To the community of St John Paul II College,

This Sunday, the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday, the second Sunday after Easter.

Divine Mercy Sunday focuses on the gift of mercy and love given through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. St Faustina was a Polish nun who received visions from Jesus, including one of Him wearing a white garment with beams of red and white coming from His heart, which came to be known as the image of Divine Mercy. Pope John Paul II extended the feast of the Devine Mercy Sunday to the entire church when he canonized St Maria Faustina Kowalska in 2000. He said, “Divine Mercy reaches human beings through the heart of Christ crucified.”

During this time we can pray to St Faustina for an increase of faith in God’s divine mercy:

O Jesus, You inspired Saint Faustina with profound veneration for Your boundless Mercy.
Grant me through her intercession, if it be Your holy will, the grace …for which I fervently pray.
My sins render me unworthy of Your Mercy, but be mindful of Saint Faustina’s spirit of sacrifice and self-denial, and reward her virtue by granting the petition which, with childlike confidence, I present to You through her intercession.

Amen

Open Evening 2024

On Wednesday afternoon, the College welcomed prospective students and their families to JPC for our annual Open Evening. Guests were invited to tour our facilities and hear from our wonderful students and staff in showcases of both subjects and whole school areas.

We received considerable feedback from visitors on the night including:

"Your students are your best salespeople – they love their school".

"What an amazing community you have here".

"Everyone was so lovely. Helpful, informative and honest about the school".

Thank you to the students who gave up their afternoon and evening to participate in the night. This includes our wonderful tour guides, showcase experts, band members and hospitality students. These students modelled all of the qualities that we hope to develop in members of our community. Their warm, and welcoming nature ensured that families left with an extremely positive view of our school.

I would also like to thank the teaching and support staff who assisted on the night, in particular Mrs Bramham whose leadership of the night ensured all details were organised to the highest standard.

Languages Trip 2024 – France

This Sunday, 28 students and four staff will depart for the 2024 languages trip to France. Students will spend a week learning and practising their language skills while being immersed in a rich cultural experience. A special thank you to Mrs Wallace for her leadership in planning the trip and to the staff who are accompanying students on the trip. Images and details of the trip will be shared via our social media pages over the coming two weeks. 

Of course, there have been many other wonderful things that have occurred at JPC over the last couple of weeks. We thank all of those involved in these activities and for the collective effort to make them a success.

Jacob Knowles
Assistant Principal – Development

Senior Youth Ministry Team presents the Stations of the Cross for our JPC Easter Liturgy

The Senior Youth Ministry team presented a beautiful depiction of the Stations of the Cross for our College Easter Liturgy last week. These students had a heart to present the story of Easter in a way that gave light to how the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection remains as relevant to young people today, as it was 2000 years ago. The team had the wonderful idea to place a JPC student character in the liturgy cast, who spoke to Jesus about the meaning of each station and translated them into the life of a young person in the twenty-first century, amidst the many societal pressures that they face today. The liturgy was a sombre, reflective, and reverent display of Jesus’ walk to Calvary, which too encouraged our College community to think about where they see Jesus in their life and how they can be a Simon, a Mary, a helper, a follower, and a believer while seeing the face of Jesus in others.

Many of our Senior Youth Ministry team also worked with our local Catholic primary schools and Youth Ministers to present Holy Spirit Parish’s Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. These students represented JPC with heart and are developing great partnerships with our primary school feeder students.

We are looking forward to working closer with them as 2024 continues!

Last week JPC’s Senior Legal Studies class had the exciting opportunity to visit both the High Court and the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House (MOAD) as part of our learning on contemporary issues and the law. The class undertook a tour of the High Court under the guidance of the High Court’s lead guide – visiting both Courts 1 and 2 and learning about important Court decisions such as Mabo and Wik and then applying our knowledge in a source analysis activity.

During the students' visit to MOAD students learned about our democracy and our people’s voices can be heard. Highlights included viewing the Behind the Lines Cartoon and ‘Gamechangers’ exhibits and role playing the Franklin Dams case together on the historical floor of the House of the Representatives! Thank you to all the students for their energy and engagement and thank you to Ms Zorzi for her excellent co-supervision of the excursion.

Matt Caldow
Senior Legal Studies Teacher

We are delighted to announce a remarkable recognition bestowed upon two of our esteemed educators, Nicholas Carey-Ide and Matthew Caldow! Both Mr. Carey-Ide and Mr. Caldow were recently invited to Government House for a special reception hosted by the outgoing Governor-Genera and his wife, herself a former educator in Canberra.

This distinguished event served as Their Excellencies’ appreciation of the dedicated service teachers have given and their profound impact on the community.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Semester One interviews will be held on Tuesday 9 April and Thursday 2 May 2024.

Bookings are made through your Sentral Parent Portal.

• Interview bookings for session 1 close Monday 8 April 12:00 pm.
• Interview bookings for session 2 will remain open until Wednesday 1 May 12:00 pm.

To access your interview schedule and remain updated on last-minute teacher availabilities or changes, please refer to your Sentral Parent Portal.

Thank you

Enjoy the Break

Full winter uniform is to be worn from the beginning of Term 2 (Tuesday 30 April 2024).

Full uniform requirements and Uniform Policy are available here