Week 2 Term 3

School Vision Statement: To change the world through our faith in Jesus who is our light.
Phone: 6882 2677 or 6882 2653
Email: stjohnsprimarydubbo@bth.catholic.edu.au                    
Principal: Mr. Anthony O’Leary
School Manager/Priest: Father Greg Kennedy           
P&F Meetings: 2nd & 7th Tuesday each term

Parents/guardians-Please note that photographs of students may be used in publication. Please advise the School Office if you do not approve of your child’s photo being used.

WEEK 2

Monday 29th July - Northern Region Athletics Carnival - Barden Park

Thursday 1st August - Kindy excursion DRTCC - GRUG Performance

WEEK 3

Monday 5th - Thursday 8th August - Year 6 Canberra Excursion

Thursday 8th August - Mary Mackillop Liturgy - School Hall - All welcome.

Welcome to Week 2
What a wonderful and colourful day was last Friday with the annual Book Week parade. The students had a fantastic day so thank you parents for supporting the students. It was a joy to see so many of the staff get into the spirit of the day, we had staff who were unicorns, characters from Wicked and even a stew pot from Wombat Stew.

A special thank you to Mrs Swanson and Mrs Hawkins for all of their wonderful support of the book fair.

Today we are wishing all of our athletes the best of luck at the Northern Region Athletics carnival at Barden Park. I am sure they will do their very best.

P&F Meeting
The next P&F meeting is going to be held tomorrow evening at the South Dubbo Tavern. The meeting commences at 6:30pm and everybody is welcome to attend.

Year 6 Excursion
Year 6 are starting to get excited with their excursion to Canberra coming up next week. I am sure the students will have a great time and will be able to share many stories on their return.

NAPLAN
Parents of students in years 3 & 5 will receive their NAPLAN results tomorrow. These will come home with children, so I ask that you please check school bags. NAPLAN results can provide valuable information about your child's academic progress and areas where they are achieving well or might need extra support or encouragement. It's a good opportunity to celebrate their achievements and discuss any areas where they can continue to grow.

School Pick Up and Drop Off
Just a reminder that if you are dropping off or picking children up from school, we have a specific drop off and pick up zone within the school grounds.  Please use this area with respect as it keeps our students safe and eliminates congestion and frustration in our car park. Last week I attended a meeting with colleagues from the other schools in the Sheraton Road precinct and Dubbo Council staff. The council will be providing an information sheet with details of some of the changes proposed for Sheraton Road.

School Uniform
Please remember to ensure that your child is dressed in full winter school uniform each Tuesday and Thursday.  This includes the correct shoes.  If your child is wearing black joggers, these should be all black as opposed to half black with a colour. We would also request that the correct socks are worn. We do have some students wearing Nike or Santa Cruz socks - these are great for weekends - but not for school. Your assistance with this would be much appreciated.  If you have any problems accessing the correct uniform, please contact the school for assistance.

Gospel and Reflection: John 6:1-15: Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

6 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Family Connection

Parents may sympathise with the disciples’ protests when Jesus asks Philip where food might be found for the crowd. In the responses of both Philip and Andrew, we hear feelings of inadequacy as they survey their limited resources in the face of such great need. We may sometimes share these feelings about our own material possessions or our emotional and spiritual resources in the face of our family’s needs. This is a Gospel of hope for these times, which are all too frequent in parenting and family life. As Jesus made the five barley loaves and two fish sufficient to more than meet the needs of over five thousand people, Jesus will also work with what we have to provide for our family’s needs. When we offer our efforts to God, we ask him to transform them so that they will be more than adequate to the tasks and needs before us. As you gather as a family, talk together about the things that your family needs, starting with the basics—food, shelter, safety, and so on. Continue by naming other things that a family needs to be happy and healthy—time together, cooperation, patience, and so on. Observe that sometimes we can feel like we don’t have enough of the things that we need or want. Read together today’s Gospel, John 6:1-15. Talk about how Jesus provided plenty of food for the crowd with just five barley loaves and two fish. We have faith that Jesus will also take what we have and make it enough to satisfy and fill all our needs.

God Bless and have a wonderful week

Anthony O’Leary

Mary MacKillop Liturgy
Next Thursday, 8th August, we will all gather together to celebrate Mary MacKillop and her achievements before becoming Australia's first saint. Year 5 will lead this Liturgy in our school hall at 1pm. All parents and friends are welcome to attend.

Year 3 - Sacrament of First Holy Communion/Eucharist
Preparation Sessions for this sacrament have now begun. There are three weekly sessions which you and your child need to attend. You only need to attend one session each week. Please contact Sacramental Coordinator Rosie Hosking on sacraments.dubbo@cdob.org.au if you require more details about the sessions.

Mass at St. Brigid’s Church
Saturday - 5:00pm, Sunday - 9:00am and Sunday - 5:00pm
Parishioners, please note: Weekday Masses have now returned to St. Brigid’s Church at 5:45pm.

Enjoy your week!

Paula Clifford
Religious Education Coordinator

SPB4L                                                                                                                                                          This week our SPB4L focus was introduced at our fortnightly assembly. Our SPB4L focus is on ‘lining up sensibly and quietly’. During our assembly, we discussed reasons why it is important to line up sensibly and quietly, these included: 

• To be safe and not get hurt
• To calm our body down so we are ready to learn
• To be able to listen to any teacher instructions

We also discussed what lining up sensibly and quietly would look and sound like:                                         Look like: 

• To straight lines
• Students facing to the front of the line
• Hands are by our sides
• All equipment out of hands

Sound like: 

• Voices off
• No bouncing of ball noises

Important Wellbeing Dates for Term 3

• Bullying No Way! Day - Students can wear an orange accessory/ies to raise awareness. This will be held on the 16th August (Friday Week 4). 
• R U Ok Day? - Students can wear a yellow accessory/ies to raise awareness. Families are warmly invited to bring a picnic recess to have with their child on this day. The picnic will be held from 1.30 - 2.00. This will be held on 13th September (Friday Week 8). 
• Life Ed Van (Healthy Harold) will be visiting in Week 9. Students from Kindergarten - Year 4 will be attending at various times on either the Tuesday 17th September, Wednesday 18th September or Thursday 19th September.

Chess Tournament

Last Friday, 26th July, 12 students from SJP attended a chess tournament at St Mary’s Dubbo to play chess against students from all of the Dubbo and District Schools. 

All of the students played 7 games of Chess throughout the day. A special mention to the following students who had some great results on the day:

• Kareef C - won 6 out of 7 games.
• Flynn W - won 6 out of 7 games. 
• Raiden N - won 5 games, 1 drawn game out of 7 games.
• Lewi A - won 4 games , 1 drawn game out of 7 games. 
• Hunter S - won 4 games out of 7 games. 

Thank you to Mrs. Jones who has been working with the Chess players to get them ready for the day. Well done everybody.