From the Principal – May 2023

From Chapel on Wednesday to Junior School Mother’s Day Morning Tea and then Saturday’s Mother’s Day Event, I was struck, as I am each year, by the level of community support these events receive. I recall all too well that when I began having babies, many of my friends were not and I didn’t have a  ‘Mother’s Group’ to connect with.  I do recall how belonging to a school community and having these types of events helped me realise I was not alone and that I could contribute my time and support. As mothers, grandmothers, and aunties, we share very similar joys and challenges.  What is affirming is that these occasions provide a forum to develop and strengthen networks of support.

It occurs to me that at just about all our major events and undertakings there exists, somewhere behind the scenes, a group of dedicated mothers doing the work that is so desperately needed. Certainly with ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ there have been mothers and fathers galore – sewing costumes, preparing food and drinks for the cast, helping backstage, serving drinks at the Performing Arts Foyer, organising props and of course helping their children involved in the musical to organise and manage their lives. Everywhere one looks, it is the same. There are Mums every day helping with reading and assisting teachers, cooking barbecues for sporting events, sitting on committees, helping, helping, helping. We simply would not be the College we are without this support, and I haven’t even mentioned the College Carnival where planning is already underway for next year.

As a College, we are deeply blessed by the level of support we receive from our parent body, especially the Mums, and it is something that we never take for granted. We are equally dependent upon the constructive criticism we receive from our parents, who know what standards we expect at St John’s and who let us know when they believe there are ways in which we can improve. Long may this continue.

Our School Musical production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been nothing short of extraordinary. The principals and chorus sing with superb precision on a magnificent set, supported as always by a brilliant orchestra playing a challenging score with impressive precision. Meanwhile, an army of volunteers have worked together to ensure that all goes according to plan and the outcome is a welcome lift to all our spirits as we delight in the joy that emanates from a mass of people working together in a common cause.

If there is a theme that ran through these events, one is the fundamental importance of family and our Mothers. I know that you, our parents, make countless sacrifices, and not just of the financial kind, to send your children to St John’s. But there are other more important sacrifices that you make on a daily basis – loving your children even when they are pretending not to love you back, valuing them by taking an interest in their lives, turning up for sporting events and musical performances, dropping them where they need to be, celebrating with them when they do something well and comforting them when they let themselves down. Schools can only do so much, but we can certainly do a whole lot more when we have the vibrant, generous, willing support of our parents. On Sunday, I not only gave thanks for my own beautiful, loving, mother, I also gave thanks for all the Mums and Mother Figures who help to make St John’s the school it is, and without whose support we would be a mere shadow of the school we are and the school we are striving to become. Thank you, and may God bless your beautiful hearts.

Mrs Maria McIvor
Principal