497

U.S. Wealth Management
601 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 663-4324
Fax: (617) 663-2196
E-Mail: nkolokithas@jhancock.com

Name: Nicholas J. Kolokithas

Title: Assistant Vice President and Senior Counsel

December 21, 2012

VIA EDGAR TRANSMISSION

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549

RE: John Hancock Strategic Series (the “Trust”), on behalf of:
John Hancock Income Fund
File Nos. 33-5186; 811-04651

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of the Trust, transmitted for filing, pursuant to Rule 497 under the Securities Act of 1933, are exhibits containing interactive data format risk/return summary information for the Fund.

The interactive data files included as exhibits to this filing relate to the form of prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 19, 2012 on behalf of the Fund pursuant to Rule 497(e) (Accession No. 0000950123-12-013834), which is incorporated by reference into this Rule 497 Document.

If you have any questions or comments, please call me at (617) 663-4324.

Sincerely,

/s/ Nicholas J. Kolokithas

Nicholas J. Kolokithas, Esq.

Assistant Secretary of the Trust

Exhibit Index

EX-101.INS	XBRL Instance Document
EX-101.SCH	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
EX-101.CAL	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
EX-101.LAB	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Linkbase Document
EX-101.PRE	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
EX-101.DEF	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document

- 1 -

XML

John Hancock Income Fund
Supplement dated 12-19-12 to the current Class R1, Class R2, Class R3, Class R4 and
Class R5 shares Prospectus

In the "Fund summary" section, the information under the heading "Fees and expenses — Annual fund operating expenses" is amended and restated by the following:

Annual fund operating expenses (%)
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the
value of your investment)		Class R1			Class R2				Class R3			Class R4				Class R5
Management fee			0.33			0.33				0.33			0.33				0.33
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees			0.50			0.25				0.50			0.15	1			0.00
Other expenses			0.38			0.38	2			0.27			0.23				0.17
Service plan fee	0.25			0.25				0.14			0.10				0.04
Additional expenses	0.13			0.13				0.13			0.13				0.13
Total annual fund operating expenses			1.21			0.96				1.10			0.71				0.50

1	The fund's distributor has contractually agreed to waive 0.10% of Rule 12b-1 fees for Class R4 shares. The current waiver agreement expires on September 30, 2013, unless renewed by mutual agreement of the fund and the distributor based upon a determination that this is appropriate under the circumstances at that time. Excluding this waiver would result in Rule 12b-1 fees of 0.25%.
2	"Other expenses" have been estimated for the first year of operations of the fund's Class R2 shares.

XML

Label

Element

Value

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Registrant Name

dei_EntityRegistrantName

JOHN HANCOCK STRATEGIC SERIES

Prospectus Date

rr_ProspectusDate

Oct. 01, 2012

Supplement [Text Block]

jhss2_SupplementTextBlock

John Hancock Income Fund
Supplement dated 12-19-12 to the current Class R1, Class R2, Class R3, Class R4 and
Class R5 shares Prospectus

In the "Fund summary" section, the information under the heading "Fees and expenses — Annual fund operating expenses" is amended and restated by the following:

Annual fund operating expenses (%)
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the
value of your investment)		Class R1			Class R2				Class R3			Class R4				Class R5
Management fee			0.33			0.33				0.33			0.33				0.33
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees			0.50			0.25				0.50			0.15	1			0.00
Other expenses			0.38			0.38	2			0.27			0.23				0.17
Service plan fee	0.25			0.25				0.14			0.10				0.04
Additional expenses	0.13			0.13				0.13			0.13				0.13
Total annual fund operating expenses			1.21			0.96				1.10			0.71				0.50

1	The fund's distributor has contractually agreed to waive 0.10% of Rule 12b-1 fees for Class R4 shares. The current waiver agreement expires on September 30, 2013, unless renewed by mutual agreement of the fund and the distributor based upon a determination that this is appropriate under the circumstances at that time. Excluding this waiver would result in Rule 12b-1 fees of 0.25%.
2	"Other expenses" have been estimated for the first year of operations of the fund's Class R2 shares.

