WELCOME TO OUR 2024 PREPS

We welcomed our 2024 Prep students to the school last Thursday. The Teachers working in our Prep Centre have been very impressed with the students and the smooth way they have transitioned to St John’s. We welcome all the new families who have joined us at St John’s this year and we also welcome those students with older siblings who we have watched grow over the past four years from toddlers into the Grade Prep students they are today. We look forward to partnering with you in your child’s education over the next seven years.

2025 ENROLMENT INFO NIGHT

On Thursday 29th February our Prep 2025 Enrolment Info Session will be held in the School Hall. Families living within the school catchment area who are interested in enrolling their child are welcome to attend. The meeting will commence at 7pm and should conclude by 8:30pm. The evening will include the following:

A tour of the building and facilities.
A presentation on the values and educational approach of the school.
An outline of the enrollment criteria and process.
Questions from the floor.

We look forward to meeting everyone at this forum.

BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL CARE

A Before and After School Care Service is available onsite and is run by Quantin Binnah. To access this service students must be registered prior to attending. All registrations and enquiries should be directed to Quantin Binnah by calling 9742 5040 or visiting the Quantin Binnah website at

http://qbcc.org.au for further information.

The hours of operation are as follows:

Before School Care Monday – Friday 6:30 – 8:30am

After School Care Monday – Friday 3:15 – 6:00pm

(6:00 – 6:30 pm is also available at additional cost)

TEACHER TRAINING PLACEMENT

Yesterday we welcomed to St John’s Chloe Ryall. Chloe is currently studying her Masters in Teaching and will be working with students in Year 2 Bongetti. We hope that Chloe enjoys her teaching round with us.

SNAPSHOTS OF ST JOHN’S 2024 STAFF

The staff are very excited for the year ahead. Below are snaps of our current 2024 staff. We especially would like to welcome the staff who have joined us this year and we hope they find their time at St John’s a rewarding experience.

Staffing Updates

As our school continues to grow, we are very pleased to welcome eight new staff members. We have been able to expand our Leadership structure, so that we now have staff responsible for specific areas of the Curriculum. Mrs Angela Anderson will be overseeing the area of Learning and Teaching and Ms Michelle Perceval will be responsible for the Learning Diversity needs of the school community. We welcome Mr Keanan Van Hees to the Year 2 teaching team, Ms Kara Lawson and Mrs Erin Webb to the Year 3 area and Ms Carolyn Dillon to the Year 4 Team. Ms Monique Fegan and Mrs Sarah Pullin have also joined us as Learning Support Offices and will be working throughout the school.

With the current shortage of teachers being experienced by all schools, particularly in the western suburbs, we are yet to find a suitable applicant for a Year 5 classroom teaching position, we have been advertising over the summer holidays. The school is committed to employing only candidates who can demonstrate a high level of competency and who fit the values of our school. It is quite possible that finding this replacement may take some time.

Currently the class is being overseen by Mrs Rosalie Baldwin and Mr Reuben Vande Kraats. Our processes for finding and securing a suitable replacement in the long term will continue. I would like to personally thank our Deputy Principal Rosalie for being willing to take on this extra commitment, to ensure the class is in experienced hands.

UNIFORM

With all items of our new uniform now available at Rushfords, it has been wonderful to see so many students wearing one of our many new uniform options. A reminder for those students still wearing the old uniform, to wear black shoes and not runners if they are wearing the original summer dress or grey school pants.

LABEL ALL SCHOOL UNIFORM ITEMS

It is important to label all school uniform items. The most commonly lost items are Hats and School Jumpers. These can be easily returned if they are correctly labelled. Please be aware that over time all labels fade and will need to be redone.

ASSEMBLY LIVE STREAMS

Each Friday the students gather for a whole school assembly in the Hall. This event is usually streamed to our Vimeo channel. Families can view assembly by clicking on the link which is emailed via email using your Operoo profile. The email only goes to those parents who have ‘“receive correspondence” checked in their settings.

CHILD SAFETY - CAR PARK REMINDER

The school car park is open at the two busiest traffic times of the day, before and after school. For everyone’s safety, we ask you to please remember the following:

Pedestrians should enter the school via the footpath and NOT walk through the carpark gate

When moving between the school and the carpark, everyone is asked to use the crossing located near the front of the school

Parents who do park in the carpark, MUST walk over and collect their child. NO student is permitted to enter the car park unless they are accompanied by their adult

The Drop Off Zone is only active in the morning and parents MUST remain in their car, while students exit the vehicle independently.

HOMEWORK

Homework will commence the week beginning 12th February. We like to allow the students a few weeks to resettle into the busy routines of the school term, (including going to bed early even if it’s still light outside!) before beginning homework and readers for the year.

SCHOOL NURSE

As mentioned during the meeting held during the Prep Transition Sessions, the School Nurse will be visiting St John’s during Term 1. This is a free service offered to all children attending primary schools in Victoria. The School Nurse Program provides families with the opportunity to have a health assessment completed with their child. The nurse also is a great source of information and advice about healthy behaviours. Her first scheduled visit will be Tuesday 13th February.

ST JOHN’S INSTAGRAM PAGE

Last term we launched our St John’s Instagram page. To follow us search @stjatarneit on instagram. Recently we highlighted our camp stories and you can check them out under our profile.

Victorian Fisheries Authority - Little Anglers Program Update

Please see the attachments below for some updates on the Little Anglers Kits supplied by the Victorian Fisheries Authority.

OUT OF SCHOOL HOURS CARE

Principal's Message & Videos

Principal's Message

Out And About - Week 1, Term 1

School Assembly - Week 1