The Lion's Roar - 1 February 2023

FREESTYLING PHENOMENON

Year 9 student, Roman, has been freestyling his way to success over the past few months. In November, he came second at the Australian National Freestyle BMX U15 held at Rampfest, in Melbourne, and was awarded the CASSAP Scholarship.

From here, he was invited to attend training sessions at the HOTBOX which is the Olympic Training venue on the Gold Coast and then onto the Kyle Baldock (X-Games gold medalist) BMX Academy on the NSW / Queensland border in January.

He had a wish list and completed it all. A backflip tailwhip, flair tailwhip, ali-oop flair, opposite ali-oop downwhip, ali-oop bar bar, opposite flair, backflip barspin, flair barspin, 360 double barspin.

After 12 days at the Olympic Training, he landed a backflip tailwhip but unfortunately, broke his foot. He was stoked he landed it!

Roman's successes keep coming with Colony BMX Brand asking to sponsor him and 'Freestyle Now' asking him to join the show team.

Well done, Roman!

You can see watch his videos on Instagram Roman Depiazzi.

SWIMMING SENSATION

Congratulations to Year 10 student and S19 Multiclass (MC) swimmer, Zachary, on his successes at the recent State Championships. He is now a 3-time State Champion, 3-time silver medallist, and 2-time bronze medallist. His results are as follows:

• Gold – Men’s 12 to 17 years MC 100m freestyle with a 4.21 second PB
• Gold – Men’s 12 to 17 years MC 50m breaststroke
• Gold – Men’s 12 to 17 years MC 100m breaststroke
• Silver – Men’s 12 to 17 years MC 400m freestyle with an 18-second PB
• Silver – Men’s 12 to 17 years MC 50m butterfly
• Silver – Men’s 12 to 17 years MC 200m Individual Medley
• Bronze – Men’s 12 to 17 years MC 100m backstroke with a 3.5 second PB
• Bronze – Men’s 12 to 17 years MC 50m freestyle
• 4^th – Men’s 12 to 17 years MC 50m backstroke

Based on his performance at the State Championships, Zachary was selected for the WA Performance Pathway State Team. He is one of 20 athletes who headed to South Australia on 17 January to compete in the South Australia State Open and MC Championships.

He has also qualified for the Nationals for both the Australian Age Championships and the Australian Open Championships in April this year.

Congrats, Zachary!

In Term 4 last year, our School engaged in a quest to determine a name for the newest member of our School Community, a Winged-Lion. Students and staff had the opportunity to contribute their ideas and then our school voted on their preferred choice of name.

We are excited to introduce to you: Griffin.

The suggestion that our School chose was from Abigail in Year 8. Abigail’s suggestion resonated with many in our community as she intertwined the values we hold dear into Griffin’s name.

Abigail’s submission stated, “These suggestions are based on our school values. Griffins are legendary creatures, who were known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions.

G = grow

R = respect

I = Inquire

F = flourish

F = faith

I = independence

N = nurture”

As the competition winner, Abigail will receive a voucher to use at the canteen. A big thank you to everyone who put forward suggestions and to those who voted. Well done also to the suggestions of Aera and Zion on achieving the Top 3.

“Griffin will help bring warmth and friendliness to the School’s visual identity. We hope this will further increase our sense of community and belonging.”, says Principal Mr Davies.

Griffin is a well-rounded character who tackles any challenge with courage. They have a passion for learning and, just like our students, is friendly, kind, adaptable and inclusive. These qualities greatly represent our St Mark’s family.

How Griffin Came to be

The winged lion is prominently placed in the centre of the St Mark’s logo and from earliest Christianity, a winged lion has been the symbol of the School’s namesake - Saint Mark. The lion represents courage, bravery and valour, and along with our school values, underpin all aspects of life at St Mark’s.

To bring warmth and friendliness to the School’s visual identity and branding a cartoon version of the winged lion was developed in 2022. The School community was engaged to help name the Winged Lion. They had the opportunity to contribute their ideas and then the school voted for their preferred choice of name. Griffin was chosen as the preferred name.

Griffin’s Plans for St Mark’s

As a proud member of the St Mark’s community, Griffin will foster a spirit of connection and collaboration. Griffin's aim is to bring a sense of fun, friendliness, and community to our School branding and also increase our sense of belonging.

In the near future, Griffin hopes, with the help of the Old Scholars’ Association, to appear at School events and functions.

View Griffin's introductory video HERE

The sports bags and bathers have arrived at the Uniform Shop!

If you have paid for your order please collect them from the Uniform Shop's back door.

Please also note that the Uniform Shop is no longer taking second-hand stock for the interim. They have been inundated with second-hand stock.

