Secondary

John XXIII Day

Our College will celebrate John XXIII Day next Friday 5 August beginning with a whole school Mass in the St Louis Sports Centre. This will be followed by the running of the colonnades, the fundraising stalls, Alumni sporting matches and finally a student variety concert. The day is a wonderful celebration of our College community illustrating our motto 'Seek Justice' through our actions to come together in celebration of the Eucharist, to raise funds for Jesuit and Loreto ministries and to showcase the gifts and talents of our students.

For our Year 7 students, and families new to the College this is a compulsory school day. Students wear their House uniform to school and bring money to purchase food and participate in activities throughout the day. Generally, food items cost $3-5 with activities ranging in price from $1-6. Whilst it is an individual family’s decision as to how much money to bring, generally students would spend around $20. 

We look forward to celebrating a wonderful day with our students!

Jessica Bouwman

Vice Principal - Head of Secondary

COVID-19 Reminder

Secondary students are also reminded that masks are required to be worn on all public and passenger transport, including school buses. It is important for students accessing public transport to ensure they supply their own mask ready for use on the bus.

Year 11 Pilgrimage to the Northern Territory

Twenty five Year 11 students and three staff members were fortunate enough to become pilgrims and travel to the Northern Territory to immerse themselves in the Indigenous culture during the last week of Term Two.

We travelled to the community of Bigedi where we met the Traditional Owners welcoming us with open hearts. When we first arrived, we were welcomed to country by Wanita and Francis where they held a smoking ceremony to ensure that we are safe whilst on their country. 

Our days consisted of quality time spent with the children and hearing first-hand stories about their culture and spirituality. One of our highlights, was swimming in the creek surrounded with the community that provided a sense of belonging.  We learnt traditional ways of collecting resources, such as foraging for bush tucker and searching for mussels. They taught us a variety of different ways to utilise bush tucker for food and medicine, in which they have relied on for thousands of years. 

Despite some COVID interruptions, this immersion has allowed us as a group to grow together and form lifelong friendships.  We have walked away with a new perspective on life, and we will share the stories we were privileged enough to learn. We would like to thank the staff who accompanied us and made the pilgrimage possible.

Written by Year 11 pilgrims

High Achievers’ Breakfast

On Thursday morning, over 150 students attended the High Achievers’ Breakfast in the Thomas More Exhibition Centre. Due to the postponement of the breakfast last semester, this event was an opportunity to celebrate all high achieving students from Semester Two 2021 and Semester One 2022.

The morning was a great success and students heard from John XXIII alumni, David Stokes. David began at John XXIII College as a Kindergarten student back in 2004 following in the footsteps of his three older sisters. He graduated in 2017 receiving a 98.25 ATAR. Having completed the Arts component of his studies, David is on the final stretch of his law degree and is undertaking the coming semester abroad in Ireland at Maynooth University, set to graduate at the end of 2023. 

David provided an enlightening and entertaining presentation on his time at John XXIII and provided students with some great words of wisdom. He provided some practical tips for our students that focused on encouraging them to become the best version of themselves through an openness to learning from others and having the courage and confidence to actively participate in all opportunities that present themselves! His advice to ‘grow into yourself’ as you move through school and into the rest of your life by using your God given gifts and talents to become the best person you can be was wonderful advice for our students!

All students must be congratulated on their successes this year and continue to acknowledge and celebrate each other on their academic achievements.

Morgan Ball

Assistant Deputy Principal - Year 8

Celebrating Attainment and Application Awards

Attainment and Application Awards celebrate those students who have given their best in academic endeavour or have shown themselves to be a positive role model for their peers. Congratulations to all our award winners you have demonstrated what it truly means to be young men and women of competence, conscience, compassion and commitment. The reality is that there are many more students who demonstrate these values and would be worth recipients of these awards. To those students, we encourage you to keep striving for the magis.

