It was a joy to read all students reports over the past few weeks as they were prepared for sending home. All of our students are making wonderful gains in their learning. Sometimes the first Semester can be a challenge for students as they grapple with greater expectations and more challenging curriculum. It's all part of the journey and it's always important to celebrate any achievements along the way.

Building a positive school culture...the journey continues

Over the last four years of working at St John the Apostle we have experienced very positive results on our parent, staff and student annual surveys.

One of the few areas that both parents and staff have identified that we could work further on (i.e. moving from good to great) is around managing challenging behaviour. This has been part of our Annual Improvement Plan for a number of years and the fruit of our work is in the policies, routines and practices we now have in supporting positive behaviour and increasing student engagement in their learning. There have been many comments made this year about the positive behaviour of our students while on excursion, when we have visitors, in assemblies, prayer and generally in classrooms.

Supporting positive behaviour and social interactions for students at St John the Apostle remains a priority. We know that children who, over many years, learn to have confidence in themselves, self-regulate their emotions and thoughts, express their needs productively and manage conflict will experience greater opportunities for success. We want to continue to be a school that provides students with the supports to grow in these areas.

Next week we welcome Mr Ian Luscombe, consultant in building exceptional behaviour in schools. He comes with a wealth of experience and recommendations to support us in our continuing journey to build a positive school culture and support positive student behaviour.

Ian supports schools to establish a whole school system of behaviour, embed a culture of positive interactions, and develop a school climate where the well-being of students (social, behavioural and learning) informs a teacher’s interactions with them.

We expect that Ian will both reinforce and challenge us and the students and we really look forward to the positive impact his work will have for our school and students. Parents can expect that there may be a few changes to our practices next term as a result of our work with Ian. We will communicate these well in advance.

School Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews

Just a reminder that Semester One Student Reports went home on Wednesday. As mentioned in previous Newsletters, we are transitioning to new reporting software across our system and our school reports don't allow for comments this semester. We are holding Parent-Teacher Interviews next week. The booking system for these is currently open at the following link:

Parent-Teacher Interview Booking - Term 2, 2021

Please note that bookings close this Sunday at 5.00pm.

Communication is an important part of maintaining relationships between home and school. This is a perfect opportunity to connect with your child's teacher and tune in to how they are going. Please do book in. If you have any trouble in booking then please contact the Front Office and Leanne will assist in making your booking.

Enrolments for 2022

We are still accepting enrolments for 2022.

If you have a child currently in pre-school and will be enrolling them for Kindergarten then please do so as soon as possible. Please go to our school website to lead you through how to do this or contact Leanne at the Front Office with any questions.