Dear St John the Apostle families,

Today is Remembrance Day. Our students were led through a beautiful service by our Year 6 students. I'd like to thank the students, teachers and parents involved for ensuring that this day is marked reflectively and respectfully. We remember all of our families who have members that serve in our defence forces or have had members serve in times past. Thank you to those who have served, particularly in war, so that we all may live with the privileges we do now.

Below is a video that has been used with a few classes this week. It provides a short explanation about why we commemorate Remembrance Day.

Student Reports and Parent Teacher Conferences

Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn (CECG) have informed schools that general comments will not occur on the Semester 2, 2022 reports. A Semester Report will be sent home as in previous semesters, providing A-E grading and attendance information. CECG’s position is to prioritise Parent/Teacher Meetings occurring during Term 4. These meetings provide an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress, their strengths, challenges and future areas of focus. Our Parent/Teacher Meetings will take place in the week of 5-9 December and we will provide booking advice in coming weeks. 

Technology use for young children

Occasionally in the older year levels we see friendship issues spill over into unhealthy after school chats and messaging using technology. As a parent of teenagers I'm very aware that children's interactions don't end at the home bell any more and can continue 24/7 with access to technology. In these instances there are two conversations that are needed:

1. How can we help children to continue developing positive friendship skills and practices that can be used face to face and online?
2. How can we teach them to use technology to enhance their friendships and relationships?

The first is one we address at school from Kindergarten through to Year 6 in many ways, including our SEL program. The second is one we have much less control over. It happens after school using family and personal devices at home.

The second conversation we can all work together on. We recognise that parents must make their own decisions about the expectations and rules for technology and social media/messaging platform use in the home. It can also be hard to know what the issues are and what needs to be considered when deciding if your child should have access to these commonplace digital technologies. They can be used so positively and at the same time, with lack of understanding and misuse, they can be used harmfully.

The esafety commissioner has a collection of great resources for parents in determining when your child is ready for technology and social media/messaging app use. I highly encourage parents and carers to look at the esafety parents page to obtain useful advice. Two particularly helpful pages are:

• Are they old enough? Advice for parents on determining a child's readiness for a smartphone or social media account.
• The e Safety Guide A pages that outlines many of the apps and platforms available to children and the best ways for parents to ensure children are safe in using them.

If you have any questions or concerns over your child's use of digital technology outside of school to maintain relationships with friends please don't hesitate to touch base with your child's teacher or contact me directly and we'll assist where we can.

Thank you for working together to create the best possible education for your child.

Matthew Garton

Principal

Reminder: Planning for 2023 - Classes

Teachers are forming the classes for students for 2023. We have asked all students to name three of their peers/friends they would work well with in the classroom. As we begin to create the class lists for 2023 we try to ensure that at least one of the nominated children are in their class with them.

Our goal is to ensure that every student has the best opportunity for learning each year and many aspects of student development are taken into account when forming classes. We seek to balance student needs for both support and extension, their social and emotional strengths and challenges as well as any shared interests.

Each year I ask parents to let me know if they have any important information they would like considered when organising classes for the next year. Whilst the current teachers draft the classes, I look through each list and have the final say over student class placements. We then let students know their class and teacher in the final week of term.

If you would like me to consider particular information regarding your child's class placement for 2023 please email me directly (Matthew.Garton@cg.catholic.edu.au). This information will remain confidential to me. Teachers for each year level are finalised in a few weeks time. Therefore I don't accept requests for specific teachers.