St John XXIII Catholic College 160 Perfection Avenue, Stanhope Gardens, New South Wales 2768

"My granddaughters are lucky to have wonderful teachers; they are excited to go to school because of them! Thank you to a very dedicated principal; please continue to be an inspiration to our youth. We grandparents share every parents hope that the school they have faithfully entrusted to educate their children will do so with utmost commitment and integrity."

"Discrimination in any form should never be accepted! We recently participated in an enrollment interview for my son, for Year 07, at St. John XXIII Catholic College Stanhope Gardens. The day before the enrollment interview, we visited the college to submit the enrollment application. While we were in the process of submitting our application paperwork, we experienced an uncomfortable and unwelcome feeling. Strikingly, the school administration declined to accept the mandatory application enrollment fee from us. This gave the impression that they were intentionally avoiding creating a record of our application. Having been through many school interviews with our kids, I understand that each institution has specific evaluation standards. Despite offers from three private Catholic colleges, we preferred St. John XXIII due to its proximity. From the start of the enrollment interview, it was clear the interviewer had preconceived notions. Their judgmental approach lacked the decorum needed when speaking to a 12-year-old. The interviewer deliberately made the child uncomfortable, repeatedly showing disrespect through aggressive questioning. The conversation centered on highlighting St. John XXIII College's superiority over our son's former Catholic primary school. Despite our son's answers, the interviewer persistently adopted a negative tone, emphasizing the excellence of St. John XXIII. Nonverbal cues reinforced the notion that our son would miss out on valuable opportunities. As an example, the interviewer took a sheet from our application and asked my son to draw his primary school class layout. He then depicted a St. John XXIII class set up and criticized my son's primary class for being smaller and less advanced. Referencing the college's impressive facilities and suggesting my son came from a less privileged area, the interviewer aimed to belittle him and undermine his achievements. Truly, it was an incredibly distressing encounter. It left us so demoralized that our son required assistance for his mental well-being. This interview was far from the proper conduct expected in a school enrollment process. As I reflect on the entirety of the experience, it appears that the process was a mere facade leading to an inevitable rejection. Regrettably, this led to the humiliation of a Year 07 student. The school should address its administrative issues rather than justify its misconduct. I sincerely hope that no other parent or child will have to endure the humiliating experience that we recently faced at St. John XXIII Catholic College Stanhope Gardens."

"This school is a safe and supportive environment which students have the opportunity to not only thrive academically, but in their own personal curiosities and pathways. I am very fortunate to work at this school and see the students grow in a forward-thinking and innovate environment!"

""Disciplined , Encouraging, Positive " It’s filled with dedicated teachers and staff and curious, driven, hard working kids.The school accomodate the needs in terms of student's individual and general needs. Staff makes learning more fun and efficient.The school invests heavily in scientific equipment and new technology. It is also a great place to work with fantastic, bubbly staff makes you feel like HOME AWAY FROM HOME"

"Some teachers in this school are bring the reputation down for the whole school - they treat parents like kids completely no respect whatsoever! They opt to command you around when they should be setting example to the students on how to speak with kindness and respect. Just because they deal with the kids all day, they feel they are the only ones who do hard work they forget, there are heaps of working parents who juggle things for their kids as well. It used to be a good school but the reputation is quickly falling - lack of communication in the name of "Student leadership", lack of focus on studies, also evident in the rate of teacher turnover at school!"