Secondary
Joyeuses Paques from Year 9 French students
Year 9 French students finished the term with a special cultural lesson finding out about Easter in France. Students learnt about the tradition of sending Easter cards and that the Easter Bunny does not visit children in France instead the church bells go quiet on Good Friday as the bells fly to Rome and bring Easter eggs back for the children on Easter Sunday, when the church bells ring again.
Students learnt about the traditional Easter egg rolling custom and had a go at decorating eggs and rolling them to see which egg survived the longest. Congratulations to Will Hart and Sophie Baron-Hay for creating the most eggcellent eggs! Students also took part in an Easter egg hunt, working out clues in French and unscrambling a code to be rewarded with Easter eggs.
Well done to all Year 9 French students for their fantastic participation and we wish you all a joyeuses paques.
Year 11 Underwater Adventures
Our Year 11 Marine students recently completed their PADI Open Water certification at Rottnest Island. Discover their adventures and see the wondrous world beneath the waves.
Students attend the 2019 Alliance Française French Film Festival
On 1 April our students of French in Years 10 and 11 put their language skills to the test and enjoyed a French movie at the 2019 Alliance Française French Film Festival. The special school screening was well attended, and our John XXIII students enjoyed mingling with other learners of French from various schools throughout Perth. The movie “In Your Hands” was an emotionally stirring tale of a young man and his rare gift for music.
One of our Year 11 students commented:
“C’était un bon film, c’était touchant d’écouter jouer le piano et c’était intéressant de voir tellement d’étudiants de français de différentes écoles ”
"The movie was good, it was nice listening to the piano playing and it was very interesting to see so many students of French from a variety of schools”
Likewise, our students in Year 12 French attended a French comedy at Alliance Française French Film Festival the on the 29 of March.
Thank you to Mme Lucas for organising these wonderful opportunities for our students to practice their French. Merci beaucoup.
Live Simply Day
Each year John XXIII College supports Live Simply Day. The aim of the day is to raise awareness for people living in poverty by highlighting ways that we can live a more simplified life such as eating simple food, taking shorter showers, riding to school and turning off screens.
Secondary students who participated received a barley sugar lolly for recess and bread and butter at lunch. Student are encouraged to invite friends and family to sponsor them for their efforts with monies raised supporting Caritas Australia.
Jack Purkiss, a current Year 12 student, has been supporting the Live Simply initiative since he started at the College. His fundraising efforts were spurred on by the generosity of his family to match every dollar he raised.
“I have all ways been interested in school-based activities, and when I heard that a few of my friends were doing it, I thought the cause was good and the challenge was fun. I was never one to do things the normal way, so I thought, why not ask the teachers to sponsor me! This quickly gained momentum after my dad stuck by his promises each year to match and support whatever I made off the teachers”.
Over the years Jack has been one of the College’s top fundraisers for Live Simply Day, and his efforts have supported the great work of Project Compassion, from ensuring access to clean water, to providing educational resources or even supporting solar-powered water systems.
We hope our Live Simply Day continues to flourish in the years ahead and that our almsgiving brings hope to many communities who are supported by Caritas Australia.
It’s overwhelming how many of our students get involved in social justice causes and contribute. For example, this year the students of Loreto House were given a challenge by House Coordinator Mr Gallagher, to have everyone from Loreto House engaged with either Live Simply Day or another fundraising activity for Project Compassion.
“I’m so proud of our Loreto House family. We challenged the students to fundraise for Caritas and most got on board and participated. Overall, we raised in excess of $2400 with a special mention to students in Years 7 and 8 who raised half of it. They are truly men and women for others.” Said Mr Gallagher
Congratulations to Loreto House for winning the House Points for Live Simply Day.
Be a Good Egg This Easter
We cannot ignore the fact that there is as much slavery in the world today, as there was before, or perhaps more – said Pope Francis.
Can’t find slavery-free Easter eggs in your supermarket?
Ten years ago there was almost no slavery-free chocolate in our supermarkets in Australia. Now, because of public pressure and consumer demands, most supermarkets will sell some.
There is now slavery-free chocolate available in so many places.
It tastes delicious and is no more expensive than other chocolate. Try your leading / local supermarkets.
Get on board! When you go to your local supermarket, look for chocolate that has one of these three symbols. If you can’t find any, ask the manager if they stock any.
Australians spent around $210 million on Easter chocolate last year.
This year it will be about the same, or more. Companies will produce what we ask for. Please use your buying power and purchase slavery-free chocolate. You can make a difference to the world, and to the lives of the enslaved children who are forced to pick the cocoa beans used in a lot of chocolate.
Please buy and eat only slavery-free Easter eggs and chocolate this Easter and help change this tragedy.
Volunteers needed to help at the College Musical ‘Mary Poppins’ - 30 April to 4 May
At John XXIII College, our community of students, Alumni, family, parents and friends are a vital part of the success of so many of our College events and this generosity is truly appreciated.
The College Musical is one of the highlights of the school year and once again we are calling for volunteers to assist with the smooth running of this much-loved event.
This year’s musical will consist of six performances - running for five evenings from Tuesday 30 April to Saturday 4 May at 7:00pm with an additional matinee performance on Saturday 4 May at 2:00pm. We need several volunteers for each performance. You can volunteer for just one performance or several. We only ask that you do not volunteer for the performance you are attending, as we want you to enjoy the performance.
Volunteers are needed in two areas:
Front of House
We need two adult volunteers at each performance to cover the smooth running of our sales and ticketing. Volunteers will be responsible for selling any unsold seats at each performance and managing the attendance list. There will be a team of student volunteers to assist with ushering people to their seats.
For the evening performances, Front of House volunteering duties commence at 6:40pm and should be completed by 7:10pm. For the matinee performance, we would need volunteers from 1.40pm to 2.10pm.
Intermission
During intermission we serve a variety of snacks, and we run a bar and tea & coffee station. Six adult volunteers are needed for each performance to help with our hospitality service.
Intermission at the evening performance runs from about 8.15pm to 8.30pm, so we ask our volunteers to arrive by 8:00pm to help set up, and also stay on for a short while to help pack away at the end of intermission. For the matinee, volunteers should arrive by 3:00pm and will be done by 3.45pm approximately.
If you can help out at one or more of these performances, please respond to fomad@johnxxiii.edu.au with the following information:
• Your full name
• Mobile number and email address
• Date/s you are available to volunteer (please specify if you are volunteering for the Saturday matinee)
• Whether you wish to assist with Intermission, Front of House or both.
Kristin Serra
FOMAD Coordinator