Trading Hours

• Mondays: 8am to 11.15am and 2pm to 5pm
• Wednesdays: 8am to 2pm

A friendly reminder that it is 40km/h in School Zones and please reduce your speed further on School grounds.

Remember during drop-off and pick-up times, the traffic in and around the School can get very heavy. Please be aware of double parking, overtaking and exiting the School, as these can limit driver and pedestrian fields of vision, and can cause accidents. Please also be vigilant when exiting vehicles.

Please do not double park at any location, including (but not limited to): Kiss ‘n Drive points, St Marks Drive, School parking lots, access gates and across our neighbours’ driveways.

Please do not overtake stationary cars on the School grounds, especially in Kiss ‘n Drive zones.

When exiting the School grounds, please ensure you look both left and right carefully before re-entering St Marks Dr, particularly around our neighbour’s driveways.

Congratulations to our students from the Class of 2022 on their outstanding results – we are extremely proud and delighted to acknowledge the achievements our students have received in their academic pursuits. Their hard work and commitment to their studies resulted in the median ATAR for St Mark’s being 87.9, well above the State median ATAR of 83.45.

The cohort’s resilience and determination have paid off. To view the results in full please click here.

CAREPLANS

Does your child have a careplan for a medical condition?
Please make sure the Wellness Centre has a current plan along with any medication required.

ILLNESS

Unfortunately, there are still lots of other viruses in the community and we need to protect our staff and students.

Please note that students with any COVID symptoms should not be sent to school regardless of a negative RAT test.

If your child presents to the Wellness Centre with any cold/flu symptoms we will have to call you to come and collect them.

Should your child have gastro symptoms please do not send them back to school until 24 hours clear of the last symptom.

Thank you for your understanding.

Wellness Centre Team

The Secondary Assistance Scheme is available to parents/guardians with children enrolled in Years 7 to 12 who hold an eligible concession card (a Pensioner Concession Card or a Health Care Card).

The Secondary Assistance Scheme comprises of an Education Program Allowance of $235 which is paid to the school and a Clothing Allowance of $115 that is paid to the parent.

Applications open at the commencement of Term 1 2023 and close on 6 April 2023. Forms are available from Main Reception during Term 1 between 8am and 4pm.

We hope you have all downloaded the re-furbished School App and selected your preferences for 2023. If not, it is available for free on Google Play and the App Store. The preferences have changed for 2023, so to ensure you do not miss extra-curricular or other general notices, please update your settings as a matter of priority. Your preferences will also carry over to the calendar on the App.

Just to keep you in the loop, our aim is to make the App a one-stop shop for parents to get their year group and whole school notices, info and reminders etc. Please note that this will not affect teacher-to-parent emails, Consent2Go emails, or notices posted to the SEQTA noticeboard for student reminders.

We will be pushing our bulk notifications (eg. Weekly Bulletins, whole year group/school emails) to parents via the App and SEQTA for Term 1. Eventually, we'd like everyone to be using the App as their go-to.

Our dedicated teaching staff were busy preparing for the start of school in the week prior to our students' happy return. Our Kindy to Year 2 staff attended a two-day workshop on Literacy and the implementation of the InitiaLit program, while our Year 4 and 5 teachers upskilled on our Smart Achievers spelling program.

The InitiaLit program focuses on systematic, explicit, and evidence-based teaching of literacy skills, including phonics, word recognition, comprehension, and fluency. It is based on the Science of Reading, a body of research that provides evidence-based best practices for teaching reading. The workshop provided our staff with a comprehensive understanding of the InitiaLit program, including the theories and practices that underpin it. Staff received training on how to implement the program effectively in the classroom and received resources and materials to support their teaching. They are super excited to get started with our budding young readers.

The Smart Achievers spelling program is based on the theory that spelling is a crucial component of literacy development and should be taught explicitly, systematically, and with purpose. Staff participated in a workshop about how to effectively deliver spelling instruction and incorporate the program's resources into their teaching to help produce “Spellbinding” spellers in Years 4 and 5!

By incorporating evidence-based, best practice, we aim to provide our students with the best possible foundation for a lifelong love of reading and learning.

ELC Meet Class and Specialist Teacher Evening - Tuesday 7 February 6.30-8.30 in the ELC
Tuesday 7 February is our 'K to Y1 Meet the Teacher Evening', and I know that our staff are looking forward to this event. Teachers will discuss the classroom routines and timetables with you, as well as outline shared expectations that we have across the School. In addition to this, our specialist teachers will be in attendance so they can share with you their exciting programs and opportunities for this year.

