Month: September 2021

ONCE IN A LIFETIME

Never again! A once in a lifetime opportunity. A must see and do experience! These are the types of comments and hype that Perth and Western Australia, has experienced over the past few weeks as the 2021 AFL Grand Final closes in at Perth Stadium, on Saturday 25 September.

Without doubt the upcoming grand final promises to be an event that will be well worth the wait. A time of celebrating the game, played at the highest level, in our home state has never been seen before. Last year the issues associated with COVID-19 saw Brisbane afforded the rights to this special attraction and it was thought that 2021 would see everything back to normal in 2021 and the grand final would return to its true home, the MCG, Victoria. Unfortunately for Victoria, COVID has continued to wreak havoc and as such WA has received the honour of holding this momentous event. There will be 61,000 seats, filled mainly with WA residents at this auspicious occasion. People who just could not let the opportunity of being there slide.  A chance to experience the excitement and absorb the atmosphere firsthand, will be something they will never forget.

This sort or passion and desire to be a part of something big and so memorable is wonderful but it makes me wonder, how many times do we miss out on the smaller “once in a lifetime experience”? Those experiences that happen every day yet can be deemed as less important. Every new day is an opportunity for us all to grab with both hands. These experiences are gifts afforded to us by God. St Stephen’s provides its students the opportunity to experience great things every day. Perhaps it is representing the school in a sporting team, attending a service-learning function, working, and studying in tandem through VET programmes, learning a musical instrument, practising public speaking, performing in a drama production, attending camps and excursions, developing leadership skills or perhaps simply learning to critically analyse and reflect on world issues. Whatever the case may be, these opportunities like the AFL grand final, are once in a lifetime experience. Experiences where if you fail to engage right here and now in 2021, either through choice or circumstance, are opportunities that will not be the same in 2022 and beyond. My encouragement is that we celebrate and take every opportunity that comes our way. To engage with and experience all, that school has to offer and finally, to ensure that “our once in a lifetime experiences” are received over and over and over again. In doing this I believe our lives will truly be enriched

 

Mr Russell Gilchrist

Dean of Parresia

STUDENT ABSENCES

Parents/Guardians are required to advise Student Services of any anticipated or unexpected absences, late arrival to school or the need for students to leave prior to the end of the school day. Notification can be sent via email to absenteecarramar@ststephens.wa.edu.au, by SMS to 0428 863 144 or by phone 9306 7100.

ACC ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

On Tuesday 7 September many students participated in the ACC Athletics Carnival at HBF stadium. The following message was sent out by Adam Dwyer (Sports Coordinator) to all students that attended.

I just wanted to write a quick email to let you know how proud we are of you for your efforts today. I was once again amazed at your attitude and effort when it comes to the sporting field.

To those who helped out as student officials, thank you. To each and every one of the 92 students who were a part of the team, thank you. To the students who took on extra events or participated in events that are not their favourite, thank you. To Ella and Kushi who participated out of their age group, thank you.

Whilst you all put in amazing individual performances that were a major contribution to the schools overall success a big congrats to the junior boys for winning the shield and to Kayla, Dylan, Lachlan, Mitchell, Simba and Eleanor for achieving Champion or Runner up Champion for their age group.

Thanks to all the parents who were able to make it today and to all the parents for all their support during the athletics season, it was certainly a successful one.

If you would like to have a look at all the results follow the link below:

https://www.accsport.asn.au/system/files/sportstrak/athletics/2021/athsf/page1.htm

YEAR 12 ATAR POLITICS & LAW

On Tuesday 7 September, students from the Carramar Year 12 ATAR Politics & Law class visited the local office of the Federal MP for Cowan, Dr Anne Aly.

The students had questions covering a wide ride of topics, all linked to their course syllabus. As the photo indicates, it was an excellent Q&A session and the class was enthusiastic to hear Anne’s thoughts on issues such as ministerial accountability and the protection of rights within Australia.

Josh Plummer

FRENCH LANGUAGE

International Writing Competition in French language for Year 10 students

Year 10 French students have recently entered the Education Perfect Writing Competition. They submitted their entry on 10-September – a 300 words report in French Language -reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of young people.

Early Term 3, students chose to participate to this international inter-school language competition and selected one of the writing topics available.

This work offered them the opportunity to research topics such as Youth health and online learning, explore new vocabulary and grammatical structures in the target language, as well as draw some comparisons between Australia and France.

SSS Year 10’s entry will compete against other finalists across Australasia. Their writing will be judged by a panel of experts at Education Perfect on the following criteria: use of the target language, development of ideas, how the topic is addressed and text type.

Laurence Kuntz

SYNTHESIS FILM COMPETITION 2021

Inspired by the latest clip on your socials? Love how imagery can tell a story? Attend a Secondary School in WA? Why not showcase your creativity by entering a short film in the much-anticipated Synthesis Arts, Design and Technologies Exhibition. More information about the Synthesis Film Festival is available at www.synthesisfilmfestival.com.au

 

‘The aim of argument, or discussion, should not be victory, but progress’ (Karl Popper)

Finding the truth from the myriad of sources of information we now have, is not as straight forward as we would all like. “Fake News” and misinformation is seemingly found everywhere. This inevitably means that we encounter people with differences of opinion.

