Farewell to the Chair of the School Advisory Committee, Mr Andrew Schoenmaekers

I thank and farewell the Chair of our School Advisory Committee and Finance Committee, Mr Andrew Schoenmaekers. Andrew has been a wonderful servant of St John’s bringing much needed leadership in governance and financial management. As an ex-student of St John’s he has a great passion for this school community and took great pride in setting the foundation for this school to flourish. I take this opportunity to thank him on behalf of our community and wish him and his wife Veronica well as they move to Geelong in the coming months

Appointment of New Chair of School Advisory Committee and Finance Committee

With the departure of Mr Schoenmaekers I wish to introduce to our community our new Chair of the School Advisory committee, Mr Tony Biviano and the new chair of our school finance committee, Mr John Loizou.

Tony Biviano was born and raised in Dandenong. He is married to Margaret and has three children and three grandchildren. He has been an active member of the St John’s Board and now Advisory Committee for two years.

Tony is the CEO of Majellan Media which is a ministry of the Redemptorist Congregation with the primary purpose of helping families through the production of media and publications including The Majellan magazine.

Tony had a career with Telstra for 22 years which included the role of Sales and Marketing Manager for Victoria and Tasmania. He has worked as CEO in publishing, has consulted to business and worked in the Archdiocese of Melbourne to support parishes.

As a member of St Simon’s Parish in Rowville, Tony has been chair of the Parish Council and served on the Finance Committee.

He is an Alumni of St John's having attended from 1970 until he graduated in 1975. He says he is pleased to be giving back to the school that contributed so much to his own personal growth.

Chair of our School finance Committee Mr John Loizou

Mr Loizou attended St John’s Regional College from 1999-2004. He has Completed a Bachelor of Business and Commerce (Accounting/Economics) at Monash University, a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting at the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAA) and a Masters in Business, Banking and Finance at Monash University.

He has worked as an accountant with Grant Thornton Australia Limited and has run his own accounting firm, Chronos Private, for the last eight years.

He is also a husband to Joana and father of an almost 2 year old. Over the last four years he has been an active member of the St John’s Finance Committee and as an alumni of the College he is looking forward to giving back to the school of which he has many fond memories .

Bereavement

We pray for members of our community who have lost loved ones over the last few weeks including:

Ex-student Dilshan Perera who tragically passed away after a short illness on the 19 July. Dilshan graduated from St John’s in 2018 and his brother, Himath, is in Year 11.

Staff Member Ms Liz Hosegood, from our administration team, who passed away after a long battle with cancer.

The father of staff member Ms Lisa Jacob who was buried this week.

We extend our deepest sympathies and prayers to these families and their loved ones.

We pray:

Eternal Rest grant unto them O Lord and may perpetual light shine on them. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Master of the Universe, hear our prayers, we make them in confidence forever and ever. Amen.

Wednesday 27 July - Year 12 Motivation, Wellbeing and Study Skills Day

Last Wednesday our Year 12 students had a break from their normal learning program to engage in a seminar day with a focus on motivation, wellbeing and study skills. We are certainly very aware of the impact two years of interrupted study has had on this year’s graduating class and the rising anxiety as their final exams come into sight. To assist with their wellbeing, motivation and study skills a seminar day was designed by Dr Biggin, Mr Rhynehart and senior staff to give our students a chance to talk with their peers and staff about the challenges, anxieties and opportunities that lie ahead. I thank the following staff including Mr Damian Khoury from the Lasallian Mission Council who also conducted our Year 12 retreat in Term 1.

Session 1: Wellbeing – Convened by Mr Milan Colic, Ms Jo Webb and Miss Achok Bieth

Session 2: Study Skills –Convened by Ms Frankie Flanagan, Mr Adam Gordon and Dr Janine Biggin

Session 3: Motivation – Convened by Mr Damian Khoury Lasallian Mission Council and Year 12 Retreat Team

College Assembly – Monday August 1

On Monday we conducted our whole School Assembly to celebrate the achievements of our students from Semester 1. It is wonderful to gather as a community to acknowledge those students who through their self-discipline, dedication and commitment have achieved results of a very high standard in the first half of the year. I also congratulate those students who received Stella Awards in recognition of their leadership and service to our community. In particular I applaud Faith and Ministry Captain Jethmi Almeida who received her Diamond Star, the highest STELLA award for her service to St John’s over the last six years. A highlight of the assembly was to have ex-student of St John’s, Rachael Robertson, back to speak about her journey since leaving school. Rachael left her role as a Public Relations Consultant to lead a team of scientists and engineers on an expedition to Antarctica for 12 months and is now a motivational leadership speaker who travels the world talking about Leadership and teamwork. Her message captured beautifully our school motto “courage reaches for the stars" and was well received by our audience.

I wish to acknowledge and thank all staff and students who contributed to our assembly particularly Mr Rhynehart, Dr Biggin, Mr Van Es, Mr Perryman, our school choir, Mr Tabone and Student leaders Kye Duncan, Vanessa Sayers, Chris Kelly and Jethmi Almeida.

OnTrack School Holiday Program @ SJRC: September 19 - September 22

Mushroom records will be returning to St John’s to run a September school holiday program for interested students. The four days from Monday September 19 to Thursday September 23 will give the opportunity for students to be involved in song writing, demo recording, music video clips and mentoring from a range of recording artists.

The four days will be conducted at St John’s in the Holy Family Performing Arts Centre and is free of charge to St John’s students.

SIS Cross Country – 2022

Congratulations to Mark Alexander and the St John’s Cross Country Team on taking out the Senior Section Shield in the SIS Cross Country Championships. Under tough wintry conditions at the Baxter Reserve our students did an amazing job to compete, particularly our seniors who achieved their long-held ambition of taking home the senior shield. My thanks to Head Coach Mr Alexander and his motivational team of Mr Adkins, Ms McNally, Ms Fraraccio, Ms Hughes and Mr Halls-Ferguson.

SIS MasterChef Team:

A very big congratulations to our SIS Teen Chef team for 2022, Jayme Gardner, Kiara Lay, Eliza Mapili and Quaratullane Ali for being awarded a silver medal by the Australian Culinary Federation judges at the Southern Independent Schools MasterChef competition today. These students along with our emergency team members Laura El Bazi and Tien Nguyen have shown amazing dedication and commitment to the team and the preparation for the event over the last two months. I also congratulate the Coach of the team, Ms Melissah Jeffree, whose support and encouragement inspired this wonderful performance.

MACS STEM MAD Showcase

I congratulate staff members Mr Derek Williams, Ms Jacinta Ashby and students Ethan Cester, Sherlyn Antony and Darren Razu on their presentation at the Catholic Education STEM MAD Showcase. The Showcase is designed to celebrate and promote STEM learning initiatives that address real-world problems and demonstrate how students in Catholic schools take action that matter, by designing a service, product or innovation to make a difference. The project designed and presented by our team combined visual artistic skills, musical composition, digital technology and physical interaction to create a different form of musical experience. This project gives an understanding of the exciting curriculum initiatives that our students will be available to engage in through our Junior STEM Facility. The presentation was very well received and will be shown again at the National Catholic Education Conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday 6 September .

Deputy Principal - Student Wellbeing

Greg Van Es