Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a very good start to Term 2, with students returning to school keen to begin the new term in a very positive way.

For my part, I returned only last week after my pilgrimage to the Holy Land over the holiday period. I would like to thank Mr Nicholas Whatman for his work as Acting Principal during my time away.

My pilgrimage experience

The pilgrimage was my first opportunity to visit the Holy Land and it was an incredibly enriching experience on so many levels – historically, geographically, politically as well as spiritually and emotionally.

It was a profound spiritual experience to walk the paths that Jesus and the Old Testament prophets walked and to visit the places where the gospel events occurred. It was further enriched by expert and passionate guides in both Jordan and Israel and my fellow pilgrims, many of whom are principals of our Archdiocese. We were privileged to have Fr Richard Thompson, Vicar General for the Archdiocese and Parish Priest at South Woden Parish as our spiritual director. A particularly moving experience for me was to walk the Stations of the Cross in the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem and to relive the passion of Jesus and his resurrection in the places where the events occurred. I was reminded of the beautiful Easter liturgy created by one of our Year 10 Youth Ministry classes for the whole school on Holy Thursday afternoon, where they re-enacted the Stations of the Cross through the eyes of Mary. It was a profoundly moving experience for students and staff alike. 

Moving forward…

As I announced in the email sent to all families earlier this afternoon, I am retiring at the end of this year after ten wonderful years as principal of JPC and almost 40 years as an educator. The recruitment process to appoint a new principal will begin in the near future. I expect the transition to a new principal to go smoothly.

In the meantime, we have a lot to accomplish this year, not the least of which is our Registration Panel visit in the coming weeks and the successful celebration of our first ten years as a College later in the year.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

Catherine Rey

Mrs McNamara’s Year 9 and 10 Food Technology Class have been busy researching healthy, sustainable and culturally appropriate recipes from around the world as their assessment task. They then presented their tasks to each other and voted on one recipe to cook for the Canberra Oz harvest food delivery service. The recipes voted most appropriate were South Sudanese Stew with rice and Empanadas. The students then cooked the recipes and packaged them ready for distribution to our local community.

On Friday last week, 7 members of the Senior Youth Ministry Team ran a retreat session for the Confirmation candidates of Holy Spirit Parish in Amaroo. These year 6 students from local primary schools Good Shepherd, Mother Theresa and Holy Spirit, gathered at the Parish for the day and prepared for their Confirmation alongside each other. Our JPC Senior Youth Ministry Team ran a number of activities for the 160 students that affirmed their decision in making their Confirmation and encouraged them to rely on the Holy Spirit while using their gifts and talents to help others along the way too. We are so looking forward to working with Holy Spirit, Good Shepherd, and Mother Theresa Primary School in the future, and welcoming many of these Year 6 students to JPC next year!

On Sunday 7th May, the 9/10 Music class visited the Canberra Theatre to see Tommy Emmanuel perform. He was a fabulous performer who not only played the guitar traditionally but also used his guitar as a percussion instrument which was absolutely incredible!

Thank you to the 9/10’s who attended, it was a pleasure spending a Sunday night with you!’ His support act was Anthony Snape who is another Australian guitarist and singer/songwriter who performed some amazing originals as well.

Van Thaun House has aligned with Roundabout Canberra as their House charity and is running a winter clothing drive.

Your NEW or good quality USED clothing will be used to help Canberra children warm this winter!

The ALDI winter sale is about to kick off can you add an extra jacket, beanie or gloves to your trolley? Or clean out those wardrobes for the small items that no longer fit your teens!

For more information www.roundaboutcanberra.org or Chauntell.mcnamara@cg.catholic.edu.au

Items can be dropped off at the JPC front office.

Kind Regards
Mrs Chauntell McNamara
Leader of Learning and Wellbeing for Van Thuan house

Next Tuesday 16 May 2023, the JPC bands are performing at Smiths Alternative in the city from 7-9 pm.

Students have been rehearsing all year for this event and have some amazing songs prepared.

We would love to see you there to support them.

