Principal's Report 

National Reconciliation Week – May 27 to June 3 

On Friday morning St John's Regional College paused to reflect on the journey of our First Nations People as we commenced National Reconciliation Week with a liturgy for National Sorry Day. 

This commemoration for National Sorry Day is held each year as a reminder of the formal apology delivered on February 13, 2008 by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on behalf of the successive parliaments and governments whose policies and laws "inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on our fellow Australians".  

National Sorry Day is followed by two other significant dates which are the focus of national Reconciliation Week which begins on May 27  and June 3: 

• 27 May 1967 – On this day, Australia’s most successful referendum saw more than 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Australian Government power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and recognise them in the Census.  
• 3 June 1992 – On this day, the Australian High Court delivered the Mabo decision, the culmination of Eddie Koiki Mabo’s challenge to the legal fiction of ‘terra nullius’ (land belonging to no-one) and leading to the legal recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of lands. This decision paved the way for Native Title.  

The theme of National Reconciliation Week 2023 is “Be a Voice for Generations.” A common response from our young people when discussing the sad history of our First Nations' People over the last two hundred years is that we weren’t there  and how can we be responsible? It is true that we are not responsible for what has happened in the past, but we are responsible for what happens in the future for our First Nations' People.  

Christ, as our great teacher, taught us to reach out to those who have been marginalized, who live on the edge of society, to support them and ensure they are always treated with dignity, respect and justice. This is the responsibility of our generation. 

I thank Mr Almery, Mr Rhynehart and our Fire Carriers: Thenujee Samarathunga, Layla Jafary, and Ajok Mading for continuing to raise awareness of the challenges facing our First Nations' People and our responsibilities as a community of faith to live out our Gospel values. 

Student Free Day – Monday May 29  

As advised in the previous newsletter St John's will close on Monday May 29 to allow staff to participate in a professional learning day with a focus on a building literacy skill in our students.  

Founders Day  

On Tuesday May 16 we gathered as a community to celebrate the lives of our founders St John Baptist De La Salle and the Venerable Nano Nagle. The day began with a beautiful whole school Mass celebrated by Fr Luke Bulley and the launch of our “Make a Difference“ fundraising campaign which connects us to the work of our Founders by raising funds for our partnered Lasallian school in Pakistan and the Wellsprings Foundation in Dandenong. The celebration of our Founders continued with a series of fun activities arranged by each House and the annual SJRC talent quest, the highlight of the afternoon. It was an enjoyable day for all and as always takes many hands to bring it to life so I thank the following staff members for their contributions on the day : 

Mr John Rhynehart – Director of Faith and Mission, Deputy Principal – Mr Van Es  and the House Leader Team, our Talent Quest Team led by Ms Anne Aldis, Mr Michael Almery, Ms Tamara Hughes, Mr Paul Colvin, Ms Anna Nguyen and Mr Paul Boswell, Our Maintenance and IT team, our Business Manager Shelley Iles and the Administration Team and to all staff for making this a wonderful day of celebration. 

St Mary’s Enrolment Information Session 

An enrolment Information session was held at St Mary’s Primary School on Thursday of this week to assist any parents with enrolment enquiries and their application process. Similar sessions will be held from 3.30pm to 4.30pm at St Kevin’s, Hampton Park on June 1 and at St Francis De Sales' on June 7. All families considering enrolment at St John’s are welcome to attend for information about St John’s or for assistance with their enrolment application. Our online enrolment application can be accessed on the following link: 

Cross Country 

Under overcast skies, a very successful Cross Country competition was held last Monday. The opportunity to run for fitness and fun is always of benefit to our students and I congratulate Leonis House, who have followed up with their win on Athletics Day, for taking out the 2023 Cross Country title. I also wish to thank Sports Co-Ordinator, Mr Mark Alexander for his preparation of the day along with Sports Assistant, Tyler Hall-Ferguson, Mr Nigel Adkin and Mr Van Es.  The top performing students on the day will now represent St John's at the Southern Independent Schools Cross Country competition on Tuesday 30 May. 

1st LEONIS 221points 

2nd COLUMBA 135points 

3rd AQUILA 133points 

4th PHOENIX 132points 

5th DELPHINUS 127points 

6th MONOCEROS 115points 

PODCAST – Magellan Media  

Magellan Media have been working with our senior students and wellbeing staff over the last term to create a series of PODCASTS for young people on social issues that are impacting their mental health. Under the title of “Chatter Matters"  the 10 minute podcasts gives our students Sherlyn Antony, Royce Demello, Alexander Duric, Eric Dole and Adharsh Kannan and wellbeing staff Milan Colic, Jo Webb and Achok Bieth the opportunity discuss a particular event looking at both its cause and effect but also positive ways of managing the stress associated with particularly challenging times in our lives. 

The podcasts will be distributed through Magellan Media in the coming weeks and will become a valuable resource for young people across the state in managing mental health. I thank Tony Biviano, the Chair of our School Advisory Committee and Executive with Magellan Media who has brought this opportunity to our school but also our staff and students for their wonderful sharing of their knowledge and experience. 

Exams  

The Semester 1 Exam period will commence on Thursday June 1 and conclude on Friday June 9. Students from Year 8 to Year 11 will be involved in a range of assessment tasks that will form part of their teacher’s assessment of their learning progress throughout Semester 1. I ask students and their families to read the timetable rosters which have been sent home over the last few weeks carefully and to ensure that all required preparations have been made to ensure a successful examination period. Note also students are required to be in full school uniform for all exams and when they are accessing the College for study purposes. 

VRQA & School Review Update 

Every four years the Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority conducts a review of St John’s and our compliance to its state standards for operation of a Secondary School . This will happen on June 5, 7 and 8. In the first half of the year the Leadership, curriculum and Administration teams  have been working to ensure all polices and procedure are up to date while teaching staff completed a self-assessment of St John’s against the School Improvement Rubric to evaluate the progress we have made over the last four years against our stated goals and objectives.  This self-assessment will be audited by the reviewers when they visit St John's and provide commendations and recommendations for the next four year School improvement plan. The reviewers are also interested in meeting with parents as part of the review on school improvement. If you are interested in being part of this Review on June 8, please contact the Principal PA – Helen Phillips at hphillips@sjrc.vic.edu.au .