Magis report 

Interschool Debating commences this Tuesday, 15 March. John XXIII has ten teams this year, six novice (Years 7/8) teams, two junior teams and our Year 12 team. Our coaches and managers this year include Rory Hewson, Charlie Richards, Ben Linsten, Ms Lumley and Ms Glass.  All team members have received fixture sheets and instructions for the competition which is held via the Zoom platform, which was used for International Debating the last two years.  Debates are in E Block either at 4:40pm, 5:30pm or 6:30pm, and students must be present at least 15 minutes prior to the start.  All round one debates at each level are prepared debates. Unfortunately with COVID it is not possible to have parent spectators for the present – hopefully this may change in term two.  Good luck to all debaters, and congratulations on representing the College in this prestigious event.  The 'Information For Parents can be accessed below.

The Shakespeare Club began this week with an introductory video and a look at the first Shakespearean sonnet. Club members will be surveying parents, teachers and other students later this year.  A highlight on Tuesday were videos of a splendid reading by the famous actor Alan Rickman of Sonnet 130.

After the great success of the House Academic Spelling Challenge which concluded last week with over 250 competitors, the  Mental Maths Challenge will be held over the next two weeks. Good luck to all Houses, and warmest thanks to student leaders, Homeroom Teachers and House Coordinators for their organisation of teams – every Homeroom from Years 7 to 12 had a least one team for Academic Spelling.

On Monday with the Magis weekly Memo there will be details of two excellent opportunities students may wish to nominate for: ECU’s STEM One-Day Workshop and  the WA Chess Club’s Interschool Championship event.   Full details on Monday with hard copy nomination/information forms available from the Magis office.

All students are reminded to check for information in the Magis Team file, and also in files associated with related events and competition. Magis student are reminded of the wide range of excellent academic resources in these files and folders, and the important handbooks covering most aspects of the program.

Jim Miller

Magis Gifted and Talented Program Coordinator