Dear St John's families,

Congratulations on a successful Term 1. What an amazing achievement! Thank you to our families and staff for working together to build a community where every student can grow and learn.

Thank you to the parents who helped our K-2 team to run our Cross Country Carnival today. It was a great way to end the term. We can't run events like this without your help.

Yesterday we enjoyed a performance by Sean Choolburra. Sean is an energetic and engaging performer who presents traditional First Nations cultural information through humour, music and dance. Students had a fantastic time.

Staffing in Term 2

Mrs Bree Dess, accompanied by Ms Emma Alcock, will teach 5 Maroon from the beginning of Term 2. We welcome back Bree from her leave. Emma will continue to teach every class valuable literature and research knowledge and skills in the library each week as well. Her passion as a teacher-librarian is infectious among students and staff alike.

We welcome Ms Ming Sun as our new Finance Officer from the beginning of Term 2. Ming has worked in finance in another school, she brings a great deal of experience and knowledge to the role. She is looking forward to working in our community. Ming will have a little catching up to do so I ask that we all give her a little space to find her feet in the first few weeks.

We will also welcome Mr Iwann Lawalata as our new Janitor Groundsperson. Iwan is a member of our local Belconnen community and is also very pleased to be joining us. He will be starting during the school holiday period. Please help him feel welcome if you see him around the school when you visit.

Sadly, we farewell Mr Stewart McDonald as our Student Welfare Officer. Only this week Stewart has found an opportunity to work as a Classroom Support Assistant at a local school from the beginning of next term. Stewart has been an integral part of the school community and support system for students for quite a few years. His warmth, genuine concern for students, artistic prowess and humour will be missed. We wish him all the best in his new role and thank him for his contributions to the lives of our students and staff.

Working Bee

On Sunday 5 May we will hold a Working Bee at school to do a little spruce up before our Open Days later the following week. Held between 9.30am and 11.30am we will have two hours of hands on work helping touch up the gardens. Many hands make light work so please come along and give two hours of your time. We'll put on a sausage sizzle at the end to feed the hungry workers before heading home. Children are welcome to come and help with simple tasks or play on the playground while you are helping. If you can assist please register your name at the following link (particularly to help us buy the right amount of sausages!).

Enrolment Period

The 2025 Enrolment Period is coming up at the beginning of Term 2. If you have a child ready for Kindergarten next year now is the time to submit an enrolment form. If your child is heading to Year 7 next year then please be sure to submit your enrolment form for SFX within the enrolment window to ensure your child will have a place there.

Parents are a great support for maintaining enrolments in a schools. If you know of any families that are curious about enrolling in our school please do encourage them to visit during one of our tour times next term. They are also very welcome to talk to me about how we can assist their child in their schooling journey.

I wish everyone a restful and peaceful school holidays and look forward to the return of our students on Tuesday 30 April!

Matthew Garton

Principal