Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome to the end of Week 3.  Happy St John Vianney's Feast Day.  Below I have placed a prayer that St John Vianney's wrote to Jesus.   

I love You, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life.

I love You, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You.

I love You, Lord and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally...

My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath.

- St John Vianney's

Farewell to SJV from a Family – A school community that encapsulates St John Vianney's

As we all know sometimes our families need to leave our community, whether it be for work, family reasons or completing seven years of education, families move on.  It is lovely when families take the time to mark their departure with a letter to the school.  I asked permission to publish this note as I believe it speaks to the strength of our whole community and was an ideal article for our Feast Day today.

Dear Peter,

It is with heavy hearts that we get in touch to let you know that we have been given our dates for our move to the UK.

Jasmine and Sophie's last day at St John Vianney's will be 9 August.

Jasmine, Sophie, Duncan and I have thoroughly enjoyed the several years we have been part of the St John Vianney's community. We can only hope that we are lucky enough to find a UK school with the same strong community, individualised care for the students and committed staff.

The school has been proactive in identifying academic support when it was needed to boost our girls' education. The strong sense of community around St John Vianney's has helped develop our girls into confident, well-rounded individuals. To our pleasant surprise (and now a little sadness) we have also created long and lasting friendships with many parents, thanks to the sport, events and social activities the school helps to put on.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all the amazing staff and St John Vianney's who have helped support and develop our two girls. You have provided them with a strong educational foundation which they will benefit for the rest of their schooling.

Thanks, and all the best,

Kamara, Duncan, Jasmine and Sophie Buchanan

Announcement – New staff member

I am pleased to announce that Mrs Elizabeth Diskin has been appointed to work with Mrs Stilling in Year 2 (every Friday) and Mrs Emerson and Miss Blackwell for their Early Career Teaching Release in Kindergarten and 3/4P every Wednesday. 

Mrs Diskin has been a regular at our school since last term, so it will be nice to welcome her onto a two-day per week contract for the remainder of the year. 

Cyber Safety Presentation and SCC Open Meeting – 5:30pm – 7:30pm – School Hall

On the 1^st September at school commencing at 6:30pm will be a parent cyber safety presentation.  This information session is to give parents the information and tools they need to keep their children safe.  In the world of Covid, the dangers of the internet; online and in-game chat rooms, scammers, inappropriate websites, and the Dark Web.  These are all things that parents need to understand. 

Prior to this session beginning at 5:30pm the SCC will be having an open meeting.  On the Agenda will be the following:

• Principal’s report
• Treasurer’s report
• Fete – Q&A
• Dominoes guest speaker
• Future focus of fundraising - Survey results
• Open questions – to be taken on notice

Father’s Day Celebration – Save the Date 2^nd September 8am-9am

A wonderful celebration is being organised and a flyer will soon be sent out to parents enabling them to order some yummy food and a present for dad.  Watch out for the flyer next week. 

Local Businesses - School Support

There are many businesses in the school area that support our school.  Three such businesses are The Athletes Foot Woden, Bakers Delight Weston and Rebel Sport Woden.  All of these businesses give a percentage of their sales back to the school.  Just mention that you are a community member of St John Vianney's School, and they will credit our account for us.  This money then returns to us in the form of vouchers for sporting goods and in-store purchases.

Term 4 – Long Service Leave

My long service leave for Term 4 has been approved and as such CE have appointed Mr Matthew Egan-Richards.  This was announced to community last week through Compass. Mrs Nina De Rosa our AP declined to take on the promotion as she currently works four days a week and chose to not accept the position, which is totally understandable.

Term 4 – SCC and School Improvements

Over the last 5 years the school has seen many improvements supported by the SCC, I have listed these below.  Next week a survey will be sent to parents that will ask where they believe further parent raised funds should be directed to assist the school and motivate our students.  Please jump onto the survey and help shape our future.

SCC projects

• Sensory Garden Playground
• Shade Structure over play equipment
• School welcome mat
• Motivational banner stickers in toilets
• Creation of the environment/garden centre and associated watering system
• School House Flags
• Classroom furniture
• Support of our Learning Support program through direct funding for Support Assistants
• Financial support for Sport Programs
• Support purchase of reading resources
• Support for resurfacing the school car park
• Support for purchasing school solar panels and our LED sign
• Support for line markings on the playground and our artificial turf
• Purchasing and installation of the sandpit

Farewell Ms Heath

Lastly, I would like to thank Ms Samantha Heath for her dedication and support of SJV for over half of her teaching career.  Her legacy will be continued through our extension collection of books in the library, many that Ms Heath has read personally.  Documentation of events and history through photos and special lunch time groups of sewing, tournament of minds and reading clubs.  

Her love of working with children, will be missed by our community and her friendship by her colleagues and friends.

We wish Sam all the best in the future.

God bless you and your families

Peter Rodda

Principal