HASS events

Remembrance Day

On Thursday, 11 November, the College community commemorated Remembrance Day. Several decades have passed since the Armistice that ended World War 1. To this day, we still hold fast to the idea that peace is possible, and we continue to work towards that goal. Students placed poppies on our memorial wall respectfully acknowledging all those who have fought and died for our freedom and we commemorated the 80th Anniversary of the Greece and Crete campaign during World War Two and 100th Anniversary of the Royal Australia Air Force. 

Miss D Pisconeri

(Humanities and Social Sciences Teacher (Geography)

Science Teacher)

Year 9 Civics and Citizenship Excursion

On Friday 5 November, the Year 9 Humanities extension class had the opportunity to visit the Francis Burt Law Museum, Supreme Court, District Court and Parliament House as part of their studies of Civics and Citizenship. The students’ approach, behaviour and engagement was outstanding, as was noticed by the facilitators at all locations. Below you will find some reflections from students about their experiences on the day. I would like to thank Mrs Kippen for attending the excursion as well as helping to ensure students gained the most out of this valuable learning experience.

Mr A McGoorty

Humanities Teacher

Students' Comments

On Friday, November 5, our class had the privilege to pay a visit to the law institutions in Western Australia, having the opportunity to enter the Supreme Court, view a trial from the District Court, participate in a mock trial and tour the Parliament House. ​

After an amicable introduction from our tour guides, we entered one of the empty courts in the Supreme Court and learnt the layout and roles of all the members in a court hearing. We then had the opportunity to apply this knowledge in witnessing part of a District Court case charging three people of alleged home invasion and grievous bodily harm, which assisted in applying our knowledge in a real-world context. With this, our tour guide stressed the importance of the justice system and then gave us the opportunity to play in a mock trial of Charlie Wright, who was accused of grievous bodily harm after allegedly punching Jordan Pickering for making a move on his girlfriend, Alex Smith, with all students playing as a role in this trial. Unfortunately, a single vote left the jury undecided on the final verdict and Charlie will need to return on another date with a new jury.

For the second part of the excursion, we headed to Parliament House and met up with a knowledgeable Parliament worker as our tour guide, who brought us to the Legislative Council (Upper House) and Legislative Assembly (Lower House) to explain its structure, history, and powers. We had the opportunity to sit in the chairs of various of our local members and see all three floors of the Parliament House.

By the end, the knowledge introduced by this excursion complimented our class content on civics; taking it outside of the classroom and letting us experience it in the real world; teaching us the importance of laws and their formalities in the society we live in. On behalf of the Year 9 Extension Humanities class I would like to thank Ms Kippen and Mr McGoorty for organising the excursion for us.

Jia Ying Chen

The excursion to the West Australian Parliament and the Francis Burt Law Education Centre was great fun! We first went to a Supreme Court room and Dean our tour guide explained what each member of court does and where they sit. After this we got to see a real District Court case and it was great to see the operation of a real court room. We finished our tour in the old Supreme Court building which is the oldest building in Perth where we acted out a mock trial which was fun and a great way to learn about the court process. 

We then went to Parliament House and had a tour where we got to see each layer of the parliamentary system and even sit in the Legislative Assembly, after the tour Michael our tour guide gave us all pins commemorating Edith Cowan’s 100th anniversary of being elected to Parliament and a free orange juice. This excursion was a great way to learn about the court and parliamentary systems in Western Australia and we would like to thank Mr McGoorty for organising and Mrs Kippen for attending on the day.

Nicholas Navarra

 & Alexander Mitchell-Lewis