A Message from the Principal

It has been a great start to the Term and we are delighted to see everyone back at school and so engaged in their learning. The Class Overviews were sent out last Friday and provided an outline for all units of work to be covered in the various curriculum areas. Please ensure that you have read these carefully. Home learning continues for our students and the expectations are explained in the overviews. We are grateful for the support given by parents to ensure that children are reading each night, learning their spelling words or completing Mathletics and other set tasks.

Our Year 5's are excitedly preparing for their trip to Sovereign Hill on Wednesday and we know what a rich and rewarding learning experience this will be. They will certainly need to rug up and remember to pack extra warm clothes.

John Hattie's research has had a strong impact in education over the past 15 years and many of his key findings have now been included in a book for parents. Visible learning for parents, outlines John Hattie's 10 Steps to develop great learners. The book is based around 10 mind frames, or ways of thinking as a parent.

The ten most powerful ways of thinking for parents are:

I have appropriately high expectations
I make reasonable demands and am highly responsive to my child
I am not alone
I develop my child’s skill, will and sense of thrill
I love learning
I know the power of feedback and success thrives on errors
I am a parent not a teacher
I expose my child to language, language, language
I appreciate that my child is not perfect, nor am I
I am an evaluator of my impact.

I strongly encourage all parents and carers to think about what you do as a role model for your child and to think about your thinking, as it will have a powerful impact on your child.

COVID continues to have an impact on families and staff, so we ask that you continue to test your child twice each week for the next 3 weeks and please keep them at home if they have any symptoms. There are many different viruses, coughs and colds currently in circulation and we hope to minimise the infection rate at school.

As the days are cooling down it is time for all students to wear their Winter Uniform. This includes either the school tunic, blue shirt and navy socks or tights OR long pants (shorts) long sleeved polo and navy blue socks. All students should be wearing black school shoes.

For the sports uniform please ensure that your child is wearing their navy blue tracksuit pants with their shorts on cold days. Leggings are not part of the school uniform. Sports socks should be white and above the ankle. Thank-you for supporting our students in proudly wearing the correct school uniform.

Grandparents and Special Visitors Day - 11 May

Next Wednesday 11 May, we would like to invite all Grandparents and Special Visitors to join us at School.

We will meet in the classrooms at 9.00am for family activities and then celebrate Mass together in the Church at 10am.

Morning Tea will be served after Mass.

A Special Invitation link is attached.

St John's Card Making Group

Our Creative Action For Ukraine

Please continue to send in your donations for the refugees in Ukraine.

We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the incredible generosity and support of the St John’s Parish Community to our Creative Action for Ukraine Fundraiser. We have collected over $12,000 to donate to support Ukraine refugees. This is such a wonderful result and we want to sincerely thank you all for this fantastic support of our initiative. The St John’s Card making group has still a great selection of greeting cards for sale from the House of Books and the Parish Office. For any queries on ordering any cards or any other queries, please contact Monika at the Parish Office 9401 6366.

Mother's day Stall

Tomorrow we will be holding our Mother's Day Stall in the STEM room from 9.00am - 11.00am. All classes will visit the stall throughout the morning.

Please send your child to school with $5 - $10 in an envelope or wallet. A variety of small gifts will be available for purchase.

Year 7 Enrolment 2023

All year six students intending to go on to a Catholic Secondary School next year should already have their place confirmed for Year 7 in 2023.

Any students currently in Year 6, intending to apply to their neighbourhood State Government Secondary School for Year 7 in 2023, should be looking to make their enrolment now. Please contact the school directly and ask for enrolment information.

If you need any assistance, please see Jenny in the office.

Thought for the day

A Mother is the one who can take the place of all others but who no-one else can replace!

Verona Gridley

Principal

vgridley@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au

Calendar

TERM 2