As we near the end of the year, we give thanks for the many fabulous opportunities and learnings which our students have experienced this year.

They have excelled in the classroom, on the sporting field, in the drama arena, in the music hall and in their efforts to help with their fellow men and women.

I am particularly grateful to our staff who are here for the children and are very generous with their time.

At this point of the year, we farewell:

Mel Postmus – the Head of the IEC.
Donna Dennis and Peter Otten who have retired.
Vira Danilevych from the IEC.
Victoria Tan from Learning Support.
Simon Hayward our Aboriginal Teacher’s Assistant.

We also wish the following people well for 2025 who are taking a year’s leave from the College:

Moshan Ranasooriya
Belle Girando
Chris Simpson
Lauren Ierace-Bowers

Maintenance

Over the summer holidays we will complete the renovation of our library. We look forward to a bright, open, flexible, contemporary space, to support the learning of our students.

Wishing you all the best for the season and I hope you have a wonderful time with your families.

We look forward to seeing you in 2025.

Mr Declan Tanham
Principal

(Newsletter banner image by: Melissa Bassett, courtesy of Rosewood)

Uniform Shop SUMMER 2025 OPENING TIMES:

• Tuesday 28 January - 8am – 1.00pm - By appointment only
• Wednesday 29 January - 8am – 1.00pm - By appointment only
• Thursday 30 January - 8am – 1.00pm - By appointment only
• Friday 31 January - 8am – 1.00pm ­- By appointment only

Please follow this link form more information or to make an appointment:  Uniform Shop (aranmore.wa.edu.au)

The Uniform Shop will also be open:

• Monday 3 February - 8am to 1.00pm – No booking required
• Tuesday 4 February - 8am to 1.00pm – No booking required
• Wednesday 5 February - 8am to 1.00pm – No booking required
• Thursday 6 February - 8am to 1.00pm – No booking required
• Friday 7 February - 8am to 11.30am  – No booking required (normal opening time)

Uniform Price List

To make online purchases, please follow the link:

Visit Uniform Shop>>

Second-hand clothing (and books) can be sold through the College's Buy & Sell Facebook page here.

The Front Office will be closed for school holidays from Friday 13 December to Monday 27 January 2025.

The Front Office will open on Tuesday 28 January, 8am - 4pm.

If students need to be collected early, parents must notify the College by 10am and ensure their child is aware. Please note, Admin staff cannot retrieve students from class on short notice. Thank you.

Congratulations and heartfelt thanks to our Uniform Shop Manager, Mrs Mary Direnzo, who was recently honoured at the CEWA Staff Breakfast for an incredible 30 years of commitment and dedicated service to Catholic education.

Mary’s entire 30 years of service have been with Aranmore, during which time she has outfitted thousands of students and made a lasting impression on countless families with her warm and caring personality! Thank you Mary.

After more than four decades of hard work and dedication, Mr Paul Baker, the ONSITE Manager, has decided to embark on a new chapter in his life and retire at the end of Term 4. ONSITE is a program that Paul founded in the 1990s to support and engage students in work-related learning and to help them find career pathways. In recognition of the remarkable contributions and positive impact Paul has made on vocational education for young people, not only at Aranmore but also at other schools across Western Australia, a surprise farewell breakfast was organised by the College.

This event brought together colleagues from the past 40 years, along with VET Coordinators and Principals from other ONSITE schools. Regardless of their diverse backgrounds, all attendees unanimously acknowledged Paul’s exceptional commitment to mentoring every student, which has remained a defining characteristic throughout his career. Paul attributes his work ethic and the values he brought to the ONSITE program to the education he received from the Christian Brothers, including influential figures like Br Tony Kelly.

I’ve been working with Paul for over 28 years now and he has done an amazing job getting the ONSITE program to where it is today.

Paul employed me in 1996 when ONSITE was in the early development phase. There might have been three schools and 75 students with more schools coming on board. We had two offices in the main admin building upstairs and it was just Paul and I for awhile working with manual cards and a whiteboard. With more schools, Paul then employed Nathan Heeson part-time who shared a desk with Paul. Nathan worked on a tiny table at the end of the desk. Fortunately, Nathan is much smaller than Paul otherwise it could have been awkward. That was our humble beginnings.

