Dear St John’s Community,

This week I had the privilege of attending the Australian Catholic Education Conference in Cairns. Not only was I grateful for the 28-degree days and the wonderful scenery, but the quality of the guest speakers has been incredible. I was able to connect with principals, parents and leading education authorities from all across Australia and New Zealand. Sharing ideas, learning about their stories and along the way celebrating our Catholic faith.

While the mix of international and national speakers was exemplary, the highlight had to be the mass we all celebrated together. 1400 conference delegates and 1000 students from Catholic schools in and around Cairns attended the mass. We were blessed with a mix of student and adult singers, who were supported by a 400-strong student choir, which was just magnificent. We had 2 archbishops, 6 bishops and 6 priests performing the mass, and it was literally, just divine. Being Cairns as well, the rich indigenous inclusion in all the elements of the mass was rich and felt profoundly Australian in every regard.

Another highlight was meeting the Federal Minister for Education, The Hon Jason Clare MP and hearing him speak about education and funding and all the important things.

I look forward to bringing everything I learned to St John's.

Jubilee Mass & Fr Chinua's going-away celebration

Don't forget, this Sunday is the Jubilee Mass at St John's Church and the going away celebration for Fr Chinua.

For those who have missed the notices, Fr Chinua Okeke has been seconded to move to a Parish just north of Brisbane in a few weeks time. Fr Jude has been appointed the new Parish priest and in the next few weeks Fr Michael Maronga, a Spiritan priest from Zimbabwe will join Fr Jude in looking after the combined parish of St John's and St Francis Xavier.

Mass begins at 10am on Sunday and following mass we move to the school hall for some delicious food and celebration. Everyone is welcome.

2 weeks to get ready!

The Skipathon will take place on Friday, 5th September. Every student is able to participate on the day, and if parents would like to test themselves, they are welcome to join in as well!

For every $20 raised by a student, they will receive 1 ticket into the draw to win a bike. There is a prize to be won for the juniors (P-2), middles (3-4) and the seniors (5-6).

Anyone can donate to the Skipathon via Trybooking

Important Note: When completing your donation, please include the name of the child it is for rather than your name on the receipt. If you forget, just let the office know and they can allocate the child's name to the donation for you.

St John's Footy Tips

Wow, the last few weeks ahve seen some real changes in the top 10 and this is the last week of the competition. I don't think we're going to catch Mr Aron, but the rest of the places are all on offer.

Top 10 Footy Tips

1 - JARON96 153

2 – ASHFOUDY 149

3 - JESSA1923 149

4 – Mr LEFEBVRE 148

5 – Mr B 147

6 – MISSBNG2014 146

7 – EZNDAZ 145

8 – TOONAUSSIE 145

9 – HENRYDR 143

10 – MASTERPNG2018 143

School Uniform Reminder

Just to clarify for everyone, we no longer have a Summer and Winter uniform. There is only a School Uniform and a Sport Uniform.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Derek Bruitzman

Principal

Jokes of the week: (These are bad, I know!)

Q. What do you call an alligator that loves to water its plants?

A. An irrigator

Q. Egyptians claim there are no crocodiles inEgypt.

A. I think they're in de Nile

Q. What do you call a crocodile that keeps breaking the law?

A. A crookadile

Fun facts of the week:

A typical cloud weighs around a million tonnes (how do they stay up there!!!!)

Smaller animals experience time different to humans. For example, time moves slower for lizards and salamanders because how we preceive time depends on how quickly the brain can process information.

The worlds oldest dog was an Australian cattle dog called Bluey. He lived for 29.5 years.

Chess Tournament

School Chess Tournament