Dear St John's Community,

Thank you to those in our community who have welcomed me this term in my new role. I am learning a lot!

MACS 2026 RE Symposium

This week, some of our staff had the privilege of attending the MACS 2026 RE Symposium—an important moment for our school community to deepen understanding, build confidence, and strive for excellence in faith-based education.

A huge congratulations to our Acting Deputy Principal and Religious Education Leader, Marisa Patton, who helped organise and present at the event! Below, you can read Marisa’s impressive presentation blurb, followed by her key insights from the Symposium under Faith, community and culture.

Marisa Patton

Religious Education Leader

Marisa is an REL in Melbourne’s Southern Region with thirty years of experience in Catholic Education. A mother of three and a passionate mental health advocate, having recently presented at Victorian Parliament House, she is dedicated to creating spaces where students, staff, and parents can encounter God wherever they are in their own faith journey. Inspired by her time at the REcongress in California, Marisa seeks to share new insights to build and support Catholic Identity within the Archdiocese of Melbourne. She finds purpose and joy in exploring God’s presence in every season of life.

High Expectations

At St John's, our commitment to having high expectations for every learner in our school, ensures they have a solid foundation in literacy and numeracy, as well as good social skills.

High-impact teaching strategies remain central to everything we do. Over the past 18 months, our teachers have worked tirelessly to refine their practice in explicit instruction in Literacy and Mathematics.

What is explicit instruction?

Explicit instruction involves teachers introducing complex skills in small steps, with clear explanations and demonstrations of what students are expected to learn. Students then practise what they learned and receive feedback from their teacher until the skill is mastered.

What is the evidence supporting explicit instruction?

Cognitive science research shows that most students need formal instruction to learn what’s called ‘biologically secondary knowledge’, such as reading, writing and maths. Because students can only process a limited amount of new information at once, cognitive overload can occur when they try to process too many new concepts without prior instruction or scaffolding. Explicit instruction breaks new information into manageable parts. Effective teachers design lessons that begin with teacher-guided instruction and gradually shift responsibility to students through modelling and guided practice. This approach ensures that students achieve independent practice only after foundational knowledge is firmly established. Knowledge is like mental Velcro – new knowledge ‘sticks’ to prior knowledge, building understanding from one year level to the next.

More recently, we shifted our professional learning towards Responsive Teaching. Through full-participation tactics, our goal is simple: 100% participation, 100% of the time. These frequent opportunities to respond keep every student actively involved and practicing. Most importantly, it allows teachers to see where every child is in real time, enabling immediate feedback to fix errors and guide learning effectively.

Extra-curricular activities are always fun and provide our students with fantastic opportunities to learn in new and exciting ways.

We saw this in action on Monday during Japanese Day! The students were greeted by the incredible energy of Taiko drummers, immersed themselves in hands-on Japanese cultural activities, and enjoyed delicious sushi for lunch. Thank you to Eva Wheeler for organising such an exciting day.

Meanwhile, our Stomp classes have been going brilliantly! The students are working hard, and we can’t wait to see them showcase their talent at the upcoming concert on Friday, 21st August at 2pm in the school hall.

Kind regards,

Maree Summers

Acting Principal

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