Lent

• Prayer
• Fasting
• Alms giving

Dear Parents and Carers

Fete

What a great day we had last Saturday for our fete. Thank you once again to our fete organisers: Jo Chidgey, Bec Hunter and Sylvia Gallagher. These parents did a superb job.

The weather was ideal and fete goers were in a good mood so everyone had a good time from what I could see. Once again the participation level of parents in helping out in so many ways was most impressive, even those who stayed until the end. I am glad you did stay because there was so little that needed moving to its rightful spot on Monday morning. By 8.15am the school was completely back in order and all services resumed as normal. Our Year 3 classes experienced the most disruption as they gave up their rooms for our café. The Community Council is very pleased with an estimated profit of $26,000.

SchoolTV – see link

The Christchurch massacre is one of the most extreme acts of terrorism the world has seen in recent times. For New Zealand, it was a loss of innocence. SchoolTV was actually filming in Auckland when news broke of the harrowing events unfolding in Christchurch.

Unfortunately, this will impact on many kids throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is important to put this event into context for children of all ages. Although we cannot control what happens in our world, we can choose the way we respond. The distressing nature of this event will never be forgotten, but at the same time we should not allow it to permanently disturb or destroy our future generations.

In this Special Report, parents and care givers will be provided with practical strategies on how to talk to their children in a reassuring manner. It will also highlight the necessity to be aware of the signs of trauma, should a child be adversely affected. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report. Here is the link to your special report
https://stjudesps.act.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/christchurch

Community Council Meeting

Our second Community Council meeting for the year will be held on Tuesday 26 March 2019 at 6.00pm. Meetings are held in the library and all are welcome. Our AGM was held at our first meeting back in February and all positions have been filled. I encourage as many people as possible to attend the meeting. During the last meeting, we had 16 people attend.

Nationally Connsistent Collection of Data – NCCD

In the first half of 2018 all teachers at St Jude’s had support, to better record the adjustments, both great and small, they made to their teaching programmes to cater for the learning needs of their students. All of this data was collected and collated by Ms Weston. The result of this painstaking work resulted in a large increase in funding to support our students’ needs. As a result of this increased funding (as well as some regular staffing) I am delighted that our Classroom Support Unit (Butterfly Room) has the following staffing: 10 teacher days per week and 110 hours of classroom assistant time each week. Of course we could always use more but this 2019 resourcing is considerably higher than we received in 2018. I am so pleased we are able to increase our support for children, no matter what their need is. Again this year our teachers will receive support in documenting just how they adjust the curriculum to meed student needs. They will receive professional learning in the following objectives:

2019 NCCD Key Objectives

1. Upskill teachers understanding of disability, Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and Disability Standards of Education (DSE)
2. Maintain quality of information captured through accurate levels of adjustment, up-to-date personalised plans that are implemented and regularly updated in consultation with parents and teachers
3. Maintain required evidence in a central repository to enable all teachers involved with the student’s development to access information easily as well as withstand any audit

Best wishes

Peter Galvin
Principal

Newsletter Subscription

To subscribe to St Jude’s newsletter,  please do so via the SZApp.

SZApp

The school will be using the SZApp as an additional way of communicating with parents. Information on downloading the app is available on the school website homepage under the ‘For Parents’ tab. 

The SkoolBag app will no longer be used by St Jude's as of today, Thursday 21 March. All messages will be sent to families via the SZApp.

Qkr! App

A reminder to update your child's class on Qkr!

Readers and Greeters

Are needed for the three Sunday Parish Masses. If you would like to be involved in these ministries, please contact the Parish Office during business hours on 62881979. It will be necessary for all new readers to attend an information evening and practice.

SRC Members

During our school assembly on Friday, the following children will be given their badges and make their commitment to the SRC:

Tomas D (2J), ​Lara O'K (2D), Poppy K (2BF), Rosie L (3M), Isaac M (3ME), Lillian D (4KR), Jude O'B (4LR), Saffron C (5H), Aleksander S (5L), Ava B (6S) and Sophia S (6CG).

Hello my name is Amy Kennedy and I am the school counsellor at St Jude’s Primary School.  I will be at St Jude’s on Wednesdays 9am-12pm (odd weeks) and Fridays 9am-3.30pm (even weeks).

