Learning & Teaching

Brief Overview of Learning for 2024

Our educators have been busy with various initiatives over 2024 to continue to improve our approach to learning and teaching at St. John’s. Some of these include:

• Collaborating to create a Scope and Sequence from Levels Foundation to Six for Handwriting.
• Undertaking professional learning through MACS for Dyscalculia and Dyslexia.
• Building confidence with teaching and continuous dialogue with educators around the children’s Faith knowledge, understanding and beliefs.
• Engaging with TRP Professional Development Webinars to enable our children to develop the habits of expressing gratitude, empathy, mindfulness and increase their emotional literacy in support of their wellbeing.
• Taking a deep dive into and exploring the Language of Marks and Drawings, engaging with professional learning led by pedagogistas and atelieristas from Reggio Emilia.
• Developing a consistent approach to Maths whole group sessions, including the implementation of Number Talks where children are asked to solve a maths problem and discuss and reflect on their strategies with the group.
• Continuing to design and create engaging learning spaces that support children to follow their interests, develop learning dispositions and work in collaboration with others.
• Sketching out each Community project (Inquiry) and designing possible First Encounters and learning pathways from the children’s voices to meet the curriculum.
• Continuing professional learning and development for leaders to inform our approach to teaching reading (underpinned by MACS’ Vision for Instruction). This will continue into 2025 with educators engaging with professional learning opportunities.

Discovery Writing from Milo

My project was a design project to make a school beanie. I did this project because I thought it would be for the school to have a school beanie. First I looked for beanie designs and then I collected data from the ¾ hub to see what design was their favourite. Then I started looking for Beanie patterns to sew and followed the instructions to make my own pattern. The next step was cutting out the fabric and sewing the beanie. Finally I made a pom pom and sewed this on. I also wrote a persuasive letter and presented this with my beanie to Emily, and she said we can have a meeting with our Uniform supplier early in 2025 to see if we can get a school beanie starting in Term 2. This project was challenging because I had to learn to sew and making the pom pom took a really long time, I had to show persistence. I feel proud of this project because it is something that has never been done before. 

Discovery Writing from Fionn

My project was a design and sewing project on a sports t-shirt and shorts. I decided to make these because I wanted to learn how to sew and I wanted to make a kit for my favourite soccer team, West Ham United. First I designed and made the tshirt and then the shorts. I had to do a lot of unpicking and cut out some of the pieces more than once which was frustrating but I felt really good when I was finished because I liked what I had made. My favourite part of the project was sewing because I really liked it and now I want to make more clothes for myself and for little kids. 

Farm Holiday Care Information (optional opt in session)

If you are new to volunteering to care for the Farm or you just want to pop in, Erin will be hosting an info session straight after school at the Farm on Friday 13th December and Monday 16th December. We hope you can make it to one!

Faith

We welcome all families to attend the last Advent prayer gathering led by the Prep hub on Friday the 13th of December at 9 am.

• Ways of the West finishing Friday 

Thank you to all families who donated to the Ways of the West drive, this will impact positively this Christmas for families in need. Thank you to the Social Justice Leaders Wren, Audrey, Ruby, and Winson for running and promoting the food drive!

• Graduation Liturgy

On Monday the 16th of December, we invite families of the graduating class of 2024 to join us at 9.30 am for a liturgy led by Father Gerald.

• End-of-Year Prayer Gathering

All families are invited to attend our final, end of year prayer gathering which will be led by the Grade 5s, our new leaders of 2025. This will take place in Joan’s Yard at 9 am on Tuesday the 17th of December.

Welcoming Prep 2025 Families

Thank you to those families who have donated a picture story book to give to our new families on their first official day of school at the beginning of 2025. So far, we have received a total of 10 books! We are still hoping for another 27 and it’s not too late. If you would like to donate, please send along your book to Lauren ldavis@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au (by placing it in the Hub office tub with a post-it note label and please include the reason behind your choice if you have one!). Thanking you in advance for your generosity.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and joyous break! Looking forward to seeing you back at St. John’s for another exciting year!

St. J’s Learning and Teaching Team

Stay Connected with SIMON Everywhere

This year, we've introduced the SIMON Everywhere app, your convenient gateway to your PAM account. This user-friendly app enables us to directly communicate important updates and notifications with our school community.

We've been actively sharing information about upcoming events and exciting learning experiences on the group chat thread within the app. To ensure you don't miss any important announcements, please enable notifications for the app.

Starting in 2025, we will be transitioning all school communications to the SIMON Everywhere app. We strongly encourage all families to download the app and sign in using your PAM account credentials.

If you have any difficulties or require assistance with your PAM account details, please don't hesitate to contact the office (admin@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au, 9687 3150) or Amy (alittley@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au).