Whilst, having differences of opinion is not necessarily an issue, what happens after that might be.  It is inevitable that we will be involved in arguments, and I believe that it is important for our students to witness these, and importantly, know how they should be handled.

As parents and teachers, we are role-models, and our kids learn most from what they see and hear so we have an important impact on how our kids behave in similar situations.

Jonathon Herring who wrote a book on How to Argue, states.

“They needn’t be about shouting or imposing your will on someone. A good argument shouldn’t involve screaming, squabbling or fistfights, even though too often it does. Shouting matches are rarely beneficial to anyone. Arguments, and for that matter discussions, should be about seeing things through the other person’s eyes. They should lead to a better understanding of another person’s view.”

A summary of his tips which I think are helpful includes:

• Know your stuff – there is no quicker way to sound ignorant if you don’t really know the details.
• When to argue and when to walk away – sometimes it’s healthier to walk away than to get into a heated debate or when people are simply not open to listening.
• What to say and how to say it – your body language and language should be respectful.
• Listen – If you’re not listening to the other person and addressing their statements, you’ll just keep making your same points over and over. The other person won’t agree with those, and the argument quickly becomes frustrating.

And lastly,

• Know what you want – humiliating, embarrassing or upsetting the other person might make you feel good at the time, but the reality is, nobody wins from that outcome.

Ultimately, we want our kids to grow up as thoughtful, intelligent, loving people who are willing to hear other thoughts, and be happy to share theirs in a respectful manner. This is not always an easy thing for us as adults to stick to, let alone for our kids, but is certainly something we should be helping them to develop.

Mark Batten (Dean of Makaria)

YEAR 11 RIVER CRUISE

On Friday 27 August our Year 11’s and a number of dedicated staff got creative and attended the annual River Cruise . The students were fantastically behaved and hit the dance floor hard most of the night.

Mark Batten

THE LESTER PRIZE’S YOUTH COMPETITION

Thirty high school-aged children from around Australia have been chosen as finalists in The Lester Prize’s Youth competition – WA’s premier portraiture prize.  Formally known as the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, this award is now in its fifteenth year.

The Youth finalist works will be on display at Brookfield Place’s Tower 2, 123-125 St Georges Terrace Perth from 18 Oct – 12 Nov 2021 as part of The Lester Prize Youth Awards Exhibition, with the winners announced on 27 October 2021.

Congratulations to Heather McAllan – Year 12 who has been chosen as a finalist.

INTERHOUSE ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

Congratulations to the 2021 winners of the Senior Athletics Carnival. – Charis House. It was a very close win with only 6 points between first and second place. It was a fantastic day enjoyed by all and students represented their houses with pride by dressing up and cheering on their fellow team mates. Individual results are as follows.

 

BADMINTON COMPETITION

On Friday 3 September the Yr 7,8 and 9 badminton team competed in the SSWA competition at Kingsway. All performed well and had a great day.

Adam Dwyer

YEAR 7 & 8 REC PROGRAM

Horticultural Club: also known as the GTG (Green thumb Gang)

The results of our Woolworths seed packs are self-evident. We have started to produce vegetables. The first group have been through and now the second group are preparing our Summer Harvest. Weird looking carrots aside everyone is having fun.

Rob Crewe

SYNTHESIS FILM COMPETITION 2021

Inspired by the latest clip on your socials? Love how imagery can tell a story? Attend a Secondary School in WA? Why not showcase your creativity by entering a short film in the much-anticipated Synthesis Arts, Design and Technologies Exhibition. More information about the Synthesis Film Festival is available at www.synthesisfilmfestival.com.au

AUSTRALIAN ARMY CADETS

The Australian Army Cadets (AAC) is a leading national youth development organisation, upholding the character and values of the Australian Army including service, courage, respect, integrity and excellence. We are aimed at young people aged between 12 – 17 years old, as long as they turn 13 in the same year as joining.

The Australian Army Cadets is an equal opportunity organisation that does not discriminate on the ground of race, colour, sex or religion.

It is a program designed to help youth develop their confidence whilst experiencing adventurous training activities conducted in a supportive, safe, supervised and challenging military setting. We teach leadership, survival, drill, first aid, radio, navigation and fieldcraft skills in both practical and theoretical environments. These skills transfer to building individual resilience, leadership, self-discipline and teamwork skills, which are essential in today’s society in order to become better citizens and prepare our young people for adult life.

There are more than 18,000 Army cadets based in 236 units around Australia. 53 ACU is based at Wanneroo Secondary College and is one of the 236 units. It is the biggest unit in Western Australia with more than 70 male and female cadets across all ages and from multiple schools in the area. We parade on Wednesday evenings from 6pm until 9.30pm.

For more information about the Australian Army Cadets please visit http://www.armycadets.gov.au

Contact Jaxon Broad, Cadet Under Officer at 53acu@armycadets.gov.au or alternatively you can contact Captain (AAC) Rebecca Moroney the Commanding Officer of 53 ACU Wanneroo at Rebecca.Moroney1@armycadets.gov.au or 0422 164 867.

St Stephen’s School has no affiliation with this company and the post is simply an ad for their services if required