Dear Families,

We are so pleased with the way our students have returned to school for 2026. The calm and engaged feeling across the school has led to new and renewed friendships, high levels of learning and a sense of excitement about the year ahead. Classrooms have quickly settled into routines, and it has been great to see students showing care and respect for one another.

In 2021, I had planned to take Long Service Leave to travel abroad with my wife and two children. This was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After things settled and borders reopened, I had leave approved for six months in 2025. I again placed this leave on hold, as it did not feel fair to the John Paul II community to be away so soon after my appointment as Principal. Now, after two years in this position, I will be taking Long Service Leave in Terms 2 and 3 this year. After teaching in the Catholic system for the past 17 years, I am looking forward to a new adventure. My family and I will be relocating to Far North Queensland during this time, and our children will be attending a local school. We are looking forward to some rest, quality family time and the opportunity to explore a new part of Australia. I am confident this experience will allow me to return refreshed and ready for the next chapter at John Paul II. Recruitment processes have already begun to find a suitable replacement. I will be returning to Hobart in October, ready for the beginning of Term 4.

Thank you to our families for your ongoing support in preparing students so well for the new year. We look forward to working together to make 2026 a happy, successful and rewarding year for every child.

Staffing Update

With mixed emotions we announce that Mr John Hallsworth is leaving John Paul II to take up an opportunity with the MacKillop College Utilities Team. John has been a valued member of staff for the past 11 years. John will be dearly missed as he has built such strong connections with staff, students and the wider community. John is going to play a big part in the new developments and building projects that are occurring at MacKillop over the next few years. We wish you all the best John and know that you will take on these new challenges with enthusiasm, bringing your expertise to an exciting new environment. While we are sad to see him go, we are also grateful for everything he has done for our school and pleased that he has such a wonderful opportunity ahead. We thank John for his dedication and service to John Paul II and wish him every success and happiness in the next chapter of his career. He will always be a valued member of our school family.

Mr Jesse McGuinness has also made the tough decision to leave John Paul II and focus on his career as a Support Worker. Jesse was a student at John Paul II before joining us as a Teacher Assistant in 2018. His school photos can still be seen around the halls. Jesse has a genuine connection with our students and staff and has always set an excellent example with his work ethic and attitude. Jesse has promised that he will be available for relief TA work as needed and we look forward to seeing him around the school in the future.

Ludo/Setup for Success Update

As you may be aware, Ludo will be ceasing operations at our site in July. Ludo has been a great service to our community, providing care and education for our 3-year-olds and before/after school care for our Kinder students. We want to thank the dedicated Ludo staff for their hard work and support over the past 5 years. Also, we would like to thank Mrs Laura Lange, for her leadership in this space, ensuring we have a great connection between Ludo and John Paul II.

The mission of Ludo was to prepare children for entry to our school. We are looking to continue and expand this mission through a new approach to our Setup for Success Program. This is for children from birth to five years old. After July we will be boosting our Setup for Success program with additional sessions and by engaging services such as psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and speech therapists to work with our future students. We aim to have every future kinder student and their families involved. Miss Emma Williams, our Kinder teacher, will be leading these sessions, providing an excellent transition to Kinder. For Term 1 and 2 our Setup for Success sessions are from 9:00am until 10:30am each Friday. More information to come.

Lady Gowrie, our Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) provider is available for before and after school care, as well as vacation care during holiday times. For more information please contact Lady Gowrie on (03) 6230 6806 or www.gowrie-tas.com.au

We have recently received two new CECT policies - these can be found on Catholic Education Tasmania’s website, along with our other policy and procedure documents.

Our Student Uniform Policy can also be found on our website. Please familiarise yourself with this document to ensure your children are uniform aware.

Have a great weekend.

Ben Morgan

Principal

Cooee

Week 2, Term 1 2026 - We are excited to share our students work and school news with you!

Fortnightly Newsletter of John Paul II Catholic School · 13 Feb 2026

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