Newsletter - 13th October, 2022
Dear Parents and Friends of St John's,The Religious Life of the School has been enriching during the culmination of term and the first three weeks of Term Four.
Twenty-six students will be making their first Communion this Sunday 16th October at All Saints Parish Church commencing at 8.30am. The Sacrament of Communion (Eucharist) is seen as the heart of Catholic faith and life. Catholics believe that during the consecration in Mass, Jesus is made present on the altar amid those gathered for worship in the form of bread and wine. Receiving the Sacrament of Communion allows our young parishioners to be deeply involved in the Mass, sharing in the risen Lord. I thank St John’s staff Toni Densely, Melissa Irwin, Rhianna Tierney and Sophie Twidale for the extensive preparation of students under the guidance of Fr Tom Duncan. All families are most welcome to attend this celebration.
During Week Ten of Term Three, our Year 12 students engaged in their annual retreat program with staff at Cooby Dam near Toowoomba. The intention of the three days with staff was to enhance student faith and spiritual formation and, in many ways, is one of a significant number of culminating experiences for students as their schooling experience at St John's draws to an end. Students listened to staff share experiences around the themes of 'Masks that We Wear', 'Signposts that Shaped our Lives”, 'Storms in our Lives' and 'Recognising God’s Face'. Students then reflected personally and shared their thoughts and experiences in a safe and supported environment. I was impressed with the maturity and engagement of our young men and women who demonstrated enormous personal growth and is a testament to the collective work of students, parents and staff over the last thirteen years of their schooling. A special thanks is extended to Ryan Doig, Aaron Brown, Sam Valentine, Sarah Flesser and Donaugh Shirley for the outstanding preparation and presentation of the retreat.
During Week Three of term, students from Year Eight (21st October, Nine (20th October) and Ten (19th October) will be involved in separate retreat programs. The retreat experience allows for reflection and a deeper experience of developing spirituality.
Congratulations to St John’s staff member, Meg Lyons, who has been selected as a finalist in the 2022 Queensland Tennis Awards. The selection is recognition of Meg’s outstanding contribution to tennis in Roma and the South-West Queensland Region. Meg is in the final of the Most Outstanding Teacher Award section and will attend the awards Ceremony at Queensland's Parliament House (Brisbane) on Wednesday 26th October. As a school, we are very proud of Meg’s contributions to tennis and sport which have benefited many students.
There have been numerous events occurring recently where students have achieved outstanding success.
This week, secondary students attended the Queensland All Schools Touch Football Carnival on the Gold Coast. Three teams attended this year – U15 Girls, U15 Boys and U18 Mixed teams. The U/15 Boys won three of their six games and the girls' sides participated well in their respective matches, whilst the Open Mixed Team won six of eight games to finish 10th of sixty-one teams. Staff reported that the students showed true determination and their hard work paid off over the week demonstrating the Spirit of St John's. I extended my sincere thanks to Sam Valentine, Matt Creeley, Hayley Ownsworth, Leisha McNulty, Jodie Duff, Nathan Walsh and Ryan Laverty who coached, managed, and supported the teams.
Best wishes to our Junior Secondary male and female basketball teams who travel to the Gold Coast this week (October 13-16) to participate in the Champion Basketball of Queensland tournament. The students will compete in eight games prior to the finals. Thank you to Mr Justin Wheatley, Matt Wilkie and Ms Bridget Bright who have accompanied the teams as coaches and managers.
Congratulations to the students who participated in the Roma and District Eisteddfod this week. It was so pleasing to see so many students from St John's involved again this year through choirs in Years 3-6 and is an affirmation of our Performing Arts Program at St John's. I consider the Performing Arts to be an integral and essential component of both the curriculum and extra curricular life of the school and look forward to sharing the results in the next newsletter. I thank all the teachers and Mrs Carmel Treasure for their collective efforts in preparing the students.
The School Awards celebrations will be held in Week Seven of Term Four.
The following dates, times and venues relevant to specific year levels for 2022 are:
Years 5-12 and Perpetual Award Recipients – Tuesday 15th November commencing 6pm at the Cultural Centre
Prep- Year 4 classes – Wednesday 17th November at 9am commencing at the school P&F Multi-Prurpose Centre
School staff begin the process of constructing class lists for Prep - Year 7 for 2023 in the coming weeks. The process involves existing teaching staff initially drafting class lists using their intimate knowledge of students. The construction of classes is based on ensuring there is a balance of gender, ability and need within each group. Each class grouping will be reviewed by our Learning Support Staff and finally by P-2 Coordinator, Natalie Beattie, Assistant Principal, Melissa Irwin, Deputy Principal, Ryan Doig, and myself. Parents will be informed of their children’s respective classes and teacher by letter, which will be sent out at the end of the school year. Parents wishing to provide any specific information to inform class construction should do so in writing no later than Friday 11th November. I request that all correspondence is emailed to my assistant, Jenny Ford. It is important to emphasise that requests for specific teachers will not be a consideration in construction of class lists. Staffing of classes will not occur until after class lists have been completed.
