The Lion's Roar - 11 August 2021

Congratulations to Oscar Chadwick (W7.1), Noah Lewis-Jones (CH7.1), Jackson Harvey (W7.2) and Leo Harvey (6.6) who all made the School Sport Western Australia 12 and Under Boys Cricket Squad, who will be travelling to Geraldton to play against other WA cricketers. This will be fantastic experience for all the boys, and we look forward to getting an update on their return to Perth.

Several of our talented Visual Art and Photo Digital Design students have been selected to exhibit their work in the city at the North Metro TAFE Gallery, and were also in the running for some fabulous prizes. The META Exhibition showcases innovative and exciting creative works completed by Year 11 and 12 students enrolled in Visual Art and Design courses. META complements North Metro TAFE’s prestigious art and design programs and acknowledges the excellence and originality of budding artist/designers in senior secondary schools across WA.

St Mark's had four students selected as finalists in the categories of Art, Design, and Photography. Congratulations to Meganne Betteridge (Year 12), Poppy Marinovich (Year 11), Taylor Burton (Year 12, 2020) and Hannah Moore (Year 12 2020). You can view the works in this quick video, or check out the gallery below.

The show is open until Friday 20 August, Mon-Fri 11am-4.30pm, Sat 12-2.30pm and is well worth seeing. Explore more online on the Meta Instagram page.

On the weekend, our Symphony Orchestra and Senior Concert Band competed in the WA Schools ABODA Festival at Churchlands Senior High School.

With a third of their members being new to the group this year, Symphony Orchestra were happy to receive a Merit for their performance of favourites such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Jupiter from The Planets.

Our seasoned Senior Concert Band performed brilliantly and were awarded Outstanding in their section, which is an amazing achievement! Well done to all our performers who represented St Mark’s so well!

A parent information letter regarding this event was made available for Pre-Primary to Year 5 Parents earlier this week. Important reminders and updates are included below:

Thursday 26 August: Jumps, Throws, 200m and 800m events for selected Year 3 to 5 students

• Parents of participants are welcome to attend but must comply with current COVID-19 guidelines and register on arrival with the SafeWA app.
• Parent helpers are required for Thursday events (9.45am to 12.30pm). Please email Mr Barton at mbarton@stmarks.wa.edu.au if you are able to assist. Parent Commitment Hours can be claimed.

Friday 27 August: Track and Novelty Events for all Pre-Primary to Year 5 students

• Parents and spectators are welcome to attend but must comply with current COVID-19 guidelines and register on arrival with the SafeWA app.
• A Coffee Van will be available on the Secondary Oval on Friday.

Families in the Early Learning Centre are reminded to book their places for the upcoming ELC Parent Information Evening which will be focusing on Developing Social Emotional Literacy - Keys for Self-Regulation.

The evening will discuss the importance of developing social emotional literacy, how this is taught in the Early Learning Centre and what you can do to support this development at home.

Presenters:

• Samantha Goldberg – School Psychologist
• Linda Sweet - Deputy Head of Primary (Early Learning)
• Hannah Stone – ECU Final Year Intern

Venue: Early Learning Centre

Date: Tuesday 17 August 2021

Time: 6.00pm – 7.30pm

Booking is essential - register here.

The Year 3 classes from St Mark’s will again be participating in a project called Operation Christmas Child. This is a charity project run by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organisation which supports children in need around the world. We are seeking donations to fill shoeboxes which will be given to children less fortunate than ourselves. Items can be placed in the large boxes set up in the Year 2/3 open area.

Donations are for children aged 2-14 years old and can include items from the following categories:

• Something to love (eg. a small soft toy or doll)
• Something for school (eg. pencils, sharpener, eraser, pencil case, notebook)
• Something for personal hygiene (eg. a flannel, a bar of soap, a hairbrush, a toothbrush)
• Something to wear (eg. any new clothes, hats, shoes or underwear)
• Something to play with (eg. a ball, a small toy, a yoyo, a skipping rope)
• Something special (eg. a bag to carry their box, a bracelet or necklace, small books)

For postage and safety reasons, we cannot accept liquids, pastes, gels or balms or any items related to war. All items must also be new, as per the charity guidelines. Thank you in advance for your support of this important project. Please contact Mrs Greaves via email egreaves@stmarks.wa.edu.au should you have any further questions.

