The staff at St John’s make the wellbeing of students a consistent priority. Each student is supported to meet their potential in academic, physical, social and personal outcomes. This may extend from feeling a welcome member of the school community, managing mental health concerns to developing the skills required to living a life engaging in peaceful relationships. This is well supported by the pastoral care structures and processes.

For each student their teachers and especially their PALS teachers believe that every child is unique and they endeavour to discover their talents and use them to enrich their lives and those of the people they encounter.

Each PALS teacher is a member of a pastoral team that is under the guidance of a Year Coordinator. Our Year Coordinators are true middle leaders who are highly trained to deliver the support that each child needs. The Year Coordinators are:

We also have stage pastoral coordinators who resource each year group with programs to ensure that your young people develop skills that enhance their wellbeing. The stage coordinators are:

And finally these teams and leaders are well supported by our highly experienced and competent Pastoral Coordinator Mr Eirth and our Assistant Principal, Mrs Pearce.

This team provides both a proactive pastoral program to upskill our young people along with ongoing support to help them develop skills by dealing with complex situations in all areas of wellbeing as they arise.

 Pastoral support has many facets. Some of these are:

• Staff engage with students in conversations to help them develop an understanding of how their actions affect others. 
• Behaviour is managed using Restorative Justice processes that focus on learning the right relationship and becoming accountable and responsible for your own behaviour. Consequences are in line with the actions. Through these processes students learn to become an effective member of the community. 
• Students are taught skills to manage mental health concerns and maintain physical wellbeing.
• Students are supported to develop skills that will assist them in their learning and set goals in these areas.
• Many students have personal plans to provide individual support.
• Staff also offer students the opportunity to explore and express their spirituality.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact the school as support is always available.

NEW TEACHER LUNCHEON

This week we welcomed our new teachers who have joined St John's this year, including the following;

SHOALHAVEN VET STUDENT OF THE YEAR

Winners of the 2020 Shoalhaven Schools Excellence in Vocational Education and Training (VET) Awards were announced this week and we are pleased to announce students from our school achieved 'Student of the Year' in each of the VET courses delivered at St John's.

Madisson Powick was named Hospitality Student of the Year and William Pratt Construction Student of the Year!

This is an exceptional achievement. Congratulations Madisson and William!

There has been a very important change in the way our Year 10 students and their parents have engaged with the key information provided to help them make an informed decision about future educational pathways: subject selection for the senior pattern of study. A huge thank you to Mrs Lisa Murphy and the KLA co-ordinators for all their time and efforts to ensure that our Year 10 students and their families can make informed decisions using the newly created web page which is full of helpful information.

There are many points to consider in making the decisions around subject selection. It is helpful to be having conversations at home as the students make their way through the process of finalising choices. In those conversations it is important to encourage your child to choose subjects that emphasise strengths and interests. By supporting your child in choosing subjects they are good at, interested in and can see themselves using in the future, you are helping to assist your child being a successful student, and hopefully doing well in the HSC. It is important for all students to give themselves as many future options as possible. 

Today's Year 10 students will quite possibly have several careers over their working lives, including job descriptions that may not even exist yet. At this point, students will need to find out about the subjects on offer. Students have had the opportunity to listen to the Coordinators explaining the aspects of the courses and I encourage any students with further questions to talk further with the KLA Coordinator or the teacher of that course. Students should read about the subject in the booklets that have been distributed. Importantly, students should listen carefully when teachers talk about the subject in class time and ask questions in class. Remember you can always speak to Mrs Carla Hill, Careers Coordinator or Mrs Lisa Murphy, Curriculum Coordinator for further advice in relation to suitable pathways. It is an exciting time for students, but it can also be stressful. The most important thing is to get the accurate information and make an informed decision from there. I hope all goes well with this.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Years 7-11 Parent Teacher Interview bookings are now open and will be held via Zoom Thursday 2 July 3.30pm - 8pm, and Friday 3 July, 8.30am - 3pm.

Parent Teacher Interview bookings are to be made online via the Compass Parent Portal app. Select the top left corner menu bar, select 'Conferences'.

