Secondary

Live Simply Day

‘It is a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack.’ Pope Francis Laudato Si’

Live Simply Day will take place on 25 March 2022. The day is an opportunity for students, staff, and our broader John XXIII College community to respond to the Church’s call to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the world’s poorest. It is an invitation to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who lived and preached a simple life, and to take meaningful action on the ecological crisis we face today.

The ecological crisis is a complex crisis that includes both the social crisis (global poverty, injustice, social inequality) and the environmental crisis (climate change, species loss, pollution of land, sea and air).

To live simply is to set an intentional path towards slowing down, finding time to be with God, consuming less, connecting with the natural world, finding happiness and joy in the things that really matter, discovering a more meaningful life and opening our hearts to the needs of others.

Live Simply Day is an opportunity for personal reflection and prayer, combined with learning and action. On the day students are encouraged to live more simply and consume less, take shorter showers, ride or walk to school, limit social media or have a simple lunch of  bread and butter. Students are encouraged to invite friends and family to sponsor them for their efforts. The funds raised supports Caritas Australia, part of the largest aid and development network covering over 200 countries and territories.

We encourage students to discover the power of giving and the impact that your contribution, however big or small, would have on the lives of others. When we lend a hand to someone in need, they will go on to help others and make better opportunities for future generations.

Funds raised through this initiative will go directly to Project Compassion.

We look forward to our community joining us in building a more just and fairer world: a world in balance, at peace and free of poverty.

Janeen Murphy

Director of Faith and Mission

Koolyangarra House Day - 10 March 2022

Yesterday Koolyangarra students celebrated their House Day at John XXIII College. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, this meant some changes to the day as year groups were unable to mix and celebrate as a whole House. Alternatively, a virtual assembly was held in Homerooms, followed by a shared lunch on the Chapel Lawn. Koolyangarra, an Indigenous term meaning 'a meeting place for happy children' was truly on display with a sea of green shirts and smiling faces all enjoying their lunch in the sun.

In the afternoon, a selection of Year 10 Koolyangarra students volunteered their time to cook meals for The Shopfront, demonstrating their generosity to support the marginalised in society. Lots of fun was had and hopefully the meals prove to be delicious. The House celebrations culminated today with a lovely Community Mass. It was a pleasure to see the reverence of the Koolyangarra students, and I applaud the Year 7 and Year 11 students that read and assisted with the liturgy. 

It was wonderful to see all students enthusiastically involved in our House Day celebration. A special mention must be made to the House staff and our various student leaders for their help in organising the day.

Josh Bowen

Koolyangarra House Coordinator

Tastes of Italy

Last week, my classmates, as well as the Year 12 Italian ATAR students, had the great opportunity to try authentic Italian espresso, guided by our teacher Prof. Polizzi who provided pods of Italian espresso, as well as an Italian espresso machine. Practical activities of this nature continue to inform us further about Italian culture and traditions which can be just as important, if not more important, than learning the Italian language itself. It gives us great insight into the Italian way of life, especially as Italians are known to drink anywhere between two and four cups of coffee a day on average! This links to our topic 'le tradizioni italiane' (Italian traditions) and the Year 12 topic; 'la vita italiana' (The Italian lifestyle), where family, food, coffee are integral parts of any Italian lifestyle.

È stata un’esperienza meravigliosa ! (It was a wonderful experience!).

Andoni Karafilakis

Year 11 Loyola 

Languages Students

A warm 'benvenuto' and 'irrashaimase' (welcome) to our Year 7 Italian and Japanese students who have enthusiastically completed their first assessment. Over the last few weeks, they have been learning how to introduce themselves in Italian and Japanese as well as useful expressions with age, numbers and getting to know others using formal and informal language. 

Melissa Polizzi

Head of Learning Area - Languages 

Year 11 Hospitality Café – Tuesday 15 March

The Year 11 Hospitality students are running a café on Tuesday 15 March at recess.  Pre-orders will be taken via the link until Monday 14 March at 3:30pm. 

