‘Excellence is never an accident. Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.’

There has been so many opportunities to witness excellence in the St John’s community over the last few weeks that I feel it is worth acknowledging both the breadth of opportunities available and the wonderful culture of engagement that students have; they are always willing to ‘give it a go’.

There have been an outstanding school Play, the dance troupe’s profound story told in their Wakakirri performance, the production of an Art Installation for public exhibition at Shellharbour, the selection of two students for the National Youth Science Forum, the team entry into the Maths Olympiad, the girls football team making the state finals and these are just a selection over a two week period. 

We encourage all young people to aim for personal best and always strive to do better. We also love to celebrate their successes and support their endeavours.

As a school we have clear learning dispositions that challenge each member of our learning community to excellence. These are :

Inquires, Imaginative, Ownership, Challenge, Reflects and Reflective

Teachers use this language to encourage students to achieve their personal best. Parents and carers are also encouraged to use this language to inspire our young learners to excellence and help them develop the skills and belief in themselves as able and willing to set the bar high and continue to reach for it.

ST JOHN'S WAKAKIRRI WINNERS!

Wakakirri is Australia’s largest Story Dance Festival, involving hundreds of schools and over 20,000 students across the nation each year. 

We are excited to announce, St John's Wakakirri troupe WON the Shoalhaven Regional Wakakirri Challenge and now move on to the NSW Performance in September! Also recipients of the 'Best Drama Story Award', this is a huge achievement and we are so proud of our team!

Thank you to our teachers Ms. Savannah Lloyd and Mrs. Di Bryce for your endless efforts in all aspects of production, including choreographing our team's amazing dance which tells the heart-felt story of a Syrian Refugee's journey.

EXTENSION LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

It is pleasing to see so many of our students taking up challenges to extend their learning. Many opportunities for gifted and talented students occur each day, both during class as well as through extra-curricular activities. This week saw Year 8, 9 and 10 students engage in STEM Challenges at the University of Wollongong Science and Engineering Workshop.

Students from Year 10 used technology to challenge Bega High School in Round 4 of the NSW Junior Chess Knockout, whilst Year 7 & 8 students tackled the Maths Olympiad Paper #3 with five challenging problems to solve!

FOOTBALL TEAM - TOP 4 IN NSW!

Congratulations to our girls soccer team on their brilliant performance this week to come away with a convincing 4-0 win over Xavier College Penrith, placing our team in the Top 4 in NSW CCC. We wish the girls the best of luck for the upcoming semi-finals.

THE NATIONALLY CONSISTENT COLLECTION OF DATA 

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) takes place at St John’s every year. The NCCD is a collection that counts: 

• the number of school students receiving an adjustment or ‘help’ due to disability  
• the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students.

 Students are counted in the NCCD if they receive ongoing adjustments at school due to disability. This ‘help’ allows them to access education on the same basis as a child without disability. The NCCD uses the definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Schools provide this information to education authorities. 

Click here for further information about the NCCD.