Secondary

Interim reports and Parent-Student-Teacher interviews

Years 7-12 Interim Reports are now available for parents to view in SEQTA. Interim Reports provide parents and students with feedback regarding academic progress and indicators of attitude and application both in and outside of the classroom. Please note Interim Reports may be completed prior to any formal assessment results are available and as such are based on the teacher’s professional judgement of student engagement and understanding.

The Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews will be held in the St Louis Sports Centre on Thursday 25 March from 3:30-7:00pm and Friday 26 March from 8:30-4:00pm. Please note whilst teachers have requested interviews via the Interim Report parents are able to book interviews with any of their child’s teachers. Parents have received access to PTO to make bookings. For any queries concerning access to PTO please contact ithelpdesk@johnxxiii.edu.au.

Jessica Bouwman

Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning

Mary Ward Connect

On Friday, 12 March a group of Year 10 students in Loreto and Ward House participated in an online Mary Ward Connect forum.

The purpose of the event was to help Loreto schools engage with the bigger picture through the lens of girl's education and consider how we can 'Be More' as individuals and in our relationships with each other locally and globally.

Sr Orla taught us about the harsh reality of girls living in South Sudan. We were taught about how they fight for their education to avoid arranged marriage and to help support their families. I was very surprised to learn that the girls school uniform is a prized possession. It is a symbol of an education and it is often handed down to family members until it can no longer be worn. It made me think how we can take our education for granted in Australia. 

Sr Orla explained that Loreto schools in South Sudan aim to educate girls and help them get an opportunity for further education as well. It was great to hear that in one of the schools 24 girls recently graduated and are hoping to get to university. Some of them have a desire to come back to their communities to help to educate others. This experience was an eye opener and we all learnt about the important role that education plays in helping girls escape poverty. I am proud to belong to a network that values the education of girls around the world.

Nathan Gunasekera 

Year 10 Loreto

Project Compassion 2021 inspires us to 'Be More' 

On Friday 12 March, secondary students came together in a wonderful display of prayer, almsgiving and fasting during this Lenten period. Over 460 students participated in Live Simply Day. They raised money by being sponsored to live simply by eating plain bread for lunch, walking to school, taking shorter showers, or giving up social media for the day. Close to $6000 was raised for Project Compassion in order to help support Caritas Australia end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.  

Janeen Murphy

Director of Faith and Mission

Mock Trials

Round 1 of the 2021 Law Society of Western Australia Mock Trial Competition commenced last night at the Supreme Court. Our team went up against Mandurah Catholic College - appearing for the Defence in a criminal matter involving the unlawful damage of an inflatable penguin. The team persuasively argued that the accused had not intended criminal damage, and thus the prosecution was unable to discharge its burden of proof.

We have a largely new team this year, however due to limits being placed on the number of spectators allowed in court, only a select few students were fortunate enough to watch our seasoned Year 12s in action. Though Mock Trials is certainly a team effort, a special mention has to be made to James Green - a Year 11 student - who, unfamiliar with court proceedings, took on the role of Witness. James remained cool, calm and collected under cross-examination – an exemplary witness for the defence.

There is a lot of preparation involved in the lead up to the trial, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students who, despite their busy schedules, enthusiastically attended lunchtime meetings. 

Our successful Round 1 Team included: 

• Barrister 1: Rebecca Harsanyi
• Barrister 2: Benjamin Negus
• Solicitor: Skye MacMillan
• Witness 1: James Green
• Witness 2:  Oscar Hegge
• Judges Associate:  Lydia Davila

Congratulations to our 2021 Mock Trial team on their win. 

Daisy Farley

Politics & Law

Year 7 Student Leaders Announced

Congratulations to the newly elected Year 7 Student Leaders who were recognised on Wednesday in a Year Homeroom Assembly. (Back L-R: Charlie Pronk, Hazel Delany, Michaela Gerhold, Neve Thompson, Luca Lee Luen Len, Ollie Syminton, Mr Cameron Haines 7 ADP, Front L-R: William Cairns, Joy Cho, Sasha Pallis, Addie Papantoniou, Seb Rawson, Matt Mignacca).

Student Leaders received badges from their Homeroom Teachers and House Coordinators which is symbolic of what it means to be a leader at John XXIII College. Following the Ignatian tradition of 'being a person for others', students are encouraged to follow the model demonstrated by Jesus in being servant leaders. The Year 7 leaders will join the Year 8 and 9 leaders next Wednesday for their first experience of Leadership Training and attend the GRIP Leadership Conference in Term Two.

We wish the newly commissioned Year 7 Leaders all the very best in serving the College community and encourage all students to embrace the notion of positively leading through serving others.

Cameron Haines

Assistant Deputy Principal - Year 7

MATH WEEK

Have Sum Fun Competition

On Friday 12 March, our Year 11 and 12s took part in the Have Sum Fun Competition at Hale College. The Have Sum Fun Competition is an exciting mathematics initiative that uses a quiz-night format. Teams of six students race against the clock to solve four intense rounds of eight challenging problems. Our students performed extremely well on the night, obtaining full marks in two of the rounds. Well done to Akash Parekh, Joe Pow, Cohen Rafiq, Kady Wall, Natalie Ong and Lucinda Tassone for your outstanding efforts.

