Dear St John's families,

Welcome back to Term 4. It was a delight to see all of the students and staff on Monday. As they put on their summer uniform again it can often bring home just how much they have grown since they last wore it.

Thank you to our Uniform Shop parent volunteers Belinda, Michael and Wanda who opened up for families in preparation for Term 4 and have also been ordering and organising stock in preparation for 2023. I know that so many of us appreciate the amazing work they do supporting families in our school.

Congratulations Ms Brown

It's with pleasure that I inform the community that Ms Rebekah Brown recently underwent a very successful Contract Review & Renewal process as Assistant Principal at St John the Apostle and was re-appointed to the position for a further four years.

Rebekah is an outstanding leader in our school. Students, staff and parents easily and clearly describe the positive impact she has had on their time at St John the Apostle. Rebekah is a coach, mentor, listener, supporter, planner, doer and all with great care and compassion for everyone she works with.

I would like to thank Rebekah for her exceptional contribution to our school community and I look forward to many great years ahead as we continue to shape our school to be on earth the heart of God.

New carpets

The last of our classrooms in the main building were re-carpeted over the school holidays. Now every child's classroom has new carpet that is clean and fresh and that is specially designed to be sound absorbing. Quite a number of our students experience high sensitivity to noise and the carpet helps to dull that sound just a little for them. It's just one of the many small ways we try to create an inclusive school environment for our students.

Playground update

It's all happening as far as our playground is concerned. The new playground equipment is currently in production and we're expecting installation late October or early November. We tried to begin removal of the old equipment during the school holidays but the amount of rain has caused the trucks to get bogged on the ovals. We hope, after less rain and a few dry days, to undertake this as soon as possible.

Next week we will go to tender for developing the remainder of the playground areas between the OSHClub building and along the back of the school through to the senior playground. The junior oval is remaining. We will introduce a new sandpit, natural play spaces that includes a balancing course and a few towers for students to play in under the gum trees. We are also creating a dry creek bed and paths for exploration. I look forward to sharing the plans with you shortly. Once the tender process is complete we will know when this development work will take place. We hope that it will begin during the Christmas school holidays.

In Rebekah Brown's column below she will outline some of the coming fundraising activities occurring. All our fundraising work will contribute to the playground development project for students.

Parent Forum

On Wednesday 26 October our Community Council will host an open forum with guest presenter Ian Luscombe. Ian is a positive behaviour consultant we work closely with to assist us in supporting positive school wide behaviour here at St John the Apostle. On that evening we will also have wine, cheese, tea, coffee and the opportunity to chat with a few other parents. Please look out for information in Monday on how to register for the evening.

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend.

Matthew Garton

Principal