Congratulations to Year 12 students Samuel Yeow and Matthew Gardner for achieving A* (the highest grade possible) for their Cambridge Independent Project Qualification (IPQ) as part of their uniPATH undertaking last year.

As an enrichment opportunity designed through a skills-based research qualification, the Cambridge IPQ partners Aquinas College with the University of Western Australia to provide an enrichment opportunity that extends well beyond the limits of a traditional curriculum for Aquinas College uniPATH students. The IPQ framework develop skills by carrying out research into a student’s chosen topic, with an aim to foster the acquisition of higher-order thinking skills that universities and employers look for, including analysis, evaluation and synthesis of scholarly information, whilst fine tuning critical reflection and communication skills.

Matthew Gardiner leveraged upon his interest in the medical professional to investigate “How the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine adversely affects the myocardium of adolescent males?" Such a topical research question when considering the ethical implications of the COVID-19 vaccinations and how this research was developing in real time in a rapidly evolving pandemic.

Whilst Samuel Yeow built upon his passion of mathematics and higher order thinking skills in balance with the philosophical considerations of whether Formal Logic can act as a viable substitute for natural, informal reasoning to algorithmically construct the logical determination of societal policy.

Aside from a personal accomplishment and experience in research with a University of Western Australia (UWA) mentor, they will get a 20 point TEA bonus on their ATAR should they choose to study at UWA. Congratulations Samuel and Matthew and a sincere thank you to Mr Brendan Chapman, Head of Academic Studies, for his guidance during the year.

Leadership isn’t about being the best. It’s about making others better.

This year the Student Leadership Program has seen exponential growth in the participation of students from both the Middle and Senior Schools.

Feedback from staff, students and families suggests the increase in participation of the Student Leadership Program is because of the impact it has on a boy’s personal growth and development, plus the ability to add value to a boy’s character is becoming more evident throughout the school and wider community. So, what makes the Student Leadership Program at Aquinas so good?

The Leadership Program provides an authentic way to educate and develop leadership ability in boys by working around two key aspects. The first aspect is encouraging boys to become more self-aware as research into leadership has this as a common trait amongst great leaders. People who are self-aware have higher emotional intelligence, are more adaptive, resilient, and readily take on feedback, they are also more capable of effective communication.

Starting in Year 8, all students are involved in a workshop to launch the Middle School Leadership Program. This workshop focusses on teaching students to become more self-aware through activities examining their past, and goal setting for the future. Looking back at the past builds a stronger sense of gratitude and with this enhances a boy’s ability to be empathetic and show kindness. Building self-awareness continues in the Senior School with boys completing activities in the Skills of Leadership workbook by examining the importance of leaders showing initiative, being collaborative, having strong self-awareness and being resilient.

The second aspect of our Leadership Program recognises ‘great leaders are servants first’ as role modelled by Edmund Rice and Jesus. Our Leadership Program is centred around active participation of boys in the Service-Learning program at Aquinas. Service is so highly valued in our Student Leaders, that boys who fail to complete any aspect of the Middle or Senior School Service-Learning Program cannot become a Year 9 Leader or College Prefect. This philosophy is also behind the structure of the 16 Student Councils, whereby the Council shares the power amongst its members, helping students to grow under the mentorship of older boys whilst also having the primary focus of improving/serving the community of Aquinas or broader society. Promoting the importance of service throughout the Student Leadership Program reinforces the idea that great leaders put the wellbeing of others and needs of their community first.

Support Year 11 Aquinas boys Benjamin Clarke and Travis Shearer as they challenge themselves to walk or run as far as they can on January 4th 2023 in order to raise money for breast cancer.

1 in 2 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime which includes Travis' aunty and Ben's mum, which is why they are putting their bodies to the test to raise funds and show their support.

Visit https://bit.ly/3g8CEsF to donate and support the boys!

Recently, Finn Chadd (Class of ’21) and Kurtis Tanna (Class of ’22) attended a ceremony at Government House to be awarded their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards by His Excellency, the Honourable Chris Dawson APM Governor of Western Australia. Hard-earned and highly prized, the Gold Award is the pinnacle of the Duke of Edinburgh program. To achieve this Award, Finn and Kurtis had to participate in 54 hours of voluntary community service; improve in an area of physical activity over 54 hours; undertake 54 hours in developing a skill of personal interest; planning, training for and completion of a 4 days/3 nights camp; and participate in a residential project staying and working away from home doing a shared activity over 5 days/4 nights.

Congratulations boys!

Aquinas Art, Media, Design & Technology Exhibition 2022

Thank you to everyone who participated in and visited this year's exhibition. We saw a wide range of work from Year 7 - 12 students in Visual arts, Media, Design, Woodwork and Metalwork. The graduating Year 12 students were able to see their work exhibited alongside their peers. Congratulations to all the students who won awards and to all the students who put in the time and effort to create some amazing and engaging work. We have some truly talented students!

The winner of the people choice award this year goes to Ben King in Year 11.5 for his Semester One work. Congratulations Ben!

A huge thank you to all staff and students who helped make this year's exhibition possible. It is a huge undertaking and we appreciate all the support in making such a fun night possible.

At the end of Week 5 Term 4, the Visual Arts ATAR students had the opportunity to attend an artist workshop incursion with well known WA artist Andy Quilty. Andy has been highly engaged and active in the art community in WA for a number of years now and is a regular lecturer at the University of Western Australia, where he teaches several units in the Fine Arts Major.

The Year 11 and 12 Art students participated in a three hour workshop where they built up their drawing and observation skills. They had to loosen up in order to discover new and creative ways of drawing and mark making. This was a great experience for the students leading into their projects for next year.

To check out Andy's current exhibitions take a look at his website for more info.

Learn to mingle, be bi-lingual!

Congratulations to these Language students on their outstanding ACER ALC results. In August they sat an online test which tested their reading and listening skills in a foreign language.

The certificate levels correlate with the hours of tuition and student skills.

Certificate Level 1 – Year 10

Certificate Level 2 – Year 11

Certificate Level 3 – Year 11

The Level 1 Italian students were taught by Prof Nicole Aquilia. All the others have undertaken their chosen language course and studied it online. Online study requires a greater level of self-direction and discipline. These virtues have paid big dividends for all these students.

Acknowledgement is paid to these teachers;

Herr Patrick Guiggisberg – Year 11 ATAR German at MLC,

Prof Alberto Runco – Year 11 ViSN ATAR Italian at John Paul College in Kalgoorlie

Prof Maria Lo Presti - Year 12 ViSN ATAR Italian at Aquinas College

Guru Katerina – Indonesian - Vocational Language Learning Centre in Melbourne.

Gayathri Sensei – Japanese at SIDE in Leederville.

Here are the amazing results! Bravissimi!

All these students have demonstrated excellent language skills and the Aquinas community is very proud of their efforts. Congratulations!

Maria Lo Presti HOLA of Languages.

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