School counselling is available to help children and families with difficulties that are part of everyday development as well as for things that are becoming concerns for school, family or for children themselves. Typical concerns can be around anxiety, managing anger, difficulties with emotional regulation, relationships with peers, grief and loss, family and relationship difficulties including parental separation, stress, problems in the classroom or anything that may be affecting a student’s learning or their general wellbeing. If you feel your child may benefit from counselling or even if you would like to speak with the counsellor briefly then please contact the school front office on 6288 7688 and ask to speak to Amy or complete a counselling referral form.

Amy Kennedy

Happy Birthday to Lachlan A and Annabel S

St Jude’s Fete

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the St Jude’s Fete. I’m sure you’ll agree it was a great community day. The funds raised from the fete go to the St Jude’s Community Council and are used to benefit the primary school and the ELC. 

Thank you

A big thank you to the De Camillo family who kindly donated their fete prize of children’s toys and board games to our ELC. Your generous gift is very much appreciated and enjoyed.

Fete Mates

If you don’t want to keep the yellow or green lanyard from your Fete Mate, please return them to the front office so we can use them again next year.

Community Council Meeting

The next meeting of the St Jude’s Community Council is next Tuesday 26 March at 6pm in the school library.  ELC parents and carers are welcome.

Entertainment Book

Due to its popularity last year, the ELC is now selling the 2019/20 Entertainment Book. View the book online at www.online.flippingbook.com/view/1048499/ or order at www.entbook.com.au/94h4738. Purchase before 27 March to take advantage of the early bird offers.

ELC Open Day

The St Jude’s ELC and primary school Open Day will be held on Wednesday 8 May, 9:30am-11:30am and 4:00pm-6:00pm. If you know any families with children approaching preschool age, invite them along to have a look at the ELC.

Working Bee

For your diary, we have a working bee scheduled for Sunday 5 May from 10am to 12noon. It will be a social morning of gardening and tidying up our outdoor areas followed by a sausage sizzle at the primary school. The children always enjoy helping out and playing with their friends. We would love to see you there!

Before School Care

Have you had the chance to check out the Before School Care display? It is located in the ELC corridor between the two classrooms. The After School Care display will be available soon, in the same space, so children can celebrate their achievements with each other and other families.

Visiting the ELC

We love when family and friends are able to spend time in the ELC classrooms. Remember you are required to have a Working With Vulnerable People Card (available from Access Canberra) and need to sign in on the visitor register located at the front desk.

SZApp

Like the primary school, the ELC will be using the SZApp as an additional way of communicating with parents. Information on downloading the app is available on the school website under the ‘For Parents’ tab. Remember to also check the notes pockets outside the classrooms for hard copy notes.

Holiday Care

We are now taking bookings for the ELC holiday program which begins on Monday 16 April. The ELC has holiday care available from 8:00am to 5:30pm for the two weeks (minus Good Friday 19, Easter Monday 22 and Anzac Day Thursday 25 April). Booking forms have been emailed and are available at the ELC office.

Karen Leighton
Acting ELC Director

Rice Day

Last Wednesday was a huge success! As a school, we came together to raise awareness for Project Compassion. The day started with a whole school walk, followed by a rice lunch. The day would not have been a success without the hard work of our school staff. A special thank you to Mrs L and Canteen Kim for your advice and help with the day. To all the families who supplied their rice cookers – thank you! And of course to the students for embracing the day and going without food. I hope that the day was a chance for you to reflect on how lucky you are to have food on the table, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and people to care for you.

“When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.”  — Mother Teresa, Roman Catholic nun

The Sacrament of Penance

This term, the Year 3 teachers have been preparing their students for Reconciliation. Using bible stories, especially the story of Zacchaeus from the Gospel of Luke, the students have been learning about the importance of forgiveness. A sincere thanks to Mrs Mahony and Miss Mead for the dedication they have displayed to their teaching and to their students during this time. I am very confident that the students are prepared for the sacrament next Wednesday.

Retreat Day for First Holy Communion

Next Friday, all Year 4 students will be part of a Retreat Day. They will participate in a variety of activities to deepen their understanding of the sacrament.

Harmony Week

Harmony Week celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.

