A Blessing for the New School Year

With gratitude for the gift of a fresh new year we ask blessings on our whole community.

May every classroom be a place of respect and possibility.

May every staffroom and playground be a place of friendship and laughter.

May every hall and assembly be a place of connection.

May every library be a place of discovery.

May every tree and plant call us to care for creation.

May every snack and lunch remind us of those who are hungry.

May every student grow in confidence and love of life.

May every teacher find daily vision and hope.

May every support worker help create a sense of belonging.

May every leader find openness and patience.

May every parent grow in wisdom.

May every name in this school be blessed.

Because each person is precious and only together can we learn and grow.

Prayer by Michael McGirr, Caritas Australia

Welcome to 2025!

Dear Families,

It is wonderful to see our students back at school and to wish all families a happy new year. We hope your holidays were filled with joy, rest and relaxation. May the year ahead bring exciting learning opportunities, strong friendships, and a deep sense of community for all.

Our students have settled beautifully into their new classes and are enjoying reconnecting with their friends and teachers. We sincerely thank families for their efforts in preparing their children so well for the school year.

A very warm welcome to our new families joining the St John’s community, especially our Prep students and those transitioning into other year levels: Matteo 1D, Mikha 1D, Ella 1D, Harlan 1M, Luca 1M, Eva 1M, Elizabeth 2O, Eva 3H, Jacques 3H, Sienna 3H, Aston 3H, Isabelle 3C, Glori 3C, Emmy 3C, Edward 4P, Bastian 4P, Pippa 4P, Evaan 4MT, Angie 5L, Ava 5L, Sienna 5B. We hope you and your children find happiness and a strong sense of belonging within our school.

I would like to thank our staff who have worked over the break and throughout the last week to prepare our school for the new year. We are delighted to welcome new staff members to St John’s: Alexia Marian, Anna O'Grady Ismene Metzis, and Sabrina Celotto. We look forward to the knowledge, passion, and dedication they will bring to our school.

It was wonderful to see so many parents, grandparents and carers this morning enjoying a morning coffee hosted by the PIC - Partners in Community in partnership with St John’s School. It was a joy to see our school grounds come to life with conversation and laughter as parents and carers celebrated the start to the 2025 school year.

Welcome Picnic - Possum Hollow Thursday 6 February

All families are invited to celebrate the start of the year by attending a Welcome Picnic on Thursday 6 February at Possum Hollow. This will be a wonderful opportunity to meet new families and spend time with old friends. Famililes are asked to bring their own picnic rug and dinner. Please note it is the responsibility of families to supervise their children while at the picnic.

Date: Thursday 6 February

Time: 5:30pm

Located in: Warringal Parklands - Possum Hollow

Address: Beverley Rd, Heidelberg VIC 3084

School Vision 2025

At St John’s, our work is guided by our school vision: An inclusive Catholic community, fostering a commitment to faith and nurturing a love of learning. This vision underpins our commitment to continuous school improvement, ensuring the best possible outcomes for our students.

On Tuesday, our staff collaborated with Jo-Ann Patrick from MACS Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL) to further deepen their understanding of the key characteristics of a high-performing learning culture. This professional learning session aimed to enhance our impact on student wellbeing and academic achievement.

In 2025, we remain dedicated to the priorities outlined in our 2022-2025 School Improvement Plan:

Priority 1: Enhance Catholic Identity
Priority 2: Embed consistent whole-school approaches to learning and teaching
Priority 3: Lead data-informed instructional practices
Priority 4: Strengthen student engagement, wellbeing, and learning outcomes

We look forward to working in partnership with our school community to bring these priorities to life and create a positive, enriching learning environment for all students.

Next couple of weeks in the classroom

For our teachers and staff, the most important thing at this time of year is establishing relationships and routine with the students. Schools and classrooms are ‘communities’ in themselves and, to ensure a high level of productivity, it is vital that strong, positive and respectful relationships are fostered between students and with staff. At St John's, we believe that if we set and communicate high expectations of learning and behaviour, students will rise to meet these expectations. Over the next couple of weeks your children will be learning about the St John's Rights and Responsibilites and the routines of their classroom. In order for teachers to learn more about your children we will be offering Getting to Know You Meetings.

Our Getting to Know You Parent, Student and Teacher Meetings will be held Tuesday 11 February 1:30pm - 5:50pm (last appointment) and Wednesday 12 February 3:40pm - 4:50pm (last appointment).