The Years 7-8 and the Years 9-10 teams will be taking part in the Have Sum Fun Competition this Friday evening, 19 March at Duncraig Senior Highschool and Churchlands Senior Highschool. Good luck to all students taking part.

Activities throughout the week

Monday

Students took part in Towers of Hanoi Maths Competition with Mr Peter Mazur. 

Tuesday

The morning started with the weekly Year 7 and 11 Math Buddy Club in the library. This is a great opportunity for Year 7 students to get help and support in Mathematics from competent Year 11 students. Thanks to Natalie Ong, Campbell Strachan, Jenna Martin, Noemi Pinheiro Boehl and Genevieve Ferguson Allen for taking part in this great initiative for the Year 7 students. 

Students also took part in a Homeroom Math Challenge.  Well done to Loreto 7 and Campion 12 for winning this challenge. 

At lunchtime, the Math Extension Club met where students took part in a range of challenging Math problems. 

Wednesday

Students took part in several activities including Minty Wrapper Challenge. Well done to Ella Nasmith (Year 12) and Maddie Matthews (Year 10) for winning the upper school section and Luisa Parish and Finn O’Donnell (Year 8) for winning the lower school section.

Thursday

Students took part in the Pi Math Challenge. Well done to Sasha Pallis, Nicholas Hie and Jovi Gibson (Year 7) for winning the lower school competition and Genevieve Ferguson Allen and Gabby Lloyd for winning the upper school section. A special mention to Sasha Pallis (Year 7), who managed to recite 161 digit of Pi, the overall winner from Years 7-12. 

All week the students also took part in the Mental Math Challenge during Homeroom. It was great to see so many students enthusiastically taking part. 

Next week, on Tuesday 23 March, our students in Years 7-12 will take part in the Computer Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) Competition . This is a one-hour problem solving competition designed to encourage student curiosity and promote multiple modes of thinking. 

I would like to give a special thank you to all the Mathematic Department staff for all their work. 

Joanne Friel

Head of Learning Area - Mathematics

Year 10 Physical Education

Year 10 students have been enjoying their first term of Physical Education studying Water Polo. Essentially, Year 10 Physical Education is a culmination year where students have the opportunity to put into practice, skills and strategies that have been developed over their secondary years of Physical Education at John XXIII College. Transferring skills across a range of sports allow students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of sport and skills in different contexts.

Year 10 students will look forward to their ‘Boxing for Fitness’ and ‘Dance’ units coming up in Term 2.

Lorrelle Fortune

Head of Learning Area -  Health & Physical Education

Slavery Free Chocolate

Leading up to Easter our community is reminded to use our buying power to purchase only slavery-free chocolate that features one of the following logos. 

Janeen Murphy

Director of Faith and Mission

SPORT

Year 7-10 NAS

This week we completed our final round of NAS against Chisholm College. All John XXIII College students have a bye from competition next week which means all teams will have a compulsory training session at John XXIII College with their coaches on their normal NAS day. Teams will be informed at this training session where they will be playing finals in week 9.

• Year 7/8 teams                             Tuesday 23 March
• Year 9/10 and Senior Teams   Wednesday 24 March
• Training                                           3:30pm-4:15pm
• BBQ                                                  4:15pm-4:45pm

If you cannot attend the training session you MUST let your coach know!

Interhouse Swimming Carnival Awards

At this week’s assembly our Champion and Runner Up Champions from the Interhouse Swimming carnival were awarded their medals.

ACC A Division Swimming Team

Congratulations to the students below for their selection in the ACC A Division Swimming team. These students will travel to HBF Stadium on Wednesday 24 March. There is only one more training session left on Monday 22 March from 7:00-8:00am. It would be fantastic to see all of the team at this final training session.

All members of the ACC Swim Team are expected to meet in the gym at 7:45am sharp on Wednesday 24 March. Attendance, team numbers and final instructions for the day will be issued. Students are required to bring the following on the carnival day: 

• Lunch and adequate fluids.
• College bathers, can be purchased from the uniform shop.
• Swimming cap. Can be purchased from the uniform shop. We have a limited loan supply.
• College Sport uniform.
• A parental letter is required if you wish to leave directly from HBF Stadium, otherwise students will be transported back to the College.

A limited supply of programs will be available on the day of the ACC carnival for parents attending. A link to the program can be downloaded from the ACC website at: aswimbook.pdf (accsport.asn.au)

A copy of the team, program and information letter will be on display in the sports noticeboard, in the notices and on the College website. A reminder that if you cannot attend, or have a query about the team, you need to see Miss Kononen immediately. 

The ACC is streaming the A division swimming carnival live. The Live YouTube stream private link can be access here: https://bit.ly/3kTkppx

Cross-Country Training

Cross-Country training runs from 7:00am-8:00am every Tuesday and Thursday in the lead up to the ACC Cross Country Carnival on Thursday 27 May.  All students are welcome to participate in our morning training sessions.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Baxter Robertson, Year 8, who will be competing in the State Surf Lifesaving Titles this weekend.

Also, congratulations to Year 12 student, Michael Reynolds has been selected for the ACC representative cricket team.

Sara Kononen

Head of Sport