Life in boarding can’t be described in one word. It can be described as fun, exciting, happy, lively and so much more. At the start of Term 2, I couldn’t wait to get back into boarding life because I knew I would be safe and happy there.

On the weekdays there is certainly no absence of excitement. Some of the kids wake up pretty early and turn on the TV. When I wake up I start off by having a shower and then I go to the main area and sit down and wait until everyone goes off to breakfast. After breakfast, we sit down for a little longer and watch the TV. Once Brother Robert gets here we go and clean our rooms and then we get him to check our rooms. After Brother checks our rooms we are allowed to get our phones.

Before school, we can do whatever we want as long as it is around the boarding community. We then head to school. After school, if we have sport we do that but if we don’t then we can do whatever we want. Dinner may be anything from nachos to penne pasta. Then we get back and have a meeting.

Finally to finish the day off we do study then go to bed. On the weekends we have an even better time, we do recreational activities which may range from going to aqua park to going to a museum. All in all I think boarding is a good experience for anyone.

Video Game Design, Mouse Trap Racers, Conspiracy Theories, Bridge Building, Mock Trial and Content Creation are the units that are being explored in ASP during Term 2.

Under the guidance of Mr Luke Deakin our amazing expert volunteer Video Game gurus Leigh and Sean from Huntsman Games
come in once a week to assist a group of enthusiastic boys in designing their own video own game. Much to the boy's delight and possibly parents dismay video game design is a legitimate university course that Sean is currently Guest lecturing in!

In ASP Video Game Design we have been making a space shooter video game using software by the name of Unity. With the help of Sean and Leigh in class and through series of videos that they have made. We get laptops to use to make video games which is great. Although the unit is challenging if you get stuck you can ask Sean and Leigh and they will help you. I can’t wait for my video game to be complete!

• Matthew Champness

Critical and Creative Thinking or Mouse Trap Racers is proving to be a popular unit once again with the boys rising to the challenge to use just a mousetrap as the only source of power for their self-designed vehicle. We will see as the term progresses if they are able to make their cars move! So far there have been a lot of interesting design ideas and already a lot of resigns.

Asp CCT is great for learning different ways to do things and to also learn to trial and error. We get to build not only mouse trap cars but also build friendships with others. Even though I have only been at AC for a term and a half, ASP has really made me get excited about Wednesdays!

• Jack Sharman

Dr David Keatley from Murdoch University has found a great home among the students at Aquinas normally teaching Criminology – however, he has really found his place with Conspiracies. He started the unit posing a series of a Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale to the boys to see where they rated, he fully thought he expected he would need to convince our boys that there were conspiracies in the world…. Are not our boys are true believers and have watched a lot of old movies!

Throughout this past term the ASP has ran a ‘Conspiracy Theories’ program for students interested in the topic. Hosted by Dr David Keatley (a behavioural scientist/criminal profiler from Murdoch University, who has worked as a criminal profiler for many institutions including the FBI), this unit has presented the students with challenging tasks and inquisitive conspiracy theories, which they would analyse with a critical eye and try to solve. It has seen students creating theories of how they think that significant events occurred or didn’t occur, including The JFK Assassination, Area 51, and the moon landing. The students have really enjoy the course so far and are keen to learn more on the topic moving forward.

• Michael Elhaj

Bridge Building seems simple – that is until you are given finite resources right down to the amount of glue you have. The boys have been given the specific specification to work within and finite resources, now they need to work as a team to come up with a plan to find out the best solution for the problem as there are no spares going to be supplied. The first issue they encountered was the longest piece of wood they were given was shorter than the length of the bridge needed to be so they have spent the first few weeks experimenting with what would be the best type of join to make. The best part of this so far has been watching the boys communicate their ideas as of course, their idea is the best! It will be great to see how these bridges turn out and test them in Week 10 or 11.

Content Creation is under the amazing instruction of Ms Ramsay and has the exciting opportunity to travel to Curtin University to hear advertising pitches by students to not-for-profit organisations later this term. We can’t wait to hear want they learn and see what they themselves produce from this unit!

Earlier in the term a group of current and former ASP students attended a Water Think Tank to tackle the problem of water security. Matteo Conte writes about the program:

The Water Think Tank was a great opportunity to engage in a creative project with my friends outside of school. As a team, we were tasked with developing a solution to future water scarcity in Perth and WA. After presentations on the ‘ideation’ (idea-development) process and on the Aboriginal cultural and spiritual connection to water–which would serve as our inspiration for the project–we dived straight into the task.

A major feature of the day was that student voices needed to be heard in the struggle against climate change and we took this message to heart by trying to develop a practical and effective solution to the issue we were presented with. Initially, we decided to tackle water wastage in agriculture, but when we discovered the shocking fact that the vast majority of water wastage occurred in Perth households, our focus shifted.

Research showed us that ornamental gardens and lawns were draining an enormous amount of clean water in Perth, and so the Native Gardens project was born. We developed the idea to legislate and promote the replacement of public and private lawns and ornamental plants with native Australian varieties, which would reduce water usage by around 50%. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire process but especially making and presenting our slide show to explain our idea.

