Principal's Page

A Message from the Principal

Our students at St John's Mitcham are incredibly lucky with all of the extra curricular activities that we are able to offer them. This not only adds to their engagement and learning opportunities, but builds on their knowledge and experiences, to nurture their curiosity and set them up as life long learners.

Over this past week all students participated in a whole school incursion for Book Week - The Treasure Hunt. This live show featured a selection of the 2025 CBCA Short Listed books, sending the students on a treasure hunt while exploring themes of sustainability, the natural environment, as well as celebrating how books and reading bring people of different backgrounds together. 

Our Year 5/6 girls had the opportunity to travel to Deakin University for the Go Girl, Go For IT Conference, to inspire our young girls to consider a career in STEM by discovering some of the exciting and possible career opportunities.

On Sunday, 2 groups of students participated in the Tournament of Minds. This is a problem solving program for teams of students to enhance their potential by developing diverse skills, enterprise, time management and the discipline to work collaboratively within a challenging and competitive environment.

The Arts challenge group researched before developing a creative interpretation in response to the challenge of living in a culturally diverse community. They incorporated their artistic expression in the form of dance, theatre and visual arts.

Our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) group integrated their conceptual understanding of the earth and its properties, using their creative and critical thinking skills to solve the challenge of climate change. We are very proud of how both teams collaborated, researched, created and presented their challenges together. I am very grateful to Ange Crowe and Melinda Kerwin who supported the students throughout the whole challenge.

Cyber Safety Parent Night 'Inform and Empower'

It was a captivating evening hearing from Martin and Carley McGauran about Healthy digital habits, sharing content for families, about simple strategies for creating healthier digital habits as well as how to navigate uncomfortable situations online. Here is the link for parents and carers with follow up resources - Raising Kids in a Digital World.

www.informandempower.com.au/schools-webinars/st-johns

• Replay - Available for 30 days
• Toolkit (slides, links & resources from the session) 
• Blog posts 
• Printable family poster

Pilgrimage

I am blessed to be able to take part in a pilgrimage during this year of Jubilee. I will be on long service leave from for two weeks and then professional learning leave for the following two weeks. The pilgrimage will take place in Italy, following the footsteps of the Italian Saints. Prior to the pilgrimage I will be visiting Slovenia and the northern part of Italy. I will keep you all in my prayers and if you have any special intentions or prayers that you would like delivered to the Basilicas then please leave them in the box in the office this week. My Deputy, Melinda Buscema will be Acting Principal in my absence.

Chinese Language Teacher

This will be the last week for our Chinese Teacher, Elina Li, as she will be commencing Maternity Leave. We are grateful for the support she has given to our students in their Chinese language and cultural lessons and we look forward to hearing the news of the arrival of her baby girl in early October. Our new Chinese Teacher, Mandy Jin, will commence next week. She is an experienced teacher and we look forward to welcoming Mandy to the St John's Team.

Jane Coghlan, who is a regular casual relief teacher at St John's will be taking on the 1 day a week position in Year 5/6C, to release Allison Bayliss in her role as Digital Technology Leader.

Parent/Teacher/Student Learning Conferences

This Thursday, 21 August, St John's is running our Parent/Teacher/Student Learning Conferences. This is an opportunity for families, which their child, to meet with their classroom teacher for a 10 minute conversation about their learning and progress so far.

If you have a PSG (Parent Support Group Meeting) booked in, it is not required that you also book a Learning Conference, but you are most welcome to.

Please use the link below to access the booking site. 

If required, the event code is: qxz4f

https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/qxz4f

Donations and Sponsors for Games Night

How can you help?

If you or someone you know is able to donate goods or services as prizes for our Games Night we would be very grateful. Sponsorship, Vouchers, Services, Products, Wine, Chocolate or Hampers, would be fantastic. Please drop them off at the School Office. Any donations for the St John's Games Night - Our Social Event of the Year, would be greatly appreciated. It's a great way to promote your own business!

St John's Parents Games Night

You don't want to miss out on the Biggest Social Event of the Year at St John's Mitcham. The Parent's Games Night has been organised by our Parents Association to engage and entertain you all. I hope that you will support the hard work and preparation that our PA have put in to making this an event not to be missed.

BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW - Purchases close 12pm Thursday https://user.cdfpay.flexischools.com.au/home 

MACSSIS Surveys

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS): Monday 1 September – Friday 19 September 2025

Throughout each year, we pause to listen to our students, families and staff to gauge how our learning community is travelling. This feedback is invaluable to our progress as effective school communities and is backed by evidence-based research and best practices. 

A significant and formal way in which we engage and gather data is through MACSSIS, the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys. 

MACSSIS is a set of surveys that have been built specifically for Catholic schools in Melbourne by the Learning Services team at MACS, in partnership with researchers at Learning First and in wide consultation with principals in our schools.

In 2025, students, families and staff are invited to participate in MACSSIS via our secure and purpose-built online platform. The online platform is where our school leaders will access the summary reports that visualise the results of the student, family and staff surveys.

The MACSSIS survey platform is operated by an independent supplier, ORIMA Research Pty Ltd. The platform meets with the high security and privacy standards for handling student and school data. Participating schools are in the process of updating their privacy policy to ensure school communities are fully informed and protected.

Students at our school will be provided with supervised sessions, where teachers are on hand to help and answer any questions. Families and staff can complete the survey anytime over the three-week window via an emailed link and password. Feedback has indicated that previous surveys were completed across a range of mobile devices and different web browsers.

Our community’s opinions are critical to understanding how our school is performing – MACSSIS is a key data source for guiding the ongoing work to improve our school. 

All participation is invited, welcomed and 100 per cent voluntary. The surveys are not a test; they are an inclusive way to support the work we are already doing to improve our school. 

Joke of the Week 

Have a lovely week ahead and I look forward to seeing you all at the Parent/Teacher/Student Learning Conferences this Thursday!

Verona Gridley

St John's Primary School Principal

principal@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au