Magis Report
Creative Edge - Regionals
Congratulations to our Creative Edge Team who competed in the Regional Finals at Curtin University last Saturday. The Creative Edge Competition provides students with the opportunity to develop both critical and creative thinking skills and encourage them to experiment with original ways to communicate their challenge solution to an audience. In addition, teams are given an 'Impromptu Creativity Challenge' on the day of their Regional Final. The judges were wowed by the imaginative way they had interpreted the Humanities challenge ‘Inspiring Inventions’ – by examining the history behind the invention of the clock. Our team was highly commended for their outstanding props and costumes, made out of recycled items. There is a lot of preparation involved in the lead-up to the competition, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students who, despite their busy schedules, enthusiastically attended meetings and rehearsals. A flawless performance – congratulations to our amazing Creative Edge Team!
WADL Debating League
The State semi-finals of the WA Debating League (WADL) Schools Debating Competition (SDC) took place on Tuesday evening at Mount Lawley Senior High School. Many thanks to the family and friends who came in support. The debate topic was: This House believes that creative subjects at school should never be graded, with our students arguing in the negative. We are very excited to announce that our team won their debate against Methodist Ladies College, which means that they are through to the state grand final! After almost three terms of debating rounds, which saw over 200 teams get knocked out, it has come down to the final two schools. This will be a rematch of the 2023 debating grand final: John XXIII College versus Perth Modern School.
Our debating grand finalists are:
- JTC 4
- Luke Nicol
- Henry McGlue
- Zachary Sartorello
- Christopher Tan
The grand final will be held this Monday 2 September, at the Perth Town Hall. A map of the venue can be found below. We would like to extend an invitation to our John XXIII College community. Doors will open to the public at 5pm, with our students debate commencing at 5:30pm. For further details, please contact the Head of Magis. We wish our debating grand finalists every success – we are very proud!
Tournament of Minds
Our Tournament of Minds STEM Team has been very busy rehearsing and putting the final touches to their props and costumes this week. I commend the team members on their dedication and hard work throughout the Term and we wish them the best of luck as they compete in the regional finals of the Tournament of Minds this Saturday at Edith Cowan University, Joondalup. Special thanks to Mr Stuart Massey, Head of Learning Enrichment, who will be supervising the team at the competition.
British Parliamentary Debating
We also wish one of our British Parliamentary (BP) Debating Teams the best of luck as they compete in the British Parliamentary Debating Competition at MLC on Sunday. We have another team who will compete next Saturday at St Stephen's, with a further three teams competing at Hale School next Sunday. Unlike the School’s Debating Competition, the BP Tournament requires that teams participate in three debates over the course of one day in a distinct style of parliamentary-based debating. Best of luck to all of our teams.
Snapshot: Year 7 Magis Elective Course
Our Year 7 Magis elective students have been introduced to the wonderful world of philosophy. They have been examining the life and works of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and next week will be learning how to construct deductive, inductive, and abductive (Sherlock Holmes style) reasoning. It has been pleasing to hear the rich and meaningful conversations that students have been holding both in and outside of the classroom. Philosophy helps our students learn how to reason and think well, how to hold respectful and rational conversations with their peers, as well as how to delve deeper in to the theory of knowledge (epistemology). Our Year 7 students have their first assessment task, a Philosophy test, scheduled for Week 10, and we wish them all the best.
What’s happening next week?
Debating, debating, and more debating! A big week of debates with the WA Debating League Schools Debating Competition Grand Final and the start of the 2024 British Parliamentary Debating Tournament.
MAGIS: OPPORTUNITIES TO DO MORE!
TEDxYouth
Win your own TEDx talk! If you’re a West Australian aged 14 to 21 with an idea for change, TEDx Kings Park, in partnership with Curtin University, can help. Your idea could be small and handy, or big and world-changing, for people, for the environment, maybe for the world. If you’re one of the five selected finalists, you’ll share your idea on the main stage of the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia at the TEDx Kings Park Youth Event. The winning idea will also be turned into a six-minute TEDx talk, and be published on the official TEDx YouTube Channel!
Entry is easy: Simply upload a 30 second video of yourself, explain your idea, by 1 September 2024.
For more information, visit 30-Second Ideas - TEDxKings Park) or speak with the Head of Magis. We will be taking a group of students to the TEDx Kings Park Youth Event to watch the finalists – with further details, including how to reserve your seat in the audience, to be released closer to the date.
Chevron Nature in Focus Photography Competition
Entries are now open for the 2024 Chevron Nature in Focus Photography Competition – so grab a camera, get outdoors, and start photographing Australia’s natural wonders and unique biodiversity. It could be as simple as some spring wildflowers or capturing a native lizard having a crawl. Include a short caption with your photo and submit it online – under one of the following categories: Oceans, Wetlands and Rivers; Sustainability; or Species and Habitats. For further details please visit Chevron Nature in Focus Photography Competition! - Conservation Volunteers Australia.
Photographs must be submitted in digital format and should not be digitally altered beyond standard optimisation (e.g., colour correction, cropping). The competition closes at midnight on 1 November 2024, AEST. There’s over $10,000 worth of prizes up for grabs across five age categories – head to the website for details of prizes on offer for students and their schools.
Ethics Olympiad Case Writing Competition
Ethics Olympiad are holding a case writing competition with prize money to be won. Submissions should follow the general format for Ethics Olympiad cases: a scenario, between 400 and 800 words long, which highlights a clear moral issue and is appropriate for middle or high-school students and is written in a way that encourages civil discourse. The scenario should be framed so the central issue is clearly moral and not simply or primarily legal or professional. Knowledge of the structure of the Ethics Olympiad competition is important, and it is for that reason that we would recommend the case writing competition to students who have previously participated in an Ethics Olympiad. For more information, please click on the link here or view the flyer below.
Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson Global Essay Competition provides a platform for young, ambitious high school students to exercise their writing skills and compete with students from all over the world. This competition encourages students to challenge themselves and explore different writing styles to ultimately strengthen their writing skills. The competition features two key rounds, the regional qualifiers held throughout five regions, followed by the global finals. To compete in the global round, participants must go head-to-head with local participants and place in the top 15 of the regional qualifiers. The top 12 submissions of the final 75, will be recognised in the global final and will win awesome prizes. As Harvard registration opens 1 October 2024 and closes 31 January 2025, we asked that students (aged 13-18) submit their expression of interest to the Head of Magis by Monday, 9 September 2024. This will be followed by a series of meetings and training seminars in preparation for the competition. Regional qualifiers will be held in February 2025, with Globals held in March 2025. For more information, please click the link below or speak with the Head of Magis.
Daisy Farley
Head of Learning Areas – HASS & Magis