While we didn’t win this year, we returned to school in high spirits, having had a fantastic day filled with creativity. I encourage any boys who are invited to participate in this event to throw themselves into it enthusiastically. Their ideas could contribute to the future of water management in Western Australia.

• Matteo Conte

Mass

The mass in the morning began at 9:15am with grandparents arriving between 8:30 - 9:00 am. This was a special day for all Year 7 students and their grandparents. The Mass was a time to cleanse, relax and listen with your grandparents to the chaplain talking to us as well as the choir sing in the background to beautiful songs. It was a very peaceful morning not only for myself but also for the grandparents and something I will treasure for a long time.

Assembly

The assembly started right after the Mass. The assembly was for some of the Year 7 students to give a little idea to the grandparents about what life at Aquinas is like. The speeches ranged from a sport’s speech presented by me to a speech about the Boarding Life spoken by Ed Dodd and Caelyn Beard. It was very fun listening to some of the speeches given by our Aquinas Year 7 community.

Morning Tea

The morning tea was prepared by some of the student's parents and our amazing boarding staff in the dining hall. It was one of the most delicious morning teas I have ever seen. Unfortunately, none of the students were able to attend the spectacular event but
when we walked past it, it looked fantastic. My grandma was able to sneak one of the macaroons and let me tell you it was amazing, It was like something you would expect on MasterChef.

Conclusion

This was definitely a very fun day from the Mass in the morning to the morning tea in the end. Every single part of this amazing yet
tiring day was just one of the many days at Aquinas that I will certainly never forget. I can not finish this off without a huge mention
to all the staff who helped put this whole day together. I can’t wait till the next time so I can get another macaroon.

Hi, my name is Logan Nixon and I’m one of the new year seven boarders of Brothers House.

The first week at Aquinas was very unusual, unfortunately, a small COVID outbreak hit, and we had to go into lockdown. I found home-schooling very hard and frustrating as I couldn’t just ask the teacher what I need to do, I had to figure it all out myself.

Once that was all over, in week 2, I could finally start boarding. It wasn’t too nice at the start because we still had to wear masks. I also got a little homesick, but after the second week, I was fine. The school part was amazing as we got our own iPad, at my old school we had to go to the computer room and get a laptop.

The first weekend recreation was really amazing. We went to Adventure World, there were so many rides and slides. My favourite slide was the Kraken.

Week 3 was very chill, and I started to settle into the boarding and Aquinas life. Week 4 was camp, and it was really cool. My favourite part was the search and rescue as we got to explore in the bush and try not to be captured by the organisers. After camp was the boarder’s weekend or 'exeat', I got to come back to my home in Kalannie (three and a half hours northeast of Perth). I got to catch up with all my family and friends.

Once we came back it was week 5 - again a very chill and easy week, though the next week started getting a little harder as we started studying for our CATs. Once we had finished all our CATs in week 7, I felt very relieved.

Aquinas has been a big step for me, the sport, the facilities, the boarding, it's all amazing. I’m very excited to see what I can accomplish in the coming years.

Our Middle School leaders have embarked on a new initiative in 2021 with the Junior School Mentoring Program. 24 students in Year 9 attend Junior School classes from pre-primary to Year 6 every Monday and Tuesday during the Middle School tutor period. During this time they support the students in the following ways:

• Role Modelling Aquinas College values
• Supporting small group activities
• Reading to students
• Assisting the teacher with guiding student learning
• Work with individual students who require further support or enrichment

The program provides an opportunity for leaders to develop their emerging leadership skills through an authentic experience. I do not doubt that both sets of students have plenty to gain through the interactions. At the end of the program, the leaders are given formal feedback via the classroom teacher on their leadership skills. The program lasts for 6 weeks and a new set of leaders will work in the program in Term 2.

Quotes from Pre-primary

"I liked them over here." – Alfie

"I liked them helping us with writing." – William

"They were beautiful. I liked how they were here every Monday and Tuesday." – Marius

"They were kind and helpful." - Loke

Quotes from Year 9 leaders

"It’s been good helping out with the younger kids; helping them with their music and reading skills. I feel I’ve made a difference by steering them on the right track and helping them to get back to their work."

• Jay Mutter

"It’s been interesting learning about what they’ve been doing and comparing it to when I was in their year. It’s been fun helping them and giving them advice. I’ve learnt about the importance of modelling the standards I want the boys to demonstrate such as sitting quietly. I’ve learnt from Mr Leggett how to assist boys when they are stuck on something."

• Cooper Allen

Term 1 always seems to go past so fast – this one even more so with the first week in lockdown and being only 9 weeks long.

ASP was straight underway with our AMAZING criminology crew heading online so the boys did not miss out. A HUGE THANK YOU to Dr David Keatley and Jason Dohle at Murdoch University for enabling the Year 8s and 9s to use the Murdoch Blackboard System to access the Criminology Unit online – the engagement, as usual, was fantastic throughout the unit. Thanks also to the AMAZING Aquinas staff who make ASP possible; Mr Paul West and Mr David White have run units this Term. Also to Matthew Vinci in Year 10 who comes along twice a week and runs the Middle School Academic Extension Club on Monday and Wednesday Lunch - the boys and I greatly enjoy and appreciate this.

