As an educational leader in a Catholic community, I endeavour to build positive relationships with all community members but ultimately strive to be voice for the children when working with educators to provide engaging, rigorous and authentic learning opportunities. I believe it is our role as educators to meet the spiritual, social, physical and emotional needs of all.
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St. John’s proudly operates in the guidance of the Sisters of St. Joseph. This leadership and guidance continues the tradition of welcoming all, especially the most vulnerable; celebrating all that is good with joy and gratitude; engendering a love of learning and imagining and practicing justice and service. We provide a safe, caring and supportive learning environment and work to ensure that all children can experience success.
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Ours is a small school with big hopes, dreams and expectations. Our school motto is ‘Walk together in Light’. Walking together is what we do and who we are. Life is not always easy and there are times we celebrate together, laugh together, cry with each other, hold each other’s hands and be there to carry the load together.
We are a school community where everyone is known by name. We highly value the learning partnership between school and home, and actively work to engage our families in a shared conversation about learning. You are invited to be part of our St John’s family, as we are of yours.
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We look forward to welcoming you.
Kind regards,
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Emily Conroy
Principal
SCHOOL CONTACTS
Phone: 9687 3150
Fax: 9687 9166
Email (office): admin@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au
Email (fees): accounts@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au
Website: www.sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au
Principal: Emily Conroy
Deputy Principals: Karen Dodemaide & Lauren DavisAdministration: Melinda McNaught & Leonie Kirk
Office Hours: 8.30am - 4pm, Monday to Friday
PARISH CONTACTS
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Parish Priest: Fr. Rene Ramirez
Assistant Priest: Fr. Gerald Binegas
Parish Office:
Phone: 9317 9298
Fax: 9317 4311
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Website: hfp.org.au/
SCHOOL HOURS
We do not have bells at St John’s. Building self-management is an important skill.
8.30 Gates and Hubs open - Yard supervised
Note: Please do not drop children earlier as they are left unsupervised outside of the
school grounds. OSHClub is available for before and after school care bookings
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8.45 School begins - Getting Ready to Learn time ‘Present, Centred and Grounded’
10.50 Eating time
11.00 Lunch Break
11.40 Learning Time
1.40 Break time
2.10 Learning Time
3.15 Finish
At St. John's, we believe that children are at the centre when given authentic and meaningful experiences. They flourish when their passions and interests are acknowledged and valued. Children are empowered when they take ownership of their learning. They have a right to develop autonomy through play and investigation.
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TERMINOLOGY USED AT ST JOHN'S
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Getting Ready to Learn (GRTL)
Each morning we will begin with our ‘Getting Ready To Learn’ time. This is a strategy from the Berry Street Education Model to welcome the children with a greeting as they enter the hub and begin the day by sitting in a circle. Participating in a circle routine in the morning promotes positive connections between children and peers, as well as children and educators. This routine helps to create a sense of safety and belonging that can support student engagement, build wellbeing and create positive classroom communities. Children experience positive emotions that prime them for open, flexible and engaged thinking.
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Hub
We refer to the learning spaces or classrooms as hubs
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Specialist Program
St John’s specialist program allows children opportunities to learn specific skill sets from a specialised teacher. Our current specialist
program includes LOTE (Japanese), Innovation (STEM), Physical
Education (Sport), The Arts (Performing Arts and Music) and Farm
(Engaging with Place)
Farm
St John’s has access to the covent garden where we have developed the space into a ‘farm’ This is a beautiful green space that is used by the whole community. Families can access this space at any time and support the maintenance through working bees to keep it looking healthy. We have added a new chicken coup that was built in partnership with Emmanuel College and their VCAL students, which is home to our much-loved hens, Bella and Coco. We use the Farm for our Engaging with Place specialist subject where all children will have weekly opportunities to work the farm, engage in place, linking to eco-spirituality and care for the land.
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Guiding principles for Engaging With Place are;
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people, and recognise their deep spiritual and cultural connection to the land.
We only take from the land what we can put back.
We listen to the land and share its stories with others
Mini Lesson
A mini lesson is a short, sharp teaching opportunity where the educator has planned explicit focus for the whole group. Mini lessons are planned using data and are sequenced to provide opportunities for the teacher to model and repeat key learning ideas, skills, strategies or behaviours they want the children to develop and use independently.
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Target Group
A target group is an explicit teaching opportunity for children in a small group. The educator uses a child’s data to group them with other children with similar needs in learning a specific skill or strategy in Literacy or Numeracy. The idea is that the learning and teaching is targeted to the specific needs of the group.
Intervention:
To allow us to meet the needs of children we have various intervention programs that are led by Educators or our Learning Support Offices who we call co-educators. The intervention programs are designed to target specific needs of children who require additional adjustments for continued learning growth in their Literacy or Numeracy. We work closely with the parents of children who may need this additional support so that we are in partnership with each other so their child is and feels successful as a learner.
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Reinforcements
We use reinforcements to provide opportunities for children to practise what they have learned during a mini lesson, target group or an intervention program. The reinforcements are usually led by Co-educators
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Discovery/Discovery Project
Discovery offers a unique opportunity to see a child in a new light, as they express themselves through many languages. It is a privilege to enter this space and to learn about how they communicate about their world. This connection has the potential to transform and create shifts in the relationships that we share.
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Through Discovery, we offer new possibilities and create space for children to respond to their wonderings and curiosities. When children explore and investigate their own interests and passions, they interweave their emotions, dispositions and motivations with learning. This engagement through play fosters empowerment and deep, transferable connections with knowledge and understanding.
P-6 Discovery Structure: Discovery runs throughout the day, while children are in Target Groups. There are three ‘Discoverers’ who are spotlighted throughout the day.
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Tuning In
P-2: The educator tunes the rest of the group into the Discoverer’s interests and intentions for the day.
