A “BIG” YEAR AT ST JOHN’S

St John’s is characterised by the peaceful nature of our school community however it is the ‘busyness’ that is St John’s indicates that we are a vibrant community and so many of our young people are getting involved in the diverse opportunities that we provide.

During the year there are stories of outstanding sporting achievements and at other times stories of teams that gave their best and had a wonderful time, even though they didn’t win a game. They have shared the joy they have felt at just doing it!

We have celebrated so many individual achievements including:

• Saxon Perry, representing Australia in the World Lego Competition and the Girls Senior Football team winning the NSW Semi-finals 4-1 to qualify for the State Grand Final

• The Duke of Edinburgh Award was achieved by Christian Page, Massimo Copeta, Grace Lewis, McKayla Smith and Cameron Rakow.

• Our musicians have performed and our dance troupe have enthralled us. And Noah Egan and Alex Robertson aka ‘The Debbies’ shared their story about how they came to be in the final five in the Triple J Unearthed National Competition and then invited to play at the Yours and Owls Festival whilst Finn Lochrin starred as Aladdin in the recent Shoalhaven musical production

• Pallas Retimina, Lilly and Rebecca have discussed their work on the Shoalhaven City’s Youth Advisory Committee

• Many of our Year 11 students shared their stories of immersing themselves in the life of the Timorese people and building some very special relationships on their Timor Trip.

We have celebrated outstanding results in all sorts of academic competitions from Maths, Science and English to coding and STEM. In fact over the last couple of weeks we have heard about the STEM Day for Year 9 and the teams of students from St John’s who placed first in a Shoalhaven competition, flying paper planes they constructed over the longest distance. 

Year 8-10 girls engaged in the Tradeswomen Skills Workshops held right here at school. 

The SJE News Network team produced four great episodes of truly local news, in fact they brought the stories of St John’s to St John’s in the most professional manner and we watched them right here as a school community.

We also commissioned Year 11 students to become the Youth Ministry Leaders to raise our awareness of our opportunities to deepen our spirituality. 

Each assembly in the hall, we have been welcomed by our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with the didgeridoo and clapsticks followed by an Acknowledgement of Country, and then we have joined together in prayer. 

We have finished our assemblies by celebrating the outstanding achievements of our Year 7 and 8 Maths students in Maths Pathways and watched the names go up of students in each year nominated for an OOAAA (Often Outstanding, Always Amazing Award) award, waiting in eager anticipation for the announcement of the winners of the canteen vouchers. 

Our sporting successes have included;

• Beau and Keira Buckpitt: Represented at National Junior Surf Titles 
• Sam Colgate selected in the under 16 Illawarra Steelers Rugby League
• Aroha Spillane representing internationally in Rugby 
• Caleb Cook competing in the National Mountain Bike competition
• Jack Callaghan played basketball with the NSW team touring the USA whilst Byron Osgood played football in Brazil
• Kirra Dale in the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships in Perth
• Bailee Holland, Matthew Page and Will Maher placed in the top 3 at State CCC Athletics
• George Broome and Matthew Fabreschi finishing in the top 3 of the Australian Fire Cadet Championships
• Our Equestrian team shared the pictures of the day they won the interschool championships.
• Aroha Spillane, Freya Robinson-Mills, Koby Hantis, Baylee Holland, James and Sophie Phillips and Keira Buckpitt were selected as 7 of just 23 nominees for the prestigious Bernie Regan Sporting Awards.

And very locally the Year 11 students 'got lucky' on the volleyball court beating the teachers.

This year there have been many other special events including the stories about;

• Year 7 and 9 camp
• Foundation day, as always
• Retreats and Reflection days
• We had our own NAIDOC celebration and the impressive ANZAC Day assembly with our students joining ANZAC Day and Sorry Day marches in the Shoalhaven
• The Pax group collected hundreds of signatures creating a tree of leaves displaying statements of what human rights means to each of them
• We sent messages of hope and love directly to Christchurch after the massacre, all hand delivered by Pallas Retimana
• Our Year 10 students deepened their understanding of other cultures by sharing a day of stories, culture and food with guest speakers and the Muslim students from Amity College
• We celebrated our own Indonesian and French days
• JAG (Johnnie’s Action Group) group further developed a ‘sustainable food’ garden near the oval
• Our dancers performed in many competitions finishing with numerous incredible  production and performance awards, as well as Regional Champions of the Shoalhaven Wakakirri
• Our performers won the Arcadian Award for the best school production for all schools in the Illawarra and South Coast with the production of  ‘Spontaneous Human Combustion’ and more recently delighted us with the  EAT Theatre Group production of ‘The Girl who Cried Wolf’ 
• Our school band has grown with such a rich sound now
• And how we all loved the school carnivals.

Last  week we would have also heard about the students and staff who attend the Australian Catholic Youth festival in Perth and the St John’s Choir and band perform Christmas carols and deliver handmade cards at the Jonathon Rogers nursing home in Nowra.

In the classroom we have developed Learning Intentions and Success Criteria for each lesson and in all our fields tried not to settle for mediocrity,  celebrating hard work and success. It is said;

'Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better'- Pat Riley

So by keeping our expectations high and supporting and encouraging each other we have witnessed excellence.  

Not the least of which was shown in the outstanding results of our HSC students. 

Many of our students were identified as amongst the best in the state with their nomination for excellence;

• Olivia Delahenty and Morgan Dootson were nominated for ON Stage for their HSC musical performances

• Two of our drama teams and five individuals, Lulu Clarke, Morgan Dootson, Caleb Pearman, Sophie Phillips and Makenzie Veale for their drama performances

• Patrick Dowers Year 12 Design & Technology project designing and constructing a self-inflating tyre pressure regulator was selected as a People’s Choice entry in the University of Canberra’s competition

• Sandralise Allotta received a prestige award at the Shoalhaven Vocational and Educational Training awards

• Lara Jamieson, Zali Everingham, Amber Edmunds Lowe, Alexander Robertson and Olivia Delahenty were selected to display their Year 12 Visual Arts Body of Works in the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery ‘New Horizons’ 2020 exhibition of exemplary works.

They achieved this, not from ‘just working hard in Year 12, but working hard in each and everything they have done from Years 7 to 12 here at St John's. 

Makenzie Veale is the Dux for 2019 and further acknowledgements of HSC success are provided within our Curriculum section of this newsletter. 

Congratulations to each of our students for the times they have challenged themselves and supported others to do so. Thank you to everyone who has shared their talents with our community, we have felt honoured to have witnessed your light shining.

Well now it’s time to take a rest.

Have a peaceful and Holy Christmas and may the Peace of Christ go with you on your holiday break and we look forward to doing it all again with a whole lot more next year!

PRESENTATION ASSEMBLY

It was so wonderful to have such a great number of parents,carers and friends join us for both the school’s Advent Mass and Presentation of Awards. The Year 8 students not only prepared a most beautiful celebration of the Eucharist, they also provided hospitality for guests. They excelled in both and made everyone feel so very welcome. 

Congratulations to our award winners and to every student who has commit to their best throughout this year. Deciding awards is often a great challenge with so many students not only working hard in their studies but also engaging in the school community to make a positive difference.

Mrs. Sandra Hogan

Principal