Alternatively the Compass Parent Portal is accessible on the school website. www.sjedow.catholic.edu.au

Bookings close at 3pm, Wednesday 1 July  and a list of teacher zoom links will be sent via email Monday 29 June.

If possible, we encourage your child to attend Parent Teacher Interviews.

Click here to access information to assist you in booking interviews.

Click here for information to assist in the use of Zoom for these interviews.

Every effort has been made to ensure all parents/carers Zoom with the teachers with whom they wish to discuss their child's learning. In the event that a teacher is fully booked, or has unsuitable times available, please email info@sjedow.catholic.edu.au  to request the teacher to make contact with you early next term.

If you are experiencing difficulties with the Parent Portal, please contact our office on 4423 1666. 

 

YEAR 10 INTO YEAR 11 2021 SUBJECT SELECTION

Students have had a number of subject specific talks and they are now starting to complete their green interview forms ready for individual discussions next week. After their interviews students will go online and enter their choices in order of preference. This is very important as the timetable is based on the choices this cohort makes. Students must also carefully select their reserves as not all subjects are guaranteed to run and some students may have their first choices on the same line. 

Click here to access the SJE HSC Subject Site

The link is also available on our school webpage.

 

YEAR 10 HSC NATIONAL MINIMUM STANDARDS

Students need reading, writing and numeracy for everyday life after school.

This is why students in NSW are being supported to meet a minimum standard of literacy and numeracy to receive the HSC.

 

To show they meet the HSC minimum standard, students need to achieve Level 3 or 4 in short online reading, writing and numeracy tests of skills for everyday life.

 

Students have many opportunities to meet these requirements, the first being in Week 10. They have recently had the opportunity to practice these tests, however if they do not achieve a level 3 or 4 they will have other chances to do so. 

 

SUBJECT SELECTION YEAR 8 AND YEAR 9

Year 8 and Year 9 Subject selections will occur during Term 3.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE OOAAA NOMINATIONS

MESSAGE FROM THE FINANCE OFFICE -DIRECT DEBIT

UPDATE REGARDING ABSENCE DUE TO ILLNESS

Our most recent Covid-19 update was emailed to parents on 16 June in relation to the requirement for staff and students who have been absent from school with any flu-like symptoms to provide a medical clearance certificate prior to returning to school. This communication may be accessed by clicking here. We will continue to keep you informed of any further updates.

We continue to follow the advice provided by Health Authorities and the Catholic Education Diocese. Our cleaners have been on-site actively cleaning the premises and equipment throughout each day. We wish to acknowledge and thank our cleaners for the wonderful job they are doing in keeping our staff and students safe.

FOUNDATION DAY CELEBRATIONS

Following the postponement of our 30th year Foundation Day celebrations, we are pleased to announce this special event has been rescheduled for Friday 24 July (Term 3, Week 1).

Our initial plans for the event included a variety of community members and former St John's executives. Due to the current Covid pandemic our Foundation Day event will be limited to current St John's staff and students. We hope to hold a public event in the future to celebrate our 30th Anniversary.

NAIDOC CELEBRATIONS

A new date has been set for the 2020 NAIDOC Celebrations. We will advise a date for our NAIDOC Assembly to be held during the week of 8-15 November once confirmed.

VINNIES WINTER APPEAL

Click here or on the image below to view our students' plea to support our Vinnies 2020 Winter Appeal.

PROMOTING READING

Research consistently shows that extensive reading increases vocabulary and broadens knowledge and understanding of various topics. Most middle and high school students would greatly benefit from reading more. As an educator I want to instil a love of reading in our students. Perhaps trying a new genre may encourage students to read for enjoyment.

GRAPHIC NOVELS ARE EVERYWHERE!

We have a large collection of Graphic Novels in our library. The term ‘Graphic Novel’ describes any book in a comic format that resembles a novel in length and narrative development. The format is what makes the story a graphic novel, and usually includes text, images, word balloons, sound effects and panels. This format powerfully attracts and motivates children to read. This format provides young people of all abilities with diverse reading materials.

I encourage students to come and try something new! 

Mrs Kate Davis