Dear St John the Apostle families,

We've had quite an amazing last week of school. It has been a great end to an extraordinary school year.

Year 6 Graduation

On Tuesday we celebrated the Year 6 Graduation. Due to COVID restrictions we held it in the hall with three successive sessions for smaller groups. We really wanted parents to have the opportunity to be present. It was a lovely celebration for everyone. They have been an amazing group of students to work with over the years. We have learnt as much from them as they have from us.

At the end of Year 6 we give out several special awards. They are only awarded once during each student's journey at St John the Apostle. Congratulations to the following award winning students:

Outstanding Effort Award		Leadership Award
Brianna Rose	Alicia Oxborrow	Eseta Tuipeatau	Georgia Stanton
Discipleship Award		Outstanding Academic Achievement
Mikayla Stanton	Leonardo Braybon	Abhinav Bansi	Thomas Fonhof
Leadership Award		Rotary Youth Citizenship Award
Darcy Menzel		Emily Reid

Today we finished with the Passing of the Light Ceremony where Year 6 pass on the light of leadership to the Year 5 students for next year. You can view this here:

We wish all of our Year 6 students many blessings in the future. There are a number of families who will be leaving our community as their last or only child is graduating Year 6. I would like to thank you for choosing St John the Apostle to walk alongside your family in helping your children to grow and become the wonderful young people they are. It has been a privilege. You are and always will be part of the St John the Apostle story.

While all families support the school in various ways, of these families I would particularly like to thank a number of them who have actively supported our school in many ways either on the Community Council, volunteering at sporting events or organising aspects of our fete for many, many years. There are too many to name here and I fear I may miss someone out. Please know that we are very, very grateful for every way you have helped our community. Our school and our students for years to come are better off for you having been so actively involved. Your positive impact has been welcome and will be warmly remembered.

Classes for 2021

On Wednesday afternoon the students were told their classes and teachers for next year. All was quiet across the school as they spent an afternoon together. It was wonderful to have all the students and teachers new to our school next year be present as well.

Our teachers have all been involved in transition meetings this week, where the current teachers talk to the 2021 teachers about each student's needs. We have a very collaborative and supportive staff with a shared understanding that we all care for every student in the school. This was more than evident this week.

Fun Day

Fun day yesterday was fantastic!

It was so important to end this year positively. Our students and our staff deserved it. We had a magician, jumping castles, face painting, balloon modelling, blow-up obstacle course...there was so much to do! Thankfully the rain held off.

Our students with 20 or more brag tag stickers, reflecting the outstanding ways they showed respect over the last term, were all able to have extra time.

Thank you to our students for being great throughout the day and making sure that everyone had the opportunity to have fun.

One last farewell

This week we found out that Hannah, our School Counsellor, will be moving on to a new school. While Hannah has offocialyl worked for CatholicCare, she has been an essential member of staff and worked closely with both the school and families to support students over a number of years. We wish Hannah all the best for the future.

We have been provided with a small increase in Counselling hours next year and we look forward to welcoming a new Counsellor to the St John the Apostle Community.

Finally, I could spend many paragraphs thanking individuals and groups for their contributions to our school over the course of this year but I think that I would just like to say thank you to everyone for everything we have achieved this year as a community. It is amazing that out of adversity we have responded so well to the challenges and achieved so much together. This is what community is about. Together.

Bless you all and your families this coming Christmas and holidays. May you have hope, peace, joy and love throughout the school break.

Keep conneced via Schoolzine for any updates before school returns on Monday February 1 2021 for all students.

God Bless,