Secondary

Dear Families 

What a fitting way to showcase the talent of our students in last night’s Presentation Evening! Congratulations to all readers, award winners, performers and the AV crew for their hard work in preparation and participation through the evening. The high level of student participation at events such as last night is a testament to the competence of our young people and the incredible support they receive from staff to build their confidence, passion and willingness to contribute. Well done to all award winners – you should be very proud of your achievements, which reflect your effort and commitment through the year to aspire for personal and educational excellence.

Our Years 7 to 11 leaders met on Tuesday to plan for the ahead at their leadership afternoon. Themed Danjoo Koorliny – Walking Together, and led by the 2024 Student Representative Council, students spent time with Collene Castle from Wonnil Partners to explore opportunities for them as change agents to support the College’s commitment to Reconciliation through next year. They also planned ways to lead other 2024 initiatives as leaders in the Ignatian tradition and as people for others. We are excited to see these leaders have positive impact next year.

Congratulations to the following Homeroom leaders for 2024:

Campion House

Year 8 Will Clarke and Amy Griffin

Year 9 Charlotte Foot and Ethan Soh

Year 10 Carla Chipperfield and Grace Nicol

Year 11 Erin Griffin and Tom Townshend

Koolyangarra House

Year 8 Rory McIlree and Emily Rintoul

Year 9 Joshua Standing and Isabelle Yu

Year 10 Duccio Fraulini and Allegra Hickling

Year 11 Matthew Gardner and Abigail Lisle

Loreto House

Year 8 Banjo Hartfield and Zachary Sartorello

Year 9 Grace Macdougall and Blake Kavanagh

Year 10 Lily Lucas and Ollie Symington

Year 11 Ruby Verleg and Isabella Desiati

Loyola House

Year 8 Harrison Lovegrove and Indah Radalj

Year 9 Christie Ho and Peter Gilling

Year 10 Erik Mitchum and Neve Thompson

Year 11 Ciaran Doyle and Milly Hennessy

St Louis House

Year 8 Christopher Tan and Nicholas Tang

Year 9 Arabella Buzzard and Ewa Krolik

Year 10 Joseph Nankivell and Addie Papantoniou

Year 11 Catalina Oud and Callum de Andrade

Ward House

Year 8 James Mann and Jenna Romano

Year 9 Maia Kim and Henry Seares

Year 10 Dominic Jeffery and Aria Macmillan

Year 11 Sam Stokes and Ruby Preston

We wish staff and students travelling interstate and overseas on College tours over the next couple of weeks safe travels and wonderful experiences exploring other places, people and cultures.

• Italian Study Tour: students accompanied by Mrs Melissa Polizzi, Mr Greg Moran and Ms Shane Glass
• Japan Study Tour: students accompanied by Mrs Helen Aghdasi, Mrs Janine O’Grady and Eri Kozukue
• Volleyball Gold Coast Tour: students accompanied by Ms Sara Kononen, Miss Jessica Pillera, Mr Campbell Tirant and Mr Conor O’Hara
• Jesuit and Companion Schools Australia (JACSA) Student Leaders’ Conference: students accompanied by Ms Rita de Faria
• Basketball USA Tour: students accompanied by Mr Andrew Osnain and Mr Simon Carrello

All the best to Year 9 students for their 9PLUS camp program next week. A culmination of the 9PLUS program, the camp will provide students with a fitting end to their year and transition into their senior years.

Shani Andrews

Vice Principal - Head of Secondary

Second-hand book sale

Saturday 2 December, 7:30am - 11:00am

Pavilion, John XXIII College

Those wishing to sell and those wishing to buy or exchange information.

First in, best dressed.

Prices are usually agreed at half of the new price depending on the condition of the book.

Please ensure you have your own copy of your relevant booklist.

The College does not set prices or charge commissions.

Student Devices 2024

A reminder to Years 4 to 12 families about student devices for 2024. A summary of student devices can be found at this link. Please note the 2024 Year 10 Opt-in to the College Owned Device Program, has closed.

