Principal's Page

A Message from the Principal

At St John's we love working side by side with our parent community. Last Thursday evening was a great opportunity to strengthen relationships with families and the staff at the Parent Information evening. We greatly value the support of all parents and guardians, as this collaboration and connection has the greatest impact on our students' learning. We endeavour to give families effective strategies to actively support student learning, and work with them to foster students' positive academic outcomes, social behaviours and wellbeing. 

Our Founders Day Mass was a beautiful celebration with the St John's and St James school communities and the wider parish. It is always a great time to remember and recognise the work of our founding parish members and the valuable contributuions that they have made to the St Johns community. Thank-you to the many families who were able to come along. Our student leaders shared the story of Gladys McLachlan. She has worked tirelessly over the years to train students and develop the St John's and Nunawading Netball Clubs and has been a parishioner for over 67 years.

Another positive community building action this week will be the Prep and New Families Welcome Dinner. This Thursday night we will host this special event, supported by the Year 1 families, who will help serve the meal and bring along desserts to share.

There was great excitement today as all of the students had their school photos taken. We were also excited that Clorinda Maio was able to join us for the photos and had a brief visit to her classroom. Clorinda is looking better and we will continue to keep her in our prayers for a full recovery.

As we begin the season of Lent we are called to consider how we will prepare ourselves, our family and our children for Easter this year. Just as Jesus made sacrifices in the desert, it is a time for us to reflect on what sacrifices we might make, to prepare ourselves, to make change and to be ready for Jesus. 

During Lent we are encouraged to: 

1. Give Alms or give time - Support Charities 
2. Pray 
3. Fast or make sacrifices
4. Make a positive change - take action to support others

Special Presentations

At last week's assembly we proudly presented all of our Year leaders with their badges and their special St John's school badge. Every year we encourage all of our Year 6 students to take on a leadership position in an area they are interested in or are passionate about. Our 4 school captains this year are Evie, Lachlan, Kirralee and Jackson. We know that they will great leaders and role models in our school, representing St John's at School, Parish and Community events.

We were also delighted to present Ben with his special Bebras Australian Honour Award, for achieving the highest possible score in the Bebras Computational Thinking Competition. What an outstanding achievement.

Another high achiever is Abigail, who is superstar when it comes to athletics. Congratulations Abigail on winning all of those medals at the Eastern regional little athletics championships, on the weekend.

She won:

• bronze in high jump 
• silver in 100 metres, 200 metres and 800 metres
• gold in 400 metres

She'll be representing Ringwood in the Victorian state championships in March. Well done Abigail!

Twilight Working Bee

On Friday, 1 March we will be holding our first Twilight working bee. I have a list of jobs that need to be done including some gardening, maintenance and general cleaning up.

Children and parents are encouraged to attend between 5.00pm and 7.00pm. There is a $50 rebate on school fees for any family who attends one working bee a year.

Fees and Levies 

The invoices for 2024 Fees and Levies went out via email last week to the nominated fee payer. If you haven't seen it yet, please check your junk mail before requesting a copy. There are a variety of ways to pay throughout the year or in a lump sum at the commencement of the year. Please use the Fee Payment Schedule which went home with the eldest student last week to advise your preferred method of payment.

If you need assistance with your payment arrangement please call the office or please come and speak with me.

CSEF Payment

The Victorian State Government has a Camp, Sport & Excursion Fund for families that are eligible. Qualifying for this fund can lead to further relief for school fees through MACS. Please click on the link below which contains the criteria eligibility and CSEF application form. If you believe you are eligible to apply please leave your signed form at the office or email it to Jenny. jmacleod@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au

Signing up to PAM and Adding to your Homescreen

This is just a reminder that most of the correspondence from the school will now be through PAM. Please ensure that you have saved the link to your phones home screen. This will create a PAM app to the link for you. 

Just click on Add to Home Screen.

PAM is where all excursion notices, student reports, attendance and other details will be kept. 

If you need help to create the app link please drop into the office and we can guide you through it.

Parent Tips - Sleep and Learning

Good-quality sleep helps your child concentrate, remember things, manage their emotions and behave in positive ways. These factors help your child to be a successful learner. Poor sleep affects concentration, memory and behaviour, making it harder for your child to learn. Children who don’t sleep well are more likely to have difficulties with learning.

If your child can’t keep their attention on what they’re trying to learn, it will affect their learning. Remembering things is part of learning. If your child is tired, it’s harder for your child to remember basic things like how to spell words, how to do maths calculations, or where to find information in a book or on the internet. 

Our brains create and strengthen different types of memory while we’re asleep. For example, just before your child wakes in the morning, their brain is sorting and storing memories and information from the previous day and getting ready for the day ahead.

Sleepy children tend to behave in challenging ways at school – and at home too. Children can also find it difficult to manage their emotions if they don’t get enough sleep, not cooperate in class and have difficulty following the teacher’s instructions. Children who don’t get enough sleep can also be more clumsy.

If your child is having problems with their concentration or memory or they’re behaving in challenging ways, checking your child’s sleep is a great place to start.

Remember to have a regular bedtime routine...which may include:

1. Warm bath
2. Glass of milk
3. Brush your teeth
4. Storytime in bed
5. Lights out!

We recommend that all students are in bed around 7.30pm and 8.00pm for older students.

Source: https://raisingchildren.net.au/

St John's School Social Media

Our Social media promotes many great activities and events that happen at St John's. This year we are hoping to reach 500 followers so please follow us on our socials and share it with your family and friends.

Facebook       Instagram       Twitter            

Joke of the Week

Have a wonderful week. Be kind, have courage and don't hesitate to contact me, if I can support you or your child in any way.  

Verona Gridley

Principal 

vgridley@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au