3-6: An explicit tune-in to skills or dispositions needed for children to be successful during the Discovery
Influencer/Conferencing/Check in
P-2: Influencing play in spaces according to curriculum.
3-6: Checking in and conferencing/influencing children on their individual projects.
Reflection:
This takes place through the day in response to new learning that has been constructed.
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‘Play provides opportunities for children to learn as they discover, create, improvise and imagine. When children play with other children they create social groups, test out ideas, challenge each other’s thinking and build new understandings. Play provides a supportive environment where children can ask questions, solve problems and engage in critical thinking. Play can expand children’s thinking and enhance their desire to know and to learn. In these ways play can promote positive dispositions towards learning. Children’s immersion in their play illustrates how play enables them to simply enjoy being’ (EYLF, 2009, p. 15).
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Community Projects
Our Community Project offers us possibilities to make the invisible, visible. It provides us with an opportunity to create an identity for concepts and ideas we cannot yet see. We construct theories through our interactions with materials and others, and rely on the collective experiences and perspectives that we share.
WEEKLY LEARNING STRUCTURE
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This is an outline of what a week of learning at St John’s could look like but this can change to adapt to the learning needs of the children, events that might be happening or opportunities for learning through an incursion or excursion.
OUR WAYS OF COMMUNICATING
Please keep in mind the following ways in which to receive and send communications with our school.
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SEESAW
Used to receive information from your educator regarding your child’s learning. Children will also upload their essential tasks via this platform. Seesaw gives families an immediate and personalised window into their child’s school day, helping to answer: "What did you do at school today?" Frequent visual and personalised updates bring parents closer to their child’s learning, sparking conversations at home. Parents are also able to like and comment on items.
Please note: Data is never shared with third parties and all content is secure and protected.
COMMUNITY PORTAL
View and update your details. Access your child’s report, send an Absence Form and email your child’s educator via the Contact Us tab. More facilities to come. Once your child commences at St John’s, you will receive an email with instructions to create a login and password for our Community Portal (ICON ePortal).
NOTE: The email invitation is from ePortal NOT St John’s
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St John’s will use SMS / email to share any relevant communication with parents
WELLBEING CONCERNS
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At times children may be experiencing difficulties due to a range of reasons impacting their wellbeing, sense of belonging, wanting to come to school or ability to make good choices. We want to work in partnership with families to support what is happening at home and at school. Sometimes children find it easier to confide in their parents or siblings about something that is upsetting them and we encourage you to reach out to us to start a conversation and so together monitor what is happening. We can then put supports in place to assist your child to feel happy and safe at school.
If there is a confidential issue that involves sensitive information, then we encourage you to reach out to the school to speak to a leader.
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FOOD: Lunchbox and lunch orders
Unfortunately, the incidence of childhood food allergies is on the rise. Some children can have a dramatic reaction to the smell / touch of some items, such as dairy or nut-based products. Their reaction requires serious treatment with adrenaline (Epipen) prior to hospitalisation. As a result, the sharing of food items between children is not permitted, as some items may have a trace of an allergen. This means that bringing cakes or other party foods from home to celebrate birthdays cannot occur.
At lunch and breaks, children are given time to eat before playing. We aim to support parents in encouraging healthy eating. Lunch Orders will be provided by DT Fusionz each week, Tuesday - Friday. These can be ordered via the Spriggy Schools app.
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PARENT VOLUNTEERING
Parents are encouraged to volunteer for excursions. A Working With Children Check (WWCC) is required prior to assisting us in any way.
Please feel free to register online for a WWCC in advance:- https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au
A St John’s Volunteer Code of Conduct form is also required and is available from the office, this is valid for 1 year and requires renewal.
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BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL CARE
OSHClub provides before and after school care on-site at St John’s from 6.30am and closes at 6.00pm. Additional programs will be offered on School Closure Days. Registration and bookings are made through their website: www.oschclub.com.au
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Note: childcare benefit and rebate is assessed to determine cost. It is a great idea to register as a casual attendee for the unforeseen times you are unable to collect your child when school finishes.
SCHOOL FEES AND LEVIES
School Fees and Levies are billed at the beginning of the school year.
Fees may be paid by 4 instalments; on a fortnightly or monthly regular payment, or an arranged time agreed by the Principal. We offer payment plan options, together with school direct debit authorities and Centrepay deductions. Please see the school office to organise this, or send an email to accounts@sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au as there are many options to choose from. A Family sheet will be distributed to all families the year prior with instalment dates, amounts etc.
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Student Levies Include:
All work books, diaries, resources such as pencils, pens etc.
devices, excursions/incursions, special events such as: Prep breakfast, 1/2 afternoon tea, 3/4 experience, Sacramental levies, sports clubs.​
There is an additional cost for swimming (P-6) and camp (Years 3-6)
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CONCESSION CARD HOLDERS: CONCESSIONAL FEE and CAMP, SPORTS & EXCURSION FUND (CSEF)
Any family holding a current Concession Card - yellow Health Care Card or purple Pension Card are eligible for fee assistance and discount/rebate. The Concessional Fee Policy entitles eligible families to a reduction in school fees. Eligibility requirements include holding a valid concession card or similar government entitlement; completion of direct debit or Centrepay deduction for the balance of the concessional amount and completed CSEF form. All forms must be in place prior to the end to Term 4 in readiness for the new school year. Please contact the office for more information. Camp, Sports & Excursion Funds (CSEF) is a rebate of $125 per student which is provided to families holding a concession card to be used towards camp, sports and excursion costs only. A form must be completed and a valid concession card must be shown to the school for new families to receive this discount/rebate. This information is required at the beginning of the year, prior to the end of Term 1. Please contact the school office for more information or to collect a form.