• Mrs Monks

Criminology

Dr Dave has been continually impressed by the AC ASP students with their enthusiasm and investigative skills. This term they did not disappoint filling the boards in the SB13 ‘dungeon’ with their theories, which they excitedly presented. Dr Dave and Jason were amazed at their findings and astounded at the amount of work the boys had put in. Both Dr Dave and Jason will be back next term with a new Conspiracy Theory Unit.

• Mrs Monks

Throughout this past term, the ASP has run a criminology program for students eager to learn about the topic, including how to solve a crime mystery, by looking at the behaviour of criminals and their social normalities and abnormalities. Hosted by Dr David Keatley (a behavioural scientist from Murdoch University, who has worked as a criminal profiler for many institutions including the FBI), alongside Jason Dohle, from Murdoch’s education department, this unit has presented the students with challenging tasks and cold cases, which they have attempted to solve. It has seen students creating theories of how they think that a crime has occurred (at a professional level), including the Zodiac Murders, and the CPF-21 Plane bombing. The students have really enjoyed the course and are keen to learn more on the topic moving forward.

• Michael Elhaj

Ancient Architecture

A new unit for ASP this term was invented by resident ASP expert Mr Paul West – Ancient Architecture. This unit has been a resounding success with the boys who have happily come to tell me about the research they have been doing. I am eager to see their presentations in week 9!

• Mrs Monks

This year many of us from the middle school who undertook the Ancient Architecture ASP, learnt about different ancient cultures such as the Mesopotamians or the Greeks, focusing mainly on their construction and meaning of their architecture. Our task, to learn about a chosen civilisation and to construct one of their well-known buildings, presenting both to the class during the final lesson. My group chose to study the Sumerians, known for creating the earliest form of written texts. Mr West helped us, using his extensive knowledge of many of these early cultures, which kept us in the right direction and aided us in the creation of our miniature models. Personally, I found the recreation the best part as we looked closer into these great feats of engineering and took in some of the less notable details, such as our group noticed that the Ziggurat of Ur, the structure we chose to build, was not dedicated to Sumerian Sun God, as would be assumed from a culture that is so focused on farming, but is instead of the moon God known as Nanna. After having done this course for a term now, I truly believe that it has helped increase my knowledge on the history and will definitely choose it again if made an option later.

• Riley Nel

CCT

A favourite of ASP is the CCT course – Creative and Critical Thinking this term has seen the boys work in pairs to research and build a mousetrap racer. This has been a real challenge with our super condensed term thanks to Year 7 Camp, NAPLAN and CATs! Hopefully, we can get a car moving, if not the boys will have an excellent holiday project!

Marble run

A small enthusiastic bunch of boys came together to take part in the Marble run ASP unit this term.

• Mrs Monks

Marble Run has been a fun and creative unit to take part in. In each lesson, all students participate together using teamwork to create a ‘marble run’ which involves trial and error. Every part of the marble run sees students tinkering their different parts to be able to make their run perfectly. Marble Run gives students the ability to use their creative craft skills to be able to compete with other groups in the course at the end of term one. Marble Run is definitely a course I would consider people to take part in if they are into crafting and problem-solving.

• Christian Pecotic

During Term 1 we also have several competitions the Synergy Solar Car, Have Sum Fun Maths, IM2C and Have Sum Fun Maths. The Solar Car Team reached the Semi-Finals which is a great achievement, thanks to all the efforts of Mr David White throughout the term and well done to all the boys who took part!

Have Sum Fun

The Have Sum Fun Maths Year 9 and 10 had 1 team place 3rd in their competition at All Saints on the 19th of March – WELL DONE BOYS!

• Mrs Monks

Have Sum Fun is one of those competitions where it always seems so chaotic right at the start. From the last minute prep to the high energy competition there’s never a moment of quiet but in that djinn of rounds there is a vibrance and electricity of energy in the air that is almost tangible. With multiple of Aquinas’s brightest minds squashed into one team, there was bound to be squabbles and debates but there was also great bonding. I have enjoyed my two years in this competition which has allowed me to learn and grow, I have learnt the value of perseverance, pushing the Aquinas team from outside the top 5 last year to 3rd this year. It has been a great honour to represent Aquinas in Have Sum Fun and I definitely hope there will be more opportunities in future

• Samuel Yeow

It has been a great Summer of Middle School Sport, below are some student’s perspectives of their experiences this season.

The 7 As Basketball Team started the season with a couple of losses, but since then we have gelled, and we are working well as a team. Some highlights in A’s are: Basil getting a big block a couple of weeks back, Lachlan and Zack taking a lot of strong rebounds, Jack hitting a step-back three against Trinity, Harper with his amazing defence, Aaron scoring some 3’s, Sammy with great passes, Rocky with strong gameplay and Austin directing some really good plays.

Some goals that we have set as a team include, make sure we have a tight defence at all times, don’t complain to the referees, always encourage your teammates and always play with good sportsmanship. It has been a really enjoyable season and we’re looking forward to Term 4.

• Marcus Motton

7B Basketball

The 7B team have had an amazing season with 0 losses 0 and 9 wins so far.

In practice, we have been brushing up on basics such as moving without the ball and leading away from your defender, and new things like behind the back passing, switching and doing weaves in gameplay.

