I really cannot believe how quickly this term is flying by! I shouldn’t be surprised - as I get older, time seems to speed up and life’s business just appears to be accelerating! As the coordinator for Vanier House I have really enjoyed the connection we have with the L’Arche community of Canberra (http://larche.org.au/larche-communities/canberra/) and this year we are proudly continuing that connection with afternoon tea visits, staff dinners and continual communication of opportunities to connect with each other’s communities. I do believe Jean Vanier (our house patron) would be super proud of us!

Another of my roles is coordinating Sustainability for the JPC community. As part of this role I am team teaching the Year 8 Sustainability Technology class and have been amazed at the wonderful creative and passionate projects the students have engaged in. I hope to instill a personal passion for sustainability through the project based learning they are doing! Stay tuned for some exciting pictures of the students up-cycling projects!

The garden continues to be a community project; my class, the sustain squad and some wonderful staff members are always busy building compost bins, planting, weeding, planning, picking, fertilizing using our own worm tea and growing produce for our canteen to turn into amazing meals! The canteen is an integral part of the sustainability focus at JPC. Its philosophies of using sustainable produce with low carbon footprint, creating challenging food choices and healthy meals means we have a unique menu that is delivered fresh each day! See Moodle for the menu!

Do you want to make a difference? Then help out from your desk! Use Ecosia as your search engine and plant trees every day! https://www.ecosia.org

Today, as part of our sustainable commitment to improve our own carbon footprint the whole school participated in Earth Hour! Period one we went old school with no electricity!

This campaign aims to raise awareness of global climate change and each individual being responsible for owning their own footprint! A beautiful quite hush came over the school and even with all the power off the natural light came streaming in!

Together we can make a difference for climate change! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZp4LX4AYnM

When we all take ownership and do our small parts we can create a HUGE difference!

Sustainably yours
Mrs McNamara

Dear Parents/Carers

St John Paul II College has been made aware that there has been a product recall for Epipen® 300 microgram (µg) Adrenaline Injection Syringe Auto-Injectors (AUST R 42978) used for the treatment of allergic emergencies (anaphylaxis) with the following batch numbers:

• Batch number 5FA665 Expiry Apr 17
• Batch number 5FA6651 Expiry Apr 17
• Batch number 5FA6652 Expiry Apr 17
• Batch number 5FA6653 Expiry Apr 17

The school has conducted a review of the EpiPen® that are currently stocked within the first aid kits/rooms for student/staff medical needs and has taken the recommended steps as advised by the supplier Alphapharm Pty Ltd.

We ask that all families who have a need to have EpiPen® in the home also complete a review of the batch numbers and action the following steps:

1. Check if you have a 300µg EpiPen® (yellow carton and label) and if you do, check the batch number and expiry. The batch number and expiry can be found on the label of the pen or on the end of the carton.

2. If the EpiPen® 300µg has the following batch numbers 5FA665, 5FA6651, 5FA6652 or 5FA6653 and an expiry of Apr17, the EpiPen® 300µgwill need to be replaced with a new one as soon as possible by returning it to a pharmacist.

3. A pharmacist will replace the EpiPen® 300µg from the affected batch with an EpiPen® 300µg from a different batch FREE OF CHARGE.

4. The EpiPen® 300µg must be retained until a replacement is made available and use if required.

Should you have any queries or concerns please contact the school on 6163 4800 or email office.jpc@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Kind regards
Catherine Rey
Principal

Extra Holiday day!

Catholic Education has informed us that Term 2 2017 starts on

Wednesday 26th April 2017 instead Monday 24 April as previously advertised.

Enjoy!

 Parent / Student / Teacher Interviews will take place on

Wednesday 5 April and Thursday 27 April.

Dear Parents,

Parent- Student - Teacher interviews will be held for Year 7 to Year 11 from 4.00pm to 6.30pm on 5/04/2017 & 27/04/2017.

Interviews will be of 5 minutes duration.  Should you require a longer appointment time, please contact the relevant teacher to arrange an alternative meeting time.

For these interviews we will again be using the internet-based booking system called Parent Teacher On-Line (PTO). It will save time for parents, staff and students!  The system will be available to parents from 4pm on Wednesday 29 March..

Using this system you will be able to book the interview times that suit you best from any internet-connected computer. A computer will be available in the student office during school hours if you do not have internet access at home or elsewhere.

