General Information

STAFF LEAVE & UPDATES

Long Service Leave

From Wednesday 27th of August until the end of the term, I will be on Long Service Leave.  The school’s Deputy Principals Rosalie Baldwin and Kahli Murtagh will be overseeing the school in my absence and can be contacted via the office if needed.  Ms Bianca Gomez will also be accessing her Long Service Leave from 28th August to 8th September.  During her absence the Prep class will be overseen by Annie Hamilton and Anshum Vaid.  We hope Bianca enjoys her well earned break.

Retirement News

After many decades of service to Catholic Education Ms Anne Cook has decided to retire from teaching at the end of this term. We will be writing a formal farewell to her in our last Newsletter of the term.  Anne’s Term 4 Art Classes will be covered by Ms Vesna Antovski.

PREP EXCURSION

Last Friday our Preps travelled by bus to Geelong to the Museum of Play and Art (MoPA).  In class, as part of their Inquiry Unit, the students have been investigating how materials are used to build or make things.  Visiting MoPA gave the Preps a range of play experiences including; building and construction, sensory experiences, opportunities for dress-ups and chance to paint a life sized car.  As you can see from the pictures below the students had a fantastic time.

DISTRICT ATHLETICS

Last Wednesday 43 students, who had qualified early in the year, represented St John’s at the District Athletics.  The carnival was held at the Athletics Track in Hoppers Crossing and the students are to be congratulated on their achievements.  Congratulations to the 17 students who have qualified for the Divisional Athletics, which will take place on 11th September in Newport.  As you can see from the pictures below the students had a terrific day and a big thanks to Mr Geisler for all his hard work on the day.

100 DAYS OF PREP

On Friday 8th August, our Year Prep students marked their first 100 days of school with a day of celebrations.  It was standing room only in the Hall for our Parade!  Parents are to be congratulated for the clever costumes the Preps wore for the parade.  Scroll through the photos below to see our time-travelling students.  

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR SOCCER TEAM

On Wednesday 7th August, a group of Year 5 & 6 students travelled by bus to City Vista Reserve and competed in the regional Soccer finals.  They had a terrific day and are to be congratulated on the way they represented our school.  A special thanks to Jonathon Turda who coached the boys, as part of his participation in the SEDA Program.  

THOMAS CARR MUSICAL

Thomas Carr will be presenting the musical ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ over two days later in August. Please see the flyer for more information. 

CHILD SAFETY - SCREENTIME ARTICLE

As part of our commitment to online safety, St John’s works in partnership with Linewize. This platform helps students and families to develop better digital habits, while also monitoring and tracking digital usages.  Families have access to free parental control tools to help keep children safe while using their personal devices.

We also have our own Online Safety Parent Hub.  The Parent Hub provides a wealth of online safety resources; such as digital parenting guides, app reviews and articles, developed by a team of leading digital safety and wellbeing experts. 

On a recent visit by the School Nurse Eleanor forwarded the school a Parent tip sheet about screen time from the eSafety Commissioner.  We draw your attention to the Tip Sheet as it has some simple but effective ideas.

ASSEMBLY LIVE STREAM  

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 the 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.