The Lion's Roar - 16 November 2022

VOLUNTEERING STARS

Well done to Year 4 Students, Ryan and Matilda, and Lily from Year 7 on volunteering at the Woolworths stand at the Perth Convention Centre where they served children with intellectual disabilities and those less fortunate for the Special Children's Christmas Party.

The Special Children’s Christmas Parties are the biggest events of their kind in Australia for special needs children and their families. The children invited, are children who may have one or more of the following: serious illnesses, physical impairment, intellectual impairment, domestic violence, or living in underprivileged circumstances.

On Friday, our School paused to remember and honour those who have died or suffered for Australia's cause in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping or humanitarian operations.

Our Primary School held a Remembrance Day Service, to honour and observe a minute's silence, was led by Year 5 students and Mr Douglas.

It was lovely to see so many of our students proudly wearing the poppies they had made in class.

Our Year 2 Students put on a wonderful performance for their families and friends last week as they showcased all the songs and string techniques they had learnt as part of the Year 2 Strings Program.

Learning traditional pieces all the way through to current hits, it was wonderful to hear the amazing progress they have made under the fantastic tutelage of our teachers.

There are some budding musicians in this group! So, watch this space, as we are sure some of them will be performing on stage with Perth Symphony or WASO in the future!

The 2022 Primary School Christmas Concert and Carols is fast approaching!

This year’s event will again be hosted by the Crescendo Kids and Take Note Choir. It will also feature Mr Martin’s rock band, ‘We Who Shall Not Be Named’!

• When: 5pm - 7pm, Friday 2 December 2022, Week 8 of Term 4
• Where: St Mark’s Secondary School Oval (near the Pavilion)
• Parking: On-site and near Muzz Buzz
• Bring: Picnic rug and drinks
• Other Information:
  • Free Sausage Sizzle from 5pm - 6pm
  • Christmas Concert and Carols from 6pm - 6:30pm
  • School Coffee Van on-site

If you have any questions about the event, please email Mr Joe da Costa at jdacosta@stmarks.wa.edu.au

Download the event flyer here.

The Girls Programming Network is for high school girls and gender-diverse students in Years 7-12 who are interested in learning how to program or improve their coding skills. GPN is a unique opportunity to make friends, meet people with similar interests, and learn about Perth's tech community.

The Term 4 workshop is fast approaching on 19 November so book your spot today! Local technologists and teachers host the free, full-day programming workshop.

Head to the booking link HERE to book your spot.

Students in all ASC Schools who are in Years 9 or 10 in 2023 are invited to apply for the service learning trip to Samoa. The trip will take place from Friday 30 June to Saturday 15 July 2023.

For more information, download the flyer here or contact Rev'd David Jones on 0418 526 403 or djones@ascschools.edu.au, Co-ordinator of Samoan Service Learning for the Anglican Schools Commission.

Do you need some support to get homework done or need some help with assessments, study skills and organisation?

Supervised Homework Club

• Years 6 - 9
• Tuesday 3.30pm - 4.30pm
• Library Glass Room

We will start the term by checking all the assessments are in the diary and recorded on the term planner as well as checking in on our organisation for each subject.

If there is something, in particular, you would like us to support your child with, please don’t hesitate to contact us. rrourke@stmarks.wa.edu.au, kswan@stmarks.wa.edu.au

Mrs Rourke and Mrs Swan

Withdrawals from the Instrumental Music program must be received by Friday 18 November 2022.

If your child has shown an interest in learning an instrument, we have 20 incredibly talented Music Tutors at St Mark’s who would love to welcome your child to the world of music, with applications for Term 1 2023 enrolments now open!

St Mark's offers the following options: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, French Horn, Baritone Horn, Euphonium, Tuba, Percussion, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Percussion, Piano and Voice. If you'd like more information, please check out the Instrumental Music Handbook, here.

Both enrolments and withdrawals from the Instrumental Music Program are now completed online (links below). If you have questions, please contact the Arts Administrator, Jaina van Reyk, at artsadmin@stmarks.wa.edu.au or on 9403 1350.

Withdrawals - New Withdrawal Form

Enrolments - New Enrolment Form

Please note that the deadline for Term 1, 2023 enrolments and withdrawals Friday 18 November 2022. Withdrawals after this date will be processed at the start of Term 1, and another term’s fees will be incurred.

Download the Instrument Handbook here.

Our triathlon teams in both Primary and Secondary are to be commended on their fantastic achievements at the recent School Sport WA Champion Schools Triathlon.

