Filter Content
Dear SJV Community
Welcome to the end of Wk 7.
I have placed a couple of prayers below that you might like to say during this period of Lent.
'Heavenly Father, I’m truly sorry for the moments today where I missed the mark. I ask for your forgiveness and the strength to better follow Your call tomorrow. Amen.
'God, I lift up (name of the person you’d like to pray for) today. I ask that you bless them abundantly today and throughout Lent. Amen.”
Swimming Carnival
A big thank-you to Mrs Malpas and Mrs Kain for coordinating tomorrow's swimming carnival. They have been ably assisted by the whole staff to make sure that the day runs smoothly. Another vote of thanks goes to all of our parents who have volunteered as well as the support offered to us by St Mary Mackillop College, who will be sending 8 senior students to help tomorrow.
Secret Boys Business - Year 2 and Year 3 Parents of Boys
Co-educational Offerings at SJV vs Single Sex Schooling
In Week 9 - Wednesday 27th March at 4:30pm, I will be presenting information concerning the advantages and disadvantages of coeducational schooling vs single sex education. I believe that parents need to know all the primary school options for their boys within the local area. Whilst this will be targeted at Year 2 and Year 3, any family is welcome to attend.
Principal's Retreat
Last week I attended our annual Principal's retreat. The retreat began with a system day where the Director discussed the implementation of the diocesan evidence based Catalyst program over the last three years.
When looking at our improvements in numeracy and literacy, CECG is sitting approximately 2nd overall from 28 dioceses and also is positioned well above the national average. Very reassuring data!
The remainder of the retreat was spent with Fr Timothy Radcliffe, a Dominican priest who is known internationally for the quality of his speaking regarding faith development.
Pick-up and Drop-off Procedures
A reminder that you need to sign your child in and out of the school if you have arrived late or need to leave early. If your child has lost something (eg.hat, bag etc) and you need to go to their class to try and find it, please register with the Front Office first so we know that you are inside the school.
School Pride
A huge shout-out to our students who have been helping Mrs Spackman spread fresh garden mulch (directly from a local tree) onto our garden beds. This work is transforming these targeted areas, making them drought resistant with the added advantage of looking great.
School Uniform
A few multicoloured scrunchies have been creeping into the daily life of our school. Please remind our students that it is only blue or maroon that is acceptable.
NAPLAN
NAPLAN has begun and all children have completed their Writing and Reading tests so far. I am always very impressed by the participation rate at our school, 100% of students taking the tests. Anecdotally, this participation rate is not always the case at other schools in our area, which is surprising to hear.
Android QKR App
After many months of not being able to log in to QKR using an android phone - I've received an email today to say that the android phone issue has now been resolved.Parents/Users can now download the App from the Google Play Store. QKR apologise for the inconvenience that this issue has caused.
Access to the School Calendar - How to navigate
Access the school website either through your computer or phone following this link. https://www.sjv.act.edu.au/
Mobile Phone – Scroll down until you see the second last coloured tile which I have pasted below. Follow this link to our school calendar.
Computer – Scroll down until you see the second last coloured tile which I have pasted below. Follow this link to our school calendar.
Class Contacts
A big shout out to the following parents who have put their hands up to be class contacts
Year 2 - Sonia Taflaga
Year 3 - Amanda Martin and Rebecca Richardson
Year 4 - Kylie Lloyd.
We are still chasing down some extra parents for Year K, 1 and both 5/6 classes.
God Bless
Peter Rodda
Principal
RESILIENCE
Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioural flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.
Some children (and indeed some adults) are resilient by nature – their temperament helps them to be mentally and psychologically tough. You know those kids. They get straight back up after a setback or disappointment. Rejection in the playground doesn’t faze them. Unfortunately, not every child has such natural resilience.
The good news is that most of the research shows that resilience can be nurtured and developed, particularly when parents themselves are resilient and they actively foster it in their kids.
Resilient kids share four basic skill sets- independence, problem-solving, optimism and social connection.
