Last week, during the Year 10.5 Transition Week, each House participated in a one-day workshop on the topic of homelessness. The workshop was conducted by Liam Swainson from the Salvation Army and included an exploration session, street walk and a powerful movie about young people in the Oasis Program. On the weekend, like many weekends before, Year 10 students such as Flynn Fulton took part in the Breakfast Patrol. It is here that they can see how donations and services are being used directly. The Breakfast Patrols feed approximately 40 people each morning. What an incredible lesson learned beyond the classroom!

On 20^th September 2022, six Aquinas boys from the Middle and Senior School were selected to represent Aquinas at the 2022 Perth Philosothon Competition at UWA. Overall, there were 120 students attending across the state representing their schools. The event consisted of four rounds. The first two rounds were year level Philosothon discussions, followed by two open rounds with mixed year groups. The four topics were, “What is the value of art?”, “Is it fair to split sports into female and male divisions?”, “Is a hole something or nothing?” and “Should we welcome our cyborg future, and what is the difference between humans and cyborgs?”. Lively discussions and questioning took place on each of these topics between students and schools, coordinated and marked by facilitators and judges for each group based on three key criteria; creative, critical and collaborative thinking. After 2 and a half hours of philosophical discussions presentations took place. There were places for each year level, the most promising speaker awards and the overall winning school of the night. This went to PLC, but the Aquinas boys battled it out well in all year groups and discussions. I was fortunate enough to be presented with the Most Promising Philosopher’s Award! Well done to all the boys and a big thank you to Mrs Monks for organising the event, getting us there and supporting us throughout. It was a really fun and rewarding experience, and we will be back next year to try and take out the winning school award!

Hudson Woods-Smith
Year 7

On Monday 5^th September 43 Middle School and 37 Senior School students shaved their head in support of the Leukaemia Foundation’s mission to shave the world from Blood Cancer. The idea to bring this event to the College was instigated by Year 11 Students Thomas Eade, Luke Porteous and Conor Nolan who need to be commended for their efforts and organisation. The current total money raised is $43,850 eclipsing the original goal of $20,000 set by the boys.

The event could not have happened without the generosity of the Aquinas Community in their donations as well as the commitment of a dozen Hairdressers who offered their time to shave the students head. A huge thank you goes to the following Hairdressers: Rebbeca Richardson, Jaimi Frase, Lea Hugget and Taaj Arden from Barbershop Express Booragoon, Zeleha McAdam and Tanesha Dougan from Hair at the Zoo in Leeming Forum, Samnatha Urquhart, Kelly Chinnery, Ros Borgomastro, Roby Eade, Carla Peca and Melissa Burych.

Well done to the following students who committed to the cause, without their efforts we would not have been able to run such a successful event.

During Week 4, Year 11 Human Biology students attended the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research to have a look at the current stem cell research programs. It was a very eye-opening experience, and the Perkins staff members responsible for our group were very welcoming and knowledgeable. We were led in a number of engaging activities such as a stem cell card game and were even able to utilize a PC-2 wet lab to grow our own liver organoids. All the boys had a great time, and we hope the future Human Biol students have an experience as enjoyable as ours.

The Da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate students. This term, the Year 7-10 boys competed in teams of eight across 10 disciplines: engineering, mathematics and chess, code breaking, art and poetry, science, English, ideation, creative producers, cartography and legacy.

Fantastic results:

Year 7s = 1st place Creative Producers

Year 8s = 3rd place Code Breaking

Year 9s = 2nd place Code Breaking

Year 10s = 1st place Creative Producers + Science, 3rd Place Ideation which earned them 3rd place Overall in the competition!

Four of Aquinas’ top Economics students participated in an Economic Forum run by the CCIWA. The forum consisted of an address from James Walsh who is a senior economist at the CCIWA, he discussed the current state of the Western Australian economy and some of the issues we are facing.

Buz Brady led the questions to James with a question regarding our dependence on China’s continued Growth and weather that was wise given the current geopolitical climate. James was impressed with the question as was the crowd.

Steven Kemp the author of the students Economic text book and the ATAR Chief Marker then discussed the trends of the previous year’s examination paper and what he thinks would be some good questions for this year. This is always a lively discussion as the students are all ears for any examination hints. Again the Aquinas students were the first to ask questions with Buz and Ben Warr firing off a few well directed questions.

