This week’s Gospel: John 2: 13-25

And the pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple them that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew. And to them that sold doves he said: Take these things hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of traffic. And his disciples remembered, that it was written: The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. The Jews, therefore, answered, and said to him: What sign dost thou shew unto us, seeing thou dost these things? Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this temple in building; and wilt thou raise it up in three days? But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen again from the dead, his disciples remembered, that he had said this, and they believed the scripture, and the word that Jesus had said. Now when he was at Jerusalem, at the pasch, upon the festival day, many believed in his name, seeing his signs which he did. But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all men, And because he needed not that any should give testimony of man: for he knew what was in man.

Cyber safety

 As a continuation of this very important theme, I would like to direct you to the following resources:

• AFP education program recognised for excellence in national crime prevention awards | Australian Federal Police
• Australian-first research finds most parents do not think online sexual exploitation can happen to their child | Australian Federal Police (afp.gov.au)
• AFP urges parents and carers to prepare children for digital milestones | Australian Federal Police

Building works updates

• Amphitheatre and pathway – After a recent audit by CE in relation to accessibility, there were a few areas which needed modifications. One of the projects was the creation of a multifunction bathroom. This is wheel chair accessible, with a toilet and shower. It was completed over the Christmas break. The pathway down towards the netball court also needed to re routed as there was a pole in the middle, this is part of a current project. Over a significant period of time, the brickwork in the amphitheatre has deteriorated. As such, we are having parts of this repaired and replaced, with additional edging and seating included. The aim is to have this completed within the next week.
• Fence – This is currently out to tender, closing tomorrow. More information to come.
• Sensory Garden – This has been a project that was initiated before COVID. As such, it stalled during the COVID period. It is gaining steam again and will be a joint school and ELC project. The areas designated is the space between the ELC and the school. We are still in the investigating phase.
• Oval – This is our newest project. We are looking at the rectangular space that is our oval. It will potentially include a new irrigation system as well as total relaying of turf. At this stage, there wont be any works started until we have a fence, were will shortly embark on expressions of interest. Initially we will target the list of providers that other CE schools have found to be successful.

Morning drop off

I have been reliably informed that this morning was a little wild westish. Please understand that there are several reasons why we have the structures in place:

• Student and community safety
• Ease of access
• Maintaining consistent traffic flow – you may not be aware, but without the drive through, there is significant traffic bank up on the roads leading to the school.

A general reminder that between 8:20am and 9:05am the only parking which should occur is in the spaces beyond the bollards near the basketball courts. If parents park in the bollard area, it removes the flow through effect. In the afternoon, when most people arrive at similar times it is different. Please also slow down in the car park, we shouldn’t need to overtake, it is realistically just an extra 30 seconds of waiting. Thank you for your support with this.

School Fete

Thank you to all involved in the organising committee. It is going to be another wonderful Community building opportunity which has been the work of a group of dedicated and hard working parents. Please keep an eye out for updates.

Thank you for your ongoing support

Congratulations Mrs Chater!

Congratulations to Claire and Matt and welcome to baby Olivia. 

School Fees

Fee statements have started being sent out. If you do not receive your statement please contact the office. 

NAPLAN 2024

Students in Year 3 and Year 5 will sit the four NAPLAN Tests (Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy) during weeks 7 and 8 of Term 1. Students will use their school device for all of the tests and will require a set of headphones at school each day. The tests will commence at 9.30am SHARP each day. Please ensure your child is at school before the morning bell, has had a good night's rest and a nutritious breakfast to set them up for success. Make up days in the timetable have been allocated if your child is unwell/away. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you have any concerns. Please find timetable below.

Scholastic Book Club Issue 2

Project Compassion

Thank you again for your support thus far with Project Compassion. There have been many children bringing in their own pocket money to their class donation boxes. It has not gone unnoticed! Our classes are continuing their water walks to raise their awareness of water scarcity in many parts of the world.  So far our students have walked a collective 30km! Please use the QR code if you wish to donate. 

Sacramental update

Gathering Mass for First Reconciliation will be this weekend (2 and 3 of March). This is the last gathering Mass before the candidates receive the sacrament of Penance. The final reflection hour is on Tuesday the 5 of March at 5.30pm. The sacrament is made the day after, Wednesday the 6 of March at 6pm. 

May your light shine. 

ELC NEWS

Over the past five weeks, the ELC children, staff and families have been forming relationships and establishing a sense of belonging within their new ELC environment.  As stated in the Early Years Learning Framework, “Children’s lives are characterised by belonging, being and becoming. From before birth children are connected to family, communities, culture and place. Their earliest learning, development and wellbeing takes place through these relationships, particularly within families, who are children’s first and most influential educators. (p.6)” 

The ELC children have been proudly introducing their families to their class through family photos, stories and drawings.  This week they explored a special family, Jesus’ family. The Early Years Learning Framework was updated last year. Head to BELONGING, BEING & BECOMING (acecqa.gov.au) for more information. Our teachers and educators have been attending various personal development opportunities to help understand the changes and how to adapt the programs to reflect these changes.

ELC Fruit Shop

Our first ELC Fruit Shop was a huge success and the children were very excited to ‘purchase’ their own fruit. This week’s Mystery Fruit was strawberries, which we grow in our ELC garden, and our resident blue tongue lizard enjoys feasting upon.

With our Library and Arts lessons scheduled early in the morning, it has had an impact on the days we run Fruit Shop. We will now hold fruit shop on Tuesdays (odd weeks) and Thursday (even weeks).

St Jude’s Fete

The St Jude’s Fete will be on Saturday 16th March.  This is a great fun day to meet other families and raise some funds for the school. This year the ELC will be hosting the hairspray stall.  Many hands make light work, so we’d love for you to get involved.  More information on how to volunteer will come soon.