Building Resilience
Adults need to coach children through some of their more challenging moments and reviewing what they may have learned for next time. Avoid solving all their problems for them.
You can promote a lasting sense of resilience in your children by:
- Having a positive attitude yourself. Your attitude as a parent impacts on their ability to bounce back from some of the difficulties they face. Make sure you model a ‘you can do it’ attitude for your child when he meets some of life’s curve balls.
- Look for teachable moments. Many kids’ learning opportunities are disguised as problems. Make the most of these opportunities so that children can grow and learn from some of the challenges they face.
- Make kids active participants in the family. Active participation in a family develops the self-help, problem-solving and independence skills of kids that are necessary for resilience.
- Build kids coping skills. There are plenty of strategies you can pass on to kids to help them cope when life doesn’t go their way, including acceptance, getting away for a while, and normalisation.
Promoting resilience in children is a not a single event but a continuous process that requires adults to be supportive and empathetic when things don’t go their way. It also requires you as a parent to have an understanding of resilience, so you have faith in yourself, and your child’s ability to cope.
The link below provide's more information on the topic by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, a psychologist who works with children and adolescents, specialising in the area of parenting adolescents and adolescent mental health.
https://www.weekendnotes.com/raising-happy-and-resilient-children-by-michael-carr-gregg/
Mrs D’s ‘Thought of the Week….’
“In the end, just 3 things matter:
- How well we have lived
- How well we have loved
- How well we have learned to let go.”
- Jack Kornfield
Nina De Rosa
Assistant Principal
RE News with Laura Matchett
Gospel Reflection John 12:20-33
In this Sunday’s Gospel, we encounter a poignant exchange between Jesus and some Greeks who seek to see him. Their simple request unfolds into a profound revelation about the purpose of Christ's mission and the essence of discipleship. As Jesus contemplates his impending crucifixion, he uses the metaphor of a grain of wheat to illustrate the transformative power of sacrifice and surrender. He explains that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. This metaphor holds a vital lesson for us as teachers, parents and for our children.
Just as a grain of wheat must undergo a process of dying to itself in order to produce fruit, so too must we, as followers of Christ, be willing to let go of our own desires, comforts, and self centeredness in order to bear fruit in our lives and in the lives of our children. This may involve sacrificing our time, resources, and even our own ambitions for the sake of others.
As teachers and parents parents, we have the sacred responsibility of nurturing our children's faith and guiding them on the path of discipleship. We must strive to model for them the selfless love, humility, and obedience exemplified by Jesus Christ. In doing so, we help them understand that true greatness lies not in personal achievement or recognition, but in serving others with compassion and humility.
Project Compassion
Ash Wednesday marked the official launch of our Project Compassion fundraising campaign for Caritas Australia. Caritas Australia has worked hand in hand with the most marginalised and remote communities in Australia and overseas to confront the challenges of poverty for over 60 years. The theme for this year’s fundraiser is ‘For All Future Generations.’ Some inspiring stories (suitable for primary school aged children to watch) about people Caritas has assisted, can be found here: https:/youtube/pquSO1uw4Zs?si=sP_aGmnRjL6AdoCM
Each classroom has a Project Compassion donation box which we encourage all students to donate to throughout Lent. In classes, we have talked about how Lent is a time of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, as well as sacrifice. Donating to Project Compassion, even just a small amount, is a great way for children to embrace the spirit of the Lenten season. As part of our fundraising efforts, the school will be holding an Easter Egg Jar Guessing Competition. We will run this during the first break on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout Lent. The cost will be 50 cents per guess or 3 guesses for $1. The winners of the competition will be announced at our Easter Sunday Prayer Celebration on Tuesday 2nd April.
