Principal's Report

Opening of the Junior STEM Building – July 15th

What a great day for St john’s Regional College as Archbishop Peter A Comensoli opened the Sr Genevie Robertson Junior STEM Building and Fidelis Community Garden last Friday. We have been waiting for a long time for this day! And so many people have contributed to these developments and should be acknowledged for their work in bringing this new building to life. I extend our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to :

Fr Brendan Lane – President of the Canonical Administrators of St John’s Regional College

Y2 Architecture – Mr Matt Dwyer, Ms Amy Tremewen

Staff members of the Design Team – Dr Janine Biggin, Mr Tim Lee, Mr Derek Williams, Ms Marina Kintzel, Mr Dion Spoljar and Ms Tania Robertson

Builders Alchemy Construction - Mr Daniel Morgan, Mr Braham Pitt, Mr Jamie Nicholson and Mr John Socha

Project Management Team – Mr Peter Tonkin (Y2), Business Manager Ms Shelley Iles, Property Manager Mr Keith Jenner and Melbourne Archdiocese Staff - Mr Fergus Chisholm and Ms Stephanie Wood

Members of the St John’s School Advisory Committee and Finance Committee:

Mr Andrew Schoenmaekers, Mr Tony Biviano , Ms Maria Nasioulas, Mr Andrew Jorissen, Ms Cathy Pascal, Mr Chris Richardson, Mr John Loizou and Mr Peter Liddell

The Junior STEM Centre and community garden were named in honour of Presentation Order sisters Sr Genevieve Robertson and Sr Fidelis Burgess, to recognise the foundational work of the sisters in Dandenong and at St John’s Regional College as they worked tirelessly to establish and bring the mission of Catholic Education to life.

Features of the new STEM centre include state of the art facilities in the areas of science, design technology, robotics and Information technology. Classroom design has also incorporated flexible learning spaces to allow for a variety of teaching and learning styles that will provides an integrated and hands on application of the key learning areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

It is a wonderful opportunity for St John’s Regional College to become a leader of STEM Education in our local region. The completion of this modern state of the art educational facility will provide exciting future pathways for our students and they are eagerly waiting to use these new facilities in the coming weeks.

Futures Expo

Our Careers Advice and Subject Selection Evening “The Futures Expo “ took place on Thursday evening at the Leo Scollen Stadium. Families and students were able to access Experts from a variety of Universities and TAFE as well as our own teaching staff on subject selection and pathways through senior school and beyond. The night provided important information to help students answer the following questions:

How do I work out what career path I should follow?
What are the fees for a university course? What options do I have for paying Uni. Fees?
What careers follow from a particular University or TAFE course?
What subjects should I be doing in Years 9, 10, 11 or 12 if I like this career?
How do I qualify for a trade? What trades are providing the best employment opportunities?

If any students are still unsure about the answers to these questions then they should make them the focus of their inquiries at the subject selection assemblies held next week for Year 8 2023 to Year 12 2023.

I extend my thanks to Careers Coordinator Ms Leana Bailey, Deputy Principal Learning & Teaching Dr Janine Biggin , VCE Programs Leader Ms Frankie Flanagan and all of our Learning Area Coordinators for their preparation and presentation of a very informative EXPO.

Year 12 Interviews & Year 12 Wellbeing Day

I thank our parents and year 12 staff for attending the Year 12 interviews on Thursday of last week. The end of the school year is in sight for our senior students, so the Parent Teacher Interviews become a vital form of feedback for them as they look to complete courses over the coming weeks and begin their preparation for the end of year exams. We are certainly very aware of the impact two years of interrupted study has had on this year’s graduating class. Concerns have been raised around their wellbeing and motivation as they move into the final months of their schooling. To assist with their wellbeing, motivation and study skills a seminar day has been designed by Dr Biggin and Mr Rhynehart to give our students a chance to talk with their peers and staff about the challenges, anxieties and opportunities that lie ahead. A problem shared is often a problem halved so we look forward to working with our students next Wednesday.

Esports Tournament

I extend our best wishes to our Esport Team consisting of John Jukoff, Elton Truong, Khanh Nguyen, Kevin Prak, Kerry Nguyen and Ryan La who are coached by Mr Nathan Yap. This team of 6 - Year 11 & Year 12 students have completed six preliminary rounds, surviving two tie breaker playoffs on their way to the final of the Victorian Esports tournament. On Saturday 29th of July, they take on Melbourne High School in the final in front of family and friends. We wish them well.

Report from team member Ryan La:-

It has been a great opportunity set by Meta Highschool Esports and their partners to organise an event where high schools and students across Victoria/Tasmania have been able to compete against each other in competitive online videogames. The online event that took place during Term 2 and the beginning of Term 3 helped us build our communication, teamwork, and cohesion. While playing against other schools and students we have been met with much positive and supportive compliments from students from competing schools. The overall experience of the Meta Highschool Esports online tournament was nothing but a positive journey, for learning and growing as a team. We are proud to be representing the college in the upcoming onsite tournament at Flinders Fed Square. The team also would like to thank Mr Hogan and Mr Yap, for allowing us to have the opportunity to represent the college and bring competitive esports into our school.

If you wanted to add that the Grand Final will be streamed online on the 30th July, 2022 between 10am-1pm @https://www.twitch.tv/metahse, it would be fantastic to gather support.

Lasallian Youth Gathering 2022

The Lasallian Youth Gathering was held in Sydney during the second week of the school holidays. Staff members Tegan Yates and Lasallian Youth Minister Jessica Edwards attended the youth gathering along with five students from St. Johns. The three day gathering gave our students the opportunity to listen to some inspiring presentations from Lasallian leaders and to share their own faith experience with students from Lasallian schools from around Australia, NZ and Papua New Guinea. The students had a wonderful time making new friends and reflecting on their faith and future pathways. I thank them for being great ambassadors for St. Johns and our staff for their generosity an engagement with the programme over the school holidays.

College Academic Excellence Assembly – August 1st

On Monday August 1st the College Community will assemble to present the Academic Excellence Awards and Stella Awards for Semester 1. All parents are welcome to attend this assembly which will commence at 9:30am in the Br Leo Scollen stadium at St Johns. In addition to the presentation of awards we will have the opportunity to listen to a former alumni of St John’s, Ms Rachel Robertson. Rachel was a member of the class of 1986 and is now a motivational and leadership speaker. Amongst many achievements Rachel has led a yearlong expedition to Antarctica and will return to St. Johns to talk to our students about the journey of excellence that she has achieved. We look forward to our parents and students hearing from Rachel on August 1st.

Congratulations

Congratulations to staff member Emilia and her partner Michael Floris on the arrival of their beautiful son Emmanuel.

Emmanuel weighed in at 3.9kg when he arrived on the 13/07/22 . All are well and we look forward to seeing Emmanuel and mum a little bit later in the term.