Term 1, Week 2, 13 February 2025
Principal's Message
Welcome to the beginning of an exciting new school year! We hope you’ve had a restful and enjoyable holiday season and are ready for a wonderful year of learning, growth, and connection. It has been great to see the smiling faces of our students back in the classroom, embracing new opportunities and challenges.
We look forward to partnering with you throughout the year to ensure a positive and productive journey for all our students. If you have any questions or need support as we start the term, please don’t hesitate to reach out to myself or touch base with the classroom teachers - please find their email addresses below.
Kindy - Myree Loane myree.loane@lism.
Stage 1 - Felicity Gruft felicity.gruft@lism.
Stage 2 - Ellie Bailey ellie.bailey@lism.
Stage 3 - Louie McEvoy laura.mcevoy@lism.
Here’s to a fantastic 2025!
Please find below a link to the 2025 Parent Handbook. This is a one-stop shop for information. Within the document, there is a link to the school policies page, as well as the school calendar. To stay updated with the happenings at the school, I recommend that you save the link to the school calendar for easy access. This calendar can also be accessed via the Compass App.
One key change this year is to our assembly routine, which has been changed to fortnightly on a Monday. We will also have more class involvement in assemblies, with each class presenting their learning once a term!
We have also organised some extracurricular activities in the hall after school on certain days. Please see flyers below - registration and payment can be made in the school office.
2025 Staffing
I am delighted to share the below news and staff allocations for 2025. We are blessed with a dedicated and talented team, and I’m confident these placements will strengthen our school community and support our students' learning journeys.
We are thrilled to announce that some of our valued team members will be transitioning to permanent roles in 2025.
Congratulations to Felicity Gruft and Riley O'Leary, who will take on full-time permanent positions, as well as Karla Chartres (two days a week) and Chloe Quinn (one day a week). We also celebrate Sarah Newson and Karyn Doust on their well-deserved permanent roles.
This milestone reflects their dedication and contributions to our school community. We are grateful for the passion, expertise, and care they bring to our students and families every day.
Please join us in congratulating Felicity, Riley, Karla, Chloe, Karyn & Sarah on this exciting next chapter in their journey with us!
Congratulations to Chloe Quinn, who has been seconded to St Joseph's, South Murwillumbah in a full-time classroom teaching position for Term 1 and Term 2 of 2025. We are so proud of Chloe for this exciting opportunity and know she will bring her passion and expertise to her new role.
A heartfelt thank you to Karla Chartres for her flexibility in taking on a specialist role during this time. Karla will be stepping in to teach CAPA for Term 1 and Term 2 in place of Chloe's PE.
School Leaders
- Principal: Dave Bermingham
- Leader of Learning: Naomi O'Dwyer
- Leader of Mission: Ellie Bailey
- Leader of Pastoral Care (3 days/week): Greg Flint
- Leader of Sport: Laura McEvoy
Teaching Staff
- Kindergarten Teacher: Myree Loane
- Stage 1 Teacher: Felicity Gruft
- Stage 2 Teachers: Ellie Bailey (Monday-Thursday) and Riley O'Leary (Friday)
- Stage 3 Teacher: Laura McEvoy
- Specialist Teachers:
- Karla Chartres: Specialist Teacher CAPA (1 day/week for semester one)
- Riley O'Leary: Specialist Teacher STEM (2 days/week)
- Chloe Quinn: Specialist Teacher PE (1 day/week for semester two)
Support Teachers
- Karla Chartres: Support Teacher (2 days/week)
- Riley O'Leary: Support Teacher (2 days/week)
- Lisa Russell: Literacy Support Teacher (2 days/week)
Support Staff
- Classroom and Learning Support Assistants:
- Bernie Woodhouse (16hrs/week)
- Sarah Newson (18hrs/week)
- Aboriginal Education Worker: Aliya King (20hrs/week)
- Library: Sarah Newson (2hrs/week)
- Administration Assistants:
- Karyn Doust (3hrs/week)
- Tundra Snape
- Student Wellbeing Officer: Anne Nethery (2 days/week)
- School Counsellor: Sasha Kruse (2 days/week)
If you have any questions or concerns about these allocations, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Communication Channels
This year we will continue to streamline communications between school and home. The streamlining will only be successful if all parents get on board with the channels outlined below.
This year once again, you will receive a weekly update from the classroom teachers on Compass which will include some helpful links for parents and a very brief outline of the week, but will not include a large amount of information about what the students are learning. However, twice a term, information about what students are learning will be communicated by the teachers and of course, SeeSaw provides a great insight into what is happening in each room.
The communication methods below will be utilised for the purposes outlined.
Compass is the official communication channel between school and home. Download the Compass app on your device. You will be given a login code to access your Compass account. News items and updates regarding your child or the whole school are available through the Compass app. Pay school fees, pay and give permission to attend events, view report cards, mark your child as absent and much more!
Facebook is essentially a marketing platform for the school, not an official communication channel. Please like and follow our school Facebook page … St John’s Primary Mullumbimby and please comment and like our posts!
School news, snapshots, photos, events and competitions will be placed on Facebook.
SeeSaw is a digital portfolio. Please download the SeeSaw app for families on your phone / device. This will allow you to see your child’s work samples from the classroom and keep up to date with their learning. These can include writing samples, videos, photos and tasks.
