Dear St John the Apostle families,

We've been very fortunate to experience very few COVID positive cases this week where there may be accidental exposure for students and staff. Thank you for letting us know when your child has tested positive on a RAT. It helps us to support the community to stay healthy and well.

It has also been lovely to hear how relief staff and new staff are really enjoying coming to St John the Apostle each day. They have enjoyed working with all of our children and felt welcomed and supported by our staff. The words they use that resonate the most for me is how 'calm' and 'settled' everything is.

Schools are a hive of activity. I often describe them as places where you have to sprint as hard as you can for 10 weeks each term. Then, each holidays, spend a week to rest, taking the second week to prepare for the next sprint. As leaders in the school our excellent Executive Team focuses on organising our school with systems and processes that help keep us all moving at sustainable and achievable pace.

At my first meeting with the Executive Team in my first year at St John the Apostle I shared the following stanzas from a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

I have reminded us of this at the beginning of every year; the importance of being clear about our purpose and goals no matter what comes our way, striving to have integrity in our actions. While a number of situations have buffeted us over the years, I am so pleased that we have weathered these well, without loosing our direction, to continue to grow and learn together to be the best we can for our students and families, the best we can for our staff and to 'be on Earth the Heart of God'. 

Community Council AGM

A crucial part of our community is the Community Council, an elected body of staff

and community members who, where possible, represent the voices of our community in conversations about our school direction and growth. The Community Council holds a governance role and a pastoral role in helping to look after the community.

This year the Community Council will focus on three important areas:

1. Community - creating the opportunities to be together again and build connection between families and with the school
2. Fundraising - in our COVID impacted environment, finding ways to re-engage in fundraising activities alongside community building
3. Buildings and Facilities - supporting the school with the playground redevelopment project happening throughout the year

I encourage all community members to join us at our Community Council AGM this Wednesday 16 February at 6.30pm. It will be held online and a link will be sent out next Tuesday via Compass. Please see the Compass News Item that was sent out earlier this week for more information.

Strategic Plan and Annual Improvement Plan 2022

If you would like to see what 'big ideas' we are focusing on in our school this year you can find our Strategic Plan for 2021 to 2023 and our Annual Improvement Plan for 2022 on our school website.