Dear St John’s College Community,

Greek Independence Day

Thank you to everyone who participated in the many events over the last week to celebrate Greek Independence Day. Please take a look at our social media pages to see beautiful photos. The highlight of the week was Friday afternoon’s assembly. I was so proud to see our students celebrating their Greek heritage and appreciate the support of the many family members who attended the event. Thank you to Ms Drougas and Mr Sherwood who do so much behind the scenes to make these special occasions run so smoothly.

Forgiveness

As Christians we are called by Jesus, ‘love one another as I have loved you’ (John 13:34). This is no easy task; it is especially difficult to love someone who upsets or hurts us or someone we love. Parents and guardians, we know that you love your children and are protective of them, however there are times children and young people make mistakes and need to take responsibility for their behaviour.

It does not help your children to protect them from consequences of the poor choices they make. Children and teenagers will make mistakes and sometimes they will lie about what happened as they fear getting into trouble. Our job as parents and teachers is to help youngsters own their behaviour and face up to consequences; after all this is what will happen in the real world. When our children are adults, if they break the law, we will not be there to assist them negotiate their way out of a situation. School rules become society’s laws. Our role is to help our children grow into responsible young adults.

School is a safe place for students to make mistakes and learn from them. We do not expect children to be perfect; we take a positive behaviour support approach, and we use restorative practises to help the children make amends when they hurt each other. Sometimes other students may hurt or upset your child; this is the nature of schools. As Christians we also need to try to forgive the children that upset our children. Experience has shown me that ‘the truth’ is in the middle; there are always two sides to a story. So, if your child comes home and tells you a story about a terrible incident that occurred, please give us time to investigate and find the truth before jumping to conclusions. It is also unhelpful to get your information from other students/parents – this information is often hearsay. The school needs time to investigate and follow up the truth.

We are observing that many students are really struggling to adapt back to the social, emotional and cognitive demands of school after two highly disrupted years. We also have some children who struggle to regulate their emotions and behaviour; these children have safety plans and behaviour plans. We provide a high level of supervision but sometimes things do go wrong. It is hard for children to regulate their emotions when they are upset, and sometimes it is hard for adults. Please try not to send highly emotional/angry emails or messages; this creates OHS stress for the staff working at the school. Our teachers and leaders are doing their very best and will never deliberately fail to address a behaviour or make a mistake. We adults need to be patient and forgiving with one another. Thank you for your cooperation and support in living our values every day.

Illustration from ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’ by Charlie Mackesy. A story about friendship and hope.

Instrumental Music

From Term 2 the Instrumental Music program will be delivered on the school premises by Whittlesea Music School. Lessons will be offered through the school day and the cost for classes will be similar. Ms Drougas is preparing correspondence for families with more detailed information. We thank our current casual instrumental music teachers for their contribution to the school over the past year: our new provider has extended an opportunity for our current teachers to join
their team. Thank you Ms Pradhan for coordinating the program. Pantelis will continue at the College supporting the band and bouzouki program.

Harmony Day

Thank you to the student leaders for organising Harmony Day. We know that it was a bit last minute and our leaders have discussed what they can do differently next time to give everyone more notice: a learning experience for them! The important thing is that we acknowledge our wonderful diverse community and celebrate belonging together.

Events

On Tuesday 29 March during period 4 (1.50pm – 3.10pm), the Great Compline – Μέγα Απόδειπνο – will be chanted.
This service is held Monday through to Thursday evening during Great Lent. It is a Canon to the Most Holy Theotokos. The service concludes with a mutual asking
of forgiveness. The word απόδειπνο/apodeipno translates as ‘after dinner’ and is held at the end of the working day. It is a whole College event, and parents and guardians are welcome to attend.

Reminders

Assembly: on Mondays at 8.30 we have whole College assembly in the Senior School Agora. Parents and guardians are welcome.
Child Safety: students arriving before 8.15am on school buses are supervised in the Senior School Agora.
Gates open at 8.15am for all other students. Book your children into before and after school care to ensure they are always supervised and safe. https://villageoshc.com.au/enrol-book/

For all Covid-19 related enquiries please see Mr Sherwood’s posts and/or DM Mr Sherwood who is coordinating our response and operations.

Please ensure you regularly check the SEQTA notice board as well as your SEQTA direct messages.

Save the date for our family dinner dance: Saturday 11th of June. The final bulletin for the term will be an Easter special.

God Bless,
Mrs Anna Urban
College Principal