Curtin Primary School has been a big part of our after-school Mentor Program for over ten years. In Semester One, senior students from Aquinas assisted with homework help, games and projects. We also mixed up the program with a gradual introduction to Sportsfun. Because some children cannot access local clubs or physical activities after school, Sportsfun offers a non-competitive and enjoyable program for about 13 children every Wednesday afternoon for six weeks. Sports included badminton, basketball, soccer, footy and volleyball. For the shy to the outgoing child, there was always something for the kids to do. Our leaders were fantastic and it’s always interesting to see the profound difference from when they first met to how their interact after a few weeks. This program would not be possible without the passionate support of Chaplain, Mrs Roxanne Morine.

The impact of ‘older brothers’ at Curtin Primary has led to service options for Year 11.5 students to be teacher assistants during the myFuture Program on Friday mornings. This will start in Week Three in Term Four and there will be an opportunity for four students to commit to a five-week program. It will be offered again in 2022. We look forward to continuing our partnership in years to come.

Kickstart has been a great success this term with students gaining introductions to bricklaying, tiling, wall and ceiling, plumbing, painting, plastering and stonemasonry.

In bricklaying, students learned the basic skills of mixing cement, safe handling, trowel, laying bricks and the 3-4-5 rule to measure off house plans and layout a work area. The professionalism of our students allowed them to go one step further and they were given a task to build a mini house from plans. They have to measure out, level and build to specifications, including adding windows and a door. A fantastic experience and, my advice, don't underestimate the skills of bricklaying, it has a lot of practical math applications!

Stonemasonry is a niche profession and was brought back into popular demand by engineered stone and kitchen benchtops. Stonemasonry is unique and precise and requires excellent hand skills. Students used basic hand tools to carve out their names on marble. Students gained an understanding of the different types of stone, precious rocks from Western Australia and where this profession is in popular demand.

Students tested their skills with tiling, completing the famous rocket ship task. They did exceptionally well, with many completing the task and adding their own finishing touches. The following week students were given a very challenging measuring task where they had to cut tiles to a map of Australia. A task that is used in the Australian World Skills competitions. The tiling experience taught students to measure and cut tile, apply grout/cement to the tiles, levelling and how to correctly lay to job specifications.

Boys were treated to one of our best try-a-trade experiences to date at the Master Plumbers Association in Jandakot. Students completed a range of welding tasks and joined copper using a range of various pipe fittings. Students completed the famous cricket-wicket task and were treated to a drainage activity for the ages. Levelling, trenching, digging and connecting various pipes to job specifications within a given timeframe gave the boys a real day in the life experience, showing how important communication skills are to completing jobs and meeting deadlines.

For wall and ceiling, students learned how to bevel gyprock and create bulkheads. A bulkhead is a typical addition in bedrooms, laundries and custom applications to lift the interior of a house. Unfortunately, COVID -19 locked us down for the final project this term - to sheet gyprock to walls and ceiling on a timber frame.

Kickstart provides a fantastic opportunity for Year 10 students to participate in a practical hands-on program weekly. A creative outlet for students looking at vocational pathways, and apprenticeships provides an opportunity for students to excel and develop work-ready skills far beyond the classroom.

For further information please contact Peter.Gellin@aquinas.wa.edu.au

On Friday the 18th of June, Aquinas hosted the Year 11 Social. This highly anticipated event is one that did not disappoint. The boys embraced the opportunity to dress up in their suits, as well as invite a guest to a social for the first time.

As we walked into the hall on a red carpet, it became evident very quickly that it was going to be an enjoyable night, with happy faces all around and an excited crowd dancing to the music. The evening provided a great balance between showing off your moves on the dance floor, having conversations with mates, and taking great photos in the photo booth with all the different props. It was great to see various Tutor Groups taking photos together to remember the night. Personally, my favourite part of the night was dancing with my mates and our dates to some of our favourite songs. (Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! By ABBA is one that really got the crowd excited.) The catered food on the evening was suited perfectly for the occasion and the slushie machine was a great addition as it provided a much-needed contrast from the heat and sweat that was brewing on the dance floor.

