Term 2, Week 8, 15 June 2023
Principal Message
Dear Parents, carers and members of the St John's community,
It has been a fantastic couple of weeks and we still have some exciting days ahead of us before the winter holidays.
Teachers have been finalising assessments and organising for the parent-teacher meetings which were held earlier this week. It was great to see such a great turnout of parents and a really positive feeling within the room.
Last week we also celebrated Catholic Schools Week and Wellbeing Week, which had the theme of 'Living our Mission'. Ellie Bailey has written a great article about the week in this newsletter. Thank you to Ellie and to the teachers for their extra contributions during the week. It was a great week which was topped off by 'Fun Friday' - our school athletics carnival. We were blessed with beautiful weather and the day was well organised by Miss McEvoy.
Next week is another busy one, as we have our External School Review (Tues-Thurs) and the School Trivia Night (Fri). Please see details about both of these events below.
St John's External Review
On June 20th-22nd, we will have a panel consisting of Lismore Catholic School office staff, peer principal and a Review Chair from ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) conducting a review on the school.
The school review is an opportunity to reflect on current practices and progress made towards improving the quality of teaching and learning and subsequently, student learning and wellbeing outcomes. The review team will work closely and collaboratively with our school staff, students and parents to identify existing strengths and provide recommendations to inform the school’s next improvement cycle.
The Panel will use the National School Improvement Tool (NSIT) to collect evidence and analyse data against. To view this Tool, please click HERE.
2023 School Annual Improvement Plan
It is my pleasure to share with you the 2023 St John's School Annual Improvement Plan (SAIP). Data collected through the Parent, student and staff Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Surveys in 2022, as well as student learning data, have informed our direction for this year. I welcome any feedback or questions that you may have.
To view the 2023 SAIP, please click on the link below.
Upcoming Dates
Please find below a list of dates savers below of events that are occuring this term.
- Tuesday 20th June - Thursday 22nd June - St John’s External Review
- Friday 23rd June - St John's Trivia Night (Please see flyer below)
- Tuesday 27th June - Student Report Cards released to Parents
- Thursday 29th June - Last Day of Term 2
- Friday 30th June - Pupil Free Day (Staff PD Day)
- Monday 17th July - Pupil Free Day (Staff PD Day)
- Tuesday 18th July - First Day of Term 3
Parent Teacher Interviews and Student Reports
Earlier in the week it was fantastic to see parents coming in for the Parent-Teacher interviews. From all reports, this new model for Parent -Teacher meetings ran really smoothly. For any parents who weren't able to make it to the Parent-Teacher interview nights, the teachers will still send you some notes that were going to be discussed at the meeting, which include:
- Celebrations (What is going well for your child?)
- Student Goals from Term 1 &/or 2 reviewed
- Goals for Literacy & Numeracy for Term 3 shared
Semester One Report Cards will be released to parents on Tuesday 27th June in Compass.
St John's Trivia Night
TABLES ARE RUNNING OUT! Book a table and bring some friends for what will be a great night. Thank you to the Parent Forum who have organised the night for our community!
To book your table, please see Tundra in the office or book online using the link below. https://www.trybooking.com/CILBF
Kind Regards,
Dave Bermingham
Leader of Pastoral Care and Wellbeing
St John’s Elect’s New Student Representative Council
This past week Alyza Mavay and Colt Facchino, our school vice captains have done a fabulous job running SRC elections in Stages 1, 2 and 3.
The successful candidates are; Savannah Browning(Year 2), Charleen O’Brien and Joseph Armstrong(Year 4) Arlo Evans(Year 3) and Nahla Perrin(Year 5).
The SRC students will be joined by school captains and vice captains when they meet each fortnight to discuss issues arising around the school, solve problems and find ways of making St John’s an even better school.
This year’s SRC reps have been elected by their peers and they all expressed excitement about taking on the role of representing their class. In time they will run meetings in the class to find out where their class stands on a given issue and bring that information back to the SRC meeting.
The SRC is one vehicle through which children can exercise voice, choice and influence about their life at school. Findings by Anne Graham working at the Centre for Young People at the University of the Southern Cross tell us very clearly- when children have voice, choice and influence student wellbeing is improved. As such the SRC is part of a wide range of initiatives across school life designed to improve student wellbeing outcomes.
The SRC team will meet for the first time this Friday and I’m really looking forward to meeting with them. I know they’re bursting with ideas to share.
Beyond student voice, choice and influence Anne Graham’s working found that strong, healthy, positive relationships lie at the heart of high levels of student wellbeing.
Her work goes on to say, “relationships are at the very core of student wellbeing in schools. A number of important relationships were highlighted in the data, including relationships between:
- Teachers and students
- Principals and students
- Counsellors and students
- Counsellors and teaching staff
- Parents and teachers/schools
- Relationships with the wider community
- Principals and teachers
These relationships all contribute to and influence student wellbeing.
What’s the big learning for parents? your relationship with the teachers and school can have significant positive impacts on your child’s experience of school. The stronger the links you have with the school and staff the higher the likelihood of you child having better learning and wellbeing outcomes.
Yours in Pastoral Care and Wellbeing.
Best regards, Greg
Leader of Mission
Last week we celebrated Catholic Schools Week with the theme Living our Mission. Our week started with Milo Monday. The stage 2 students really loved organising the resources and serving the warm beverages at recess time. Thank you to the Stage 2 families that donated the ingredients and resources for this fun fundraiser. We raised $100 for Mini Vinnies.
On Tuesday Mrs Bottle supported students to create an art mural of our Patron Saint Mary McKillop - Titled the many faces of Mary McKillop.
On Wednesday we met families before school at the Heritage Park playground. It was a beautiful sunny morning and we had a huge turn out. The children were delighted to walk through Heritage Park together and enjoyed time spent with each other and fostering their friendships. It reminds us of Luke 24:13-15
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
Throw it on Thursday was our dress up as something that starts with the letter M. Again we raised $100 for Mini Vinnies. Students and staff were very creative with their designs. At one point we had Minnie Mouse working in the office and Minions playing in the playground. Thank you to the parent community for the gold coin donations.
The week concluded with our Athletics Carnival. We had the theme Fun Friday. The weather certainly was beautiful and the children loved participating and cheering for their sports houses.
Catholic School Week events
SCHOOL INFORMATION
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"
Our Birthday people:-
Joey & Cody
Lost Property
It is getting colder! Lots of jumpers being handed into the office with no names. Please make sure all clothing is labeled, so it can be returned to the rightful owner. Second hand jumpers to purchase for $5.00
