Welcome to Secondary Campus, 

I’d like to make a special welcome to Mrs Amy Bennett, our new Teaching and Learning Coordinator. Amy has been busy the last four weeks getting to know our Year 11 and 12 students to ensure they are organised and on track to gain their WACE Certificates at the end of Year 12. She is also loving her Year 11 Chemistry class and Year 10 Maths class. Amy will also be coordinating NAPLAN and OLNA. Welcome to St Joseph’s School, Mrs Bennett.

 

Week Three was very busy with the school celebrating Shrove Tuesday and St Valentine’s Day. Mr Reidy’s pancake Flip-off was very popular and students were also able to get a free pancake from the student leaders while being entertained by counting pancake flips. Special mention should go to Mrs Woodgate’s skill with an egg slice. For Valentine’s Day the student leaders encouraged students to come to the library at lunch time to make a friendship bracelet for a friend. Miss Suckling also got to make a lovely bracelet for her lovely fiancé.

 

I’d also like to thank Mr Reidy for a moving Ash Wednesday Liturgy. Students behaved beautifully and it was lovely to be together in the quadrangle. 

Thank you to those parents who attended the Digital Technology evening in Week 3. I hope you learnt a lot, but please remember to contact us if you are unable to log in to any of the platforms we use or have any questions that we can help you with. 

If you have a Year 11 or 12 student completing OLNA in the next two weeks, please see below the schedule. Those students completing one of the assessments have been informed.

Writing	Reading	Numeracy
Mon Week 5 26th Feb	Wed Week 5 28th Feb	Tue Week 6 5th March
Period 4	Period 4	Period 4
Boardroom	Boardroom	Room 20

Coming up next week we have the Junior and Senior ACC Basketball, the Herbert Edwards & Slazenger Tennis Cup, the Interschool Swimming Carnival, a couple of da Vinci Decathlons and Mrs Woodgate’s birthday! A very busy couple of weeks!

God bless

Sharon Cusack
Head of Secondary

Curriculum Matters 

News from the English Department

Year 7s:

We are looking forward to beginning high school with our new Year 7s. Students will begin by looking at short stories and will learn some of the tricks and techniques of creative writing. We have the additional challenge of NAPLAN Testing, which was moved to Term One last year, and are slowly preparing students for their first round of NAPLAN testing in high school. We are happy to report that the Year 7s seem to be settling well into their English classrooms.

Year 8s:

The Year 8 students have begun the year with a study of poetry. Students will be introduced to a wide array of poems and will analyse writing techniques including figurative language, rhyme and rhythm. We have been engaging with a wide variety of poems and poetic styles form the irregular rhyme schemes and complicated metaphors of Robert Frost to the entertaining invective of Roald Dahl. Students have already shown some of their creative potential in crafting similes and using alliteration in their classwork.

Year 9s:

Year 9 students have begun their English studies by looking at the representations of war and conflict across a number of different texts. Students are looking at the modern classic by Australian author John Marsden, Tomorrow when the War Began, which explores how ordinary teenagers might react should conflict ever reach Australian shores.

Year 10s:

Race and prejudice are the themes of study for the Year 10s at the start of this year. Students are reading a number of short stories by well-renowned authors including Shirley Jackson and Tim Winton. These stories explore the nature of prejudice and the human tendency to secure social status by putting down others. The assessments for this unit of study will challenge students’ analytical and creative skills with students critically analysing and then creating their own short stories.

Year 11s:

The Year 11s begin their last two years having selected either an ATAR, General or Foundations pathway. Students have been introduced to their varied programs and will receive every support to achieve credit towards their WACE Certificate. Year 11 General and Foundations students have begun with a unit that looks at sales and advertising with students to prepare their own sales and advertising pitch for an “impossible” object. Year 11 ATAR students meanwhile have begun their study exploring the role of technology in society through the classic short story “The Pedestrian” and a far more contemporary treatment of the same theme in the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive”.

