For the first time in history, Aquinas had a group of of boys compete at the Catholic Performing Arts Festival in the Secondary Dance Category against 21 other schools. The boys put on a tremendous routine with the adjudicators’ comments reinforcing how well the boys did.

“What a flashback! Great musicality and unison work. Love the theatrical commitment and moments of lip sync. Good use of levels and play with time.”

Our amazing instructor Katrina Coopes overcame difficult circumstances of having only 6 weeks to teach the boys the dance, plus she dealt with the impact of COVID and illness taking away boys from rehearsals, making it difficult to finalise formations. Katrina did an amazing job in choreographing the routine and leading the boys and all the boys are thankful for her efforts.

At the end of the competition our performance was awarded a Merit Certificate. To give some context to this achievement, at the end of each section of the festival, the adjudicators reflect on all the performances and whilst it is at their discretion to make the awards, generally the top one or two are awarded an Outstanding, the next 2 an Excellence award, and perhaps the next 2 or 3 (depending on overall numbers) a Merit. Given this is our first Middle School dance group to enter the competition, this is an excellent result.

Book Week matters now, more than ever

It’s National Book Week! All over Australia, parents of primary school children have been pulling together costumes for their kids. Some relished the opportunity to be creative; others were a bit dark at teachers for bringing this curse down upon them.

In high schools, English teachers and library staff have been creating displays and activities designed to engage their students with reading. It is a task made difficult these days as our kids are so drawn to YouTube, live streaming, and social media.

So why bother?

We all know reading is the bee's knees when it comes to education. It is great for:

• Increasing vocabulary
• Mastery of language
• Increasing creativity
• Developing imagination
• Providing knowledge
• Teaching grammar and spelling
• Entertainment
• Relaxation
• Communication skills

Dear Aquinas College Community

I am pleased to announce that Mr Robert Henderson has been appointed to the position of Principal at Aquinas College, Perth, effective from January 2023. This appointment follows an extensive national recruitment search and a thorough discernment by a panel comprising educational leaders from Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA), Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) and representation from the Aquinas Advisory Council.

Robert is widely regarded as an outstanding leader in Catholic education and a very experienced Principal. Currently, he is Principal at John XXIII College, a role he has held since 2016. His previous leadership experience includes Headmaster at Ipswich Grammar School, Principal at Christian Brothers’ College Fremantle, Acting Principal and Vice Principal at Trinity College, Perth and Deputy Principal at St Norbert College.

Robert complements his leadership experience with a sound academic record that includes a Master of Religious Education from Notre Dame University, a Master of Education and a Diploma in Education from Murdoch University, a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Western Australia and a Professional Certificate in Instructional Leadership from Melbourne University.

An Old Aquinian, Robert describes his priorities in life as his family, his faith and his work. He and his wife Robyn have three daughters, Mia, Zoe and Abbey. Robert is committed to Pater Noster Parish, Myaree. In conjunction with his educational leadership, he has a strong background in sport and an interest in Music and the Arts. The following comment from Robert captures the significance of this appointment for him and his family:

“My parents built a house around the corner from Aquinas to enable their sons to attend the College and for our sister to attend Santa Maria College. It is an honour and a privilege to return to Aquinas and become part of a vibrant Catholic community in the tradition of Edmund Rice. I look forward to meeting students, staff and parents and becoming immersed in a school with a wonderful heritage and a very exciting future.”

I am also pleased to announce that Mr Brian Schumacher, the current EREA Director of Schools (WA, SA & NT), will be the Acting Principal in Term 4, 2022, once David McFadden concludes his term. Brian is a highly experienced educator and has been principal at three large Catholic schools in South Australia. In his current role he has worked closely with the College and knows the community well.

We look forward to welcoming Robert to the Aquinas community. On behalf of all members of Edmund Rice Education Australia, I warmly congratulate Robert on this significant appointment.

Yours sincerely
Dr Craig Wattam
Executive Director
Edmund Rice Education Australia

Click here for the official announcement letter from EREA

On Tuesday 21st June, the Aquinas P and F sponsored four presentations from Collective Shout. The first two were during the day for Year 9 and Year 10 students and given by Daniel Principe, a 2005 graduate from Trinity College, and now a health professional, with a background in PR, marketing and media. Melinda Tankard Reist ran the presentations for teachers and parents. She is an author of six books, media commentator and advocate for young people and is world renowned for her work addressing sexualisation, objectification, harms of pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence against women.

Both Daniel and Melinda spoke to the question “How does pop culture shape your attitudes towards gender, sex & sexuality, social media, body image, ideas of manhood, mental health, violence etc?” They dissected the impacts of harmful messaging from media, advertising, pop culture and the global porn industry and discussed how cultural forces fuel distorted ideas and attitudes about bodies, relationships and sex. Daniel’s message empowered boys to navigate these cultural challenges and step outside the ‘Man Box’ resisting the harmful masculine stereotypes. He encouraged boys to be courageous and resist these harmful messages as they aspire to become good men.

WHAT DID THE BOYS THINK?

