Principal's Address
The Story of St John’s
Dr Pat Coughlan, the Executive Director of Toowoomba Catholic Schools, visited us in Week Three to check in on the school and see how I’ve settled in since arriving at the start of the year. Dr Pat loves a probing question and asked me at one point, ‘What is the story of St John’s?’.
After a considerable pause, allowing me to grapple with the question and witnessing my struggle to provide a concise answer, Dr Pat reassured me that he wasn’t seeking a quick response. He wanted me to truly reflect on the question. What he was really asking, I believe, was what makes us unique as a school? What are our strengths? Why would parents choose to send their children to St John's? What is our story? These are complex questions that require deep reflection and understanding of our school's identity.
I’ve been pondering this question for over a month, and while it's clear that we are a Catholic School in the Mercy tradition, founded on the values of Respect, Compassion, Justice and Excellence, this description doesn’t fully encapsulate the essence of St John’s. It doesn’t distinguish us from other Catholic Schools in the Mercy tradition.
So, what is our story? I feel our school theme represents it quite well. We are better together. We are staff and students united on this journey of growth and education to be better as people. That’s definitely closer, but reflecting on this helped me to realise I most feel ‘St John’s’ when Carmel Treasure is up the front of a whole school assembly leading the singing of ‘We are better together’. That feels special. Students aged 4 to 18 sing our song with Carmel as she performs enthusiastically. Our students doing the actions to the song; the 4-year-olds excitedly, the 18-year-olds reluctantly, but united as a school. That feels like St John’s; maybe this is where our story lies.
Where else have I felt this spirit of St John’s? Where else have I felt like we were living our story?
It’s in the support I’ve received from the former principals – Donaugh Shirley, Viv Bruton and Jim Brennan. They are all still heavily invested in the school and in seeing it continue to succeed and grow.
It was Ross Penrose, inviting my family around for dinner in the first week we arrived and making us feel so welcome. It’s the way he is loved by every person in town, as he taught most of them, and is still invested in looking after everyone and seeing their growth.
It’s in the support of Kort Goodman, our Senior Education Leader from the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office. A Roma boy who loves this school.
It was on Tuesday when I went to the Year One classrooms to check that the kids had all entered okay. We’ve had some difficulty getting the students to enter, as they have become tired at the end of term (my son, Ralph, included). I found him inside, engaged in reading a story to his Year Ten school buddy, having completely forgotten the turn he’d just put on his mother. I was grateful we are a P-12.
It's the visits from Fr Tom, and his willingness to answer the questions of students, removing any barriers between our church and our school and inviting students to explore our Catholic faith.
It’s the staff. The way they banded together through recent tragedies and events. The way they genuinely care for your kids and want them to succeed.
It’s Saturday morning netball, running into teachers who are there for no other reason than to see their students play.
It’s the parent engagement in the P&F, School Advisory Council, and the many other committees that run events to fundraise for the school.
It’s the younger students' high fives and fist bumps, the older students' head nods and greetings, and the pointing and staring of our youngest students.
These are just a few examples of the way staff, students and parents make up the story of our school. The story is in the people here. And this is just the part of the story I’ve seen so far in my short time at the school. It’s definitely not the whole story, and I know if I asked staff, they would have so many more examples of things that feel ‘St John’s’. The benefit of having this strong foundation and a story that would span hundreds of pages and 143 years is when we experience challenge. When things go wrong, we can draw on the positive lived experience of this school and come together as a community to meet the challenge. The challenge will eventually be relegated to a footnote on page 150 of our story rather than the cover.
I don’t intend to write the story of St John’s. I am a Maths teacher and there are far more qualified candidates for the job. But I wanted to remind you that St John’s School is something special. We have a lot to celebrate, and we will continue to focus on what we do best, teaching and learning, and working with you to produce young people of character, integrity and heart. Thank you for your continued support of our school.
Cheers,
Mark