As all would be aware by now I will be absent from St John’s for 2025. The Principal at Corpus Christi resigned very late in the year (last week) and an Acting Principal was sought. All other schools in the Diocese have either new Assistant Principals or newish Principals – except St John’s. So I was asked to assist and consider moving to Corpus Christi for 2025. Such a difficult decision as St john’s is a beautiful place to be.

Given that we are so lucky to have Mr Eirth, who can step up into the Acting Principal role so easily, I reluctantly accepted. Now that this has settled in, I will be 100% for my new temporary role, as will Mr Eirth.  I thank the P&F for their thoughts and words and the well wishes from all others.

BISHOP BRIAN'S SCHOOL CAPTAIN'S RETREAT

Our School Captains spent three days last week with the Captain’s from our other eight secondary schools in the Wollongong Diocese. The setting was the magnificent Marist retreat centre, The Hermitage in Mittagong (Le Rosey section). Bishop Brian and Mr Hill (Director of Schools) attended all days.

Our leaders had the task of presenting their view of St John’s through the theme – It is what we do, it is who we are. They were fantastic, as were the other school leaders. Our students were not overprepared, like some, but spoke from the heart with feeling and meaning. They love and are proud of our school, our location and our Shoalhaven surrounds. They love what makes us St John’s. I was very proud to see their passion.

Chloe:

Myself, Daniel, Tom and Leilani were privileged to have attended the 2025 Bishops Captains Retreat. We explored many amazing things within the faith, heard amazing stories from both Bishop Brian and Mr Peter Hill, and formed together what we believe a Catholic leader is. I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to explore deeper into my faith and know what awaits me in the next year as I develop my skills of being a Catholic leader. We were able to discuss as Catholic leaders what we hope we can implement in our school, and how we can build upon the amazing community that St. Johns is. 

Daniel: 

From Wednesday, November 27th to Friday, November 29th, Chloe, Tom, Leilani and I were given the opportunity to attend Bishop Brian’s Captain’s Retreat. During the retreat, we engaged in faith-based leadership activities and were provided knowledge and guidance through eye-catching stories and testimonies from Bishop Brian, Mr Peter Hill as well as other staff members. We interacted with the 9 other Catholic high schools present and learnt a lot about ourselves and each other resulting in many new friendships being made. On the final day of the retreat, we were given the opportunity to present how we would demonstrate leadership in our school through our motto and key values. Alongside this, we celebrated mass and came together as a Catholic community. We hope to bring back what we learnt from the retreat and to use this for the betterment of our school. 

HIGH PERFORMIMG SCHOOLS VISIT

Last week Mr Eirth and I joined the other Principals and leading staff on a visit to the high performing schools in the Sydney Diocese. At Menai, Engadine, Wakeley and Hoxton Park we saw schools that were somewhat similar to ours. Most were average schools who are now high performing ones. We explored their journey from average to excellence in educational outcomes. We came away with many things to consider implementing.

The findings from this trip and the results of our four yearly Cyclic Inquiry (a process of review every four years) earlier this year, will form the future direction of St John’s for the next four year cycle.

SURVEY OF PARENTS REGARDING POSSIBLE NAME CHANGE

At last year’s School Leaders Retreat with Bishop Brian, each school presented and then the Principals had lunch with their students. I was immediately challenged by the students as to why the other Catholic schools were Colleges and St John’s wasn’t. We had a lively discussion as the students were so proud of their school and articulated that we are as good as any other school and deserved to be a College as well.

Earlier this year I surveyed the staff about a possible name change to St John the Evangelist Catholic College. 64% wanted the change and they were asked to leave comment if they wished. The staff who wanted no change mainly stated cost involved. The staff who wanted change talked of the growth of the school (as we complete our 35^th year in 2024), the growth of Nowra, that our main opposition (NAC) is a College , the name change could lead to better learning expectations and outcomes etc.

So I will be sending a survey to all parents early next week,  seeking your advice.

But a few things have been raised. COST. There is minimal cost involved as we will use stationary and other printed items throughout next year. Their will be no added cost for parents as their will be no uniform change. Our uniform says SJE or St John’s. There will be some cost to the school to update some external signage.

There will be no increase in fees as a result of the change. Our fees are set by the Diocese and this will continue.

I thank you for reading this and look forward to the feedback.

ADVENT SEASON

As I write this Newsletter I recognise that we light the first Advent candle at mass this weekend and the lightning of both the first and second candles the following weekend. The first candle, which is purple, symbolises ’hope’. It is sometimes called the ‘prophecy candle’ in remembrance of the prophets, especially Isiah, who foretold the birth of Christ. It represents the expectation felt in anticipation of the coming Messiah.

The second candle, also purple, represents ‘faith’. It is called the ‘Bethlehem candle’ as a reminder of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem.

The third candle is pink and symbolizes ‘joy’. It is called the “Shepard’s Candle,” and is pink because rose is a liturgical colour for joy. The third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete Sunday and is meant to remind us of the joy that the world experienced at the birth of Jesus, as well as the joy that the faithful have as we pass the midpoint of Advent.

On the fourth week of Advent, we light the final purple candle to mark the final week of prayer and penance as we wait for the birth of our Savior. This final candle, the “Angel’s Candle,” symbolizes peace. It reminds us of the message of the angels: “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.”

The white candle is placed in the middle of the wreath and lit on Christmas Eve. This candle is called the “Christ Candle” and represents the life of Christ. The colour white is for purity—because Christ is our sinless, pure Savior.

I wish all a wonderful Advent season.