Dear St John's families,

Thank you to all who visited their children for Learning Journeys this week. It was nice to speak to families as they strolled through the school and hear students proudly share their learning. I hope everyone enjoyed the colourful displays by our Visual Arts teacher, Ms Veronica Ellis. Thank you also to the teachers and students for preparing for this time of sharing.

End of Year Family Picnic

Last year we held a family picnic at school for our end of year celebrations. Year levels performed a variety of Christmas songs for everyone and families could sit around on rugs and chairs enjoying the performances and eating together.

We had such good feedback about this that we've booked in to do it again! We invite all of our families to come together once again on Thursday 7th December to celebrate the year that was. The Community Council are also planning to help make it a special night. Please hold the date and we'll give you more information early in the term.

Talent Quest

I'm really looking forward to the Talent Quest next Friday, our last day of term. I love learning something new about our students. It's also just a lot of fun. It reminds me of my own children, in their much younger years, and their lounge room performances for my wife and I. We had to develop two rules for them. Firstly, it had to be rehearsed, and secondly, it had to have a finale. This way they didn't just keep going on and on to a captive audience.

Sharing Best Practice

Last Saturday some of our staff attended a conference called Sharing Best Practice. Educators from across the ACT and NSW came together to share their experiences and successes in implementing high impact teaching practice. It was affirming to hear schools doing a lot of what we have already implemented, and gave us great enthusiasm to continue on the journey of creating the best possible learning opportunities for our students.

Thank you for your partnership.

Matthew Garton

Principal