Year 12s:

Year 12 students are being offered every support as they begin their final year of high school. The ATAR English class has begun their course with a study of genre and has focused specifically on Detective Fiction. Students have begun reading with the classic stories of Sherlock Holmes and will investigate how the genre has changed and adapted itself throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Year 12 General students have begun their year looking at persuasive texts and the contemporary debate surrounding the date of Australia Day. We wish all our Year 12 students luck as they begin this important year in their schooling.

Daniel Matthys
Head of English & The Arts

Year 9 and 10 Physical Recreation

During Physical Recreation this week, students learnt the importance of staying active and being involved in some community service. The year 9 and 10 students walked almost 5km along the Avon River towards Burlong, collecting rubbish along the way and cleaning up the trails we walked on. Although it was hot, the students felt a sense of accomplishment and charity at the end of the walk. In the following weeks we will be going to Northam pool to cool off and learn fun ways to stay active in the water.

Adrienne Suckling
Head of Health & Physical Education

Religious Education

In Religious Education, the Year 10 classes engaged in a Zoom call with Deacon Paul, the administrator of Project Compassion in WA and SA. Included in the call was the Caritas representative from Asia to talk about the Project Compassion story of Ronita from the Philippines.

Students were lead through discussion about how Caritas helps those in need and students then engaged in asking some deep-thinking questions on where our donations go.

Lloyd Reidy
Head of Religious Education

Interest Study Program (ISP)

Upcycling

Over the last two weeks in ISP, we have been working to recycle and upcycle old materials and give them a new purpose. Students were given Denim and cotton-based materials and a few basic ideas on how to give them a new life. Most students chose to expand on the basic ideas and personalise their own items. Projects include bags from jeans, a photo frame desk top organiser, pot plant holders, coasters, bowls, bunting and even a shirt.

Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at household items and giving St Joseph’s op shop a visit to repurpose some items from the store. Well done to all the students involved; you have been working very hard to get your projects done.

Adrienne Suckling
Teacher

MaJEC – Cooking for Charity 

Over the past couple of weeks through the Interest Study Program (ISP), we have been cooking and packaging up cookies for St Joseph’s Care Tuesday Food Hampers. 

So far we have made ANZAC Biscuits and Chocolate Chip Cookies. The students have been having fun cooking, helping a charitable organisation and earning hours towards their MaJEC Program. 

Last week Sr Zita came and helped us package the cookies and then took them over to the Pat Kirby Hall ready for Tuesday’s collection. 

Kathy Pollard
Teacher

From the VET Office 

ASDAN

The Year 10 ASDAN students returned to the Pre-Primary garden this term to see how everything survived over the school holidays. Luckily, the pumpkins had grown to shade all the plants, trees and the soil, so there was still plenty to harvest in the first week back. This year, the focus of the course will be on sustainability, both upcycling and recycling materials to house helpful insects to increase pollination and our food crops.

Caroline Marriott
VET Coordinator

Join the St Joseph's Equestrian Interschools Team!

Are you passionate about horses and riding? Do you dream of competing against other schools in thrilling equestrian events? St Joseph's School invites both Primary and Secondary students to express their interest in joining our Equestrian Interschools Team!

Event Details:

• Date: Wednesday 10th to Saturday 13th April (Easter School Holidays)
• Location: State Equestrian Centre 303 Cathedral Ave Brigadoon
• Events:
  • Dressage
  • Eventing
  • ShowJumping
  • Combined training (Dressage & Showjumping/no cross-country)
  • ShowHorse (Hacking)

Requirements:

• Students must be a member of EWA (Equestrian Western Australia), either as competitive or participant members.

Most competitive interschool classes require a qualifying event (except prep dressage and showhorse). Participant classes do not need qualifications.

Expression of Interest: Interested Secondary students should reach out to Ms Natalie Williamson-Holley at natalie.williamson-h@cewa.edu.au for any inquiries and to express their interest.