Message from Gemma

Dear Families and friends, 

Thank you for your continued energy and support over the last few weeks. We have now completed our external review, an overwhelming comment from External Review Judi Hanke and Wayne Richards (School Consultant) was - how do we provide recommendations to make a GREAT school even GREATER. Our data continues to look very positive. Data from student achievement, student wellbeing, staff and school culture has steadily improved and we continue to remain committed to all of these.

Review insights  - Judi Hanke:

• 'The school ethos is built around high expectations and a commitment to excellence through visible learning. There is an expectation that every student will learn and achieve positive outcomes.  Hubs are calm but busy, and interruptions to teaching time and discovery learning are kept to a minimum. There are no obvious behavioral problems, with high rates of school attendance: there is a happy, optimistic feel to the school. All involved with the school comment upon the calm and friendly environment that pervades the school and express great pride in the school, its efforts and achievements. Staff members and students display a positive approach to all facets of the school and the staff members address the diverse developmental and learning needs of the student body.
• Strong leadership that is shared and sound practices to build leadership capacity are well developed across the school. The school leadership team has developed and is driving an explicit and detailed local school improvement agenda. This agenda is expressed in terms of specific improvements in pedagogy and student agency and is aligned with system-wide improvement priorities. The school leadership is clearly committed to continuous school improvement and this is reflected in an eagerness to learn from research evidence, networks, international experience and from cluster schools.
• There is a passionate and optimistic commitment by all staff to the school improvement strategy and a clear belief that further improvement is possible. There is a compelling sense of belonging and pride in the school and clear ownership by all staff of the school’s Horizon vision. This is known by the school community and serves as a constant point of reference to the school’s priority improvement goals.
• The Community Garden (Farm) provides members of the diverse school community with a strong sense of connection and belonging. Positive and caring relationships are evident between students, staff and parents. Respect and tolerance for the rights and needs of others fosters the community feeling and pride that permeates the school.
• The school has seen a steady increase in enrolments during the last four years, a marked difference to the previous four-year review period which saw a decline in enrolments.
• The extensive and effective change management process adopted following the last school review has resulted in a clearly articulated Vision (Horizon), distributed leadership and shared accountability for every facet of the school’s operation, including the social-emotional wellbeing and learning of students.
• The school has developed a strong reputation for innovation and rich professional learning and willingly and openly shares its learning with external members of the education community.
• Decisions around mentoring and coaching are research-based and provide clarity for experienced educators as well as new teachers to the school.
• Educators are highly qualified and supported with consistent professional development, recognising the importance of an effective professional learning community.
• Educators feel empowered through the pursuit of current research and engagement in professional development, to adapt their learning environment to meet the needs of students.'

The next four year plan will include the following goals:

• Explores innovative ways for the diverse cohort of parents to be more engaged in the life of the school.
• Ensures that students are consistently engaged in meaningful activities and there is a strong whole school focus on student self-reporting and providing students with effective feedback.
• Builds a culture of giving and receiving feedback across the school to facilitate high-quality instruction and leadership in teaching and learning.

Restrictions easing

Restrictions are beginning to ease. We hope to implement changes over time, changes will become effective from next year.

We have learnt some great things through COVID. One of those being - how our children have settled into each day. Our spaces have been calmer, quieter and ready to learn time has begun in a much more settled way. The learning day has started on time - 8.45 am with less and less late arrivals and our children are building such great independence with unpacking and preparing for the day. Our classrooms are very busy in the morning and with our philosophy of play and projects - the environment can be extremely busy. Add parents and siblings to the environment and the space can get very hectic for all. 

Our first step in early days next year will be to open our yard, parents will need to say good bye on the yard instead of in the classroom, this will also help our cleaning processes required for our Covid plan. The more adults inside - the more surfaces touched and the more cleaning required. Families and visitors will be asked to stay outside within our yard spaces or continue to say goodbye as you are, this will help ease the congestion also. In some areas especially the 1/2 hub - at times we had more adults then children. We encourage parents to mingle, chat and sit in the yard however not within learning areas. Any children requiring support around this, please chat to the hub Educators and we can have a modified plan. We feel the children have really adjusted to inside spaces and their responsibilities. 

PREP 2021

Prep parents are welcome to support their child in the hub if required. We will ease this over time to lessen the congestion, encourage calm beginnings and build independence. We ask existing families to be mindful of spaces and congestion, this will help new families with the routine. 

3/4 CAMP decision 

Thank you for the survey responses regarding 3/4 camp. We had overwhelming excitement and support. Therefore we have decided to go with the camp - YMCA Queenscliff. We will leave St John's at approximately 7:30am and return the next day around 4:00pm. This will give a 2 day experience yet only 1 night away from home (replicating our sleep over).  The exact date will be advised soon. For the families that were not in favour - we will certainly touch base and discuss options with you. 

Sustainability news - Solar panels 

We are excited to be finally installing our solar panels. Many of our student projects have been based on how we can improve our footprint at St John's. I'm proud to say this led to our solar panel investment and launch. 

Expression of interest - MUSIC 

We have been approached by Chasing Sound locally owned music company (Barkly St) - to see if any families are interested in paired or private music Lessons. Their aim is to offer a greater range of instruments such as: 

• Keyboard/Piano
• Guitar
• Flute
• Clarinet
• Trumpet
• Saxophone
• Trombone
• Bass Guitar

Their hope is to cluster with other schools to provide a greater range. Therefore lessons would predominantly be within school hours at St John's or at a local school after school. Chasing sounds have a connection with Catholic Education Melbourne and this gives opportunities for concerts and to represent our school through a Choir and/or concert band at certain events within the year locally and for Catholic Ed Melbourne. 

This company would focus on paired ($25) and individual lessons ($35) only to gain greater success and growth.  Their aim is to link the instruments to the feeder high schools to ensure continuation of skill and acquisition. 

If you would be interested in this please email admin@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au by Wednesday 9th December.