Please access the system as follows:
• Go to the school’s home page: 

https://www.jpc.act.edu.au/our-community/jpc-parents/pto-online/

• Click the PTO icon

• Click “Obtain PIN / Password” and enter your email address.  Your PIN will be emailed to you.  The email you receive will include a link that can be clicked on to log straight into PTO, bypassing the login screen.

Full instructions are provided to you after log in. Please note the following points:

• When you log on, the system displays only your own child/children. Bookings are made for individual parents/guardians, not for couples. Couples can however log on to the system simultaneously to coordinate bookings. If two parents/guardians wish to attend a single interview time slot, one parent/guardian should make the booking then both can attend.

• You will only see time slots that are available at the time you are using the system. As time slots are booked for teachers, those time slots are no longer displayed as available. PTO prevents double-booking of teachers or parents/guardians.

• Please note that for Year 7 and 8, bookings cannot be made with Term 1 and 2  Elective teachers, as they will not be continuing with their Term 1 elective and will not yet have started their Term 2 elective.

• When you have made all the bookings you require, you can download or email a report of your bookings in time order for printing. You can log in and change bookings any time up to 5.00pm the day before.

• If you see this symbol  displayed along side the class name, it means this teacher recommends that you book an interview.

• Other parents may be making bookings at the same time that you are using the system. It is possible, though unlikely, that a time slot is displayed to you as available, but is then booked by another parent shortly afterwards. If you then attempt to book this time slot it will not be available and a message will be displayed to indicate this.

• If you encounter any problems using PTO please contact the school office by phone on 6163 4800, or by email to office.jpc@cg.catholic.edu.au

The JPC Year 9 and 10 Food Technology students visited the Holy Spirit Early Learning Centre on Monday 20th March as part of their research for an authentic assessment task, in which the students are required to design and prepare a dish suitable for preschool aged children, taking into account their tastes and dietary requirements.

JPC will host the preschooler’s special luncheon in the JPC restaurant in term 2. During the excursion the JPC students each interviewed a preschooler (including Mr and Mrs Ganderton’s son Julius!) to gain insightful information and get to know the little people they will be cooking for.

It was a heartwarming morning for us and a great way to extend our community collaboration.

Both Year 7 classes and the 9/10 Elective Drama class have been working extremely hard to create and perform various pieces of theatre this term. The first Showcase for this year will present variety of assessment performances and scenes of their own creation. Students have self-nominated to perform. There will also be performances from students who have self-nominated to be part of an extra-curricular Drama opportunity.

Please join us to support our budding actors as they dazzle you with their growing talents!

This week we hosted our “Defence Families Welcome Breakfast”.  It was an early morning roll call for many of our families who came along to JPC and enjoyed a delicious breakfast together.   A big thank you to Mrs Kelly and her wonderful Canteen Staff.  I hope our Defence Families made some new contacts and maybe some of them met up with previous contacts too. 

It was wonderful for me to meet with the new Families to our Community.  If you would like to be a part of our Defence Families Email Group, please contact me with your details.  Thank you to those families who have joined already.

A reminder about the Birrigai Excursion next term for our Year 7 and 8 Defence Students.  Please return your permission note by Tuesday, Week 9.

If you are a partner or parent of apermanent ADF member, you are invited to take part and complete the 2017 ADF Families Survey.   The focus of the survey this year is on partner employment and support services for ADF members and their families.  This Survey will help Defence better understand your family’s experiences, particularly around partner employment and support services for ADF members and their families. 

Complete the online survey now www.defence.gov.au/dco or www.dfa.org.au

The survey closes on Friday 31 March 2017.

Save the Date!  Thursday, April 27 for our ANZAC Ceremony at JPC.

Please contact me if you have any concerns with your child.  vicki.walsh@cg.catholic.edu.au

Vicki Walsh

The JPC Cheerleading Club performed in front of a big crowd at the Annual Holy Spirit Parish Multicultural Feast on Saturday night. The team excited the crowd with an excellent performance demonstrating their skills and amazing routines.

On behalf of JPC we would like to thank these students on the fantastic way they represented the College.

The girls 7/8 Basketball team competed at the North side Gala day on Tuesday the 21st of March. The girls came out firing with a win first up against a strong SFX team. They then went through each of the main round games undefeated and have made it through to the ACT competition which will be held in the near future.

Well done girls, a fantastic effort.

Fleur Greaney