The social definitely met my high expectations and has set the bar high for the Year 12 Ball next year. It received great feedback from many of the boys in the cohort, saying that it was one of the best socials that they have attended this year. With every great event, there are always people behind the scenes who put in the extra effort to make sure that the night is enjoyed by all. A big thank you to all who were involved in the organisation of the event, in particular, Mrs Woodhouse who was the backbone of the evening; it would have been nowhere near as good without her. The Year 11 Social was a highlight on the school calendar and is certainly a night that I will remember in the years to come.

Dads Reading Morning

A big thank you to the many dads who came along and shared stories and books with the boys at our Dads Reading Morning in Week 7 this term. This event is a favourite for our community each year. The enjoyment we see in the boys as they so happily welcome their dads and meet up with the dads of their friends and classmates is something we all very much look forward to. We are fortunate to have a strong reading culture in the Junior School, and we are grateful to all the wonderful role models the boys have to learn from.

Speak Up Challenge

A huge congratulations to the 58 boys who participated in the Junior School Speak Up Challenge this year. Your dedication and commitment to the process was outstanding. You should each feel very proud of yourselves for your achievement. Our volunteer judges, Mr Brian Tonkin and Mr Michael Hanrahan enjoyed the experience very much and loved the variety of speeches and the speaking skills of the boys.

Thank you also to Matteo Conte and Matthew Vinci (Year 10) who came down to the Junior School and gave us some excellent advice and answered many questions we had.

Five students have or will be participating in various interschool competitions. Congratulations and all the very best to Christopher Chan (6W), Joey Lee (6R), Alexander Peca (6B), Mitchell Rae (6W), Nathan Veitch (6B), Ollie Baumwol (Y3), and Ashton Rae (Y3).

Chess Club and Tournament

Chess Club has begun in the Junior School Library on Mondays at lunchtime. If you are interested in signing up to take part in the Chess tournament next term, please register your interest with Mrs Bevan before Friday of Week One Term Three.

I really liked the social with Iona. I had lots of fun dancing and talking with girls. It was a very inclusive event. The Year 12 girls that MCed this event were really nice and they brought me up on stage. I danced and talked with a girl called Charlie all night. There was lots of great dancing from everyone such as Michael Scott, Samuel Johnston and Jordan McGrath. The food and drink were great and the pies were really good. At the start of the night, all the boys were on one side and all the girls were on the other. Then the Year 12 girls put on the Macarena and I couldn’t help myself. I went to an empty space and started to dance. Then all of the boys started chanting my name going “Westy, Westy, West!” While I was doing my dance the Year 12 girls got me to come onto the stage and do the Macarena with a girl. Everyone was cheering and it was a really fun environment. I really enjoyed this social and I would go to another if I could.

At Aquinas College, boys are told that anyone is capable of leadership - that is, only when you put in the hard work. The Middle School Leadership Program was introduced to the whole Year 8 cohort on Thursday (24th June) to give every student an explanation on what it takes to become a Middle School Student Leader. Boys were handed a powerful message related to leadership upon their arrival at the workshop and were asked to sit down at a table with the same message attached to it. Almost all these messages linked to the idea that all boys are capable of being a leader, but much emphasis was put on the fact that we must put in the hard work to reach this goal.

Boys were to analyse the messages and speak in front of the group about what the message really meant. Leadership was already displayed in the workshop, as students braved the challenge to stand up in front of over 170 boys and speak to them, showing confidence and courage. Multiple other activities were included in the workshop, which required boys to fill out a booklet. All students were then sent an application form to become a Middle School leader but were to complete this in their own time. The workshop was a great way for the Year 8 students to be introduced to the Middle School Leadership Program of Aquinas College, and hopefully served as a great way for young boys to grow into good men.

Many thanks to Mr Weston for running the workshop.

The Sustainability Council has had their hands full with many ongoing initiatives throughout late 2020 and early 2021. We have gradually established a variety of sustainable initiatives inside and outside of the College campus. As a result, this year we have been steadily growing a list of ideas and initiatives to carry our own established legacy.

