The 2023 Junior School House Swimming Carnival was held on Thursday 16^th February at the Aquinas College Pool. All boys from Years 3-6 participated in individual events and team games. It was fantastic to see the boys displaying a high level of sportsmanship, respect, and teamwork all day. Redmond House won the carnival and claimed the Prendiville Trophy for the fourth year in a row.

Final House Points:
REDMOND – 806
EGAN – 768
QUINLAN – 668
CLUNE – 660

Congratulations to our champion and runner-up boys below:
Year 3

Champion: Lucah Rolfe (Clune)
Runner-up: Kobe Gonsalves (Quinlan)

Year 4

Champion: Louis Pillay (Quinlan)
Runner-up: Nicholas Chan (Redmond)

Year 5

Champion: Cael Veverka (Clune)
Runner-up: Jordan Trueman (Redmond)

Year 6

Champion: Spencer Whitfield (Quinlan)
Runner-up: Alexander Chan (Redmond)

Special mentions to our record breakers below:

Lucah Rolfe from Clune house who broke the Year 3 25m freestyle, breaststroke, and butterfly records with times of 18.26s, 25.63s, and 21.83s respectively.

Cael Veverka from Clune house who broke the Year 5 50m freestyle record with a time of 33.96 seconds.

Jordan Trueman from Redmond house who broke the Year 5 butterfly record with a time of 41.52 seconds.

Congratulations on your outstanding achievements.

Congratulations and well done to all boys who represented their house and gave it their all on the day. The boys selected in the JPSSA Interschool Swimming team will be competing at HBF Stadium on Thursday, 9^th March, and we wish those boys the best of luck.

Lastly, thank you to all staff members, ground staff, ICT staff and sports coaches for all your help and support on the day.

Clay Murray
Junior Sports Coordinator

Over the holidays, the ground staff worked hard to install a new water feature and playground into the Junior School. This playground is designed to help the boys build their strength, work as a team and use their creativity.

A huge thank you to the P&F! None of this would've been possible without you.

We enjoyed some ogre-sized fun in the JS last week with the production of Shrek the Musical. What an amazing show it was! While some of the actors were a bit green (😜) the Junior School cast shone in the McAppion Theatre to a full house across three nights. Well done to all the staff and students involved in what was a spectacular show.

The Kindergarten boys enjoyed an excursion to Fremantle in Week 1 of Term 4. The boys had an opportunity to view and hold various sea creatures including rock lobsters, star fish and sea apples. They then joined the Aqua Guides in a Nature Discovery Beach Combing exercise along Bathers Beach. The boys located and identified debris washed ashore finding sponges, seaweeds, sea urchins, shells, corals and sea grasses.

Finally, the boys had a delicious lunch at Cicerellos and enjoyed spotting the trucks on our bus ride back to Aquinas.

The Western Australian Primary Interschool Triathlon was held on the Friday 4^th of November at Champion Lakes Regatta Centre. The event included a 200m swim, 6km cycle and 2km run in which Aquinas College entered two Year Six and one Year Five team into ‘B’ Division, as well as one Year Five and one Year Four team into ‘C’ Division.

Results:

B Division

9^th Place – Alexander Chan, Kirby Mincham and Luca Rechichi

10^th Place – Thomas Swingler, Benjamin Hartnett and Will O’Hehir

11^th Place – Nicko Kurmann, Brendon Karczub and Jack Delic

C Division

3^rd Place – Spencer Whitfield, Lincoln Mathanda and Duke Danby

22^nd Place – Jordan Trueman, Maxime Blackadder and Grayson Ahrens

A special mentioned to Kirby Mincham who competed in the individual Aquathlon, finishing in 20^th place after he had competed in the team event for Aquinas.

Thank you to all parents for the support and efforts on the day in getting your son to and from the venue. Thanks also to Mrs Madeline Silvester for her work and assistance in getting the boys ready for their race on the day.

Nathan Eaton
Junior School Sport Coordinator

On 17th October, the Junior School hosted the House Triathlon Carnival. We were lucky enough to have outstanding weather on the day, blue skies and sunshine. Competing in ideal conditions, all boys from Year Three to Six were involved in either an individual or team event. The carnival allowed the boys to display resilience, perseverance, determination and teamwork. It’s no easy feat competing in such a tiring event!

The boys competed with great spirit, enthusiasm and sportsmanship. Points wise, it was close all day with Redmond House winning ahead of Quinlan House.

Redmond House made Junior School history, becoming the first House to win all four major Sporting carnivals in the calendar year.

Congratulations to the following boys and teams who were named Champions and Runners-up for their year level.

Year 3 - Individual
Champion: Ashton Smales (Egan)

Runner-up: Jeshua Landrigan (Redmond)

Year 3 - Team
Champion: Leo Stanbrook, Hugo Moore, Ezekiel Lowe, Louis Kurniawan (Redmond, Clune & Quinlan)

Runner-up: Timothy Middlemas, Stefan Lazarus, Jaiden Manning (Quinlan & Clune)

Year 4 - Individual
Champion: Jordan Trueman (Redmond)

Runner-up: Grayson Ahrens (Redmond)

Year 4 - Team
Champion: Lennox Marston, Bellin Lin, Fionn Sao (Quinlan, Redmond & Clune)

Runner-up: Ian Thomson, Levi Monzu, Daniel Mitton (Egan & Clune)

Year 5 - Individual 
Champion: Duke Danby (Egan) & Kirby Mincham (Egan)

Runner-up: Spencer Whitfield (Quinlan)

Year 5 - Team
Champion: Marc Sutisna, James Hawke & Patrick Kim (Quinlan)

Runner-up: Marc Sutisna, Harry Crommelin & Patrick Kim (Quinlan)

Year 6 - Individual
Champion: Will O’Hehir (Clune)

Runner-up: Brendon Karczub (Quinlan)

Year 6 - Team
Champion: Lachlan Hooper, Christopher Gasmier, Nathan Huynh (Quinlan & Redmond)

Runner-up: Lachlan Hooper, Rylan Prindiville, William Zhu (Quinlan & Redmond)

Congratulations to Ashton Smales who broke the Individual Year 3 record with a time of 13 minutes 35 seconds. Jordan Trueman also broke the Year 4 Individual record with a time of 15 minutes and 12 seconds – breaking the 2020 record set by his brother Matthew.

Final Points

1. Redmond - 155

1. Quinlan - 160

1. Egan - 179

1. Clune - 187

Thank you to all staff members, ground staff, ICT staff and the Middle School volunteers for all of your help and support on the day. This event would not have been possible without the support of this amazing team. Thank you to all of the parents of our competitors; the boys were prepared, organised and enthusiastic! This doesn’t happen without the behind-the-scenes work from our Aquinas College families.

Nathan Eaton
Junior School Sport Coordinator

On Tuesday the 13^th of September, four students from the Aquinas College Junior School attended the Year 3-6 IPSHA Chess Competition. The boys that represented Aquinas were Aarav Sharma (5R), Enrico De Santis (5R), Cruz Cooke (5B) and Fionn Sao (4W).

The competition ran for the entire day with the students playing eight 20-minute rounds against competitors from other schools. Of the 15 schools and 60 students competing in the competition, Aquinas placed 8^th overall. The boys were respectful to their opponents and should be very proud of their achievements.

The Junior School boys celebrated Father’s Day in Week 7, sharing breakfast with their Dads, Pops and Grandpas. We hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day!

On 15 September 2022, the Junior School boys and their mums enjoyed a nice breakfast in their pyjamas for the Mother's Writing Morning.