The introduction of our Junior School extended day program has been a roaring success and students have readily engaged in many club opportunities. Towards the end of each term, we give students the opportunity to nominate to try different clubs for the coming term. Here are some short wrap videos of some of the clubs in Term 2, 2021.

The Middle School art club have had a busy term. They have designed an Albert Einstein inspired poster for the art room gate, they have created some clay animals and a clay burger! They are also working on a commission for the Media Arts department!

Here are some comments from the boys at art club:

"The only thing limiting you is your imagination here at art club. Art club is full of creativity, and the attitude in the studio is fun and playful. You get to meet many new people and share your love of art and many other hobbies and interests. you choose your OWN idea and project, whether it be clay, fine art or designing. It is up to you to create your own project. Here at art club, we support the freedom of thought."

-Max Di Lello

"My favourite part about art club is getting to work on your own piece and always looking forward to coming and doing art with my friends."

- Isaac Valente

BREAKING NEWS 🎥

Mr McFadden has been murdered!

No...not really. He's fine. But members of AC TV gathered the other week to undertake an intensive training session - led by BBC Producer (and wife of Mr McFadden) Mrs Eastman - where they learned to craft a news story based around the tragic murder of our College Principal.

Take a look behind the scenes.

From the extreme disappointment of last years cancellation of South Pacific, Senior students set out in October determined to have an awesome production for 2021. For most of the cast, this was their first-ever Senior School production and, for many of the Year 12s, their first proper production since Disco Inferno in 2019.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat has been a pleasure to be apart of. Being able to do a massive art project at school with a lot of my closest mates and many like-minded individuals from Years 10 to 12 has really made this production a memorable one.

At times, the rehearsal process was a bit rocky, especially during the first two weeks of term one with the second lockdown. But undeterred by this second attack from the pandemic, the cast was set on making sure we have a show this year - many hours of rehearsal and personal practice has gone into preparing for this great event.

The cast was led by a brilliant group of Year 12s: Naveen Nimilan College Captain, Tristan Nel Culture Captain, Daniel Nolan Captain of Boats, myself Captain of Percussion, Nick Burvil, Ethan Dal Molan and Zebiah Peaker, a humble member of the Culture Council. Mr Sivewright, Mr McMillan, Stella and Kate have all put many countless hours of their time into making this show a success and we all (the cast) can’t thank them enough for all the work and passion they put into the Senior School productions every year.

This year the production will be outside the Chapel, this was such a relief to many of us because we have a chance of good acoustics, unlike in the College Hall. For the audience, they will feel like they’re at an outdoor music festival with food trucks and live music before the show starts and the cast will be able to interact with the audience easily, enhancing the viewing experience of the show.

Joseph and the Technicolour Dream Coat is a high energy, funny and engaging musical which, for many of the parents, will be nostalgic of their days in Junior School!

On the 20th of February, I was given the chance to sing a solo in the Perth Concert Hall for the Requiem Love and Loss performance with the West Coast Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.

These music ensembles were founded by conductor Samuel Parry and are both extremely talented and made up of volunteers. Samuel Parry talked about loss and grief and how music can help us heal and love again.

When we arrived at the Concert Hall, we had our own reserved parking and backstage I had my own dressing room with my own bathroom and a mirror with lights around it. My family and I relaxed and ate dinner there before the show. It was really cool.

During the concert, I sang in one of the 4 pieces that were performed. The piece I sang in is called the Materna Requiem. It was written for an orchestra, a choir and four soloists. I sang the solo part for a treble (a young boy soprano). There were 3 other soloists in the Materna Requiem: the tenor Perry Joyce, the soprano Katja Webb and the young soprano Phoebe Tait.

I walked on stage first out of all the soloists and I was super nervous. The soloists stood at the front of the stage next to the conductor. I sang in movements 1, 5 and 8. In movement 1, I was so nervous and when I had to stand up I was doubting myself, but when my part arrived I suddenly calmed down and I was really happy with how I sang. I was so relieved when I finished my part in movement 1, especially because I had to sing some of it completely by myself without any orchestra or choir accompaniment. I had about 15 minutes until the next time I had to sing so I calmed down and listened to the beautiful music that was coming from behind me. Then it was time for movement 5. I was a lot less nervous but I was still a little anxious. I sang a lot during this movement and it was by far the hardest part that night for me. The reason this movement was so hard was because I had to sing very low at the start and also extremely high (high C). As the movement moved along I sang better and better. Soon it was time for the choir’s, orchestra’s and my favourite movement, movement 8. This movement is a combination of every movement and it is super fast and exciting. I sang the best I had sung all night and I was very satisfied when I sat down and was finished.

Overall, the experience I had during the rehearsals and the performance was fantastic and if I could do this again I definitely would. I met lots of really nice people that were so kind and happy and I can’t even describe the feeling I felt when I walked back on stage for the final applause. This was definitely one of the best things I have ever done and I am happy I said yes.

Term 3 saw the trial of the Middle School Co-Curricular activities on Monday afternoons. Students were given the opportunity to test multiple streams of extra learning. The success of the program will see it cemented in the school program in 2021.

Aquinas College was deeply honoured recently when word came through that Andrea Corr (of the Corr’s fame) wanted our Schola Choir to perform in her Christmas album. The boys jumped at the chance and spent a long evening at Crank Studios in Northbridge recording and rerecording their part of the song “Begin Again”. To make the evening even more challenging, Andrea and her team were in lockdown in Ireland and working with Hugh Lydon and the boys through Zoom!

Andrea Corr “Christmas Songs” is now live on all streaming platforms - https://lnk.to/andreacorrchris...

The College would like to formally thank Andrea and her team at Spoke Records for their faith in our boys and the opportunity granted to them.

We hope you all enjoyed our Junior School Art Exhibition. Learn a little more about the pieces and designs in the video below.