Motto	Always Reaching for New Heights
Address	Harold St, SILKWOOD QLD 4856
Postal Address	PO Box 252, SILKWOOD QLD 4856
Phone Number	(07) 4065 2193
Fax Number	(07) 4065 2355
Email Address	principal.silkwood@cns.catholic.edu.au
Web Site	http://www.stjohnssilkwood.qld.edu.au
Total Enrolments	68
Year Levels Offered	P-6
Student Population	Co-Educational
Principal	Peta Bryan
Parish Priest	Fr Kerry Crowley Southern Deanery Dean
Parish Number	(07) 4065 2128

About our School

The small rural school of St John's at Silkwood prides itself on being both Christ and child centred, providing excellent learning opportunities for the students it serves. The school is located in the heart of the Southern Deanery on the Cassowary Coast. Geographically placed in between the larger towns of Mission Beach, Tully and Innisfail.  The school draws many of its students not only from Silkwood, but also the surrounding communities of Kurrimine Beach, Mission Beach and El Arish.

St John's proud history commenced in 1948 when the school was opened by the Missionary Franciscan Sisters. The school comprised of children from the Silkwood area who were mainly of Italian descent and whose parents worked in the sugar cane industry. The Sisters served the local community for forty years, leaving in 1987. Today the dedicated lay staff continues the proud tradition of quality Catholic Education to many of the children and grandchildren of those first students.

The current St John's community is respectful of the past and excited about the future, as it plays its part in inspiring St John's students to live the school motto of "Always Reaching for New Heights."

Characteristics of Student Body

St John's has 70 enrolments.  St John's comprises of 46 families, 24 families holding a HCC concession card.  NAPLAN data trends show positive improvement and growth.  In order to achieve positive growth, St John's has a very high student to teacher ratio with staff of 16.  St John's operates with four classes; Prep/Yr1, Yr 2/3, Yr 4, Yr 5/6.  Class size average is 16 students.  St John's has two verified students, seven Indigenous students, nine English is an additional language or dialect students.  The St John's student population consists of 50.1% Catholic.  Attendance rate is 73.2%.  The Socio-economic status score is 89.

Cultural diversity

The St John's student population is primarily Anglo-Saxon.  However, there is cultural diversity with students of Italian, Maltese, Indigenous - Aboriginal and/or both Torres Strait Islander, Indian and Filipino. 

School Annual Improvement

Priority Area 1: Writing across all year levels
Smart Goal: By the end of 2019, all students will demonstrate positive growth in writing through explicit teaching of writing and analysis of data to inform teaching.

Priority Area 2: Catholic Identity
Smart Goal: By the end of 2019, will have participated in the Melbourne and Victoria Scales PL and will competently evaluate and develop a response to the Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project (ECSIP) survey report and recommendations.

Distinctive Curriculum Offerings

St John's is proud to offer several distinctive curriculum features to existing and prospective parents and indeed the wider Silkwood community.
St John's is proud to be able to deliver a 'one stop learning' for students from Prep through to Year Six. The Catholic Early Learning & Care Community Kindergarten - Silkwood is a registered kindergarten operated by the Diocese of Cairns.  The program aims to enhance a child's physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, creative and social development.

The curriculum taught at St John's School encompasses all the Australian Curriculum Learning Areas.  Programs are created with the understanding that children develop and learn differently and with an awareness of multiple intelligence's and different learning styles.

St John's offers a number of specialist programs.  Social and Emotional Learning is developed through the Second Steps program to help foster better social and emotional intelligence. A music tuition program caters for the musically talented students and provides an additional opportunity for performance at special assemblies that feature our musicians. Physical Education is provided by a specialist teacher. The school is also very well resourced in Information and Communications Technology (ICT).  The school has a one-to-one technology device policy which means students has their own device - 2in1 Dell laptop, Chromebook, iPad, mini-iPads. The devices enhance our teaching and learning process and engage students in the curriculum.  St John's offers a digital learning program which is called our eLearning program and students receive this once a fortnight.  We also employ a master writing teacher who works with all classes each Monday.  St John's offers a high-quality intervention program and also a high potential learners program.

