Week 9 Term 2

School Vision Statement: To change the world through our faith in Jesus who is our light
Phone: 6882 2677 or 6882 2653
Email: stjohnsprimarydubbo@bth.catholic.edu.au                    
Principal: Mr Anthony O’Leary
School Manager/Priest: Father Greg Kennedy           
P&F Meetings: 2nd & 7th Tuesday each term

Parents/guardians-Please note that photographs of students may be used in publication. Please advise the School Office if you do not approve of your child’s photo being used.

WEEK 9

Wednesday 26th June - Year 3-6 Athletics Carnival Barden Park
Thursday 27th June - New Family Kindy Interviews commence

WEEK 10

Monday 1st July - Wednesday 3rd July - New Family Kindy Interviews
Tuesday 2nd July - Year 4 Mass St Brigid's Church 2pm
Wednesday 3rd July - Semester 1 School Reports go live on COMPASS
Wednesday 3rd July - Year 6B - Masonic Village
Wednesday 3rd July - Kindy, Year 1 and 2 Athletics Fun afternoon 2-3pm
Thursday 4th July - Vinnie's Appeal - out of uniform (see Religion News for details)
Friday 5th July - PUPIL FREE DAY

TERM 3
MONDAY 22nd July PUPIL FREE DAY

Welcome to Week 9

It is hard to believe that we are approaching the end of Term 2 already. With only 2 weeks to go, there are still so many exciting community events to come, including the Athletics carnival, the Year 3 Retreat Day this Friday, Kinder 2025 interviews, the Vinnies Winter appeal and enrolment times for Holy Communion over the next few weekends.  

Half Yearly Reports

Your child/ren's Semester 1 Report will be available to view on your Compass Portal next week. These reports provide a comprehensive overview of your child's progress and achievements over the past semester. If you have any trouble accessing your child’s report please contact the office as soon as possible.

Thank You Teachers: Our teachers have devoted many hours, days and weeks in writing the Reports.  From collaboratively planning assessments, administering them, carefully moderating each child's achievements through the lens of the standard of the curriculum, allocating grades and deliberately and thoughtfully composing the General Comment, I appreciate the SJP staff and acknowledge their  excellent efforts in ensuring your child's Report is a genuine reflection of their progress.

Athletics Carnival: Please join us on Wednesday 26th June  for our Athletics Carnival at Barden Park (Year 3 - 6). If you are able to help as a volunteer please refer to the Compass note recently sent home.

The canteen will not operate at school on Wednesday as our amazing canteen staff will be at the carnival. Please make sure that our K - 2 students have a packed lunch and recess from home on this day.

Staff Professional Development Day

You are reminded that our next Staff Professional Development Day is being held Friday 5th of July. Students do not attend school on this day.

On this day our staff will be focusing our professional learning on the work that we are doing on our strategic goal of Wellbeing for all. The staff will be working with BeYou materials and staff from the Catholic Education Diocese of Bathurst, Blair Windsor. The staff will be enhancing their skills in areas such as social and emotional learning, promoting inclusion, early intervention and responding to critical incidents.

Gospel and Reflection:    Mark 4:35-41 Jesus Calms the Storm

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

God is the master of nature

Humanity’s relationship with nature has always been fraught. In today’s reading, the disciples find themselves tossed around in their boats by a violent storm. But it might also be people sheltering from an earthquake in their homes, fleeing from a volcanic eruption, suffering from prolonged drought, or trapped by wildfire.

Where the disciples fear, Jesus sleeps peacefully. He is not afraid of the elements. Nothing will happen to him unless it is God’s will; and if it’s God’s will, there is no need for him to fear it.

Many people these days are afraid of what climate change means for humanity’s future. Today’s reading shouldn’t stop us trying to change our way of living to mitigate climate change, particularly its impact on the most vulnerable in our world. But it might give us some solace in believing that God is still the master of nature.

Have a wonderful week and God Bless.                                                                                                            Anthony O'Leary

Year 3 Student Retreat Day: This coming Friday, Year 3 students will attend their first school based student retreat day at St. Brigid’s Hall. Students are expected to wear their normal sports uniform and arrive in the morning on time in readiness for a 9.10am departure by bus. Students will return by 2.45pm. Students will also need to bring a packed recess and lunch as they will be unable to access canteen facilities. The theme for Year 3’s retreat is Forgiveness. We know Year 3 will appreciate spending time together at the retreat, developing closer friendships and connections. 