Bookings are now available via https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/cm45y

To accommodate these times the students will be dismissed on Tuesday 11 February at 1:00pm. OSHclub will be available for those families requiring the out of school care service. Please book online or contact OSH to book a spot.

St John’s School: Ensuring Safety and Security for Our Students

St John’s Parish School goes to extraordinary lengths to keep all children safe and secure. Some of the things you can do as parents to support student safety:

School Arrival: Children should arrive at school no earlier than 8:35am. This is when a teacher begins Kiss & Drop Duty, and the yard duty teachers supervise the top and bottom yard. For families needing earlier care, OSHClub provides a great service, starting at 7:00 a.m. each school day (charges apply – please ensure you are enrolled in the service).
End of Day Pick-Up: The school day finishes at 3:20pm. Children are supervised by school staff until 3:30pm. Any child not picked up by 3:30pm will be taken to the school office. If they still haven’t been picked up by 3:40pm the children will be taken to OSH After School Care for their safety (charges apply – please ensure you are enrolled in the service).
Late Arrivals: If your child is running late for school and arrives after 8:45am, please accompany them into the office to sign them in using the Passtab machine.
Parking: When using the Kiss & Drop off area on Yarra Street, we kindly ask that you drive slowly and safely while dropping off and picking up your child. Please ensure you drive down to the beginning of the drop-off zone to help keep the flow of traffic moving smoothly. Your patience and courtesy are greatly appreciated, especially considering that young children may not have the same awareness of traffic as adults. Additionally, it is essential to respect our neighbours by always parking legally and refraining from blocking driveways.
Parents/grandparents are not permitted to drive through or park in the staff car park at drop off or pick up times. This is dangerous as students/families walk through the car park at these times.
If riding a bike or scooter to school, the children are to dismount at the gate to ensure the safety of others and walk their bike or scooter to tehe bike racks in the school grounds.
Important Protocol for families: Parents/Carers should never approach a child or the parents of that child regarding school-related matters. If you have any concerns or issues, please address them directly with your child’s classroom teacher. Your child's safety and security are our top priorities.
Dogs on school grounds: For the safety of all students, staff and families, dogs are not permitted on school grounds at any time. If walking your dog to or from school, we ask that you leave it tied up outside of the school.

Thank you for your cooperation and support in keeping our school community safe and secure.

Parent Digital Communication

Communication is the key for success in working together. A reminder that there are four main digital platforms the school uses to facilitate communication with parents.

nForma
SeeSaw
Direct email
Newsletter

I recommend if you are new to the school to download the nforma and Seesaw Apps as soon as possible. If you need support with the nForma App please see the office.

Newsletter

In 2025, the School Newsletter will be published fortnightly and distributed every Thursday, on the odd weeks of the term. This newsletter serves as our primary communication tool with families, providing essential updates and information about school activities. We encourage all families to read it regularly to stay informed about what’s happening at school. Many enquiries received at the office each week are often questions already addressed in the newsletter. To help streamline communication, please check the newsletter before reaching out to the office.

Contact Details and Medical Action Plans

Please send an email to the office@sjheidelberg.catholic.edu.au if your contact details have changed over the summer break. This will ensure efficient and effective communication with you by school staff.

We also require a current or updated medical action plan, if applicable for your child. This includes action plans for asthma, anaphylaxis and other allergies. If your child’s medication has expired or medical requirements have changed, you are urgently required to provide the office with new medication and inform of any changes.

Advertising and Promotions

We would love your support in promoting St John’s 2026 enrolments to the community. Please contact the office if you can advertise a flyer at your business/workplace or are willing to do a letter box drop off in your local area.

St John's School Uniform

As most parents would know, we have high standards for the wearing of our school uniform and these standards are maintained by staff and leadership at the school. A reminder that when wearing school uniform, it is expected that students will be wearing all black school shoes, not runners. Runners can be worn on their sports day. Uniforms may be purchased from Noone Imagewear Ivanhoe East or from the Second Hand Uniform Shop. If your child is not in the complete school uniform please send notification to their class teacher.

Boy and Girl hair: Any hair longer than shoulder length needs to be tied back.

Please, please, please label your child’s school uniform, especially hats and jumpers. It is not the responsibility of staff to locate missing uniforms. Lost property is kept in the student entrance of the school.

For the children's safety, we remind parents that no jewellery other than sleeper/stud earrings may be worn. Sleeper earrings should be close enough to the ear lobe to prevent anything from getting caught between the ear and the earring which may cause significant damage or harm to your child or other children. Nail polish is not permitted.

