The Lion's Roar - 2 June 2021

News just in! Year 6 student Daniel Ciccullo, was announced as the first place winner of the Integrity Category in the Annual ASC Piano Competition, which was held at Peter Moyes Anglican Community School today. This is a fantastic achievement, and we'd like to congratulate Daniel on his success.

Well done to all the St Mark's students who participated in this annual event, and we will share more information in next week's newsletter.

State Swimming Team Announcements

Congratulations to Charlie Harnett (CH9.1) on her selection to the School Sport WA State Team for Swimming (13-19yrs) and to Mackenzie Hall (M7.1) and Harry Linehan (6.2) who were selected for the 10-12 Year Team. While there is no National Championship for 2021, all teams will compete in a “Virtual” National Championship being conducted by School Sport Australia. We wish all the best to Charlie, Mackenzie and Harry for their participation in this unique tournament. Swimmers from each state will compete in local events, with times sent through to School Sport Australia to be aggregated and race winners announced.

Cross Country State Team Announcements

Following on from recent Interschool Cross Country Carnivals, Charlie Killoh (5HUE) and Charli-Rose Carlyon (M10.2) have been selected for the School Sport WA State Cross Country Team, in their respective age categories.

We are delighted to confirm that this year's Primary School Musical will be 'Disney's Jungle Books Kids'! The Primary Music and Drama Team are inviting Year 4 and 5 students to audition for roles in this special event. The auditions will be held in Weeks 9 and 10 (further details to be provided closer to the time). Thank you to all the students who came along to the audition demo earlier this week.

For more information, please download the Audition Pack, which provides plenty of useful and encouraging tips for our future stars of the stage.

Students in Years 2 to 5 are invited to the Term 2 Disco, which will be taking them to the deepest oceans and the furthest skies!

Date: 11 June 2021

• The theme this term for Year 2/3 students is The Ocean. Years 2 and 3 will attend from 5pm until 6.30pm in the Y4/5 Area

• The theme this term for Year 4/5 students is Outer Space. Year 4 and 5 students will attend from 6.45pm until 8.15pm in the Y4/5 Area

Tickets: Book online

The cost of each disco ticket includes a snack and drink (please discuss with your child their choice of confectionery/drink PRIOR to the disco). In the interest of safety, children must wear enclosed shoes at all times. When picking up your child at the conclusion of the disco, parents are asked to wait outside the Y4/5 Area; please be aware of any COVID precautions that may be in force at that time.

Please note: All booking fees charged by Humantix (the ticketing platform St Mark's is now using) go to supporting educational initiatives in indigenous communities. Humantix is a not-for-profit organisation.

K-1 PARENT TEACHER MEETINGS – WEEKS 10 AND 11

Arrangements are being finalised to enable parents to book parent teacher meetings, which will be held later this term, to discuss their child’s progress this Semester. It is anticipated that further details, and a link to the online booking system, will go out next week. This is relevant only to families with students in Kindy, Pre-Primary and Year 1.

NO CROSS WALK ATTENDANT ON ENDEAVOUR ROAD THIS WEEK (31 May to 4 June)

The traffic warden who works at the children's crossing on Endeavour Road (near Banks Avenue) is unable to work this week and, unfortunately, there are no relief staff available to cover the position. Please take extra care when crossing Endeavour Road whenever there is no cross walk attendant on duty.

PP HUNGRY CATERPILLAR EXCURSION – Tuesday 8 June

As part of the Pre-Primary Literacy ‘Talk for Writing’ program, we are delighted that we have managed to secure tickets for the Pre-Primary children to watch the live performance of Eric Carl’s well-known story “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” at the Heath Ledger Theatre in Perth City.

The Semester 1 ASX Stock Market Game has now concluded in what has been a volatile month or so on the market. Congratulations to Business Management and Enterprise student Nic Lyon (M11.2), who finished the game as the top-ranked St Mark's student, with a final portfolio value of $53,387.15. Over the course of the game, Nic held a varied portfolio that included shares in Woolworths (WOW), Mineral Resources (MIN) and Evolution Mining (EVN).

Second place went to Taine Hughes (M11.2), also from the Business Management and Enterprise class.

It was also great to see some emerging market analysis from the Year 9 Business and Personal Finance course. Congratulations to Liam Lindsay (W9.2) and Benjamin Illet (CH9.2), who took out third place!

Congratulations to everyone who returned a profit this semester. Students will again have the opportunity to place the game during Semester 2.