As we grew, Paul saw the need for a database to house our student and employer information. He employed an IT consultant, Trevor Barnes who worked with Paul to develop a system to meet our needs. Paul has always been very conscious of working within the budget and spent many a night after work on his own or with the consultant.  He bought Trevor take away dinners so they could keep working and Paul often slept in the office or in the sick bay before going home in the early hours before returning to work again the next morning. He thought that was all the part of the job and I don’t think he ever told anyone. He just wanted the best possible program. I think it took a few years off his life though as he said he saw a few ghosts wandering at night. Needless to say, Paul developed a very good database that we literally cannot work without today. Yes, it has been tweaked and upgraded over the years with outside assistance to accommodate our expanding needs. Paul continued to work late and pay for the IT consultants take away dinners so it could be achieved as cost effectively as possible. It is still being modified from time to time but fortunately for Paul, that consultant works from home.

The database does numerous tasks for different ONSITE staff.  As someone who places students in industry, I can check whether an employer has taken students, who they have taken, when, feedback for each student, any issues that arose and whether the employer has any specific requirements. Detailed data can also be gleaned for each individual student including feedback from their ONSITE interviews and how they have performed in the workplace and whether they have issues or medical considerations. This allows us to match students very effectively. Employers are often surprised when I say that we had students with them dating back to 1998 and we can name them.

Over the years, Paul has worked with a number of external training organisations including TAFE and has always developed very good working relationships with them. The specialist TAFE programs are a fine example of what he has achieved. They would not have been so successful without Paul supporting TAFE staff and mentoring and monitoring students throughout their course. This has set us apart from other similar programs run in schools.

On a personal note, Paul has been a great boss. Paul’s attitude has always been to look after staff and put their families first. He has supported us through our life crises, whether it’s been parent bereavements, injuries, sickness and anything else that life throws at us.  That has made us a very strong team, all pulling together. He leaves behind a very dedicated and loyal staff.

We recently gave Paul a farewell card and every one of us said what a wonderful boss he has been and how we are so grateful to have had him.

In summary, Paul has left a great legacy. The program has assisted more than 9,150 students.  That’s how many student records we have on our data base. For 2025 we currently have over 450 students and growing.

Well done Paul on an outstanding achievement and thanks for 28 great years.

Mrs Sorrel Jackson
Work Placement Officer

Congratualtions to Year 11 student, Thomas McGregor, who competed at the State All Schools and won a silver medal in the U18s 400m and 4th in the 100m. As a result, he represented WA All Schools at the nationals in Brisbane, competing in the 400m, 100m and Relay. Well done Thomas!

Congratulations to Alix McWha (Year 12) for selection into the ACC All Stars Netball Team for 2024!

Congratulations to Loyola Vaauli (Year 9) for selection into the ACC All Stars Netball Team for 2024!

Inspiring Paths Beyond ATAR - How Marco's Self-Belief Put Him in the Driver’s Seat!

Earlier this year, Aranmore alumnus Marco Magnaterra generously took time out of his busy schedule as the Fixed Operations Manager for Porsche Centre Perth to inspire students exploring career pathways.

Marco, who acknowledges that the traditional structures of school and the ATAR expectations of teachers and parents didn’t fully resonate with him, shared how he carved his own path. Starting in Year 11 with one day a week of Workplace Learning at the Porsche dealership formerly known as Chellingworth Motors in Nedlands, he secured a three and a half-year mechanical apprenticeship. From there, he advanced quickly, transitioning from Porsche Technician to Service Advisor and eventually into a Sales Consultant role.

Marco attributes his career growth to “hard work and timing,” as well as his focus on building strong relationships with customers.

“I’m not someone who likes to sit still. When I find something I’m passionate about, I become hyper-focused,” says Marco. “I’ve always loved cars and wanted to learn everything about them. My parents encouraged me to go to university, but school didn’t inspire me. Workplace Learning opened my eyes to other career possibilities, so I stuck to my belief that taking up a mechanic apprenticeship was the best way forward.”

Recognised by upper management not only for his rapid progression through his apprenticeship but also for the innate values and soft skills he brought to the Porsche dealership—where the primary goal is to “make our customers happy”—he swiftly transitioned from working on the elite cars to becoming the dealership’s Fixed Operations Manager.

Now on the path to his dream job as the Dealer Principal of Porsche, Marco offered valuable advice to students:

“Don’t deviate from the path you truly want to follow. Pursue your goals with confidence and seize opportunities as they arise.”

