SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Leonie Pearce will be taking on the position of Principal at Our Lady of Mercy College, Burraneer Bay in 2021. We are so proud of her to have achieved this position and are grateful for her wonderful contribution to St John's. 

Leonie has undertaken her role as Assistant Principal at St John’s with a passion for ensuring that all students are well supported to achieve their potential. She always aimed for excellence with a constant focus on improvement and support. She was deeply committed to connecting young people and their families to our community. Leonie’s commitment to her faith and enabling a genuine encounter for young people with their God was evident not only in her encounters with others but ensuring that excellent opportunities for faith and mission were offered at the school. I know that Leonie will be an excellent Principal for her new school and acknowledge the privilege that we have had at having her as a leader at St John’s for the last six years. We wish her the best in her future.

THANK YOU

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Mr James Eirth and Mr Aidan Leishman who have acted in the roles of Assistant Principal and Pastoral Care Coordinator respectively, during Mrs Pearce’s absence. They have given the roles their total commitment.

STAFF LEAVING ST JOHN'S

At the end of this school year we will also be farewelling a number of staff.  I would like to make a special acknowledgement to some who have been working at St John’s for a very long time. 

Chris Hall has been working at St John’s for 30 years. He has taught in the TAS area and has been integral to the introduction of construction into the school. Chris also taught in other subject areas including Religious Education and has had a strong presence in many other areas of the school. He was a key member of the committee that organised the building of the school chapel with passion for ensuring that it was a mud-brick construction to bring a unique element to the faith practice and spiritual heart in our school.

Chris held a number of leadership roles with his most recent being the Coordinator of Gooroon. Chris’ commitment to ensuring that our young people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background were supported was evident in how he managed this role, in fact he had spent 12 months working on exchange in a school in Darwin prior to undertaking this position. Chris has spent the last 13 months studying at university in Aboriginal education and I imagine he will continue to extend his talents to working in this area. We wish Chris success in his future endeavours.

Di Bryce worked at St John’s for 21 years in the Maths faculty. She gave her time each Thursday afternoon for over ten years to support the maths homework centre. Di also has a passion for developing young leaders and worked closely with the School Representative Council to provide a framework for ensuring that they had opportunities to enact their leadership. She was integral in the development of the roles of the house captains in leading social justice initiatives. We also wish Di the best in her retirement.

Di Clarke has worked at St John’s for 20 years in the area of learning support. Di has also held the position of Coordinator of Learning Support. Di’s career was strongly focussed on ensuring that all young people had access to education and she worked diligently to provide this support.

Di was very generous with her time, often giving weekends to assisting students to access educational support after school and on weekends. Her deep commitment to her faith saw her working with the parish to introduce and support the ‘Mass with Diversity’ that was held annually at St Michael’s.

Di’s other passion was social justice and she was ever present at many events at the School and in the Shoalhaven. Di led the school’s involvement in Relay for Life and held an annual event each year to support breast cancer. We wish Di the best in her retirement.

Connie Crawford has worked at St John’s since 2001 in the role as Finance School Support Officer. Connie’s attention to detail has been central to the competent way that she undertakes her role. Connie’s unquestionable commitment to ensuring the privacy of people and the ethical use of resources has enabled her to undertake her role ensuring that the school financial matters have been managed in line with Catholic social teachings. We wish her the best in her retirement.

Leslee Auert has worked at St John’s for 10 years with most of her work in the areas of Religious Education and in more recent years in Learning Support. Leslee came to St John’s as a very experienced Religious Education Coordinator and worked in this role for many years. Her leadership was evidenced in providing a focus that enabled all young people to find their spirituality and build an understanding of what their relationship with God could become. Her contemporary approach enriched our Catholicity and mission at St John’s. Leslee’s work in Learning Support enabled her to take her skills developed in a long and rich teaching career to ensure that young people with disabilities could fully access education. Leslee loved to teach and we wish her the best in her retirement.

Rachel Hennessy worked at St John’s for 5 years in the areas of HSIE and Religious Education. Rachel also undertook a number of leadership roles including that of Careers Advisor and HSIE Coordinator. Her passion for Business Studies also saw her introduce the Australian Business Week to St John’s which she later developed into a St John’s specific program to support our young people to transition to work. Rachel moved to Ireland at the end of last year and her family has decided to remain. We wish Rachel the best in her work as an educator in Ireland.

A number of staff who have worked with us for the 2020 school year will also be acknowledged in the next edition of our school newsletter.