The Lion's Roar - 15 March 2023

ATHLETICS ACE

Congratulations to Year 8 Student Kye, who competed in the WA State Track and Field Championships over the weekend and came away with two medals. Silver for Javelin and bronze for Discus.

He has now qualified for the WA State Team and will travel to Queensland in the school holidays to represent Western Australia in the Australian Junior Track and Field Championships.

Well done, and good luck, Kye!

BREAKING RECORDS

Well done to Natalie in Year 8 who set a new Javelin record at the Hammersley Little Athletics Carnival on Saturday 25 February 2023. Nat threw 25.60 Meters in the U14 Girls 500g Javelin.

What a fabulous effort!

The St Mark's Salvation Army Cook Up is back again for 2023. This is a fantastic initiative for a very worthy cause run by the St Mark's Old Scholars' Association.

Students from the Junior and Middle Schools came together with their parents to work alongside each other and cook meals for the Salvation Army. It was a great afternoon, and the kitchen was a buzz with St Mark's community spirit.

Ten St Mark's families cooked and prepared eight full Bain Maries filled with amazing cooked meals (approx. 120 meals) that were served to the homeless by the Salvation Army.

Well done to all students and parents who attended the afternoon.

We have been informed that the traffic warden employed by the Police Children’s Crossing Unit is NOT AVAILABLE at the designated children's crossing on Endeavour Road, near Banks Avenue, on Thursday 16 March 2023.

Please be extremely vigilant when crossing the road on Thursday, as no traffic wardens will be present.

The 2022 edition of the School's yearbook, Endeavour, will be distributed to students in the coming weeks. The book will be sent home with the eldest child in each family. Families who are new to St Mark's in 2023 will not receive a copy of the 2022 edition.

We hope you enjoy reading through the book with your children as you share memories of the many wonderful activities undertaken during the course of 2022.

If you have any questions related to the 2022 Endeavour, please email community@stmarks.wa.edu.au.

Fancy running or walking 12km with some friends, students, and teachers? St Mark's has entered a team in the HBF Run for a Reason. Please join our team for a morning of community, exercise, and fun.

Details:
Date: 21 May 2023
Time: 8am (be there at least 30 minutes early)
Start: The event starts on William St in the city near the Perth Underground station
Finish: Gloucester Park. Finishing times will vary with all hopefully finished by 10am
Transport: Students are required to find their own way to and from the run.

Think you can meet the challenge and achieve your own personal goals?
​
What next?
Chat to Mr Lehman or email dlehman@stmarks.wa.edu.au

Chat to Alex Chirico or email achirico@stmarks.wa.edu.au

More information:
https://www.hbfrun.com.au/

Don't forget:
When you are registering, register as an individual then as part of a team. Our team name is St Mark's Anglican Community School.

Hope to see you there!

Please be mindful of our neighbours in the homes and businesses around the School.

Parking in the Endeavour Business Centre (cnr of Banks and Endeavour) is restricted to clients of the Centre’s tenants only.

The parking areas next to the Whitfords Family Centre and Endeavour Child Care facilities are also strictly reserved for their clients.

Please do not block the driveways of homes on St Marks Drive.

Please also ensure that you are driving safely through carpark areas and our driveways.

The Languages Department invites all students to participate in the Education Perfect Global Languages Championship 2023!

The Championships run from Tuesday 7 March 2pm (WST) until Tuesday 14 March 2023 2pm (WST). All EP Languages are included in the event, and students from all years are warmly invited to participate.

This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to have fun celebrating language learning with peers from over 2,000 schools worldwide!

There is even a fabulous prize up for grabs!

Bonne chance! Zhù nǐ hǎo yùn!

Congratulations to Maxwell in Year 4 for receiving the ‘Artist of the Month’ award for February.

Max completed an outstanding painting of a tiger, showing correct proportion and balance. The colour palette and painting techniques he has used are careful and considered. It is easy to imagine Max’s tiger lurking in the jungle, waiting for his next prey!

Well done, Max! Keep up the great work.

Years 11 and 12 students of ATAR French were given the opportunity to experience the influence of the language and culture that they are currently studying with the excursion to Luna Cinema in Leederville to view the new French film “à la belle étoile” (Sugar and Stars). The film is based on the true story of the youngest Pastry World Champion, Yazid Ichemrahen.

The film had the students completely immersed and enhanced their understanding of and passion for the French language.

As an extra treat due to our early arrival, we went for un café glacé at Fry'd.

On Monday and Tuesday, our Year 9 students were tasked with assessing aspects of interconnection in the Joondalup CBD. This entailed accessibility via public transport as students took the train to Joondalup station.

