Magis

Congratulations to all students who competed in the 2019 heats of the John XXIII Public Speaking Competition, and special thanks to the judges and officials, Ms Katie Imhoff, Ms Kalo Bell, Ms Mary-Anne Lumley, Ms Heather Charly, Rory Hewson, Charlie Richards, Eve Cullity and Nick Brennan.  Twenty-two students from Years 7-12 will compete in the Grand final on Tuesday, which will commence at 6.30pm (not 7pm as originally indicated). Our judges for the grand final will be Magis Captains from 2017 and 2018, Tom Paparo and Bella Spiro-Harrison, and 2018 Year 12 Public Speaking winner Kinia O’Brien. Good luck to all finalists. Judging from the quality of the heats this should be an outstanding evening.

 

Ten top senior students have just attended the Julie Arliss Gifted and Talented Conference at St Hilda’s School this Friday with gifted students from most top colleges in W.A. There will be a further report and photos in next week’s newsletter and Magis Memo.

 

After the successful Public speaking Breakfast last week, the next Academic Seminar Breakfast will be this coming Thursday at 7.30am in the College Library. This will be part of the training program for our twelve 2018 World Scholar’s Cup teams,  and will feature talks from our senior team which competed with great success at the 2018 World Scholar’s Cup Tournament of Champions at Yale University in America, and the current year ten team which finished third in the World in debating at the 2018 Global Round.  World Scholar’s sessions with teachers began this week with introductions to the special area (unsolved mysteries) and Literature. Teachers assisting me at both the Regional and Global rounds in 2018 will be Mr Christian Thompson and Ms Kirralee Dawson.

 

Interschool debating preparation recommences this coming week on Monday morning at 7.15am in preparation for round 3 of the WA Debating League fixtures in week 4. Warmest thanks to the teachers assisting with this important program.

 

There have been some excellent entries for the John XXIII Creative Writing competition, and entries will be accepted up to this coming Wednesday, 15 May. The competition is run by Magis but like the Public Speaking is open to all students.

 

Finally, I am advertising each week a range of excellent Gifted and Talented Programs our Magis and Altiora Students may be interested in. It is recommended that students consider these carefully and nominate for one or two during the year. These are external events for individual gifted students but can also gain points towards the Magis Champion Award for each year group. As an example, Alice O’Sullivan from Year 9 has excelled in the Golden Pen Creative Writing Award with her manuscript ‘Table Mountain and Me’ being  shortlisted for the Award, a wonderful achievement.  We have 11 students attending the 2020 Space Camp Tour to America, but other students may wish to consider the exciting five day Space Program ‘Mission Discovery’ at Curtin University in the coming July holidays. A NASA Astronaut is one of the key facilitators of this program. Information brochures are available from the Magis office.   Also occurring in the July holidays is the Jesuit National Debating Championships, and we will be sending a senior team to Xavier College, Melbourne to compete.

 

Jim Miller

Gifted and Talented Coordinator

Magis & Altiora Calendar

Term Two

  • May 14 - Magis Public Speaking Final (GBLT)
  • May 17-18 - World Scholar’s Cup Camp
  • May 23 - Mental Maths Challenge
  • May 31 - J1 World Scholar’s regionals SHC
  • June 12 - Magis Academic Knowledge
  • June 26 - Magis Awards & Personal Project Breakfast