For the past couple of months, the council has been heavily concentrating on three main ‘campaigns. Firstly, the reestablishment of the ‘Containers For Change’ has been of top priority. Following the liquidation of our previous recycler, GreenBatch, our council is fully responsible for readapting the school to the new government system. As a result, several members have been directly involved with Containers for Change representatives, to form a revitalised advertising campaign and reskinning of our strange green/purple bins. Too few students are unaware that the typical choc milk and Up & Go containers are eligible for the 10 cents scheme. As a result, the boys have been working to address this. Furthermore, the boys have planned to launch an official collection depot on school grounds for external community members to recycle their waste. In Term 3, our council will appear at Middle and Senior School assemblies to reaffirm these recycling changes and possibly announce this new depot for recyclable materials. This would be a significant feat as no other environment or sustainability council has been able to safely label the school as a developing ‘green’ school. Of course, a large reputation cannot be achieved in one year, but we believe that we are taking the right steps in placing the college on the map.

In other news, the Sustainability Council has also managed to hold three successful sausage sizzles for all staff and students, with the funds assisting our council’s initiative to invest in more classroom rubbish and recycling bins, to fulfil the lack of bins in the many classrooms around the school. A particular highlight being the Senior School Production sausage sizzle, where our council was able to pull off gourmet-style Bratwurst hotdogs. Apart from seeing Sam Yeow devour 10 large hotdogs, this experience has taught the sustainability boys organising, management and grilling skills! A tremendous thank you to staff Ben West and Megan Monks for playing a large role in these initiatives. Funnily enough, the council has now been marked as the ‘Sausage Sizzle council’ following its success!

The Sustainability Council has also been hard at work in planning a city-wide Eco Conference in our very own College Hall. Taking place in late September, the boys have been assisting behind the scenes with Catholic Earthcare (Caritas) to organise a summit for representatives of most Catholic schools around Perth. This summit would provide a significant opportunity to meet lots of peers with similar interests, fast track some development of students in the council and boost the profile of the council and its objectives. This would allow Aquinas College to be able to share what we are doing, and there would be several projects from others that we can pick up and promote to our school leaders. Moreover, in conjunction with the Justice Peace and Advocacy council, some Aquinians attended the Australia-wide ‘School Strike 4 Climate’ march in the Perth CBD. This excursion allowed the boys some exposure and education to the issue of climate change and informed them about the government’s current position on the issue.

Looking forward, the Sustainability Council is looking to establish two more initiatives for the rest of the year. The first initiative reaching into the House competitiveness, where each house will compete to fill their designated recycling bin with eligible materials; slowly installing good recycling habits. Furthermore, the council is also looking to pair up with Waste Wise to promote efficient waste systems within the college grounds. This organisation would also allow us to visit Methodist Ladies College in a bid to gain inspiration from their well-developed waste system that has been integrated within their secondary school.

Finally, the council is looking to be involved with Second Bite. For those of you who do not know, Second Bite is a not-for-profit organisation that is dedicated to collating and redistributing foods to those who need them. Fresh produce like rhubarbs and cauliflower, which would normally be sent to rot if not bought, are now provided to the poor. Hence, we would like to see how the College can assist, considering its location to the weekend farmer’s market and Coles supermarket.

Overall, I am proud and appreciative of the ongoing efforts by all staff and students that have cooperated and coordinated a myriad of events. As a result of this, I hope we can develop a nourishing external reputation, as well as, a guiding legacy for future Aquinians to follow.

Men’s Health Week was started by the United States Congress in 1994, for the goal of heightening awareness of preventable health problems and encouraging early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys on a community and even global level. The council wanted to celebrate this week, as it is often that students overlook and rarely open up and learn about mental health. To celebrate Men’s Health Week the Wellbeing Council planned a series of events through tutor: Meditation, yoga and even an assembly, as well as a fundraiser for Beyond Blue. This allowed students to engage in activities and learn about ways to develop stronger mental health, as well as directly helping fund an Australian mental health and wellbeing support organisation.