Greg Moran

Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning

Year 12 ATAR Geography Excursion

On Tuesday 26 July, Year 12 ATAR Geography students attended an excursion that visited numerous locations across the Perth Metropolitan Area. The purpose of the excursion was to conduct an inquiry into the morphology of Perth and complete fieldwork that complimented their study of the challenges facing the city in the future. Students enjoyed a walking guided tour of East Perth, the Perth CBD and Northbridge, as well as discovering the new housing developments occurring in Perth’s outer northern suburbs. The final stop of the excursion was adjacent to the Tamala Park Waste Management Facility, where the students learnt about the benefits and costs of having such a facility so close to suburban housing.  

Chris Morris

Head of Learning Area – Humanities and Social Sciences

Sustainability Club Second Hand Clothing Stall

The Sustainability Club will be running a second-hand clothing stall on John XXIII Day. 

We are asking any students to bring in an item or two of clothing that that may have grown out of or just don't wear anymore. Clothes must be in reasonable condition and clean. You can drop them at student reception by Thursday 4 August, where there will be a collection box. Any clothing that isn't sold will be donated to St Vincent de Paul.

Adrian Sims

Sustainability Coordinator

Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!

Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! is the strongly worded theme of NAIDOC 2022. Although the official date for NAIDOC Week is during the holidays, the College celebrations began at the end of Term 2 with a Homeroom NAIDOC quiz and moments of reflection and prayer – including Community Mass.

Last week, at a Secondary NAIDOC assembly, students and staff were welcomed to Whadjuk Noongah Boodjah by Matthew McGuire, who is a descendent from several Noongah tribes. Matthew referred to his strong family relationships and reminded the College community that NAIDOC is ‘more than a week’. 

During lunch-time this week, students were able to view ‘The Final Quarter’ in the Ignatius Centre.  This important movie highlights the final three years of Adam Goodes’ AFL career with the Sydney Swans, and the way he was treated on and off the football oval. It was great to see students from across Secondary, encouraged by Year 11 pilgrimage students recently returned from their experience on a remote community in the Northern Territory. 

Mary Anne Lumley

College Liturgist

SPORT

NAS Trials

Due to the cancellation of Summer NAS, trials were postponed for our Year 7 and some of our Year 8 NAS teams. Please find the schedule below for NAS trials next week. Students are encouraged to go to their preferred sport trial and will have the option to register for a second team should they miss out on their first preference. Ultimate Frisbee is a new addition to the Summer NAS program this year, it would be great to see lots of students down at all trials. 

Should you have any queries please contact Miss Jessica Pillera – jessica.pillera@cewa.edu.au 

 Athletics Training

Athletics training is in full swing with incredibly strong numbers. Thank you to all the students showing a passion for athletics and making it down to our morning training sessions. 

All students are welcome to attend the College morning training sessions to improve their athletics skills. Last year, John XXIII College achieved our team goal and stayed in the ACC A-Division Athletics Carnival. This year our aim is to do the same and hopefully some more! Training takes place every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7:00-8:00am in the lead up to the ACC A-Division Athletics Carnival. Please find the full schedule below.

ACC Championships – Netball & Soccer

Well done to our Netball and Soccer teams who competed in the round 16 on Wednesday 27 July. Netball put on a great fight just falling short of the win to Kingsway Christian College. However, they showed great skill, camaraderie and determination throughout. 

Congratulations to our Soccer team who played a fantastic game. It was a scoreless first half but the boys took it to another level in the second half finishing the game on a 6-0 win. This takes them to the quarter-finals for an away game against South Coast Baptist College next Wednesday August 3. 

Senior Surfing

We had a great morning at the beach on Tuesday. The Years 10-12 students braved the weather for their trials. There was a lot of talent displayed which puts us in a great position leading into the Surfing Schools Cup competition. Congratulations to the following students who have been selected to represent the College. 

Congratulations

Well done to the students below who were successful in their trials to make the U/15 Development squad at the Claremont Tigers. The boys having been training for a couple of months and capped it off with games against East Fremantle and Peel Thunder. A great experience well done boys. 

David Gardner, Baxter Robertson, Archie Walshe, Patrick McAuliffe and Hugo Montgomerie.

Another Congratulations goes to Charlie Clarke who travelled to Adelaide in the holidays for the National Lacrosse Championships. It was a successful tournament with the WA team just falling short in the grand final match against South Australia. Charlie was voted MVP of the grand final, a great achievement.

Jess Pillera

Head of Sport