Learning & Teaching

A Tapestry of our World ~ Community Project One First Encounters 

Thank you to all the families who shared places of importance for them. There was such a diverse range of places shared that have helped support the beginning of our new Community Projects as a school.

The Prep Hub children analysed the data from the family’s responses and we found four

 main threads of why people may gather in different places - reasons of ‘connection/relationships’, ‘tradition’, ‘pleasure’ and ‘safety’.  Over the next few weeks, each of these groups of children will be asked to share their experiences of place with the group. Concurrently, we took the children over to the Farm to experience a place that is important and special in our St. John’s community. We plan to collect data around how we feel at the Farm as we frequently visit and notice any changes and why.

As a group children shared why their special place was important to them and who might also find this space special. After this the children reflected on places that are special to them at St John’s. The children identified that the farm, the One Hub and Joan’s Yard were their special places at St John’s. In small groups children explored these special places at St John’s and sketched these spaces. In the upcoming Community Project lessons, children will begin to reflect on the elements that make places special. 

The One Hub children reflected on the data collected from the family activity about special places. In their first encounter, children shared their special place and why their special place was important to them. Following this, they reflected on the places that are special to them at St. John's. The children identified the farm, the One Hub, and Joan's Yard as their special places at school. In small groups, they explored these spaces and used the language of mark marking to sketch them. In the upcoming Community Project lessons, the children will begin to reflect on the elements that make places special.

The Two Hub children began their first encounter by sharing their special places with a partner and explaining why these places were special to them. They then chose to use wire, artistry, or collage to recreate their special place. After creating their representations, the children reflected on the people, natural elements, and global location that contributed to the specialness of their places. Key themes that emerged were the memories created in these places and the connections to family and friends formed there.

Throughout the family responses from the Three/Four Hub children, we noted threads of calmness and safety, feelings of belonging, a sense of joy and connection to family (including heritage, memory and roots). As explained by Max, people and special places are “rare and unique like a valuable pokemon card”. Following this the children and educators will explore how our shared place of St John’s Farm can give us a sense of belonging, safety, and connection to our community. We endeavour to explore the feelings associated with a place in the hearts of the people who frequent that place. 

The Five/Six Hub children’s family responses highlighted a connection to childhood, family and ancestors within our special places. We noticed a thread of memory run through the images shared by families, noting that when we reflect on places that are special to us, happy family memories arise. As shared by Greg, our “who becomes place, we are remembering people through a connection to place”. The children and educators will continue to explore our connection to family and place by creating family trees based on the places our families have come from or visited regularly. They will then go on to explore places that are special to our larger Melbourne family and how those places represent who we are and our values.

District Swimming

On Friday 14th February our St John’s Swimming team had a terrific morning competing at the Footscray District Swimming Carnival at MAC.  The St Johns’ team spirit was shown with our strong swimming, especially in the relay events and our loud cheering and support for all.  

A big thank you to the parents and families who were able to come and support our children.

From this event the following students have progressed into the Divisional event  at Oak Park Aquatic Centre on Tuesday 11th March. 

Year 4 Girls Relay team:  Evelyn T, Sienna M, Evelyn Z & Evie R                                

Year 5 Girls Relay team:  Regan M, Rhoda K, Gigi M & Ava M

Individual event swimmers: 

Regan M: Freestyle & Backstroke 

Evelyn T: Freestyle 

Lucas R: Freestyle

Toby P: Backstroke

Sienna M: Backstroke  

Rhoda K: Breaststroke

Jayden K: Butterfly

This is a wonderful achievement and the St. John's community wishes them all the best for their events.

Cross Country Trials

Congratulations to all our Years 3, 4, 5 & 6 children who ran the cross country trials this week. It was wonderful to see such persistence and determination when they were running and the positive support that they gave each other.  

A big thank you to the parents who were able to come and assist with this event. 

District Cross Country

There has been a change of date for the District Cross Country Event . It will now be held at  Hansen Reserve on Friday 21st March  (week 8) starting at 10:00am.

Art donations required!

Stay Connected with SIMON Everywhere

This year, we've introduced the SIMON Everywhere app, your convenient gateway to your PAM account. This user-friendly app enables us to directly communicate important updates and notifications with our school community.

We've been actively sharing information about upcoming events and exciting learning experiences on the group chat thread within the app. To ensure you don't miss any important announcements, please enable notifications for the app.

Starting in 2025, we will be transitioning all school communications to the SIMON Everywhere app. We strongly encourage all families to download the app and sign in using your PAM account credentials.

If you have any difficulties or require assistance with your PAM account details, please don't hesitate to contact the office (admin@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au, 9687 3150) or Amy (alittley@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au).