Term 1 Week 1 - Friday 7 February 2025

Principal's Message

This week’s Gospel 

Luke 5:1-11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." Simon said in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets." When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

First Day back

It was wonderful to have so many smiling faces, both students and parents, possibly for different reasons. Our first day for Years 1 – 6 went really smoothly, with staff and students getting to know each other, develop relationships and get stuck into learning. Our staff has spent the last 2 weeks preparing and this made an enormous difference. Thank you to all of our families for everything you did to prepare your child for the first day of school, it obviously paid dividends. Our Kinder students have now thrived for the past 3 days. Wednesday afternoon was a bit of a challenge with the hail storms, we are continuing to clean up the mess, with the support of CE, electricians and plumbers. We are fortunate in being able to access the Building Levy funds, which will assist with repairs.

Holiday Works

You can see from the pictures below, there was a great deal going on. We had a new 40 ft shipping container delivered and placed behind the Art room. This will enable us to be able to safely store our archives. The wall in the front office was scrubbed and repainted, ready for 2025. The 2 containers from the car park were moved inside the fence and students can currently access the sports equipment during break times. A tree audit, led to significant trimming and a playground audit led to significant work on our middle playground. We are currently finalising the scope of works for the replacement of the oval irrigation system which will occur during the Easter break.

A few reminders

• Our morning drop off routine is the same as last year, with those who want to stay, being able to park in the area past the bollards. The drive through area enables traffic to keep flowing and significantly reduces the bank up on Mulley street. Please try to make sure that your child is at school before the 8:50 bell. If you arrive after 8:50am your child will need to be signed in at the front office. If they are late, even by a few minutes, they often miss the introductory instructions, which causes them stress and anxiety.

• Student supervision hours are 8:30 – 3:20. Outside of these times, please utilise Camp Australia.

• Sports days are generally Wednesday and Friday, on these days students are allowed to wear their coloured joggers. On other days our uniform policy has black shoes listed. These can be the traditional leather shoe or may be a softer jogger, however, they must only be black in colour. Please help us with this.

• We will be using the Cancer Council guidelines of lower than 3 UV rating for no hats. This means that for most of the time, when students are outside, they will be required to wear a hat.

• The car park at the front of the school is reserved for ELC parents. If you don’t have an ELC child, please don’t park there during the busy drop off and pick up times.

Thank you for your continued support

Important Dates

Birthdays

School News

Catching the bus
If your child will be catching the bus home this year please complete the below form and return to office.stjudes@cg.catholic.edu.au

Counsellor 

RE News

This year we celebrate the Jubilee year of Hope. The Jubilee year occurs every 25 years. It is an opportunity for forgiveness and reconciliation, to move ourselves toward a full relationship with God. It is marked for most, with a pilgrimage to Rome which many will do this year. The 2025 Jubilee will be centered on the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” As His Holiness Pope Francis so expressed it: "We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us, and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision."

At St Jude's we are Pilgrams of Hope, finding the hope in our own lives and making choices that bring hope to others. Each term is focused on building student's understanding of Hope. 

Term 1: Hills and Valleys

Term 2: The Face of Hope

Term 3 and 4: ‘Builders of Hope’ (Pope Francis)

This term each class has looked at what is hope and how we can recognise it in each day. We are using the image of hills and valleys to give students an understanding of the ups and downs we can face and how a strong relationship with God can help us through these. Hills and Valleys  - Tauren Wells is our new song for 2025. Many classes have been learning it already.

Important dates

Friday 7 Feb, 12pm - Opening School Mass

Wednesday 5 March 12pm - Ash Wednesday Mass

Reconciliation: Tuesday 11 February - Reflection Hour

God Bless

Brigitta van Reesch

ELC News

ELC NEWS

Happy Birthday to Vincent S, Elliott B, Noah K, Mila R, Archer L, Joseph H,

A very warm welcome to our new and returning ELC families.  The first week of preschool is an exciting time. The children have been exploring their new environment whilst getting to know one another and their teachers. Thank you for having your children so well prepared for preschool and for a positive first week.  We look forward to the year ahead. 

Emails
All ELC families should have received an email from your class teacher. If you have not received this email, please notify the ELC so you can be added to the distribution list. You may also need to check your junk/spam folder and mark the email as a trusted source.

