Dear St John the Apostle community, 

Thank you to Mrs Alcock, Ms Macdonald and the library team that includes Ms Levi, Ms Monaghan and Mrs Tidy for their preparation and enthusiasm in celebrating Book Week. Thank you for creating the opportunity for students to listen to guest author Sami Bayly and be introduced to and celebrate a love of reading and books.

Thank you also to families who helped their child prepare for the Book Week dress up parade in the morning (I know how stressful and fun it can be) and to all of the teachers who provided laughter for students in the staff play.

The theme this year is 'read, grow, inspire' and staff have been sharing books that have been transformative in their lives. Books that have had impact on who they are today.

One of my favourite books is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. It is a long book punctuated by a lot of French language, which I have no idea how to read nor pronounce, and lengthy descriptions of Paris and the battle of Waterloo. It is so long and dense that I had to put it down half way through to have a break for a few months before picking it up again to finish it. Despite this, it is a book about deep love between people, self-sacrifice and the indisputable power of forgiveness. Reading it in my early twenties I learnt a great deal from this book that I carry today and, having read the entire story in fullness, I also have a very deep appreciation of the music and story in the film and stage adaptations. It has shaped a part of who I am.

What books have shaped you? They needn't be long, nor dramatic, they may have just have touched you deeply, for some reason, at a particular time in your life. I encourage you to read to or with your children and help them find books that help shape who they are. They will only ever be grateful for you doing this and will likely go on to love reading as adults.

Explicit Instruction and the impact on NAPLAN

The nation's NAPLAN results were released this week and the ACT, and particularly Catholic schools, featured in some reports as we are now beginning to see the significant positive impact that our system's focus on explicit instruction in English and Maths is having in our schools.

At our own school we are seeing the first of many excellent results for our work. This year we have experinced a significant increase in the number of high achieving students in Reading and Spelling in Years 3 and 5, two areas where we have worked very hard to introduce explicit instruction across our whole school. 

NAPLAN isn't the most important indicator of student achievement. We have many forms of assessment throughout the school year, to help us monitor and support student learning. For us, NAPLAN confirms where we know our students are succeeding and where we know we need to focus more of our teaching.

We're pleased with our NAPLAN results this year. Every year we have been steadily improving the results of our school and we continue to move forward thanks to the leadership of the Executive staff, the hard work of our teachers and the focussed support by our inclusion staff. I'd like to thank them all for their continued commitment to excellent teaching at St John the Apostle Primary School.

Thank you to all of our families. We love working in partnership with you to help your children grow and become all they can be.

Matthew Garton

Principal

What an amazing book week it has been!!!

The students loved the scavenger hunt on Monday and thoroughly enjoyed Sami Bayly visiting us. 

The grand finale of book week was today. We had a wonderful time this morning on the rainbow top for our book parade. So many wonderful costumes everywhere! Lastly, the famous teacher's play was a hit with all of the kids. They did a great rendition of "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. 

Thank you to Mrs Emma Alcock, Mrs Kate MacDonald, Mrs Lisa Tidy and Mrs Kelly Levi for all of their organisation. 

Spelling Mastery and Maths Mastery Awards

Today, many of our wonderful students received Spelling Mastery and Maths Mastery Awards!

Support your child in their learning!

Rebekah Brown

Catholic Life and Reflection

Another week has flown by. St John’s has been a bustling place as it always is.  Year 6 had a class mass. Year 4 worked out the Titanic is as long as our whole playground!  Year 5 continued exploring the Solar System.  Year 3 researched symbols of the Eucharist.  Year 2 learnt about adding and subtracting. Kinder learnt how to spell new words.  Year 1 worked hard on their maths.

The whole school enjoyed dressing up for book week!

Sometimes we all need to remember that even Jesus needed time to rest.  He purposely moved away from crowds, even though they followed him. “What was written animated his life, and when he withdrew, he went to speak to his Father in prayer. At times, he went away by himself, to  be alone (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46–47; John 6:15). “He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). His disciples saw him leave to pray, and later return.”

It is important to remember that the pace of life is always busy.  Taking time to reflect and slow down is important.  When I ask my class to slow down and recharge I often put on this music. Lauren Daigle is a beautiful Christian singer.  Grab a cuppa and pop on the you tube clip.

I am taking my own advice and keeping this short and sweet this week!

God bless,

Stephanie Stewart

Happy birthday to Joseph G and Roscoe M who both celebrated a birthday over the last week.

What a wonderful CBCA Book Week we’ve had! It’s been so lovely to see students and staff celebrating reading. Thank you to all parents and caregivers for your support in helping the students to dress up today.

