Newsletter - 1 February 2024

  Welcome back to the school year for 2024.  Firstly, I just wanted to say what an honour and privilege it is to have been selected to lead the St John’s community into the future.  I was fortunate to have spent a lot of time with Mr Jim Brennan in the holidays as he made sure I was ready to hit the ground running at the start of this year.  In all our interactions, his love for this school and his desire to ensure it continues to thrive in the future were clear.  Since arriving in Roma, my family and I have been overwhelmed by the welcome we have received from the staff of St John’s and the community here.  I must specifically acknowledge the work of the executive leadership team members - Ryan Doig, Trish Parker, Mel Irwin and Belinda Hayward, who helped ensure a smooth transition of leadership and ran an exceptional professional development program for staff in the student-free week.

It was wonderful to have the students return last week and see the energy with which they greeted the new school year.  Many have made themselves known to me by coming up and introducing themselves, which shows great confidence and comfort in their school.  I look forward to meeting with many of you, parents and carers, as we cross paths to settle your sons and daughters into school life for the year.

The school theme for 2024 is ‘We are better together’ and speaks to our Mercy value of Compassion.  In the past week, I have seen many examples of students and staff looking after each other as we settle back into the routine. We extend a warm welcome to all our new students and families to St John’s School and hope the journey will be as worthwhile and uplifting to you as it has been to the many families who have come before you.

'Education cannot be neutral. It is either positive or negative; either it enriches or it impoverishes; either it enables a person to grow or it lessens, even corrupts. The mission of schools is to develop a sense of truth, of what is good and beautiful. And this occurs through a rich path made up of many ingredients.' Pope Francis

 

Introducing our new staff

We welcome the following new and returning staff to St John’s School for 2024.

• Cooper Anderson (7-12 PE, Outdoor Education)
• Marc Andrews (7-12 Science, Maths)
• Jade Caden (School Officer)
• Jasmine De Noume (School Officer)
• Bree Hartfiel (7-12 Religion, PE, Humanities)
• Ally Henning (7-12 PE, Humanities)
• Heidi Scholl (7-12 English, Humanities, Drama)
• Katie Shellshear (Career Development Practitioner)
• Cassie Shields (7-12 Religion, Humanities, English)
• Rhianna Tierney (Year 1)

In January, a severe weather event caused significant damage to our Prep playground. The incident destroyed the shade sails and washed away a lot of sand from the base of the playground. We are currently working on fixing the damages as quickly as possible. However, there has been a delay in replacing the sails. As a temporary solution, we have put up a shade structure and aim to restore the playground to its former state within a few months.

Sincerely,

Mark