Week 5 Term 3

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 5                                                                                                                              Wednesday 21st August - Year 7 2025 1st Orientation day - St John's College
Wednesday 21st August -  Year 1Blue visit to Masonic Village
Thursday 22nd August - NAIDOC DAY
Friday 23rd August - Dio Athletics Carnival - Barden Park

WEEK 6                                                                                                                          Wednesday 28th August - Fathers Day Stall 
Thursday 29th August - Debating SJP vs St Pius at SJP
Friday 30th August -  Fathers Day Liturgy 1pm  School Hall

REMINDERS COMPASS

• Please ensure your events and emails are checked regularly for approval of an activity your child may be involved in.
• Fathers Day present ordering closes Monday 26th August.
• Dio Athletes remember to register for Dio Carnival on CSNSW SPORT

UP TO DATE INFORMATION

• Please keep the school office updated either by phone or email with any changes of address, phone numbers and change of work situations. 

Welcome to Week 5
Congratulations to our Debating team who competed against St Mary's Primary last week in the first round of the debating competition. The team won both of their debates. The students have been learning the finer points of debating from Mrs Therese Jones and we are grateful for her expertise. The next round will be held on the 29th of August where the debating team will be up against St Pius X.

Dio Athletics Carnival
This Friday we have a number of athletes competing at the Diocesan carnival at Barden park. Our relay teams will be competing in each division. We wish all of our athletes the best at the carnival.

NAIDOC WEEK
This week is a significant week for our school as we come together to celebrate and recognise NAIDOC Week 2024. 

Under the leadership of our AEO’s Mr Fernando and Mrs Green, our school will be celebrating on Thursday with a wide range of activities for all of our students.

The NAIDOC organisation body provide this rich information:

This year's theme celebrates the unyielding spirit of our communities and invites all to stand in solidarity, amplifying the voices that have long been silenced.

The fire represents the enduring strength and vitality of Indigenous cultures, passed down through generations despite the challenges faced. It is a symbol of connection to the land, to each other, and to the rich tapestry of traditions that define Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As we honour this flame, we kindle the sparks of pride and unity, igniting a renewed commitment to acknowledging, preserving, and sharing the cultural heritage that enriches our nation.

"Blak, Loud and Proud" encapsulates the unapologetic celebration of Indigenous identity, empowering us to stand tall in our heritage and assert our place in the modern world. This theme calls for a reclamation of narratives, an amplification of voices, and an unwavering commitment to justice and equality. It invites all Australians to listen, learn, and engage in meaningful dialogue, fostering a society where the wisdom and contributions of Indigenous peoples are fully valued and respected.

Through our collective efforts, we can forge a future where the stories, traditions, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are cherished and celebrated, enriching the fabric of the nation with the oldest living culture in the world.

Online Safety at Home
It is important to remember that although the use of Online Media such as Apps, videos and educational games is both entertaining and beneficial to children’s learning, we must remember that the internet is not always safe, especially if the app or game being used has a chat function. At times problems from outside school make their way through the school gate. At SJP, we are committed to working with parents and students to manage the appropriate use of technology.

The e-safety commission provides a great resource that covers many topics. https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-09/English%20-%20Parents%20guide.pdf 

The following tips from the eSafety Commissioner gives some great ideas for keeping your child safe online:

• Be Engaged with your child’s internet use. Keep the use of devices restricted to an area of your home where it can be supervised.  It is important that children are not left alone online in their bedrooms. Share some online time with your child and talk about what they are doing online. Keep the lines of communication open.
• Encourage safe and responsible behaviour by working to achieve a healthy balance between your child’s online and offline activities. Set boundaries for digital device use in your home. Make sure any online media your child is using is set to the strongest privacy settings and teach your child to avoid clicking on pop-up ads on websites. At night, charge devices in a central area of your home rather than in your child’s bedroom.
• Use Parental Controls available on your home Wi-Fi, individual devices, streaming services, software and web browsers to help protect your children online. These controls can often be used to block, filter, monitor or set time limits online.
• Promote respectful communication by encouraging your child to use the same positive manners and behaviour as they would offline. If it’s not ok to do or say something face to face, then it’s not ok online. We need to model respectful communication and how we talk about other people respectfully to our children.

