This week’s Gospel: Mark 1: 40 - 45

And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down said to him: If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus having compassion on him, stretched forth his hand; and touching him, saith to him: I will. Be thou made clean. And when he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean. And he strictly charged him, and forthwith sent him away.

And he saith to him: See thou tell no one; but go, shew thyself to the high priest, and offer for thy cleansing the things that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them. But he being gone out, began to publish and to blaze abroad the word: so that he could not openly go into the city, but was without in desert places: and they flocked to him from all sides.

A calm start to the year

Wow, what a fantastic start to the school year. The first day ran very smoothly, students have all been involved in specialist lessons, we have held our Welcome Picnic, Parent Information Night, Opening School Mass and begun our Kinder testing days. Year 5 and 6 are counting down to Camp next week and the bookings, via Compass have opened for Parent Teacher meetings. The focus of these meetings is for you to talk about your child. Please make sure you have completed the parent questionnaire circulated earlier this week via Compass. We also had a highly successful swimming carnival.

All students appear happy, even our Kinder students are keen to return each day (If I had their teachers I would also want to return).

We need your help

Over the past 3 years, you will be aware that Catholic schools in our Archdiocese have been implementing a programme named Catalyst. It focusses on High Impact Teaching Practices across all areas of learning. Part of Catalyst has also focussed on Direct and explicit instruction, initially in English and Mathematics. More recently, they have been working with several organisations looking at a behaviour curriculum. In short, research shows that when behaviours are taught, known and predictable, students are more open to learning and retaining both information and skills. This is very evident in many of our students at St Jude’s. CE have selected 10 schools to trial the implementation of a behaviour curriculum which is co designed with each specific school, based upon their needs. With the idea of implementing it in all schools in the next few years.

We are not one of the ten chosen schools, and on reflection, our students are generally very well behaved. We do however, have an increasing number of students who learn and respond better when there is routine and predictability. As such, we need your help. As a staff we have decided to start tweaking some of the things we do, to create greater predictability and reduce student stress. Our first change is in relation to assemblies. We are going to ask that guests not enter the hall until all students are in and seated. Once the students are in, we will invite all guests to join us. Please don’t interpret this as us trying to reduce your interaction. What we have seen is that when students enter a noisy space their senses are heightened and it causes anxiety and stress. We are trying to reduce or remove this.

Tomorrow’s leadership assembly will be out first opportunity. Assemblies will generally start around 2pmish, but we would like to have the students in and settled before guests come in. I know this may cause some guest stress as we all want to get the best seats, but at this stage, our focus is the students. We will monitor how this goes and tweak as we need to.

There are many skills, which in years gone by would have been learnt through osmosis, however, recent research is showing that with COVID isolation and generally less socialisation, our younger students need explicit teaching. Thank you for both your understanding and your support. As we roll out other changes, we will keep you informed, and as always, if you have any feedback, please send it through or come and see me.

Morning drop off

Thank you to all our old parents who are assisting our new parents with the morning routines for drop off. If you are new or have forgotten, those who want to stay, please park beyond the bollard area, please don’t park in the drive through area. 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 8:50am bell. If they are late, even by a few minutes, they often miss the introductory instructions, which causes them stress and anxiety.

Assemblies

A reminder that we have morning assemblies, led by our Year 6 leaders on Monday and Wednesday mornings. At these assemblies we give out messages, pray, acknowledge country and on Wednesday’s celebrate birthdays. On every second Friday we have an afternoon assembly which is facilitated by our Year 6 leaders, Mrs Henderson and hosted by a specific year level. Keep an eye on our electronic sign for advance notice of these.

Uniform Shop

A belated thank you to Alyce and our wonderful team of volunteers who opened the uniform shop over the long weekend. There was a roaring trade occurring and many of our students are sparkling. Please don’t buy similar items from department stores as their colours and quality are always slightly different. If you need anything from the uniform shop, remember you can order and pay online and your purchase, once packed will usually be sent home with your child.

Canteen

A very enthusiastic welcome to Sara our new canteen manager. Sara has worked as a volunteer in the canteen for the past 12 months, so is very familiar with the lay of the land. Katrina and Sara have worked closely and the handover has been seamless.

A few reminders 

• 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.
• The car park at the front of the school is reserved for ELC parents, we are also looking at having an additional disabled space added to this area.

Community Council AGM

The Community Councils AGM will be held Tuesday 20 February 6pm in the school library and online. The positions of Community Council Chair and Treasurer will be vacated and nominations are being sought to fill these roles for a period of 2 years.
 
If you would like to nominate yourself for either position, please do so by Monday 12 February, by sending and 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.

Thank you for your continued support

Cameron

Compass 

If you are experiencing difficulties with your Compass please refer to the link below. 

St Jude's School Community Council and Events | Facebook

ELC NEWS

Happy Birthday Annabelle B

Parent Information

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our Parent Information Night. Information can also be found in the weekly email from your class teacher and ELC emails from the ELC office. If you have not received these, please notify the ELC as soon as possible. You may also need to check your junk/spam folder.

