NewsletterFortnightly

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February 14th 2019 / Term 1 Week 3 www.roma.catholic.edu.au

Principal’s NewsDear Parents and Friends of St

John’s,

The school year has continued to go

extremely well and I congratulate

the students and you as parents for

your support. Uniforms are being

worn well, students are turning up

to classes with a positive attitude

and engaged in their learning. Our

new families and teachers seem to

have settled in well and are enjoying their change of scenery.

There is a definite ‘buzz’ and a feeling of positivity.

Yesterday, we had our first assembly where we presented

our Veritas and Academic Medals. This is a great opportunity

to celebrate excellence in academic achievement and

excellence in application. I congratulate all of the recipients

and continue to emphasise the importance of academic

study and diligence.

Events in this month

Monday, February 18 - 22Prep Vision Screening

Monday, February 18R & D Swimming 10 - 19 yrs

Wednesday, February 20P&F Meeting AGM

Friday, March 1SW Swimming Trials, Chinchilla

Monday, March 4-5School Photos

On Tuesday, Mrs Hayward and myself spent time with

members of the Aspect team who are the project managers

for the next phase of our building at St Sohn’s. The concept

design will be finalised in the next couple of weeks and

with the assistance of Paul Bryant Facilities Development

Manager from TCSO, we will put forward our application

for the BGA. ( Building Grants Authority) This will involve

building a new two storey structure in the secondary, which

will house Hospitality, Performing Arts and Music on the

lower level and four new classrooms on the upper level.

The old Drama, Music and Art rooms will be renovated

into classrooms and the library and administration will be

extended and many of the specialist areas relocated to

this area. As well as refurbishing classrooms and teaching

areas, we will be building a new Prep room to complement

the double Prep rooms that we do have. These are exciting

times and I look forward to sharing the plans and projections

with you that will take us into the future.

Tomorrow is our Opening School Mass and I encourage you

to come along and be a part of our school community. It will

truly be a moving ceremony and a celebration of what and

who we are. ‘You BELONG here’ is the theme for the year

and you are all most welcome.

God bless.Donaugh

P & F Class RepThis year, we would like a person from each Primary

classroom and each PC class to represent their class at our

P & F Meetings. This group enables us to have a good line

of communication with parents. When it comes to St John’s

Race Day and Moonlight Fair, these parents can be a link

to the P & F. Please offer your name to Class/PC teachers

or they might possibly approach you. This is a great way of

building community.

,

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CurrentNEWS!

Preps presenting their writing to Mrs

Donaugh Shirley, an excellent start to the

year!!

PENCIL MAN built by Jack Davy Bauer

Always write a good story about yourself.

Never put yourself down. Its important to

have a positive growth mindset.

Year Four ScienceWe depend on plants for the

oxygen we breathe, many

foods, fibres, building materials,

medicines and fuels, and for the

pleasures of beautiful flowers.

Agriculture, horticulture, forestry,

conservation of natural habitats

and gardening all require an

understanding of plants. This term

in Year Four, we will:

- challenge our beliefs about

flowering plants

- investigate the process of

germination, the stages in a plant’s

life cycle and what plants need for

growth

-investigate how plants and

animals depend on each other and

the environment to survive.

Hopefully by the end of this unit

we will have some very keen little

gardeners.

Michaela WehlYear Four Teacher

Edrine Keegan School of Ballet is a Royal Academy of Dance School and is offering classes again in 2019.

Classes for girls and boys aged from 2 to 100 years old including Silver Swans.

Ballet, Tap and Jazz classes with weekday lesson times which means your weekends are free!

Visit us on Facebook or call Edrine Keegan on 0428 752 896 for more information.

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Study Skills ForHigh School 3

In secondary school, developing good study

skills is important in ensuring students improve

their understanding and develop the skills

necessary to become lifelong learners. Building

good routines from the beginning of the year is

important in making sure that students start on

the right foot. With this in mind, here are some

great tips to help them get organised:

1. Create a study space: designate a specific area

for homework and studying. This area should

be free of distractions including television,

phones and computers (unless necessary).

2. Track Assessment Dates: download and print

a copy of your child’s Assessment Calendar

from the school website and highlight all the

important dates. Students should also have

these written in their diaries.

3. Get organised: Sit down with your child

and plan when they will complete their study.

Many students are involved in a variety

of extracurricular activities or have work

commitments. While these are beneficial, it

is important that both parents and students

ensure there is still time to complete study.

Homework and study work best when they are

part of a regular family routine.

