Dear St John the Apostle families,

We've had a very big week here at school. We have our re-registration coming up very soon. It happens every 5 years. Preparation involves very early mornings or very late nights for a number of weeks. Schools don't tend to easily let one work on the paperwork required for re-registration during the day. Our core business of working with children and families continues on, and gladly. 

One of the great moments in preparing for re-registration has been to so easily provide for the panel the teaching programs and work samples of students. Our teachers are extraordinarily collaborative. They work hard together in their teaching teams to provide rich and engaging programs across every year level. 

This week I walked in to see Year 3 sharing a breakfast together as a way of engaging students in an experience where they can talk about Eucharist as sharing a meal. Year 5 have also been producing some fabulous art, inspired by poetry. What a great way to engage students in the evocative language of poetry.

School Photos

Thank you for being so well prepared for school photos on Wednesday. It was great to still have the opportunity to create these mementos of the year with each class. It was difficult to set a new date with the photographers and despite it being on a Wednesday, almost everyone came in the correct uniform! Well done.

Our understanding is that everyone can still order online if they need to. Please see the details later in this Newsletter.

Book Fair

The Book Fair continues to be a hit among our students. Thank you to Vanessa Hallaj and Georgina Jaram for finding a way to continue with it in the midst of our restrictions in schools. The Book Fair will continue for one more week.

Again, orders can be made online. We have have limited stock provided to us so if the online orders surpass the number of books we have in stock, more will be sent through to us. Please allow a few days between placing the order and expecting to pick it up. Our Library staff are not Amazon, they work part-time and not overnight to pack orders. Every online order placed will be filled when they are next in to organise them.

Special Visit

Earlier this week we had a visit from Gordon Ramsay MLA. He spent a great deal of time walking around the school with four of our student leaders Eseta, Abbey, Abhinav and Leonardo. Our student leaders were excellent representatives. They were welcoming, confident and informative.

Below is a picture of the Minister with some of our students in the Kitchen Garden (practising social distancing).

ACT Election - Saturday 17 October

There are 8 weeks until the ACT Election and I am sure you are seeing candidates from all parties at shopping centres (or even receiving phone calls from them). I encourage you to approach candidates at the shopping centres and mention or discuss the value of ACT Catholic Schools and quiz them on their party’s support for ACT Catholic Schools. 

In the ACT, there are 29 systemic Catholic Schools who educate 15,000 students. In Canberra, Catholic schools are very similar to public schools, with our schools having almost exactly the same average ICSEA score (1077-1076). Our schools are inclusive, support families from all backgrounds, and operate on a modest budget.

Did you know that when you compare the total funding that Catholic schools in each state/territory receive, the ACT are the second lowest funded Catholic schools in the country? This is particularly impacted by the ACT Government’s low funding of Catholic schools.

Have a chat to the candidates and mention that you are a parent in an ACT Catholic School and funding of Catholic Schools is an important issue for you.

Matthew Garton, Principal

Annual Survey for Parents, Students and Staff

An annual satisfaction survey of parents, students and staff will be conducted on behalf of all Catholic schools in the Diocese this term. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement. Responses are confidential and individuals can not be identified. 

The surveys were launched via email on Friday 7 August 2020 using the email addresses supplied to the school. If you do not receive an email with a link to the survey, you can access and complete the survey at the following link.