Kindergarten first Wednesday attendance
A copy of the 2023 Kindy Attendance Day Calendar is available on the Document Portal for Early Learning, which outlines start and finish times for the initial part-time attendance period and the Wednesday attendance throughout the whole year.

• Starfish (Mrs Tunbridge’s Class): first Wednesday attendance will be 22 February
• Turtles (Ms Stone’s class): first Wednesday attendance will be 1 March

Once Wednesday attendances commence, they will be alternated between the Starfish and Turtle groups for the remainder of the school year.

PP & Y1 HOUSE SHIRTS (not required for Kindy)
Please see the current arrangement below – parents will be notified if this changes.
Pre-Primary – Fridays
Year 1 – Wednesdays

ELC Child Collections
Thank you for the wonderful response to the online form which was sent out last week. Classroom lists have now been established which include regular drive-through collection arrangements and names of those with permission to collect your child(ren) from school. If any updates to these lists are required, please email elcreception@stmarks.wa.edu.au . Please advise any necessary last-minute changes prior to 2.30pm on the relevant day. Thank you.

'Y2-5 Meet the Teacher Evening' - Wednesday 8 February

Schedule for Years 2 & 3

• 6.30pm Classroom Sessions - Meet your child’s teacher
• 7.10pm Transition
• 7.20pm Meet the Special Area Teachers
• 8.00pm Evening concludes

Schedule for Years 4 & 5

• 6.30pm Meet the Special Area Teachers
• 7.10pm Transition
• 7.20pm Classroom Sessions - Meet your child’s teacher
• 8.00pm Evening concludes

Y2-5 HOUSE SHIRTS
Please note that as each student has two PE lessons weekly in the Junior School, they are able to wear their PE uniform to school all day for the first lesson. In the second PE lesson for the week, students are encouraged to wear their House shirt as part of their PE uniform.

PARENTS INVITED - YEAR 2/3 AND YEAR 4/5 COMMUNITY CHAPEL – WEEK 1, TERM 1

All parents are invited to a Community Chapel Service to start the year in Week 1 of this term. Parents may like to connect with other parents after the service. Details below:

Year 2/3 Chapel

• When: Tuesday 2:35pm-3:15pm
• Where: Year 4/5 Open Area (near Junior School Administration)
• Who: All Year 2/3 families invited. Parents may choose to connect with other parents and caregivers after the service concludes at 3:15pm.

Year 4/5 Chapel

• When: Wednesday 2:35pm-3:15pm
• Where: Year 4/5 Open Area (near Junior School Administration)
• Who: All Year 4/5 families invited. Parents may choose to connect with other parents and caregivers after the service concludes at 3:15pm.

Our first day of Term 1 saw the investiture of the 2023 Middle and Senior School Prefects and Captains.

After receiving their badges the Prefects and Captains took the St Mark's Leaders' Oath where they make their promises before the School community. As part of the oath, they pledge to exercise their leadership role with responsibility and justice, give encouragement where it is needed, and do all in their power to enable others to also be their best selves.

We wish our 2023 Prefects and Captains the best of luck in their roles and know that they will serve our School confidently and positively with kindness and respect.

We have CAS trials in the first two weeks of Term 1. Please see the attachment below for the sports on offer for Term 1 and when/where the trials will be.

The season starts runs from Week 3 – Week 9 during Term 1. Games are on the same days as trials and games will be played 4pm - 5pm at School and away against local ACC Schools.

Any queries please speak to Mr Simmons.

Please find below the Music Ensembles and the Music Handbook for 2023.

Primary Music Ensemble

Secondary Music Ensemble

Ensemble Rehearsal Schedule

Instrumental Music Handbook

Tickets are selling fast, and it's your last chance to be at the hottest event in town this weekend! Rumour has it there is a special guest attending who breathes fire?!

All Old Scholars who graduated from St Mark’s in 1993, 2003 and 2013 are invited to the Milestone Reunion on Saturday 25 February 2023.

We can't wait to see you all and hear what you've been up to since leaving the land of maroon and blue!

Ticket details are available here.

If you have not received an email regarding the reunion, it means we do not have your current email - please update your details here.

Did you know that our Old Scholars' Association Little Lions Playgroup is run on-site every Friday during term time? We'd love to see your little cub there this Friday!

Join us from 8.45 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. for lots of fun and games. Little Lions Playgroup is a community-based group run in conjunction with Playgroup WA and caters for children up to school age. Families attending our Kindy and not in session on Fridays are more than welcome to join as well.

For more information and to book your spot, please email us, osa@stmarks.wa.edu.au or join our Facebook group HERE.

Everyone is welcome - you do not need to be an Old Scholar (former student) of St Mark's to attend.