Secondary

The Departure Ceremony – Year 9 Rite Journey

At John XXIII College, the Year 9 cohort participate in the Rite Journey Program, which focuses on the rite of passage between adolescence and young adulthood.

The Program provides unique educational opportunities to support the development of self-aware, responsible, respectful and resilient adults. It embraces the Christian and Ignatian ethos of the College in a year-long program using a Rite of Passage framework, including a series of rituals, to deepen the students’ experience of this important life transition.

The first ritual is the Departure Ceremony, which involves parents and guardians letting go of their son or daughter and sending them on their journey or rite of passage. This is a journey where we challenge students to start the process of saying goodbye to childhood, moving positively towards young adulthood.

James McLaughlin

Assistant Deputy Principal - Year 9

English News

In the English Learning Area, 2020 has commenced with great enthusiasm and a thirst for learning. Welcoming Year 7 English into the Secondary School English Department has enabled the exciting opportunity for a true 7-12 focus in English, and it is great to have the Year 7 teachers on board.

As a part of their English studies this term, students are exploring a wide range of texts, concepts and ideas.

In Year 7, classes have been considering the “Fun-tastic World of English” and engaging with life writing through the study of Autobiography
Year 8’s have thrown themselves into the mythological realm, examining how myths and legends underpin many of the beliefs still pertinent in our society today
Our Year 9 English students were forced to question how we judge a text’s authenticity of purpose, audience and context in their reading of the “novel” The Education of Little Tree. They have learned that we cannot always take a text on face value
Year 10 English students have immersed themselves into Sylvia Plath’s poetry, considering how we might view her work from a contextual and feminist perspective. Students have had to consider the ways in which our values and attitudes toward gender have changed since the 1960s
Year 11 Literature, students have pictured themselves dancing the foxtrot in flapper dresses and dapper suits as they explored the dangers of obsession and excess in The Great Gatsby
In Year 11 ATAR English, students have been engaging with the concept of Australian Cultural Identity through examining a range of short texts and asking “What does it really mean to be Australian?”
Our General English students in Year 11 have also considered representations of Australian identity, through the study of the text The Island
In Year 11 Foundation English, we have been looking at life writing and how we learn about ourselves by learning about or history. Students have considered examples from “Who Do You Think You Are?” and “Australian Story”
Year 12 Literature students donned their flares and platform shoes to transport themselves back to the 1970s in the study of Tim Winton’s short story anthology The Turning. We have examined how attitudes to gender, race and class have changed in Australia to represent our shifting cultural identity
Year 12 ATAR English students have been dabbling in the murky depths of dystopian fiction, embarking on a study of the gothic novel Frankenstein
In Year 12 General English the focus has been on visual texts and how they represent “world voices” and varied experiences of culture

In addition to our teaching and learning program, the English Learning Area have also despatched our first groups of students to participate in the Young Writer’s and Youth Literature workshop days at The Literature Centre. Our most talented young writers have the opportunity to work with published authors, getting helpful hints on how to improve their own creative writing.

It has certainly been a busy, but rewarding, start to the year in English.

Shannon Allen

Head of Learning Area - English

Year 10 Retreat

On Monday 9 March the Year 10 cohort had their Retreat Day. The Retreat Day was run by the Catholic Youth Mission Team and the focus of the day was leadership. The day started with a mass, followed by a range of dynamic and interactive activities that highlighted the importance of the integrity of each person and how each one of us is called to serve. Time was spent examining different styles of leadership and exploring the leadership qualities and values of Jesus. Students were encouraged to embrace their own individuality and to stay true to themselves. Time was given for students to reflect in small groups and recognise their own leadership potential and use it for the good of serving others as Jesus did.

Some student reflections:

‘It inspired me to be a better person and recognise God’s presence in my life’.
‘It taught me that I must put effort into my relationship with God if I want anything out of it and to be kind to everyone’.
‘The retreat we did today inspired me in a way that made me feel more open/confident and taught me to be more open and trusting to others, to myself and to God’.
‘I was inspired to not be afraid of who I am and accept others for who they are’.
‘I was inspired by the personal stories to be more accepting of others and to develop my relationship with Jesus further’.

Joanne McLoughlin

Assistant Deputy Principal - Year 10

Languages

“One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.” (Frank Smith)

Our Language classrooms have been fun filled, colourful and engaging spaces since we started the year in 2020.

On day one, we welcomed our new Year 7 students to their language classroom and new teachers for 2020. Each student in Year 7 will continue with French, Italian or Japanese through to Year 8, after which they will be given the opportunity to choose a language in later years.

In week two, we welcomed our French Exchange teachers and students from our sister-school, Notre Dame de Sion in Marseilles. The group had a wonderful experience visiting our city and surrounds with some wonderful opportunities to mix with our students in Year 10 French on an excursion to Fremantle. Many thanks to Mme Leckey for her support and, especially thanks to Mme Lucas for co-ordinating the exchange and ensuring that our visitors were given an array of Aussie adventures.

Heartfelt appreciation to our wonderful host families for so generously taking care of our international students. Our international exchanges rely on the hospitality of our whole community and host families, so thank you for caring and sharing so much.

Last weekend we celebrated Open Day and the Language Area displayed a wide range of quality posters, albums, masks, essays, brochures and advertisements in each of our Languages across all year levels. The room was abuzz with activities such as a photo booth in front of the Eiffel Tower, designing a mask for Carnivale, writing one’s name written in Japanese, not to mention the chopstick skills test! A big thanks to our language students for being great role models and actively promoting language learning at the College.

We are still planning for Study Tours to Italy and Japan in December 2020, and in the light of the spread of Covid19 and we are monitoring the situation closely.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all our friends, host families, staff and students of our sister-schools, especially in Italy, France and Japan as we hear of the escalation in the spread of Covid19 (coronavirus) across the globe.

Stay safe and well, ki o tuskete (Japanese) prenez bien soin de vous (French).

Shane Glass

Head of Learning Area - Languages

Koolyangarra Day

On Thursday we celebrated the Koolyangarra House day. Koolyangarra House was named in honour of the Old Loreto Claremont primary campus. The Loreto sisters adopted the word from local aboriginal culture. This lovely phrase carries the meaning 'meeting place of happy children' which was well and truly lived out as students enjoyed a shared lunch as celebration for the recent College Spelling Bee and Spirit Award victories. Students also fundraised on the day to support the Project Compassion Lenten appeal. Many students then finished the day assisting with The Shopfront community cooking. One hundred meals were prepared to be given out to those in need through The Shopfront, a community organisation operating from Maylands that provides practical assistance, fellowship and hospitality to anyone in need.

Mr Simon Carrello

Koolyangarra House Coordinator