Senior Mixed Netball Gala Day - Tuesday 9 May 

JPC entered two teams into the Senior Mixed Netball Gala Day on Tuesday 9 May. It was a fun-filled day of learning new skills, especially around the contact and stepping rule. Both teams started the day with a strong win against Gungahlin and Narrabundah College, but as the day progressed the competition become a little harder and we lost some by a small margin and some by a lot. However, it was great to see the seniors enjoying the opportunity to compete against other Colleges. All students who attended showed phenomenal sporting behaviour on and off the court and showed great spirit for JPC.  

As the games went on all students showcased their ability to transfer other sporting skills into the game of netball. From leaping and bounding through to the intercepts, shooting and fade shots put up, I believe we improved out of sight.  

The big game was at the end, with JPC1 v JPC2 (Year 11 v Year 12). JPC 2 started the first half strong taking a good lead into the second half. However, JPC1 was not giving up and the competition heated up on the court. Goal for goal for the first couple of minutes, then JPC1 started to take advantage of the small mistakes JPC2 was making. They came home strong but fell short with a win to JPC2 14-11. 

Well done, Seniors!

JPC Cross Country 

The sun was out and shone brightly on our oval ready to take on the annual Cross Country Day. This is an event which highlights the athletic ability of many of our students. However, it does not only focus on how well our students can run but is also designed to emphasise the many health benefits that students gain by participating in physical activity and being part of the JPC community. 

Students started on the school grounds with a lap of the oval, running past the House areas, where their fellow peers cheered loudly to support them along. They then left the school grounds and made their way around the track taking in the sights of Nicholls, pushing themselves all the way through the 3 km track and finally up the big heart break hill. It was great to see teachers and students getting involved! When the students returned, they recorded their times and continued to cheer on the other runners coming behind them. 

I would like to thank all students who got involved and the teachers for their support. These days do not run themselves. I hope the students enjoyed an afternoon participating in the various forms of aerobic exercise. 

Final Results:

Spirit House: Ferré House

Cross Country Cup Winner: Van Thuan House

Age Champions	Boys	Girls
12 years	Lachlan Finn	Eluney Tapply Orozco
13 years	JB William Ruthenberg	Olive Flanagan
14 years	Minion Cooper	Juliet Burns
15 years	Daniel Randall	Kayla Bryant
16 years	Gabriele Taurasi	Mischa Warwick

JPC Volleyball Team

JPC has entered their first team into the Tuesday night Volleyball youth competition. They played their first game on Tuesday night and were victorious in their first match.

United Hockey Canberra

Congratulations to James Taylor (Yr 10 Ferré) Aiden Mosely (Yr 10 Van Thuan) & Max Flynn (Yr 10 Van Thuan) who recently represented the ACT at the NSW Championships. The team made it to the semi finals undefeated where they lost 2-1 to New England.

Senior College Expo

Year 9 - 12 Students, don't forget to register for the Senior College Expo.

Register HERE

The following will be attending the Careers Expo:

There are a number of other organisations who are still to confirm their attendance and the list will be updated on the JPC Website HERE

MULTIPLEX | Jump Start

University & Careers Day - Thursday 11 May 2023

Are you interested in Construction, Engineering or Design?

Or are you unsure of what you want to do after school?

Parish Newsletter

For the latest news Click here or you can view it on the Parish App or visit the website below.

St John Paul II College has had a long-standing relationship with Menslink over the years and we would like to extend the following opportunity to families within our community.

Menslink would like to advise that they currently have a low wait time for any young male 10-25 who feels they would benefit from counselling.

Services are offered at No Charge, No Limit to sessions, and No Mental Health Care Plan is needed.

Services have expanded to cater for our Northside clients as well with a Menslink counsellor working out of Kippax two days a week.

Shine Om
Teen Yoga Classes

Online Teen Yoga 

• Dates: Classes operate on Tuesdays during the school term. 
• Time: 4:30 PM to 5:15 PM
• Location: Via Zoom
• Book via our website: https://shineom.com.au/teen-yoga