Principal's News

Dear Families,

Teaching children the importance of kindness helps children develop empathy, build strong friendships, and create a supportive learning environment. When students practice kindness, they learn to value the feelings and experiences of others, fostering a sense of belonging for everyone. Encouraging kindness in our daily interactions not only makes our school a better place but also helps our students grow into compassionate and responsible individuals.  We are working hard to be kinder to each other and always consider the feelings of others.  What some people may think is funny or a joke is certainly not the case with others.  This is a life skill and one we could all use a little more of.

On Friday we will be having our Celebration of Learning with a Wellbeing focus.  The children can wear their Pyjamas on the day (appropriate for weather and school) and will enjoy the film 'Inside Out'.  PJ's or school uniform is fine on the day (no slippers).   Our Year 6 Leaders will facilitate the afternoon's activities with an emphasis on Wellbeing.  Please come and join us, you are always welcome at school.

A reminder about our School Surveys which were emailed to parents in week 7.  So far we have only had a 7.6% completion rate.  We hope we can lift that rate by the end of the week. The surveys close on Friday.  Thank you for your support with this as we use the data to inform our new School Improvement Plan.

It has been a busy term with our School Review, my Principal Appraisal and the ORIMA School Surveys.  These events are very normal and are part of school life in all Catholic schools across Victoria, it just happens that they all fell within four weeks of each other.  Thank you to those who completed the surveys and to those who were able to come into school to meet with the Reviewers and the Appraisal panel.  I appreciate your support.

Congratulations to our girls soccer team who competed in the State finals last Wednesday. The girls were very very excited, had a great day and tried their best.  Well done on representing St John's!  Thanks to mums and dads for your support and to Lindsay Park for their generosity in transporting some of the team and their parents and for Yvonne and Stuart Divers for organising.

If you know that your child will not be returning to St Johns in 2025 could you please let me know via email at principal@sjeuroa.catholic.edu.au .  We are well into planning for the 2025 school year and this information is very helpful.

As mentioned previously we will not have composite classes next year and two foundation classrooms due to our strong enrolments.  There will be 8 grades and they will look like this:-

Foundation x 2

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3 

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

There are system wide changes happening across the Sandhurst Diocese from 2025 in relation to student learning and a committed and concerted effort to ensuring the best possible outcomes for all students across the Diocese.  Please find a link to a letter from the Executive Director below, in relation to these changes and the pupil free days that have been gazetted for all staff in schools across the Diocese.  There are exciting times ahead  for the children and teachers of St John's and all Catholic schools in the Sandhurst Diocese.  The integrated learning and teaching program is called 'Magnify Sandhurst' with the mantra 

Every Student, Every Teacher, Every School, Every Day'

I will continue to keep you updated as the year progresses with all the information and plans for 2025.

The term ends next Friday the 20th September at 2:15.

We have several teachers taking Long Service Leave at the start of next term.  Louise Frewen (Yr 5-6) for 2 weeks, Christine Buhler (Maths Intervention) for a week and Briony Clarke till the end of 2025.  May they each enjoy this much deserved leave and especially to Briony who has led the school as Learning and Teaching Leader for a number of years enjoy the time ahead and all that it will bring!!

I hope all our families enjoy a very safe and happy holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone again on Monday 7th October.

Until next term

Therese