I’ve done a few intense programs and activities in my life, but the WA Youth Parliament, run by The YMCA, is by far the most rewarding and broad spanning program I have done so far. Over five months, and climaxing in six nonstop days, we underwent planning, legislative research and writing, debating, and speech writing, all amongst a group of 15 to 25 year olds from every walk of life - with a love of politics not required at all!

In the months leading up to the camp, we underwent weekly Zoom meetings in our different committees, such as Tourism, Regional Development or Education, in which I learned all about bizarre and specific aspects of our State, from uranium mining regulations to the ins and outs of pastoral farming. This equipped us, whether we were a member of the government or the opposition, to bash it out in the chamber for the three days which we were sitting in the Legislative Assembly, and bash it out we did!

The debating was fierce and nuanced, with government and opposition fiercely yelling “Shame!” and “Hear Hear!”. What I loved within the debates was the fact that personal electrical devices had to be turned off at all times, meaning that we were forced to simply use a combination of our prepared notes and raw intellect, rather than quickly searching up stats to baffle the opposing side.

Numerous people were given the opportunity to impart their wisdom on us, such as the leader of the opposition, the speaker, and various MPs, though I felt that the WA Governor, the Honorable Kim Beazley, gave the most well-rounded and informative speech of the lot.

What I found most impressive and honestly, surprising, is that Youth Parliament is so much more than a camp and program simply about politics, and that you don’t have to know anything about politics to enjoy and learn from it. At its heart it’s a program to develop young people, run by young people. It was about meeting others, being baffled at the quiz night, or enjoying afternoon tea with someone in the Parliamentary foyer before plunging back into the chamber for another round of debates.

Overall, I’ve never been a part of a program quite like Youth Parliament, and I don’t think there is another youth program out there which really hits the perfect combination of things needed for developing young people, and, as such, I couldn’t recommend it more highly.

The Anglicare Sleepout is fast approaching and the Year 11 students are readying themselves to sleepout at Optus Stadium for a night. Before we embark upon this experience, the Year 11 Anglicare Ambassadors have organised some fundraising initiatives in Week 4 as a way of promoting awareness of the work that Street Connect do for youth homelessness in Western Australia.

Our fundraising day will be on Tuesday 17 August. Students in Middle and Senior School are asked to bring a gold coin donation to wear sports uniform AND wear a scarf, beanie, gloves or warm socks.

There will be a bake sale outside cafeteria on the day during recess; all items priced at just $1 or $2.

At lunch time there will be a sausage sizzle outside the Busselton Building; $3 for sausage and bun and $2 for a can of soft drink. The Street Connect bus will also be on campus at lunch time so that students can engage with the volunteers and ask them about the work that they do for and with, our homeless youth in Western Australia.

Our Year 11 Anglicare Ambassadors will also be around at recess and lunch time with donations tubs for those wanting to donate any leftover coins.

If you would like to learn more about the work of Street Connect, this video is an opportunity to reflect on the reality of youth homelessness and the work that Street Connect does.

The Interhouse Athletics Carnival will be held on Friday 20 August. All Year 6 to 12 students are required to attend, as this is a compulsory school day.

DATE: Friday 20 August 2021

VENUE: WA Athletics Stadium, Floreat

TIME: ALL DAY – students arrive at school at the normal time (8.30am) before attending House Meetings, then loading on to buses. Students will return to School to be dismissed by 3.25pm. All students are expected to travel to and from the venue with their House team.

UNIFORM: Students are to wear their House Sports Uniform (with sports shoes and socks). Tracksuit, rain jacket, hat and sunscreen are also recommended. Students must also bring a packed lunch, snacks, water, and all personal medications with them on the day. Some kiosk options will be available.

