Term 3 Week 5 - Thursday 22 August 2024

Principal's Message

Gospel Reading:  John 6: 60-69

Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you? If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him. And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father. After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away? And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.

Book Week

It was wonderful to see all the fantastic book characters yesterday at our parade. A huge amount of effort went into many of these and parents and carers would have played a very big role in this. Thank you. A special thanks also to our Kinder parents who have had to make their child look 100 and then a book character in a very short timeframe.

Thank you to Verna and Sharrie, our wonderful library staff for all of the preparation, wonderful activities and the extra special effort you put into making the library a visual spectacular. Our book fair finishes this afternoon, if you are looking for a stocking filler or 2 for Christmas, Verna will be able to help you choose.

School gates and fence

We are continuing to refine our processes. This includes all single gates being opened by 8:15am, they are then closed just after 9am. We open the gates onto the asphalt at lunch and recess time, closing them again after these breaks. Gates are then opened again by 2:45pm for afternoon dismissal and closed at 3:30pm. If you are on the playground after 3:30pm, this is still ok, you will just need to leave via the gate next to the shelter shed. If you arrive late in the morning, the only way into the school is through the front office.

Father’s Day events

As you would be aware, we have our Father’s Day morning next Friday. We will be serving a BBQ breakfast from 8:15 and all dad / significant males are invited. We are asking for an rsvp, which can be found further in this newsletter. When the bell goes, we would love to have our dads join their children in the classrooms. We have locked in a timeframe of up until 10am, which should assist those who need to get to several classrooms. You don’t, however, have to stay until 10. At 10 all students will move to the hall for our Kindergarten assembly and we would love to have our Kinder families join us.

Fire and Lock down drills

Part of keeping our students safe involves making sure they know what to do in an emergency. As such, we will be holding a fire and a lock down drill over the next few weeks. We make sure that the students know the process and they have always been very good at implementing this.

Dogs clarification

A slight clarification in relation to my Compass message earlier on in the week. Dogs are still allowed in your cars, you can still walk with your children and dog to school. We just cant have them inside the fence, near the gates or waiting with you. If you usually walk your children to school, with your dog, you can still do this, its just that you might need to send them down the path and say goodbye at the top of the street. I hope this helps clarify.

A message from Fr Michael

Christ Our Light And Life Book Series (Kindergarten to Year 12)  aims to promote the central place for parents to support them in fulfilling their responsibilities for the faith formation and education of their children. Each book series has a Student Activity Book and Teacher’s Manual. You may place order in Qkr! App at Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish  under Book Sales  menu or alternatively place the exact payment in an envelope with your name, details of books you want to purchase and church for collection into the collection bag at Mass. Please order by 15 September 2024.

These are a very practical resource for parents and their children who are looking for a way to reconnect or even revise many of the key concepts aligned with faith formation. They are user friendly and functional.

Morning drop off

We are continuing to monitor the morning drop off and are seeking feedback on the following option. It appears there are 2 lines of traffic which enter the main carpark (near the shelter shed). The first line utilises the drop and go option (cars are usually nearest the bollards. The second line is to the right of the first line and that is the cars that want to park (down past the last speed hump). We are exploring the option of not utilising either the bollards or flags, but rather, having lines painted onto the asphalt with two distinctive lanes. This will enable, cars that want to drop and go to stay to the left and cars that want to park, to stay to the right and park beyond the final speed hump. We will also aim to have this clearly signed, so that when we have visitors doing the drop off they can see the process. We would expect that cars would not move across lanes once in the main carpark area, and all parking would need to be beyond the final speed hump. There would be no change to the afternoon pick up. Thank you to all our parents and carers who are using the footpaths, I know they can become a little crowded, but they are definitely safer. My primary concern with walking down the car park is not necessarily the safety of the people walking, it is the safety of our youngest children who see and copy.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

 Cameron

Important Dates

Birthdays

School News

Father’s Day Breakfast and Classroom Visits – Friday 30 August

We invite all Fathers, Step-Fathers, Grandfathers, Uncles and special friends to attend our Fathers Day Celebration. 

On Friday 30 August 2024, we are holding a Father’s Day Breakfast and celebrations beginning at 8.15am. Click the link to RSVP for the breakfast.

Guests are then welcome to visit your child/children’s classroom/s, from 9.00am – 10.00am. We have allocated an hour  for classroom visits to allow guests to split their time across several classrooms if need be. There is no requirement to stay for the whole time.

At 10.00am we will say goodbye to our guests as they depart the school. With Kinder students and their guests moving to the hall for an assembly.

For catering purposes RSVP is required by COB Monday 26 August. Click the link  to RSVP for the breakfast.

Tell Them From Me Survey

In the coming weeks we will be inviting students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.
 
We would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Jude's School.
 
