秀秀直播

Advent Season

鈥淐hristmas is about the mystery of the divine found within the human ~ GOD entering our everyday life! Because Jesus Christ was born into our world in a normal human way, all our ordinary human activities are made holy.鈥漑1] Our 2019 Marist theme of Holy Today! has been an invitation to tune-in more to the presence of God in everyday life. That is, to recognise the 鈥榮acred鈥� or presence of God in the beautiful ordinariness of life.[2]. During Advent and Christmas, we are once again invited to take up this challenge.

On Sunday 1 December, we celebrated the beginning of Advent. Advent comes from the Latin word meaning 鈥渃oming.鈥� Jesus is coming, and Advent is intended to be a season of preparation for His arrival. It is the season when we intentionally practise hope, when we consciously act for justice, when we joyfully live in expectation of promises fulfilled.

We see this 鈥榟ope鈥� exemplified in our Mother Mary. Mary is the model of a Church who looks towards Jesus and works to create the kind of world that Jesus proclaimed in the Gospels[1]. This Term has seen the students at 秀秀直播 work to create a world proclaimed by Jesus through supporting the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. These simple acts of generosity and kindness demonstrate that we are a people of hope; a people who walk in the light because at Christmas 鈥淛esus Christ has entered our story and saved us from the darkness! [1]Imagine if we were to live always as if walking in the light!鈥� [1]

[1] Brisbane Catholic Education. (n.d.) Advent / Christmas. Retrieved from:
[2] Marist Mission and Life Formation. (2019). 2019 Theme Resource. Retrieved from:

Year 11 Philippines Immersion

The 2019 Philippines Immersion was once again a memorable experience for Year 11 students from 秀秀直播 and St Joseph鈥檚 School, Northam. It challenged the group to develop a better understanding of our privilege and to be grateful for the things we have. Click here to read more and see more photos from the trip.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

The annual St Vincent de Paul Society Christmas Appeal provides hope, comfort and dignity to over 3000 families in Western Australia who will be struggling during the Christmas season. As a Catholic school educating in the Marist Tradition, 秀秀直播 sought to reach out and serve those in our community following the example set by Jesus in the Scriptures:

鈥淔or I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink鈥�Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters, you did for me.鈥�
Matthew 25: 35;40

All three campuses were inundated with donations towards the appeal, meaning that many families will be assisted this year. The donations from Marian and Lavalla Campuses have been donated to the Floreat Conference of St Vincent de Paul. Whilst the donations from Marcellin Campus have been donated to the Doubleview conference.

Anti-Poverty Mass

On Thursday 17 October, the 2020 Social Justice Captains, Faith and Liturgy Captains and four Year 6 leaders, joined other students across the Diocese for the annual Anti-Poverty Mass. The Anti-Poverty Mass aims to inspire, encourage and affirm the actions and efforts of young leaders to 鈥淏e the Light鈥� in the world as we strive towards ending the suffering caused by poverty at home and abroad. Year 11 students Georgia Whitely and Tegan Connelly lead the procession to the altar carrying the Anti-Poverty cross.

Year 5 Leadership Retreat

The Year 5 Leadership Retreat, run by the 24:7 School Ministry team, was a fun day of games, activities and faith formation.

With the help of some Superheroes, there were examples of good leaders that display important characteristics that we can learn from. Students looked at what qualities they show and also looked at the greatest superhero of all, Jesus, who showed us all the great leadership qualities in his life.

It was a fantastic day overall and the Year 5 cohort gained a lot from their experience, ready to take on leadership opportunities in 2020!

 

Primary Christmas Concert – Miracle on Bethlehem Street

Our Kindy – Year 6 community joined together to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Our celebrations started with traditional Christmas Carols followed by a Noongar Christmas Carol ‘Djinda Djinda’ sung by our Kindy & Year 6 students. The performance of Miracle of Bethlehem Street opened on the streets of Bethlehem, and the little town had never been busier! Ceasar’s Census had the town in a frenzy, and the Innkeeper Benjamin had a brilliant plan to capitalise on the business, that is until he was reminded of the true meaning of Christmas.聽 Click here to see more photos from the night.

秀秀直播 Arts Festival

The annual College Arts Festival featured works (both Visual Art and Design and Technology) from across our Kindy 鈥� Year 12 student community. One of the many highlights was the unveiling of the collaborative piece which was created by students in Years 9-12 and this year鈥檚 Artists in Residence; Andy Quilty, Bradley Kickett and Rohin Kickett. Both the Opening Showcase and Parent Soiree were also wonderful celebrations. Click here to see more photos from the event.

Developing New Learning Experiences

Singapore Learning Immersion

This inaugural immersion saw twenty-five Years 9 and 10 students embark on an exciting and challenging learning immersion at Republic Polytechnic (RP) in Singapore. RP is a post school educational institution that seeks to nurture innovative, entrepreneurial and cultured professionals. Our partnership and this learning immersion aims to foster and challenge our students and staff to be resilient, global thinkers; students who are agile, collaborative and embracing of the demands of the 21st Century. The program for the week was centered on collaborating with RP students on problem-based learning activities. The program aims to develop the following skills:

• Effective self-directed learning and critical problem inquiry
• Effective collaboration and problem-solving
• Effective reasoning, argumentation and presentation

Working and collaborating with students in this industry-based learning environment fostering creativity and entrepreneurial skills has been life changing for many of our students. The benefits of this experience will be in shaping our learning programs into the future. Staff will become more adept in creating learning experiences that foster the aforementioned skills. Supporting these programs will be learning spaces that reflect our strategic intent as exemplified in the development of our new Learning Hub (due for completion December 2020). To this end our students across our College will benefit as we continue to develop our teachers and students to be agile and flexible learners in our ever-changing world.