SPECTATORS: Parent spectators are most welcome. Spectators are requested to sit in the designated spectator seating areas and comply with current COVID-19 guidelines including registering on arrival with the SafeWA app.

We look forward to another fabulous day at the State Athletics Stadium and wish all students all the very best of luck.

Further information, including details of sporting activities, nominations for teams and events, is available on the Documents Portal on SEQTA, as per the email sent out on Tuesday 10 August.

As part of our NAIDOC Week celebrations at St Mark’s, our Year 8 students were presented with an exciting opportunity for 2022.

St Mark’s has entered into a friendship with Parnngurr Community School. Parnngurr is an indigenous settlement of the Martu people located 370km east of Newman in the Pilbara area of Western Australia. Martu lands encompass a significant proportion of the Little and Great Sandy Desert. Martu lands also encompass the Karlamilyi National Park.

The aim of the friendship between our schools is to engage in a relationship that helps both communities improve their cultural understandings. The friendship aims to aid progress towards the following elements of the St Mark’s Anglican Community School Strategic Plan 2021-2025:

Rounded Character

• Encourage our people to be active citizens who demonstrate resilience, adaptability, gratitude, empathy, and integrity.
• Work to understand, learn with, and serve others, including those of diverse identities, communities, and beliefs, and those experiencing hardship or disadvantage.

Stewardship and Sustainability

• Develop and sustain meaningful relationships, partnerships, and engagement with those within our School and in the wider community.

The Year 8 cohort were invited to express interest in participating in a tour to Parnngurr Community School during Term 2 2022.

We encourage Year 8 parents to discuss the tour with their child. This opportunity, brought to fruition through discussions between leaders of St Mark’s and Parnngurr Community School, is a unique one and will enable the young people of both communities to engage with each other with respect, empathy, openness, and curiosity.

Further information regarding the tour and the process of application will be given at an upcoming Information Evening.The details are below:

Date: Wednesday August 11 2021 (tonight)

Time: 6.30pm

Venue: Barbara Godwin Performing Arts Complex (PAC)

Should you wish to register your interest in attending the Information Evening this evening, please click here.

As part of the Year 6 Economics and Business topic in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS), we are running a Market Day. As part of Market Day, students will work in groups of four to plan a product or service to sell, with a goal of running the most successful business.

Students will be required to sign a partnership contract, submit a business plan (that outlines all the materials and costings required to produce their idea) and finally produce a profit and loss statement to see how successful they have been. Students will be asked to contribute a maximum of $10 each, towards the production of their idea.

Additionally, students can source items from home at no expense, for example, glass jars or ribbon, craft items etc. Of course, each business will need some willing consumers to purchase their items.

We are extending an invitation to Year 6 parents and grandparents to join us to help with purchasing their wares. So please save the date! Details of the activity are:

DATE: Monday 20 September 2021

VENUE: Undercover Courts (south western end of the campus)

TIME: 2.30pm to 3.15pm

The St Mark's Parents and Friends' Association is pleased to be welcoming Dr Prem Mudhan, Principal of Parnngurr Community School, as the Guest Speaker for the P&F General Meeting on Tuesday 14 September 2021.

Parnngurr is a remote West Australian Indigenous Community on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. It is the home of 150 Martu people whose ancestors have been there since the beginning of the Dreaming. The community is built in the shadow of twin hills with particular significance to the people and sits at the southern end of the Karlamilyi (Rudall River) National Park, 380kms north-east of Newman on a maintained unsealed road.

Parnngurr Community School aims to develop strong young Martu men and women by ensuring they attain educational outcomes that will provide them with a wide range of life opportunities, while valuing their Indigenous culture.

St Mark's and the Parnngurr are pleased to be working together to build relationships between the young people in both schools, and this event provides a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the two-way learning program at the School. This will be of particular interest to the Year 8 families who have expressed interest in the 2022 visit to the region.

Bookings for this free event are now open - registrations are essential. Drinks and nibbles will be served.

Parents who attend this event can claim two parent commitment hours per family.

