Message from Gemma

Dear Families and friends,

We have had many amazing moments over the past 2 weeks, including AWEsome projects launched, celebrating NAIDOC week, reflecting on Remembrance day and beginning Prep 2021 transition. 

With regulations easing we are excited to accomodate some of our outdoor/camp opportunities. When restrictions eased schools had a choice to run camp opportunities or to crawl over the line at the end of term. After an exhausting year of working from home, teaching our own kids and learning a whole new platform, whilst also continuing our professional learning to ensure we meet regulations and heightened legislation,  St John's staff AS ALWAYS - said let's not crawl, let's dance all the way to the end and give every child the memories they deserve...so...here we are... 

• Prep Breakfast in PJ's 24th November
• 1/2 Dinner 10th December
• 3/4 sleep over back on and squeezed in (15th Dec)
• 5/6 sleep over 3rd December
• Our Year 5 children will be having a Leadership Day - focused on Global Leadership, Local leadership and personal leadership to develop the student leader roles for 2021and to form their intentions in applying for a position.
• P-2 Christmas movie @ The Sun theatre, Yarraville November 26th - TBC
• 3-6 Christmas movie @ The Sun theatre, Yarraville December 4th - TBC

Please check up and coming dates on the calendar - as we have been adding dates for Confirmation, Sports day, Prep 2021 and social gatherings. 

The term is certainly flying by, it's that time of year when we discuss 2021. Due to the crazy year we have all experienced, our hubs will look a little different (for some). 

2021 hubs will be as follows:

Patrick - you may have met at the fence, Patrick has been in a shadowing role this term, preparing for his role in 2021. Bridget is arriving from Townsville and is an experienced teacher - eager to begin her new role, in her new State. 

Linda will be exploring the world from the end of Term 1 - we can't wait to hear about her travels. Mitch and Jarryd will be in 5/6 hub along with their Leadership roles.

Due to our children/educators not having the opportunity to really experience the different relationships and dynamics in 2020, our children will move into each hub as a 'hub'. They will gather each morning as a hub and have both educators for different times throughout the day - depending on purpose. Hubs (not Prep) will remain as hubs however each Educator will have mentor groups - this will be the person who checks in with your child / your main contact. Not unlike this year.  You will be informed of the communication process such as using a direct email that will be received by the hub teachers early next year. 

Preps will be assigned to an educator/home group within the first 5 weeks. This once again provides us with a carefully considered transition process and time to observe dynamics. 

 This model allows for the hub to be divided in many ways.  For example at times a small group may require a specific strategy such as a 'getting ready to learn' strategy in the morning whilst the hub gather as one.  This model increases small group learning opportunities and higher levels of collaboration whilst allowing Educators to give greater levels of feedback to individual children in a timely manner.

Our Child to Educator ratio continues to remain low. This is a commitment of the school to ensure greater targeted teaching opportunities and to truly commit to our project / play philosophy with an adult influencer for one to one conferencing, reflection and feedback. 

• Overall, evidence shows that small group tuition is effective and, as a rule of thumb, the smaller the group the better.
• Some studies suggest that greater feedback from the teacher, more sustained engagement in smaller groups, or work which is more closely matched to learners’ needs explains this impact. Once group size increases above six or seven there is a noticeable reduction in effectiveness.
• The impact of collaborative approaches on learning is consistently positive. However, the size of impact varies, so it is important to get the detail right. Effective collaborative learning requires much more than just sitting students together and asking them to work in a group; structured approaches with well-designed tasks lead to the greatest learning gains
• Feedback studies tend to show very high effects on learning. Feedback is information given to the learner or teacher (co-teaching) about the learner’s performance relative to learning goals or outcomes. It should aim towards (and be capable of producing) improvement in students’ learning. (https://e4l.org.au/the-toolkits/the-teaching-and-learning-toolkit) 

Our 2021 specialist areas are:

Innovation - Jackie and Bess 

Atelier - Haley and Maria 

Sport - Stevie 

Music - Maria 

Japanese - Jayka 

Farm- Haley, Matt, Eileen 

Library - Eileen 

We wish Kerrie Hartman well as she heads to St Martin De Porres in Laverton. Kerrie is leaving St John's after 17 years of service, commitment and dedication. The role at St Martin's provides more days for Kerrie and this will be a great advantage to her family.

Have a great weekend all,

Gemma