A message from Emily

Dear parents and carers

What another wonderful fortnight of exciting things at St John's. Last Friday we celebrated the dads and special people in the lives of the children at St John's with our breakfast, family activity and prayer gathering led by the Prep Hub. 

Our school reviewer, Kylie Graham, spent three days at our school to witness and meet with different groups across our community. She spoke highly of the school and the people she met with. I look forward to sharing more about the outcome of the review when we receive our report. 

We have had international visitors to St John's also. We were so lucky to have the Watoto Choir perform for us and spend time with our school choir. For families who were lucky enough to join us for their performance I believe you would agree that they were pretty amazing and raise money for a great cause. As a school we were able to donate $184, and many families purchased items the choir had for sale. We also had our local newspaper attend to capture some photos so make sure you check this out too. Click on the image below for the link. 

This week we had 28 educators from New Zealand visit us as part of a study tour with REANZ (Reggio Emilia Aotearoa New Zealand). Lauren and Amy led them in sharing our story and context through an encounter at the farm and tour of the school.

As we come to the end of the term we are now experiencing sunnier weather. Please start looking for your child's hat or placing an order for new hats - as we begin Term 4, all children will be required to wear their hat when they are outside. 

I would also like to remind parents to ensure we have the appropriate approval and any medication that may be need to administered in relation to hayfever or asthma. Please see our Health Updates page to ensure you have the correct documentation, and speak to the office staff.

Building Update: Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in our application for this round of funding to complete works on the hall. I am working with MACS to see what the next steps are to ensure we are successful moving forward. We have also discovered additional problems with the hall. I have had the company who conducted the forensic engineering report come back this week to give us an update but it looks like additional safety measures will take place during the school holidays. As I receive more information I will continue to update the community.

Community Conversation - Reporting: Last night we hosted a parent session to gather voice around our approaches to reporting. Thank you to the four parents who were able to attend. We will continue to work with families to find the right time and approach to increase the number of families able to engage in person. We have created a survey to gather further information from families as we evaluate our process and make improvements for implementation in 2025. Survey link - click here

The Farm is looking great and Erin is about to start planting new produce with children in preparation for next term's learning. Please make sure that when you are accessing the farm as a family, that no produce is picked from the gardens. This term's cooking has been impacted due to the lack of produce available after carrots were just pulled out and left on the ground and apricots taken off the tree while still green. We love that families enjoy this space but we do need adults to ensure that children aren't moving things or taking the produce that is needed for the Engaging with Place learning.

With many students competing in sporting finals during September, we wish you all the best for your competitions. Congratulations to Bryan who won the best and fairest award last week in his local football league - in his first season of playing!

In Term 4 the children in 5/6 will start the Summer Sports for the inter-school competition. The children will find out by end of the term which team they have been selected for out of newcomb (volleyball), basketball, bat tennis and cricket. Year 6 children will be selected for their first preference and Year 5 will be used to fill the spots to make up the teams based on their preferences. All the games will be played away as we are unable to host sports at St John's due to the fencing around the hall. The competition starts week 2 of next term. Michelle will share more information and permission notes to 5/6 families before the end of this term. 

The MACSSIS survey is now open for families to complete. Thank you to those who have already submitted your feedback.

Warm wishes

Em