Mufti Day 

Mufti Day (non-uniform day) is tomorrow 1 March (week 5) for Turtles and Lobsters and Tuesday 5 March (week 6) for Stingrays.  The aim is to collect supplies and donations for our fete stall.  Children are invited to wear plain clothes and we ask that you donate a can of coloured hairspray and a gold coin.

Clean Up Australia day (for schools)

Can you imagine the good we can do if all of Australia came togather on one day and took practical action to improve the environment? What a difference we could make! This Friday, 1 March, St Jude’s Primary and ELC will participate in Clean up Australia Day for Schools. We will join with our buddy groups and collect rubbish from around our school and the surrounding environment. All classes will discuss safe practices for rubbish collection. We encourage students to bring in gloves from home. Afterwards, we will dispose of the waste collected and wash hands. School Clean Up Day is a great way to inspire students to learn about the impact of rubbish on the local environment while playing an active role in their community.

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.

Scholastic Book Club Issue 2

Term 1 Week 5

*This coming Saturday is Dr Seuss’ Birthday so that’s a good time to get out those old favourites and share the love of reading with your family. What are your favourites?

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, was a writer and cartoonist who published over 60 books. He published his first children's book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, under the name of Dr. Seuss in 1937. 

Next came a string of bestsellers, including The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. His rhymes and characters are beloved by generations of fans. Are you one of them?

ELC are exploring books about their namesake group ,both picture books and Information books.

Lobsters ~ Lorenzo, the pizza loving Lobster +  I am a Lobster

Turtles ~ Turtle’s Tall Tales +  Ten Reasons to Love a Turtle and others

Stingrays ~ Edie goes the Wrong Way +  20 Fun Facts about Stingrays and others

Kinders are learning about different parts of a book eg spine, cover, endpapers , title page. This week we also shared a Dr Seuss book ~ ‘Ten Apples Up on Top’.

Year 1 now have their “David” faces on display outside the Library with a speech bubble containing a Library rule or behaviour. This is in case David should visit our school and need to know how to act in the Library.  (Based on ‘David goes to School’ book by David Shannon)

Year 2 are talking about “green food” ~ likes and dislikes ~ as a flow on discussion from ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ by Dr Seuss

Year 3 are learning all about Genre in the Fiction section of the Library, sharing their favourite type of stories and matching them to a genre.

Year 4 are learning about Dewey and how it works in the Non-Fiction section of the Library. They are going to create posters to display their findings for each Dewey 100’s group.

Year 5 are going to write Book reviews and enter them into Oliver so others can read them!

Year 6 are starting on their first task for their Genre Showbag this week.

 Happy reading!

Happy reading!

Verna Comley

 Teacher Librarian @ St Jude’s school

Canberra Raiders Visit

On Monday we were very fortunate to have Jamal Fogarty and Albert Hopoate visit St Jude's to talk to some of the classes about health, nutrition and being the best version of themself. 'Simply the Best' was the theme of the visit. School liasion officer with the Raiders Jess, led the interactive presentation. Students then had fun engaging in some throwing and catching activities before the opportunity to ask the players some questions. The question: 'How did you feel when you lost the game yesterday?' was the best question of the morning! We thank the Canberra Raiders for organsiisng the vist for us and are already looking forward to next year's visit.   

GWS Giants Visit Friday

Year 4 and 5 classes will have the opportunity to meet some of the GWS Giants players tomorrow. Students will have the chance to have some kicking practice and fun games on the oval with the players before asking questions.  We are looking forward to this visit. 

Athletics Carnival

The St Jude's Athletics Carnival will be held on Thursday 21 March at Woden Park Phillip. Information regarding the carnival will be sent to parents via Compass at the end of next week.   

Swimming Carnival Ribbons

Ribbons will be presented to overall  first, second and third place in 25 and 50 metre races next Friday 8 March at a special assembly commencing at 2pm in the hall. Ribbons will not be presented to all heat winners, heat times are compared for 1st, 2 and 3 places. Parents are invited to join us. 

Can you imagine the good we can do, if all of Australia came together on one day and took practical action to improve the environment? What a difference we could make!

This Friday, 1 March, St Jude’s Primary and ELC will be participating in Clean up Australia Day for Schools.

We will be participating with our buddy groups and collecting rubbish from our school environment and areas surrounding the school. We encourage all students to bring in gloves from home.

All classes will hold a discussion around safe practices, what is safe and what is not. Upon returning to the school, all students will dispose of the waste collected and will be washing hands.

A School Clean Up is a great way to inspire students to learn about the impact of rubbish on our local environment while playing an active role in their community.

Canteen Volunteers – Week 6

Wednesday 6 March --K. Kennelly & D. Sadreddini. 

Thursday  7 March  -- J. Long, S. Maiyo & Annette.

Friday  8  March  -- G. Cabot, E. Holbrook & S. Davenport

If you would like to volunteer in the Canteen in Term 1 please email office.stjudes@cg.catholic.edu.au

*Shop Open next Friday 8 of March after assembly 2.45pm-3.30pm*

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. 

The hoppiest Easter fundraiser of all!

https://www.gingerbreadfolk.com.au/discount/STJUDES2024

Our group will receive a 20% commission from every sale using the discount code STJUDES2024, plus you will receive a 5% discount!

• These are premium quality, gluten and dairy free so something for every bunny and a great alternative to chocolate.
• Orders ship 24-48 hours after an order is placed (weekdays)
• Add absolutely anything from our full range to your Easter basket. Everything added to the cart attracts a discount and a commission!
• Free Shipping for orders over $100.
• Order with enough time to reach you before Good Friday!
• Orders are shipped direct to your door.

Many thanks,

Gemma Cabot

Stjudes.scc@gmail.com