St John’s College has every reason to take pride in its VCE and VCAL achievements during one of the toughest years, thanks to the hard work and efforts of its staff and students.

College Principal Anna Urban, in her article for Neos Kosmos, congratulates the 2021 College DUX, Christian P who attended St John’s College for 13 years.
“As a vice-captain of the College, he represented the school with pride,” Ms Urban said.

“We know he will be an exemplary alumnus.

“We are very proud of Christian and all our Year 12 graduates,” she added.

The College Principal went on to explain that St John’s results demonstrate that through providing consistent, high-quality teaching, along with high expectations required of students, they can achieve great things.

“All our students, did their very best. Our 2021 cohort persevered through two years of remote learning and so deserve extra commendation!”

Academic excellence and high ATAR rankings or median study scores reflect only part of students’ success at school.

“What is most important is that St John’s College turns out young adults who take pride in their Greek heritage, have a strong faith identity, understand how to be responsible citizens and strive to walk the right path in life – Philotimo!,” she said.

Whether students choose to complete VCE, VCAL or VET courses St John’s promotes an attitude of having healthy, high expectations of themselves.

“At St John’s College we help students in all year levels to develop discipline, a strong work ethic and learner agency via our ‘Learner Behaviours’ model.”

With the direction and support of education consultant Judy Petch, who leads the College’s teacher professional learning program, St John’s teachers developed the ‘Learner Behaviours’ model early in 2021.
“Julie Hanos and Sarah Watson -our Year 5/6 teachers- were the dynamic duo whose design was adopted by the College staff,” she said.

“All teachers worked together and engaged in professional reading and research to identify the attributes and skills needed for students to experience learning success. We used evidence to inform the development of our ‘Learner Behaviour’ model. To have agency in learning; students – from Foundation to Year 12 – must be able to plan, monitor and assess their learning (in age-appropriate ways). The learning abilities we have chosen to incorporate into our model are teachable and learnable.”

“In 2022 we will be taking the next steps toward implementing our ‘Learner Behaviours’ model. We will be offering community information sessions to help our parents and guardians understand how they can best support children’s learning at home.”

The application of the ‘Learner Behaviour’ model fits well with the theme for 2022 which is ‘Growth’.

This year will continue to see the benefits of the improvements across the school. The theme of growth refers to spiritual growth, the strengthening of the community, increased parent confidence in St’ John’s school, student pride, and student achievement. It also encompasses the professional growth of the staff as well as the further refinement of the College’s curriculum and education programs.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Makarios and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia are continuing to provide funds to ensure the school has the required resources in this third year of rigorous school improvement program, Ms Urban highlighted, expressing her deep gratitude.

“We hope that the Greek Community of Melbourne continues to feel increasing pride in St John’s College; the school is a testament to the vision of our ancestors, and we are sure they would be very proud of the school and our students,” she said, – “past, present and future”.

“Our College is ‘forever excelling’, ‘αιέν αριστεύειν’ (eaen aristeveen), to quote the Ancient Greeks”.