ELC Parent Information Night
Please come along to our ELC Parent Information Night next Tuesday 11 February at 5:30pm. We will go over all the frequently asked questions to help you get a better idea of how our ELC runs. 

Library News

Library News

Hello, my name is Rachael Hind and I am thrilled to be the new Teacher Librarian at St Jude's. I am passionate about reading and matching people to books and I am very happy to help share book recommendations for the students. I am really looking forward to facilitating many fun literary experiences for the St Jude's community. 

Borrowing Books in the Library

As I will be assessing History and Geography during library lessons this year, we will be doing all borrowing of library books on Mondays. Teachers will bring their classes to the library during an allotted time on Mondays. Students can return library books any day of the school week as there is a returns chute in the library. I am very happy to loan books during break times when the library is open if students miss their class borrowing time on a Monday.

Overdue Books

To keep track of overdue books I will email notices fortnightly. These notices are computer generated so please let me know if there are any discrepancies. My only aim with running overdue notices is to enable books to be shared with as many students as possible and definitely not to cause any worry!

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic Book Club orders are due by 19 February 2025. Orders can only be made on the LOOP app.

Ordering from Book Club supports our school library. Many thanks for your support!

Happy reading!

Mrs Hind

Sports News

The Swimming Carnival is for students who are in Yr1 - Yr6 in 2025.
Students in Kindergarten do not attend this event.

Students will travel to and from the event via bus on Thursday 13 February.  Buses will leave school from 9:15am and return from the pool from 1:30pm. All students will be back at school by 2:30pm.
The Swimming Carnival is at the Stromlo Leisure Centre, Corner of Uriarra Road and Dave McInnes Road, ACT, 2611.

Students are able to wear house coloured clothing or sports uniform. Students should wear their swimmers under their clothes to school.
Students will require the following: 

• A bag with a change of clothes including underwear to get changed into after the event,
• LUNCH, RECESS, snacks and drinks for the day. Students will not have access to the canteen at the pool. 
• A plastic bag for wet clothes,
• towel,
• swimming cap,
• goggles

Brendan Mitchell 

Mulleyduds Uniform Shop

Uniform shop will be next open on Friday 14 February from 2:30pm-3:30pm.

For second hand requests please email to: uniform.stjudes@gmail.com. Please include your child’s name and classroom for us to deliver to. **Please do not make payment for secondhand items, until we reply to your request confirming stock is available.

Mulleygrub Cafe News

Canteen 2025

In 2025, the Canteen will open on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

If you are able to volunteer in the canteen please email the office at office.stjudes@cg.catholic.edu.au. 

Sara Monges - Canteen Manager
Email: office.stjudes@cg.catholic.edu.au

Community Council

We’re excited to welcome everyone back for another fantastic year at St Jude’s! We hope you’ve had a restful break and are ready for all the opportunities, growth, and success that the new term brings.

AGM – 20 February 6pm

The Community Council AGM will be held at 6pm on the 20 February in the library. We would love to see as many people as possible attend. The meeting is open to all parents and carers, whether you are new to the school or interested in an official position or not, all are welcome. The Community Council is a fantastic way to contribute to the school. General meetings are held once or twice a term. The meetings are an opportunity to hear the latest news from the school and contribute to discussions impacting decisions around the school.

Two executive positions will be vacated at this year’s AGM, the Deputy Chair, and the Secretary position. The successful running of the Community Council relies on volunteers to step into positions such as these. I strongly encourage you to come along to the AGM if you are interested or reach out through the email below if you have any questions about the positions. Preparations are racing ahead. We need stall coordinators. If you are able to assist please let us know.

If you would like to nominate yourself for either position, please do so by 17 February, by sending an email (office.stjudes@cg.catholic.edu.au) and include a short bio. If more than one nomination is received for either position, an online vote will be held open to all school community members with results announced at the AGM.

50th Anniversary Planning – Thursday 13 February 6pm

This is a very special year for St Jude’s, being our 50th birthday! The Community Council and wider school community of past and present students and families will be meeting at 6pm on Thursday 13 February in the library. Everyone is welcome to come along to be involved in some very special events this year. A Teams link will also be available closer to the day.

Fete – 15 March

Preparations are racing ahead. Keep an eye out in the dedicated newsletter section for more info.

Many thanks,

Gemma Cabot

Stjudes.scc@gmail.com

Fete News

Camp Australia

Weekend activities