St John the Apostle Primary School

From the Principal

Dear St John the Apostle Community,

This week we celebrated Reconciliation Week. Thank you to Mrs Stewart and the Year 6 leaders who prepared a beautiful liturgy, included a self-choreographed dance, for us all.

Everyone spent time learning a little more about the meaning behind each of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags as well as important historical events such as the referendum of 1967 and apology to the stolen generations. Lastly, they walked with their buddies through our school grounds together to show their support for all actions of reconciliation.

Disco Fever

Thank you all who assisted with last night's disco. It was a great success. Thank you to Mr Ganley as DJ and to every parent who assisted. Again, many of our Year 6 students displayed fantastic leadership and came early to help dance with the younger students. Thank you all.

School Psychologist

I am pleased to announce that we will be adding a new staff member to our

Wellbeing & Diversity Team from Term 3. Along with SFX and St Thomas Aquinas we have employed a School Psychologist who will spend a portion of each week at each school to support the needs of its students. She will be working directly with students, conducting assessments and also assisting teachers in implementing the recommendations in reports from external assessments. She will bring a wealth of knowledge to the team and we look forward to her insight.

West Belconnen Child & Family Centre

On Monday morning I visited the West Belconnen Child & Family Centre at Kippax to learn a little more about the services they offer to families. When I walked in it was so incredibly warm, friendly and welcoming. I met one of the intake workers, Michelle, who was very, very helpful and who introduced me to the many programs they offer.

Did you know that you can simply drop-in? When you do, a trained professional will sit with you, listen to you and help either connect you to a service they offer or to another service they know of that will meet your need. This can lead to one-to-one support with Child and Family Workers. The service is free of charge. While the services focus on birth to 8 years old there are select services on offer to children up to 12 years old.

The West Belconnen Child and Family Centre offers advice around:

general parenting
adjusting to being a parent
family relationship issues
your child's behaviour development

Location: 6 Luke Street, Holt
Phone: (02) 6205 2904

If you would like to know a little more about the services they provide we have some of their pamphlets available in the Front Office area. I would encourage anyone with young children and who is looking for support to make contact with them and see what they can do for you.

Have a lovely long weekend.

Matthew Garton (Principal)