4. Teach your child that studying is more

than just doing homework or assignments.

One of the most misunderstood aspects of

schoolwork is the difference between studying

and doing homework or assignments. Students

should never be able to say that they have no

homework. To study, students can:

a. Take notes as they read chapters in their

textbook.

b. Summarise what they have learnt that day in

their own words.

c. Make flashcards for quick review of

important facts, dates, formulas or

definitions.

d. Go back and redo questions or exercises

from previous weeks.

e. Complete further reading and research

on topics they have covered in class, taking

notes as they go.

f. Create flowcharts or diagrams to

represent their understanding of a topic

visually.

Catherine CooperDean of Pedagogy

Caritas Just Leadership Day

Last Wednesday, our school

Prefects and nine Year Six students

spent the day with Caritas educator,

Kerry Drysdale, exploring ways

that they can become leaders for

justice within our school. Through

hands-on activities and discussion,

students learned about the work

of Caritas Australia, and how

they can create a fairer and more

sustainable world. The students

also formulated ideas that we

can use at a school level, during

Lent and to support Project

Compassion. We very much look

forward to exploring these ideas in

the coming weeks.

Congratulations students on the

way you participated and engaged

during the workshop.

Trisha ParkerAssistant Principal Faith and Mission

YEAR TWO

YEAR TWO

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This term, we are learning to skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s. We have learned that skip counting involves recognising patterns. We are representing and partitioning numbers all the way to 100 and ordering them from smallest to largest. Students are using a variety of different strategies to problem solve and access quick mental strategies to remember sequences and the patterns and rhythms that this type of counting requires. Students have used a variety of concrete materials to interpret and represent three-digit numbers as they begin to investigate the place value of numbers up to 999. We have begun making connections between addition and subtraction and how they have an inverse relationship.

Year Two teachers Mikaela KliendienstEla DaleMeghann Kimmorley

Mathematics

Year Ten HPE

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Term One will be a new learning experience for Year Ten HPE

students as they have the chance to study touch football and

complete a folio for their theory assessment. The students will

be immersed in learning styles and techniques that will be used

throughout their senior years as they set up for the new QCE

system. Students have been busy testing their performance of

specific fitness requirements used in the game of touch football.

From these results, they will write a training program that will aim

to improve their fitness and game play for touch football. To end

the term, students will submit a folio of work that has pushed

their IT, writing and physical skills. The Year Ten students have

enjoyed the challenge of reaching PBs in their fitness testing and

comparing them to their Year Nine results from 2018.

Peter Cox, Emma Murray & Ashleigh ValentineSecondary Teachers

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ASSiStAnt prinCipAL FAitH AnD miSSion newS

Creating an environment where all students and staff can

thrive is so important at St John’s. Our Spirit of St John’s

framework encapsulates our belief in Jesus and our school

values, giving direction to our school community of what is

expected. This year, our Religious Life of the School theme

is ‘You Belong Here’. There is no doubt that students thrive

when they are aware that they have a place where they are

wanted, encouraged and challenged.

Dr Pat Coughlin, TCS Executive Director, spoke on this

topic last week at the APRE Conference that I attended in

Toowoomba. With great synchronicity to our own aim for

the year, he said ‘Students do not belong at our schools

because they are Catholic, wealthy or poor, rural or urban.

They belong because we are a Catholic school. By belonging

to our community, they will know what Catholics believe and

know how Catholics behave and this will increase the sense

of belonging.’

In classes and PC groups, students have already begun

exploring the ideas of ‘You Belong Here’ and what that means

at St John’s. When students have a sense of belonging at

school, there is evidence to suggest that they are less likely

to go searching for that sense of belonging elsewhere. Our

message to students is:

We want you here, we want you to be a part of and live The

Spirit of St John’s and we want you to know you are loved.

Our Opening School Mass on Thursday, 14th February will

be based on this theme and we welcome all families to join

us. Below is the promotional poster for our 2019 theme. We

extend our thanks to Mrs Katarina Silvester, who designed

this poster for us.

Trisha ParkerAssistant Principal Faith and Mission

Year eleven englishmedia matters

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Year Eleven in 2019 brings an exciting change for St John’s and

Queensland’s education system. The introduction of the ATAR

system means a change to how classes are taught and a change

to what is taught, making English even more engaging and the

students even more inquisitive. This year, students will explore

everything from Arthur Miller’s, ‘The Crucible’, to the perception

of groups in the media and home-grown texts like ‘Jasper Jones’.