School Masses
As a school, we regularly attend the Wednesday morning 9:30 am Mass at St John Vianney’s Church. The choir sings at this Mass and sometimes our students have a role in other parts of the celebration. Parents and friends of our school are welcome to join us alongside parishioners at this Mass. Dates the school will be attending Mass this term are as follows:
Wednesday 20th March: Parish Mass at 9:30am (led by Year 4)
Monday 8th April: Annunciation Feast Day Mass, 9:30am, St Jude’s Church (Years 3-6)
Prayer Celebrations
To mark the significant events of Holy Week, classes will be leading our school community in Prayer Celebrations in the weeks surrounding Easter. The dates and times of these Prayer Celebrations are:
Friday 22nd March: Palm Sunday, 2:30pm, (led by Year 1)
Thursday 28th March: Holy Thursday, 9:15am (led by Year 5/6)
Thursday 28th March: Good Friday/Stations of the Cross, 2:40pm (led by Year 5/6)
Tuesday 2nd April: Easter Sunday, 2:40pm (led by Kindergarten)
All parents and friends of the school are warmly invited to join us for these Prayer Celebrations. They will be held in the school hall.
Reconciliation 2024
Congratulations to our students who made their first Reconciliation last week. We would like to thank the Parish Sacramental team for their work in coordinating the Sacrament, and acknowledge the hard work of both our students and their families in helping our candidates prepare to receive this Sacrament. Please keep our candidates in your prayers.
Sacraments 2024
Registrations for First Eucharist and Confirmation for 2024 are open and we encourage families who would like their child to receive these Sacraments this year to register as soon as possible via the ParishQkr! App. It is possible to receive more than one Sacrament in the same year, however, the Sacraments usually need to made in order (i.e. Reconciliation, followed by First Eucharist, then Confirmation). These questions and other general enquiries about the Sacramental program are best directed to the Parish Office via email: SacramentalOLA@cg.org.au
Eligibility for each Sacrament is as follows:
Reconciliation - open to students who have been baptised Catholic and who are in Year 3 or above.
First Eucharist - open to baptised Catholic students who have made their Reconciliation and are in Year 4 or above.
Confirmation - open to baptised Catholic students who have received their First Eucharist and who are in Year 6 or above.
Key dates for each Sacrament are as follows:
First Eucharist
Tuesday 9th April: Reflection Hour, 5:30pm, St John Vianney’s Church
Wednesday 10th April: First Eucharist registrations close
Tuesday 21st May: Reflection Hour, 5:30pm, St John Vianney’s Church
Tuesday 28th May: Reflection Hour, 5:30pm, St John Vianney’s Church
Saturday 1st June/Sunday 2nd June: Gathering Masses
Tuesday 4th June: Reflection Hour, 5:30pm, St John Vianney’s Church
Saturday 15th June: Sacrament of First Eucharist, 5pm, St Jude’s Church
Sunday 16th June: Sacrament of First Eucharist, 9am, St John Vianney’s Church
Confirmation
Saturday 1st June/Sunday 2nd June: Gathering Masses
Tuesday 2nd July: Reflection Hour, 5:30pm, St John Vianney’s Church
Tuesday 23rd July: Reflection Hour, 5:30pm, St John Vianney’s Church
Wednesday 24th July: Confirmation registrations close
Tuesday 30th July: Reflection Hour, 5:30pm, St John Vianney’s Church
Tuesday 6th August: Reflection Hour, 5:30pm, St John Vianney’s Church
Saturday 24th August/Sunday 25th August: Gathering Masses
Tuesday 27th August: Reflection Hour/Preparation Hour, 5:30pm, St John Vianney’s Church
Wednesday 28th August: Sacrament of Confirmation, 6pm, St John Vianney’s Church, (celebrated by Father Richard Thompson)
Please note - Merit Awards will be handed out at NEXT Friday's morning assembly.
