Dear St John's families,

Early Wednesday morning I had the privilege of travelling with the Year 6 students to camp at Cooba Sport & Education Centre, 2 hours from Canberra, a little past Cooma.

I stayed with them all day at the Dalgety river, participting in canoeing (thank you to Rose H and Anabelle T who were the dream team to share a canoe with), raft building (where students worked together to make a raft they could float down the river with) and team games. I then stayed overnight, helping them to settle and sleep.

What I love about our Year 6 camp is watching the students learn about themselves and each other. Throughout camp they are involved in very collaborative, outdoor problem soving challenges that can only be completed as a team. It is amazing to see which children step forward to lead and more importantly, how they lead. Sometimes the more 'popular' students are less likely to take the lead for fear of getting things wrong in front of their peers. Sometimes the quieter, logical students come to the fore, confident in their own capacity to understand what is needed. Sometimes we are really surprised to see the stamina of students for challenging physical effort, but also surprised in who finds it difficult to persist when the challenge requires hard work.

In short, we learn a lot about ourselves and each other at Year 6 camp. Students are almost always pleasantly surprised by their own achievements, building their confidence. Having seen each other in a new context they have a new understanding of each other's strengths and, I like to think, a new level of respect for each other.

Thank you to the staff who attended the camp and supported students in gaining the most from the experience, including Mrs Stewart, Mrs Fear, Miss Eastman, Mr Biilmann and Mrs Ronneberg. I would particularly like to thank Mr Seaman (6 Maroon teacher) who planned and coordianted the entire event.

Early Thursday morning I drove to school to be there in time to watch students receive the first Mastery Awards for the year. What a lovely way to start the day as a community. Thank you to Ms Brown who then travelled to Cooba to spend the second night and final day with the students. We both like to have an opportunity to spend time with Year 6 on camp.

Community Council 2024

Are you interested in being part of our Community Council in 2024? It's a fantastic group who help to build our community and shape the direction of our school.

Next Wednesday 28 February at 6.00pm we will hold our Community Council AGM in the school library. It is an open meeting and all community members and friends are welcome to attend.

The Community Council is an excellent way to be involved and connected to what is happening in the school. We meet on a Wednesday evening twice each term. If you are interested and would like to know more you can read about our Community Council on our school website or talk to one of the Community Council members listed there. You are also welcome to reach out to me and I will happily answer any questions or connect you with a current Community Council member to speak with.

God Bless,

Matthew Garton

Principal