Dear St John's families,

We've had a lovely first week of Term 2. Staff worked hard over the school holidays to prepare for students' return.

During the Pupil Free Day on Monday we covered some very important areas of professional learning, including learning about:

• sexualised behaviours in pre- and primary age children and how to support them in maintaining positive, respectful relationships among family and friends. We learnt what is age appropriate, what might be a little concerning and what might indicate a child has likley experienced trauma. Most importantly we refreshed our knowledge in teaching Protective Behaviours, an abuse prevention program that has been taught in schools across Australia since the 1980s. Next week I will write in a little more detail about this and recommend resources for parents.
• the experiences of students who are learning English as an Additional Language/Dialect (EAL/D). These multilingual students often need support to assist them in learning many areas of the curriculum as they use their developing understanding of English to learn science, history, geography, mathematics, etc. We learnt about the cultural backgrounds of many of these multilingual students in our school and how to support their learning every day in the classroom.

Welcome to all of our new students across the school. It's a joy to see them all finding friends very quickly. Welcome also to our new staff members Mrs Sun and Mr Lawalata. It feels as though they have been here for a very long time! Welcome back Mrs Dess. Students are thoroughly enjoying seeing you again.

Thank you to our parents and carers who have helped with preparing the Mothers Day gifts. Thank you to Belinda Clifford, Wanda Klinicki, Stephanie Juskevics, Sharon Schluter and Kellie Bradbury. These will be sent home next week.

Remembering our ANZACs

We had a beautiful ANZAC liturgy on Wednesday morning. Thank you to Casey Guidolin (father of Zane and Grace), Gene Wills (father of Jordan) and Glen Gallagher (father of Angus) for assisting in the commemoration.

Staffing changes for Term 2

Congratulations to Mrs Alison Ewyk who was appointed to a teaching position in Years 7/8 Humanities at SFX. Alison will finish her time with 5 Blue and St John the Apostle at the end of Week 4. It will be an excellent opportunity to share her expertise in History and English with older students. We wish her the very best in the future. We have already begun the process for appointing a new teacher to 5 Blue from Week 5 and will inform the 5 Blue families when this has been finalised.

If you pop in on a Friday you will see a familiar face! Leanne Griffiths, our Office Manager, will be working Monday to Thursday only and Debbie Milne, former Finance Officer, will be running the Front Office each Friday. Welcome back Mrs Milne! 

Working Bee this Sunday

This Sunday from 9.30am to 11.30am we have our Working Bee. Thank you to the families that have volunteered to come and help. We'll get a lot done!

We'll be mostly doing some garden tidy up and preparation. Most of the heavy jobs were completed by external providers during the school holidays. The Kitchen Garden is already ready for planting.

At 11.30am we'll have a little sausage sizzle to reward us for our morning's work. Children are welcome to come along and play while we work.

If you can help on Sunday please just register on at the following link so we can plan the sausage sizzle.

Enrolment Period

The 2025 Enrolment Period has begun. 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 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'm looking forward to a wonderful Term 2 together.

Matthew Garton

Principal