Congratulations

I congratulate our 2021 College Captain and Dux of St John's, Maria Hinen, on being awarded the Colin McCormick Memorial Scholarship for 2022. The scholarship is named in honour of Colin McCormick a foundation Professor of Italian Language and Literature at the University of Melbourne. The scholarship is available to secondary school students of Italian, at Year 12 level, who intend continuing their studies, in Italian, in any of the tertiary institutes in the State of Victoria. Maria is studying Bio-Medicine at Monash University and an Italian elective subject. I congratulate her for this outstanding achievement and congratulate her Italian teachers at St John’s, represented by Mr Joe Sirianni at the awards ceremony, for instilling in her a love of languages.

Acting Principal

I thank Deputy Principal of Learning and Teaching, Dr Janine Biggin, for her work as Acting Principal during my leave over the last two weeks. I also thank Ms Frankie Flannigan and Mr Adam Gordon who shared the responsibility of the Deputy Principal of Learning and Teaching role.

Year 9 and 10 Outdoor Education Camps

During the course of last week, all students in Year 9 and 10 have participated in an outdoor education experience at Lakeside Camp located at Lake Eildon.

The camp in the Lake Eildon National Park provided an emphasis on working as a team and enhancing leadership skills through engagement in a variety of outdoor activities such as Bushwalking, Raft Building and Flat Water Canoeing. This has been the first opportunity for these types of activities after the last two years of lock down and I am pleased with the way our students stepped up to the challenge, particularly in some very wet conditions on the Year 10 camp.

My thanks to Pastoral Wellbeing and Events Co-Ordinator Miss Angelique Phillip-Kemp for her detailed organisation, and the staff who helped supervise the five day camp - Mr Greg Van Es, Mr Paul Boswell, Ms Andrea Newman, Ms Rebecca Walton, Mr Nigel Adkins, Ms Priya Cardinaletti, Ms Michelle Ruyg, Ms Tanya Induni, Mr Pablo Liu, Ms Gemma Reynolds, Ms Anne Marie Corrigan, Mr Matt Galea, Mr Tyler Halls-Ferguson, and Mr Tim Lee.

RUOK? Day

Last week our community focused on mental health and student wellbeing through the annual RUOK? Day initiatives. This national day of action is dedicated to inspiring all people of all backgrounds to regularly ask each other ‘Are you OK?' as a way of building connections in our community and helping to stop little problems turning into big ones.

Students were involved in a range of activities including a staff vs students’ soccer match and the sharing of positive affirmations for each member of their homeroom. We often forget how important affirming messages can be to each other and the sense of appreciation and positive regard they produce for ourselves and others.

I thank Miss Angelique Phillip-Kemp and the Student Representative Council for their preparation and leadership in providing such a fun and educational day for our students.

RUOK? Day

Last week our community focused on mental health and student wellbeing through the annual RUOK? Day initiatives. This national day of action is dedicated to inspiring all people of all backgrounds to regularly ask each other ‘Are you OK?' as a way of building connections in our community and helping to stop little problems turning into big ones.

Students were involved in a range of activities including a staff vs students’ soccer match and the sharing of positive affirmations for each member of their homeroom. We often forget how important affirming messages can be to each other and the sense of appreciation and positive regard they produce for ourselves and others.

I thank Miss Angelique Phillip-Kemp and the Student Representative Council for their preparation and leadership in providing such a fun and educational day for our students.

Farewell

We are saddened to farewell two wonderful servants of our community at the end of this term. Ms Symone Goodwin after 11 years as the school registrar and PA to the Principal and Mr Brad Heeps in his role as Daily Organiser for the last 5 years. I thank them for their contribution to the St John’s community and wish them well on the next stage of their career.

I also advise that staff member Ms Shantelle Wills will be taking up a role at Emmaus College for the 2023 school year and I thank her for work at St John’s.

I am pleased to welcome two new staff members to St John’s. Ms Arlene Garrity-Komp and Mr Aaron Sellar. Ms Garrity-Komp will being taking on the role of Daily Organiser and Mr Sellar will be joining our maintenance team.

Parent Teacher Interviews

I encourage all our parents to take advantage of the Parent Teacher Interviews held over the last two days of this term. At these interviews, staff will particularly focus on the feedback about coursework, homework and the assessment tasks conducted throughout Term 3. Students are strongly encouraged to attend these interviews with their parents with the aim that they take greater responsibility and ownership of their studies and their learning progress. The interviews will be held online using the Teams video conferencing platform.

Performer: Emmanuel Jal

It was very exciting to have Emmanuel Jal visit St John’s on Tuesday of this week. Emmanuel overcame the challenges of being a former child soldier in Sudan to forge a new life as a musician and political activist. He is currently based in Canada and is touring Australia to spread his powerful message of motivating young people to work to resolve current human rights struggles across the globe.

Happy Holidays

I wish all members of our community a safe and happy holiday with family and friends over the coming break. I look forward to seeing our students on their safe return on Monday 3 of October for the start of Term 4. And for all the Collingwood supporters out there – Go Swans!

St John's Football Program