This term, students are exploring representations of particular

ocietal groups in the media and how the media shapes the way we

perceive different people. They are beginning to develop the ability

to ‘read between the lines’ of news and decipher the credibility of a

source. With so much focus on the world of social media, this unit

‘Media Matters’ gives students the insight and knowledge they

need to become not only consumers of news but also critics,

ensuring they can consider what they have read in an open-

minded way.

Only two weeks in, we have already covered a lot of content and

held an inter class persuasive competition which Mr Aire’s class

won! It has been a great start to what will be a year of exciting

change and challenges.

Michael Aire

English and Humanities Teacher

The English Teachers are very excited to introduce the Essential

English course this year to the Year 11s. 2019 will also see our

Year 12 English Communications class as the last cohort to

experience the subject English Communications, while the Year

11s begin a new era in line with the rest of the country’s ATAR

system and the new QCE.

The Year 12s have started the year by focusing on ‘Community

Matters,’ where they have been exploring local issues that

impact young people in the Roma community. Through

conducting research, compiling surveys and analysing data

they will produce a report in the context of being presented to

Council.

The Year 11s will consider how to develop their literacy skills

to be successful in the workplace. They will connect these skills

with their plans for after school. Students will explore and

respond to a variety of work-related documents while also

producing their own. The program has also been designed to

continue improving individual academic performance through

the ongoing development of literacy skills.

While the prospect of introducing a new subject is always

daunting, staff have been planning for this changeover of

curriculum for approximately 2 years to ensure a smooth

transition for students to the Essential English course.

Mrs Melanie NeilsonEnglish Teacher

We started 2019 off with a bang at our annual swimming carnival! Although the day was hot, it made perfect weather to be in the water.

Before the first race had even begun, Marian, Theresian and Xaverian had already started competing. They cheered and cheered, getting louder to be heard over one another. Before long, the swimmers were marshalling, and the races were beginning.

Throughout the day, we saw exceptional displays of team spirit from each house, cheering their fellow house mates on in every race.

Towards the end of the day, each house selected their relay teams, and everyone lined the pool to cheer their team to victory. Shortly after, the pool was full as the floatie boatie vessel race began. It was great to see so many participants and everyone having some fun.

Over 80 students made the times to go on to compete at the Roma and District trials. Congratulations to those students.

Although the competition was tight and each house fought to win, Marian came out on top, with Theresian in 2nd and Xaverian 3rd. Congratulations to all the houses on their participation and house spirit on the day.

Thankyou to all the teachers, prefects, parents and students who helped in the organisation, set-up, pack-up and overall running of the carnival. It was a fantastic day and we really promoted our motto this year of “You Belong Here”. - Hannah Hughes & Sarah Hall

We asked the teachers to describe their day at the carnival in three words:

“Red, Red, Red!”

-Mrs Challenor

“I wasn’t there”

-Mrs Parker

“Fun, Spirited,

Long”

-Mrs Tiley “Spirit,

Enthusiasm, Hot”

-Mr Bartulis

“Hot, Stressful,

Loud”

-Mr Debrota

“Exciting, Loud, Exhausting”

-Miss Cooper

“Exhausting, Fun, Spirit”

-Miss Baker

“Participation, Marian great”

-Mr Penrose

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McGovern Centre News

Mrs Barber, Miss Sarah and Mrs Regan have hit the ground running (and wrapping) for the start of the 2019 school year. A terrific variety of new books and text books have been prepared and added to the shelves for the enjoyment and educational needs of our students.The library has been a fabulous hive of activity, with junior

A fun challenge has been organised, within the library, for all staff and students. The challenge involves the students matching a teacher selfie to their correct bookshelf (shelfie). Please encourage your children to be involved. It is free to enter, with some great prizes for the staff member, high school student or primary school student that can match the most teachers to their shelves.

Finding the right book at the right time can light an emotional spark within children that motivates them to read more, understand more and read joyfully. When that happens the world opens; everything becomes possible – Scholastic.Happy reading!

students enjoying reading to Book Buddies. Book Buddies are a delightful way for the students to develop their reading skills.

MSP Photography New England newengland@msp.com.au | 02 6772 3519 | www.msp.com.au

say cheese

School Photo Day is

Monday 4th March 2019

Have your child’s school memories captured forever.

Please take the time to read the relevant information on the MSP Photography payment envelopes and remember these helpful

points:

Don’t seal envelopes inside each other. You can pay for all children in one envelope, however each child needs to have their own envelope on photo day.

- Family envelopes are available at the school office upon request.

- Family photos will be packed inside the eldest child’s individual photo pack.