If you would like further information about online safety, have a look at these valuable websites: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents 

Evacuation drills
We will be conducting some emergency drills in the next couple of weeks, these will just be drills and the children will be supported throughout these drills by their teachers and aides.

Year 6 Transition to High School
The vast majority of our Year 6 students will be heading over to St John’s College this Wednesday for Orientation. The students will be walking to SJC to commence the day at 9.30am and will return to SJP at 2.10pm. I am sure they will enjoy the experience of the College.

Gospel and Reflection: John 6:51-58

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 

56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

Jesus, the living bread

The first reading today causes me to be grateful for all the wise people who have helped me along the way, especially when I thought I knew more than I really did. An old man once told me of a time he was in hospital and had lost his appetite. He didn’t feel like eating anything and was growing weak. A nurse suggested, ‘why don’t you try some dry ginger ale’. It was perfect. Just what he wanted. He then said that wisdom is like that. A wise word or a wise decision has a taste that just feels right, that appeals to the palette of our soul. Jesus is a teacher of wisdom, the greatest that ever lived. When he says, ‘I am the living bread’, he is challenging us to identify our true hungers. A relationship with God is what will feed us. It is the bread that will nourish us on our most lacklustre days.

God bless and have a wonderful week
Anthony O’Leary

Christmas Art
Congratulations to the six students chosen from Year 5 to enter the CEDB Christmas Art Competition for 2024. This competition invites the participation of many Stage 3 students from around the entire diocese. A number of artworks will be awarded prizes at the end of Week 7. We wish our entrants in the competition the best of luck. Entries can be seen below.

Nathaniel

My family and I are proud Wiradjuri people and I wanted to incorporate my heritage by creating a dot painting. The reason I chose to do the Journey to Bethlehem is that life is one big journey. 

Central to my artwork is five feet. The foot at the front has an image of Baby Jesus inside and represents the thought and idea of his arrival. This has also been placed at the front of the Journey as it’s the reason Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem. Following Jesus' footstep is the feet of Joseph, leading and guiding the feet behind him, being Mary’s. I decided to place Joseph in front of Mary as his role as God entrusted Joseph with a singularly important role of physically safeguarding Mary from any harm that might come to them.

My inspiration comes from indigenous artists my Dad and Richard Campbell. Acrylic paint was used. Reds, oranges, yellow were used to represent the rich ground that Mary and Joseph travelled on and the ground that my people walk on. The greens, blues and purples represent the bodies of water that Mary and Joseph ventured past while on their journey to Bethlehem.

My intentions are to show acknowledgement of my culture through artwork.

Zahlia

The word spirituality comes from the Latin word “spirare” which means to “breathe life into” and this meaning resonates when exploring Aboriginal spirituality, which stems from a belief that the spirit of life is the result of a power greater than ourselves, in our case God. To receive this greater power, Our Saviour, we must first experience the Journey to his birth. My artwork is drawn from the inspiration I receive when reading the Gospel of Luke. 

This colour used in my artwork depicts a contemporary interpretation of land. It explores the movement, essence and the colours featured in Wiradjuri Country.

The grassy dunes are depicted as being steep, highlighting the difficulty that a heavily pregnant and tired Mary would have experienced on her journey. Further along the road, tree’s have been painted which is where Mary and Joseph would have had to rest before arriving at Bethlehem. An Aboriginal flag is flown in the city, enhancing the connection between Catholicism and my Aboriginal culture. The final part of the journey is an image of a barn, the place where Mary gave birth to baby Jesus and wrapped him in a blue cloth, which Mary wore while travelling.

Franz 

My artwork reflects the Magi’s travel to visit the Baby Jesus and is inspired by Matthew 2: 9-12. I created this piece because it represents my family and how God gave us all gifts that we can use to make the world a better place. 