“Australia is a vibrant and multicultural country — from the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live. An integrated multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural and religious traditions, as well as taking on many new traditions. Collectively, these traditions have enriched our nation.” (https://www.harmony.gov.au/about/)

Dates to remember

Wednesday 27 March – Sacrament of Penance, 5pm, SJV Church

Friday 29 March – Eucharist Retreat Day at the school where the sacrament is being made

Saturday 6 April – Sacrament of First Holy Communion, 5pm, St Jude’s Church

Sunday 7 April – Sacrament of First Holy Communion, 9am, St John Vianney’s Church

God bless
Susan Chant

We have two St Jude’s teams competing at the Matt Giteau Cup on Friday 22 March. They will be competing against a range of schools throughout the ACT. If you are needing a lift to the venue, we have a parent who has kindly offered her two spare seats – please see Mrs Thomas.  We can’t wait to hear how our enthusiastic Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 team competing with Team Captain, Mrs Gibson cheering them on the sideline. If there is a parent who is willing to help take the school tent out to the carnival, could you please see Mrs Thomas.

South Western Regional Swimming carnival will be held on Thursday 4 April. As a result of some outstanding times we have some great athletes who have qualified for the regional carnival. If you are a student who has qualified, could you please return your note to Mrs Thomas.

Year 5 and Year 6 students could you please return the sports note relating to your current involvement in sports by 28 March? Thank you!

In case you missed it last week, we have an athletics record holder at St Jude’s. Ellie C (4LR) broke the 200m and 100m records respectively, recently at the ACT Little Athletics Championships! Well done! We can’t wait to hear how our Athletics Champions compete at the ACT Athletics trials coming up. A massive good luck to Amelia N (6CG), Ella N (6S), Ava B (6S) and Ellie C (4LR)!

Jed B (5H) won Cricket ACT - Player of the Week - Week 8. Congratulations Jed.

Thank you to the Merner family for donating some preloved books to the Library!

Another of our students has lost her library bag as well. It looks like this bag photographed below, but with the name Ava on it. Our G (Grace) library bag has not yet been returned to school either………please help!

Happy reading!
Verna Comley

Mulleyduds will be open:

Friday 29 March, 3.00pm to 3.30pm and
Friday 5 April, 3.00pm to 3.30pm

We are currently ordering winter school uniform. We ask that you be patient as we wait for the uniform order to arrive.

Winter and summer uniform can be ordered via Qkr! or email: uniformstjudesps@gmail.com  Please contact the front office if you are waiting on a uniform order.

We have received quite a lot of second hand uniiform donations. Thank you for your generousity. Just a reminder that we are happy to receive second hand St Jude's uniforms only but no other second hand items.

Thank you to all of the volunteers who are helping in the uniform shop. Your time is very much appreciated.

Susana Lloyd

Thank you to the people who have come in to help in the canteen. Your time is greatly appreciated. Parents who can’t volunteer their time could always assist in other ways…Mulleygrubs Masterchef needs more people to fill the year with special treats.

Consistent Qkr! Problems

Please ensure online lunch orders are for the correct day and that you get a receipt number. Too many children are turning up at lunch upset that their lunch orders are missing. Some parents also haven’t updated their children’s classes on Qkr! and this delays the tallying process in the morning, especially on Fridays when we are very busy. Please don’t hesitate to pop into the canteen if you need a run through on how to order.

$1.00 Lolly limit per day

Volunteers

Mulleygrub’s Café can only function with your help. Now that the school term is up and running, maybe you can spare some time in the canteen? Any amount of time is better than none. Thursdays and Fridays are especially busy so if you can, please come in and have a go. We all have a good laugh and sometimes our discussions can be quite educational! Remember to apply for a Working with Vulnerable People card (WWVP). It’s free for volunteers!

Masterchef

Our Masterchef this week is the 'The Bright Bray Family' and they are making 'Rice Bubble Marshmallow Slice'. The ingredients are: rice bubbles, butter, marshmallows, white chocolate and hundreds and thousands. We will be selling them for 50 cents.

Coffee is now on Qkr!

Lunch Orders

Please check the prices when placing orders or checking your child’s order if they have written it out and added it up themselves, ensuring there are no mistakes with pricing or missing money for a paper bag. It may not sound like much however at the end of every week it amounts to quite a lot.

