Principal's News

Dear Families,

How quickly the weeks are flying.

Foundation Interviews

At the moment I am in the throws of Foundation 2025 interviews.  I enjoy meeting with the children and seeing them before starting school and then watching them grow and develop as they enter the next phase of life and going to school.  Our 'interview' is just a chat and the first part of the children's transition to school.  Please make a convenient time if you haven't already.

Staffing Update

Fiona Robinson, currently our Year 1-2 classroom teacher has been appointed as our new Learning and Teaching Leader at St John's.  Fiona will begin in this role at the start of term 4. Thomasina Ramsden will be the children's teacher from the beginning of next term for the remainder of the year.

Review feedback

We received very pleasing feedback from the Reviewers after their 3 days visit in Week 4.  We have yet to receive our official report, which I will share with you once it arrives but we have very clear recommendations to include in our next School Improvement Plan.

School Improvement Surveys.

Next week's parents will receive an email from school with a link and a pin to complete our annual School Improvement Surveys by ORIMA  seeking your feedback. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families' perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement.  Your opinions are important to us and will contribute to identifying areas for improvement to target school planning and improvement strategies. 

St John's will use the results from the survey to improve outcomes for our students.  The survey will be conducted online and only takes 20 minutes to complete. It can be completed on any internet enabled device (desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone) and is compatible with most browsers.

The survey is available in English and 10 other languages: Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese so it is accessible for all. 

The  Surveys will be open online from Monday 26th August  to Friday 6th September 2024. This is really valuable information for our school and from this year's data we will have the opportunity to look at the previous year and see how we are tracking.  Last year we had nine families complete the survey and are hoping for a greater level of participation this year. Please let us know if you require any help to complete the survey.  Please be assured that your responses are completely confidential.

Over the last month we have asked for a lot of parent engagement with our Review, the School Improvement Surveys and my Principal Appraisal which is next week all within the space of 4 weeks!  Catholic Education set the dates so this has been out of our control.  Thank you so much for taking the time to be involved, I am still looking for several parents to chat with the Appraisal panel next Tuesday 27th August at 2:20pm for approx 20 minutes.  If you are able to help please give Bek a call in the office.  Many thanks!

Lost Property

At the moment the lost property basket is overflowing.  Please send your child to have a look if they have lost an item of uniform.  We are finding at the end of each break there is a huge pile of discarded jumpers and jackets.  To get jumpers back children are being asked to pick up several pieces of rubbish.  The yard has never looked so clean!!

Father's Day Breakfast

Friday the 30th August is our annual Father's Day Breakfast beginning at 7:15am.  Breakfast is a bacon and egg roll and the cost is $15 per family which can be paid via CDF Pay or cash sent to the school office prior to the breakfast.  This is always a lovely morning where we see all the dad's and children together.  It is an early morning for our staff who are here bright and early cooking and getting everything ready!  A huge thank you to them as without their dedication and commitment we would not be able to have our breakfast!  (for safety reasons there will be not tea or coffee served).

Father's Day Stall

The stall will be on Friday morning for all children to purchase a gift for their dad or special person.  Thanks to our Mum's who have organised this again for the children.  More information will come home to parents before the day.

St John's Athletics

Our Athletics Day is next Wednesday the 28th of August (a change of date due to the State Soccer finals clash).  The Year 3-4-5-6's will complete their events from 9-3pm, students in Foundation to Year 2 will compete  from 11.40-3pm.  The event is held in the school grounds and everyone is welcome to come along and support the children on the day.  Children can wear a T Shirt in their house colours or their normal Sports Uniform.  We look forward to sharing the day with you.

Until next fortnight 

Therese