Congratulations to the Secondary Cross Country Team for their efforts in finishing in 9th place out of 30 schools in last Thursday's ACC Cross Country event; a pleasing result with some outstanding individual and age group performances in what is a high quality field.

With a relatively short preparation period leading into the event, we are proud of the efforts of each and every member of the team. With 70 schools represented, and more 350 starters in some races, it is one of the biggest sporting events in Western Australia.

Team and Age Group Results

• Overall Boys 18^th Place
• Overall Girls 8^th place
• Overall 9^th place
• U19 Female 3^rd place
• U14 Female 4^th place
• U14 Male 10^th place

Individual Excellence Awards – Top 30

• Finlay Paterson, U13 Male, 26^th place
• Tahlia Davey, U14 Female, 15^th place
• Annika Henery, U14 Female, 28^th place
• Jasmine Gray, U14 Female, 29^th place
• Charli-Rose Carylon, U16 Female 1^st place and ACC All Star Selection
• Madison Toovey, U19 Female, 7^th place
• Rhianna Hepburn, U19 Female, 3^rd place and ACC All Star Selection
• Mitchell Lonnie, U19 Male, 25^th place

Special mentions go to Shahla Matthews, who filled in on the day, despite not being selected, and to Mitchell Stanford, Jake Sumner, and Logan Dixon, who were reserves and, while they did not get the opportunity to run, they assisted as student officials and did an excellent job.

Well done to all participants, and congratulations on a fabulous performance.

Official results are available online.

Parents and friends of our performing arts students are invited to attend FUSION, the Year 9 and 10 Arts Performance Night in the Barbara Godwin Performing Arts Complex tonight, Wednesday 2 June, commencing at 6.30pm. Tickets are free (and plentiful), so we encourage you to book online here. The event will showcase the work of our Year 9 and 10 Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual Arts students, so it will be a really fabulous celebration of their hard work.

Our Year 10 Leadership group attended the Inspiring Australians Student Forum, which featured keynote presentations from a selection of Western Australian and National "Australian's of the Year Award" recipients. One of the featured speakers was Ashleigh Small, the founder of the Hello Initiative.

The Hello Initiative helps young people in the youth justice system to create a better future. Ashleigh established the mobile support project, which provides recycled smartphones and credit to young people aged between 10 and 17 years. Having access to a phone enables them to keep up with court requirements and nurture community connections, while growing their digital literacy. Youth support workers have also reported a positive impact on their ability to build relationships with their clients.

The Year 10s have chosen to support Ashleigh and the Hello Initiative by collecting unwanted smartphones. It is a fantastic opportunity for our students to help other young people facing challenging circumstances. Their attendance at today's event has helped confirm their commitment to the project through learning more about Ashleigh, the program, and the young men and women it supports.

The Year 10s will place collection boxes in Middle and Senior School reception. Please note that the Hello Initiative has asked that all donated phones meet the following criteria:

• 2014 or newer models (iPhone 5 or newer, Samsung S5 or newer etc)
• Phones must be in good working order (cracked screens are okay if it does not affect the phone's usability)
• All iCloud and Google Cloud locks must be removed. This is essential - please read the information on this page to see the instructions for the different types of devices.
• Chargers are useful, but not essential
  

The weekly Art Club for Middle and Senior School students takes place each week on Wednesday afternoons for all students from Years 6 to 12. A variety of art activities take place each week. This can include students who are catching up on work from their art classes, or trying an activity presented by Ms Delcoure and Mrs Bastow. We have students from a wide range of year groups participating, as well as some staff, with Ms Tucker also giving some activities a try this term.

We encourage other Middle and Senior School students to come along and give it a go!

If you are a regular newspaper reader, we are sure you will have seen the Ginger Meggs cartoon strip. But did you know that it is Ginger Megg's 100th birthday this year and that Ginger Meggs is currently drawn by St Mark's Old Scholar, Jason Chatfield? We did!

To celebrate the anniversary (and the success of one of our own), the School's Library team added the newest Ginger Meggs book to the School's collection. Jason Chatfield, from St Mark's Class of 2001, has been writing and drawing Ginger Meggs since 2007.

Jason collaborated with Tristan Bancks, the great-great grand nephew of Ginger Meggs creator, Jimmy Bancks, to create this special edition book, which features four new stories. So if you love Ginger Meggs, make sure you stop by the Library!

Did you know that in Noongar culture, there are six seasons? The seasons are determined by weather patterns. In the Noongar language, these are called Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba, Kambarang and Birak. The seasons indicate which animal and plant resources are plentiful at those times. Makuru equates roughly to the June-July period in the western calendar.