“During the presentation I thought that the speaker (Daniel) was really good and he kept me entertained in the topic. After the presentation I realised how bad pornography is and how women really feel about us men, and it also made me think that I need to make a change as well by being more respectful towards women and to not be tempted to watch pornography. I learnt from the presentation how badly women are portrayed by the media almost as if they are objects. Daniel showed us advertisements from real world shopping malls and posters, and it was very bad how women were always half naked and men were always dressed. A positive action that we can take to step outside the “Man Box” was to stop thinking of women as objects and to stop thinking of women only in a sexual way.”
Lucas Ali

“Before the presentation I was feeling a bit awkward about the whole thing and didn’t know what to expect. The presentation made me feel sad and shocked about the things that people do as jokes about women and how some people only look at women like objects. What I learnt from the presentation was that pornography is bad for your body and your mental health, it can affect the way you approach women and the relationships that you have throughout your life. I also learnt that we shouldn’t look at women as objects but for who they are as a person. What Daniel said was to be yourself and not get pressured by anyone to do stuff that you don’t want to do and to try to do the right things and make the right choices.”
Mitchell Pentony

“I honestly was not sure what to expect from the presentation, but during the presentation I was shocked to see all this info about just how women are sexualised to sell goods. After it made me feel educated and aware of what people do to women and how they feel themselves about this. I learnt how women are exploited and what girls my age feel about boys doing things like making sexual moaning sounds, or just inappropriate things in general.”
Jack Lee Steere

“From the presentation I learnt many things including: women are expected to live up to expectations that surround them every day, women are advertised as sex objects. I also learnt that many women are pressured into doing things that they don’t want to do such as sending nudes. We also got stories and quotes from young girls about how boys want to sexualise everything and that they can’t have a normal conversation. A positive action I can take, is to respect women for who they are.”
Brady Gardiner

“Before the presentation, I did not know that the world compares men and women differently. I learnt that women are usually treated poorly by men and the world is targeting underaged children towards pornography which makes them go down to the wrong path. The main thing I learnt from the presentation is to treat women with respect, as nowadays men tend to treat women as an object. Daniel said a couple of positive actions that we could take to step outside the ‘Man Box’ was to understand better what the actual problem is and be more educated about this for us to snap out of the cycle. We could also educate others on the danger of pornography and how it could affect our mental health.”
Jason Sutisna

“Before the talk I felt this is going to be so boring spending over an hour listening to some guy talking about pornography and I didn’t want to go because I thought I wouldn’t relate to it or not have any idea about what he’s talking about. When he started talking and doing his presentation it was good and related to me and wasn’t what I was expecting, he sounded like he really knew what he was talking about and did lots of research and everything in the PowerPoint was related to my kind of age. While he was doing his presentation, I was taking it in and going woah with all the facts that were stated. I realized that watching porn online can cause things like erectile dysfunction and bad relationships between you and your partner. I learnt the pornography industry is messed up and they force young women into doing porn and they don’t care about what it does to your brain they only care about how much money is going into their bank account.”
Luca Capararo

The Give Write group provides school supplies to kids who cannot afford to buy their own. Give Write takes donations of new and pre-loved stationery and recycles, repackages and redistributes to kids in need so they have the tools to feel engaged and inspired to learn.

On Friday of the EXEAT weekend, Year 7 student Noah Sachse and his younger sister spent a few hours of their own personal time to put together stationary packs for children from all around WA. Noah wrote “it was really good and I enjoyed it knowing that every pack I made was helping another kid somewhere”.

It is these little acts of kindness that makes every day at Aquinas a better day for others!

On Thursday 26 May 2022, Aquinas students Tre Healy and Tremaine Baxter-Edwards attended the Perth College Sorry Day Assembly to give a speech.

"They delivered a powerful, moving and emotional speech and they should be proud of themselves, their school and the Indigenous people."

“Tre and Tremaine were super compelling, and I found the whole Sorry Day Assembly meaningful and moving.“

“What a credit they are to themselves, their families, people and Aquinas.“

"The boys were phenominal yesterday. Thank you for allowing them to come and share the deep meaning of Sorry Day for them. I felt an honour to MC the assembly with such strong role models."

On a beautiful but chilly Saturday morning, eight young Aquinians supported a Telethon Fundraiser at a local soccer club at Len Shearer Reserve in Booragoon. Ollie Lim was also there to lend his support and the boys helped to set up and serve at the sausage sizzle as well as sell Telethon Bears. Organisers Sam and Brendan Valente commented on what an amazing group of young men they were.

“All the feedback I'm getting from parents is about how good the boys feel for doing something like this. They took their roles in their stride. There was the AC song at the beginning of the morning. There were multiple Aquinas council meetings before action stations. The boys and adults had a ball! Many thanks to Fiona McAllister for spending her morning off and helping to run the smooth operation at the canteen/BBQ and clean up”

The aim was to raise $500, but closer to $1100 was raised at this event. It was a blessing to have eager, happy boys, staff, parents and family assist with this worthy cause.