Dear St John's families,

We had a very busy week this week!

Today many of our students participated in Walk Safely to School Day. Thank you to Ms Kennelly and Ms McIver for organising this opportunity opportunity for a fun start to the day and thank you to the many staff members and parents who walked with the students.

There are so many ways students can travel to and from school at St John the Apostle. We are very fortunate to our access to many local paths, bike routes and buses.

Have you seen the map by the back school gate? It was developed as part of the Active Streets program several years ago. It outlines the best pathways for children to travel safely to school, particularly if parents want to drive only a part way and children walk for part of it too.

We also have access to a large number of designated school bus services that support families. The following suburbs have bus services that transport children to and from our school:

• Florey
• Kippax
• Holt
• Higgins
• Macgregor
• Latham
• Charnwood
• Dunlop
• Evatt
• Gungahlin
• Ngunnawal
• Casey
• Nicholls
• Spence
• Melba
• Fraser
• Aranda
• Cook
• Weetangera
• Hawker

If you want to learn more about the different ways students can travel to and from school then please visit the following Schools Program site and select our school from the drop down box. You'll find the map of safe walking and cycle paths as well as all of the relevant bus timetables.

Teaching Child Safety (Part 2)

Last week I mentioned that there are two main themes that are repeatedly talked about throughout the Protective Behaviours program we teach:

I outlined a few key concepts from the first theme:

• Safety is a continuum - safety is not a binary. We often accept some risk when it is fun and we have some control over the situation, e.g. watching a scary movie.
• Early warning signs - our bodies sometimes give us signs that we are feeling at risk or unsafe, e.g. butterflies.
• Unsafe secrets -  are those that my parents don't know, feel 'wrong' or 'unsafe', where somebody might get hurt. Safe secrets, or 'surprises', are okay because no one will get hurt and usually the right people know about it.

We also teach the difference between 'public' and 'private'. In particular we identify that there are public and private parts to our bodies. We name the private parts so that everyone is clear about them. For boys this is the penis, bottom and testicles. For girls it is the breasts, vagina and bottom. For boys and girls the mouth is also a private part.

A good indication of our public and private parts is the clothing we wear. We have public and private clothing (e.g. underwear is private clothing).

No one sees or touches our private body parts without a good reason and our permission (e.g. a doctor has to examine us). 

We extend this to include public and private information in an online environment. This is an important component of being safe online.

The last important concept we teach from our first theme is that of 'personal space'. There are different levels of personal spaces bubbles - that imaginary space we create around ourselves. Everybody can decide for themselves who they let into the different space bubbles.

The different levels of personal space bubbles space include:

Personal Space bubble

• • This is personal and private
  • No one touches you without your permission
  • We don’t keep secrets about touching without permission

Kiss, cuddle and squeeze bubble

• • This is for special people (close family members or carers) who you love, are close to and know well
  • They can only do this with your permission
  • It's okay to say “no thanks” to anyone at any time - even mum, dad or a carer

Hug bubble

• • This might include extended family and friends you know well and like to be around
  • They can only do this with your permission
  • It's okay to say “no thanks” to anyone at any time

High Five bubble

• • These are for people you know, but not as well as in the hug bubble
  • Only do it if you feel safe and comfortable
  • It might include contact such as a high five, side hug or handshake
  • It's okay to say “no thanks’ and move away

Wave bubble

• • This includes people you might know but not as well as the hug bubble, e.g. neighbour, shop assistant, postie
  • You usually say “hello" but generally there's no touching

Stranger/do not touch bubble

• • This is for people you have never met before
  • We do not kiss, cuddle, squeeze, hug these people without your own and their consent
  • Sometimes thought you might need to ask a stranger in uniform to help with something
  • It might also include people you might know but you would never want them to touch you

We always explain that while it is important to be assertive about your own space bubbles, you must always respect other poeople's personal choices regarding their space bubbles. Everybody is different!

Next week I will share about the important concepts we teach for our second theme: Nothing is so awful that you can't talk with someone about it.

If you want to know more of how you can help your child understand how to stay safe  I encourage you to read the ACT Government's Protecting Your Kids: Personal Safety Education for Parents. 

Disability Parking 

At the front of our school are two parking spaces allocated to those who have a disability parking permit. Disability parking permits are provided by the ACT Government to people who need to park close, have extra space, use ramps, etc. in order to access public venues. Should they use regular parks they have an increased risk of injuring themselves, unlike the general population.

An observation I make in Canberra is that some members of the general population use these parks because 'their just running in' to the shops or other venues. That includes at our school. You never ever know when a person with a disability permit is going to pull up and need that park. There's never a 'right time' to park in a disability allocated parking space when one doesn't have a permit.

We have members of our community who have disability parking permits for a variety of personal reasons and they need those parks to access our school. 

If you are a person without a disability parking permit, please support our community by using the regular parks only whenever you come to school. It will likely make a huge difference to somebody and you won't even know it.

Enrolment Period - Fabulous Year 6!

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.

I would like to offer a big shout out to our Year 6 students who have led tours of families during the past week. They have been amazing. The feedback about their thoroughness, enthusiasm and honesty has been very, very positive! Thank you to those parents who encouraged and enabled their child to participate in this opportunity to show leadership and also serve their school.

Congratulations to our Year students who will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this evening. We look forward to celebrating this special moment together with them.

Matthew Garton

Principal