I think it is safe to say that the team has a chance of again being successful in Term four. This group has amazing teamwork, and all of the players do the best they can on every training and every game.

• Tytan Milne

7C Basketball

This season we have done very well only losing one game to Hale. During training, our coach took us through drills that helped us to get better and play better on the day. We went through drills that improved our shooting and our passing; we learnt a specific play where we could also guarantee points if we pulled it off correctly. A highlight for me was when we played our first game against Scotch. During this game, we got off to a good start leading at half time, but the other team fought back and made it a small margin. Our team held on and won the game.

Another of my highlights for this season was when we played the 8C basketball team in a scratch match environment. At the start of the match the year 8s made four 3-pointers giving them a strong lead at half time. But our team came back and at 3 quarter-time we were up by just a few points. We retained our lead until the last minute when the year 8s scored an easy shot and then hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer. Overall, I think our team has improved so much on the court and we have made friends. I had a personal goal to do my best in whatever division I was in and I think I did my best to achieve my goal. I am sure my teammates would have achieved their goals for this season since they all did an amazing job with teamwork and trying their best.

• Dominic Lomen

7D Basketball

It’s been a very quick term, and I’ve been proud of what we’ve achieved. Sure, we haven’t won every single game, but we’ve given it our very best. We won a few of our games, but we lost the majority, but what we did best was we gave it our all, and that’s all we can ask for as a team. Our highlights were great, winning a game 36-6 against Guildford College, hitting bird mid-air and losing by 30 points against Hale. We had many tough challenges, and I’m certain, we’ll come out even stronger next semester, as we’ve improved so much since the first week. We’re only getting better. And next semester? We’re going to win every game and I’m sure of it.

We didn’t have any specific person that made our team play as well as we did, we all participated cheered on our teammates and had fun. Our coach had intentions for us to meet. But the main one was to forget that it was competitive, and just to play for fun and the sake of basketball. And we met those intentions by a mile, while still keeping those competitive, fun spirits.

• Shivan Barzanji

8A Basketball

So far, this first term has been rough. Everyone had to adjust to the early morning training, which meant waking up as early as 5:30 depending on where you live, this also meant that when we start there is no messing around and we get straight into drills and games.

We got off to a rocky start to the season, losing the first two games but then winning the next three. We have had to implement new offence and defences which has taken a while for everyone to understand how it works. Our aim for each game is for us to score 15 points each quarter and hold the other team to 10 points per quarter. We can’t wait for Term Four to see what we can do.

• Harry Fry

8B Basketball

Basketball this season has been fun and exciting this year, from the early morning training to the games on Friday. Our coaches David Morley and Tyson Machado have taught all of us new tricks for basketball which have greatly improved our game. The B’s coach Tyson was such a good coach leading us to only lose 1 game against Hale. In a team that had mainly borders and a few day boys, it was great to be playing with so many of my mates.

A big thank you to Mr Morley, Tyson and all the team for a great season, the boys all had a blast. I am really keen to come back in Term 4 for another great season.

• Myles Borgward

8C Basketball

The 8C basketball team is coached by Matt Flowers this year and we are improving game by game. Our first game of the season was played at Benadat stadium and we faced a few challenges because we had to wear face masks due to COVID-19 rules, it was really hot and difficult to hear each other on the court. It was our first loss, but the highlight of the game was that everyone made a shot. Benjamin Drage, Luka Wallace and Noah Bergman’s were all standouts in that game.

We have really gelled as a team over the season and lots of friendly banter has made the bus trips to games really enjoyable. We have become not only teammates but also good friends and because of this, we had our first win against Hale last week. I can’t wait to see how well we do next season, 8C has an exciting future.

• Ben Drage

8D Basketball

The 8Ds were almost undefeated in Term 1, only having been beaten once by Scotch college. The highlight of the season was probably the game against Hale on February 19th, when after trailing at three-quarter time, we came back and won by a point. Another highlight was the game against Guildford which we also won by a nail-biting 3 points. Overall, the D’s had a great season

• Luke Bettini

9A Basketball

The 9A’s have had a very good season in term 1 as we have won 4 games and only lost 1. Since term 4 last year, we have all, as a group improved individually and worked as a team. To start our season, we matched up against Scotch where we had a win beating them 43-29. After winning the first game of the season, we faced up against Hale who is one of the top basketball schools in our year. Unfortunately, we lost to them 17-56.

The next week, we came up against Trinity and beat them in a close one 44-38. We then made a trip to Guildford to play them however didn’t end up playing their A’s, instead of playing the Aquinas 9Bs. Facing up against Christchurch in one of the last games of the season, we won in a good comeback 41-38. To finish off the season, we face up against Wesley where we are hoping to end the season with a win.

Getting up early in the morning to train isn’t always the easiest thing for a lot of us however everyone makes a great effort to get there in the morning. One of our goals for this season was to play better as a team. After winning most of our games this season, we really feel like we have done that with the scoring being fairly even throughout each game. In each game, there is always one or two players who really step up for the team and I don’t think there is one person on the team who hasn’t or couldn’t do that. To finish off, a real highlight for this season was how we won a lot more games than the last term. This really was because of the effort everyone including the coach put in and how the spirit of the team has lifted a lot.

