To the community of St John Paul II College.

Friday 27 September, the Church celebrates the Feast Day of St Vincent De Paul (1581–1660).

St Vincent de Paul was a French Catholic priest renowned for his deep compassion, humility, and dedication to serving the poor. Born to a peasant family, he was ordained a priest at a young age and initially sought a life of comfort. However, his experience with the suffering of the poor and imprisoned profoundly changed his direction. St Vincent founded the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) and, alongside St Louise de Marillac, the Daughters of Charity, focusing on charitable works, education, and healthcare for the underprivileged.

Catholics look to St Vincent de Paul as a person of inspiration due to his embodiment of Christ’s teachings on love and service to others. He modeled how to live a life of humility and generosity, urging others to act with compassion and make tangible efforts to alleviate suffering in the world. His legacy continues through numerous charitable organisations named after him, including the St Vincent de Paul Society, which is committed to serving those in need.

Saint Vincent de Paul,
God called you to serve the poor, sick, and others in need.
You drew others into this service by forming clergy, religious sisters, and laity as God’s loving instruments.

Please pray that I will devote myself to a life of compassion and proclamation of the Gospel.

Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.

JPC Feast Day 2024

On Friday 25 October (Term 4, Week 2), we will be celebrating our annual JPC Feast Day. We are privileged to have Archbishop Christopher Prowse coming to celebrate Mass with us, alongside our Parish Priest Fr Troy. The day will also include fun House and whole school community activities that will be organised in Hosue groups over the coming weeks. More information will be sent to families shortly outlinging the process for pre-purchasing tickets for the various activities.

I would like to take this opportunity again to remind all families that on community days like the JPC Feast Day, full student attendance is expected. It is vital in our efforts to create a more connected and inclusive school that all students come along and enjoy the day and participate in activities.

VET Pathways Showcase

Last Wednesday evening, we held our VET Pathways Showcase, and we extend our sincere thanks to everyone involved in its organisation. We are also grateful to the students and families who took the time to attend and explore the wide array of opportunities offered by top VET education providers and career organisations. It was an invaluable evening for those looking to discover new career pathways and educational opportunities.

2025 College Student Leadership discernment process

Last week, we officially began the discernment process for the 2025 College Student Leadership roles. This is a crucial time for our Year 11 students interested in nominating themselves for leadership positions in 2025, as it provides them with an understanding of what these roles require and how they can envision themselves fulfilling these responsibilities. The discernment process will continue over the coming weeks, concluding in Term Four, when our new student leaders will be announced to the community. This will follow speeches, a student indication of preference, and interviews with the College Executive Team.

As we continue working through the final week of classes for the term, I would like to thank our staff for their work throughout the term. We are blessed at JPC to have a strong team of dedicated teaching and support staff who work hard to ensure all students are provided with every opportunity to succeed. Thank you also to the students of the College and particularly those who maximise the opportunities provided to them for their betterment of themselves. Every day I see students who embody our core values of justice, peace, and courage engaged, in their learning, interacting with their peers, and working with their teachers to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world. 

As always, 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 – Strategy and Staff

“God created, Linnaeus ordered.” – Sten Lindroth

The “MOUNTAIN CHICKEN”

This term, Year 7 Integrated Maths and Science (IMS) has had a strong focus on Classification and Identification of living organisms.

Students have learnt that a species can be identified by not only physical characteristics, but also by their behaviour. This can be further attributed to taxonomic levels: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species (or Do Kings Play Chess Or Fight Giant Snakes).

We have learnt that removing only one animal from an ecosystem this could have devasting effects on not only other animals, but also on the plant life too.

We also went on an excursion to Cooma, to visit Snowy Hydro. Snowy Hydro is a large hydroelectric power generation and renewable energy company in Australia. It operates the Snowy Mountains Scheme, one of the most significant hydroelectric projects in the country. One of its major projects is Snowy 2.0, an expansion of the original scheme, aimed at increasing energy storage and supporting Australia's transition to cleaner energy sources.

The information from this excursion will be further expanded on when we look at Renewable Energy in Term 4.

In Mathematics, students have been able to integrate the work that they did on Algebra last term and adapt it to real life situations involving Measurement and Geometry. Students were exposed to real life problems involving perimeter, area and volume.

As a reminder, students are strongly suggested to undertake an hour of weekly homework. This is always available on the subject Moodle page. Furthermore, it is integral that students bring a physical calculator to all lessons (an iPad or other electronic device is not sufficient to replace a calculator).

Mr Matthew Ryan
Year 7 IMS Facilitator
Mathieu House

We would like to remind all families of the supervision arrangements for students before school each day.

Supervision begins at 8:30 am: Please be aware that there is no official supervision of students on school grounds before 8:30 am. It is important for the safety of all students that they are not dropped off at school before this time unless attending an organised activity.

Access to school buildings: Students arriving before 8:30 am are not permitted to be inside any of the school buildings. However, the canteen will be open for students from 8:20 am, offering a safe space for those arriving slightly earlier.

We appreciate your cooperation in ensuring our school remains a safe and welcoming environment for everyone.

St John Paul II Executive Team

It was a case of job very well done for our Kids’ Cancer Project ‘Write a Book in a Day’ teams who all successfully completed their 3500-5000 books (incorporating the specific content and format guidelines) within the 12-hour window last Wednesday. It was particularly awesome to see the very high level of collaboration and creativity on display!

