As a Dominican School, we connect our Values of Welcome, Love and Truth to how we live our lives. This is how we show the face of Jesus to each other in our community. As a staff, we are passionate about modelling and teaching respect for each other, ourselves and our environment. We believe that our actions need to match our words so we act with integrity. Through a focus on social justice and catholic social teaching we learn about compassion and grace.
This year we welcome three new staff into St Johns. Jamie Mulcahy has been appointed as Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission (APRIM), Lynda Lovell as Inclusive Education Coordinator and Instructional Coach for teachers and Scott Templeton as out IT consultant. We are blessed to have found such talented and hardworking staff to join our team of dedicated educators. Please make yourself know to Jamie, Lynda and Scott and make them feel welcome. All families are welcome to join us at the staff commissioning and Year 3/4 family mass on Sunday 9th February at 9:00am @ St. Luke’s church, Noarlunga Downs.
Thank you to everyone who attended our staff Acquaintance Night on Wednesday night. This was a lovely gathering where parents and carers had the opportunity to meet our whole school staff and Board members in a warm and welcoming setting. We are very grateful to the Christies Beach Sailing Club for their support of our school in providing such a beautiful venue. Class teachers provided an overview of how their classroom runs and of their learning intentions for the year. If you were not able to attend please check the school website for details about whole school routines and expectations.
I look forward to seeing you all around the school soon!
Take care,
Dee-anne Peters
This term will be an exciting time full of activities for the children, with Water Safety/ Aquatics for the Year 5/6 students and the Year 6 Canberra Camp, amongst many other activities planned this term. Our school calendar of events is available on our website. Please place these important dates in your diary. School stream App is our main communication tool for informing families of whole school news and updates. Please check that your notifications are turned on so you receive the latest information from school.
Research states that one of the major influences on a student’s success in school is positive parent participation. Students enjoy and benefit greatly from parents being involved in their schooling. All volunteers at St. Johns must meet compliance. Volunteer packs are available from the front office.
We ask that all volunteers attend an induction each year. This is being held on Wednesday 19th February @ 2:00pm. At this meeting we will share our Volunteer Code of Conduct and what you can expect from being a volunteer at St. Johns. This will also be a time to learn more about our Parent & Friends Team.
School Board AGM and Parents & Friends Team
I draw your attention to the School Board Annual General Meeting which will be held on Wednesday 18th March 2020. This is an important school event that gives parents the opportunity to hear all about the success and the great learning experiences that occurred here at St John’s over the last 12 months. We also elect new members to the School Board.
Parents and Friends Team Information Session Wednesday 19th February @ 2:00pm at St Johns school. You are invited to come along and hear about the variety of ways you can be engaged in the St. John’s school community.
If you are interested in joining the School Board or P&F Team, information and nomination forms are available on our website and at the front office. Nominations close of Monday 24th February 2020.
Routines and School Attendance
As we begin the 2020 school year, it is a great time as a family to establish healthy routines. I know when my children were much younger, they enjoyed routines as it gave them a predictable structure and helped them be better organised. All classes uploaded a Class Newsletter to the SeeSaw APP in Week 1. Your class teacher’s email address is available on the school website. This is a great way to communicate with them. Parents and carers have primary responsibility for ensuring their children attend school. While all families experience factors that affect their children’s attendance, some families experience complex challenges that result in their children being chronically absent from school. Educational research confirms that the teacher is the single most important driver of student achievement, after family background.
Student absence compromises even the best teacher’s ability to provide learning opportunities. Non-attendance or arriving late for school not only has serious adverse consequences on the lives of individual young people, but it can also minimise learning time for others in the classroom. The following definitions are consistent with international best practice to identify students at risk through non-attendance.
Habitual non-attendance: where a student has 5 or more absences for any reason in a term (average of 1 day per fortnight)
Chronic non-attendance: where a student is absent for 10 days or more in a term for any reason (average of 1 day per week).
If you require support with your child’s school attendance, please contact your class teacher and we can work together to improve attendance. To support your child’s best possible learning, we encourage families to refrain from taking family holidays during term time where possible.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Ruth Sampson and her husband as they welcomed their beautiful baby daughter, Hazel Rose into their family. Exciting times ahead!
Safety Reminders
A reminder of several of our school procedures that are in place to ensure the safety and welfare of students, parents and staff …
•Before School – the gates are opened at 8:30am and students assemble on the hard court area and wait for the teacher to indicate it is 8:40am when they may enter the school buildings to prepare for the start of the school day. Classrooms and Corridors are not opened or supervised until 8:40am, except when it is wet weather.
.After school- the gates are opened at 2:50pm and students are dismissed at 3:10pm. Gate supervision by staff is from 3:10pm-3:30pm
•Playground – for safety reasons the playground is out of bounds before and after school. Even if you are available to supervise your children the area is still out of bounds due to advice received from our Insurer.
•Staff Car Park – Please do not use this as an entrance to the school. Please use the Winnerah Road footpath gate. Walking through the car park can be dangerous with cars reversing. Cars are not permitted to ‘park’ in the middle of the carpark.
•Fire Drill – If you are on the school premises and hear the Fire Alarm, please follow the Evacuation plan or follow staff directions. Our Evacuation point is to the oval, so make your way safely out onto the oval. If we need to evacuate the school for any reason, Loman Park, aka Rainmakers Park (Gulfview Road, opposite IGA) is our assembly point.
•Volunteers– when volunteering for the school, please sign in at the Front Office and wear a St. Johns name badge. All adults are asked to use the staff toilets in the front office as required. Adults are not permitted to use the children’s toilets.
Parking around St Johns
I have met with the traffic engineer from the Onkaparinga Council. He has asked me to inform you of the following safety rules around the school:
The 2 minute “Kiss & Drop Zone” (Broken Yellow Lines) works efficiently when everyone follows the rules. But it only takes one car to park longer than the allowed 2 minutes for this procedure to break down. This area is designated in the morning & afternoon for parents to stop and let children out or pick up and then leave straight away. This is not a long term parking area and you are not permitted to leave your car. Cars are not permitted to queue over the pedestrian crossing. Please check the signs before leaving your car.
To assist all families, please follow the directions below:
Parking is only permitted on the school side of Winnerah Road, Carmichael Road, Holly Street & Howe Street.
Yellow Lines – Cars must not stop on Yellow lines, not even for a few seconds.
Broken Yellow Lines – Are just like yellow lines but there are times where parking is permitted, but during pick up & drop off times cars cannot stop on the broken yellow lines.
School Crossings – You cannot stop within 20 meters on the approach side of a school crossing or 10 meters on the departure side. There are yellow lines to signify this.
Double Parking – this is always an offence at any time, but the danger is increased in the vicinity of schools, especially when children are entering or leaving.
Please be observe the road laws and be warned, the City of Onkaparinga Rangers patrol the area round the school on a regular basis and issue fines.
School Crossing Our Year 5 & 6 students are trained as Road Crossing Monitors as monitors. When trained, they have been given delegated authority by SAPOL to direct traffic and help our children cross the road safely. All students and parents need to take notice of the requests of the Road Crossing Monitors. There is always a teacher on duty to supervise the students.
