The Aranmore Catholic College Advisory Council - Expression of Interest Open

The Aranmore Catholic College Advisory Council is a group of very dedicated people who are keen to assist the College meet its educational responsibilities to the students, giving them every opportunity to realise their potential at Aranmore, in preparation for their future lives.

The Advisory Council does this by planning for the present and future operation of the College; disseminating information about the College to the school community.

The College is looking for dedicated people to be members of the College Advisory Council. Meetings are held once a term.

Please submit your expression of interest to Ms Dianne Bearham, Executive Assistant to the Principal (dianne.bearham@cewa.edu.au).

Mr Declan Tanham
Principal

School Service Changes Term 1 2023

Please read here, an important student information bulletin from Transperth.

Semester 2 Examinations – Year 11 ATAR and Year 9 & 10 Students

The Semester 2 Examinations are almost upon us for our students.

2022_Y11_Sem_2_Exam_Schedule_and_Instructions.pdf

Year_9_and_10_Semester_2_Exam_Schedule_2022.pdf

Year 11 ATAR:
• Monday 7 Nov to Thursday 10 Nov – Year 11 ViSN Examinations.
This is during the final week of Term 4 lessons for Year 11 students, they are expected to attend classes when not undertaking an examination.
• Monday 14 Nov – Year 11 Study Day and Practical Exams.
Year 11 students only need to attend if they have a practical examination.
• Tuesday 15 Nov to Tuesday 22 Nov – Year 11 ATAR Examinations.
Year 11 students are to attend all scheduled examinations. A medical certificate is required if an examination is missed.

Year 10 Students:
• Monday 28 Nov to Wednesday 30 Nov – Year 10 Examinations. Students only need to attend when they have a scheduled examination.
• Thursday 1 Dec – Year 10 Retreat Day.
• Friday 1 Dec – Year 10 Examination Reviews in Periods 1 and 2 (JF12/JF13). All students attend the reviews and then can make course changes for 2023 (Mr Battistessa’ s Office).

Year 9 Students:
• Thursday 1 Dec to Fri 2 Dec – Year 9 Examinations. Students attend all classes when not in a scheduled examination.

The examination schedules, together with specific regulations, are attached and available in SEQTA. A personalised examination timetable has been distributed to each Year 11 student via email.

I wish all students the best for these upcoming examinations.

Mr Danny Battistessa
Deputy Principal – Curriculum

Seeds of Justice Conference – 2022

On 18 October 2022, five Year 10 students attended the annual Seeds of Justice Conference.

The Seeds of Justice program provides students in both Mercy sponsored schools and Mercy affiliated schools a variety of opportunities to:

• form students and staff in the Mercy charism;
• raise awareness of contemporary issues in social justice; and
• facilitate new links between students and staff of Western Australian Mercy schools.

This year, students from Aranmore Catholic College, Santa Maria College, St Brigid’s College, and Ursula Frayne Catholic College gathered together over the picturesque waters of the Swan River, at Goolugatup Heathcote. The theme of this year’s conference allowed students to again be “empowered to respond to both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor”. This inspiring message from Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Sì allowed both staff and students to further explore this key area of justice also identified by the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea (ISMAPNG).

Throughout the day, students were provide opportunities to explore and connect with the Indigenous understanding of sense of place from a First Nations perspective which then provided a clear link to students about their responsibility towards creation as youth of our Church, understand their own ecological footprint and the impact their choices are having on the environment. Students also explored the issue of textile waste, and the impact our excessive shopping habits have on the environment.

The final session of the day addressed the question “Where to from here?”. Each school was challenged to identify issues we were passionate about, together with the affects and causes of these issues. Students were then asked to brainstorm a variety of ways they would like to change these issues, to identify a plan of action and to then most importantly ascertain ways to measure how successful our action plan would be. It proved to certainly be a “watch this space” moment as the buzz of future possibilities encompassed the group. Our Aranmore ‘Seeds of Justice’ students are looking forward to sharing some of their innovative ideas with College community in the coming months and into 2023.

Sr Emma Llewellyn and Mrs Lauren Ierace-Bowers
Ministry

Last month, Aranmore Catholic College received a Merit Award in the Quality Catholic Education’s Community category for their participation in the Digital Inclusion for Online Learning research project.