When it comes to setting goals, Marco emphasised flexibility:

“It’s important to set goals, but don’t become fixated on the timeline. That can hold you back. Instead, focus on what steps you need to take to move closer to your goal.”

Despite his demanding role, often working over 50 hours a week, Marco balances his professional life with his personal life as a husband and a proud father to a young daughter. He also makes time to stay fit and healthy, continuing his love of sports by playing soccer, basketball, and golf, and hitting the gym most mornings.

In a full-circle moment, Marco is now pursuing university studies supported by Porsche while also giving back to the College by supporting the Onsite program and mentoring students. He warmly invites students to visit the Osborne Park Porsche showroom to see some of the world’s most incredible cars up close.

The Aranmore community is proud to see Marco’s success and grateful for his continued support and inspiration for future generations.

If you would like to support the Onsite Program by providing workplace learning opportunities, please contact Fleur Bauchop (fleur.bauchop@cewa.edu.au).

Congratulations to the following students

Head Boy - Remy Power
Head Girl - Caitlyn Johnson
Deputy Head Boy - Lachlan Murphy
Deputy Head Girl - Zainab Mohammadi

In October, three teams of Year 8 AEP students competed in the Bebras Challenge. Packed with algorithmic and computational thinking problems that kept them working right to the deadline, the students worked brilliantly with their group members to solve them.

AEL Minecraft Build Challenge Series 2.
Two Year 7 teams completed builds for the AEL Minecraft Build Challenge Series 2. The theme was 'Designing for Accessibility' and involved building an inclusive public space on Minecraft then presenting it to the class. A large component of this challenge was task designation within teams and communication. Students did well considering it was our first time competing! 

Team Bedrock Bangerz: Adele Lewis, Jack Stalteri

Team Bob the Builders: Benjamin Gillam, Martin Ma, Morya Tiwari

Online University Short Courses

Similar to Year 8 AEP students last term, this term the Year 7 AEP students independently completed a short online university course covering a topic of their personal interest. Some of the topics students studied included astronomy, business, aquatic mammals, nutrition and French language. At the end of term, students shared key concepts they learned in their courses to the rest of the class while we shared popcorn and treats.

da Vinci Decathlon Preparations...

As the theme for the 2025 da Vinci Decathlon is 'light', Year 8 AEP students have been learning about the eye, specifically the structure and function of the lens. The students dissected bull eyes and used stereo microscopes to view the parts. 

"I liked the design of the iris, but the fat and muscle around the eye was tough to cut". Khloe Lepidi

"I liked learning about the parts of the bull's eye, the iris was cool under the microscope." Callum O'Brien

Congratulations to Madeline Macaulay (Year 8) who was invited to join the Academic Extension Program, starting in Term 4, 2024.

Miss Sonya Cerny
AEP Coordinator

Finishing on a high note: The Arts and Technology Department Wraps up a Stellar Year

It has been another busy term in our department, with one of the key events in the Aranmore calendar, Arts and Tech week, which saw a wide range of activities enjoyed by students throughout the school.

This included hosting the Aranmore Primary Year 4 students for a day, so they could experience a taste of what it's like to be in high school. Students visited our Art rooms to make a beautiful weaving and made some delicious food in our Home Economics building.

During Arts Week, a range of quizzes were held in form classes; we had a mindful colouring session at lunch time and staff were treated to an afternoon of creativity, choosing from a range of activities, including still life drawing, painting ceramics, pasta making and creating a chopping board from scratch.

Specialised Music Program

Even though Catholic Performing Arts Festival had finished, the Music department was still as busy as ever. Major events this term included a performance at Rosewood Care Home, our local aged care facility, where our Year 10s and our Year 7 and 8 band students gave a wonderful performance for the residents. Students sang a selection of well-known songs, and the residents sang along to their favourites.

A handful of our best students were also selected to perform at the Perth Young Rockers Festival at the Milk Bar in Inglewood. Students put on an amazing show for the audience, closing out the evening with some rocking tunes. Well done to Maksym Popov, Joma Mockler, Alex Healey, Celeste Healey, Sophie Poultney and Nam Hoang Nguyen for their fabulous performances. 

The band were so good they were also asked to perform at our annual Awards Night Ceremony, where they set the atmosphere for a night of celebration. Huge thanks go to Lizzie Hille, Mat Tchan and James Sewell for arranging and organising the band for these important events.