While we will wait and see whether any of our teams are successful in obtaining an award for ‘Best Book’ or ‘Best illustrations’ in the Middle Secondary or Upper Secondary Divisions for the ACT/NSW or Australia (as was the case for one of our Year 10 teams competing in the Upper Secondary Division previously), most importantly, the teams have already raised $2,778 for The Kid’s Cancer Project, are aiming to raise as much as they can for this crucial cause up until 30 September, and will all have their books published by The Kid’s Cancer Project online, for children in hospital and the community at large to read.

Here are their sponsorship pages! Your support is greatly appreciated!

On Thursday 19 September the hospitality students held a Japanese themed lunch for our staff members. This experience was invaluable in teaching the class how to work under pressure and effectively in a team. This experience was beneficial as we were able to apply our learning to real life situations. We spent the double period before lunch preparing for service. Different people worked on jobs such as making the drinks, making the broth, and setting up the dining area. During the service, we were able to welcome many different staff members for lunch. It was nice to see all the staff members and share our learning with them while providing a delicious meal. Overall the experience was great as we learnt new skills while building our connection with our teachers. - Neve O (Yr 11 Hospitality Student)

On Thursday the 19 September we hosted a delightful Japanese inspired lunch service for the teachers of JPC. Through this experience, we got to strengthen our serving skills by taking the teacher's orders and greeting them upon arrival. The approach to the theme was to create an atmosphere that felt and tasted like a Japanese culinary experience, we did this through creating menus that showcased the Sakura which in Japanese means ‘cherry blossom’. Ice cold mocktails that reflect the Sakura, and warm chicken katsu and shiitake mushroom ramen were served. It was a fantastic opportunity to strengthen the JPC community, and we are excited to continue fostering a sense of community through further opportunities to serve in the future. - Olivia V (Yr 11 Hospitality Student)

Tiny detectives unravel mysteries with future forensic science experts!

Last week, the Year 9 and 10 Forensic Science classes embarked on an enriching excursion to Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School, where students had the exciting opportunity to showcase their leadership, collaborative, and forensic skills whilst engaging with curious Kindy students. The session was filled with fun, innovative games and activities organised by our St John Paul II students.

The session began with the JPC students conducting an experiment to investigate how the height, weight and speed of a person walking affects the depth of a footprint – a useful skill when investigating a crime scene.

After that, the activities with the Holy Spirit students commenced, with the first activity being the Kindy students getting their ‘mugshot’ taken. Then the young students went outside for a stimulating relay race, retrieving parts of a JPC student’s face in order to puzzle it together and identify the criminal among the JPC ‘suspects’.

The final activity revolved around the uniqueness of fingerprints. Each kindergartener had the chance to create a profile of their fingerprints using kid-friendly ink to press their finger on a sheet of paper and analyse it through a magnifying glass. 

Overall, the day proved to be a success with both the mini and senior detectives taking away valuable lessons from the experience, proving that anyone can be a bright forensic scientist no matter how big or small! 

A big thank you to Mr Hanna and Mr Holloway for organising the excursion, and guiding us to set up activities that Kindy children not just enjoy, but learn some skills in Forensics.

Amy H, Year 9 MT
Y9/10 Forensic Science

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory auditions will be held in Term 4, Weeks 15 – 16 with packs available from Mrs Smith. Sign-up sheets are located in the Drama room and will be available until the end of Week 1, Term 4. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this chocolate-filled adventure!

The countdown begins as we step into a world of pure imagination.

Mrs Sarah Smith
Leader of Learning and Wellbeing – The Arts
Van Thuan House

Term 4 commences on Tuesday 15 October 2024.

Students are to be in full summer uniform.

See the uniform policy here

• LOWES Gungahlin - Big W Building, Marketplace, 33 Hibberson St.
• Secondhand uniform - available during school hours from the College Office or
• JPCII – Uniform& Tech to You - to buy and sell preloved uniform and school technology equipment (ie laptops). This is a private group and can be found here

Correct Uniform

Please remember to take bikes home at the end of each school day. Several student bikes have been left in the sheds overnight, and while the College provides secure storage during school hours, there have been incidents of bike theft when left overnight.

We strongly encourage all students to take their bikes home daily. The College is also working to improve security by installing perimeter fencing at the rear of the campus to help reduce vandalism, theft, and issues caused by dog walkers who fail to clean up after their pets.

Leon Sanft
Business Manager

The College Office will be closed during week one of the holidays (Monday 30 September to Friday 4 October).

The office will reopen in week two (8 to 11 October) between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm.

Please email the office in the first instance, for all enquiries.

Parish Newsletter

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

Catholic School Parents Archdiocese of Canberra Goulburn (CSPACG) Council will hold their AGM in Term 4 and are seeking representatives from all regions to fill vacancies.

The Council meets four times a year with two meetings in-person and two online. This is a great way to learn more about advocacy, representation, engagement and support for our Catholic school parents and carers.

Nominees should complete the form below and return it to parents@cg.catholic.edu.au by 31 October.

Link:  Parent Representative Nomination Form 2025.pdf

For further information, contact CSPACG Executive Officer, Sarah Rose.

Northside Community Service offers free programs and events during the School Holiday's and is open to anyone aged 12-25 years old.

See the flyer below.

Some events/activities have limited capacity – therefore we recommend you complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) form as soon as you can. EOI registration will close at 4pm Thursday 26th September.

To apply, simply fill out the Expression of Interest (EOI) form.