The St Mark's Humanities and Social Sciences Department is looking forward to welcoming acclaimed sustainability expert, Professor Peter Newman, as our first ever 'Geographer in Residence'. Professor Newman will spend three days at St Mark's in August, including a special community seminar, which is open to all - parents, friends, Old Scholars, and members of the wider northern suburbs communities.

Community Seminar:

Why Spatial Understanding Matters - Implications for Planning in the Northern Suburbs

Date: Tuesday 17 August

Time: 9.30am

Venue: Barbara Godwin Performing Arts Complex

RSVP: Book your place online. Tickets are free.

Student Sessions

Students across a number year groups will have the opportunity to meet and hear from Professor Newman over his three day visit, including a special session with our Year 12 ATAR Geography students. Year 12s from other ASC schools have also been invited to attend this particular event.

Biography

Peter Newman is the Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University in Perth. Peter is an academic who has written 20 books and over 350 papers on sustainable cities having established a global reputation as well as working to deliver his ideas in all levels of government. Peter has worked in local government as an elected councillor in Fremantle, in Western Australia’s state government as an advisor to three Premiers, and with the Australian Federal Government on the Board of Infrastructure and the Prime Minister’s Cities Reference Group. He is the Coordinating Lead Author for the United Nations’ IPCC on Transport. In 2014, he was awarded an Order of Australia for his contributions to urban design and sustainable transport, particularly for his work in saving and rebuilding Perth’s rail system. In 2018/19 he was the WA Scientist of the Year. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Springer Journal 'Sustainable Earth'.

Peter is well known in Perth for his work in reviving and extending the city’s rail system from 1979 including the return of the Fremantle Rail line, electrification of the three heritage lines, building the Northern Rail line and the Southern Rail line, as well as proposing a vision for the next 30 years of light rail and heavy rail to contain Perth’s urban sprawl. This activism has been turned into practical assistance in dozens of other cities.

MORE THAN 70% OF TICKETS NOW SOLD - DON"T MISS OUT!

Date: Saturday 18 September 2021

Time: Doors open 6.30pm, quiz starts at 7pm. Music and dancing to follow!

Tickets: Get them here at just $15pp

Tables will be in groups of six, so get your team together now! This event is for 18+, as alcohol will be available for purchase. You are encouraged to bring your own snacks to share with your table. If you would like to order a bottle of wine for your table in advance, you can do so using this form.

If you have your team of six all planned out, please contact Nirbhay Gupta at fundraising@stmarks.wa.edu.au with the list of names. This will help ensure that tables are set up appropriately. If you are not part of a team as yet, and are happy to be allocated to any table in need of team members, that would be helpful to know as well.

A choral spectacular - We Are Family - takes place on 23 September, and will feature the choirs True Voices, Crescendo Kids, Viva Ritmo, and Take Note. This fabulous event will be a celebration of our community through song. Because we know this event will be a popular one, there will be two sessions - one at 4.30pm and one at 6.30pm.

Date: Thursday, 23 September

Venue: Barbara Godwin Performing Arts Complex

Time: 4.30pm and 6.30pm

Tickets: Tickets are free, but bookings are essential. Bookings now open to all!

ECU’s School of Engineering is offering $20,000 scholarships to high performing Year 12 students who wish to study Engineering in 2022.

Nominations are now open. ECU is pleased to invite all secondary schools to nominate any high performing students who are interested in studying Engineering for these scholarships. Alternatively, interested students can also self-nominate. More information can be found here, and nominations forms, here.

Tee Ball 'Come and Try Day' - Wanneroo Club

The Wanneroo Joondalup Tee Ball Club ('WJTBC') 'Come & Try Day' is on Saturday 21 August 2021 from 1pm-3pm at Percy Doyle Reserve, Duncraig. BBQ and Canteen food will be available. Tee Ball is a fantastic, summer season sport that builds friendships and co-ordination, but most importantly is about kids getting involved and having fun! Organised activities involving sports, music, or education have proven to be beneficial to a child’s physical, cognitive, cultural and social development. For more information, visit the Club's website for more information - Wanneroo Joondalup Tee Ball Club (wjtbc.org.au)

Tee Ball/Softball/Baseball 'Come and Try Day' - Carine Cats Club

Carine Cats Baseball, T-Ball, and Softball are hosting a Come & Try Day for potential new players to the sport. The first 50 kids that come down will receive a free gift, and all families will receive one free raffle ticket. Ages 5 and up are welcome. You will also be able to pick up new gear from The Bat Cave stall. Find out more on the Carine Cats Facebook page.