Three camels were illustrated as it represents me, my Mum and Dad. The road that they are wandering represents the long journey ahead and no matter how hard it becomes, God will always take care of us. 

Throughout his letters, Paul mentions spiritual gifts, including wisdom, faith, service, mercy, and encouragement. While the three gifts do represent the gifts that Paul mentioned, they also represent the gifts and values that God gave to my parents that have been passed on to me. 

I decided to colours to make it colourful but to give the piece a meaning, for example: Pink represents God's unconditional love and God's understanding, Blue represents the sky and heavens and the word of God, Green represents the beauty of nature and the provision of God, Maroon represents sacrifice, redemption and courage, Yellow represents Divine glory and faith and finally brown represents earth's stability and God’s provision in our lives.

Haniel

My piece of artwork is inspired by the message in Luke 2:9-14. At the top of my artwork, is a large eye inside the star of Bethlehem. This represents that God will always guide us through life, no matter how dangerous the journey is, he will always be there watching over his people. Similarly, the Bethlehem star guided Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. My artwork also shows the Journey that Mary and Joseph had to go through when they traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem which links with my life. My Mother and Father decided to move from the Philippines to Australia so I could have a better life and education, sacrificing the close family connections we had in our home country. This sacrifice, worry and anxiety is also something that Joseph would have felt when he left Nazareth and headed to Bethlehem. 

I chose to sketch my artwork and keep the background mainly white because throughout the Bible, white represents purity, holiness and great beginnings- three themes that also resonate with my life.

Dinuki

My artwork “Polaroids of our Past” is based on the scripture from Luke 2:4-7. I have decided to portray the messages of the journey on individual tiles, representing polaroid film, as we are viewers looking in. To connect with society and today’s generation, each image has been given a #hashtag that relates to the theme of the story that is being represented. 

The polaroids are visuals of  the journey that Mary and Joseph have seen. The polaroid picture #Still Going represents that Mary and Joseph’s faith hasn’t faded away and that they trust in God for any troubles that might be ahead of them. #Homestay is the barn that they stayed in and where they delivered baby Jesus. The Three Wise Men, Myrrh, Frankincense and Gold are the people and their gifts that visited Jesus when he was born.

The Main frame is the main picture with the hills and rocky paths but the trees and greenery so the hardship is equalled out by their hope and faith. I used watercolour pencils for each individual polaroid picture. For the main frame sunset, I used watercolours that used calm and soothing colours like light pink faded into yellow. 

The star is guiding Mary and Jesus and the Magi, just like God is also guiding our life as we  go through hardships as well as celebrating the good times.

Hunter

The inspiration for my artwork is drawn from the Gospel of Luke. The main focus of this artwork is a large representation of God overlooking the Holy Kingdom and the Journey that Joseph and Mary are enduring to bring into the world our saviour. This passage resonated with me as life itself is a journey and I wanted to create an artwork demonstrating that our lives are one big journey that we experience together in our minds, words and actions. I also wanted to highlight that through any journey there will be happy, joyful and easier times as well as hard, enduring and difficult times. This is portrayed in the soft green grassy hills that represent the smooth and easier times compared to the rocks which represent the hard, sharp and often bumpy journeys that we will endure. Both of these would have been feelings that Mary and Joseph experienced.

My artwork has been portrayed as a 3D image. Like everything else in life, the layers we add to our life can have their good and not-so-good sides. In my image, I like to think of the layers as gratitude and positivity … layers that enabled Mary and Joseph to persevere with the journey and follow God’s plan, highlighting their faith and courage.

Praise and Worship Concert
Tomorrow, our Year 5 and 6 students will attend the DRTCC to experience a Praise and Worship Concert hosted by Emmanuel Worship - a Catholic band who write and perform music and who have a passion for spreading the Gospel of Jesus. Throughout the day, Emmanuel Worship will share music in a relevant and meaningful way through the use of prayer, song, and reflection. We trust Year 5 and 6 will enjoy this experience.