Makuru is the coldest and wettest time of the year, when Noongar communities moved back inland, and their food sources changed from sea, estuarine and lake foods to grazing animals, such as the kangaroo.

What changes in nature can you see?

If you would like to know more, we compiled our information from the following sources:

• Bureau of Meteorology
• City of Joondalup
• Kaartdijin Noongar

3,318 push-ups over 25 days. Whether you’re taking part to get fit, to have a bit of fun, to learn about mental health, or to help raise critical funds for Headspace, Lifeline or The Push For Better Foundation, we’re very excited to have our community involved. There is still time to register for (or donate to) the St Mark's team. Funds raised go to Lifeline and Headspace.

We will publish a new mental health tip or fact on social media every day, and it would be fabulous to have some photos of the St Mark's community in action when we share each tip. We have students involved from Middle and Senior School, as well as the Health & Physical Education teachers, and the staff in our Admin Team and the Wellness Centre!

We would love to see your photos, so send them in via email to community@stmarks.wa.edu.au; tag us in your posts (@stmarksacs or #stmarksacs) or send us a message via Facebook or Instagram. We look forward to hearing from you!

PS: If you need some tips on how to do push ups, or variations more suited to your fitness level and abilities, download this useful fact sheet.

Traditionally, the Endeavour year book has been handed out to students on the final day of Term 4. Many schools only publish their year book in the Term 1 of the following year, so that Speech Night awards can be included. We'd love to know your thoughts on whether Endeavour publication date should change.

_{This poll is also running on Facebook and Instagram. Results will be carefully considered, and the decision on whether to change the date of publication remains at the discretion of the School.}

Parents and friends of our performing arts students are invited to attend FUSION, the Year 9 and 10 Arts Performance Night in the Barbara Godwin Performing Arts Complex tonight, Wednesday 2 June, commencing at 6.30pm. Tickets are free (and plentiful), so we encourage you to book online here. The event will showcase the work of our Year 9 and 10 Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual Arts students, so it will be a really fabulous celebration of their hard work.

The St Mark's Parents & Friends' Association is pleased to be hosting Louise Edwards as guest speaker at the Term 2 General Meeting. Louise is a registered pharmacist (Bachelor of Pharmacy with first class honours) who has also completed a Bachelor Degree majoring in Psychology. She has a passion for mental health education, and has taught Mental Health First Aid in a wide range of industries, including schools.

Date: Tuesday 8 June 2021

Time: 7pm

Ticketing: Please book online (tickets are free)

Parents who attend the General Meeting are entitled to claim two parent commitment hours per family.

We are delighted to announce that more Holiday Workshops will be running at St Mark's this winter. Many are full day offerings and students from other schools will also be welcome. Further information and booking links will be out soon.

Please come and along and support our very first Middle School Eisteddfod, featuring many talented music students from Year 6-8. This event will be held in the PAC on Wednesday the 9^th of June, from 3.40pm-5.00pm. Tickets for audience members are free, and all are welcome. Tickets can be booked through http://www.mytickets.co/. For any queries, please email lguelfi@stmarks.wa.edu.au

REMINDER: Withdrawals from the Instrumental Music program must be received by Friday 18 June. And if your child shown interest in learning an instrument, we have 19 incredibly talented Music Tutors at St Mark’s who would love to welcome your child to the world of music, with applications for Term 3 enrolments now open.

St Mark's offers the following options: Oboe, Voice, Flute, Modern Guitar, Classical Guitar, Bass Guitar, French Horn, Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Saxophone, Percussion, Piano and lower brass.

If you'd like more information, please check out the Instrumental Music Handbook.

Both enrolments and withdrawals from the instrumental music program are now completed online. If you have questions, please contact the Arts Administrator, Eloise Thomas, at ethomas@stmarks.wa.edu.au or on 9403 1350.

• Withdrawals - click here
  
• Enrolments - click here

Please note that the deadline for Term 3 enrolments and withdrawals in Friday 18 June. Withdrawals after this date will be processed at the end of Term 3 and another term’s fees will be incurred.

Parents and friends of our performing arts students are invited to attend FUSION, the Year 9 and 10 Arts Performance Night in the Barbara Godwin Performing Arts Complex tonight, Wednesday 2 June, commencing at 6.30pm. Tickets are free (and plentiful), so we encourage you to book online here. The event will showcase the work of our Year 9 and 10 Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual Arts students, so it will be a really fabulous celebration of their hard work.