• Luca Di Camillo

9B Basketball

This season has been a challenging but fun season with some skilled opponents and close games, but when the siren sounds, win or lose, we walk off with our heads up thanking our opponents for a great game. Throughout this season our skills have been improving with the help of our coaches and teammates encouraging each and every one of us to do our best. Overall, playing in the Aquinas 9B’s basketball team has been a great experience.

• Judd Logan

9C Basketball

This year I was part of the 9C Basketball team for Term 1 who performed very well throughout the season. The team was built with good character, a great atmosphere and a lot of early hour practice. The 9C basketball team was nearly undefeated with a close loss to Hale ruining the teams winning streak. The team was very committed to waking up early and getting to school to attend training so we could build the best team possible. The boys and the coach always enjoyed training and playing games because of the great atmosphere the supporters created.

We had some great moments in our games which will be remembered by boys and coaches for years to come. Just recently, we thrashed Christ Church Grammar School with an amazing 3rd and 4th quarter. I will always remember the 1st quarters ending. Jack Rosa who usually played B’s basketball played for the C team for the first time due to an issue with numbers. At the end of the 1st quarter, Jack hit a shot that beat the buzzer. Everyone cheered and sprinted onto the court to get around him. It was a great atmosphere and a moment I will remember for a while. Overall a great start to the year and I really enjoyed the experience.

• Zane Vlahov

9CDE Basketball

Basketball throughout this season was great fun. Every team I had played for either the Cs Dss and e’s was great fun. Coached by Lachlan Sheppard or ‘Shepp’, Mitch Russell and Jonah Finlay, every game we played was just non-stop intense and absolutely memorable. From Mitch always coming into the boarding house saying what I can work on and what I can do to improve, and also Jonah’s chats about who’s better out of Portland and the Timberwolves, and 2021 NBA season championship contenders, these coaches weren’t just great people, but great coaches as well. Working us hard at training, making us do suicides every time I missed a lay-up; let’s just say I stayed fit THAT season! Switching to the early morning training was painful but a good routine to have, and proudly coached by Jonah Finlay, Mitch Russell and Lachlan ‘Shepp’ Sheppard these 3 coaches had made one of my already favourite sports become one of the most memorable moments in my time at Aquinas!!

• Lucas Andrews

For 7As cricket team, there had been both ups and downs, some good games, some bad. We started our training off with some fielding drills, getting to know everyone in our team, letting the coaches put us in either As, Bs or Cs. then we got into our first net session. When the coaches picked their teams, they seemed pretty satisfied. We went into our first game against Scotch and we were all feeling pretty confident, we ended up losing by ten runs. We knew this was a learning point in what we could improve on, so we were ready to bounce back for the second game.

Things didn’t get any better from then onwards, losing to Hale, then Trinity, but then we had a breakthrough bowling Guildford Grammar out for 20, before going on and making 1/120. Then we lost to Christ Church, we aren’t able to chase down an easy score after bowling them out for 77 runs. We weren’t too happy about the way we went with this year, but by the strong coaching of Eddie Swan, we are sure to come back in Term 4.

• Liam Waldock

7B Cricket

It has been really fun playing for the mighty 7B Cricket team. We have won nearly every game we’ve played due to the dedication and commitment that Ryan Fox and Declan Jeffreys (our coaches) and all the players have shown. So, on behalf of the mighty year 7B cricket team we would like to thank Foxy and Declan. Go Aquinas 7B team!

• Clinton Librizzi

7C Cricket

My name is Jonathan Beckett-Cooper and I want to tell you about life in the 7C cricket team for Term One of 2021. Over the term, we played cricket against Scotch College, Hale School, Guildford Grammar, Trinity College, Christ Church Grammar and Wesley College. While we lost some games, the highlight was a win against Trinity College. We played really well as a team and everyone had a lot of fun.

During the term, our coach, Declan Jeffreys, taught us a lot of things at training using drills that helped us in games. The training drills included continuous cricket, catching practise, fielding practise and batting practice in the nets. We had a lot of fun at training, we learned a lot and we made some good friends. I really enjoyed playing in the team and having Declan as my coach. I look forward to playing cricket again for Aquinas College in term 4.

• Jonathan Beckett-Cooper

8A Cricket

This season for the 8A team went really well only losing two games against Wesley and Hale. We have trained really hard with our coaches Peter Spencer and James Holt especially focusing on fielding and fitness. Some highlights of the season were when Ben Davies made 52 not out against Christ Church, also Reggie Mils taking 3 wickets against hale. But I think the best thing is Jack Kirby making multiple fifties throughout year 7 and 8, including a 66 not out against Wesley in term four last year. In Term 4 we need two work on hitting the right line and length, five out of the six balls in the over, because if we do not do this, teams like Wesley will beat us, also making run out opportunities count because we left a few to many runouts go begging. Overall, the season was great but in Term 4 it would be good if we could go undefeated like in Year 7.

• Zach Courboules

8B Cricket

This year has been a good one for the 8B cricket team. We may have only won 1 game, but We all had a great time with the boys. We always put maximum effort into every single game and training. We learnt lots of great things from this year with the help of our coach Michael Hardie. Our coach was also willing to give all of us a go whether that was batting up the order or opening the bowling, he has helped us grow our character and performance. Michael always managed to find a positive out of every game even if it was our worst, all the boys are very thankful for his outstanding coaching skills.

