Welcome to the end of Week 9 Term 1

What a beautiful Prayer Celebration I witnessed in our school hall today.  Both Year 5/6P and 5/6J recreated Holy Thursday and Good Friday making the stories easy to understand for all our school.

In three days time we celebrate Easter Sunday, when Jesus rises from the dead.  The quote below from Mahatma Gandhi encapsulates the sacrifice of Jesus our Lord and Saviour.  

"A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act."

– Mahatma Gandhi

Kindergarten Teacher Term 2-4

It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce that Mrs Charlotte Sloane will be taking on the Kindergarten role for the remainder of the year. 

Charlotte is an early-childhood specialist gaining her Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood and Primary Education from the Australian Catholic University in 2018.  She has worked in both roles as a primary teacher and an early education specialist in an ELC.    Charlotte will be visiting our school today to introduce herself to the class and begin a handover with Mrs Thomas. If you would like to meet Mrs Sloane to discuss a specific issue, I am sure she will make herself available in the second week after the holidays, once she is familiar with your children.  

Charlotte is very excited to take on this role and I am sure that you will make her feel welcome in our school community.

Working Bee

THANK YOU! - Does not cover the commitment from our community.

What a remarkable community we have.  One third of our families, over 50 people turned up to our Working Bee last week to help make our school look beautiful.  Our play areas are that much safer because of the new accredited soft fall and our grounds look fantastic. We only have two/three Working Bees a year and this was an amazing turn out and octome.  

Playgroup – Term 2 Wednesday 21st April 9:30am

A reminder that the program will continue  supervised in the odd weeks of Term 2 and unsupervised on  the even weeks. The room however, will still be available for parents to use.  Normal school practices will apply with parents needing to sign in and observe Covid safe practices. 

Pupil Free Day (No students) Term 2 – Monday 19^th April

This is a reminder that the first Monday of Term 2 will be a Pupil Free Day.  This has been designated by the Catholic Education Office to help with the roll-out of the Catalyst Professional Learning Agenda that CE is implementing in all Canberra Goulburn Catholic schools.

School Registration

Our community will be pleased to know that the school’s Registration went very well and St John Vianney’s Primary School will be registered for another five years. 

Areas of commendation included:

• A school wide commitment to purposeful, successful learning.
• A strong focus on quality learning
• Forming respectful, caring relationships between staff, students and parents

Growth point areas to help guide Future Directions are;

• To embrace the professional learning given by CE regarding the Science of Learning
• Continue on our journey of Instructional Leadership and Peer Coaching

This was a valuable process and we are excited for our future.

God bless you and your families and enjoy a happy and safe Easter

Peter Rodda

Principal

Gospel Reflection Easter Sunday - John 20:1-9

The discovery of the empty tomb – although so simply told – is an astounding event that completes the Paschal Mystery: the passion, death AND resurrection of Jesus. Whilst Christ’s willingness to go to his death on the cross was an extraordinary statement of God’s love for humankind, it is His rising again from death that offers all Christian people hope. It is the second disciple – the one whom Jesus loved – who is the first to grasp the meaning of what has happened inside the tomb. The Gospel tells us that upon entering the tomb and seeing Jesus’ burial cloths lying there, ‘he saw and he believed’. Unlike the later encounters with the risen Lord, this disciple recognised the truth and significance of what he saw in the empty tomb. He didn’t need to see the risen Lord to believe. Perhaps it is he that we today can best identify with. Not in a position to physically encounter the risen Christ, we are capable of seeing the signs of his resurrection and continuing presence in the world and choose to believe.

Adapted from Greg Sunter

SACRAMENTS

A reminder that those families who have not registered their child for the Sacraments of Reconciliation or Eucharist need to do so by TODAY. please ensure payment and the registration forms are completed ASAP.

THANK YOU

Just a short note to say goodbye and thank you as I pack up and move to my new REC role at St Matthew's Page from next term. I was telling some members of the registration panel earlier this week that the best thing about SJV is that we are like a big family. We love, we sometimes fight and disagree but we always have each other's back and want each other to grow. I honestly feel this way about this school and community. I have grown up here. I have had both my babies (now 7 and 3) while here as the REC at the school and I am so sad to leave, but know that God has other plans for me and by making this move I will do what we want for each other as a community- to grow. Thank you for supporting me, challenging me and allowing me to be part of your beautiful community for the past 10 years. I will hopefully see some of you at the 50th Anniversary dinner later in the year.

Have a happy and holy Easter, stay safe and as always...

Have a great week!

What's coming up and when:

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.

Please remember to bring your WWVP card with you.

Tuckshop Volunteers Needed