Principal's Report

Welcome to the 2020 School Year

I extend a warm welcome to the new school year, particularly to our families who are beginning their journey with St John’s Regional College. Our College theme this year “ Immanuel – GOD WITH US” is a strong reminder to look for God’s presence in both the joys and challenges that life brings to us each day. The outpouring of generosity following the recent Bushfires has been heart-warming and evident of the compassion for humanity that runs strongly through all parts of Australia society and our school. Indeed, let us remember that God is with us always.

We return to 2020 with an exciting year ahead of us. Our sporting precinct will be completed in the next few weeks and we can’t wait. This will see our students access first class sporting facilities including our FIFA accredited synthetic soccer pitch, multiple undercover basketball and netball courts , athletic running track , softball pitch and resewn and newly irrigated football pitch. Our students will get much enjoyment out of using these facilities as well as some fantastic opportunities to develop their learning.

Welcome Mass

To celebrate the commencement of the school year a Welcome Mass was held on Thursday to mark the entry of our Year 7 Students and their families into our school community.  Following the opening Eucharist, the new members of our community were able to meet their House Leaders and Learning Mentors over refreshments and a light supper to symbolise the beginning of our partnership between home and school. The importance of a strong partnership between home and school cannot be overstated.  The more often we can express together our expectations for behaviour , the value we place on their education and the consistent effort we want from them, the more likely our students are to take this on their own journey of becoming an independent and successful learner.

Opening College Assembly

On Tuesday 11 February all families are invited to the Opening College Assembly at 9.15am held in the Br Leo Scollen Stadium. At this Opening College Assembly, our 2020 Student Leaders will pledge their commitment of service to the school community and we will celebrate our 2019 VCE Achievers.

2019 Dux

Of the 129 Year 12 students in 2019, 31 successfully completed their Victorian Certificate of Applied learning and 98 students were awarded their Victorian Certificate of Education.  I am proud to announce that the Dux of St John’s Regional College for 2019 is Satvir (Sunny) Aujla with a score of 95.95. Sunny will begin a Bachelor of Physiotherapy at Monash University in 2020, a course he has a guaranteed entry score for. Sunny will return to deliver his address as the Dux of the College at the Opening College Assembly on 11 February.

Opening School Assembly –

Student Leadership 2020

On 11 February we will have the opportunity to formally inaugurate the 2020 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 750 students they represent. It is a big role and I have every confidence that they will maintain the high standards we have for Student Leadership at St John’s.

College Captains                                                         Vice Captains

Aker Mawith                                                               Johanna Pastias

Tofy Jorissen                                                               Chester Finau

House Captains and Portfolio Captains 2020

Aquila                  Summer Sinclair and Noah Cimino                                        

Columba            Teresa Cataldo and Shaniaka Kasturisinghe              

Delphinus          Athena Gear and Natarsha Acton                             

Leonis                  Christie Ben and Sebastian Romero

Monoceros        Kayla van Meeuwen and Liam Fear   

Phoenix              Kaitlyn Suson and Marius DeSilva 

Ministry              Johanna Pastias and Chester Finau                                       

Communication      Chloe Xu  and Shenal Amarasekara   

Creativity            Tahlia Armansin and Clarissa Bakor              

Environment      Linh Nguyen and Sadhana George

Innovation            Aaron Boak and Christopher Jorissen

Sport                       Nyabel Thouk and Jaylan Iape

Coronavirus Outbreak- Communication

As the Coronavirus unfolds over the coming weeks, I will continue to relay regular updates from the Catholic Education Office and Department of Education as they come to hand. As of Monday, the protocol still stands that any child returning from mainland China (not including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan)  on or after 1 February 2020 is to be isolated at home and should not attend school until 14 days after they were last in mainland China.

Master Plan Stage 2 for 2020

As our new sports precinct nears completion by the end of February, we turn our focus to Stage 2 our new Junior STEM Centre which we received a $3m State Government Grant for just prior to Christmas.  This Project will commence later this year and will provide a physical environment where students will be able to apply their learning in the areas of Science, Technology, Maths and Engineering. Problem solving will be at the heart of STEM learning bringing groups of students together to work on projects that help them develop higher level thinking skills, creativity and communication. This will provide students with pathways into the future especially those with a passion for the STEM learning areas.

Staffing

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

Miss Samantha Hadley – Psychology and VCAL

Miss Anna Nguyen – Maths, Science, RE and Digi Tech

Miss Shantelle Willis – PE and Maths

Mr Kuang Cho Noi - Sports Assistant

Mr Jan Holewa - Lasallian Youth Minister

I also welcome back Ms Lisa Jacob who has returned from extended sick leave in the second half of 2019.  

The following Staff members are currently on leave from St John’s:

Mr David Fong (12 months)

Mr John Rhynehart (12 months)

Ms Carolina Lang ( Semester 1 Sick Leave)

Mr Paul Boswell (4 weeks Long Service leave)

Ms Anne Marie Corrigan (6 Months Maternity Leave)

Ms Trish Dounias (6 months Maternity Leave)

We also keep in our thoughts and prayers Ms Elizabeth Hosegood (Administration) who has taken leave for the time being. 

Enrolments 2020, 2021 and 2022

Our first Open morning for prospective students and their families will take place on Thursday the 20th of February at 9.15am.

The morning will include:

• A Welcome from the Principal
• A tour of facilities led by our Student Leaders
• Meet and greet with staff, teachers and student leaders.

Bookings for the Open Morning occur via the College website: https://www.sjrc.vic.edu.au/

Enrolment Forms for 2020, 2021 and 2022 are available either from the College Reception, from all Feeder Primary Schools and the Parish Offices of St Mary’s (Dandenong), St Kevin’s (Hampton Park), Resurrection (Keysborough), Holy Family (Doveton) and St Paul the Apostle Endeavour Hills).

Bereavement

We keep in our prayers the Lora, Miranda and Daniel Ameti, whose father and Uncle, Mr Driton Ameti, passed away unexpectedly on the School Holidays.

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.

Tutoring Program

St John’s will continue to offer our after school-tutoring program this year for all year levels at no cost. The tutoring program runs each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the Contemporary Learning Centre from 3.30pm to 5pm. The program will commence on Tuesday the 5th 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 are all

ex-students of St John’s who are now at University.