Magis report
Congratulations to our outstanding Year 7 debating team which was unlucky to lose the WA semi-final on Tuesday on a split decision. The team debated superbly, and finished equal third in the state against hundreds of Years 7 and 8 teams from top schools and colleges. The team consisting of Charlie Pronk, Tom Beach, Noa Mintz, Sasha Pallis and Catherine Gazia, and coached by Ms Dawson, produced the best performance by any John XXIII Debating team over the past five years – we have had several Christchurch zone champions, but this is the only team to make the WA semi-finals which meant winning three heats of the finals. Warmest thanks to the wonderful band of parents who supported the team.
Last weekend our three Creative Edge teams competed at Curtin University and our one Tournament of Minds team competed at ECU. The Tournament of Minds team facilitated by Mr Massey trained hard and performed well, but did not quite reach the finals. At least two of the Creative Edge teams have a chance of making the WA finals. This will be announced next week after regional finals in other areas of the state are completed. Again, parental support was excellent and meant a great deal to all teams. A pictorial highlights PDF of the Creative Edge teams is attached with this newsletter.
Results of the John XXIII Creative Writing Competition (short stories) have now been finalised. The winner at each year group will be presented with their certificates at the RUOK Assembly on Thursday, and all prizes and other awards will be presented at the Magis Awards Breakfast on 23 September. Warmest thanks to the judges – Ms Allen, Sr Tess, Ms Galati, Mr Wynn, Ms Dawson and Mrs Holmes, and senior students Grace Barbour, Bella Pether and Caitlin Green who assisted with the Years 7/8 sections.
The winners were:
- Year 7: Noa Mintz
- Year 8: Thalia Kurniawan
- Year 9: Asha Paton
- Year 11: Sam Eastman
- Year 12: Caitlin Green
Grand finals of the John XXIII Chess Championship will be played next week, and there have been some great matches so far. Full results should be in next week’s newsletter.
Finally, we have three teams competing in the 2021 British Parliamentary Debating this year:
- Year 9: Team 1 (Meg Derbyshire and Asha Paton) at Shenton College on Saturday 11 September
- Year 9: Team 2 (Tom Syminton and Jacob Davila) at Perth Modern School on Sunday 18 September
- Year 7: Team 1 (Jo Choy and Imogen Thompson) at Perth Modern School on Sunday 18 September
The Magis Awards Breakfast for 2021 will be held on Thursday 23 September and those receiving awards will be notified in Week 9. About 70 students will be receiving awards either for interschool gifted and talented competitions, John XXIII competitions such as Public Speaking, Creative Writing and Chess, for success in the House Academic Championship series or for the Magis Champion Scholars for 2021.
Calendar of Events
Jim Miller
Magis Gifted and Talented Program Coordinator
