General Information

TERM 3 STAFFING UPDATES

Throughout Term 3 we will be saying farewell to two staff and welcoming a few new faces.  Mrs Ashleigh Borg will be commencing her Maternity Leave shortly and the transition of Mr Bill Bemelmans taking over the class has begun.  We wish Ashleigh all the best for the upcoming arrival of her first child.

In August we will be farewelling Ms Laura Haughin who is relocating to England.  Ms Emily Westerndorp who has been doing relief work at St John’s throughout the year, will be joining our Year 1 team.  We thank Laura for her work over the past 12 months and wish her all the best.

We welcome Speech Pathologist Ms Eve Loupis from “Speech Pathology for Schools”, who will be working with us one day a week.  Eve will work with the school to complete Speech and Language Assessments and support staff with the implementation of various Pragmatic, Receptive and Expressive Language Programs.

It is with great joy that we received the news late last term, of the safe arrival of Mrs Alicia Hughes’ third child.  Freddie Neil Hughes born on 01.07.25, weighing 4.2kg and measuring  54cm long.  As you can see from the photo below we agree with Alicia that Freddie is just perfect!

ST JOHN’S JOINS STATE LIBRARY WEBINAR 

At the end of last term, the State Library Victoria commenced its annual Big Bash sessions, featuring some of Australia’s best authors. On Tuesday, 24 June, students in Years 3–6 enjoyed an online session with Anh Do, and on Thursday, 26 June, they heard from Amelia Mellor. Both authors shared some of their storytelling secrets and explained how they brought their characters to life. 

SECONDARY ENROLMENT INFORMATION YEAR 5’S 2027

Year 5 Students are required to enrol for Catholic Secondary Colleges by Mid 2025. Please ensure that you have completed your enrolment applications within the timeframe specific to the school you are applying for. 

YEAR 5s VISIT THOMAS CARR

Last Term our Year 5s were invited to visit Thomas Carr, to experience what life at the College is like.  The students were taken on a tour of the school’s facilities and visited the Art Room to complete an activity.  They were also treated to a cooking session and certainly enjoyed eating what they had made.  A reminder to Year 5 Parents that enrolments for Year 7 2027 for Catholic Secondary Schools close on August 15th 2025.

MACKILLOP COLLEGE: YEAR 7 – 2027 INFORMATION EVENING

Parents and guardians of current Year 5 students are warmly invited to attend MacKillop College’s Information Evening on Friday, 30 July at 7:30pm in the Moreno Performing Arts Centre.  For further details, please visit our website at www.mackillop.vic.edu.au or contact our College Registrar on 8734 5200

ST VINNIES WINTER APPEAL THANKS 

Thankyou to everyone who donated a non perishable item and a gold coin as part of our Vinnies Winter Appeal fundraising casual clothes day last term.   In particular thank you to all the families for your financial donations, through our Gold Coin we raised over $550.  Our local St Vinnies Chapter collected the cash and goods and will use these items to support people in our community who are struggling or in need of some support.  

SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE

Thanks to the members of our Parents and Friends Committee, who organised and ran last term’s Second Hand Uniform sale.  As you can see from the photos below we had a great turn out, with many parents purchasing from the stock available. 

STUDENT ATTENDANCE & PUNCTUALITY

Recently MACS introduced their Vision for Engagement, which describes how students learn, thrive and flourish.  During Term 3 Consistent Attendance will be a big focus for our students as research indicates that is a critical aspect of academic achievement and social connection.  Coming to school on time five days a week, allows students to build foundational skills, engage with learning and develop positive habits that extend beyond the classroom.  

TERM 3 INFORM AND EMPOWER PROGRAM

Students are once again working with our Cyber Safety experts Carly and Marty from Inform and Empower.  Parents who attended our Cyber Safety workshop on May 8th will remember that as part of our involvement with Inform & Empower, students attend some online workshops each term.   Another element of this program is the “Parent & Carer Tip Sheet” that comes out every term. This information enables parents to have conversations at home about the cyber topics covered at school this term.   Below are links to this Term’s Tip Sheets:

CHILD SAFETY - ANIMAL JAM APP ARTICLE

As part of our commitment to online safety, St John’s works in partnership with Linewize. This platform helps students and families to develop better digital habits, while also monitoring and tracking digital usages.  Families have access to free parental control tools to help keep children safe while using their personal devices.

We also have our own Online Safety Parent Hub.  The Parent Hub provides a wealth of online safety resources; such as digital parenting guides, app reviews and articles, developed by a team of leading digital safety and wellbeing experts. 

In this week’s Newsletter we are drawing your attention to an article about the online game and app for kids, Animal Jam.  The article written by Child Wellbeing Specialist, Teodora Pavkovic outlines the features of the app, known risks and what parents need to be aware of.  Click on the link below to access the article directly or scroll through our Online Safety Parent Hub, which can be accessed via the school website.

ASSEMBLY LIVE STREAM  

Each Friday the students gather for a whole school assembly in the Hall.  This event is usually streamed to our Vimeo channel.  Families can view the assembly by clicking on the link which is emailed via email using your Operoo profile. The email only goes to those parents who have “receive correspondence” checked in their settings.