Our Primary School team of Year 5 and 6 students took 39 participants and entered 13 teams into the various divisions of the competitions, with a number of our teams ending up on the podium. As a team, we were named the Champion School for the event, which is the fifth year in a row we have finished in first place. Some of the stand-out performances were:

Teams Triathlon

• A Division 2^nd place - Dylan Paap, Liam Findlay, Henry Malkin
• A Division 3^rd place – Jonathon Booth, Tyler Hurst, Lucas Barron
• A Division 5^th place – Isobel Dolphin-Spencer, Liam Nelson, Daniel File
• B Division 4^th place – Beau Stockden, Oliver Howard, Michael Job
• Girls Division 2^nd place – Amelie Ridley, Orlaith Greenwood, Sophie Lind
• Girls Division 3^rd place – Hazel Foley, Marley Landrie, Peggy Fussell
• D Division 3^rd Place – Gabi Jackson, Mathis Johnson, Lucas Tulloch

Individual Aquathon

• Girls 12 years 1^st place– Lua Wilson
• Boys 12 years 3^rd place – Dylan Paap
• Boys 12 years 4^th place – Daniel File

Our Secondary Triathlon Team of over 40 students with a mix of experience levels were all keen to challenge themselves against more than 30 other Schools in the Secondary comp. All our teams competed strongly, with many finishing in the top five or top ten. The outstanding performances were Asha Pressley, who finished second overall in the Novice Girls Individual category, and our best-placed team was one of our Year 8 boys' teams (Tyler Lind, Ethan Roche and Charlie Anderson-Nichols), who finished second.

Well done to everyone involved - the St Mark's community is incredibly proud of you all. A massive thank you to our fabulous teachers and support crews!

Students, Olivia and Emie, from our Middle School are collecting for charity organisation, Give Write, and need your help!

Give Write collects new and used stationery, and packages it up, to donate to schools and students who can't afford new stationery each year.

The students would love for you all to contribute - so please bring drop off your items to the special Give Write box outside MS Reception from 20 November - 6 December.

Last Tuesday, the St Mark's Old Scholars' Association hosted its final Salvation Army Great Cook Up for 2002.

Students from the Junior and Middle school 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. Seven full Bain Maries were filled with amazing cooked meals. This equates to approximately 140 meals for those in need.

The Salvation Army serves these meals on the weekends to those who are homeless and/or living on the streets primarily in the CBD and East Perth.

Jason Reynolds from the Salvation Army was very grateful for the prepared meals and sincerely “Thanks” the St Mark's Community for its contribution to the Salvation Army throughout 2022.

This is a fantastic initiative for a very worthy cause run by the St Mark's Old Scholars' Association and well done to all students and parents who attended the afternoon.

The OSA would like to give a special thanks to Mrs Gilham and Mrs Snape from Food Technology for allowing the OSA and the St Mark's Community to prepare and cook meals in their classrooms.

Here are some super stats on what our community has achieved this year for the Salvation Army:

• 74 families contributed their time at either the Salvation Army Great Cook Ups or Salvation Army Container Meals
• The Great Cook Up – Cooking Meals in the SAC (Terms 1 – 4) = Approx 640 meals
• Container Meal Program – Cooking Meals in Takeaway Containers (Terms 1-3) = 860 Meals to date.
  We have the Term 4 container meal at the end of November, so it will most likely be closer to 1150 – 1200 in total by the end of the year.

That’s approximately 1800 – 1850 meals provided by the St Mark's Community to the Salvation Army in 2022!

Wowee! Well done to everyone involved!

Over the last few years, the Global Citizenship Council, with the help of students and families from the Primary and ELC, have participated in a Christmas Appeal collection for the Heathridge Salvation Army. This year we have been contacted by the centre to help them in a very big way. The following items are desperately needed for families in need:

• ELC: coffee / milo / teabags
• YEAR 2: UHT full cream milk / baked beans / spaghetti / 2-mintue cup noodle bowls (you can just pour hot water into)
• YEAR 3: canned tuna/sardines/salmon, or museli bars / fruit cups
• YEAR 4: chips / biscuits / Christmas festive cookies, treats and cakes
• YEAR 5: Shadow box items for teens aged 12-14: knick-knacks, stationery items, gift cards, earrings, blocks of chocolate, mixed chocolate bags, wrapped lollies, small makeup or beauty items, hair clips and elastics, mini game boxes, small wallets or purses - please see the poster which contains example photos of shadow boxes students will be making.

