Principal's Report 

Welcome to the 2022 School Year

On behalf of the St John’s Regional College Community, I extend a warm welcome to our new and returning families to the 2022 school year.  We hope all families have had a restful break and are ready to take on the exciting challenges of the new school year.

Our Annual Theme this year is “Take the Way of the Gospel”.  It is a challenging theme which requires us to deepen our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  During the year we will take time to discuss and understand “The Way” as it reflects how Christians have lived their lives following the teachings of Jesus Christ with its core understanding that we are all made in the image of God.  This fundamental belief should mark our community and the challenge for us is to live this daily in the way we see and treat one another.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide and give us courage this year as St John’s Regional College “Takes the Way of the Gospel”. 

We are looking forward to continuity of face-to-face learning in the school year as we adopt the new COVID protocols around Rapid Antigen testing each week and household contacts.  All events in Term 1 will go through a thorough risk assessment for COVID prevention before students and staff will participate in the activity.  At this point in time, we anticipate that the Year 7 Camp and Year 12 Retreat scheduled for Term 1 will go ahead as planned and our SIS participation will commence in March.

Over the summer months our expansion and redevelopment of facilities as per our masterplan has continued and this year will see the new $5m Junior STEM Centre be completed during the April school holidays.  This state of the art centre will provide an environment where staff and students can explore and apply their growing knowledge of the important STEM studies of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Opening Mass and House Welcome Evening Postponed 

Unfortunately, due to the current case levels of COVID we have taken the decision to postpone our Welcome Mass.  The current numbers of positive cases in our community has elevated the risk of bringing many adult members of our community together for an indoor event.  Our new Year 7 students will be welcomed as part of our Opening Assembly on Tuesday 22nd of February.

Rescheduled Opening College Assembly – February 22nd.

Our opening College Assembly has been rescheduled to be held as an open-air event on the 22nd of February.  As a covid risk management protocol we will be holding the event on the Basketball Courts under cover with appropriate social distancing.

Arrangements for the Assembly will be confirmed in the coming weeks but will focus on our Welcome of our Year 7 Students, the Investiture of our 2022 School Leaders and the celebration of our VCE High Achievers for 2021, including our Dux Miss Maria Hinen.

2021 Dux

Of the 122 Year 12 students in 2021, 19 successfully completed their Victorian Certificate of Applied learning and 103 students were awarded their Victorian Certificate of Education.  I am proud to announce that the Dux of St John’s Regional College for 2021 is Maria Hinen with a score of 99.3.  Maria will begin a Bachelor of Bio-Medicine  at Monash University in 2022.  She will return to deliver her address as the Dux of the College at the Opening College later this term.

Student Leadership 2022

On the 22nd of February we will have the opportunity to formally inaugurate the 2022 Student Leaders for St John’s Regional College at the Opening College Assembly.  These students were elected on their commitment to all aspects of school life and their ability to be a voice for the 700 students they represent.  Our student leaders will work to ensure that the Student Representative Council will become a forum where all students voices are heard and have an influence on the creation of our school environment.  Our senior students’ leaders set the tone for our school in many ways, and I am looking forward to the contribution they will make in 2022. 

College Captains                                                        Ministry Captains

Vanessa Sayers &  Kye Duncan                               Jethmi Almeida & Chris Kelly                                                              

House Captains                          

Aquila                         Joleena Tam & Adam Gilchrist                                   

Columba                      Alliyah Manoop & Lennon Hughes                 

Delphinus                    Amanda Britto & Jade Grundy                                   

Leonis                          Shayne Fisher & Anthony Heng                      

Monoceros                  Laura Gardner & Cooper Marshall                 

Phoenix                       Josephine Malwal & Charlie Barry     

Staffing

As we begin the school year, I welcome the new staff to St John’s Regional College:

Frankie Flanagan – VCE & VCAL Programs Leader

Jo Green – Learning Diversity Leader  Co–Leader Special Needs

Dawn Heldt -Learning Diversity Leader  Co –Leader

Teagan Yates - Junior Science / PE

Emilia Kazanidis – HPE, VET Sport & Rec, VCAL teacher

Irene Anania (Maths /Science /Tutoring Program)

AFL Trainee – Tyler Ferguson Hall

Lasallian Youth Minister – Jessica Edwards

They come with a variety of different experiences and skills and we look forward to the contribution they will make to student learning and wellbeing in the coming years. 

I also advise that Mr David Fong has retired from St John’s after 40 plus years of teaching. Mr Fong has been a wonderful educator over that time holding several positions of leadership in Learning and Wellbeing and always placing his students at the centre of his work.  I wish him well in his well-earned retirement.  Mr Fong will be invited back to the Board and Staff Dinner this year to celebrate his wonderful career at St John’s Regional College.

Enrolments 2022 , 2023 and 2024

Our Open Morning for prospective students and their families take place every Thursday at 9.15am.  Parents will have the opportunity to learn about our History, Curriculum programs and future plans for St John’s in a one hour session that incorporates a tour through our facilities.  Enrolments for 2022, 2023 and 2024 are invited and parents can book a place for this 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.

Tutoring Program

St John’s will continue to offer the after school-tutoring program this year for all year levels. There is no fee for the tutoring program which runs each Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in the Contemporary Learning Centre from 3.30pm to 5pm.  The program will commence on Monday the 14th of February and any Students requiring extra assistance in completing homework tasks or developing their literacy and numeracy skills are encouraged to come along to the CLC.  Our experienced tutors, who all hold Working with Children Registration, are ex-students of St John’s  currently undertaking further studies at University.

Congratulations Gabriel Loos 

Gabriel pictured centre below has been selected to represent Australia in the U17 Men's Team Futsal Team.  He will compete in the Sardinia Futsal Cup in Italy this year in the months of June and July.  Well done, Gabriel.