Monday’s scavenger hunt was a fun event, where students had to find words on book covers throughout the school, and then make them into a sentence.

We had a fantastic visit from Sami Bayly on Wednesday. She told us great information about weird and wonderful animals, taught us how to draw some unusual creaures, and met with some of our budding illustrators and authors. We really appreciate how much time Sami gave to our very enthusiastic students, meeting with them individually between the formal sessions.

Today’s Book Parade was a great success, with many fabulous costumes, and lots of great conversations about books and book characters afterwards.

The students were entertained by the teachers’ play today, our interpretation of “Where the wild things are” by Maurice Sendak.

School Fees

Fees are past due prompt payment would be appreciated.

Please ensure if you are paying by regular instalments that your payment is going to cover your fees in full by the end of the school year.

Finance Transformation

A reminder that we are migrating to a new finance system from 1^st system.

All families will be sent a new fee statement with a new BPAY id and are requested to use these details to set up a recurring BPAY.

School Fees and Billing System Changes

St John the Apostle Primary School, in partnership with Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn (CECG), will soon migrate to a new finance system to generate efficiencies that work alongside the Compass parent portal and Compass mobile application, giving parents/caregivers visibility of their financial transactions within Compass.

Additionally, changes will affect the way you pay student tuition fees, levies, and other payments.

School Fee Statement Changes

School fee statements will have a new look. A new Customer Reference Number (CRN) has been created and payment methods have been updated. A statement will be sent out shortly that will contain an updated BPAY Biller Code and CRN that will need to be utilised going forward.

Statements will be emailed to financially responsible account holders each month, so it is necessary to ensure that your information is updated in the Compass parent portal, including your address and current email address.

Payment Methods

To support the changes in the school finance system, BPAY is now the preferred payment method.  You will receive your new statement shortly, which will contain the new BPAY Biller code and your new CRN.

Utilising these new unique codes will ensure that any payments made will be accurately assigned to your account. 

BPAY payment scheduling is supported by most financial institutions. Please contact your bank for further details if required.

If you already have scheduled BPAY payment in place, it is important that you ensure these details are updated to use the new BPAY Biller Code and CRN. 

Payments can be made through Compass, but this does cost the school transactional fees, reducing the funds available to support the school. Where possible, please pay school fees via BPAY or directly at the school office via cash or EFTPOS.

How to use BPAY 

Your new fee statement will display a distinct BPAY logo which includes your BPAY biller code and Customer Reference Number with an example is pictured below.

Please Note: The current School Bank Account is Closing   

The current school bank account is closing.  Please cease any automated or manual payments to the previous school bank account. As Direct Debit will no longer be accepted, all existing direct debit arrangements have been cancelled.  Accordingly, if you make regular payment of school fees via Direct Debit, please ensure that you work with the school to ensure that another payment method is in place. 

Changes to the Compass Portal

The Compass Portal will have an additional feature under the My Payments area. In addition to being able to view any Compass event payments, families will also be able to view their fee statement history, including any payments made.

Under the Tools wheel, go to My Payments.

Please Note: The current School Bank Account is Closing   

The current school bank account is closing.  Please cease any automated or manual payments to the previous school bank account. As Direct Debit will no longer be accepted, all existing direct debit arrangements have been cancelled. 

Accordingly, if you make regular payment of school fees via Direct Debit, please ensure that you work with the school to ensure that another payment method is in place. 

Changes to the Compass Portal

The Compass Portal will have an additional feature under the My Payments area. In addition to being able to view any Compass event payments, families will also be able to view their fee statement history, including any payments made.

Under the Tools wheel, go to My Payments

Under the History tab, fee payers can view their account balance and transaction history. Please allow up to 24 hours for BPAY payments to appear on your account.

Thank you for supporting the school with these system changes and should you have any concerns please feel free to contact Debbie Milne Finance Officer, St John the Apostle primary school.

The Uniform Shop Opening Hours

Friday 1 September - 8.30-9.30

If you have any questions or concerns please email the uniform shop on stjohnsclothingpool@gmail.com

The Community Coucil have organised a Father's Day gift for children to give to their Father, Grandfather, Carer or Father firgure in their life for Father's Day on Sunday, 3 September 2023. The Father's Day gift must be pre-ordered via the Qkr! App. It can be found under the 'Community Council Events' 'Fundraiser' tabs. The Father's Day gift is $5 per gift (all gifts are the same) and will be sent home with the children on Friday 1 September 2023. 

Orders must be made on the Qkr! App no later than 4pm Wednesday, 30 August 2023.