There have been many highlights, Jack Hughes scoring a massive 40 not out or Alexander Richardson and Lachlan Tippet’s 130 run partnership. These are just a few amazing things we have experienced this year, thank you again Aquinas 8B Cricket.

• Lachlan Tippet

8C Cricket

This season for the 8C’s was one of the best. We played against Hale, Scotch, Trinity and the Aquinas 9B’s. In most of the games, we had a good chance of winning, but at all times we learnt that good teamwork was the best. The coaches of Liam Hindle and Luke Wimbridge have made us a better and stronger team through our games and training sessions.

Through this season, we have had a lot of fun playing games of continuous cricket and learning how to play the game better in the nets. We always celebrated when boys got their best figures, and parents were proud of our efforts this season and I hope a lot of boys come back in Term 4.

• Michael Scott

9A Cricket

During this term, I was a part of the Aquinas College 9A cricket squad. Our start to this season was nothing that we had experienced beforehand. Many of the boys in Aquinas cricket have been together since Term 1, year 7 and our team has not had much luck against the other PSA sides. However, this term our team has passed many milestones that we wouldn’t have dreamed of last year. Our team this year has been built upon the improvement of our overall game, whether it’s our running between the wicket or our intensity in the field, we as a team have been pushing ourselves to better our performance. Our coach, Kristian, has emphasised to us the values of commitment (if we don’t act like a team, then we can’t play like one) and resilience which allows us to learn from our mistakes and correct them for the future.

As I captained this side, I was thrilled to witness the dramatic changes in both our team’s culture, passion and results through the games we played. Our start to term 1, saw our batting performance scoring under 100 and taking under 3 wickets a game. However, with the determination shown in training and game days, we have been able to turn this season around with consistent totals over 120 and taking over 5 wickets per game. In my opinion, I believe the new positive mindset this term has contributed to the vast improvements in our teams standard. Although we have been unlucky executing our victories, we have been able to take Christ Church (year 8 top team) and Trinity (year 7 top team) to the last over of the match. To finish off I would like to leave you with my favourite moment this term in cricket; after winning our Guildford fixture, the boys got around in the change room to sing the AC sports chant. The feeling of unity and excitement in that moment has been the pinnacle of most of those boy’s time from this term at Aquinas cricket and we wish to celebrate like that in the near future.

• Nishok Nimalan

9B Cricket

The 9B season did not go quite as planned. We had a drought of wins spanning 5 weeks. There were thrilling games and close finishes, but we just could not get over the line. We were feeling pretty down going into our week 5 fixture against Christchurch. We only made 92 in our batting innings. Nothing was looking good but after being revved up by Mr Spiteri, we gave it our best shot. The last over was a dead heat. Christchurch needed 5 runs to win, 4 to draw whilst we needed three wickets. The first ball, a clean bowled wicket. Coming down to the last ball, they needed one run to win whilst we needed one wicket. The ball came in and rocketed to a fielder. The batsmen sprinted, dived and got run out. We had won our first game of the year, and since then have been on a 3-match winning streak. It has been a great season, as all of us have developed as players. Mr Spiteri has guided and taught us to be good cricketers and sportsmen. It has been an amazing season for learning and for character.

• Finn Murray

I have enjoyed every minute of the Year 7A’s Tennis season. From the awesome win against Guildford in week 6 to the dreadful loss against Trinity in week 5. Every week has been a blast. Win or lose at training or matches, this team is my team and I thoroughly enjoy playing with them every week. I can’t wait until Term 4 to play tennis with them again and to hopefully win a few more games. Every opposition we faced was fierce, strong and competitive but most importantly, everyone showed great sportsmanship towards the other player.

• Harrison Agnihotri

7B Tennis

My team for year 7 PSA summer sport was year 7 tennis in B division. For most of us, it was our first-time playing tennis, and it was pretty overwhelming in our first match since we were very new to the school. Our coach Bennet was an excellent role model for us and made us always try our best no matter the score. Our goal was simply just to have fun and to represent the college with pride. Although we did work hard, and we played very well we lost quite a lot of games and we only won 1 against Trinity. This might sound like a bad effort, but it wasn’t, because even though we lost, we all were fair and tried our hardest.

We had a lot of key moments that happened during the season and it really made it so much more fun. One of them was versus Christ Church where Sam (our B1) was in the last point wins moment. Sadly, he did lose but it was a very tight game. Overall tennis was a lot of fun and although it was new and very confusing at the start, we all made a lot of progress and the coach really helped with that. I hope that we can have another great season in Term 4.

• Diego Bouzada

8A Tennis

Tennis this year so far has been exciting. It’s a big change from Year 7, with a lot more drills, exercises and activities. Our A’s coach this year is Mr Bolitho, and our B’s coach is Patrick who is an old boy from Aquinas. Aquinas hasn’t won a game in A’s but has been going to a win against Guildford. Mr Bolitho has been a great coach and leader for giving up his spare time for us to help us improve our tennis. The main A’s highlight was probably against Guildford where most of our games were close. Tennis this year would not be what it is without Mr Bolitho and I strongly encourage you to try it.

