Magis report 

The John XXIII Public Speaking competition held on Tuesday saw 18 excellent speakers compete in a wonderful grand final, the culmination of two weeks of heats that featured strong participation, especially in the younger age groups. Congratulations to all grand finalists and others who competed in the heats, earning points for their Houses. Special thanks to Mr Henderson and Mrs Negus who presented the awards on the evening, Magis captain Skye MacMillan who did a very professional job as compere, the parents and others who supported the contestants, and Ms Dawson, Ms Farley and Mrs Holmes, along with Magis leaders Skye MacMillan, Eve Cullity, Grace Barbour, McKenzie Richardson, Bella Pether and Joe Pow, who ran the heats prior to the Grand Final. Special thanks also to  Alumni Rory Hewson, Alex Panther, Charlie Richards and Ben Linsten, all former outstanding College speakers and debaters, who were our judging panel on the night.  Congratulations to Campion House on its one point win over St Louis. There were excellent performances from all Houses.  Attached via the link below are the full results plus a collage of action photos  of each speaker.  Please note that students were permitted to remove masks  whilst speaking and for a few seconds for the full group photo.)

The finale of  Griffiths University’s Intergenerational Research program, the second morning tea at Mercy Village in Wembley will be held on Monday during periods 3 and 4. This has been an exciting experience and the culmination will include presentation of the glossy hard cover biographies to the residents by the students who wrote them. Congratulations to all 7.1 and 7.2 Magis students for your excellent work – I’m sure the residents will be delighted with the biographies.

The third event in the House Academic Challenge series, Arts & Humanities, will be held this coming week and we look forward to another great response from all homerooms.  St Louis is currently a narrow overall leader from Loreto and Koolyangarra.

The postponed round 2 of Interschool Debating will be held at Christchurch this Tuesday. Year 12s have a bye but all other John XXIII Teams are in action. Good luck to all nine teams and warmest thanks to the coaches, managers and parents who support them.

Finally, nominations will be taken this week for students interested in competing in the Ethics Olympiad and Creative Edge (Opti-MINDS) Challenges which take place in second semester. These are outstanding interschool teams events  and we need to organise and nominate teams now to ensure participation. We expect to field teams in Years 7,8,9 and possibly Year 10. Information sessions will explain what is involved, and seminars and training sessions will be organised.

Jim Miller

Magis Gifted and Talented Program Coordinator