On arrival, students completed three main activities. The first was a walk-through and introduction to Edith Cowan University, given by Loretta Dayman and Selena Tenekov. We are very grateful to these ECU staff who gave up their time to discuss the number of students studying at ECU, the courses available, as well as the current facilities and connections that enable students from many demographics to enjoy their student experience.

We then walked up to the Joondalup Council and Library, where students heard from the City of Joondalup’s Urban Planners about the challenges faced by the local government in planning for future developments. The students also investigated the local history of the area at the Joondalup Library. Students also got to hear from the state Shadow Cabinet on Monday, who introduced themselves to the group and spoke about their ideas.

Lastly, students completed a survey of the retail and commercial district investigating the urban function and land use. The aim of the fieldwork was to lay the foundation for proposing future developments in the Joondalup City Centre.

Thanks to the Year 9 HaSS staff, especially Peggy Bakalis, for making the excursion possible and to the City of Joondalup for arranging a range of guest speakers and venues for us to use.

We are incredibly proud and excited to share that the work of one of our Year 12 ATAR Art students, Rebecca Harvie, has been selected as one of only 30 finalists who entered the Lester Prize Youth Award Competition.

Rebecca's piece, "I'm Only Joking", was painted as part of her Year 11 ATAR Art course in 2022; the small self-portrait is painted mainly in red and adorned with horns, symbolising the goat.

St Mark’s regularly enters student artwork in the Lester Prize, and this year we had three entrants. However, this is the first time one of our students has been selected as a finalist in this prestigious competition.

The Lester Prize was originally called the Black Swan Portrait Prize and is WA’s most lucrative portrait prize (adult award: prize pool of $110,000). There is an adult prize and a youth prize.

The exhibition of the youth finalists’ work will be held at the WA Museum Boola Bardip from 7 April – 16 July. The opening presentation night will be held on 27 April, when the winners will be announced. Please visit the page below for more information.

https://www.lesterprize.com/gallery-the-lester-prize-for-portraiture/youth-prize/2023-2/

Last Friday, Year 9 Drama students attended a workshop presented by Shane McMullan from Into the Mask Theatre. The workshop was engaging and very much enjoyed by the students.

Commedia dell’arte is an Italian theatrical form popular in the 16^th Century. Commedia emphasised acting as an ensemble and relied on improvised scenarios, a cast of colourful stock characters or character archetypes and the use of masks. The workshop incorporated a lot of physical exaggeration and strength and focused on encouraging students to become aware of their bodies in space.

“I really enjoyed this workshop and learned so much in two hours! I learned that Commedia dell’arte is a very physical kind of theatre where actors portray their characters by exaggerating their movements as well as wearing masks. We did slapstick comedy which was a lot of fun. We created short scenes using slapstick and learned how this is a tool of the Zanni character. The Zanni is one of the characters of the lowest status and represents ordinary people. To become the character of the Zanni, you turn your feet out and bound with a spring in your step. I loved playing the Zanni because of their grotesque habits. A character who has no etiquette or social skills makes for great comedy. Thanks to our teacher Ms Vidot for organising this incursion for us!” - Grace Halsall

The Primary Production is open to all students in Years 4 and 5. Further information can be found in the Information Pack. If your child would like to take part, please complete the sign-up link below:

Sign-up link for Auditions: Click here to sign up for the audition

• Auditions Date: Tuesday 28 March and Thursday 30 March
• Auditions Time: 3.30pm - 5pm
• Auditions Venue: Year 4/5 Area

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs Raymond at kraymond@stmarks.wa.edu.au

Download the information pack here.

Due to the ASC Concert approaching, there are some changes to ensembles in Weeks 8 and 9. Please note if your ensemble is not listed, then it is running as usual!

Week 8 Ensemble Changes

• Mon 20/3
  True Voices bring your lunch and come to PAC 8 at start of lunch to sing with Viva Ritmo at 1.15pm. Done by end of lunch!
  
• Tue 21/3
  ASC Massed Choir only 7.15 - 8.15am (no Secondary Choir rehearsal)
  
• Wed 22/3
  ASC Select Choir only 7.15 - 8.15am (no True Voices rehearsal)
  
• Thu 23/3
  Baroque orchestra only 7.15 - 7.45am
  ASC orchestra only 7.45 - 8.15am (no full Symphony Orchestra rehearsal)
  True Voices 8.15 - 8.45am Rehearsal with Viva Ritmo in the Hall.

Week 9 Ensemble Changes

• Tue 28/3
  Secondary Choir, Jazz Band and Modern Guitar Ensemble cancelled.
  Sforzando/Primo Strings move to Year 4/5 area.
  Primary Classical Guitar Ensemble move to PAC 8.
  
• Wed 29/3
  True Voices and Senior Concert Band cancelled.
  
• Thu 30/3
  Symphony Orchestra cancelled.

The Music Department has recently installed 12 new instrument lockers near the Music Office, which should ease congestion in our Music storeroom.