• Date: Saturday 14 August
• Time: 2pm to 5pm
• Venue: Carine Open Space (near the baseball batting cages).

Joondalup Theatre Society

Joondalup Encore Theatre Society presents Art for Art's Sake - Take struggling Art Dealer David Gibson, anxious wife Jean, daughter Samantha, unreliable stepbrother Brian, lascivious aunt Christine and unscrupulous buyer Dolores Van Zuyl from Los Angeles, what could possibly go wrong? Add art expert Octavius Stubbs and his wife and panic stations ensue as plots and sub-plots arise!

Opening night is 20 August and the Society will perform five shows over two weekends at Padbury Community Hall on 20th, 21st, 27th,28th August and an afternoon show on 22nd August. Then the show is "on the road", to perform in Bindoon on 29th August. Book your tickets online.

Parents of school Leavers have been provided assistance to navigate this year's school Leavers celebrations with free information sessions about efforts in the South West to keep revellers safe.

Hosted by the Western Australia Police Force and the Department of Education, the sessions will help parents to talk with their children about staying safe around alcohol and other drugs and while travelling as a driver or passenger.

Every year thousands of students join official celebrations in the South West. This year's Leavers event will run from 22-25 November 2021 and, due to travel restrictions associated with the global COVID-19 pandemic, this year's attendance is anticipated to have the highest attendance to date.

Following is the EventBrite registration link for the second Leavers Parent Information Session coming up tomorrow, Thursday, 12 August, in Fremantle - book here.

The first Leavers Parent Information Session held at Hillarys on Sunday, 25 July was recorded and is available to view on YouTube.

The Leavers WA website provides further information, and where you can find details of ID requirements for wristband purchases.

Although life is always filled with uncertainty, the levels we are currently experiencing are unprecedented and it is becoming evident that this is taking a toll on our young people. The most recent research from Mission Australia makes clear the breadth and depth the pandemic is having on our youth across the nation.

While Western Australia has been spared long lockdowns recently, it is possible that they, along with tighter restrictions, may be a sporadic feature of living in Australia for a while yet. During times of uncertainty it remains important to instil hope and remain optimistic. Adult carers can play a vital role in helping young people reframe their worries, encouraging them to see life as it is and getting them to focus more on the things they can control, rather than those they can’t. And even though we may not currently be experiencing a lockdown, the news from other States may still impact on the mental health of our young people.

It’s important young people remain connected with their social networks during these times as often their natural response to uncertainty is to exhibit varying degrees of fear and anxiety. When disruptions occur, here or in the other states, mental health concerns can arise and it is evident that some young people will need extra support. Parents can help their kids focus more on the good things in their life, rather than fill in the blanks with catastrophic narratives.

This Special Report on St Mark's School TV outlines how adult carers can help instil hope and offer support in such times of uncertainty. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If this Special Report raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please seek medical or professional help.

While the cold, blustery conditions that we experienced on Tuesday are a feature of the Noongar season of Makuru, there are signs that the season of Djilba is here (August/September).

Djilba is a transitional time of the year, with some very cold and clear days combining with warmer, rainy and windy days mixing with the occasional sunny day or two - pretty much what we have experienced over the last week or so.

Look out for the white flowers of the weeping peppermint tree (Agonis flexuoso) to emerge, a good signal that warmer times are on the way. The weeping peppermint tree (or Wonnil in Noongar language) played an important role in traditional medicine for its antiseptic properties and for easing congestion.

If you spot the flowers of the Wonnil, let us know! Watching nature's changes in the landscape around us is a fantastic way to learn about the Noongar seasons.