Forty students and four teachers set off for Canberra in the early hours of Saturday 10 August. The students were undertaking an educational tour of the National Capital. Whilst on the tour, they participated in a variety of educational programs focused on Australian history, culture, heritage and democracy.
St Mary MacKillop College entered a team of boys from Years 8 and 9 in this year’s Busselton Pedal Prix, which was held on the Busselton foreshore as the fifth in a six race Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) series on Sunday 18 August 2019.
The race consisted of riding a purpose-built tricycle continuously around a set course over a six-hour period. The winning vehicle is the one that completes the most laps in the time. Finn Breeze, Hiroki Rule, Nicholas Pavlinovich, Riley Bridgham and Denham Stewart all worked very hard on the day, rotating shifts averaging 20 minutes each around the 1.2km course.
Congratulations to Year 12 student Alastair Bruce on his selection as a finalist in this year’s Cinesnaps student film competition, which is run as part of CinefestOz.
Aspiring film makers aged between 15-18 years were invited to create a 3-5 minute original short film based on the 2019 theme: ‘The Watch’. Alastair was selected as one of seven finalists from schools around the South West Region for his short film entitled ‘One in a Billion’, which is set in the ‘perfect’ city of Arcadia and explores the question: is everything I see and hear on the news true? “I wanted to follow the idea of the series Black Mirror,” he said, “exploring the idea of how the media might ensure specific values and beliefs are held within society”.
Alastair will attend a glamorous red-carpet Finale event on Thursday 29 August, where the finalists will receive feedback from the jury panel of high-profile Australian film industry professionals, before the winner and runner-up teams are announced.
On Thursday 1 August, a Year 9 Girls and Senior Boys Netball teams headed to Perth to play in an Elimination Day against metropolitan schools, after getting through the first round of South West High School Netball Cup last term.
It was a long day for the students, playing six games in one day, but both teams came with high spirits and played some awesome netball.
Congratulations to two of our Primary students, Oscar Buck in Year 4 and Harry Priest from Year 2, who have both won awards in this year’s Catholic Arts Angelico Exhibition. This annual exhibition showcases artwork from Catholic schools across WA. The Primary Exhibition has been on display for the last two weeks, to be followed by the Secondary Exhibition from 18-30 August, in Forrest Centre, Perth.
On Thursday 1 August, 48 students from Year 3 to Year 6 travelled to Bunbury Cathedral Grammar school to complete in the SWPSA Cross Country. The College team competed against eleven other Primary schools around the region, including Great Southern Grammar from Albany and St Brigid’s in Collie.
The Timor trip was full of excitement and wonder, from the time we stepped off the plane in Darwin until we touched down back home.
On Friday, after staying overnight in Darwin and then flying to Dili, we had time to visit the museum there and visit the Cristo Rei statue before we were off to Bacau.
During the second week of the July holidays, 36 music students from the College embarked on a 7-day tour of Melbourne and surrounds with staff members Miss Jackson, Mr Bradley, Mr Taylor and Ms Jones.
They began their flight from Perth with a 5am check-in, and after arriving in Melbourne they met with their coach driver and were soon settled into their accommodation.
To celebrate NAIDOC week this year, A group of students from the College headed out ‘on country’ at the end of Term Two with local business owner Josh Whiteland from Koomal Dreaming and Cape Cultural Tours.
Accompanied by Mr Cummins and Aboriginal Liaison officer Miss Weston, the Middle School students, many of whom have Aboriginal heritage, took a guided walk around the tip of Cape Naturaliste to learn about the local flora and fauna.
Preparing quality, tasty lunches in bulk can also be healthy and nutritious, and it’s not expensive. That’s according to Glenn Jones, the College’s new Catering Manager. It’s not about fancy culinary skills, either, he says. “It’s about planning, knowing your ingredients, and then finding ways to put it all together and make it work within the time and budget you have.