Year 3 parents, please keep an eye out for communication from teachers about this upcoming day.

Sacrament of First Holy Communion/Eucharist: Parents of Catholic students in Year 3 wishing to receive this sacrament, need to ensure they have attended an Enrolment Mass to enrol your child in this sacrament. This is a different step to registering their name which was done at the beginning of the year at the Parent Information Session.  

Masses will be held: Saturday - 5:00 pm, Sunday - 9:00 am and Sunday - 5:00 pm.

Parents, if you have not yet received communication from St Brigid’s Sacramental Coordinator Rosie Hosking regarding this sacrament, please contact her asasp on: sacraments.dubbo@cdob.org.au

Vinnies Winter Appeal = Just a reminder: It is that time again - winter has set in, and we should be very aware of those within our community who persevere through cold winter days and nights without the comforts that most of us enjoy. We therefore will begin our annual Vinnies Winter Appeal. This is a great time to donate much needed warm clothing, slippers, blankets etc. If you have a few things (or would like to take the opportunity to donate numerous bags full of outgrown clothes), we will collect them here at school and donate to Vinnies on the last day of term. Children can start bringing in donations to the 6 Blue classroom from now until Wednesday 3rd July (Week 10).

Please see the next page for more details on our Vinnies Winter Appeal and our newly developed Vinnies Appeal Day, called Snug as a Bug in a Rug Day!

The Dubbo Saint Vincent De Paul store is especially in need of good blankets/doonas and are also looking for good furniture. 

If you are able to assist with the furniture, please take a photo of saleable items and forward to Lisa on mobile 0474 382 430. 

Mass at St. Brigid’s Church: 

Saturday - 5:00pm, Sunday - 9:00am and Sunday - 5:00pm

Due to heating issues in St Brigid’s, all weekday Masses will be held at St. Laurence’s Church throughout June, July, August.

Enjoy your week!
Paula Clifford
Religious Education Coordinator

At the start of the year I asked the students to think of a performance goal they would like to achieve in CAPA. Many said to be able to read/speak in front of a group of people confidently. Most adults find speaking in front of people difficult so this was a very brave goal for the students! From this, an idea took shape, and last week, every student in the school performed in a group or solo event when the ‘Travelling Eisteddfod’ came to St John’s Primary. This meant our students could participate in the 2024 City of Dubbo Eisteddfod in the familiar surrounds of our own school hall and gain valuable performance experience. 

A big thankyou to Barbara Redgrave, Judy Roots and the committee from the Dubbo City Eisteddfod for allowing St John’s Primary to host 2 days of events including; Years 2-4 Solo Reading, Year 6 Improvisation and our adorable Kindergarten students performing Nursery Rhymes. 

Our 3-6 Primary Choir, Year 1 Verse Speaking Choir, Year 5 Verse Speaking Choir and String Ensemble also competed at the Dubbo Regional Theatre & Convention Centre with excellent results. 

Our adjudicator was the very talented Sarah Jane McGerty. Sarah trained as an actor at Mountview Academy, London. She holds a master’s degree in performance with distinction in stage combat and UKA 19th-20th Century Social Dance. She trained at Raindance Film School as a Director/Producer. Sarah has worked in film, television and on stage. The students were incredibly excited to discover one of the films was Harry Potter! She was an incredibly empathetic and kind adjudicator and we feel very fortunate to have had someone with such vast experience at our school to provide feedback to the students.

A big thank you to Mr. O’Leary and staff for their support. Thank you to the students who were so incredibly receptive and engaged throughout the process. Even though some were incredibly nervous, they were able to channel their nerves and left the hall feeling a great sense of accomplishment. The teachers told me the students were buzzing when they got back to their rooms, not really concerned about who won, just that they had achieved a personal goal. The students were very involved in the process of selecting their solo readings. In CAPA classes we scoured school readers, visited the library for chapter books and, once students were happy with their selection, I was able to type them up. From here, the hard work of bringing the readings to life began.

The Eisteddfod Committee also wanted to acknowledge the exceptional behaviour and manners of our students over the two days. You could hear a pin drop in the hall when the adjudication was taking place and when other students were on stage. Well done students of St John’s Primary, you represented yourselves and your school beautifully in all events.