We encourage all French horn, trumpet, saxophone, baritone and euphonium students to use these lockers to store your larger instruments in. The lockers are for day use only and must be emptied at the end of the day. INSTRUMENTS MUST NOT BE LEFT OVERNIGHT as the lockers are outdoors and too easily accessible to thieves or trespassers.

Please note there will be lots of students using these lockers, and no one will have their own assigned locker – you simply find an empty locker in the morning and use it for the day.

Your music tutor or a staff member can show you how to set the digital lock code, and students should pick an easy 4-digit number (e.g. their day and month of birth). Please reset the code to 0000 for the next student when you have finished using the locker.

We have a group of eager and brave St Mark's students participating in this year's World's Greatest Shave.

We are calling for hairdressers within our School community to help us ensure that the event goes well. In particular, we are looking for help with the students who are cutting off their ponytails (20cm in length) or shaving heads.

We do not have the time for full fashion cuts, but we do want to ensure participating students are left with enough hair to get a professional cut at a later date.

We also require volunteers to help set up and pack down the event.

We require our volunteers to be onsite on Monday 20 March from 12.30pm - 2.30pm and Parent Commitment Hours can be claimed. To book your volunteer spot, please head to the link here.

For more information, please email Mr Mark Van Winsen.

The open days are an opportunity to explore different study pathways and careers. There will be guided tours and information sessions throughout the day.

Experts and current students will be available to give advice and answers to questions, including info on courses, careers, scholarships, admission pathways, early offers and how to apply for 2024.

• Sunday 12 March 2023 - The University of Western Australia - UWA Open Day
• Sunday 26 March 2023 - Curtin University - Curtin Open Day
• Sunday 26 March 2023 - Edith Cowan University, Bunbury Campus - ECU Open Days
• Sunday 2 April 2023 - Edith Cowan University, Joondalup Campus - ECU Open Days
• Sunday 2 April 2023 - The University of Notre Dame - Notre Dame
• Saturday 29 April - Murdoch University - Murdoch University
• Sunday 30 April 2023 - Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley Campus - ECU Open Days

The St Mark's Parents & Friends' Association cordially invites all members of our School community to join them for the annual Welcome Sundowner on Tuesday 28 March 2023. The Sundowner will be followed by the P&F's Annual General Meeting.

The Sundowner and AGM will be held in the Alan Cadby Senior Academic Centre.

• 6.30pm to 7.30pm - Sundowner in the Staffroom of the SAC
• 7.30pm to 9.30pm - Annual General Meeting* in the Open Area of the SAC

All P&F committee positions become vacant at the AGM. We welcome nominations from parents to join the committee. Enquiries about the roles can be directed to Ros Hawker at secretary.pf@stmarks.wa.edu.au

*Please note that you can add two hours to your Parent Commitment tally for 2023 by attending the Annual General Meeting.

Please note: tickets are not required for this event.

There is less than two weeks until St Mark's hosts the Annual Billy Cart Derby for dads and kids against neighbouring schools!

Schools involved in The Fathering Project within the local area are invited to compete for a range of awards and prizes. Caitlin Collins will attend to open the event, as well as Officers from Hillarys Police Station to speed-check the carts.

We are looking for a maximum of 30 teams of Dads/Father Figures and their associated St Mark's kids to build a billy cart in preparation for the event on Sunday 26 March.

The Derby will be held on the Senior Oval from 12-5 pm.

Local schools with a Fathering Project Dads Group competing against us are:

• Currambine Primary School
• Burns Beach Primary School
• Whitfords Catholic Primary School
• Beaumaris Primary School

The event is open to students in Years 1-6, and all teams must book to pay the Entry Fee of $20 per cart.

Bookings will open soon via this link, so for now - save the date and start planning!

How to build a billy cart: www.instructables.com/Build-a-Billy-Cart.

Please note all racers require helmets.

A sausage sizzle and coffee van will also be available. If you don't want to enter but are keen to watch, come and cheer for St Mark's and enjoy the hilarity of it all!

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.

Redhage Basketball is back for its before school program during Term 2.

For further information, head to www.redhagebasketball.com

The Academic Group are running Holiday Revision Courses designed specifically for students looking to revise ATAR course content and practise exam-style questions in preparation for exams.

Click here for more information.

The City of Wanneroo organises school holiday programs to keep our youth community active, social and healthy throughout the break period.

Please see attached the timetable for the upcoming school holiday period in April at Kingsway Indoor Stadium.

Download the Holiday Timetable here.

The Whitfords Supported Playgroup is a free weekly playgroup for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and similar needs.

They meet on Tuesdays (during school term) from 9.30am to 11.00am in the Whitfords Family Centre (21 Endeavour Road).

Download more information here: Whitfords Supported Playgroup Flyer