Dear St John the Apostle community,

Thank you everyone who attended the Christmas Family Picnic on Tuesday evening. It was a relaxed and fun event and we've had a lot of positive feedback. The best part for me was having everyone together on school grounds again. The children were wonderful and parents were so supportive. We look forward to repeating this next year. Thank you Mrs Macdonald for preparing our students.

Another return to normality was the Kindergarten Nativity on Thursday morning. Through action and song Kindergarten retold the age old story of the birth of Jesus. Not only were they outstanding actors and singers, they performed in front of a large gathering of school and families. It was the first time we had assembled in the hall with parents for nearly 3 years. It was the best part of the day!

Yesterday 140 of our students celebrated having received 20 Brag Tag stickers across the term. By the end of each year every child has usually attended one of the Brag Tag celebrations we hold each term. It's an important way of acknowledging and thanking children for regularly making choices to follow our school expectations Respect Self, Respect Others and Respect the Environment. They received extra play time with bubbles, pavement chalk, sport equipment, bug catchers, freshly made popcorn and time with the school robotics equipment: spheros and ozobots. Well done to all of our students this year.

Student  Reports & Parent Teacher Interviews

Thank you parents who attended Parent Teacher Interviews following the distribution of the Student Reports. Catholic Education determined that no comments would be required in this sesmester's reports. Knowing that parents may have questions, we provided parents with the opportunity to discuss their child's report in Parent Teacher Interviews. It has been a nice way to celebrate each child's achievements for the year.

We have over 100 students on Personal Plans (PPs) and these students also received a PP Report where teachers wrote comments against the goals on each child's PP. These reports are unique to our school. They take a lot of time to draft, review and publish and I appreciate the work teachers do to provide these extra reports for families.

School Fees 2023

On Monday we will send out the School Fee schedule for 2023. As with most services the cost of fees has risen a small percentage for 2023 to accommodate rising running costs as well as wage costs. In total, the rise in fees is a little over $9 a fortnight for one child. Sibling discounts will continue, though these have also been adjusted slightly, and the 20% discount on the first child at St John's who has a sibling in a system secondary school will also continue. Our school fees include:

• CE Tuition Fee (determined by Catholic Education and consistent across every school)
• Student Resource Levy (determined by the school to cover the many costs of consumables, incursions, excursions, access to resources, some student technology replacement, etc)
• School Resource Levy (determined by the school to cover costs for maintaining grounds, utilities and cleaning, etc)
• Building Fund (determined by Catholic Education to provide maintenance support for buildings. As a result we are able to call upon electricians and plumbers at not cost to the school. In previous years we have been able to repaint the school. This year we have replaced heating in the hall and had our school re-carpeted because of this contribution).

There are some additional costs for older students:

• One-to-one Chromebook Contribution (a small costs for Years 4-6 families providing each student with a personal chromebook for use for three years. It can be used between home and school).
• Camps (Years 5 and 6 students attend a camp each year building independence, leadership and collaboration skills).

Most of the cost of schooling for each child is covered through government funding. However, due to lower government funding for non-government schools we are required to supplement costs with school fees. Catholic schools exist to serve a diverse range of students and to provide an option for families seeking a Catholic school education for their child. Our schools are open for all. It is the policy of Catholic Education that 'no child shall be denied a Catholic Education based on an inability to pay school fees'. When families are doing it tough and finding it challenging to pay school fees and wish their child to remain at our school we have a process to offer a reduction in fees. If you ever find yourself in this situation please do contact Debbie Milne, Finance Officer (Finance.sjaps@cg.catholic.edu.au) to enquire about how you can access this process. This can be done any time, the earlier the better.

Classroom Teachers 2023

It is with pleasure that I announce which teachers are teaching in each class next year.

