Principal's Page
'A Welcoming Community Leading the Future of Learning with Faith and Love'
A Message from the Principal
This week is one filled with emotion as we farewell Jenny Macleod, after 22 years of dedication and support at St John's School. Jenny has had a long and productive career in Accounting, Business Administration and Netball Coaching. She has been an enormous part of our school community and will be greatly missed.
Jenny and her family moved into the Mitcham area in 1981. Her first child John, was born in 1982 and started school at St John's in 1987. Jenny was an active community member, coaching the St John's netball team, along with Glad McLaughlin and Marie Garside, before moving to Vermont and coaching the Vermont Netball Club. In 2002 Jenny commenced working at St John's school as a Learning Support Officer but her accounting talents were recognised and she soon moved into the Office to assist with managing the school accounts.
Throughout her time at St John's Jenny has supported and transitioned hundreds of families and students into our school. Her attention to detail, organisational skills and diligence, has certainly been a great asset to our school. Jenny has worked with 3 different Principals during her time at St John's including Bert Benny, Jackie Marshall and myself. She has been by my side for the past 5 years and huge support for me through many exciting and challenging times. Her cheeky sense of humour and love of dancing also helped us through the turbulent years of Covid.
I want to thank Jenny for all that she has done, the many long hours, late nights and early mornings that she has put in. We will miss you dancing around the office, racing into classrooms to collect early leavers, your delicious cakes, your burnt toast in the staffroom and for just being our Office extraordinaire. We wish you all the best in your retirement and thankyou for everything that you have done.
Today we are also saying farewell to Kristin, our Learning Support Officer from Year 5/6C who will be starting a new career next term. We are grateful for the 3 years that Krisitin has been with us and wish her all the best in her new endeavours.
Sheree has made a great start at St John's in the Office over the past 3 weeks. It was wonderful to have this time for her to transition into the role, supported by Jenny.
St John's Art Show
What an incredible display of our students artistic skills and talents were on show at our St John's Art Show last Friday. We are grateful to Mrs Deirdre Cosgrave, our magnificent Art Teacher. We were all inspired by the arctic penguins, the colourful dragons, the blooming sunflowers, scary gargoyles and so much more.
We hope that you enjoyed all of the artworks and marvelled at your child's application of the various mediums, textiles and tools that they used to create these masterpieces. Thank-you also to our Art Leaders, James and Kimberly, who supported Mrs Cosgrave opening the Art Show, taking us on a journey of imagination and inspiration.
St John's School Fees in 2025
Last week I presented to the School Advisory Council a suggested new structure for our school fees. This would involve moving to a Tiered family fee structure. The presentation is outlined on the next page. This proposal was approved by the SAC and will help us to reach the requirements for a sustainable funding model. Our Council discussion is also outlined in the SAC Report, on page 7 of this newsletter.
MACSSIS Surveys
Thank-you for completing the MACSSIS Surveys. We are asking families to complete the 15 minute MACSSIS survey to provide us with valuable feedback, about various aspects of our school and community. The Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS) will close on 20 September 2024. Congratulations to the Ryan and Loborec families for winning the vouchers in our draw.
District Athletics
Last week, on 10 September, the Year 4, 5 and 6 students participated at the District Athletics, taking part in many track and field events to represent our school. Some of the events included Shot Put, Discus, High Jump, Long Jump, Hurdles, 800m, 200m,100m & Relays. The people in Year 4 who made it through to the next round were Cain, Nate and Abbie and from Year 5/6, Jasper, Charlize and Anna. Congratulations to all of the students who took part.
Footy Day
Today our students proudly wore their Footy jumpers to school or favourite sporting team outfit. We had a footy parade and sang our theme songs before taking part in the longest kick and handball competitions. We give thanks to Mr van Rooy for his support today on his first Footy Day at St John's.
Thank-you to the Parents Association for organising our Footy Day pies and sausage rolls, led by Emily Boyd. It was great to use the new pie-warmer also. Thank-you to all of the parents who came along to help. We appreciate your time and support.
Professional Learning Leave
Over the first 2 weeks of Term 4 I will be taking part in Professional Learning with Principals from all over Melbourne. The study will be titled 'Living Traditions' based in Glasgow and Rome and has been organised by ACU in Melbourne. I will return to school on Monday, 21 October and will be looking forward to sharing my new learning with the school community. Melinda Buscema will be Acting Principal during this time, supported by the leadership team, Tracey Farrar, Ange Crowe and Anna Hendy.
Summer Uniform
In Term 4 the students will transition into their summer uniform. This will be phased back in over 2 weeks to allow for cooler weather. Please note the uniform requirements below.
SUMMER UNIFORM
- Polo shirt with logo, short sleeved
- Navy school shorts
- Summer Dress or new logo skort
- School windcheater
- Navy socks
- Black school shoes
- School hat
SPORT UNIFORM
- St John's sports top
- Navy sport shorts/logo skort
- School windcheater
- White socks
- Runners
Children should only wear sport uniforms for Physical Education lessons and on nominated sport days only. These days vary between classes and will be advised by the classroom teacher.
Fete Updates
We still need coordinators for the following Stalls for this years fete. If you and a group of friends would be interested in helping to coordinate onof these stalls then please contact Jenny Harvey asap. jenny@poppievents.com.au
Stalls still outstanding for stall coordinator
o JJ’s Café
o Donuts
o Lolly Stall
o Crafts and Gifts
o Showbags
o Clothes
To ensure that we have enough volunteers for all of the tasks, events and stalls this year we are dedicating a Stall to each year level.
Year level allocations to promote volunteers
o Prep - Popcorn / fairy floss
o Yr 1 - Snowcones
o Yr 2 - Lolly stall
o Yr 3 - Donuts
o Yr 4 - Cakes
o Yr 5 - Coffee
o Yr 6 - JJ’s cafe
Thought for the Holidays
When on a journey always remember to look up, as new discoveries are often just overhead!
Have a very safe and peaceful holiday, enjoying the Spring weather, the signs of new life, new growth and all of the beautiful blossoms. I will see you when I return in 4 weeks time.
Verona Gridley
Principal