The Lion's Roar - 9 February 2022

Congratulations to Charli-Rose (Year 11) who competed at the WA State Athletics Championships last Friday and is now the Under 20s State 5000m Champion.

Well done, Charli-Rose!

The School’s Community Relations and Marketing Officer, Mandy Cosser, has accepted a position as Marketing and Communications Manager at Penrhos College. Mandy’s final day at St Mark’s is Friday 11 February 2022.

Mandy commenced work at St Mark’s in April 2012, and she has become very well known to members of the St Mark’s community. She is often the person who receives the phone call, email or social media message from a family inquiring about something School-related, and she patiently does her best to provide any information requested.

Mandy has done a fine job for St Mark’s and, as a parent of the School and a loyal staff member, she has committed herself to the St Mark’s community and invested her heart and mind. She has also provided generous support to the School’s P&F and Old Scholars' Association.

Mandy is looking forward to her new challenge and the development of her career, and she leaves the St Mark’s community with our thanks and very best wishes.

The 2021 edition of the School's yearbook, The Endeavour, will be distributed to students this week. The book will be sent home with the eldest child in each family. Families who are new to St Mark's in 2022 will not receive a copy of the 2021 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 2021. It features a list of all award winners from both the 2020 and 2021 end-of-year Presentation Ceremonies.

If you have any questions related to the 2021 Endeavour, please email community@stmarks.wa.edu.au.

Please keep your child home if they are unwell. Parents will be requested to collect any student who attends school with cold or flu like symptoms.

For further information on COVID 19 symptoms and management please contact your GP or visit the following link: https://www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Coronavirus.

MEETINGS WITH THE NURSE

Due to COVID regulations, meetings with the Nurse are by appointment only and will be conducted as a telephone call where possible. Please contact wellnesscentre@stmarks.wa.edu.au or phone 9403 1331 for further information.

If you need to update your contact details you can now do this at any time – no need to wait for Student Update Forms or a event notification from Consent2Go. By updating your details you can be assured that in the unlikely event of an emergency, the School has the most current contact information for your child. In addition, it ensures that emails containing essential information are being sent to the right address. If you have changed address, job or internet service provider, please let us know.

There are three ways to access the update link:

Website: Click on the word PARENTS in the maroon header located at the top of any page of the website. A drop down menu will appear where you can click on the Update Your Details link, then follow the prompts.

SEQTA Engage: Head to SEQTA Engage as you normally would. On the homepage click on the button marked Consent2Go and follow the prompts.

App: On the School App’s homepage, tap the button marked Links. This will open a new page with all the key links. Simply tap on the link titled Update Your Details and follow the prompts.

Annual accounts are emailed to the account holder's nominated email address at the commencement of each school year. Families will be given a choice of how to make fee payments to best suit their needs. This will include the option to pay in full upfront, or to pay quarterly, monthly or fortnightly over the year. No discounts are offered for early payment.

Payments can be made by Direct Debit, BPay, EFTPOS, credit card (a 1% surcharge applies to credit card payments) or cheque. A Payment Option Nomination Form must be completed by each family to advise the payment option they select for 2022.

Families nominating a payment frequency of monthly or fortnightly must authorise the School to debit payments from the nominated bank or credit card account.

If you have any queries, please contact familyaccounts@stmarks.wa.edu.au.

The Uniform Shop have received new stock of the following:

• School backpacks
• Sport t-shirts
• Art smocks
• Girls sport shorts for Years 6 -12
• Sports bags
• Size 4 to 10 youth unisex sport shorts
  

As per the email to families last week, Parent Information Sessions will now be pre-recorded by teachers and emailed to parents this Friday 11 February, together with Class Handbooks. These presentations contain very important information on your child’s educational program so please take the time to watch them.

The Uniform Shop has advised that their delivery of sport shorts has come in. The Shop is open on Mondays 8.00am to 11.15am and 2.00pm to 5.00pm, and Wednesdays 8.00am to 2.00pm. For queries, please call 9307 4514 or email uniformshop@stmarks.wa.edu.au.

For the last two weeks the Year 9 Creative Computing (Digital Technologies) class have been disassembling laptops to investigate their components and creating how-to instructions on how to put them back together again. The students have loved seeing the inner workings of these machines and getting hands-on experience.

This morning the Year 12 Marine Studies students teed up with the Department of Fisheries to conduct reef platform surveys. The students were required to lay transects, use quadrats and collect data regarding species abundance and composition. It was an early morning but a great way to start the day!

