Magis Report 

Tournament of Minds State Final

Congratulations to our STEM Team who competed in the State Finals of Tournament of Minds (TOMs) at Edith Cowan University last Saturday. TOMs is a program for primary and secondary students providing the opportunity to solve authentic, open-ended challenges that foster creative, divergent thinking whilst developing collaborative enterprise, excellence, and teamwork. On the day of the competition, our students received a challenge namely, to build a rover which could travel over Mars’ rocky terrain, which they completed in a three-hour closed session and presented their solution to judges and an audience in the afternoon. During the morning preparation time, they also participated in a spontaneous challenge.  We would like to recognise the extraordinary achievement of our STEM Team:

• William Clarke
• Henry McGlue
• Tommy Nguyen
• Luke Nicol
• Charles O’Toole 
• James Sommerfield 
• Christopher Tan

Academic Challenge

We commend all students who took part in our College Creative Writing Competition. A selection of staff read through the numerous entries to determine a Junior (Years 7-8), Intermediate (Years 9-10) and Senior School (Years 11-12) winner. The judges were most impressed by the creativity and the exceptionally high standard of entries. Congratulations to: 

• My Path to Acceptance by Jenna Romano (Year 8 Ward) – Junior prize winner 
• To be loved is to be held by Phoebe Walsh (Year 10 St Louis) – Intermediate prize winner 
• Manresa by Megan Cleary (Year 12 Koolyangarra) – Senior prize winner 

Last week our Years 9 to 12 students took part in the Music Challenge, this week it was the Years 7 and 8s turn. The Music Challenge was our seventh academic challenge for the year, and student representatives were tested on their knowledge of music theory, classical music, musicals, retro music and current hits. We congratulate the following Year group winners:

• Year 7: Tilly Finucane (Loreto) and Niamh Jennings (Loyola)
• Year 8: Rafael Braga (Loreto)
• Year 9: Jonah Liew (Loyola)
• Year 10: Grace Nicol (Campion)
• Year 11: Poppy Hartfield (Loreto)
• Year 12: Hannah Dale (St Louis) and Sophie Dartnell (Ward)

Congratulations to St Louis House who were the overall winners of the Music Challenge and the College Creative Writing Competition. We look forward to announcing which House has won the 2024 Magis Academic Cup at our Awards Breakfast next term.

What’s happening next term?

The term break is a wonderful time for us to rest and recharge (energy and mindfulness), but it also affords us a terrific opportunity to get ahead and prepare. Term 4 will be a busy term for all, with competitions and events taking place, as well as exams. All Magis classes and competitions have a Teams file with useful preparation materials. Our Semester Two Magis Elective students are reminded that their Personal Projects will be displayed in an exhibition in the Thomas More Exhibition Centre on Wednesday 20 November (Week 17). This will mark the culmination of many months of hard work and planning, and we very much look forward to sharing with students, staff, and parents in the celebration of our talented students. Ideally, students want to have completed 60% of their project by the start of Term 4, to keep on schedule.

Our College will host the State Semi-Finals of the British Parliamentary Debating Competition on Monday 14 October (Week 12).

Our annual Shakespeare Incursion is scheduled for Monday 21 October (Week 13). A key aspect of our GATE program is providing opportunities for our students to learn 'more'. It is important for our students to be exposed to a wide range of genres, styles, and topics. Learning about Shakespeare gives students a glimpse at another world, and it helps improve their logical thinking processes, emotional intelligence, and cultural awareness. All Years 7 and 8 Magis students will be in attendance, as well as selective students across other year groups. The incursion will held during period 5 and 6 in the Gonzaga Barry Lecture Theatre.

Our annual Magis Awards Breakfast will be held on Thursday 24 October (Week 13) at 7:30am in the Thomas More Exhibition Centre. This provides us with a wonderful opportunity to recognise our Magis graduating Class of 2024, announce the winners of the 2024 Magis Academic Cup, as well as celebrate the success of our students across the Magis Elective Course and within Magis Co-Curricular.

We have teams registered for the International Debating Championships, with Round 1 commencing on Friday 25 October (Week 13). Our Junior Ethics Teams will compete in the Australasian division of Ethics Olympiad on Friday 15 November (Week 16). We also have our Theology Challenge in Week 14, which will be our first challenge which goes towards awarding the 2025 Magis Academic Cup. There are also more events scheduled including UN Youth and TEDx. Here’s to striving for the ‘more’ in Term 4! 

MAGIS: OPPORTUNITIES TO DO MORE!

Magis Camp

A highlight of the Magis calendar is our annual camp to Point Walter for Years 7 to 10 Magis students, which will be held on Friday 25 October to Saturday 26 October (Term 4, Week 13). We have some terrific activities planned which will prove an enriching experience for students. There will be a number of opportunities for our younger year students to work alongside and learn from our senior school students. Those interested need to complete the Magis Camp Expression of Interest Form and submit it to either Student Administration or the Magis Office by Friday 11 October (Week 11). An electronic version of the form is also available of Magis Teams.  

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