Parents and carers are requested to contact the school if you child will not be returning to St John’s in 2023. This can be done by emailing Jenny Ford (Assistant to the Principal) or informing office staff by phone. The provision of this information allows the school to plan class sizes and staff efficiently.
This week, we received feedback on the confirmation of all Year 12 assessment for General Subjects undertaken this year. The feedback has confirmed student results for internal assessments applied by the school across all subjects. This is wonderful news and I congratulate all students and teaching staff for their collaborative efforts. Year 12 students will begin their final assessments and external exams commencing Week 4 (24th October) and conclude Week 7 (15thNovember). Year 12 students will only be required to attend school for their designated exams between Week 4-7. Students are permitted to study at home between exams or alternatively supervised study facilities will be provided at school. All Year 12 students will return to school for the final three days Wednesday 16th to Friday 18th November.
God bless,
Jim Brennan
Year Six Brisbane Trip
For the first time since 2019, the Year Six Trip hit the road in the last week of Term Three! We stopped off at the Darling Downs Zoo on our way to Brisbane, spending time avoiding llama spit, counting all the different species of monkeys and hiking up the hill to see the giraffes.
Our week in Brisbane kicked off at the Botanical Gardens where we learnt about indigenous bush food and tasted bunya nuts, honey from native bees and Davidson plums. We also had a go at making our own string from palm leaves. Then it was on to the Queensland Museum and Sparklab. Trampolining at Bounce was the highlight of the trip for many of us.
Wednesday we were up early to catch the ferry to Stradbroke Island. We spent the morning learning about the history of the island and the local indigenous culture. We didn’t want to leave the ochre beach where we had painted ourselves with ochre, but during our walk along the boardwalk we were lucky enough to see whales, dolphins and sea turtles.
The next day, we donned our uniforms and headed off to Parliament House. We were able to sit in the chamber and debate a bill. We then visited Old Government House before heading out to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. The roo paddock was an amazing experience. We could sit or lay with the kangaroos and have them eat out of our hand.
Friday, we headed home via Cobb and Co Museum. We had a terrific week full of fun, but were all glad to get home and start the holidays!
Students in Senior Legal Studies have been studying all things Human Rights, throughout Terms Two and Three. The Year 12 students have been working very hard on completing preparation for their external examination, which will occur in the external exam block in the coming weeks. The Year 11s recently completed their FA4 exam for Human Rights and will begin on Year 12 work, which will cover all things Civil Law! Throughout the unit, students have enjoyed studying different facets of Human Rights, in both Australian and international contexts. We have been enjoying spending time together, helping each other revise and trying different study techniques in order to best prepare ourselves for the upcoming exam. Best of luck to the Year 12s! Attached is a photo from our excursion in Term Three to the Roma Police Station.
Congratulations to our Senior Visual Arts in Practice students on the opening of their Senior Art Exhibition in the Walk of Art at the Roma Community Arts Centre. Consisting of work representing Years 11 and 12, the exhibition titled ‘Through My Eyes’ is comprised of a wonderful and diverse range of mixed media, printed and sculptural pieces exploring concepts such as ‘Feels Like Home’ and ‘Social Comment’ and Street Art. The exhibition remains open to the general public until the end of October.
St John’s Touch teams have once again made our school proud over the last few days at the 2022 Queensland Titans All Schools Touch Carnival at the Gold Coast. Three teams travelled down to represent St John’s at the event: Under 15 Girls, Under 15 Boys and Under 18 Mixed. It was a fantastic carnival for our teams to gain experience on and off the playing field and we are extremely grateful to the parents, teachers and supporters for attending over the past week.
Keeping out of the double digits, the Under 15 Girls held their heads high and played to their own game. They had an exceptional three days of intense and tough competition continuing to represent the school with pride. Our girls were a very young side with students from Year Six, up to Year Ten. They will take away confidence from playing girls a lot older than them and will be a force to reckon with over the next few years.
The Under 15 Boys managed to obtain three wins out of six games. They played very quick touch which gave them an advantage over their opponents. This is an exceptional effort for our Under 15 Boys Team who were in a very difficult pool. Both teams should be extremely happy with their results being a combination of young, futuristic players.
The Open Mixed Team began a 'ripper' of a carnival on Friday producing four wins in a row. Unfortunately, we met our match against Runcorn State High School losing 9 – 6. We finished our pool by playing a 'cracker' of a game against Windaroo Valley 8 – 1. Thomas McCoy was announced to be the 'man on wheels' gathering three break away tries. The highlight of the week was the performance of the Under 18 Mixed Team who made the Final 16 game before being eliminated by eventual champions, Emmaus College Rockhampton. They ranked 10th out of 61 teams in the Under 18 Mixed Division.
Thank you goes to all players, staff, parents and supporters for a fantastic carnival.
Sam Valentine
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