Media

The Year 7 Media students took on the exciting challenge of creating a 'no-violence shootout' scene, with the classic game of 4 Square as a popular subject choice. It's was serious business—and seriously creative!

Our Year 9s took a trip to the Chanel 9 studios for a tour to experience what working in the media industry involves. Students had a great time and got some hands-on experience in the studios. 

The Year 10s sunk their teeth and claws into the short film task of Horror films. These will premiere at our next Media Showcase Night. Be Afraid!

Our Media department held their annual Media Showcase Night, screening all the work of our graduating Year 12 ATAR Media students and our Year 11 ATAR Media students. Guests were treated to a screening of all the best work from these students from the year and we were lucky to have Kyle Ganapathy attend and help out and present awards. We look forward to seeing Kyle back next year. Well done to all these students.

VISUAL ART

Year 7 Art students have been creating 'selfie portraits' making prints of their selfie photos and reproducing these in various styles.

The Year 8 Art students continue to excel in the digital realm with the Photoshop manipulation class producing some of the best images yet. Mr Tchan says this batch were so good that even he learnt a trick or two. Keep an eye out at next year’s exhibition. We guarantee you will be saying to yourselves “how did they do that?”

Our Year 9s were treated to an enriching graffiti art workshop from local artist, Trevor Bly, who gave some expert tips and demonstrations.

Our Year 10s completed their celebrity portraits, taking their inspiration from the Pop Artists of the 1960s, creating some colourful and well polished pieces, some of which we look forward to presenting in next year's exhibition.

Arts & Technologies staff
compiled by Mrs Katherine Miller

It has been very busy time for the department with all the hands-on deck for Exam Season. Even though the Year 12s have just finished with classes, there were still lots of students emailing or knocking on the door with those last-minute questions. The Year 11s have also come to the end of the year with many of them feeling the results of their hard work and are eager to get into it next year.

It has been very busy time for the department with all the hands-on deck for Exam Season. Even though the Year 12s have just finished with classes, there were still lots of students emailing or knocking on the door with those last-minute questions. The Year 11s have also come to the end of the year with many of them feeling the results of their hard work and are eager to get into it next year.

The Year 8s have been busy with a department favourite; Picture Books. This began with an incursion from the Fremantle Literature Centre back in Week 10, Term 3. For an hour and half, students were immersed into the world of picture books and by the end even the most reluctant student had to admit they are not just for little kids. The task they had was to complete was a mock -up of their own picture book aimed at a specific audience. The students’ books covered such diverse topics as anxiety about a music recital to overcoming generational abuse, Aranmore kids are never ones to shy away from exploring the big topics!

Back in Year 7 they were engaged in the wonderous world of Anime and Studio Ghibli with the wonderful and award winning “Spirited Away”. Ask them about No Face chasing Sen through the Bath- house!

Year 9 and 10 students have worked hard towards their end of year exams and have had a very full year of podcasts, poetry and PowerPoints.

A select group of Year 8,9 and 10 students also attended the Fremantle Literature Centre's Young Writer's Workshop on the 13 November. It was at the Centre's headquarters at the Fremantle Prison and students loved the independence the day offered them to spend a whole day brainstorming ideas with Shane McCarthy - a writer for DC Comics! This was certainly one of the year’s most popular sessions.

Mr Mat Tchan
English 

Year 11 Chemistry Perth Mint Trip

A walk through the city and a trip to the Perth Mint added some real life examples to their study for our Year 11 Chemistry students.

Year 4 Big Day Out

Thank you to Mr R for introducing a love of science to a new generation of students.

Science Camp

The highlight of the year!

Here is a list of some of the activities undertaken by campers this year:

• Animal trapping and release
• Visit to Barna Mia, Nocturnal mammal sanctuary
• Learning how to do dishes – a new skill for some
• Walk through Foxes Lair to learn about the geology of the Wheat Belt
• Night time walks without torches to appreciate the astronomy
• Day time walks looking at the native flora, fungi and the role of termites
• Bush walks just for fun.
• Visit to Narrogin Townsite & Museum
• Pingelly Carriage Museum
• Agricultural Farm Machinery display

Year 10 Greenhouse

Year 10s have been taking advantage of the sunny weather to test the effect of shade on the greenhouse effect using a small glass model.