*Could you please remind your children that if they have a stamp on their lunch bag they need to return to the canteen to collect the missing items*.

Children who forget to put their lunch orders in before 10am or forget their lunch will be offered a vegemite OR cheese sandwich and a piece of fruit. I will then contact the parents and let them know the outstanding amount to be paid.

Could parents please stop supplying bags when ordering online lunches. This is causing a lot of confusion. With the process in the morning all online lunch orders are prepared before the lunch tub returns meaning all labels have been stuck to bags. Please just pay the 10c for a bag if you order online.

Canteen Volunteers Roster

Friday 22 March
Belinda Mc
Renee T
Parina Ch

Wednesday 27 March
Connie S
HELP NEEDED x 1

Thursday 28 March
Wendy D
HELP NEEDED x 2

Canteen Kim

Students of the Week

~ Week 6 Awards ~

KF—Arthur M

KT—May B

KH—Evie R

1S—Riley W

1T—Braden J

2D—Brody C

2J—Tom W

3M—Aurora K

3ME—Harry D

5L—Bailey F

5H—Maddy O 

6S—Sophie B

6CG—Georgia K

The St Jude’s community spirit is alive and well, as evidenced by the wonderfully successful Community Council 'Spirit' fete held last Saturday. I would like to thank Sylvia Gallagher, Rebecca Hunter and Joanne Chidgey for all the hard work they have put into ensuring this fete ran smoothly. It was a fantastic day for all. A special mention for Ms Delaney of 2D, who had the questionable privilege of kissing the goat. Initial figures have put the estimated profit from this year’s fete at $26,000, which will be put towards Community Council projects throughout the year.

The next Community Council meeting will be held on Tuesday 26 March at 6pm in the Library. This is a great opportunity to keep up with what the Community Council is doing and upcoming projects.

I look forward to seeing many of you there!

Charlotte Dalton
Community Council Chair
stjudes.scc@gmail.com

Written by Lara O’K and edited by 2D

Today is Tuesday the 12^th of March and Year 2 went on an excursion to the Cotter Dam.

The first thing we did when we got there was to meet Kate, our tour guide who split us up into two groups. I was in the second group with Ms Delaney, half of 2BF, 2D and three parent volunteers whose names all started with J: Jack, Jason and John.

Each of us had an observation sheet to complete. We had to be river detectives and draw then label things like something that shouldn’t be at the Dam, something that was hard to count and something with feathers.

Next, we learned about the rivers, the catchment, the pipes and the reservoirs in Canberra. We each had a cup filled with water from a bucket, called the reservoir, which we tipped into another person’s cup until we reached the other bucket at the end. The buckets were named shops/buildings, houses/apartments, farms and Murrumbidgee River.

After eating our snack, we switched around. I went on the walk to the Dam. It was clean and quiet (at the time we were there), 87 metres tall and made from blocks of cement. It had been rebuilt three times because it needed to get bigger when Canberra got bigger. We stopped and talked about the water catchment and different dams and rivers in the ACT. We learned about the Pump Station and the place where the water is cleaned.

We saw small lizards like Skinks, medium lizards like bearded dragons and big lizards like Water Dragons.   

We also played on the playground. My favourite bit was the monkey bars and the flying fox where Jen-Jen (Harrison’s grandmother), got to have lots of turns!

Then we got on the bus and went back to school. The bus was fun because I got to talk to one of my best friends. On the way, we saw the big water pipes that we had learned about that day.

The Year 2 teachers chose a really good place for our excursion because it was really fun and interesting.

The Cotter Dam, By Tom D, Year 2.

Cool water trickling down the river.

Oh my goodness the water is so calming to watch.

Terrifying when you look down.

Terrific fun to spin the wheels.

Extraordinary to see the country.

Rapid water flowing down the dam wall.

A GOOD BOOK…

Leaves you wanting to reread the book.

A GREAT BOOK

Compels you to reread your own soul.

Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road in the Deep North

National Library of Australia (2016). Reading Pleasures. Canberra, ACT: NLA Publishing. P54

Our school assembly is every Friday at 2.15pm.

School Banking is every Friday morning.