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC LESSONS

Instrumental lessons will commence this week. All tutors are currently teaching on site and have the ability to teach students at home via Teams if your child is isolating or needing to have a lesson from home. If a tutor needs to isolate, they will deliver their usual lessons via Teams and students should bring their device to their normal instrumental teaching room. Tutors will be checking that students are familiar with Teams in their first few lessons. Please make sure your child knows how to find their instrumental Team and checks regularly for updates.

Our tutors will be teaching with windows and doors open for ventilation and every room is equipped with air-conditioning for comfort. Students should wear masks as directed by the School, except when necessary to remove them for playing an instrument.

ENSEMBLES

Most ensembles will start in Week 3 as usual, unless otherwise advised by the Ensemble Director. All rehearsal venues will open doors and windows before, during and after rehearsals for maximum ventilation. Secondary students and staff will wear masks at all times except when necessary to remove it for playing an instrument or singing. Where possible, rehearsals will be moved to larger venues or outdoors.

The advice for schools is changing frequently. As of Monday evening we were advised that no choirs or orchestras can meet face to face. Percussion ensembles, guitar ensembles, string ensembles and rock bands can all go ahead with rehearsals, but the following ensembles will NOT commence next week:

• Beginner Band
• Intermediate Band
• Senior Concert Band
• Symphony Orchestra
• Crescendo Kids Choir
• Take Note Choir
• Viva Ritmo Voices
• Secondary Choir
• True Voices Vocal Ensemble
• Intermediate Jazz Band

We remain committed to the safety of our students and will recommence rehearsals as soon as it is safe to do so. Please encourage your child to play and sing at home in the meantime. Research confirms that music-making has positive effects on mental health and wellbeing, which is particularly important at the moment.

YEAR 2 STRINGS PROGRAM

All Year 2 students will be participating in a compulsory strings program. It is now time for students to choose which instrument they wish to learn. Please click on the links below for more information and to make your selection. Preferences are to be submitted by this Friday 11 February.

2022 Year 2 Strings Program

2022 Year 2 Strings Letter

2022 PRIMARY MUSIC ENSEMBLES

Sign up details for Primary Choirs, together with contact information for ensemble directors, can be found at the link below. The cut-off date to sign up for Primary Ensembles is Thursday 10 February.

Primary Music Ensembles 2022

SECONDARY ENSEMBLES

Please see details below on how to sign up for Secondary ensembles (some ensembles are open to all, others by audition or invitation only). Percussion students - please speak directly to your tutors about joining one of the Percussion ensembles.

2022 Secondary Music Ensembles

2022 Music Ensembles Rehearsal Schedule

Students from Year 6-12 are invited to attend the Visual Arts Club, held each Wednesday in the Art Room from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. If you have any questions, please see Mrs Bastow. Everyone welcome!

Members of The Arts Society are parents of children from K-12 (including Old Scholars) who are interested in completing parent contribution hours supporting The Arts (Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music, Visual Arts and Production). The database of The Arts Society is growing and we are looking forward to welcoming more families to this dynamic group.

There are so many areas in which parents can commit their energy and skills including; catering for performances and rehearsals; Front of House duties; set painting/dressing; assisting visual arts staff with cleaning the art rooms; transport of equipment for concerts; helping setup and cater for the Visual Arts Exhibitions; costume department support; Music Cataloguing; backstage production support; musical instrument performance in productions and piano accompaniment...just to name a few!

Anyone interested in joining this community are asked to please contact Arts Administrator Ms Eloise Thomas on
ethomas@stmarks.wa.edu.au.

Conrad Hill graduated from St Mark’s in 2016 and is now a student-athlete at Belmont-Abbey College in North Carolina, USA where he is working toward earning a double degree in International Business and Sports Management. Conrad is currently competing in the Division 1 NCAA Volleyball program in Charlotte, North Carolina and is heading into his third season as captain of the team. To read the full article on Conrad's journey and achievements, click here.

Registrations are now open for students wishing to join the St Mark's Netball Club in 2022. Please register via the website https://sm-nc.org/latest-news/registrations-for-2022-winter-season/ by Friday 11 March. For all new players, please email a copy of your birth certificate to president@sm-nc.org.

Please note that the St Mark's Netball Club Annual General Meeting has now be changed to a Zoom meeting, due to new Covid restrictions. Please join us on Wednesday 16 February at 8.00pm by clicking on the link below.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89297715688?pwd=eENHTHNxUVNjd2hGM0RaUFRIZktaUT09

Meeting ID: 892 9771 5688

Passcode: AGM

HeartKids is hosting a Retro Music Bingo Night on Friday 25 February to raise money to support children with heart disease and associated conditions, and their families. Please click on the poster here for more information. Tickets can be purchased here.