Principal's Page

A Message from the Principal

Catholic Schools are leading the way in implementing the Science of Learning. An article in The Age last week highlighted how the 'back to basics' overhaul on how Victoria’s Catholic school children learn reading and maths has yielded positive results, including an improvement of more than 20 per cent in numeracy skills in the 12 months since the change was brought in. Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools shifted to explicit instruction in February last year, which means teachers introduce concepts and skills that students learn “step by step”, with clear explanations and demonstrations of what they have to learn. St John's is a shining example of student growth due to the explicit teaching in maths, phonics, reading, spelling and writing.

Our Founders Day Mass yesterday, was a magnificent celebration of the Hancock Family, who work tirelessly in our Parish community. Ross Hancock has volunteered with St John's Vinnies Group for many years and has always helped at the Fete too. Diane Hancock not only taught at both St John's and St James but also coordinates the Childrens' Liturgy at Mass every Sunday. She also volunteers at the House of Books and the Fete every year. Our School Leaders proudly told their story at Mass, after interviewing them both last week. Thank-you to all of the school families who were able to join us for this very special celebration.

The School Advisory Council will meet next week for the first time this year. I still have one vacancy on the SAC for 2025, so if you are interested in joining please email me your expression of interest this week.

Everyone is welcome to join us for the first PA Meeting this Tuesday night, 25 February.

It will be at 7pm in the Staffroom. We hope to see you there, to help us plan some great Social and Fundraising events for the Year.

Thank-you to all of the Families who were able to come along to the St John's Curriculum Night, held last Thursday. It was well attended and we hope that it was informative and beneficial in helping to support your child's education this year.

Next Monday we will be hosting our Twilight Sports Carnival. It is held at Bill Sewart Reserve on Burwood Highway in East Burwood. Please arrive at 4.30pm, ready to begin at 4.45pm. Students need to wear their House colours, sports shorts and school hat. There will be a sausage sizzle and drinks available to purchase.

Be an eSafety Parent, Protecting your Child Online

I often hear students talking about the online games that they are playing and I want to remind parents and guardians about the importance of supervising them during this time. Much of what they are exposed to online can be quite disturbing especially if it is not an age appropriate game. Unfortunately some of these online games have chat rooms which can be infiltrated by dangerous characters, disguising themselves as children. Roblox and Fortnite are popular games but they come with some risks. Please be awar that Fortnite has an age restriction of 13+. 

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics/esafety-guide/fortnite-battle-royale

Please ensure that you know what your child is playing and who they are playing with.

https://getkidas.com/6-dangers-on-roblox-to-be-aware-of/

There are many great resources to support you on the eSafety Government website. https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

Parent/Teacher/Student Learning Conferences

This Thursday, 27 February, we are running Parent/Teacher/Student Learning Conferences for Term1. This is an opportunity for families and their child, to meet with their classroom teacher for a 10 minute conversation about their learning, progress so far and future learning goals.

Please use the link below to access the booking site. If required, the event code is: phhem

https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/phhem

Twilight Working Bee - 14 March

On Friday 14 March at 4.00pm - 6.00pm, we will be having our first Working Bee for the Year. At 6pm we will be providing a sausage to say thank-you.

If you can come along for one or two hours to lend a hand that would be greatly appreciated. Please bring a shovel, wheel-barrow, rake or blower vac if you can.

Some of the tasks will include:

• Spreading soft-fall mulch under the playground equipment
• Spreading mulch on the garden beds
• Weeding
• Sweeping
• General tidy-up

All families who support the working bee will receive a $50 discount on their school fees.

We hope that you can join us!

Joke of the Week

Have a great week and I look forward to seeing you all the Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences this week and the Twilight Sports Carnival next Monday night!

Verona Gridley

St John's Primary School Principal

principal@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au