From the Principal

A message of belief and hope

I recently read an article on Dr Martin Luther-King. It told the story of the summer of 1963 when 250,000 people listened to Martin Luther-King speak in Washington. It was long before the days of websites and social media, yet people flocked to the gathering. It was essentially a message of belief and a message of hope for the people of the United States and beyond.

More than 50 years later, those sentiments are just as pertinent. At our College, we certainly hope for a better future and we have great belief in the capacities of our young people to create a better world. We also recognise that teachers and parents have an important role in guiding the development of our students.

 With a gradual easing of restrictions, it is great to see parents back on our campus. We are also very appreciative of the support of our Primary parents to ‘kiss and go’ rather than entering classrooms as a health and safety measure.

In the coming weeks, we are keen to create more formal ‘parent-student-teacher’ interactions. At the end of term, students from Pre-Primary to Year 12 will receive a report describing progress over the semester. The Primary Report will be modified, reflecting the School Curriculum and Standards Authority reporting guidelines. Apart from a minor modification in the Year 7 reports, Secondary Reports will contain the same information as in previous years. Parents will have the opportunity for a follow-up discussion after receiving the report. For Year 12 students, this will occur from 3:30pm on Thursday 25 June. Interviews for other year groups will occur at the start of next term. Details of these interviews will be forwarded later in the term.

Last weekend saw the opening of parishes which coincided with Trinity Sunday. The previous week was Pentecost and this coming weekend is the Feast of Corpus Christi. These celebrations are fundamental to our beliefs, hopes and values as a Catholic community. The timing of the Church year coincides beautifully with an optimistic outlook for the remainder of 2020 at John XXIII College.

Robert Henderson

Principal