The collection will run from Friday 7 November to Friday 2 December. Items are to be dropped off to the ELC or to the Primary Library Christmas Tree.

We thank you for your ongoing support of this very important cause. Over $360 was raised from our Donation Bag collection last term, and these funds have also been donated to the Heathridge Centre to buy supplies for the above appeal.

Click here to check out this fabulous video our Year 5 Global Citizenship Council has made to raise support for the Heathridge Salvation Army Centre.

As the end of the school year is fast approaching our Canteen will start reducing its stock levels and some items may run out before the end of term.

Please also note that there will be no lunch orders on the last two days of term, 5 and 6 December, as they will be cleaning, stocktaking and prepping for catering.

Thank you.

If your child will be absent, or late to class, or if they will need to leave early to attend a medical appointment, please notify the School by emailing absentee@stmarks.wa.edu.au

Please include your child’s name (first name and surname) and class/year level in the subject line of the email. Please do not send absentee/appointments/late information to any other email address - it must go to absentee@stmarks.wa.edu.au, no matter what year group your child is in.

Thank you

All family accounts must be finalised by this month. Many thanks to those families who have already settled their account in full.

If you have overlooked the payment of your final instalment, please pay immediately or contact familyaccounts@stmarks.wa.edu.au to make alternative arrangements.

If you are still chasing those Parent Commitment Hours we are in need of EIGHT parent volunteers to help with cooking a sausage sizzle. Details are below:

• When: Monday 25 November - House Harmonies
• What: Cooking Sausage Sizzle for 600 people
• When: 11.00 am – 2.30 pm
• Where: Outside the PAV

Book your spot here.

Applications for the Christian Leaders Scholarship are now open and will close on Sunday 20 Nov 2022. It is open to applicants between 17 to 20 years of age.

Full details are available on their website.

Webinar: 23 November 7:30pm AEDT/ Syd time

Is your tween nagging you for their own phone?

Do you feel pressure to ‘keep up with the iPhones'?

Worried your kid will miss out on being part of their friendship group?

Is your gut telling you to ‘delay delay delay’?

Smartphone ownership comes not just with a significant cost, but also responsibility – for both the young person but also the parents and caregivers.

Just like when you introduced your baby to solids, you slowly started to experiment with different foods – with phones we need to be careful to introduce levels of immersion in its features, from wifi to games and social media apps.

We’ll unpack the big issues and questions to ask to determine what is right for you and your child, based on best practices and the latest research.

Click HERE for more information.

The St Mark's Parents and Friends’ Association (“P&F”) continually provide a high level of support to the School. The P&F generously supports the School by funding projects that are not essential for education, but have a positive effect on our School community. The P&F is inviting staff, parents and students to submit project proposals for funding in 2023.

Criteria for Project Funding

Project ideas are being sought from the School community. Funding applications and projects will be assessed against criteria set by the P&F in conjunction with the School Executive. As a general guide, projects should:

• have a positive impact on our School community (this may include parents and the broader School community, not just students);
• not be for normal classroom resources, substitutional for, or incremental to, School budgets;
• benefit a large number of families and preferably not restricted to an individual year group or subject;
• should be considered appropriate by the School Executive (among other things, in keeping with the School’s values, manageable and maintainable); and
• should be non-recurrent in nature so that the P&F input is not spread too thinly or committed for many years.

If you have ideas that meet these criteria, please:

• research the idea;
• obtain indicative costs if possible;
• talk the ideas through with your Department Head (or similar); and
• email a letter of request, together with supporting documentation outlining the project details and costs, to treasurer.pf@stmarks.wa.edu.au by Tuesday 22 November 2022.

The St Mark's community are invited to join the St Mark's P&F Association for their general meeting on Tuesday 29 November at 7.30pm in the Barbara Godwin Performing Arts Complex.

• Refreshments will be served after the meeting.
• Bookings are not required.
• Two parent commitment hours are available for each family who attends.

This meeting will be combined General Meeting and 2023 Budget Planning Meeting.

Our Old Scholars' Association Little Lions Playgroup is on for Term 4!

Our Little Lions Playgroup is a community-based group and is run in conjunction with Playgroup WA.

It is held every Friday during term time from 8.45am - 10.30am, and caters for children up to school age.

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.

The West Australian Youth Strings Orchestra (WAYS) is a community-based, not-for-profit organisation actively seeking new members for their first orchestral experience.

Auditions are taking place throughout Term 4 to join WAYS in 2023.

For more information, please head to the links below:
WAYS Website
WAYS Facebook Page