Year 7 Transpiration

Transpiration is the part of the water cycle where water is evaporated from the leaves of plants.  Year 7s tested the difference light made on the amount of transpiration that occurred in a 24 hour period.

Year 10 Wise Women

WISE Women is a series of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and entrepreneurship showcase days. They aim to empower girls to understand how studying STEM subjects can broaden their career prospects away from the laboratory. I took a group of Year 10 students to the event in November where they listened to a keynote presentation, participated in a Q&A with a panel of women in STEM, and got involved in two hands-on activities. - Miss Cerny

"The WISE Women showcase was a fantastic opportunity for me to learn more about the STEM opportunities that are available for me after I leave school. It was a highly educational experience that I hope to repeat in the future. I really enjoyed the Psychology - Mind Games activity we had". Kimberley 

Year 10 Psychology

Early this term, Year 10 Psychology students attended Murdoch University for offender profiling workshops.

"When visiting Murdoch, I enjoyed experiencing how a profiler does their work when doing the profiling session. I loved learning that an profiler doesn't randomly guess, they have to understand and be patient while having control in their own work. Murdoch is such a wondeful place to learn different areas in criminology and I would like to attend Murdoch in the future". Princess

Year 7 Craters

Year 7 students are learning about the different types of bodies that are found in space, from galaxies down to meteorites and the craters they may leave behind.  Here students are looking at what information can be gleaned from the size and shape of the crater.

Year 8 Geology Day

In November each year, the Gold Industry Group and AusEarth Education come to visit our Year 8s to give them the chance to put their theory into practice and to learn where a career in Geology may take them.

Year 9 Forensics – Murdoch Murder Mystery Box

Thank you again to the wonderful people at Murdoch for coming to visit Aranmore giving our students the chance to take part in amazing activities.  Mr Lafferty’s Forensics class enjoyed putting all their theory to the test competing against each other to be the first to solve the clues and open the Murder Mystery Box.

Girls + Engineering forum

On Friday 22 November, 16 Year 9 students were invited to attend the Girls + Engineering forum at Curtin University.

The students took part in two engineering design challenges. The first was building a floating platform within specific parameters and one of our teams created the winning design!

Second, the students worked together to design their own robot that could push a ball into a soccer goal. 

In the afternoon, the students heard talks from Professor Vishnu Pareek (Dean of Engineering, Curtin University) and Kathryn Turkovic Levey (Engineers Australia). This was followed by a panel of female engineers, and they had the chance to ask questions and discover more about their work. 

Well done to the students who represented the College and participated well in all the activities. Thank you to Mrs Di Marco for attending with Mrs Hopkins.

Mrs Naomi Geoghegan
Head of Learning - Science

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✨ Give Back – 20% of your purchase goes directly to supporting our Fundraiser.💻 Sign Up Today: here

Fundraiser for 30 of our IEC students to collaboratively tell their story. Can you help?

Next year 30 of our IEC students will be working with not-for-profit arts organisation Same Drum on a multi-lingual multi-artform community arts and cultural development project. Previously this project supported a group of young people to produce this song which won a WAM Song of the Year Award and was performed live to 20,000 people at SOTA! 

Same Drum is currently fundraising for the project to support the next group of participants on their own collaborative storytelling adventure. Your gift will enable mentoring and professional development for two young facilitators who were previous Aranmore students, and will help cover the cost of materials and equipment hire. This amazing project has a proven track record of empowering young people and improving their wellbeing (see evaluation here).

If you can, please share with your networks the Australian Cultural Fund page and make a tax deductible donation here.

Poppy van Oorde-Grainger
Creative Director | Same Drum

WAAPA Summer School 2025

Start your new year with an exciting experience at WAAPA. Come along this January for a fun-packed program where you'll meet new people, sharpen your skills, and get plenty of performance opportunities. WAAPA’s Summer School offers a wide variety of performing arts courses tailored for secondary school students. Whether you're going into Year 7 or Year 12, there's something for every aspiring artist—classes in Acting for Stage, Dance, Acting for Camera, Jazz Music, and Music Theatre. Our expert instructors welcome students of all skill levels and experiences. For more details on the courses available, visit Summer School 2025 or reach out to Gabrielle Metcalf at explore.waapa@ecu.edu.au or call 9370 6775.

For the College Calendar, please see here.

www.aranmore.wa.edu.au