Principal's Report
A Belated Mother’s Day Wish
I wish all of the mothers in our community a happy Mother's Day for last Sunday. I am sure there was much celebrating as families far and wide came together to say thank you for all the sacrifices made to help create homes of love , security and nurture so beautifully captured in our prayer below.
God of love,
we thank you for the gift of our mothers:
mothers who labour to bring us into this world,
mothers to guide us on life’s journey,
mothers to teach us how to pray to you.
We praise you, God,
for mothers who listen to us and cry with us,
who applaud our progress and laugh with us,
who want the best for us, who dream with us,
who love us always.
We thank you god,
for the gift of mothers.
Amen.
Gala Soccer Day
On Monday, the 9th of May under sunny skies the Paul Wade Cup was held at St John’s Regional College. Over two hundred primary school students from St Marys, St Paul Apostle North, St Francis De Sales, Holy Family , St Anthony’s , St Gerard’s and St Kevin’s gathered on the SJRC soccer pitch to fight for the right to playoff in the grand final.
In a wonderful match St Paul Apostle North overcame their loss in last year’s final to narrowly defeat St Kevin’s to take out the Paul Wade Cup for 2022.
I thank our Football Academy partner Dandenong City Soccer Club and Staff from A-League team Melbourne City who attended on the day to referee and provide expert coaching for all our participants. I also thank the St John’s Staff; Ms Fraraccio , Mr Alexander , Mr Loonstra , Ms Iles , Mr Arulanandar , Mr Vanderlaan , Ms Beus and the Administration and Maintenance teams for staging a wonderful tournament.
We look forward to all the schools and students returning to contest the 2023 Paul Wade Cup.
Founders Day & Rescheduling of Annual Talent Quest
Next Tuesday our community will stop to celebrate the lives of our founders St John Baptiste De La Salle and the Venerable Nano Nagle . The day will begin with a whole school mass celebrated by Fr Brendan Lane followed by a range of fun activities arranged by each house culminating in the House Volleyball competition in the afternoon.
The day will also have a fundraising focus as we launch our Mad (Make a Difference) Day initiatives which conclude with a whole school walkathon on the last day of term 2. All funds raised through MAD Day initiatives this term will go to our Lasallian schools in Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and the Wellsprings Foundation in Dandenong.
Our Annual Talent Quest has been rescheduled to the afternoon of the last day of term 2 . All parents will be invited to come along and enjoy the entertainment provided by the talented students of St John’s as we celebrate the end of term.
Staffing
I advise that Mr Tim Swan (Director of Faith & Mission) and Ms Lynn Cemeljic ( English & Languages Co-ordinator ) have stepped down from their leadership roles to return to the classroom. I thank Mr Swan and Ms Cemeljic for their service to our school community.
Ms Sue Keel will take on the role of English & Languages Co-ordinator for the remainder of 2022.
I welcome Mr Garth Channing as our new VET Trainer for our VET certificate 11 in Kitchen Operations. Mr Channing who also works as a chef at the Sofitel in the city will join our highly credentialled hospitality team headed by Chef Kees Vanderlaan.
Bereavement
We pray for Mrs Maryanne Cataldo who sadly passed away last week after a long battle with illness. The Cataldo family have five children who have all attended St John’s including Raffaele in Year 11 and we send them our prayers and condolences.
We pray:
Eternal Rest grant unto her O Lord and may perpetual light shine on her. May her soul 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
2022 St John’s Athletics Carnival
On Monday May 2nd the St. John's community ventured to Casey fields to participate in our annual athletics carnival. Blessed with good weather we saw many fine performances in both the field and track events. The SJRC 2022 Athletics Championship was won by Columba House for the second year in a row. I congratulate all the students on their participation and their support for their houses during the day and congratulate and thank Mr Mark Alexander, the Health and PE staff and all the staff for their assistance on the day for what was a wonderful athletics carnival.
Congratulations:
1st Place: COLUMBA 1394
EQ 2nd: LEONIS/MONOCEROS 1010
4th: DELPHINUS 688
5th: PHOENIX 684
6th: AQUILA 671
Southern Independent Schools (SIS) Swimming Carnival : Division B
On Wednesday May 4th we had a very competitive swimming team represent St John’s at the SIS Division B Swimming Championships held at MSAC. Several our younger competitors swam up a level and performed creditably against their older competition and in a fantastic sign for the future we finished 3rd overall. This was our best result for a number of years and I congratulate our students for their efforts and the following staff who coached on the day and attended early morning training over the last 6 weeks, Mr Mark Alexander ,Ms Ash Fraraccio, Ms Marina Kintzel, Ms Michelle Trusler, Ms Deb Sherrard, Mr Aaron Bailey .
Tutoring Available - Monday to Thursday
Our school tutoring programme has been extended by one day and now runs in the library for students from Monday to Wednesday from 3.30 to 5 pm. Our tutors provide this service free of charge and are available to assist students from year 7 to year 12 in range of subject areas including Maths, English and Science.
Monday Jennifer Yang, Maria Hinen and Harshitha Kumar Tuesday Maria Hinen
Wednesday Harshitha Kumar
Student Free Day – June 1
St Johns will close on June 1 to allow staff to participate in a series of professional learning activities including:
- Behaviour Management in the Classroom
- Pedagogy in the new the Junior STEM centre
- Building Literacy Skills
- Leading Effective Teams and crucial conversations
- Working with Disabilities Standards Modules and NCCD
- ICT Skill Development
Professional Learning days like this are important as we support staff in the development of their skills and professional capacity to enhance the learning outcomes of our students.
Enrolments 2023 and 2024
This term alongside our weekly enrolment tour at 9.15am on a Thursday, we will be conducting an evening enrolment tour on June 23 at 6pm. Parents will have the opportunity to learn about our History, Curriculum programs and future plans for St John’s in a session that also incorporates a tour through our facilities. Parents can book a place for this tour or our weekly 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. Parents can also fast track their enrolment application for 2023 & 2024 via our online enrolment portal through our school website.
NAPLAN this week
Our students have been undertaking the NAPLAN tests this week along with students in years 3, 5, 7 & 9 across Australia. NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy and is the only national assessment all that Australian students do.
As students progress through their school years, it’s important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.
NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ progress. NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.
Feedback on learning is fundamentally important for students, teachers and parents particularly around the foundational aspects of literacy and numeracy. From a classroom perspective the data we gain from testing both through NAPLAN and our own internal sources helps us to know our students better , their strength and weaknesses and what we should be doing to assist their learning. It also gives a yardstick by which we can evaluate the effectiveness of the programs we are using to improve student learning.
At St John’s we are aiming to become more skilled in the use of student data so that it informs our understanding of how students learn and leads to better teaching. We are also conscious of the value we place on human dignity which reminds us that our student data has a name and a face and will guide how we cater for the needs of each student in our care.