In early 2022, Aranmore Catholic College participated in CEWA’s Digital Inclusion Initiative, a year-long research study in which a sample group of digitally excluded students from three regional and metro CEWA schools were provided with access to technology to study the impact on learning. The initiative was intended to help identify possible solutions to close the access to learning gap for students outside the classroom. The year-long research study provides digitally excluded students with access to hardware and accessories (laptop, laptop bag), internet access at home, digital skills and cyber safety training, and support.  Phoebe Bennett led the involvement of Aranmore Catholic College, coordinating translators, parents, students, and teachers to contribute to the research conducted by Western Sydney University. The initiative will result in new partnerships being established between schools, nbn, Western Sydney University and other technology organisations involved to open the door for future opportunities to further advance digital inclusion for students and families. 

Ms Phoebe Bennett
Digital Inclusion for Online Learning Research Project Coordinator

Congratulations to Year 9 students, Jacob Scoon and Olivia Wolmarans who achieved amazing results at the WA State School Championships last weekend:

Jacob:                                            
GOLD - 200m                                
GOLD - Shot Putt                          
BRONZE - Discuss                        
4th - 100m

Olivia:
SILVER - High Jump
BRONZE - 800m
4th - Javelin
4th - 400m
4th - Shotput
4th - Hurdles

Both of the athletes have qualified for the WA State team to compete at the Nationals during December in Adelaide.

Aranmore Students Explore ViSN With New Teachers

Year 10 students participated in some small group Teams calls with teachers undertaking the Virtual School Network (ViSN) teacher training in 2022. The students were placed in groups and completed a one-off lesson with their ViSN Teacher-in-training. Students covered topics such as critical reading of websites, famous rhyming slang and the origins of words. Teachers had to run the lesson online, considering all they had learnt about digital pedagogy and demonstrating their use of various tech tools such as Microsoft Teams.

The students did a great job of participating in the lessons and providing feedback to the teachers on the lesson and activities.  The teachers were very impressed with the students’ level of engagement, helpfulness, and the kind words they had at the end of the lesson.  The ViSN Admin team would like to thank Mrs Tang, Mrs Kania, Ms Dennis and her Year 10 English class for being such a support of the ViSN program.

Ms Kylie Kingdon
ViSN Consultant

Below are comments from students about their ViSN experience:

It was engaging and enjoyable to do it in a smaller group rather than as a whole class.
- Everyone joined in and communicated well without turning our microphones on.
- The audio was clear and easy to hear what the teacher was saying but I wasn't able to type in the chat (not sure why). 
- Our teacher prepared some Kahoots for us to do which was a good and enjoyable way to put what we've learnt to the test.
- It was good practice for anyone who is doing a ViSN course next year.
Thank you,
Lara Zein

I really enjoyed participating in the VISN trial today because it was really fun, engaging and it my first time doing VISN. My favourite part of the VISN trial was the kahoot because I showed my true competitiveness and managed to win a few games.
Thank you,
Milton Sedze

I found the trial for ViSN helpful and a good way to prepare us for next year and how the program will run.
Thank you,
Sophie Wagner 

Educational, fun and really helped to show how the technological aspects of ViSN courses will work.
Thank you,
Bella 

Congratulations to the following students who received the Chinese Languages Student Award 2022 from the Australia China Friendship Society WA presented on Saturday, 22 October 2022 at UWA.

• Sarah Dingo-Selems for Chinese as Second Language Award
• Tenzing Thinley Culture Links Award

The awards are designed to celebrate and recognise the achievements by companies, individuals and organisations who through good works and strong initiatives, grow friendly relations between our Australia and China.

Congratulations to Sarah and Tenzing.

Mrs Emily Tan
Mandarin Language Teacher

Science Camp

Science Camp is the highlight of the year!  Students were kept busy for the three days with a variety of scientific activities such as animal trapping, star gazing, bush walking, crop management, sheep shearing and free-range egg production.

Year 8 Copper Sulfate

In Year 8 Science we have been learning all about igneous rock formation. To simulate the formation of intrusive and extrusive igneous rock, we placed some copper sulfate in two different Petri dishes. One set of Petri dishes was placed on the shelf at room temperature, and the other in the incubator at 37 degrees. Students use their scientific investigation skills to conclude which conditions produced larger crystals!

- Miss Emily Voung
Science Teacher

Year 8 Rock Types

Year 8 students are learning about the different types of rocks on Earth and had the opportunity to create crystals in water of different temperatures. Over the next few weeks they will be completing an assessment on Crystals, so completing experiments of the same nature, help them to visualise their learning.

- Ms Casey Donaldson
Science Teacher

Year 9 Weathering

Weathering is the process that breaks down rocks into smaller pieces. One of the methods of weathering is temperature change.  We can model that in class using water filled balloons covered with plaster of paris that are put in the freezer over night.

Mrs Naomi Geoghegan
Head of Learning Area - Science

For the College Calendar, please see here.

www.aranmore.wa.edu.au