Programs - Communication 

Dear parents, guardians, teachers and students ,

We are well into Term 2 and the Communication Learning area is looking forward to the annual events that showcase the talents of our students. 

The SIS Cultural events are preparing for their events.  Ms Rachel Towns will be facilitating the SIS Debating Team, Mr Adam Gordon will be facilitating the SIS Public Speaking team and Ms Keel and Mr Yap will be facilitating the SIS Book in a Day.  We look forward to updating you all on our students’ achievements in each of these events.  I also thank each of these teachers for their time and commitment to guiding our students to achieving their best and participating in extra-curricular activities. 

Later in the year, we will also be participating once again, in the annual Shared Storiesevent.  Over 25 Catholic schools participate in this event, whereby students are given the opportunity to have their written work or visual artwork, published in an annual anthology. The anthology is then launched toward the end of the year, hosted by Star of the Sea.  Our Year 9 and Year 10 students will be given the opportunity to submit their work and have it published in the anthology, under the guidance of their English teacher.  This year, the Shared Stories theme is Chasing Happiness: a concept that is universally understood.  

Here is an excerpt from the Shared Stories website that I would like to share with you. 

‘Happy people live with purpose. They find joy in lasting relationships, working toward their goals, and living according to their values. The happy person does not chase material goods or luxury vacations. This person is fine with the simple pleasures of life.’  

May each of our students and our families be blessed with this experience of true happiness. 

St John’s will again be building on our connection with our partner school in the Philippines – Leyte National High School in Tacloban, which began in 2019.  Mr Farrelly’s Year 7 STEP students will have the wonderful opportunity of engaging with Year 7 Leyte High students on a variety of global issues of today as this program continues to grow. 

Year 9 Italian gelato and sorbet taste-testing

During Term 1, our Year 9 Italian class did a taste test of some Florentine gelati and sorbet. They were supplied in four different flavours, which were, fragola (strawberry), limone (lemon sorbet), cioccolato (chocolate) and baccello di vaniglia (vanilla bean).  Some of this type of gelato was first invented within 16th century Florence by a man called Bernardo Buontalenti, who had the idea of introducing milk and eggs to the original mixture.  Overall, the dessert was delicious, with its sweet flavour and smooth texture, making our final lesson of the term extremely enjoyable for us all. 

Royce D’Mello DE3 and Anthony Fernandez AQ6

Year 8 Italian - Carnevale & Venetian mask making

Last term, the Year 8s learnted about the rich history behind the Venetian Carnevale festival finishing on ‘Fat Tuesday’.  Carnevale means ‘a goodbye to meat’ which is organised before Ash Wednesday and Lent.  The Year 8’s commemorated the event by participating in a Carnevale mask-making competition.  These masks empowered the wearer and enclosed everyone’s identity so we can all come as one!  It was so much fun making these awesome masks!  We thank the teachers for organising this activity.

Samarah Haque LE3

Quratullane Ali LE3

Well done everyone and congratulations to the following students who were prize-winners for the most creative masks:

8ITA1: 1st  -  Elisha Boak   MO1

             2nd  - Khushi Adhikari   DE7

             3rd -  Ethan  Miller  AQ1

8ITA3: 1st  -  Juan Wani  MO6

             2nd  - Jack Maxwell  CO6

             3rd -  Pami Ukwaththagie  AQ5

Thanks also to Prof. Finamore and her team of expert judges

“In STEP, this term, students are studying the novel Blueback and exploring the theme of sustainability that is prevalent in the novel.  In order to build their field of knowledge and understanding of the importance of the ocean and its ecosystem, students produced a sea life fact file, using the conventions of fact files. Here are two for your perusal”.

Year 12 History 

In Year 12 History, we are currently looking at the French Revolution and the events that occurred during that time such as the Storming of the Tuileries Palace in 1792 and September Massacres.

In class we collectively revise the dates we have already gone over and write them on the whiteboard to help our understanding of content.

Throughout the term we also like the find or make French history memes (we call them fremes) and stick them around the classroom, adding to more of an understanding as well as fun for us all to enjoy.

Martina Dujic