A message from Emily

REMINDER: MONDAY 10TH JUNE - KING'S BIRTHDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Dear parents and carers

Tonight the Year 6 candidates will be celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation at Our Lady's Church. We hope they let the Holy Spirit into their lives in a deeper way, receiving these gifts to guide them —wisdom, understanding, right judgement, courage, knowledge, reverence, wonder and awe. We pray they live out their faith with courage and love, letting Jesus' light shine through them. We are proud of these children and excited to see how you will make a positive difference. 

We have recently shared the introduction of the 'Simon Everywhere' app which will allow ease to access PAM (Parent Access Module that links to our management system Simon). We will be moving all forms of communication through this so important information is not missed due to emails going to spam folders or lost in your ever growing email inboxes. Once you have successfully logged in and added St John's to your profile, you will need to book a Learning Conversation for your child/ren for Monday 24th June. Families have an option to select the type of conversation they'd like to book; in person, online (video call) or a phone call. This is a very important part of our reporting to parents and we would love every family to book a time to talk to our educators about your child's growth and achievements. Click below for the link on how to setup the 'Simon Everywhere' app:

Once you have set up the app there will be an icon named 'Learning Conversations' that you can click and book in a time that suits you to meet with your child's educator.

Community Conversation: Communication

Recently we request parent feedback around the ways we communicate with the community through various ways. This information will be invaluable as we look forward in improving and knowing what best to invest our time into. See below a snapshot of the feedback we received.

• What are the things you enjoy hearing about from St John's?

• Sources of communication families are accessing:

• Sources of communication families find effective:

We also asked for suggestions and we will use these to help inform how we can continue to improve the effectiveness of our communication, including clarity around the purpose of the different forms of communication and streamlining where families can access information. Thank you to those who could attend the parent session and those who completed the survey.

This week I met with Tyrone and Josie from OSHClub's parent company, Junior Adventures Group, to discuss how we can open up more spots for families to access after school care. We are very mindful that there are families who are unable to access this service on some days due to the demand and our current licence capacity for the 5/6 Hub. Due to the works required to the hall, it is out of both the school and OSHClub's control, but we are always looking for ways to meet the needs of the community so we do appreciate your support with this. We are hopeful that we will be able to meet the demand moving forward. I would like to take the opportunity to remind families to cancel any bookings you have when you don't require the service to allow those on the waiting list to know they have a spot, and to also make sure you book in advance to secure your child's spot if you are relying on this service for care. OSHClub have already communicated with families accessing the service regarding their holiday care program being offered at a nearby school for the coming holidays. We have decided not to offer the program these holidays at St John's, as the 5/6 Hub is not well suited for all day care. Families will be able to access the holiday program at the near by St Augustine's in Yarraville where they will have wonderful facilities to ensure engaging and fun experiences during the school holidays. There is also other locations around Melbourne (Moonee Ponds, Carlton Gardens and South Melbourne) that might be close to your workplace and suit your family as well, so please reach out to OSHClub to find out more. I have attached the program brochures for the upcoming holiday program on the OSHClub page.

Wishing you a wonderful long weekend

Emily