Secondary School News

Inter-House Athletics Carnival

On Tuesday of Week 4, the Secondary School enjoyed a cool, but clear, day at Ern Clark Athletics Track for the Inter-House Athletics Carnival.

The day commenced with the traditional ‘march past,’ lead by Hale House’s version of Chariots of Fire, Charter’s glowing in green masks, Ramsden getting ‘fired’ up and Scott ‘chasing teddy bears’ in their Bananas in Pyjamas inspired march.

The events kicked off with fast 200m sprinters on the track, egged on by teammates cheering on from beside the track. The day was filled with liveliness and good spirit among all students, staff and parents. The Carnival concluded with another fantastic tradition, the Wollaston’s Sprint. This 100m sprint race is contested by the fastest competitors across the day from each House. Congratulations to Devlin Flockhart (Scott) and Cate McAuliffe (Scott) for winning the boys and girls Wollaston Sprint respectively.

Across the Pre-Carnival and Carnival days, there were two records broken. Congratulations to Serah Waqanivavalagi (Charter) setting a new record, in the Open Girls Discus, and to Mia Colley (Ramsden) who bettered her own record from last year in the Open Girls 1500m. 

Congratulations to the following Champions and Runner’s Up:

In the end, it was Hale House who took out the House Cup as overall champions. Congratulations Hale House!

Scott received the House Spirit Cup for their excellent enthusiasm and sportsmanship displayed across the day.  Congratulations to all students who competed at our Secondary Inter-House Athletics Carnival and a big thank you to the Secondary Staff who all took on a role to help the Carnival run so smoothly.

Alicia Anderson 

Acting Head of Health and Physical Education

Languages Week

This week was Languages Week at JWACS. Each year a theme is developed and this year it was “Language is a Bridge, not a Barrier”.

With this in mind, the Languages Team (across Secondary and Primary) organised a variety of activities to engage students as we explored how language learning (not just foreign languages) is beneficial for everyone. Naturally, as our school teaches Japanese as a foreign language our activities had links to Japanese culture, but in keeping with this year’s theme, this was not a barrier to student engagement, and all were welcome and encouraged to take part in planned activities. We also were blessed to have a group of exchange students from a prestigious Junior High School in Japan visit us for two days and engage in language classes with our students, which provided the bridge between our two cultures.

A survey, asking our community about what foreign languages they speak or are exposed to at home, was also sent out to all staff and students. The results are below. These makes for interesting reading, it demonstrates to us the breath of languages which our students at JWACS are exposed to/communicate in at home; I have to admit some of which I had never heard of before.

From the student’s perspective, trying origami and manga drawing, eating Japanese food, watching Anime or competing in our ‘Chopstick Challenge’ were all great fun activities to try and we look forward to doing it all again next year!

Thank you to everyone that took part and to those that supported the Languages Team this week.

Mrs Kaoru Cooper, Mr Brady Morris and Mrs Heidi Crawford

Japanese School exchange students

Founders' Day

Our Founders' Day celebrations were a huge success. Starting the day off with our Founders' Day Service, Chaplain Justine presiding, where we heard prayers from our Sacristans, musical masterpieces from our Primary Choir and a beautiful singing of I am Australian from the whole school. We finished off our morning with the highly anticipated Wollaston’s Dash which left our Primary students covered in mud, and Scott Prefect James Dumbreck finishing the race in first, securing Scott House's fourth consecutive win.

House groups worked hard over the last few weeks to prepare for their stalls and everyone contributed by hosting for their rostered time. Lines were flooded, prizes were flowing and there were lots of yummy treats up for grabs. Students has the chance to vote throughout the morning for a special Ice Bucket Challenge involving the Secondary Heads of House and Primary House Coordinators. Mrs Banks, donning her raincoat, fell victim to the chilly ice and water, with Mr Winter’s pool noodle not doing much to help keep him dry when he was covered in his own bucket of water! 

We finished off our day of celebration and integration with our House Games on the ovals. Secondary school students and Primary students merged together to complete activities, challenges and make new friends. It was fantastic to see student leaders stepping up to run and organise these activities with the help of their Heads of House and the whole school having fun together. We didn’t forget about the students over in the ELC with student leaders from Year 8-12 going across the road to spend time with the kids from their House! Colouring sheets were filled, laughter shared on the playground, LEGO house's built, and many games of Duck, Duck, Goose played.

Founders' Day is one of the most anticipated celebrations, with students looking forward to it from day one of the new year. It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the founders of our school and to honour John Ramsden Wollaston for his contributions to our Anglican Identity. This year was a huge success, and we are proud to support Anglicare with the proceeds from the tokens going toward the 2024 Anglicare Sleep Out that same night!"

Katie Henderer

Head Prefect

2024 Anglicare Sleepout WA

The annual Anglicare Sleepout WA was held at Optus Stadium during on Friday 9 August. This overnight experience was a culmination of the fundraising efforts that some of our Senior Secondary students had undertaken during the past 4 months. The total amount raised was $11,726! 

