Magis

Magis Academic Seminar Breakfast

The first Magis Academic Seminar Breakfast took place at the Circle of Friends Café on Wednesday morning. The keynote speaker was Ms Kathy Boyatzis, the WA Director of Creative Edge Thinking and Opti-MINDS, and the former Director of Tournament of Minds. The topic was ‘Creative Thinking and Problem Solving’, and the focus was assisting  the students interested in the Creative Thinking Challenge at Curtin University on Saturday 25 March, an exciting invitation only event. Warmest thanks to Ms Boyatzis, the students who attended, and the staff and students who assisted with the breakfast, and to Ms Negus and Ms Bouwman for their support at the event.

The Academic Spelling Challenge has seen about 70 students participate so far, and others will have the opportunity to do so at make-up rounds in the next few days. Results will be announced at the end of Week 6. Entries for the Goal-setting and Strategic Plan for Academic Success challenge are now due.

The response for the da Vinci Decathlon has been excellent, and the Year 7, 8 and 9 teams all look strong and are preparing well. Throughout the School the there are many exciting gifted student competitions with teams now being finalised. These include Catholic Schools Mooting, the WA Debating League Schools competition, and Law Mock Trials, all of which qualify for points for the competitive side of the new Magis/Altiora Program. Another major opportunity students may wish to consider is the 2018 Royal Commonwealth Society Speech and Leadership contest. There are two sections – Year 9 and 10 students competing in the Junior section and Years 11 and 12 in the Senior. Forms and information are available from the Magis office.

Next week all secondary students will receive information about the new Magis competitions open to all secondary students – the John XXXIII College Public Speaking and Short Story Writing competitions. Warmest thanks to Year 12 Magis committee member Amelia MacMillan who has designed posters for these events, and to Bella Spiro-Harrison for her splendid leadership so far as Magis Scholar. I would also like to warmly thank the parent committee for the opportunity to speak at their first meeting on Monday.

Jim Miller

Gifted and Talented Director