• Archie Wedge

8B Tennis

The focus of years 8Bs tennis team in Term 1 was improving our serves and volleys. The team with Mr Weston’s help were able to improve these aspects of our game. Throughout term 1 the team came close to winning a few of our games and in 1 game we were unfortunate to lose by only 2 to Trinity.

The highlights of our season were the unlucky loss to Trinity and having great training sessions with Mr Weston. Despite not getting a win in Term 1 we all had fun competing against other schools and representing Aquinas college.

• Xavier Lomma

9A Tennis

It’s been a tough Term One of Tennis this year for the Year 9A team having lost experienced tennis players towards the end of last year to other PSA Sports something that will take time to rebuild from especially in the light of ever-improving and established and experienced competition. Tennis is one of the most technical of all sports, and although our determination and competitive drive have not wavered, many players have been forced to play positions and opponents higher than they have experienced before. This is all part of a quick learning curve for us.

Results this term have been varied; with Hale, Scotch and Christ Church dominating us – and Guildford, Wesley and Trinity closer rivals. Thank you to Mr Ben Wright for the great help he has given us through Term One. The Year 9A Team in Term One has been: Tim Kania, Cooper Allen, Sho Aarons, Jacob Nevin, Houston Faulkner, Stefan Elhaj, Troy Roncio, and Michael Elhaj.

• Tim Kania

The experience in the 7A volleyball team was absolutely terrific. All the fun we had was awesome. Sometimes we might muck around a little bit when we go on the court to start a game, we are completely different people. We concentrate and try our hardest to win, sometimes we lose which is alright because we can improve on it in training, but most of the time we would win the game which we are proud of. The training on Wednesday afternoon is terrific because we can improve on the things that we lacked in the volleyball games. One of the key things that Georgia (our coach) wanted us to work on was communication, this is because we didn’t talk on the court, so we missed some balls that we should’ve gotten but we didn’t. That was the thing we worked on the most in training to perfect it.

Some of the key moments that we had were winning most of our games because that meant that we have worked hard to get to that level. We recently competed in the Beach volleyball cup and the Rossmoyne Challenge. The beach cup was a completely different experience for us Year 7s because we haven’t played on the sand for a competition before, so it was challenging. We didn’t get to the finals, but we did try our hardest to win all our games. The Rossmoyne challenge was also a challenging experience because they were much taller than us, they do it as a school subject, and to our surprise, the nets were higher than we're used to. We didn’t win but we put up a good fight and tried our hardest. The only thing we could ask ourselves, is did we play our best that night? In my opinion, the team absolutely did. All those things happened in the 7A volleyball team and it might seem like a lot, but it was terrific playing with my friends and giving it our all to win.

• Thomas O’Neill

7 Volleyball

All of the new year 7 volleyball players gathered for the first training session of the year at the Brother Paull Centre during week 2. For a few team members, it was their first volleyball experience. In the initial training, the first things that we covered were the basics: setting, digging and serving. The coaches showed us a few different techniques that were easy to perform. The coaches wanted us to all be able to do overarm serves by the end of the term. Slowly, everyone became good at the drills we were doing. Then we moved on to a more complicated aspect: spiking. Some people managed to get this easily while others took a bit of time. Nonetheless, they still performed well and tried hard.

When our first game came, everyone was excited but also slightly nervous about representing Aquinas. In the game, we performed well as a team and were successful. I think that in the game, we learnt more about each other and also ourselves. I think that not only me but everyone made more friends in that game. Volleyball is very fun in the training and the games and I think that the fact that we enjoyed ourselves is a win.

• Blake Topham

8 Volleyball

We started this season with the introduction of new team members. These new members expanded the team as a whole, introduced more skill, new moves and positions. With this expansion, we were able to beat every team in the PSA, and defeat Rossmoyne. We couldn’t have achieved these achievements without our fantastic coach, Logan Vanderweide. We thank him for our training and for helping us grow to become great volleyball players. He is more than a coach to us; he helped us fix our mistakes and become great Aquinians. Logan also taught us something very important, communication is key. It is very easy to communicate with each other, but it is very difficult to implement communication in games, and in very stressful moments in our everyday lives.

There are many occasions where our team lets the lack of communication get ahead of us. This resulted in our devastating losses in the High School’s Beach Cup and the losses of many sets in games. Our team believes that we have exceeded Logan’s expectations for volleyball. We can improve in the future and reach many goals. As Mr Dempsey has said many times, “great men first, great volleyballers second”.

• Perth Otero

9 Volleyball

The season was an absolute roller coaster with many ups and downs. After following the lead of Mr Dempsey and our coaches, we were able to align ourselves both skilfully and with the College Values to strive for the best on and off the court. After suffering our first loss early in the term we had to change our ways to persevere throughout the season and climb our way to the top of the ladder. After many vigorous training sessions and lots of sweat, we were able to develop as a team to work immaculately and in perfect harmony to achieve great results against the other PSA schools. This season, all the boys have learnt many new skills that have helped the team excel in their games, and as the year 9 team moves forward, we hope that our future placing reflects what we do in training and who we are off the court. I would like to thank the coaches and those who helped us in our development. All in all, our season was exquisite and an absolute blast.

