From the Principal – October 2021

Term Four is always a fast and exciting term. There are special events in every area of the College. All will have celebrations, there will be a few farewells and there will be the excitement of rewards for many as we wind up achievements of the year.

I recently attended the Kindergarten Information evening for our new families and had the privilege of participating in Mrs Boardman’s Prep class writing stories. It was impossible to not think about the importance of the ‘whole journey’ while watching the Kindy children learning through play and developing those friendships with parents hanging on to every word of advice as they begin to navigate the St John’s Way.

For our Year 12 students, their days at school are coming close to an end with fewer than 20 days to go. Together they will embark on their external examinations and many rites of passage to guide. We are confident that they will continue to bring pride to what has been an outstanding year group.

As I have reflected on the very strong performance of our Year 12 students this year, it was impossible to not also consider the very affirming approach of student leadership seen in all sections of the College. Whenever I make statements such as this, I ask myself if the reality of exaggeration is present.  Very quickly I find too much evidence of the positive to be too concerned about self-delusion in this important area. Our leadership model for these students is based clearly on the brilliant idea of ‘servant leadership’. “What can you do to help?” is the key question and “I want to contribute to making things better” is the simple but positive response. Overall, it is an effective approach because it gets deep into the thinking of our students and makes a real difference to the way we all think about leadership. Wonderful relationships and friendships also organically develop alongside this formal leadership process.

More evidence of servant leadership is the number of our students who were recently recognised for their achievements. Year 12 student Isuka Muthumuni not only received a prestigious Peter Doherty Award for excellence in STEM but was also presented a Certificate of Community Service from the Order of Australia Association. Molly Porter, Year 12, recognised as a 2021 Creative Generation Excellence Award in Visual Art for her ‘Hot Head’ artwork and St John’s Australian Space Design Competition team led by Year 11 student Ethan Nguyen have, for the second year, in the finals of this national competition to be held in January 2022. Mark my word there has been an indelible print left on the hearts of all those involved.

I believe that qualities of greater confidence and independence are evident in the many achievements of our students and Old Collegians with the level of teamwork required for our Junior, Middle and Senior teams to perform so well in the various sports, the synergy that allows our musical ensembles to shine at the Eisteddfod, the creativity of Arts in College Creations and teams involved in the Innovation Challenge. Old Collegian Lawson Woolford, Class of 2017 recently graduated with his RAAF wings demonstrating commitment and resilience.

Pride and good values start early. Our students will all feel the moments of turbulence during their schooling but the wisdom of the Year 12’s would affirm that this is just part of growing. This term is the time where the year really blossoms and the many celebrations make the year real and worthwhile!

Mrs Maria McIvor
Principal