Magis

Arrangements have now been finalised for the Magis Year 7 Camp which will be held at Point Walter Camp next Friday (from the end of school) and Saturday.  WA Directors of Alpha Motivation and Creative Edge Thinking will be the keynote presenters in an exciting program, and the preliminary Handbook has been sent home to students. A reminder to all students that the pink camp permission forms must be returned by Tuesday.

Our Mock Trials team suffered a narrow loss to Aquinas in the WA semi-finals of this prestigious competition on Wednesday night at the Supreme Court in Perth.  Ms Farley, Ms Ball and the Year 12 team can be deeply proud of their outstanding performances over the past two years. Rory Hewson and Charlie Richards who led this team will also be competing in the Catholic Education Speech Competition on Saturday, and we wish them luck. Both are exceptional public speakers.

Another coming Magis highlight will be the Year 7 Debating team who were undefeated champions in their Christchurch Division competing against Hale School in the WADL Octofinals at Perth College on Tuesday evening.  Best wishes to the team of Hannah Johnson, Meg Derbyshire, Maya Mintz and Wesley Soares and team manager Ms Lumley.

English Week at the College has seen a range of exciting events including a debate on Wednesday which features a Years 7/9/11 team against a Years 8/10/12 side.  All six debaters are Magis students, and the debate was chaired by Ms Kirralee Dawson. Special thanks to Ms Shannon Allen and the English staff for an excellent English week.

Next week sees the first of the Magis Challenges for the term – Creative Thinking which will be held on Wednesday for all year groups. This is timed to fit in with the WA seasons of Tournament of Minds and Optiminds, two outstanding competitions both of which have regional finals on 31 August.  We are also just two weeks away from the World Scholar’s Cup Global Round in Sydney, where three strong teams will be representing the College.

On Thursday morning the High Achievers’ Breakfast was held, with guest speaker Steph Smalberger (Class 2015) giving some wonderful advice including loyalty to the school community, overcoming adversity, taking up challenges, and the importance of gratitude. Congratulations to all first semester students who were invited to the Breakfast which about 80 attended. It was pleasing to see so many Magis and Altiora students present including the top performing student in five of the six year groups.

Jim Miller

Gifted and  Talented Program coordinator