John Hancock Income Fund | Prospectus Class R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5 Shares

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Supplement [Text Block]

jhss2_SupplementTextBlock

John Hancock Income Fund
Supplement dated 12-19-12 to the current Class R1, Class R2, Class R3, Class R4 and
Class R5 shares Prospectus

In the "Fund summary" section, the information under the heading "Fees and expenses — Annual fund operating expenses" is amended and restated by the following:

Annual fund operating expenses (%)
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the
value of your investment)		Class R1			Class R2				Class R3			Class R4				Class R5
Management fee			0.33			0.33				0.33			0.33				0.33
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees			0.50			0.25				0.50			0.15	1			0.00
Other expenses			0.38			0.38	2			0.27			0.23				0.17
Service plan fee	0.25			0.25				0.14			0.10				0.04
Additional expenses	0.13			0.13				0.13			0.13				0.13
Total annual fund operating expenses			1.21			0.96				1.10			0.71				0.50

1	The fund's distributor has contractually agreed to waive 0.10% of Rule 12b-1 fees for Class R4 shares. The current waiver agreement expires on September 30, 2013, unless renewed by mutual agreement of the fund and the distributor based upon a determination that this is appropriate under the circumstances at that time. Excluding this waiver would result in Rule 12b-1 fees of 0.25%.
2	"Other expenses" have been estimated for the first year of operations of the fund's Class R2 shares.

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

rr_OperatingExpensesCaption

Annual fund operating expenses (%)
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the
value of your investment)

Other Expenses, New Fund, Based on Estimates [Text]

rr_OtherExpensesNewFundBasedOnEstimates

"Other expenses" have been estimated for the first year of operations of the fund's Class R2 shares.

John Hancock Income Fund | Prospectus Class R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5 Shares | Class R1

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Management fee

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.33%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.50%

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.38%

Service plan fee

rr_Component1OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.25%

Additional expenses

rr_Component2OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.13%

Total annual fund operating expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

1.21%

John Hancock Income Fund | Prospectus Class R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5 Shares | Class R2

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Management fee

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.33%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.25%

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.38%

^[1]

Service plan fee

rr_Component1OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.25%

Additional expenses

rr_Component2OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.13%

Total annual fund operating expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

0.96%

John Hancock Income Fund | Prospectus Class R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5 Shares | Class R3

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Management fee

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.33%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.50%

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.27%

Service plan fee

rr_Component1OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.14%

Additional expenses

rr_Component2OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.13%

Total annual fund operating expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

1.10%

John Hancock Income Fund | Prospectus Class R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5 Shares | Class R4

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Management fee

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.33%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.15%

^[2]

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.23%

Service plan fee

rr_Component1OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.10%

Additional expenses

rr_Component2OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.13%

Total annual fund operating expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

0.71%

John Hancock Income Fund | Prospectus Class R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5 Shares | Class R5

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Management fee

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.33%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

none

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.17%

Service plan fee

rr_Component1OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.04%

Additional expenses

rr_Component2OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.13%

Total annual fund operating expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

0.50%

[1] "Other expenses" have been estimated for the first year of operations of the fund's Class R2 shares.

[2] The fund's distributor has contractually agreed to waive 0.10% of Rule 12b-1 fees for Class R4 shares. The current waiver agreement expires on September 30, 2013, unless renewed by mutual agreement of the fund and the distributor based upon a determination that this is appropriate under the circumstances at that time. Excluding this waiver would result in Rule 12b-1 fees of 0.25%.

XML

Document and Entity Information	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 01, 2012
Risk/Return:
Document Type	Other
Document Period End Date	May 31, 2012
Registrant Name	JOHN HANCOCK STRATEGIC SERIES
Central Index Key	0000792858
Amendment Flag	false
Document Creation Date	Dec. 19, 2012
Document Effective Date	Dec. 19, 2012
Prospectus Date	Oct. 01, 2012

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	JOHN HANCOCK STRATEGIC SERIES
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Oct. 01, 2012
Document Creation Date	dei_DocumentCreationDate	Dec. 19, 2012