Further information can be found on our website at: Student Devices | John XXIII College.

Bill Quartermaine

Director Inquiry & Innovation

Year 7 Visual Arts Day

On Year 7 Visual Arts Day, a group of Year 7 students are selected to create a collaborative artwork that will be put on display around the College. This year, students painted murals that will scatter through the College’s native bushtucker garden, depicting images reflective of the Noongar Six Seasons. Congratulations to these creative and talented students on their incredible work.

Kiri Moore

Coordinator Visual Arts

Year 8 HASS ‘Design a Sustainable City’ Inquiry

Year 8 Humanities and Social Sciences students have been busily creating sustainable cities as part of their Geography unit this term. This group inquiry project involved a research, design, and implementation component with students able to create either a ‘physical’ design (using recyclable material). Students based their designs on sustainable elements from cities today, such as Singapore’s ‘Gardens by the Bay’, Dubai’s ‘Green Planet Biodome’ and Copenhagen’s ‘Biomass Energy System’.

The HASS Teaching Team were impressed by the thought that was put into these designs. I am certain that from this task, we will have some budding urban designers of the future! 

Chris Morris

Head of Learning Area – Humanities and Social Sciences

Empowering Women in STEM

On Wednesday, 29 November, a group of Year 9 Mathematic Extension female students took part in the 'Empowering Women in STEM' day at Curtin University.

The day started with hearing from guest speakers, including Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker, an award-winning astronomer; Lauren Walker, Senior Financial Advisor at Canaccord Genuity Financial Limited; Jo-Anne Morgan, Head of Actuarial Science at Curtin University and Petty Officer Jarred Ford and CPL Kiara Newhouse. The guest speakers provided an inspiring insight into their journey in STEM. A common message throughout the morning for the girls present was the importance of believing in themselves and the endless possibilities and talents they possess.

After the morning sessions, students were split into groups and went through a range of workshops, including Surveying, DNA Detective, The Mathematics of Mineral Discovery and Mining, The Mathematics of Uncertainty (An actuarial talk), Maths breakout challenges and many more.

The diverse range of activities and speakers organised by Curtin University in partnership with MAWA was highly impressive, and all students gained invaluable knowledge and inspiration on the day. It also ignited a passion within each of us to continue to promote and develop female participation and confidence in STEM.

A student account of the day:

STEM is the way forward to addressing many of the world's challenges, both now and in the future. I was thrilled to attend the 'Empowering Women in STEM Day' for Year 9s at Curtin University to encourage a diverse future in STEM. The day was really inspiring with a range of talks from professional women applying STEM in their every day. My biggest inspiration was hearing Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker, a radio astronomer, who shared her career development story, including developing her math skills and changing her direction from biology to eventually discovering her passion for astronomy. With career achievements including magnetic neutron star detection and now leading the Murchison Array, I was in awe. I felt fortunate to experience this inspirational day, and I hope more women discover STEM and its endless possibilities. Elizabeth Levey

 Joanne Friel

Head of Learning Area  - Mathematics

Chess Club

In Term 4, James Sommerfield and Christopher Tan organised a Round Robin competition in the Library. Ethan Soh emerged as the winner, having won five games and lost one. Congratulations, Ethan! 

The Chess Club will be under the guidance of Mrs Friel, from the Mathematics Department from next year onwards.

Damien Connellan

Chess Club Coordinator 

SPORTS

Gold Coast Volleyball Tour

On Saturday 2 December, our three volleyball tour teams will depart for the 2023 Australian Volleyball Schools Cup. This is the first time John XXIII College has ever entered this competition. These teams have been training from Term 2 of this year and we could not be more excited to see how they perform in the largest school sporting competition in the southern hemisphere next week. 

Gold Coast Volleyball Teams

Years 7/8 Water Polo

Congratulations to our Years 7/8 teams for their efforts in the Champions School Water Polo competition this week who were extremely competitive on the day against schools in each of their rounds.  Thank you to Mr Christopher Morris and Miss Jodi Power for their time and efforts in coaching our teams.

Sara Kononen

Head of Sport