|
KA |
Ignatius Ioane Tito |
|
1 B |
Maxwell Cameron |
|
2 J |
Levi Cowie |
|
3 P |
Lily Battaglini |
|
4 CA |
George So |
|
5/6 J |
Hayden Sjoberg |
|
5/6 P |
Jason Nicola |
|
Library |
Olivia Haydon |
What's coming up and when:
| Every Monday | Sports Day |
| Every Friday | Sports Day |
| Wednesday 13th - Mond 25th March |
Naplan Assessment Window |
| Friday 15th March |
School Swimming Carnival Mt Stromlo Leisure Centre |
| Monday 18th March |
School Community Council Meeting |
| Tuesday 19th March |
Merici Enrolment Visit for Year 6 |
| Wednesday 20th March |
Parish Mass (led by Year 4) from 9:30am Families welcome to attend. |
| Thursday 21st March |
Harmony Day |
| Friday 22nd March |
Prayer Celebration: Palm Sunday (led by Year 1) 2:30pm -3:10pm. Families welcome to attend. |
| Sunday 24th March |
Palm Sunday |
| Wednesday 27th March |
Secret Boys Business - Co-Educational offerings at SJV see Principal piece in today's newsletter for more information. Time : 4:30pm |
| Thursday 28th March |
Prayer Celebration: Holy Thursday (led by Years 5 and 6) 9:15am-9:45am Good Friday/Stations of the Cross - 2:40pm (led by Year 5 and 6) Families welcome to attend. |
| Friday 29th March |
Good Friday Public Holiday |
| Saturday 30th March |
Easter Saturday |
| Sunday 31st March |
Easter Sunday |
| Monday 1st April |
Easter Monday Public Holiday |
| Tuesday 2nd April |
Easter Sunday Prayer celebration (led by Kindergarten) 2:40pm. Families welcome to attend. |
| Wednesday 3rd April |
Special Lunch - Carnevale details to follow |
| Thursday 4th April |
SJV School Disco - details to follow |
| Friday 5th April |
Sth Weston Regional Swimming Carnival |
As a kinder teacher, I am constantly laughing in my heart because kids say the funniest things!
As we all know the swimming carnival is tomorrow and there is a lot of talk about what will happen, what coloured swimmers they have and of course their lunch order.
In order for the children to know what the name and colour of there house is for the chanting session this afternoon, I got the kinders to colour in a tshirt with their name and house team on it.
One child had coloured her tshirt blue because she was in Garid. After completing the colouring she told me that her house was really red. I said no it was Garid so it was blue. No it's red she said. Finally I twigged, her brick house was red!
Another boy who was also in Garid and needed to colour his tshirt in blue started to colour it in black. No I said you need to colour it in blue. He said no, my team is black and white (Collingwood).
Got to love them!
Book club Issue 2 is out now
Orders are due Friday 22nd March by 4pm.
We have received a box from the orders placed from issue 1 today that will be sent home with the children this afternoon.Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge 
All SJV students have been registered to participate in the 2024 Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge. At school, and at home, students are encouraged to read 30 books by the end of June (this includes books that are read to them/ shared).
Each student from Year 2 to Year 6 has a recording sheet in the library that they are encouraged to fill in to show the 30 books they have read. I will keep a note of the books we read in the library from Kinder to Year 2.
SUSTAINABILITY @ SJV
The awesome and wonderful Sustainability children have been busy bees taking the mulch and spreading it on the garden beds to the side of the netball court. The children really love working to make the school look as manicured and clean as it does - it's a credit to each of them, it shows that they are proud of where they go to school.
The Nursery has an abundance of vegetables - zucchinis, black Russian Tomatoes, Finger Limes, Cucumbers, and Silverbeet - however we have some resident rodents that like our garden just as much as we do!!!, so it's a lotto if we have them in the morning.!!
The sprinkling system is keeping the plants alive and is very impressive, at least the watering is one job that the children don't have to worry about.
Bulb Fundraiser/SJV Nursery
If anyone would like to order bulbs for their Spring garden, This is your last chance to order bulbs Mrs Spackman has offered another week for orders to be placed. Your garden will love you in Spring. Orders in by Friday 22nd March.
Orders to be emailed to Janice.spackman@cg.catholic.edu.au and paid for on Qkr!
