A message from Emily

Dear parents and carers,

Welcome Back 

Welcome back, everyone! We hope your families enjoyed a restful two-week winter break filled with cozy moments and quality time together. We are so excited to see our children's smiling faces again and look forward to a wonderful, learning-filled term ahead!

3/4 Hub excursion to CERES

Ella's Reflection 

On Wednesday 22nd July, the 3/4 Hub went to a community garden called CERES. The purpose of that excursion was to learn about sustainability and how pollution is affecting our world. The activities ranged from catching waterbugs, to doing a scavenger hunt. It was quite an experience for both educators and students.

Ella.

The children, educators and parent helpers had a great time on the excursion! The CERES educators led the children through the following activities making connections to sustainability and innovation. 

• Activity 1: Exploring Wetlands The children explored the biodiversity of the beautiful CERES Wetland by netting for waterbugs and other underwater macroinvertebrates.
• Activity 2: Water Cycles and Solutions Using costumes and movement, the children learned about the stages of the water cycle. They explored the vital importance of water for the entire ecosystem.
• Activity 3: Caring for Country Children learned about the seven Wurundjeri seasons and how Indigenous people care for Country through deep observation. Using their senses of sight, smell, and hearing, the children connected with the surrounding ecosystem. Finally, they made seedballs containing native groundcover seeds to plant at school to help restore our local habitat.

Maths Professional Learning - School Closure Day reflection

We were thrilled to host a dedicated Professional Learning (PL) Day last Monday 13th July focused on strengthening our approaches to learning and teaching in Mathematics. Our educators engaged in collaborative workshops, discussions and planning designed to elevate children's outcomes across all year levels.

Educators took a deep dive into the Instructional Hierarchy and how to use this framework to design unmissable lessons for children, depending on their level of knowledge.

• Acquisition: Unpacking how children first learn and understand new mathematical concepts.
• Fluency: Exploring what fluency truly means, why it matters and the diverse ways children demonstrate mathematical fluency.
• Maintenance & Adaptation: Strategies to help children retain skills over time and apply their learning to new, complex situations.

Educators concluded the day by locating, editing and creating high-quality resources to support daily retrieval practice, fluency and maintenance tailored to their specific year-level goals.

Thank you to our school community for supporting our staff in taking this time to continuously refine our practice and deliver the best possible mathematics education for your children!

Thank you for your continued partnership and support in making our school community so special. As we dive into this new term, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need assistance.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and successful season ahead together!

Karen & Lauren

What's coming up:

• 27 July: Grade 4 Secondary School Taster Day
• 4 Aug: Prep 100 Days of School
• 5 Aug: Eucharist Family Night
• 7 Aug: Mary MacKillop Feast Day Celebration

Save the Date:

We have a date locked in for a St John's Bunnings BBQ fundraiser. Make sure you put Sunday 13th September into your calendar as a reminder, selling at the West Footscray store! We will be looking for volunteers to help on the day but also plenty of customers to come and buy a sausage to help raise funds for our school.

Calling for Volunteers

🌱 Farm Working Bee Volunteers Needed! 🌱

If you're available, we'd love your help at our upcoming Farm Working Bee days! Please pop these dates in your calendar and come along if you can.

All you'll need is:

• 👟 A pair of sturdy shoes
• 🧤 Gardening gloves
• 😊 A happy disposition and willingness to lend a hand!

Many hands make light work, and every little bit of help makes a big difference to our school farm.

Thanks so much in advance for your support – I look forward to seeing you there!

Mish

Upcoming road works: Summerhill Road which may increase traffic around St. John's

Upcoming road works: Leander Street

Reminders:

• Sustainability Initiative: Children are invited to bring their own lunch box for DT Fuzions lunch orders. Lunch boxes must be clearly labelled and an appropriate size to fit the order.

   

   

   

OUR IMAGE OF THE CHILD

‘At St. John’s, we strongly believe that children are at the centre when given authentic and meaningful experiences. They flourish when their passions and interests are acknowledged and valued. Children are empowered when they take ownership for their learning. They have a right to develop autonomy through discovery.’

(St. John’s Staff, 2018)

We respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation as the owners of the land on which we live, play and learn at St John's Primary School, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

All students attending St. John's Primary School have the right to feel safe. The care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people is a fundamental responsibility of all within our school.