Principal's Page
'A Welcoming Community Leading the Future of Learning with Faith and Love'
A Message from the Principal
Today we celebrated 100 days of school for our Prep Students. They arrived all dressed up as 100 year olds, sporting their grey hair, caps, braces and cardigans. It was a delight to see the joy on their faces seeing each other and their teachers dressed up. Our Preps have learnt so much in their time at school and continue to flourish in the St John's community.
Today we also took a group of Year 5/6 students to participate in the Kidsview Social Justice Conference. The students learnt about lack of justice amongst sharing the world's resources and that we are all in the top 5% of the worlds richest people, having a roof over our heads, a warm bed to sleep in and with fresh running water. Our students will be taking action on their experiences from today and I look forward to discovering what change makers they can be.
Last week I was lucky enough to spend a day and a night with our Year 5 students at Sovereign Hill. It is always a highlight for our Year 5s as they are immersed in the life and culture of the 1850's. They experienced life in a very strict school and life on the goldfields. It is a rich learning experience for them all and a great way to build their independence and teamwork skills while on camp.
Naplan
We are very proud of all of our students for the exceptional results they achieved in naplan this year. Our students in Year 3 and 5 completed naplan tests in 5 different subject areas.
The staff have worked hard to improve our results in Spelling and Writing which is evident in Year 5 Writing with 68% of students achieving a "strong" score, above average and 32% achieving well above average with an "exceeding" score. In Spelling, 71% of our students are strong and 18% are exceeding. Our Year 5 Reading results continue to shine, with 40% of students having a strong score and 57% exceeding.
In Year 3 Reading, we have 63% strong and 30% exceeding while in their Spelling, 50% have strong scores and 34% exceeding. Our Writing is again showing great growth with 67% strong and 25% exceeding.
Our Mathematics results in both Year 3 and 5 are excellent with 80% in the strong scoring range and 12% exceeding. In Year 5 Mathematics, 90% demonstrated strong results.
Congratulations to all of our students and staff for achieving such high standards in the 2023 Naplan.
School Production Tickets
Our school production the 'Amazing Adventures of Super Stan' is set to be a magnificent performance at the Karralyka Theatre, Ringwood starring all St John's students. There will be limited seats available for each family at a cost of $25 per ticket, plus a booking fee of $4.50. Tickets will be on sale later next week. The performance will commence at 7.00pm and students will need to be dropped off at 6.15pm. The Kiosk will be open for light snacks prior to the performance. More information will be sent out prior to the tickets going on sale.
Please ensure that your childs costume has be sent to school, with items clearly named.
MACSSIS
Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS) will be conducted during 28 August – 15 September 2023. 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 2023, 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. 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. 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.
Uniform
There has been some confusion about the what is able to be worn for the Winter Uniform. I hope that this provides some clarification. The skort is not part of the sports uniform and was introduced as an alternative to the summer dress. The skort is now under consideration to be phased out, to be advised in due course, by the uniform sub committee.
WINTER UNIFORM
- Long sleeved Polo shirt with logo, worn with pants or shorts
- Navy school pants, straight or bootleg or navy school shorts
- Winter Tunic and pale blue long sleeved polo (under tunic)
- School windcheater
- Navy socks
- Black school shoes
- Navy waterproof jacket (optional)
SPORT UNIFORM
- New sports top (introduced in 2023) or short sleeved polo (being phased out)
- Navy sport shorts
- School windcheater
- Navy sport track pants
- White socks
- Runners
100 Days of Prep
Some of the highlights from the 100 days of School included counting different collections of 100, working with their Year 5 Buddies using the beebot robots, acting like 100 year olds throughout the day, playing games and making 100 in numerous different ways.
Thank-you for the joy that you have given us over the last 100 days of school and we hope that the rest of your journey at St John's is as much fun as today was.
Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences
On Tuesday night, 8 August, this week, we will be hosting our Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences. These will be held in the Mary Mackillop Space and can be booked through PAM https://pam.sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au
All parents and students are expected to attend, unless you have had a (PSG) Parent Support Group Meeting, last week or this week.
It is a great opportunity for your child to share their learning, hear their feedback and for you to find out how to support your child in their future learning goals.
All parents are asked to wait in the foyer before entering the MacKillop Space at their designated time. All interviews will be 10 minutes long. If additional time is required please make an appointment at another time with the class teacher.
Lunchboxes and Packaging
To help educate our students about reducing rubbish and landfill we ask that you refrain from sending any packaged food to school. Please use small reusable containers. Any packaging will be sent home to reduce our waste at St John's. Thanks for your support.
Pick-up and Drop off at St John's
Please observe the Kiss and Drop or No Parking Signs at the front of the school and be aware of other cars and pedestrians. There is always plenty of parking on the basketball court or on the other side of Whitehorse Road if you need to park. Ticket inspectors have been handing out tickets lately. We want all of our students to be safe before and after school.
Policy Acknowledgement
Please complete the PAM acknowledgement of the new Child Safe Standards and Parent Code of Conduct policies on PAM.
PAM - https://pam.sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au
Joke of the Week
Why did the teacher draw on the window? Because he wanted his lesson to be very clear!
Have a fantastic week and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow night!
Verona Gridley
Principal
vgridley@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au
PAM - https://pam.sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au