Dear Parents/Carers,

Father, grant me the gift of understanding so that through the eyes of faith I may see the life and vision for which each person was created: to be a beloved son or daughter of the Father. Amen.

Throughout his life, Jesus encountered entire crowds who were suffering from disease and troubled by sin. What was his response - he pauses and, with love, takes into himself the wounded reality of the people around him. To be compassionate means to suffer with the other. We can ask ourselves: how do we respond to those we meet at home, at work, in our community? Lent is a time when we can see each person created from love and for love, and restored to their dignity as a beloved son or daughter of the Father.

Thank you to the families who were able to attend Sunday's Parish Mass to welcome new families to St John's. It was wonderful to see the children receive a special blessing, and for those families having the chance to meet one another socially at the morning tea provided by the Parish Hospitality team. I hope these families find other opportunities to engage with and support the parish.

Cyclic Review

At the end of 2022, the school went through a Cyclic Review process, the first since 2016. Two weeks ago we received the final report. These were some of the commendations:

• St John’s is an explicitly Catholic school, is highly involved in sacramental programs, is well connected with the parish, organises an impactful liturgical life for staff and students, and is active in its outreach program.
• Data (including NAPLAN) is showing a significant improvement across all domains in Literacy and Numeracy since 2016, exceeding many of the government and non-government schools in the neighbouring area. This is attributed to a focus on collaboration on high quality teaching practices, support for Early Career teachers, a focus on data analysis and implementation of individual learning plans for students.
• The powerful synergy between wellbeing and learning for the students, with an acknowledgement of support structures for students with diverse learning needs, mental health issues and social and emotional needs.

The Cyclic Review provided the following recommendations:

• The school increasingly build staff capacity as witnesses to the Catholic faith.
• Evaluate and refine the school’s Vision and Mission statements.
• Focus on sustainability of quality learning and teaching outcomes.
• Ensure the delivery of effective differentiation in every classroom to meet the individual needs of the students.
• Attend to strategic factors behind falling enrolment and attendance rates.

If anyone would like to read the full report, please contact our school office.

P & F support

I am extremely grateful that at last night's P & F Meeting financial support was approved toward a playground in the school. The Campbelltown Catholic Club has granted our school with $50,000 for a playground and the P & F has promised another $20,000 to go toward it. At this stage we have some preliminary plans for the playground which is anticipated to be constructed toward the middle of this year. 

Please support any P & F fundraising initiatives this year as we all work together to ensure our students have access to a playground that is hoped to have these features:

Wishing you a safe and blessed week,

Paul Moroney
Principal

Happy Birthday to the following students and staff who are celebrating their birthday this week  5th March - 11th March

Week 6 - Awards: PRIMARY 

Last Wednesday, 13 students from St John’s competed in the Western Region Swimming Carnival at the Gordon Fetterplace Aquatic Centre. The day was a huge success for the St John’s swim team and every student should be very proud of their efforts. Congratulations to Cooper Anderson, Levi Fitzpatrick, Michael Southby and Oliver Bailey, who won the senior boys relay with an exciting finish. A special mention to Oliver Bailey, who was awarded 3rd place in the Senior Age Championship and Angelica Sullivan, who placed 2nd in the 11 year Age Championship.

Swimming Results:

Angelica placed 2nd in 50m Butterfly and Backstroke, 3rd in 50m Freestyle,  4th in 100m Open Freestyle and 5th in 50m Breaststroke. 

Oliver Bailey placed 2nd in 50m Backstroke, 3rd in 100m Freestyle and 3rd in both 100m and 50m Freestyle.

Cooper Anderson placed 4th in 50m Freestyle. 

Best of luck to these students who will compete at the Diocesan Swim Trials on Monday, March 13 at Corrimal Pool.

During week 8 we are proud to be supporting Neurodiversity Celebration week. 

Neurodiversity Celebration Week is based on the idea that everyone has a differently-wired brain and their own unique way of thinking and experiencing the world. 

I hope that together as a whole school community we can change the narrative to understand, accept, and celebrate neurodiversity of everyone in our school community.

This week the students will be involved in a variety of activities to help raise awareness for neurodiversity.