If you need a catalogue, please let Janice or Jet know and we’ll send one home to you :)
We have an amazing selection of plants growing in our SJV Nursery. If you would like to purchase plants from school or come and check out what we have, please email me and let me know.
We have lemons magnolias, salvias (currently in flower), hydrangeas, lavender, grevillea, gardenia, camellias and many more.!!
Thank you!
Happy Gardening
The Sustainability Team
Happy Birthday Julian J
St Jude’s Fete THIS Saturday!
The St Jude’s Fete is on Saturday 16th March. This is a great fun day to meet other families and raise some funds for the school. Please consider baking for the cake stall or donating plants or ‘treasures’. Head to the Qkr! App (in the Community Council menu) to pre-purchase Fete Mates, Ride Wristbands, Showbags and Raffle tickets. Check your notes pockets, the St Jude’s newsletter and your emails for more information.
This year the ELC will be hosting the Hairspray Stall. Many hands make light work, so we’d love for you to get involved. There are still a few spots available for volunteers on the ELC stall or your help would be very much appreciated on any other stall. Please go to volunteersignup.org/WRJ4K to volunteer an hour (or two) of your time to help make our fete great!
Athletics Carnival
The Turtles and Lobsters will join with the primary school at Woden Park Athletics Field next Thursday 21 March for a fun day of activities at the Athletics Carnival. Please sign the excursion note that was placed in your child's pocket and return it as soon as possible. Parents, grandparents, friends are welcome to join us. It is better to meet us there as there is not enough room on the bus. Meal Deal orders are also in the notes pockets.
Lids4Kids
The ELC was lucky to have a visit from Lids4Kids this week. They talked about recycling and sustainability and led the children through a colour sorting activity. They then showed us what can be created using the lids that we recycle. The ELC will be a collecting plastic lids from milk bottles and yoghurt pouches so please drop in your lids for recycling.
Project Compassion
During Lent, we are learning about the importance of doing kind things for others. We will participate in Project Compassion, which raises funds to help people living in poverty in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world. ELC families are invited to donate. Project Compassion boxes are located on the prayer table in each classroom.
The hoppiest Easter fundraiser of all!
Purchase your Easter goodies through Gingerbread Folk using the discount code STJUDES2024 for a
5% discount AND 20% from every sale will be donated to St Jude’s. Gluten and dairy free products are available. Go to https://www.gingerbreadfolk.com.au/discount/STJUDES2024.
Karen Leighton - St Jude's Early Learning Centre
Phone: 0262875520
Email: karen.leighton@cg.catholic.edu.au
Term 1
Week 1 Notes
no notes went home this week
Week 2 Notes
Week 4 Notes
Naplan_2024_Advice_to_Parents.pdf
Privacy_Collection_Notice_for_Parents_Address_Collection_2024.pdf
Week 6 Notes
Week 7 Notes
No notes went home this week
SJV Tuckshop is open Wednesday & Friday. Orders can be made online via Qkr! A copy of the Menu and Qkr! instructions can be found on the Tuckshop Webpage.
TUCKSHOP ROSTER
Friday 15th March
Swimming Carnival
Shine and Suresh
Wednesday 20th March
Emily and Suresh
Friday 22nd March
Tessa/Alex and Penny
Term_1_roster_for_remaining_weeks.pdf
Please remember to bring your WWVP- (Working with Vulnerable People) card with you.
You can apply for the card via Access Canberra: https://www.accesscanberra.act.gov.au/s/article/working-with-vulnerable-people-wwvp-registration-tab-how-to-apply
Term 1 & 4 The Summer Tuckshop Menu kicks in.
With the garden producing so many Zuchinis, Mel has made a zuchini slice that can now be purchased as a lunch item from the canteen. 2 pieces of vegetarian zucchini slice for $4.50 - order via the QKR app.
Please contact the Front Office or Mel or simply fill in the Canteen Volunteer Note to let us know you are able to help and when.
Mel Harding
Canteen Manager
melanie.harding@cg.catholic.edu.au