Year 12 Hospitality Café – Friday 18 March

The Year 12 Hospitality students are running a café on Friday 18 March at recess.  Pre-orders will be taken via the link until Thursday 17 March at 3:30pm. 

Dungeons & Dragons Club

This week the Year 7 members of the D&D Club (Christie Ho, Remi Twite, Jayden Gope, Kaileigh Bent, Scarlett Polini, Richie McDiven, Jack Schoemaker, Ben Engelbrecht and Joe Scott) started their adventure and were travelling to Phandelver to meet their leader Gundren Rockseeker. On the way they have come across a party of goblins and decided to attack. Things have not gone to plan, with one member already unconscious and a few more with vicious wounds. However, the goblins remaining are in retreat, and live to fight another day!

Damien Connellan

Club Coordinator

Ukraine Crisis Appeal

Those who wage war forget humanity. They do not start from the people, they do not look at the real life of people but place partisan interests and power before all else. They trust in the diabolical and perverse logic of weapons, which is the furthest from the logic of God. And they distance themselves from ordinary people, who want peace, and who — the ordinary people — are the real victims in every conflict, who pay for the follies of war with their own skin.'

Pope Francis February 27, 2022.

Caritas Australia’s partner Caritas Ukraine has called for support and assistance as it continues to support the country’s most vulnerable as the crisis escalates. Please click here for additional information and information about how you can donate.

Latest News | Immense humanitarian need in Ukraine (caritas.org.au)

Jesuit Mission Appeal

As the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine deepens, Jesuit Mission has launched an emergency appeal to support the work on the ground of Jesuit Refugee Service Europe.  Please donate to Jesuit Mission’s Ukraine Crisis Appeal today to help deliver emergency shelter, food and essential items, medical escorts, translation and accompaniment to Ukrainian people in desperate need. 

To donate now go to https://jesuitmission.org.au/ukraine/

Janeen Murphy

Director of Faith and Mission

SPORT

Alternative Interhouse Swimming Carnival

On Thursday 17 March, the College will run an alternative Interhouse Swimming Carnival. This is very exciting for our competitive swimming students as it will allow an opportunity to challenge for individual champion and runner up champion medals as well as crown the overall winning house.

Carnival details

• The carnival will have a competitor focus with all races run as heats and then ranked
• Races will take place in the College pool 
• Races will be run in year groups in one of the six school periods of the day
• Individual Champions and Runner Ups will be celebrated 
• Overall House winner will be announced
• More information will be posted in the notices early next week

ACC Swimming Age Championships

Congratulations to the following students who have all nominated for events in the upcoming ACC Swimming Age Championships. 

Any students selected to compete by the ACC will be notified by the College as soon as the competitors have been released. 

Please find U13, U14 and U19 Meet Programs below.

The meets will all take place in the HBF Stadium Outdoor 10-lane pool on the dates below:

Swimming Training

Thank you to all students for taking part in our swimming training sessions. A reminder that training is open to all students as the coaches are happy to work on fitness as well as competition preparation. Swimming training runs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7:00-8:00am. Next week will be our final week of swimming training, there will be a celebratory breakfast held for all our regular students on Friday 18 March.

Cross-Country Training

Cross-country training numbers continue to grow. All cross-country training sessions are open to all students and run every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:00-8:00am. There are exciting new additions to our course this year where students will run on three different terrains and overcome the Mound! Students will have the chance to familiarise themselves with the new course in their Years 7-10 Physical Education classes later this Term. This week, there will be a surprise breakfast put on for our regular cross-country attendees at one of the sessions.

Congratulations

Congratulations to all our talented students who competed in the Rottnest Channel Swim last weekend.

Congratulations also to Will Stacy for his selection into the 2022 ACC Representative Cricket Team. The team will represent the ACC and play against the combined Government Schools team on Thursday 17 March.

Further congratulations to Sasha Pallis, who has qualified for the National Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Sydney at the end of this month. 

Congratulations also to Wim Parker, William Thomas, Owen Simpson, Aidan Kavanagh, Jake Soutar, Sam Laing and Joseph Hopkyns who all made the Futures squad at Claremont Football Club.

Sara Kononen

Head of Sport