This opportunity allowed our students to meet with other students from around the state in this overnight homeless simulation. Thank you to the community members who supported our students in their fundraising endeavours this year. The students who attended, and staff including, Mrs Leach, Dr Kavanagh and Mr Morris - thank you for your efforts and time to support those in our community who are vulnerable. Some comments from staff and students are recorded below.

As an Anglican School, serving others is one value that defines us from others. There will be further opportunities to serve our community for the remainder of 2024. Next term, we will begin collecting stationery items to fill backpacks for the 2025 school year. These items will be provided to students around the state, who are unable to start the year with the essentials for their learning journey.

Thank you to all who support our community.

David Crawford

Dean of Operations

The students were able to connect with other students from all over the metro area and undertake a variety of simulated challenges, similar to those experienced by homeless people in our society. 

After a warm meal and receiving a piece of cardboard it was off to bed for an uncomfortable night of sleep. This was constantly interrupted by lights and sounds, not to mention the cold! 

Two regional schools, from Exmouth and Esperance, took part for the first time this year. Collectively, the students all raised over $210,000 for the 2024 Sleepout, a record.

Mr Morris

I really enjoyed the Sleepout but everyone else went to sleep way later than me and complained about the sirens, dogs barking and lights on while we slept. But fortunately it was the best sleep I have ever had, I didn't wake up at all during the night, I was the first one asleep and the last one to wake up. It gave me a taste of how the homeless would have to sleep because we couldn't do the things that we would normally have the luxury to do if we were at our own homes. 

Daniella Binnington (Year 10)

The 2024 Sleepout was a really good experience that I would recommend everyone try. You learn lots of new things about people who experience homelessness. We did an activity at the start of the night where we had to be a homeless person and you had to go around and try and get identification and other items such as shelter, clothes and food. During the night when we were trying to sleep, we would get woken up by lights turning on and off as well as different sounds playing all through the night. These sounds include things such as dogs barking, and sirens.

Charlize Slater (Year 11)

The Sleepout is not only an event that allows students to raise money to keep the well-known Street Connect bus on the streets of Perth, but it gives the students a chance to experience a mild version of what it is like for those who sleep rough. With a homeless simulation, showing what it’s like to try and get support from businesses such as Centrelink, emergency accommodation and getting identification from a post office. It shows you what it can feel like to continuously get denied even though you have completed all of the necessary steps.

While it is not a completely accurate representation of what it would really be like to sleep rough, it does give us an idea of the conditions people in our community have to live in while being cold, hungry, and tired.

This year the students of John Wollaston, alongside 500 students from other schools, raised over $210, 000. The Street Connect bus is relies on the donations they receive. With all of the funds raised, the Street Connect bus will be on the streets for another year, helping young people around Perth who have are doing it tough.

Mia Rogerson (Year 12 – Service Prefect)

Year 10 Emerging Writers Excursion

This week, our Year 10 Emerging Writers visited the Fremantle Literature Centre for their third Young Writers Workshop.

Students spent an engaging session with South Australian First Nation's author, Jared Thomas. Our Emerging Writers heard about Jared's life and travels as an author, including his work with NBL legend Patty Mills, and participated in his writing activities.

Kate Campbell

English Teacher

Year 10 Psychology excursion to Murdoch University

On Wednesday, the Year 10 Psychology class embarked on an excursion to Murdoch University to learn about opportunities for study and ongoing research projects within the field of psychology. Upon arrival, we were warmly welcomed by the STEM Outreach Officer and three student volunteers. They each shared stories of their diverse journeys to Tertiary study at Murdoch, including ATAR, TAFE and Defence pathways.

The students were divided into two groups, and moved to Boola Katitjin, a great wooden structure housing classrooms and study spaces, filled with students, all immersed in their studies. It was impressive. Each group was taught about the topic of emotions. The student volunteers explained the intricacies of non-verbal communication and micro-expressions. In an activity called ‘flashing faces’, we were challenged to quickly identify emotions based solely on facial expressions in a matter of seconds. Many of us found this surprisingly difficult, as we discovered that gestures also play a crucial role in conveying emotions.

Next, we participated in an engaging workshop on sensation and perception. We observed a picture of a rock in water projected onto a large screen, designed to make the rock appear as if it were floating. This demonstration helped us to understand that there are individual differences in perception, showing how our minds sometimes interpret visual information in a unique way.

Our discussion continued with a lesson on how external factors influence our perceptions and connections. We learned about 'priming,' the tactic where exposure to certain stimuli can alter our responses to various concepts. In the ‘which colour’ activity, we examined our reactions to different colours and their associations. Did you know that the colour red has been found to stimulate our appetite?

Finally, both groups joined together again to hold a grand psychology quiz, testing our content knowledge and the new information we learned during our visit. The entire room was abuzz, with cheers of excitement when questions were answered correctly and groans of annoyance when we were wrong. It was intense down to the very last question.

As the day wrapped up, we boarded the bus back to school, laughing and discussing our experiences. This excursion left us with a better understanding of what it’s like to study psychology at university. We’ve also gained an appreciation for real-world applications of academic research. It was a memorable day that has left us more curious and enthusiastic about the study of psychology than ever before.

Written by Year 10 Psychology student, edited by Michael Leaning