A message from Emily

Dear parents and carers,

It's hard to believe that we are three quarters of the way through the year. Term 3 has been a busy term with lots of great learning and opportunities for our community. Term 4 is shaping up to be even more exciting. We look forward to sharing information around special events like swimming, Advent, Trivia Night and our Family Twilight Evening. It will also be a time to celebrate all the great learning that has happened across the year.

On Sunday, children from St John's celebrated their First Communion. It was amazing to see Our Lady's Church full to support these children in the very important Sacrament of Eucharist. I hope the children and their families had a wonderful day celebrating together. We also had members from the St John's Choir sing at their first event at our Parish Church. We thank them and their families for their time and we look forward to hearing more from the Choir next term. 

Sunday was also the Centenary Alumni Afternoon where past students and staff gathered together to share stories of their time here at St John's. It was amazing to see so many people come together and reconnect after many years. There was a lot of funny stories shared and excitement to see what the school looks like now. I have added a small selection of photos from Sunday and more will be added to our 100 Years of St John's website.

You may have also noticed that the installation of our shade sails has been completed. These sails were purchased using funding from the government's shade sail grants made available at the end of last year. We are very happy with how these have turned out and already groups of children have used this space for learning outside under the protection of the sails.

It is coming to that time of the year where we start to hear news of people who are moving on to new adventures. Please see a special message from Dani as she shares her news with us as a community:

It is with a combination of excitement and sadness that I announce that I will not be returning to St John's in 2023 - I have accepted a position as Deputy Principal at Mary, Queen of Heaven, a new school which will open in Greenvale next year. I am looking forward to the 'stretch' of my new role, and getting to know the children, families and educators of the community. I feel immensely blessed to have been a part of this unique and vibrant school, which has felt more like family. I am grateful to you all for inviting me into your stories; St John's will always carry a special place in my heart.  - Daniela DeLuca

During Term 4 we will celebrate and thank Dani for all she has given to this community but I would like to say how much she will be missed. The work she has done this year in increasing the capacity of teachers in the area of Literacy as well as leading Family Engagement has been truly amazing. St John's has been very lucky to have Dani as a staff member since 2019. I wish her nothing but the best as she takes on this new, challenging and exciting opportunity at Mary Queen of Heaven.

On Tuesday we emailed the community about an incident involving an unauthorised person coming onto the school premises. I would like to acknowledge all the parents who reached out in support and thanks for how we handled the situation. I also want to reassure families that we debriefed as a staff afterwards naming what worked well in relation to our Emergency Management Plan and what we might need to consider moving forward to minimise the risk of this happening again. I would like to thank the staff directly involved for the way they handled the situation so calmly and with care for the safety of everyone. 

I have met with Novcon to look at how we can add to the fence outside the hall so that it is a similar height to our other fences around our school boundary. Staff will continue to be vigilant and there will be an increase in the presence of staff on duty during break times. This is something we had already planned to do for Term 4 to support with positive play experiences during break times.

Some parents have asked for advice on what to say to their child about what happened. Our advice has been: to be led by them. If they haven't mentioned it, then it could be because they weren't even aware there was an issue. If they do raise it, then listen to what they have to say and how they are feeling and reassure them that school is a safe place. Ask them what they think they would do if something like this happened again, would they alert an adult straight away, would they move away from the area? Please contact the school if your child continues to experience anxiety or concerns around what happened and we also encourage you to use Kids Help Line - 1800 55 1800

REMINDERS:

• MACSSIS Survey closes TOMORROW: Thank you to the families who have completed the survey already. We now have 42 family responses. Please contact the School Office if you need any support with how to access this survey.
• We also emailed families a link to complete a form to confirm the return of your children to St John's in 2023. Please complete this form so that we can plan for next year as well make enrolment offers to families we have on our waiting list. To access the form please click - Intention for 2023 
• Please don't block the Essex Street round-about. Only two cars can wait to enter the backyard for drop off and pick up. If two cars are already waiting please go around the block until it is safe to stop or enter the backyard gates.
• First day of Term 4 for all children is Tuesday 4th October. Monday 3rd October is a school closure day for staff with a Learning and Teaching focus on Writing (please check our Important Dates page for more information about events at the end of this term and looking forward into Term 4).
• Please contact the office if you need any RAT kits

Wishing you a safe and happy break

Emily