Solve It

As in previous years, students in Years 7-9 took part in Solve it; a 秀秀直播 project-based learning (PBL) initiative where students collaborate across year groups in small teams to solve real world problems (this is a project-based learning task that students complete outside of their normal classroom routine). The students were presented with a real-life problem and had to work as a group to put forward a solution. This process involved defining it, discussing it, creating a solution, tweaking the solution and finally pitching it to their peers & staff.

Problems for the 2019 groups included topics such as wellbeing challenges for FIFO workers, better ways to assess students other than exams, the College relocating our Marian Campus to the Churchlands site and ways the College can make better use of its space.

On the final day of Term, a shark tank style pitch off took place which was the culmination where guest judges from MACA Mining and Student Edge were impressed with the level of critical and creative thinking displayed by our students. Congratulations to the winning team 鈥楽taymine鈥�, who designed an algorithmic approach for creating mine-site work rosters that prioritised opportunities for families to connect with loved-ones working away from home.

Changes to Mobile Phones Policy

In early November, the WA Education Minister, Sue Ellery announced that a ban on mobile phones will be implemented for all State Schools from 2020 onwards. Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) Executive Director, Dr Debra Sayce, has reaffirmed that CEWA Principals and leadership teams are responsible for setting policy on mobile phones at their schools, in consultation with their communities.

At 秀秀直播, we are constantly monitoring the use of the technology at the school and how we can best support, educate and protect our students. As of 2020, students will not be allowed to have their mobile devices on them during the school day. Students may choose to leave their devices at home or place them in their bag/locker throughout the school day.

Literacy Update

MacqLit Progress

Throughout Semester Two, the College has been investing in the resourcing, training and delivery of the Macqlit program. This initiative involves one-to-one and small group sessions with students from Years 7 and 8, with the aim of improving reading fluency and comprehension. To highlight growth, the students involved in the program are regularly monitored with reading assessments. Although this approach is resource-intensive, it has made a marked difference in the reading fluency of students involved. Over the last two months, participants have demonstrated an average growth of 32% in their reading fluency, measured in the amounts of correct words per minute read aloud. These are very pleasing results, reflecting a significant amount of work from the students participating in the program, and both the staff and parents supporting its implementation. Throughout 2020, the MacqLit program will continue to run, supporting low-progress readers and students with literacy difficulties. As reading ability is crucial to future success for all students in both school and life, the MacqLit program is just one example highlighting the College鈥檚 commitment to improving the literacy outcomes for all students.

SolarBuddy

Download SolarBuddy Project

In their study of Geography in Term 1 this year, Year 7 Humanities students investigated the features that make a place livable. They discovered that some areas of the world are not as fortunate as we are in Australia, but that there is something that we can do to help; becoming part of the SolarBuddy project to provide renewable energy-powered lights for communities in need.

This year鈥檚 lights were delivered to Papua New Guinea, one of the most remote places on the planet, with the steep slopes of its majestic mountains making access to its people difficult. Here a diverse population lives in isolated pockets and speaks over 850 different languages. 400 lights, some of them made by 秀秀直播 students, were distributed by helicopter along the Kokoda Track to children attending Alola, Isurava and Hoi Elementary Schools. The children are able to use these solar lights rather than the expensive batteries or dangerous kerosene lamps that they had to use before.

SolarBuddy lights were also used to assist those who had to flee to care centers as a result of the volcanic eruption in Manam Island, Madang. The lights helped to inspire students to return to class. We are very proud of Year 7 2019鈥檚 role in helping to illuminate the future of those children living in energy poverty. The impact of their donation is clear in the beaming smiles of the children who received their gift.

Year 10 Camp

The Year 10 students had a wonderful first week back of Term 4 by completing a week of camping during their Adventure Camp. The aim of the program was to heighten awareness and respect for self and others as well as promote increased self-esteem and foster independence whilst increasing group cohesion. Click here to read more and see more photos from the camp.

Your Move Conference

At the beginning of November, three of the 秀秀直播 Nature team attended a conference about sustainability and transport. The conference 鈥淵our Move鈥� was facilitated by Millennium Kids and hosted by the City of Stirling. The students were lucky enough to work with local primary schools to discuss and create solutions to reduce the environmental impact of transportation to and from school.

Did you know that transportation accounted for 14% of our carbon footprint? Unfortunately, in Australia this figure is increasing at a rate of 2.5% per year. What can we do to help minimise our carbon footprint?

The two-day conference was informative, interesting and has helped the team to come up with many new ideas that they plan to implement throughout the College in 2020.

Year 9 Girls Workshops

This Term, the College held a series of four workshops for Year 9 girls which focused on leadership, resilience and relationships.

The aim of these workshops was to develop strong female voices for the future.聽 Some of the topics were;

• Managing mistrust and dealing with conflict resolution
• Social media and personal branding
• When to say NO and how to do it effectively. 鈥淣o is a complete sentence鈥�
• Being confident with who I am.

Music Showcases Highlights

Both the Sunset Vibes vocal showcase and Year 7 Music Collective were held in the Marist Auditorium this term. The Sunset Vibes concert featured vocal students from Years 8-11 who performed solos and duets drawn from a range of contemporary styles with a relaxed, summertime mood. The Year 7 Music Collective entertained the audience with solos and small group performances by students from the Special Instrumental Program, as well as the SIP singers accompanied by the Years 6 and 7 choir, the 鈥楯azz Crackers鈥� Jazz Combo and Concert Winds.