After a quick snack the students were introduced to a recent graduate economist and a student from Curtin who was in a graduate program working part time at the CCIWA. Their advice for students doing their ATAR examinations this year was invaluable. They basically said, study thoroughly, explore all the options at University and be open to opportunities that develop you as a person.

Finally the students were involved in a team activity, where each table had a current economic challenge to solve. Buz Brady’s team won with a fantastic explanation of the relationship between the exchange rate and the Balance of Payments in Australia. Chocolates all round.

The forum was run by Nick Ognenis (pictured) who is the President of the Economic Teachers Association. Nick is an ex-Head of Hass and Deputy from Aquinas. Nick congratulated the boys on their knowledge and their detailed questioning.

Australia’s economic future and prosperity is going to be in good hands if this forum was any indication of the talented students we are producing.

Last Thursday, 11 August 2022, the Year 11 and 12 Politics & Law ATAR students got to meet with Federal WA Senator and former Attorney-General, Michaelia Cash. During this time, the boys got to ask the Senator about her role in Australia’s Parliament, and discuss what life is like as a Senator for WA. In addition to this, the Senator provided the class with important information on past legal case decisions / outcomes, and talked about passing legislation through Parliament to create Statute Law. Various syllabus points were covered during the meeting, along with general conversation. It was a very beneficial and interesting Q&A, and provided a real-life based perspective on textbook knowledge.

Aquinas College sincerely thanks Senator Cash for her time to meet with the P&L students.

Rhyan Baile
Year 12

The commencement of Week Two in Term Three heralded the start of the annual Aquinas NAIDOC celebrations. The week-long celebration is a time within the Aquinas calendar for all Aquinians to celebrate and recognise history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the Aquinas community and wider Australian community.

Monday always brings excitement and anticipation of the sporting clash that sees Indigenous students from year 10 to 12 take on the much-hyped staff team in a game of basketball. The staff team burst on to the court and began to build a lead based upon a sound game plan, however things unravelled fast when Mr Hamer limped from the court. The students seized on Mr Bell’s inability as Coach to reshuffle his team with a series of three pointers and alley-oop dunks that quickly got the crowd support. In the end the boys ran out easy winners for a third consecutive year.

The Indigenous Middle School students started the sporting dominance at recess on Monday over the staff team easily in the first Didj-ball (dodge ball) game we have enjoyed at the College. The action was ferocious with staff and students exchanging heavy body shots. At the siren to end time the boys had won two games to one to claim the first Didj-ball title. We hope this can be a regular fixture of NAIDOC week each year.

‘What does racism look like for you?’ was the topic for an open microphone panel discussion that all students in the Senior School had the privilege to attend, whilst a group of invited guests shared stories and insight around the central question. All students were affirmed and challenged by the speakers to embrace the National NAIDOC theme to ‘get-up,’ ‘stand-up’ and ‘show-up’ to address racism of all kinds in our community.

In addition to the panel all Senior School students were invited during breaks on Tuesday and Wednesday to try their hand at Indigenous craft activities. An invitation that saw many students create beautiful dot art pieces, as well as elaborate friendship bands and key-chains. Wednesday Break A also saw the Indigenous Team make available 400 servings of ‘roo-stew’ as prepared by the College catering staff, who followed a ‘secret recipe’ sourced and supplied by Mr Bell. The recipe is obviously a winner as the 400 serves were gone in under 10 minutes. Suffice to say we will have to double the recipe for next year!

The annual NAIDOC assembly has become a ‘crowd favourite’ for staff, students, parents and community members alike. This year the audience was treated to outstanding dance performances from an Indigenous girls’ dance group from Penhros, in addition to the Aquinas College Indigenous dancers. Year 12 student Xavier Cox sang two special songs in language, while Year 10 student Tremane Baxter-Edwards shared a truly inspirational speech centred on why Australia should apologise for the ‘Stolen Generation.’ Key-note speaker Mr Andrew Beck once again centred his thoughts and challenges to all in attendance around this year’s National NAIDOC theme. Following the assembly all invited guests, students and staff were invited to enjoy a beautiful morning tea that showcased Indigenous ingredients, flavours and tastes.

The week was a wonderful showcase of Indigenous culture at Aquinas College and we congratulate the Indigenous Team and all the students involved.

Mr Michael Bell

Director of Indigenous Education