• Mitchell Bacon

Middle School Water Polo

This year the Aquinas As Middle School Water polo team has seen zero competition across every single PSA team, with an outstanding undefeated season. The A’s team includes a mix of Year 7, 8, and 9 students consisting of the following players: Luke Urquhart, Zac McDonald, Jesse Barr, Charlie Backhouse, Max Backhouse, Barton Mincham, Kale Arena, Jacob Della Bona, Thomas Dreverman, Thomas Grierson and Lachlan Patching along with eight-time Australian Olympic water polo player and coach Tom Hoad as the team’s coach. The team have proven themselves a formidable force in the Friday afternoon PSA competitions, with their closest game being won by 5 points against Hale School.

The team’s Monday afternoon training sessions often consist of multiple complex and taxing attack and defence formations alongside many man-on-man overpowering techniques led by Tom Hoad with the ideology of always being a step ahead of the opposition team. These formations and techniques are put into use during Wednesday training sessions, when the team is split evenly in half and made to play against one another, with Tom Hoad offering very precise constructive criticism to any player in need of such advice. This constructive criticism allows the team to work effectively with each other and learn how to play the game better as a whole.

The team mentality that coach Tom Hoad instils in the boy’s heads is made obvious when watching the team play. No man is left behind and everyone gets a go with the ball. Week 7’s game against Christ Church Grammar School is a true testimony to this, with the boys playing an almost unrivalled game. The team put to use their ability to share the ball, with 7 out of the 8 boys scoring a goal or more. Everyone gave their all and the proof was in the pudding with the end result being a 2-22 win over Christ Church. It’s this exact team mentality that is the exact reason why the Aquinas As Middle School Water polo team has seen such success amongst all of their games in the PSA competition.

• Max Backhouse

Water Polo

Middle School B’s Water Polo team has been a great opportunity for the whole team to improve and have fun. The difference from water polo to any other sport at Aquinas is that there is a middle school team. This means that the team includes year 9’s, year 8’s and year 7’s, because of this the older boys can help mentor the younger boys which is something that can’t be done with other sports. As a member of this team, I have been given a great opportunity to improve on all aspects of my game which leads to having more fun in the games.

The coach of the team, Flynn Mais, has been a great help to us throughout the season. From the first game that we played to the last, we have had great improvement. We could not have gotten this improvement without Flynn coaching us. When we face our opponents, we always try our hardest whether we are winning by 10 goals or losing by 10 goals. This is why this team is so different from the others, as no matter the circumstances, I know that every single one of us will try our hardest. Because of our efforts, we have had some great wins like the game against Guildford. During this game, we all had so much fun and scored lots of goals. I know that whatever happens in the future for this team, we will get through it together.

• David Whyte

Playing in the Water Polo C and D teams this year have been lots of fun. We have had many new Year 7s and some new year 8’s as well. Mr Osborn and Sam Grattidge make training enjoyable and are great coaches. In training, we have been working on shooting in the corners, and while defending, staying on a player. Recently, the C and D teams had a good win against Trinity. Everyone played really well, and it was a great day. I like water polo as it is a competitive game that I can enjoy with my mates.

• Ethan Hickman

On Monday the 29th of March, eight Year 9 and eight Year 10 students participated in the 2021 Da Vinci Decathlon at the University of Western Australia.

It was an early start for the students with everyone gathering at 7.30 for the day's event. The Da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition held annually in different countries and is run in the spirit of an Olympic Decathlon. Students compete in teams of eight across ten disciplines including engineering, maths, code-breaking, art and poetry, science, English, ideation, creative producers and general knowledge.

Once we arrived at UWA it was time to strategise and allocate who would complete each paper. Together with teamwork, collaboration and a lot of writing, both Year 9 and 10 teams managed to achieve Aquinas’ highest results yet with the Year 9s coming 3rd in maths and 2nd in both creative producers and science. The Year 10’s were placed first in maths and came 2nd in science. This was a great improvement from what we were able to achieve at the last event 2 years ago. Overall, it was a great day for all who participated and I can strongly recommend it to those wanting to compete in future years.

An Aquinas College team has secured a place in the Synergy Schools Solar Challenge state final next month.

The Year 8 team won the South Metro Regional Semi Final at Rossmoyne Senior High School, winning the knockout, best of three races competition over four rounds.

The team’s car only tallied one loss across the competition.

Aquinas College had 10 teams in the semi final, which involved students building solar cars using Synergy-supplied kits and racing them over a 20m distance. The Aquinas team heading to the state finals put its success down to the aerodynamic shape of the winning car.

“We think the reason our car was so fast was due to its lightness and flat aerodynamic shape.”

“While other schools angled their panels to capture more sunlight, our testing showed this only had a minor effect in a short 20m race – instead, we focused on streamlining the shape and using a smaller gear to maximise the speed in the last section of the race.”

This was Aquinas College’s first attempt at the Synergy Solar Challenge, however, the College’s experience in the field of solar energy goes back more than 20 years, with success in the Australian Model Solar Car Championships.

The team will compete for the Champion Schools trophy at Optus Stadium on 9^th April.