• KM: Miss Lily Kennelly
• KB: Ms Mel Watson (4 days)/ Mrs Rebecca Neiberding (1 day)
• 1M: Mr James Doepel
• 1B: Ms Charlie McIver
• 2M: Mrs Beth Fear (4 days)/ Ms Kate Macdonald (1 day)
• 2B: Ms Mary-Ann Fraser
• 3M: Mr Ryan Spencer
• 3B: Mrs Rebecca Stevenson
• 4M: Mrs Stephanie Stewart (3 days)/Mrs Bree Dess (2 days)
• 4B: Mrs Tabitha Wormald
• 5M: Mrs Serae Love
• 5B; Mrs Alison Ewyk
• 6M: Mr Brett Seaman
• 6B: Mrs Sarah Collins

Specialist teachers will include Mrs Emma Alcock (Librarian), Kate Macdonald (Performing Arts) and Lauren Hudson (Physical Education). We are yet to replace Mrs Kirsty Vera for Spanish and so we will teach Physical Education to all classes as a specialist subject while we obtain a new Spanish Teacher.

We welcome Ms Mary-Ann Fraser to our teaching team. Ms Fraser is a very experienced teacher who has most recently taught at St Patrick's in Cooma and brings a wealth of expertise to our K-2 team.

Classes have been finalised and this Wednesday afternoon students will be informed of their classes for next year and will have an afternoon with their 2023 teacher. At the beginning of the year we will also invite those students who require an additional transition time to visit their classes prior to school starting.

In addition, our teachers will hold transition meetings throughout next week. These meetings will provide the opportunity for their current teacher to pass on vital information to next year's teacher.

Matthew Garton

Principal

Fete - Volunteer Sign Up, Pre-Orders and Donations

Our School Fete is taking place on Friday 10th February (Week 2, Term 1). Thank you so much to the families who have already donated items to the Fete. We are now asking for community members to volunteer their time on the day of the Fete. There are 12 stalls that we need volunteer support for on the day. They are as follows:

• Cake stall
• Tombola
• BBQ
• Chocolate Toss
• Curries and Pastas
• Drinks
• Fairy Floss and Popcorn
• Pizza
• Wine Fridge
• Second Hand Book Stall
• Gelato
• Show bags

There are also time slots to help with set up and pack up. All we ask is if you could volunteer one hour of your time on a stall through out the evening! Please click the below link to sign up:

Fete Volunteer Sign Up

Donations via QKR
We understand that it is a busy time of year for everyone. We have now set up an option for families who wish to make a donation to the Fete via QKR instead of going out and purchasing the suggested items. The Fete Committee will use the money to purchase items such as chocolate blocks for the Chocolate Toss. You can find this option in QKR under the heading School Fete. 

Pre-Orders 2023

All pre-orders are now avaiable on QKR!

Fete Four – Your child can get a sausage sandwich, drink, zooper dooper and coloured hairspray without having to carry around any money!

Ride Wristband – Enjoy unlimited rides on the Storm   Ride, Teacups, Giant Slide and beat your friends at Mini Golf or Soccer Shoot Out! 

________________________________________________________________

Orders must be placed via Qkr by WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY

• Orders may be placed for students, adults, family, and friends.
• If you wish to pay in cash, volunteers will be selling pre-order items before school in the week leading up to the fete.
• Prepaid fete fours will be collected at the information stall from 4pm on the fete day.
• Prepaid ride wrist bands may be collected from the ride operators on the oval on fete day.
• Ride wristbands purchased on the day will be $30 each or $6 per ride.

Transition Survey - Last Chance to Complete

Thank you to all of the parents who have filled out the transition survey. We now have over 130 completed surveys. We will stop collecting transition surveys on Monday! If you haven't already we would love for you to complete one about your child. 

Please find the transition survey as a Google Form at the following link:

Rebekah Brown

What students are learning about

Happy birthday to Jordi M, Blake W, Emry W, Alaina S, Toby F, Bailee K, Ngawang C, Kyler A, Matilda M, Aarzah S, Claire B and Hayley B who all celebrated a birthday over the last week.

School Fees

School fees are past due. Prompt payment would be appreciated.

If you are paying by direct debit please ensure you have covered your school fees by the end of the year.

Below is the annual sibling discount form.

If you have children attending another CE systemic secondary school, please complete the sibling discount form so the correct discount may be applied to your school fees account in 2023.

Failure to complete and return will mean families will miss out on the discount.

 If you have any queries regarding your school fees account please contact our finance officer, Debbie Milne via email finance.sjaps@cg.catholic.edu.au