:9)

You say: I can’t manage
God says: I will supply all your needs (Phil. 4:19)

You say: I’m afraid
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear (2 Tim 1:7)

You say: I’m always worried and frustrated
God says: Cast all your care on me (1 Pet. 5:7)

You say: I’m not smart enough
God says: I give you wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30)

You say: I feel all alone
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you (Heb. 13:5)

In the world in which we live, we see signs everywhere calling out for our attention. Not just little signs as we might see on a gate or fence but big billboards and bright neon signs. Other signs such as road signs guide us in where to go as we drive. We see signs of remembrance and memorials to acknowledge people who’ve died. A ring on a finger is a sign of commitment between two people in marriage. What are the signs that catch your attention? What signs do you notice?

People of Jesus’ time looked for signs. They came to Jesus seeking a sign. Jesus did many signs and wonders so that people would believe that He had come from God, that He truly was the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. What about us? Do we look for signs; seek for direction in our life? We see and hear of people who chase after signs through many things and who hang on to superstitions like the lucky clover, touching wood, or other lucky charms.

But we don’t need to chase after these things. They don’t have any power, especially when we realise that the God of the Universe says “Come to me”, “Call on me”, “Trust in me.” He is the One who is all powerful and the One who loves us and cares about us. He wants to lead us and guide us throughout life. He wants the best for us. Let us seek Him and listen to what He has to say in His Word.

The signs the Bible does speak of are the signs of Jesus second coming. These signs are given so that we will be prepared for His coming again and not be caught unaware. We are urged to keep alert and recognise the signs of the times but most of all to believe in the One who was sent to earth, the One who suffered, died and rose again – to believe in Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

Cross Country Carnival

Thank you to all in our community for your support of our Cross Country Carnival, last Friday, 22 April. It was so wonderful to gather together as a community. Well done to our students for their resolve – running long distances is not something I personally excelled at! Particularly, I thank Mr. Higgins for his organisation of the carnival. Well done Reuther House for winning the Cross Country trophy this year.

Children’s Hospital Foundation Appeal

Last Wednesday, we came together as a school community to raise awareness and money for the Children’s Hospital Foundation. Our own Mia – Year 2, has bravely faced her own medical battles over time and is such a ‘trooper’ – always smiling and being friendly to others!

Mia, it is our honour to have raised $573.80 for the Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Thank you all for your ongoing support, love and care.

ANZAC Day Services

Many thanks to the students, staff and families who came along to the Dawn Service at Bargara and the Citizens Parade in Bundaberg on Anzac Day. The behaviour and attitude of your children is a credit to you all. It was wonderful to see representation from our school at such a special event.

Grace and Peace,

Chris Mallett

PRINCIPAL