School Newsletters (via Schoolzine)
The electronic newsletter is emailed to parents fortnightly on a Thursday. Newsletters will include important information, dates, photos and news of what is happening in our school and classrooms.
For all apps please turn on notifications to ensure you are kept up to date!
Class Parents Representatives
A huge thank you to the following parents for putting up their hands to be Class Parent Representative for 2025. We are still seeking a CPR for Kindy - if you are interested, please let me know.
Stage 2 - Jane Francis, Mother of Ivy (yr 4) & Shannan Human, Mother of Summer (yr 4)
Stage 3 - Maria Beaton, Mother of Rose (yr 6) and Penny (yr 3) & Gretta Bottomley, Mother of Eli (yr 6)
Stage 1 - Kate Stanford, Mother of Theo (yr 1) and Louis (yr 3)
Kindergarten - TBC
HIKE Awards
Week 2
LEARNING
High-Quality Explicit Instruction in English
Welcome back to 2025. It is great to return to seeing students, staff and families happily interacting again. The year has startled well and students and teachers are working in partnership to establish new learning environments.
At St John's, we are committed to providing our students with a strong foundation in literacy, equipping them with the essential skills they need to succeed in all areas of learning. We provide:-
- six multi-age groups formulated using data
- targeted, evidence-based instruction
- differentiated learning meeting students at their point of need
- the five key reading areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
- explicit teaching of grammar, punctuation, handwriting, and spelling - tools for writing
- continual monitoring of student progress through data collection
- adjustments to instruction as needed based on the data
- personalised support so every child reaches their full potential
- exploration of quality, age-appropriate literature
- links to literature to facilitate student creation of written text
- many opportunities to share and celebrate learning
Today I visited classrooms to capture a snapshot of the first session of the literacy block. In the second hour, known as Part B, students return to their home classrooms to explore, enjoy and discuss quality literature. They apply the skills learned in Part A to understand rich texts and use them as a springboard to create their written texts. Check out this video of our students and teachers in action!
WELL BEING @ ST JOHN'S
‘Wellbeing SPOT’ @ St John’s
It has been wonderful to see the children back enjoying their time on the playground. We have added a new dimension to the playground this year. It’s called the ‘Wellbeing SPOT’. Essentially it is a play space with activities, on the playground, a comfy mat on the ground and a table to sit at. The “SPOT’ is run by a teacher at both lunchtime and recess. Typically there will be painting, card games, puzzles and construction activities to be enjoyed with friends new and old. The activities will be changed weekly.
The ‘SPOT’ has been very well attended so far with the card games, bubble blowing and construction proving to be very popular.
Wanted!!! - if anyone has old colouring books or unused colouring books they’d be much appreciated by the Pastoral Care & Wellbeing team who look after the resourcing of the “SPOT”.
Parental Advice for Posting Images
Please see the poster below outlining how to best to preserve a child’s safety when posting images online.
Find further information and resources at; https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/
Parenting Resource Library @ School.
We now have an extensive library of parenting resource books at school covering a wide range of topics. Please pop and ask me if you’re looking for any information.
This week I’d like to bring your attention to two books related to raising strong resilient boys.
He’ll Be OK (An International Bestseller)
Growing Gorgeous Boys into Good Men
By Celia Lashlie
“ A funny, honest, no-nonsense book, researcher and social commentator Celia Lashlie reveals what goes on inside the world of boys, and that is an entirely different world to that of girls. With clarity and insight she offers parents especially mothers - practical and reassuring advice on raising their boys to become good, loving, articulate men.”
A Man’s Guide to RAISING KIDS.
By Michael Grose
“Being a father is the most important job a man can ever take on and it should be the most rewarding one too. This book shows all fathers how to be the best dad they can, how to make the most of the special place they hold in their children’s lives, and how to make it fun.”
Mission News
St John's Feast Day Whole School Mass - 18th of February
Dear St John's Families,
On Tuesday, the 18th of February, we are celebrating the Feast Day of our Patron Saint, St John. The Feast Day of St John falls on December the 27th. As we are on holiday at this time of the year, our tradition is to celebrate this Feast Day with a start-of-the-year school mass early in term 1.
This will be an excellent opportunity to welcome our new Kindergarten students into our school community and welcome new students who have enrolled at our school this year. Fr David, our Parish Priest, will bless the year 6 leader badges and Laura McEvoy will award the new year 6 leaders their leadership badges.
Below is a timetable of the day's formation activities:
9:30 - 10:20 Mass at St John's Church (all welcome)
10:20 - 11:20 Playtime and a free BBQ provided for students
11:20 - 1:20 Formation activities in pastoral groups
1:20 - 1:50 Recess
1:50 - 2:50 Slip and Slide (please provide your child with swimwear, suncream, towel and a plastic bag to put their wet clothes in)
Feel free to email me directly if you have any questions.
Blessings,
Ellie Bailey
Leader of Mission
ellie.bailey@lism.catholic.edu.au
SPORT
SCHOOL INFORMATION
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"
Our Birthday people:-
Tiana, Ryder, Dylan & Dorothea
People who celebrated over the Summer Holidays
Ike, Arlo, Harry, Gemma, Hendrix , Celeste, Ayla, Ivy, Mason, Georgia & Eli
COMMUNITY NOTICES