SunSmart Policy

As part of our Sun Smart policy, all students are required to wear a school hat. If your child does not have a school hat at school, she/he will be required to stay in a shaded area of the playground during playtimes. In regards to sunscreen, it is best for you to apply this to your child in the morning before she/he comes to school. Please provide your child with a roll on sunscreen, so that they may reapply before going out to 2nd lunch. Students will need to apply the sunscreen by themselves so it would be good practice this with your child.

Birthday Invitations and Treats

It is school policy that birthday invitations are not handed out by the classroom teacher or students during school hours. Please consider either posting/emailing invitations. (A class list with email addresses will be handed out early in Term 1 by your class rep). However, if all the class is invited you are welcome to pass them on to the classroom teacher for distribution. When celebrating birthdays, it is not an expectation to bring treats but if you do wish to do so, we encourage non food related treats where possible. These will be given out at the end of the day .

Open Days and School Tours

We are very grateful to all of our parents for advocating for our school in the local community. We have had a number of enquiries over the holidays for Prep in 2026, which is a really positive sign for our school. This year, we will be holding school tours, where prospective families can come and tour our school to see and hear from the students and staff. The dates for school tours are below:

Friday 21 February - 9:15am
Monday 24 February 24 - 9:15am
Wednesday 5 March - 9:15am
Tuesday 11 March - 9:15am
Thursday 20 March - 9:15am
Monday 24 March - 5:00pm
Wednesday 26 March - 5:00pm

Parent Helper Course - Child Safety Induction Program

This year, we again welcome the support of parents / carers to assist in our classrooms. As a school we value strong partnerships and believe that your support is invaluable. All parents / carers are welcome to help. We require that all helpers assisting in the classrooms are fully trained and have a current Working with Children Check. There will be a compulsory training session (approximately 1 hour) for all new parent helpers . The training session will be run Friday, 14 March at 2:30pm. Please contact Elizabeth on ewhiting@sjheidelberg.catholic.edu.au to confirm your interest.

Term 1 School Fees

2025 school fee statements will be sent out in the coming week. Information regarding your payment options will be included with the statement. Please note, if you elected to pay by Credit Card Instalments in 2024, a new form will need to be completed for 2025.
CSEF – CAMPS , SPORTS AND EXCURSION FUN: For those families who hold a current and valid Health Care Card, you may be entitled to the CSEF Victorian Government Grant. If your application is successful, $125 will be credited toward the Excursion/Sports Levy. Please show your Healthcare Card to the school office and complete the relevant paperwork. All families, even those who filled in the form last year, must fill in the 2025 form to qualify.

Please see Leanne in the office for any further information.

School Assemblies 2025

Assemblies are held in the Parish Hall every second Monday afternoon at 2:40pm. Families are welcome to attend.

At assembly, there are Class Learning Presentations and special announcements from student leaders.

We believe that maintaining a predictable morning routine is essential for our students, as it allows them to fully engage in learning and connecting with their teachers and peers so we will be trialling no Monday morning assembly.

Class Representative Needed!

We are currently seeking enthusiastic volunteers to serve as Class Representatives for our school. As a Class Rep, you will play a vital role in fostering communication between parents and the school community, ensuring that everyone stays informed about important events and initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

Act as a liaison between teachers and parents, sharing information and updates.
Organise and coordinate class activities and events.
Support the development of a positive classroom community by encouraging parent involvement.

This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with other parents, contribute to our school community, and make a positive impact on your child’s classroom experience. If you’re interested in becoming a Class Representative, please reach out to your child's teacher.

School Advisory Council

Role and function of the School Advisory Council

The School Advisory Council acts as a forum for discussion on matters concerning holistic education within the school. It brings together in a spirit of cooperation, the Parish Priest, Principal, parent representatives and teachers from the school, so that responsible and informed advice can be given to the Principal. Through membership on the School Advisory Council, each member assumes an important role in the ministry of the school.

Expressions of Interest are currently being sought for parents and carers to join St John’s School Advisory Council. We are looking for parents from the following year levels.

Prep
Year 3 or 4
General member who is part of the parish.

Any parents or carers who would like to nominate for SAC are asked to send an email to principal@sjheidelberg.catholic.edu.au providing their name, child’s name/grade, personal qualities, skills and interest as contributors to this advisory body. Expressions of Interest are due by 9:00am, Monday 10 February.

We look forward to working in partnership with families in support of the best outcomes for your children throughout 2025.

God Bless

Alison Dean

Community News