ELC Start Times

The Preschool program runs from 9am to 3pm and Preschool Plus from 8am – 5:30. Our front door will be closed at 8:50am to allow the Seahorse program (Preschool Plus) to finish up for the morning. It will be opened again at 9am for our Preschool Only children to enter. 

Parent Sharing Meetings

Parent sharing meetings have begun. Booking sheets are on the classroom windows.  Please remember to complete your Parent Sharing Information sheet (in your notes pocket) prior to your meeting.

Library

The Lobsters and Turtles had their first library visit this week, and the Stingrays will start next week. Please remember to pack your child’s library bag and book every Wednesday so they can return and borrow books.

Confirmation of Childcare Agreement

Please check your notes pocket for your Confirmation of Childcare Agreements. These are a requirement for CCS. Please remember to return your signed Agreement to the ELC as soon as possible.

ELC Fee Statements

ELC Fee statements are sent fortnightly on Tuesdays and direct debits occur on the following Thursday.  Please check the ‘Due Now’ amount at the top of your statement and ensure there are sufficient funds available in your account in order to avoid extra charges from Debit Success. Our statements are backdated so that you have a record of the payments made, and CCS received in the last fortnight.

Term 1   Week 2

In the Library we promote the I PICK strategy with classes for selecting books.

We also encourage weekly borrowing for younger classes while older children have their books checked out for 2 weeks  at a time. If a child is taking longer than this to complete a book, it might be timely to review the I PICK strategy….is this a good fit book for me?

With the younger children we simplify this by talking about the “Goldilocks”rule for choosing “Just Right” books to borrow.

This week we have loaned out every spare bag we had in the Library (30+) We are happy to loan them if a child forgets occasionally but could they please be returned asap.

It is important for each child (ELC, K-Yr4) to have their own bag (any kind is fine) but, more importantly, to remember their Library day and bring their book(s) and bag. Please establish a safe place at home to keep Library books and involve your child in getting ready for Library day.     Thank you!

Happy reading! Verna Comley

Canteen 2024

In 2024, the Canteen will open on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from Week 2 (Wednesday 7 February 2024) onwards.

Volunteers 

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

*Shop Open Friday 9th of February9am-9.30am*

SIZE 10 SHORT SLEEVE POLO SHIRTS BACK IN STOCK

For any and all uniform needs, orders can be placed via the Uniform Shop tab on Qkr!, or via email to: uniform.stjudes@gmail.com for any second hand items. **Please do not make payment for secondhand items, until we reply to your request confirming stock is available. 

Moving through Term 1, our volunteers will pack Qkr! orders throughout the week and deliver to students classrooms. 

AGM – Tuesday 20 February 6pm

The Community Councils AGM will be held Tuesday 20 February 6pm in the school library and online. The positions of Community Council Chair and Treasurer will be vacated and nominations are being sought to fill these roles for a period of 2 years.
 
If you would like to nominate yourself for either position, please do so by Monday 12 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.

Many thanks,

Gemma Cabot

Stjudes.scc@gmail.com

Our school fete in 2024 will be held on Saturday 16 March 10:00am-2:00pm. This success of the fete is dependent on volunteer parents in the school community. As the date rapidly approaches we are seeking additional volunteers to help make this day a success. 

If you’re able to help out in any capacity (big or small) please reach out to our email stjudesfete@gmail.com or to our fete coordinator Sarah 0414533117. 

Specific volunteers we are still after:

- stall coordinators 

- Site coordinator

- entertainers/ performance groups

- raffle coordinator 

- electricians to help setup power for our stalls (Friday 15 March) 

DONATIONS

Stalls 

- treasure trove are continuing to seek donations of good condition toys, clothes books and other smaller goods (no electronics). Drop off for large items will be held the day before fete to save storage space. 

- plants pots and other items for our garden stall. If you have cuttings you want to donate or ornamental pots 

All these donations can be dropped off at the set times (sheds in church carpark) or in the milk crates located at the front office of the Primary school/ELC. 

Treasure Trove drop offs 
Sunday 11 Feb 10:00am-11:00am
Friday 16 Feb 2:45pm-3:15pm
Friday 23 Feb  2:45pm-3:15pm
Saturday 24 Feb 10:30am-11:30am
Friday the 1 March  2:45pm-3:15pm
Saturday 2 March 10:30am-11:30am
Friday 8 March  2:45pm-3:15pm
Saturday 9 March 10:30am-11:30am

Friday 15 March  09:30am-3:00pm

Plant stall drop offs 

Friday 15 March  09:30am-3:00pm

Bake stall drop offs 

Friday 15 March  9:30am-3:00pm (or to class teachers) 

Saturday 16 March 8:00am-10:00am

Sponsors

- if you or someone you know are interested in sponsoring the fete we are in the process of securing sponsors and would love to hear from you. 

- this could also be donations to raffle prizes 

Raffles

- If you have any vouchers or new items you would like to donate to raffle prizes 

- seeking support from local printers or the donation of printing