Founders Day and Talent Quest

The celebration of our Founders took place on the 11th of May with a whole school Mass celebrated by Fr Brendan Lane followed by a range of fun activities arranged by each house and then a hot dog lunch served by members of our Parents and Friends Association. In the afternoon, the whole school attended the launch of our Term 2 Mad Day fundraising initiatives and the annual talent contest showcasing over 20 of our students in a variety of singing and dance performances. The finals of the talent quest were held on Thursday the 13th of May with many parents in attendance. I congratulate all of our performers and the overall winner of this year’s Talent Quest , Chrishni Fernando who performed her own song, “ Tell me Why ?”.

I would like to thank the following staff for putting together this wonderful night for our families and students , Mrs Tania Robinson , Mr Michael Perryman , Ms Anne Aldis , Mr Paul Boswell , Ms Angelique Phillips-Kemp , Mr Eamonn Farrelly and students back stage Guy Mehegan and Montana Owen.

Staffing

I advise that staff members Ms Joanne Davies and Mr Justin Summons will be leaving St John’s at the end of Semester 1. Mr Summons will be moving to the United States with his American wife and Ms Davies moving to work closer to home at St Bede's. I thank them for their service to our community and wish them well on the next stage of their careers.

I also advise that Ms Sue Keel will be stepping down from the Monoceros House Leader Role for personal reasons and I thank her for her leadership and care of the Monocerus House staff and students.

We will be advertising the roles of Applied Learning Leader and House Leader over the next week to fill the appointments for Semester 2.

Student Free Day – 26th of May

Next Wednesday, St Johns will be student free to allow staff to participate in professional learning around the following topics:

Whole School Literacy 2021
Curriculum Writing Groups for designated staff
Visible Learning at the College – Celebrating Success on Feedback and Coaching
NCCD requirements 2021: Making and recording adjustments

Professional Learning days like this are important as we support staff in the development of their skills and professional capacity to enhance the learning outcomes of all our students. I thank you for continued support of these development days for staff.

Futsal Regional Titles

At the recent Victorian Regional Futsal Titles, the St John’s Year 10 Team finished in 3rd place and I congratulate all team members for their dedication and success in representing the College. From the St John’s team Jonathan Ben, Luka Pecer, Gabriel Loos and Elton Truong were all invited to represent Victoria in the National Titles to be held in Brisbane in September this year. This is a fantastic achievement for our students and I thank coach Mr Paul Boswell for the support and challenge he has provided to this team.

Music Rehearsals – Adams Family

The excitement is building for the 2021 SJRC College production of the Adams Family which will be taking place in Term 3 of this year at the Monash Theatre. Our students have been regularly rehearsing and the noises coming from the St Paul Apostle Centre indicate that they are working hard, having fun, and producing something quite magical. This year we have the primary schools of St Paul Apostle North, St Kevin’s Hampton Park and St Mary's Dandenong involved in the production and rehearsals have being take place at these school throughout the term. We look forward to welcoming all the families of St John’s and our primary schools to opening night on the 12th of August.

Cross Country

Congratulations to the House of Columba for their fifth win in a a row in the House Cross Country Championships. I thank Sports Co-ordinator Mr Mark Alexander , Sports Assistant Mr Nathan Gard and all staff for their coordination and support of the competition. All individual champions from the Cross Country competition will now be invited to represent St John’s Regional College in the Southern Independent Schools Cross Country Championship later this term.

The overall result of the 2021 House Cross Country is listed below :

6th Place: 96 Points MONOCEROS

5th Place: 104 Points AQUILA

4th Place: 114 Points DELPHINUS

3rd Place: 127 Points PHOENIX

2nd Place: 191 Points LEONIS

1st Place: 261 Points COLUMBA

SIS Team Representative

After performing at a high level in the SIS Division B Carnival, Emma Jorissen was selected to represent St Johns as part of the SIS All Stars Team at the Victorian School Associations Competition held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre. Emma competed in three events, the Girls Open 4 x 50 Breaststroke Relay, the Girls U12 -13 4 x 50 Medley Relay and the Girls U12- 13 50-meter Individual Breaststroke. Although not placed, she was just outside her personal best in all three events, and we congratulate her or her performances and the way she represented St John's with great pride.

VCE Expo

I thank Career’s Pathway leader for organising an excursion for our Year 11 & 10 students on Friday to the VCE Careers Expo held at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds. Finding your career pathway is one of the more difficult life decisions that our young people must make so opportunities like this to visit a variety of University and Career Pathways providers all in one place is an important step in them engaging in the process of finding their way beyond school. I extend my appreciation to Ms Bailey for organising this highly successful excursion and to the staff for their supervision and support of our students.

St Mary's Science School Visit

Last Friday it was great to see our feeder primary school students from St Mary’s come to St John’s to participate in Science experiments as part of their curriculum programs. Assisted by St John’s Science Teacher Mr Paul Colvin and several of our Year 9 & 10 students our guests were lead through a series of experiments to test the water quality of the Dandenong Creek. Prior to COVID in 2020 , our primary schools were involved in a variety of curriculum programs at St John’s, so it was good to see them back and school life getting back to normal.

Enrolments 2022 and 2023

This term alongside our weekly enrolment tour at 9.15am on a Thursday, we will be conducting evening enrolment tours on May 20 and June 24 at 6pm. Parents will have the opportunity to learn about our history, curriculum programs and future plans for St John’s in a session that incorporates a tour through our facilities. Parents can book a place for these tours and our weekly tour by contacting our College reception on (03) 8793 2000 or through Try Booking via the Enrolment tab on our school website https://www.sjrc.vic.edu.au. Parents can also fast track their enrolment application for 2022 & 2023 via our online enrolment portal through our school website.

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