Mass at St. Brigid’s Church:   Saturday - 5:00pm, Sunday - 9:00am and Sunday - 5:00pm

Parishioners, please note: Weekday Masses have now returned to St. Brigid’s Church at 5:45pm.

Enjoy your week!                                                                                                                                                Paula Clifford                                                                                                                                                      Religious Education Coordinator

SPB4L
This week we will continue our SPB4L focus is on ‘respect’.  During our assembly, we discussed ways we can show respect: 

• Towards our friends
• Listen
• Use kind words
• Include others in games
• Towards our school
• Picking up rubbish
• Caring for the gardens
• Towards teachers
• Listening
• Following instructions
• Displaying positive behaviour

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club is now available at school between 8.20 - 8.40am Monday - Friday. Breakfast club will offer the following"

• A slice of toast with either vegemite or jam and a hot milo for $1
• Extra slice of toast is 50c

As this is a wellbeing initiative there is no provision for the use of Flexischools to order. This is a cash only purchase.

Bullying No Way!                                                                                                                                            On Friday, it was amazing to see so much orange being worn by the students to help raise awareness of Bullying and trying to prevent it.

Kindness Challenge

We also started a ‘21 Day Kindness Challenge’ on Friday which aims to promote kind                                    interactions between students. Each morning, students will find out the new challenge for the day. Our first two challenges have been: 

• Smile at someone
• Greet someone with a friendly ‘hello’

Important Wellbeing Dates for Term 3

• R U Ok Day? - Students can wear a yellow accessory/ies to raise awareness. Families are warmly invited to bring a picnic recess to have with their child on this day. The picnic will be held from 1.30 - 2.00. This will be held on 13th September (Friday Week 8). 
• Life Ed Van (Healthy Harold) will be visiting in Week 9. Students from Kindergarten - Year 4 will be attending at various times on either the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. 

DEBATING                                                                                                                              Well done to our debating squad on their excellent performance in the Catholic Primary School’s Debating Competition last Friday. The negative and affirmative teams both came away with a win on the day with the topic, ‘Handwriting is better for you than handwriting’. 

Debating is a powerful tool for developing literacy skills in students. Engaging in debates encourages critical thinking, effective communication, and the ability to articulate thoughts clearly. As students research and construct arguments, they enhance their vocabulary and comprehension, while the need to listen to and rebut opposing views sharpens their listening skills. Debating also fosters confidence in public speaking and the ability to structure ideas logically, all of which are essential components of strong literacy. By participating in debates, students not only strengthen their literacy skills but also learn to appreciate diverse perspectives.

We are very proud of our students and the way they represented our school. Well done! We are looking forward to the next round against St Pius X in Week 6.

Library News                                                                                                                            We are in the process of updating the library. Many thanks to Mrs. Campbell, Mr. Bradford and Mrs. Bonnington for their assistance.

CBCA's key highlight national event of the year is Children's Book Week. This year the official week is from Saturday, 17 August – Friday, 23 August.

Our library will again be celebrating the love of reading during Book Week to be held the week of August 19-23. Each class will be involved in some Book Week activities and competitions.

Reading is Magic “Books aren't just marvelous, they are marvels. They can transport us and transform us and return us to our original state. They are the greatest illusion. Mere words on a page when read can inspire the mind and a child to dream the impossible and head into the world in search of the possible!”

Competitions - Macquarie Regional Library  Design a Bookmark 

To celebrate Book Week we are giving children and young people (ages 4 to 18) the chance to have their designs on our bookmarks! The winners of each age category will also receive a book prize pack.

To enter, pick up an entry form from your local library, sketch your design and return your entry to the library or school for your chance to win. The competition opens on Thursday 1 August and closes on Sunday 15 September 2024.(Copies at school as well)

Guess the teachers favourite book!

 (Years 2-6)  Do you know what our teachers/staff members read? You could be in the running for a special lunch and other prizes. Keep an eye out for the details, and ask your teacher for some clues. Who’s your favourite author? What Are your hobbies?

Draw something magical (Years K/1)