Dear St John the Apostle families,

Have we been at school for only 2 and half weeks? We've achieved so much already! I shouldn't be surprised. We've worked very, very hard. It always takes a lot of effort by many people to start the year well.

Thank you to our wonderful staff who prepared to present to our parents at our Parent Information Night. They spent a great deal of time considering what parents would need to hear from them and they loved meeting everyone.

Thank you to our fantastic Community Council who prepared the BBQ on Tuesday evening. It was lovely to have that time available for parents to chat together. Our Community Council AGM is coming up in two weeks and all are invited to attend.

Thank you also to the many parents who helped at our swimming carnival today and to our Coordinator, Ms Mel Watson-Gardner, for planning the entire event. It was a great day with lots of smiles.

Carpark

We're reviewing many of our routines at St John's. We have a team of staff who are working through them one by one and looking at how we can improve them to make them safer or more engaging or more efficient. Whichever is needed most.

One of the routines we are looking at is the dismissal in the car park each afternoon. We know we can't make big changes very quickly, like adding new entrances and exits. These are part of long term plans. We can, however, make a few small changes in the immediate future.

Through our review our teachers on duty have identified some challenges they experience. For example:

• We love that people stay around and chat together. We do want that to keep happening. Absolutely. We also find that the students who need to be sitting and waiting for the drive through sometimes get confused about whether they can get up and play with the children of families who are chatting together. It becomes hard for teachers to supervise them, locate them and get them into their cars to keep the pick up zone moving for everyone. We need the children being picked up in the drive through to be sitting and ready to make it a smooth and safe transition.
• The same teachers sometimes notice that occasionally parents will park across from the pick up zone, stay in their car and instead try to call their child to run across to them. I can tell you, the heart of every teacher on duty skips a beat when they spot a child running across the drive through lanes to their parents, particularly when there is a near miss between a moving car and a child.
• Occasionally parents see their child's teacher on duty and take the opportunity to talk to them about something particular to their child. The teacher wants to have a conversation and help but they know they are also responsible for the safety of the children in the car park. They feel very torn.

The car park after school is a hive of activity, involving moving cars, meeting families and little children. Some parents have the time that day to catch up, some parents need to pick up and run off to another activity. There are lots of competing needs.

Teachers have a legal responsibility called 'duty of care' for children. They take it very, very seriously. Parents expect us to keep children safe when at school, including in the car park until they get picked up. 

Over the next few weeks you might notice a few changes to how we organise students and staff supervision in the car park that will help make the routine of car park pick up much safe and smoother for everyone. Our priority must be the children in our care.

We would love for you to work with us to ensure every child is safe and ready for when you swing by to pick them up. 

Keep your ears and eyes open to the small changes. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for improvements you are more than welcome to send them directly to me via email matthew.garton@cg.catholic.edu.au . Child safety is a community responsibility and your help goes a long way to making every day safe for our children.

School Fees

Catholic Education have informed me that the school fees will be sent out this coming week. As you would be aware, school fees have been centralised through Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn (CECG) and are no longer sent out directly from us. They will appear through your Compass parent portal.

We are still seeking a replacement for our Finance Officer. Ordinarily our Finance Officer manages all Fee remission applications. Thank you to those families who have applied. We will be in touch next week regarding the process.

Thank you for your patience.

God Bless,

Matthew Garton

Principal