Year 9, 11 & 12 camps: out of the comfort zone

Last Friday our Year 9, 11 and 12 students returned from Camp Week – many of them exhausted and a little changed by the experience.

Year 9 students took on the five-day Explorus Camp based in Karridale, and most approached the week with a healthy mix of excitement and trepidation.

Head of Religious Education, Mr James Depiazzi, is back in Busselton after a three week Easter Enrichment Program at Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Israel.

Mr. Depiazzi was one of four teachers selected and sponsored by CEWA to travel to Israel, where they participated in a series of lectures and excursions designed to add meaning to and increase understanding of the celebrations of Holy Week in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Year 10 students began the term by stepping out of their comfort zone with a week of hands-on experience in the workforce. From Teacher Assistants on the Primary campus to a glass bottom boat on the Ningaloo Reef, students followed their passion, interests or curiosity to explore the world of work.

In the lead up to the Federal Election we have been looking closely at the political parties and the tactics they use to win votes. As part of our Civics and Citizenship program we lived out the democratic process in the classroom, and split students into three political parties: Liberal, Labor and The Greens.

On Thursday 28 March our Year 4-6 Interschool Swim team travelled to the South West Sports Centre in Bunbury to compete in the South West Primary Sports Association (SWPSA) Swimming Carnival. We competed against eight other schools, from Great Southern Grammar to Leschenault Catholic School including Our Lady of the Cape, GMAS and BCGS. It was a great day with our students achieving great results and also enjoying the challenge of swimming in a 50m pool.

Year 11 St Mary MacKillop College student Shona Kiely has won a gold medal at the annual Beijing Youth Science and Technology Innovation Competition recently, for her research project on a biodegradable fungicide to treat dieback in native plants.

More than 1500 students from all over the world presented their projects at the annual competition held in Beijing, China, with gold medals awarded across 39 categories including computer science, mathematics, biomedical and environmental engineering.

Mindfulness, dance, Lego, chess, yoga and computing - these are some of the interesting activities Primary students can now do during their lunch break at the College, thanks to some passionate and dedicated teachers and Year 6 students.

The week begins with Mindful Mondays in the Library, with relaxing music playing in the background, while students participate in some mindfulness colouring and self-guided reflection.

The fourth annual Between the Lines Literacy Festival was hosted once again by St Mary MacKillop College on 28-29 March. Organised in collaboration with Dymocks Busselton, the event brought plenty of authors and illustrators to Busselton for workshops and Q&A sessions, attracting participation from a number of surrounding schools.

Year 8 students Samuel Newland-Gleeson, Ben Luplau, Jett Watts and Jasper Reynolds travelled to Perth to compete in the final of the Herbert Edwards Cup on Tuesday 26 March at the Robertson Park Tennis Club, finishing as runner-up regional school in the statewide competition.

Wizards and Witches in Years 7 and 8 made their way onto Platform 9¾ for the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army during week 9. New English teacher ‘Professor’ Sophie Lester and Head of Year 7 Ms Tamara Clark were spotted near the platform, according to some curious Muggles…

Students were sorted into their Houses much like the characters in J.K Rowling's famous series Harry Potter.