Principal's Corner
Dear Families,
I always love the start of the school year, this year especially as I am feeling blessed to have joined this wonderful community. The energy and enthusiasm were evident as we welcomed everyone back on Tuesday, refreshed and ready for all this year will bring. The staff have been here for nearly two weeks now, working hard to ensure every student has many great learning experiences.
I offer a warm welcome to all our new staff, students and families. It’s great to have you as a member of our St John’s family. I hope your time with us is rewarding and enjoyable.
Whether you are a student or parent, guardian or grandparent, a new family or returning one, I look forward to the contribution you will each make this year. I also offer you my full support and invite you to contact me should you wish to discuss any matter.
Annual Improvement Plan
Our Vision
We are on earth the heart of God.
Our Mission
To be united in love, truth and courage
You may be interested in our strategic priorities for 2025. Staff will continue to work hard in all areas, however, we will especially focus on three priorities this year.
Key Improvement Goals
- Student growth and development is driven by faith filled deep care for and an inclusive understanding for each student’s needs.
- Our teaching and learning model are informed by the Science of Learning, aligned with robust data collection and analysis that identifies student achievement and need.
- Students gain deep and powerful understandings and skills through engagement in a coherent, rich and sequenced curriculum leading to mastery, creative thinking and collaboration.
Staff Are Learners Too…
I would like to acknowledge the dedication of all staff during the last couple of weeks. There have been endless hours of planning programs, updating information and preparing classrooms to ensure that your children have a smooth start to the 2025 school year. Staff have also been involved in professional learning, reflection and dialogue, and we are looking forward to implementing some great new initiatives.
2025 Staff
A special welcome to colleagues joining us this year:
- Caroline Stewart joins our staff as a full-time teacher in One Blue
- Julia Dunstan joins our staff as a full-time teacher in Year One Maroon
- Cara Clarke joins our staff on Six Blue for four days a week
- Lilly Eastman will be teaching in Two Maroon on Wednesday and in Four Maroon Monday and Tuesday.
- Clem Van Vuuren will be teaching Spanish on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and relief teaching on Thursday and Friday.
- Sharon Hardy joins our staff as a relief teacher, working four days.
We are also blessed to be serving alongside Fr Chung and Fr Tru and supporting the School Parish. Fr Tru will join us for our Opening School Mass held at St John the Apostle Church in Kippax. I have assured Fr Chung and Fr Tru that we will continue to support them in their role as Spiritual Leaders of our Parish Community.
Parent Information Night and Meet and Greet – For all families
All families are encouraged to join us next Tuesday 11th February. Our format this year will be the same as the last couple of years.
5.00pm - Welcome Address – Principal Jo Reed
5.30pm - Session 1 in classrooms – Classroom Teachers
6.00pm - Session 2 – Repeated Session in classrooms – Classroom Teachers
6.30pm - We will provide a BBQ sausage. Drinks and zooper doopers will be sold on the evening from the Canteen.
7.00pm - Pack-up and conclude
The students are not to play inside the school during this time as it may disturb the presentations in the classroom. The students may play outside or be with their parents during the information sessions.
This is a great way to meet your child’s teacher and get to know other families. All welcome.
If any parents can assist with cooking sausages and selling drinks, it would be greatly appreciated; please contact the Front Office on 62583592.
Newsletter every Friday!
The newsletter will come through via the COMPASS app each Friday. I encourage all families to install the COMPASS app on your smart phone and/or Tablet.
Please update your preferences to ensure you receive messages for the correct class and year level. This is done by opening the COMPASS app, going to the settings tab, and sliding on the appropriate buttons.
School Community Council AGM Wednesday 19th February at 6.00pm
We invite all parents to come along to our first School Council (SCA SC) meeting for the year. The Community Council provides an important leadership role in our school by undertaking an advisory role in policy and finance matters, and a hands-on role in community building and school promotion.
We are seeking a new member for the executive (Chair) and non-executives (parent representative) capacity. If you would like to be involved in your child’s school, and you can meet twice a term (at 6pm on Wednesdays in Weeks 3 and 8 of each Term) please consider nominating yourself and joining us in the staffroom on Wednesday 19th February.
Terms of office are usually set at 2 years, so no one should feel they are committing themselves for life! Please see the nomination form further in the newsletter.
We are on Facebook. Search St John the Apostle Primary School, Florey on Facebook.
Safety Plans
Our school’s safety plans rely on us having correct and up to date contact and medical details for every child. Please ensure you inform the school of any updated personal information as a matter of priority.
School Fees and Remissions
School fee invoices will be sent home shortly. Parents facing real difficulties paying are encouraged to apply for fee remissions. Any applications for fee relief must be made annually. Forms are available from the front office.
Student Safety
The start of the school year is a particularly busy time in our school carparks and surrounding streets. To help keep students safe when making their way to and from school, please ensure you drive and park safely and legally, at and around, school grounds. We all have an important role to play in supporting road safety. Access Canberra has notified us that mobile speed and parking vans will be in operation to support our students’ safety. These enforcement teams play a critical role in supporting our students getting to and from school safely and we thank them for their ongoing support. In addition to sticking to the speed limit, please remember to park safely – including not parking across pedestrian crossings, in no stopping zones, on corners, verges and double parking. Unsafe and illegal parking can reduce visibility of our students and motorists to see each other, creating a significant hazard when students cross the road. Let’s work together to keep our kids safe.
Finally, I thank you for your efforts in preparing your children so well for what has been a smooth start to the year. Our theme for 2025 is “Pilgrams of Hope”, and we will reflect more on this in coming newsletters. With this in mind, we look forward to the year ahead and I wholeheartedly offer my support to you as we walk together in the education of your sons and daughters.
Blessings to you and your family.
Jo Reed
Principal