- Please enclose the correct money as no change can be given.

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NewsletterWeekly

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February 14th 2017 / Term 1 Week 4www.roma.catholic.edu.au

Principal’s NewsDear Parents and Friends of St

John’s,

I now believe I am becoming

totally acclimatised to the south

west. If we can all live through

the heat of the last few days,

then we can do anything. Our

thoughts and prayers are with

those families in the central

coast and western parts of New South Wales who have lost

homes and properties to the terrible fires. We thank God

that so far no lives have been lost. Nature can be beautiful

and destructive as we are all aware, in the bush. On Friday

morning, we had a Prep Parent morning tea after drop off.

This was a wonderful opportunity for myself as well as Mrs

Mulligan, Mrs Beattie and Mrs Densley to meet with parents

and talk about what is happening in Prep. Parents shared

their ideas, experiences and concerns around the first three

weeks. What was discovered was that lots of feelings were

Events in this month

Tuesday, February 14

P&F AGM Meeting - 6 pm

Monday, February 27

Year Seven Immunisations

Wednesday, March 1

Ash Wednesday 10.45 am - P & F Multi-Purpose

Centre

Thursday, March 2

P & F Meet and Greet

Friday, March 10

Grandparents/Relatives Day

shared by most of the parents in Prep. The first year is very

important in establishing good routines, resilience strategies,

friendships and learning skills. I will be in Toowoomba at the

Principals’ meeting towards the end of the week.

Generosity of Staff

Last week, Mr Penrose put together the Extracurricular List

for the staff at St John’s. This is where teachers take on

activities beyond their normal teaching duties. There are

three categories and teachers are expected to choose one

from each. These can range from coaching football / netball

to chess, musical, community service and much much more.

I have never been in a school where teachers give so much

of their time for the overall development of their students.

This is voluntary unpaid work and, as a principal, I am firstly

very proud of them and I thank them for this great effort. It

is things like this that make our school so great and show the

real face of Jesus to others.

Coping Strategies

This week is Week Four leading into Week Five where

students begin to tire. This has been exacerbated by the

very hot weather, which tends to make students very tired.

Be proactive in your approach, speak positively, emphasise

that preplanning for the workload is important and that

approaching tasks with a plan can always help.

BusThere seems to be a little confusion around the bus and the

teacher duty. Teachers will be on duty as follows:

Morning Bus: There will be a teacher on duty at the bus

stop each morning for the next two weeks. As of Week Six,

students will be walking to the Prep room accompanied by

their bus buddy without a teacher on duty. Over the next

couple of weeks, the teacher on duty will ensure that all Prep

students have a buddy to accompany them to the classroom.

Afternoon Bus: Beginning this week, Prep students will

be picked up from the classroom and will walk to the bus

assembly area in small groups with an allocated Year Six

student. Students will then be buddied with either siblings

or bus buddies before going to the bus stop where the bus

teacher will be on duty.

Yours sincerely,

Donaugh Shirley

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In the next issuePrep - Year SixYear One - Religion

Year Three - HASS

Year Five - Health

Year Six - English

SS Services - Health Services

Project Compassion

Years Seven - TwelveYear Seven - Maths

Year Eight - Science

Year Nine - Outdoor Education

Year Ten - Legal Studies

Wellbeing - Teenagers and Anxiety

Theresian House Report

St John’s School

29 Duke StreetRoma, Queensland 4455Phone (07) 46 221 842

roma@twb.catholic.edu.au

www.roma.catholic.edu.au

EditorsTracey Leard

Yenda Emery

Jenny Ford

EditionTerm 1 Week 3

We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this land, the Mandandanji people, and show our respect for their ancestors and traditions.

Casual Position Available

Casual Canteen Coordinator / Barista Are you after some extra $$$ and available to work Wednesday & Thursday

afternoons & Saturday mornings. Approximately 15 hours a week

Maranoa Netball Association are looking for a Canteen Coordinator / Barista Are you a confident, hard working individual with barista experience,

who is reliable with sound communication skills.

Job descriptions includes: - Barista coffee machine

- Coordinate canteen volunteers - Stock ordering & receiving

- Open, close & clean canteen - Cooking dinners on a Thursday night

Canteen Times: Wednesday afternoon 3.30 to 6.00pm

Thursday 3.30pm to 9.00pm Saturday 7.30am to 12.30pm

Other days that will require a canteen: carnivals, special training days, any clinics that maybe running

Please email your expression of interest with your experience to mna@outlook.com.au

by COB Friday 15th February 2019

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