Learning 

Learning & Teaching

We are grateful to still be able to provide online target groups that meet the needs of children here at St John’s.  We also reflect on the learning that is much more challenging to facilitate but that holds a strong place in the horizon and philosophy of our school.  Part of the success of Discovery and Project Learning at St John’s is the continuity of time and the influence our educators can provide for each child or group.  Whilst lockdowns create a circuit breaker for the virus to spread, it also creates a circuit breaker that can disrupt the flow of Discovery Projects.  In light of this, we know that children are always discovering whether at home or school.  Take some time to notice discoveries that are being made and foster these through questions, conversations, or any other language such as art, dance, or music.

Lauren Davis, Jarryd Bradford & Chevon Adamidis

ldavis@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au jbradford@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au cadamidis@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au 

Learning and Teaching Leaders

Learning Diversity

At St. John’s, we believe that all children have the right to be seen, valued and heard.

Parent Support Group Meetings

Parent Support Group meetings (PSGs) are organised to discuss the adjustments that we make to support our children. If your child receives additional adjustments to their learning, a Parent Support Group meeting is arranged to discuss their strengths and progress on their personalised learning goals. Our educators are working hard to prepare for our Parent Support Group meetings, which will be scheduled over the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for an email with all the booking details for our upcoming PSGs.

NCCD

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) takes place in August, every year. 

The NCCD is a collection that counts: 

• the number of school students receiving an adjustment to their learning 

• the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students. 

The information collected by the NCCD helps teachers, principals, education authorities and governments to better support students with diverse learning needs at school. The NCCD encourages schools to review their learning and support systems and processes. This helps schools to continually improve education outcomes for all students.

Wellbeing

Morning Greetings

Each morning our children and educators gather online to greet each other, build positive emotion, share announcements and talk about the plan and expectations for the day. This is similar to what happens each morning at school and is called our Ready to Learn Time. Children who experience regular positive emotion and connection with their peers and educators are better placed to learn. This is why you will see and hear your children playing Paper, Rock, Scissors, sharing jokes or playing an online game together - such as Boggle. This time together is very much informed by our professional learning with and the research around the Berry St Education Model. 

Some Lockdown Inspiration

Here is a link to ‘125 Ideas for Family Fun During A Lockdown.’ There are ideas for the kitchen, arts & crafts, physical activities, screen time activities, learning ideas, games and outdoor activities. You might find some inspiration among them.

We hope that you and your family are travelling along well and finding some silver linings at this time. If the school can support your family and children in any way - we are only a phone call or email away. Natasha, our school psychologist is available via email each Thursday if you have any questions or concerns around supporting your child’s wellbeing at this time. Please contact her via email on - ncaligiuri@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au 

Ashlee Owen

Wellbeing Leader

aowen@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au

Literacy

CBCA Book Week!

It’s hard to believe that it’s that time of year again, but Book Week is coming up in a few weeks’ time! This year, it will run from 21-27 August. The theme is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’.  Check out the beautiful artwork by Author / Illustrator, Shaun Tan. It certainly makes for a great talking piece with your child(ren)!

Children have been exploring the many shortlisted books in their Hubs, with great delight. Story Box has many of these available for your viewing and listening pleasure 

(username: stjohnsfootscray / password: sjf3011). 

Children will be invited to dress up on Friday 27 August. By no means is this an obligation - we understand the undue pressure this can put on families! Our goal is to ensure children experience joy through good books and can celebrate the impact that reading has on our lives. 

On the Friday, our P-2 children will enjoy being entertained by our very own, Damian Peck (Prep parent and Performer extraordinaire), and the 3-6 children will have a virtual meet with the Author Martin Chatterton.

For those that wish to get their creative juices flowing or are stumped for ideas, Spotlight has colourful and creative ideas (plus all the art and craft materials) for your CBCA Book Week character costume as well as some wonderful DIY costumes and projects inspired by the CBCA Shortlisted books.

Author of St Johns

Amelie in our 3/4 Hub has shared a piece of writing she is proud of. When asked what inspired her, Amelie said, it “...was a picture of a moon and lots of stars. I was doing a target group with Jenna yesterday, and she said the first bit of my story was really nice and it’s really descriptive”. 

Wild girl 

A small gust of wind bites my cheeks, it's bitterly cold when Aurora stands outside of her front door. The big bright moon shining above her. She knows she must call for the wild Awooh ! She screams. awooh ! comes back at her. She wonders who it might be. She screams again. Aurora thinks it might be her echo but little does she know it’s wolves. She cries out into the distance. Show yourself!  awooh she hears. Soon Aurora realises that it's not her echo it’s… WOLVES!!! “Ahhh”, she screams. Aurora hears loud footsteps in the snow. She starts to run, her heart beating wildly. Aurora’s long brown locks flowing in the wind and her blue eyes darting around trying to find a place to hide she realizes that there's know place to hide. She's trapped.

If you’d like to hear more about how you can support your child’s Literacy learning at home, please do not hesitate to contact me. Have another Literacy related question? Shoot me an email or call the school! I’d be happy to feature this in the newsletter or have a chat with you.

Daniela De Luca

Literacy Leader

ddeluca@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au 

Numeracy

Last Thursday 5th August, 28 of our Years 3-6 children participated in the Australian Mathematics Competition. The children were able to strengthen skills of resilience and persistence when tackling the increasingly complex test. Many of them commented on how challenging some of the problems were, but were keen to have another turn next year!! A big congratulations to: Manoj, Isla, Pearl, Miriam, Pierre, Athena, Amelie, Bosco, Liam, Vanessa, Aaron, Isaac, Baydah, Noah, Joanna, Jimmy, Erin, Thomas, Hien, Eliza, Oliver, Tom, Kasey, Paulino, Adler, Eli, Jordan and Emma.

Lauren Davis

Numeracy Leader

ldavis@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au 

Faith News

Our plans for celebrating the Feast of Mary MacKillop are on hold until we are back together onsite. Unfortunately the same has to said of our Temple visit, Mosque visit and Sacrament of Confirmation. We plan to reschedule as much we can over the coming months.

We will go ahead with our Faith Evening for our Yr 3 children who will be preparing to celebrate Eucharist in September. Fortunately we had already planned to hold this online. A letter will be shared with Yr 3 families with further details. 

Aoife

amccarthy@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au

Woiwurrung Word of the Week

St Johns has purchased the Woiwurrung Language Resource for the Early Years.

Woiwurrung language was traditionally spoken and is being reclaimed today by the Wurundjeri people, who inhabited the land along the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers.

The Woiwurrung Language Cards have been produced by the Wurun Child and Family Place and Yarra Ranges Council with permission from key Wurundjeri Elders.

Acknowledging and celebrating Aboriginal culture and its connection to spirituality and language, family and kinship, land, country and community is important in protecting and developing inclusion and equity. Language in particular is recognised as a precious part of cultural strength and pride.

Each newsletter we will share with you a new Woiwurrung word of the week, we hope that this will provide you with a chance to read, speak, and talk about it with your family.