The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You are able to access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device by using the link below:

https://tellthemfromme.com/survey/splash/w6wk6

Survey closes Friday 23 August

Students not returning 2025

Any students who will not be returning to St Jude's in 2025 (excluding current year 6 students) please follow the link to complete a form. 

Please contact the office is you have any questions

RE News

A warm welcome to all parents and visitors that would like to attend the ELC - Year 2 liturgy next Tuesday the 27 at 2pm in the church. 

Sacramental Update 

Is your child eligible for a sacrament? In the Parish of Our Lady of the Annunciation sacraments are completed in Years 3, 4 and 6. Reflection evenings for Confirmation have started. A commitment Mass for Confirmation Candidates is being held on this weekend the 24 and 25 of August. Please attend one and bring your completed booklet if you have not handed it in already. 

Saturday Vigil: 5pm at St Jude's Church 

Sunday Eucharist: 9am at St John Vianney's Church

Final reflection evening: 5.30pm 27 of August

Confirmation: 28 of August 6pm 

Click this link to find out more.

May your light shine

Jessica Betterton

ELC News

ELC NEWS

We had another fabulous book week. The children looked great and had a lot of fun focussing on their favourite book characters.  Can you guess which books inspired our ELC teachers?

Father’s Day Breakfast and Classroom Visits – Friday 30 August

We invite all Fathers, Step-Fathers, Grandfathers, Uncles and special friends to attend our Fathers Day Celebration on Friday 30 August beginning with breakfast at 8.15am. Guests are then welcome to visit your children’s classroom/s from 9:00am – 10:00am. We have allocated an hour for classroom visits to allow guests to split their time across several classrooms if need be. There is no requirement to stay for the whole time. For catering purposes RSVP is required by COB Monday 26 August. Click the link to RSVP for the breakfast.

It’s Hat Time of Year Again

Please check that your child has a labelled hat in their bag ready for the warmer weather. The UV is now creeping up above 3 so we need to have hats ready to go.

Father’s Day Liturgy – Monday 2 September

The Stingray and Turtle classes will be hosting this year’s Father’s Day Liturgy. This will be held at 9:15am on Monday 2 September in the St Jude‘s church. Families are welcome to attend. 

Invitation to 'A Bluey Perspective' – 11 September

A free family event with ‘Bluey’ creator Joe Brumm will be held at Merici College on Wednesday 11 September. Presented by Catholic School Parents Canberra and Goulburn with the support of Catholic Education, the event aims to bring families from across the Archdiocese together, to listen to Joe talk about why he thinks Bluey has been such a success and the important role parents play in their child’s learning and development. Numbers are limited so please register via the link below.

https://events.humanitix.com/a-bluey-perspective

Parenting Workshops with Lael Stone – 21/22 September

Transform Parenting is an organisation that supports parents to grow and learn with their children from pregnancy to the first 7 years of parenting, through workshops, events and memberships, both in person and online. They are holding a Saturday event about managing the big feelings and behaviour of young children, and a full day Sunday couples workshop about helping parents to get on the same page with their parenting.

Click Here To Learn More About The Workshops.

Library News

Book Week                

And the CBCA book winners are:

*Our Book Week parade on Wednesday was great fun with a wide variety of costumes. Thank you to the families who helped support this great event with their children. Certainly the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and took great delight in telling us all about their characters and what books they were from. Wonderful!

*The winners from our parade are:

KF – Charlie L / KT – Max T / KV – Emily C

1BR – Maddie K / 1G – Theo H

2S – Ava S  / 2T – Darcy B

3M – Elise M  / 3R – Georgia M  / 3S – Sam P

4F – Amelie C  / 4KH – Xavier C

5D – Violet W  / 5FG – Neil B  / 5L – Christopher H

6K – Ivy B /  6SK – Grace L

They will receive their book prizes today from the Library.

*Photos next week as we are still collating them. Here’s one of the staff but many more of the children to come!!!

Do you know who these characters are?

Do you know who the teachers are?

Sports News

Weston Creek Little Athletics registrations are now open for the 2024/25 season! The season commences 9am on Saturday 19 October at Chapman Oval. Please go to the Weston Creek Little Athletics website for more information and to register: https://wclac.org.au/

Mulleyduds Uniform Shop

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.

Mulleygrubs Cafe News

Canteen Volunteers - Week 6

Wednesday 28 August - Karen, & two more volunteers please

Thursday 29 August - Annette, Julie & one more volunteer please

Friday 30 August -  Gemma, Sarah, Emily & Ben 

Sushi Meal Deal available to order – Friday 30 August

Sushi will be available to order for lunch on Friday 30 August. The normal canteen menu will not be available. 

A Sushi Roll and a Juice can be ordered for $6.50, with additional rolls $4.50.

Sushi Roll Options:

• Cooked Tuna Roll (GF)
• Crispy Chicken Roll
• Avocado Roll (GF & Veg)

Orders are being supplied by Mr Sushi and need to be placed via Qkr! by the above cut off date. No late orders will be accepted.