Principal's Report
2020 College Captains
It gives me great pleasure to announce the College Captains and Vice Captains for 2020:
College Captains: Aker Mawith and Tofy Jorissen
College Vice-Captains: Johanna Pastias and Chester Finau
All students who nominated for leadership roles completed a nomination speech to their peers followed by a voting process with the Year 11 students and the staff of the College. The final interviews, to complete the leadership selection process, were conducted by this year’s College Captains, Deputy Principal Mr Van Es and myself. It is one of the highlights of the school year to hear the nomination speeches of those students who want to serve this school community. This year’s candidates consistently reflected on their pride and love for their school and the wonderful opportunities they have been given which, in turn, inspired them to want to give back. We received many quality nominations from our Year 11 students and I thank them all for their willingness to serve.
Our College leaders for 2020 will be presented to the St John’s Regional College Community on Awards evening on 19 November.
Annual General Meeting
Advisory Board
At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the 27th of August, the following nominations were received for the four vacancies on the St John’s Regional College Advisory Board: Mr Andrew Schoenmaekers, Mr Chris Sikora, Ms Kellie Walden and Mr Chris Richardson. The Association of Canonical Administrators (ACA) at the meeting of the ACA on the 11th of September approved all nominations received for the College Advisory Board. I congratulate those returning members and new Board member, Mr Chris Richardson. I would also like to thank Mrs Danai Cerra, who stepped down from the Board at the AGM for her service to St John’s Regional College.
(College Captains Dylan Morris and Svetlana Brillantes addressing the St John’s Regional College Advisory Board)
I congratulate Ms Kellie Walden on her reappointment as Chair of the Board and Mr Andrew Schoenmaekers as Deputy Chair and Honorary Accountant to the Board. I thank all those who give of their time so generously to serve on our College Board and standing committees as listed below. The Board plays an important role in advising the Association of Canonical Administrators on matters of School finance, Policy and Governance and I encourage any member of our community with concerns or commendations around these issues to contact a member of the College Advisory Board.
Association of Canonical Administrators :
President Fr Brendan Lane, Fr Kevin Dance, Fr Martin Jeramias,
Fr Michael Payyapilly, Fr Desmond Moloney
College Board Members:
Chairperson: Ms Kellie Walden
Deputy Chair: Ms Andrew Schoemaekers
Principal: Mr Tim Hogan
Honorary Financial Adviser: Mr Andrew Schoemaekers
College Staff Representative: Ms Maria Nasioulas
Parent and Parish Representatives:
Mr Tony Biviano
Mrs Cathy Paschal
Mr Chris Richardson
Mr Chris Sikora
College Board Executive:
Fr Brendan Lane
Mr Tim Hogan
Ms Kellie Walden
Mr Andrew Schoenmaekers
Finance Committee:
Fr Brendan Lane
Mr Tim Hogan
Mr Nic Salvatore
Mr Andrew Schoenmaekers
Ms Kellie Walden
Mr John Loizou
RUOK? Day
This Thursday our community gathered to raise awareness of mental health and student wellbeing through our focus on RUOK? Day. This national day of action is dedicated to inspiring all people of all backgrounds to regularly ask each other, ‘Are you OK?', as a way of building connections in our community and helping to stop little problems turning into big ones.
Students were involved in a range of activities during lunchtime including dodgeball, giant Jenga, 3-legged racing, face painting, music and dancing all incorporated with a splash of yellow the official colour of RUOK? Day.
I congratulate our Wellbeing Staff led by Ms Fiona Busuttil, Ms Jo Webb, Miss Angelique Phillip-Kemp, Mr Andrew Dias and Student Leaders for their preparation and leadership in providing such a fun and educational day for our students.
Year 9 Immersion Program
During the course of this week all students in Year 9 have been involved in our 2019 Immersion Project with a focus on increasing student engagement and learning. This involved their participation in an outdoor education experience at Camp Bindaree and a number of school-based learning projects at St John’s.
The camp in the Lake Eildon National Park provided an emphasis on working as a team and enhancing leadership skills through engagement in a variety of outdoor activities such as Bushwalking, Raft Building, Flat Water Canoeing and Bike touring.
My thanks to Year 9 Program Co-ordinator Mr Denis Palanci, the Project Based Learning Facilitators and all teachers who assisted in a very successful Year 9 Immersion.
CEMSIS Surveys - Engage in the Future of our school
Over the past week all parents would have received an email with login details to our CEMSIS Survey. This School Improvement Survey will be available from September 2 to September 20. As a school, we value the opportunity to gather your feedback about what you see is working well and the areas where we can still improve. To do this we are asking for some of your time to complete the CEMSIS survey about your experience of our school. I thank those who have already completed the survey and encourage those who are yet to do so to set aside 20 minutes of your time to complete your feedback so we can make your child’s school the best we possibly can.
Congragulations
I congratulate Leonard Omar who has been selected in the Melbourne Rebels under 16s State Rugby team. Leonard will compete in the National Junior Rugby Championship which will be held in Canberra from the 28 September to 5 October.
Parent, Student and
Teacher Interviews
The term will conclude with Parent Teacher interviews on Thursday and Friday of next week. Interim reports have been sent out providing feedback on student performance and effort observed over the course of this term. I encourage all parents and their children to attend our Parent, student and Teacher nights to discuss with their teachers the next steps to take in their learning. Families can book interviews via the PTO link found on the St John’s Regional College Website.
Year 12 Trial Exams
Commence Friday 27th of September
Our Year 12 students will be undertaking their important practise exams over the holidays as they count down to their final exams in November. To assist them in their preparation the Contemporary Learning Centre will remain open from 9am to 3.30pm throughout the school holidays, except for the public holiday prior to the Grand Final weekend.
Congratulations Alumni:
Majack Mawith
Majak Mawith, a former student of St. John’s Regional College from the Class of 2018, has been named in the starting 11 for the South Sudanese National Team as it prepares to play two FIFA World Cup Qualifier games against Equatorial Guinea.
In the lead-up Pre-qualifier Camp, Majak competed against 2 other experienced goalkeepers where his efforts resulted in him being named as the first choice goalkeeper for both World Cup Qualifier games. He is now one of the youngest FIFA capped goalkeepers in a FIFA World Cup Qualifier. Majak has previously played for the U23 teams for Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City while a student at St John’s.
We are very proud of his achievement and wish him all the best on his journey as a professional footballer .
2020/2021 New Enrolments
Open Morning
On Thursday of this week, our second open morning for Term 3 was held giving new families the opportunity to meet members of the college leadership team and senior student leaders. This was followed by a tour highlighting our facilities and engaging curriculum opportunities.
Our next enrolment event for this year will take place on Thursday 24 October at 9.15am. For any enrolment enquiries please contact Registrar Ms Symone Goodwin on (03) 8793 2000 or to book a school tour follow this link book https://www.trybooking.com/BALBU
Happy Holidays
I extend to all my best wishes for the school holiday period, hoping that your football team wins and that we can all enjoy some good weather and relaxing times with family and friends. I look forward to and pray for everybody's safe return in Term 4.