St John's is committed to a variety of assessment and reporting procedures that demonstrate student achievement and success at their respective level of development. Student Portfolios and parent / teacher conferences are completed in both first and second semester which provide a formal opportunity for students, parents and the classroom teacher to celebrate aspects of each students' learning journey and set goals for the following semester or year. St John's also produce a school-based student report card at the completion of both semester one and two which provides parents with a detailed account of a student's overall achievement across all aspects of school life.

Extra Curricular Activities

Excursions and camps are part of the curriculum at St John's. School camp for the Year 5/6 students has provided an opportunity for students to examine content descriptors of the Australian Curriculum in an adventurous and unique way.

The St John's Justice Squad is made up of school leaders in the senior class. Regular meetings include an agenda, minute taking and decision-making processes.

All students from P-6 participate in the Premier's Reading Challenge. Students are asked to read 15-20 books over a period of three months and receive a certificate from Premier.

School Sports

School Cross Country for all students P-6
District Cross Country for all eligible students
School Inter-house Athletics carnival for all students P-6
District Athletics Carnival for all eligible students
School Swimming Carnival for all students P-6
Swimming Program - Water confidence classes for P-6 students are held in Term Three. The objective of this program is to raise student's water awareness and safety.

St John's has an active and passionate association with the Cassowary Coast Region - Southern Zone District Sports Association which provides inter-school and representative sporting opportunities for our students.
The construction of an 800 square metre undercover sports facility at St. John's enhances outdoor learning opportunities in all weather conditions for our students.

Afters school sport is organised on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for Year 4-6 students.  The focus is to develop a sense of belonging, comradeship, and skill development for school sport representation.

The library and classrooms provide a state of the art learning facility to promote contemporary and digital education. Our extensive sporting fields are complimented by two synthetic run ups for our long jump pits and an athletics track.

St John's has had a long association with Mrs Tina Patane who is the Director of Innisfail Speech Academy.  Mrs Patane provides a service to the school for those students wishing to participate in Speech and Drama lessons. Additionally, Mrs Patane instructs and conducts the whole school in preparation of Choral Verse speaking. Each year the students participate in the Innisfail Young Performers Eisteddfod.

Mrs Natasha De Faveri provides a music tuition program provides small group music instruction with a qualified music tutor.  Piano, organ and keyboard are taught.

At St John's, the unique gifts and talents of all students are valued. Within and beyond the school, every effort is made to find new and innovative ways to celebrate these.

Social Climate

St John's School is a true reflection of the friendly and community minded Parish and town in which it is located. People who are new to the school (children, families and staff) are always welcomed openly. The work ethic and tireless commitment of the families of St John's maintains an optimistic and committed view towards the future for their children.

Parent Engagement

The school prides itself on an incredibly hard working and effective Parents and Friends Association. The Parents and Friends are involved in coordinating the school tuckshop, uniform shop, social events, working bees as well as being the major source of raising revenue for the school.

St John's School recognises and respects that parents are the first educators and as such, are important stake holders in optimising the educational outcomes of their children. The ongoing partnership between the school and parents occurs formally four times a year (Assessment and Reporting) and informally daily, weekly and each term. Parent information evenings, year and term overviews, assemblies, newsletters, excursions, sports coaching, sacramental programmes are all ways staff and parents work together for the benefit of students.

Each term St John's strives to provide an information session to parents, so they can engage in their child's learning journey and work in partnership with the school.

The small school enrolment (46 families) creates a family atmosphere at St John's. Another benefit of a small school is the capacity for everyone to become involved in the social and family orientated events held each year.

Parent Satisfaction

MYP Corporation conducted a School Results Survey with parents of St John's School (Silkwood) commencing 15 July 2019 and concluding 5 August 2019.

St John's School (Silkwood) provides educational services to students from 46 families.
Survey responses were received from 25 out of a total of 46 eligible respondents. This equates to a response rate of 54.3%.

St John's School (Silkwood) recorded an overall satisfaction score of 85% (4.27 out of 5).

• Best practice areas include: Resources, Leadership, Learning + Teaching, Student Protection, Improvement Processes, Bullying + Behaviour Management, Catholic Ethos.

Data Last Updated Thu 02 Jul 2020