A message from Emily

Dear parents and carers

Our school master plan is ready to share with the children and families of St John's. During Week 7, week beginning 1st September,  a display will be available for the community to view the master plan during drop off and pick up in Joan's Yard. We invite you to come and check this out and hear about what is planned to improve our beautiful school.

St John's Parents and Friends Group:

We are looking to introduce a P&F to St John's to support with fundraising and school events. If this is something that you would be interested in or would like to know more please complete the survey linked here. Please complete by Friday 5th September.

Qustodio

We are very excited about our partnership with Linewize and the introduction of their Parent eSafety Platform, Qustodio, and what this means for our families at St John's. On Monday you will receive an email from me with further information about Qustodio and how to create a family account. Qustodio is an opt in platform to improve the capacity of St. John's parents and carers in keeping their children safe online at home.  If you would like to know more about this exciting resource please join our information session next Tuesday. Please complete this RSVP Form for our Online Parent Information Evening on Tuesday the 26th of August 2025 from 5.30pm - 6.30pm.

Book Week

What an exciting week we have had celebrating Book Week 2025! Each day children from the 5/6 Hub have led the school in a daily read of a picture story book over the PA system while children followed along in their hubs. Yesterday was our Book Week parade led by Willow and Freya. The girls did a fabulous job in leading this event, keeping up a positive energy, engaging the crowd and interviewing children across the school about who they had come dressed as. I particularly loved that Alana came dressed as a princess character from her open book that will be launched at our expo this afternoon. The children's books that have been created are based on the work they did over the previous weeks with author Anna Zobel. We welcome all families to come and check out the children's published narratives based on the work they did with Anna during our expo.

Book Week Expo Times:

• TODAY: 3:15pm - 3:40pm
• TOMORROW: 8:15am - 8:40am 

The children's gold coin donation will be going to ROOP - 'Reading out of Poverty'. Thank you for your donations to this great cause. 

School Closure Days

"Explicitly Teaching the Components of Spelling” : Deepening Understanding for Effective Pedagogy 

Last Friday and Monday, the whole staff gathered together to learn and develop a shared understanding of how we learn to spell. Dr Tessa Daffern led us on Friday for a full day of learning about the research on the teaching and learning of spelling, using spelling error analysis data to inform instruction and structuring lessons aligned with Triple Word Form Theory.  

Tessa is a highly-accomplished academic, educator and consultant specialising in literacy education, with a particular focus on the teaching and assessment of spelling. Her professional roles included:

• Adjunct Associate Professor at La Trobe University's SOLAR Lab (Science of Language and Reading).
• Co-director and Principal Education Consultant at Literacy Education Solutions, where she provides professional learning and resources for schools.
• Author of numerous research papers, book chapters, and practical resources for teachers, including the Oxford Spelling series.
• Academic Advisor for curriculum reforms, including those by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA).

Tessa's work is driven by a passion for empowering teachers to use evidence-based methods. Her award-winning research focuses on the Triple Word Form Theory, which breaks down spelling into three key components:

• Phonology: The sounds in a word.
• Orthography: The visual patterns and rules of spelling.
• Morphology: The meaningful parts of a word (e.g., prefixes, suffixes, root words).

She has developed and validated educational resources based on this research, including the PhOrM Components of Spelling Tests (CoST), which helps educators diagnose children's spelling errors and inform their instruction.

Following our amazing day with Tessa, we worked as a team to analyse our data from the spelling test (CoST) the children completed prior to these days to identify what needs to be the focus for the remainder of the term. Educators then used the strategies and activities shared by Tessa to plan for explicit teaching sessions based on the Triple Word Form Theory. We are very excited to see the impact this has as well as developing our knowledge and skills further in Term 4.

Term 3 Learning conversations

Families should have received an email yesterday inviting you to book a Learning Conversation with your child's educator. Please book via your child's PAM account. Refer to the email for further information.

Term 4

Yesterday I emailed all families to notify you of a change in date for our Maths school closure day in Term 4. We are very excited to be working with Rod Vingerhoets to further develop our capacity in teaching Mathematics to have the greatest impact on children's learning. In order for this to happen we needed to move our school closure day to accomodate Rod availability. 

Please note Monday 6th October will be the first day of Term 4 for children now instead of Tuesday 7th October. Monday, 27th October is now a school closure day. MACSeye will be operating onsite at St John's for families wishing to access this service. I look forward to sharing more about this day after the 27th October.

REANZ Study Tour to St. John's

It is with great anticipation that we welcome 32 Preschool and Primary School educators from New Zealand on Thursday 4th September. These educators have embarked on a Study Tour to Melbourne with the purpose of visiting schools and preschools to understand more about an inquiry learning approach (for us this looks like Discovery and Community Projects). This will be the second time we have hosted a Study Tour from New Zealand as we also had 18 educators visit with us in 2024.

Our Learning and Teaching team have planned an energising session which includes a tour of our learning spaces and a celebration of some of the incredible learning through group projects children have undertaken over the past year. We are very proud of the work we have done and continue to do in this space, and are very grateful to work and learn with these educators. 

Sacrament of Eucharist

This Saturday, 23rd August, children from St John's will be celebrating their first Holy Communion Mass at 5pm. We thank their families and educators for support in preparing them for this special celebration. 

I ask you to keep them in your prayers:

Bless these children as they receive Jesus for the first time in the Eucharist. May this Holy Sacrament fill their heart with Your grace and love.

Guide them throughout their life, that they may always walk in Your light and never stray from the path of goodness. May they always feel Your presence and find their greatest joy in You.

Amen.

Warm regards

Emily

What's coming up:

• Qustodio Online Information Session : Tuesday 26th August 5:30pm
• P - 6 Swimming Program : 1st - 12th September
• MACSSIS Survey Opens 1st September
• Father's Day Celebrations : Friday 5th September
• School Closure for Learning Conversations : 8th September

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.