Canteen Menu

Mother's Day

I wish all Mother's, and those who fill motherly roles a lovely Mother's Day on Sunday. 

As we celebrate Mother's Day, we are reminded of the greatest mother of all - Mary, the mother of God. Mary's unwavering faith, love, and devotion to her son Jesus is a shining example for all of us.

On this special day, let us honor all mothers and mother figures in our community, who emulate Mary's virtues of selflessness, courage, compassion, and strength. Let us also remember those who have lost their mothers or are struggling at this time, and offer them our love and support.

I hope our mother's feel spoiled in some way this Sunday.

STAFFING UPDATES

We recently farewelled Mrs Angela Cascarino as Drama teacher, after many years of dedicated service and passion in the creative and performing arts department. Mrs Cascarino has taken up some opportunities in theatre and we wish her all the best in following her passion. We thank her for the significant contribution she has made to John Therry and the many eyes she has opened to the gifts of the performing arts.

We have been fortunate to employ Mr Alexander Hayden, current drama teacher at St Benedict's Catholic College to replace Mrs Cascarino. He brings a wealth of experience and success at the HSC level, and a passion for the performing arts. He will work with Ms Haylie Abela as our Drama teachers and will commence with us in Week 7. 

TEACHER SHORTAGE

You would have seen in the news there is a significant teacher shortage at the moment affecting most of the state. We are very fortunate to be fully staffed at the moment with qualified teachers. This is quite rare and we are very aware that this may change for us moving forward, as the state grapples with how to encourage more people into teaching, and bring back some of those who have recently left. We know that most graduates finishing at the end of the year are already employed so there is a very limited pool of new teachers for changes at the end of the year. We are fortunate that John Therry has a good culture and reputation and we continue to attract quality teachers when we advertise.

With COVID cases increasing and the flu season kicking off, we have had 2 days this term where we have had classes working in the College Hall as we have been unable to cover every individual class. While this works well and all students are working on assigned activities, it is not ideal and we try to avoid this wherever possible. I expect that through winter there may be times when we need to use this as a last resort.

MUSICAL

It is with great sadness that we have had to cancel our musical for 2023, Legally Blonde JR. Staff changes and limited access to volunteers who have normally assisted has meant that we do not have the resources to run as full musical as scheduled. We are looking to incorporate elements of the musical and further creative arts performances at a showcase evening later in the year. We acknowledge that there has been significant time and effort by staff and students to prepare for this and we apologise that we have needed to make this decision. We look forward to sharing the talents of our students later in the year.

CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION