I would like to welcome you back to Term 2 and I trust that you and your families had a refreshing and rejuvenating break.

Many of the students this term will have exams and other major assessments, and so I do encourage them to prepare and study ahead of time.

Staff
We welcome the following Staff to our College:

Vira Danilevych          Teacher Assistant
Isabel Passarelli         Home Economics Teacher
Mary Pat Charlton      English/IEC Teacher
Catherine French       IEC Teacher.

Salih Ali
It is with great sadness that I write that we lost Salih during the break, after a long battle with illness. Salih came to the College in 2021 and attended the IEC. He joined Year 11 this year. Unfortunately, due to his circumstances, he was not able to attend very often.

Salih was a lovely boy, who was much admired and liked by his fellow students and staff. He had a great affection for the College and loved being at school. We do extend to his family, our sincere condolences at their loss.
(Salih is pictured at the front of the below image.)

ANZAC Day
The College was well represented at the ANZAC Day ceremony, hosted by the Mt Hawthorn RSL at Axton Park. Our choir sang the New Zealand and Australian National Anthems beautifully, and our Student Leaders laid a wreath at the memorial on behalf of the College.

The College also held its own ANZAC memorial at school. The students conducted the ceremony very well and the College community were deeply respectful of the occasion.

Mr Declan Tanham
Principal

With the completion of Stage One of the Outdoor Gym, students are happily testing out the new equipment! 

Thank you Mr Tanham, Mrs Hawes, Mr O'Brien, Mr Cooper, Mrs Preshaw, our incredible P&F association and the following students for their support and hard work that allowed this project to be possible; Joshua Lucano, Cameron Pryce, Lachlan Murphy, Lachlan Coates, Thomas McGregor and Marshall Honore.

Ms Sonya Cerny - Project Coordinator

Congratulations to Cooper, whose team came second in the Baseball State Championships during the holidays. Cooper and his team will travel to NSW in June to compete in the National Championships. Congratulations to Cooper for playing exceptionally well and almost pitching a perfect game! (Photo source: Ms Cerny/MsTruong)

Congratulations to Olivia for making the U16 State AFL Team and for being recognised as one of the five Best Players on the ground when the team played against Vic Country in Melbourne.

Last weekend they played against South Australia and unfortunately didn't quite have the luck to win Pool A. Well done, Olivia! (Photo credit: Phil Barnes)

The College loves hearing about students' success outside of school. Please send details to acc@aranmore.wa.edu.au or let your Dean know.

Missing a water bottle? It could be in the Lost Property box in Student Services. 

Seeds of Justice Conference – 2023

On 30 and 31 March, five Year 10 students attended the annual Seeds of Justice Conference.

The Seeds of Justice program provides students in both Mercy sponsored schools and Mercy affiliated schools a variety of opportunities to:

• form students and staff in the Mercy charism;
• raise awareness of contemporary issues in social justice; and
• facilitate new links between students and staff of Western Australian Mercy schools.

This year, students from Aranmore Catholic College, Santa Maria College, St Brigid’s College, Mercedes College, Mercy College and Ursula Frayne Catholic College gathered together at the St John of God Retreat Centre in Shoalwater. The theme of this year’s conference allowed students to again be “empowered to respond to both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor”. This inspiring message from Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Sì allowed both staff and students to further explore this key area of justice also identified by the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea (ISMAPNG).

Throughout the two days, students were provided opportunities to explore and connect with their responsibility towards creation as youth of our Church, understand their own ecological footprint and the impact their choices are having on the environment, and they explored Laudato Si, breaking open Pope Francis’ powerful message to humanity regarding the environment.  

Each school was also challenged in the “Where to from here?” session, where students identify issues they are passionate about, together with the affects and causes of these issues. Students were then asked to brainstorm a variety of ways they would like to change these issues, to identify a plan of action and to then, most importantly, ascertain ways to measure how successful our action plan would be. It proved to certainly be a ‘watch this space’ moment as the buzz of future possibilities encompassed the group. Our Aranmore ‘Seeds of Justice’ students are looking forward to sharing some of their innovative ideas with the College community in the coming months.

Year 12 Retreat

On Wednesday 22 March, 99 Year 12 students and 11 staff left Aranmore Catholic College for Fairbridge Village, Pinjarra for the Year 12 Retreat. Most students were filled with excitement as well as some trepidation about what to expect over the next three days away from their normal routine.

The Retreat was developed to provide students opportunities for personal reflection, to engage in large group sessions with staff presenters and small group discussions related to topics of self, others and their own spirituality. Throughout the retreat days, students were also given opportunities to engage with their peers and teachers during the retreat sessions, mealtimes and at free time.

The Year 12 students have described their retreat experience as something they will never forget, with lots of thought-provoking moments intertwined with laughter and joy. Many students have said this experience gave them insight into people in their year group that they never knew and that they were grateful to those who so generously shared their experiences with the larger group and in the small group sessions.

On behalf of the Graduating Class of 2023, we would like to thank Mr Holdaway, Mr O’Brien, Mr Mullin, Mr Tchan, Mr Ranasooriya, Mr O’Loughlin, Mrs O’Connor, Miss Girando, Miss McGill and Miss Donaldson for providing the Year 12 class the opportunity to take time out of their normal day– to-day routines and make Year 12 Retreat such a special experience.

Mrs Lauren Ierace-Bowers
Director of Ministry

The Aranmore Choir reunited with the City of Vincent to continue the tradition of performing at the Anzac Day service at Axford Park in Mount Hawthorn.

The choir performed an amazing rendition of the Australian and New Zealand national anthems to the delight of the audience members which closed the service.

Many attendees came to offer their praise to the students after the ceremony and mentioned it was particularly wonderful to hear the New Zealand national anthem performed in both Māori and English.

Mr Ciaran Mullin
Music Teacher

Shake it out for Science

Year 9 forensics and Year 10 Psychology students in Term 4 last year participated in the pilot study of the Shake it out for Science citizen science project.

This collaboration between the Australian Federal Police, ChemCentre and Curtin University involved citizen scientists shaking and collecting debris from clothing items to be examined for trace evidence at the Forensic Science Laboratory at ChemCentre.

Data covered will provide an estimation of background levels of broken glass in the population. 

- Ms Sonya Cerny, Science Teacher

Mole Olympics

Moles is an important concept in Chemistry that can take students a while to grasp.  Luckily Cindy and Andrew from Murdoch University were on hand to help and run the Mole Olympics for our Year 10 and 11 Chemistry students.

STEM Smart Incursion

Presenters from Stem Smart visited Aranmore on Wednesday. To begin the incursion, the presenters spoke to us about the variety of jobs available in the mining industry using STEM. They also told us about the different drones and robots used in mining. Then they brought out the drones and showed us the features, including lasers, cameras and omni wheels (wheels that move from side to side). We then began trying the drones and playing soccer against everyone's drones. We could also do damage to the other drones by shooting lasers at them.

Bianca Gwynne, Alyssa Lucano, Neive Molloy

Telethon Kids Institute presents Girls in Science

From growing phage in the labs for treating cystic fibrosis to improving the health outcomes of remote aboriginal communities - working in science can look very different to different people.

Join us at our Girls in Science event and hear from four Telethon Kids Institute scientists and researchers as they discuss their personal and career journeys that led them to where they are today.

Make sure to bring along your burning questions and enjoy the opportunity to pick their brains about what a career in science really looks like – no topic is off limits.

Wednesday 17 May, 5pm for at 5:30pm start at Scitech, City West Centre.

Book your free tickets at events.telethonkids.org.au

Mrs Naomi Geoghegan
Head of Learning Area - Science

Girls ACC Championship Basketball

Congratulations to our team, who won today 36 - 31. They now advance to the quarter-finals to be played at Aranmore next week! - Mr Adam Miotti

ViSN (Virtual School Network) allows our Year 11 and Year 12 students to sit subjects that are not available here at the College or clash with their timetable. Currently, there are 21 students doing these courses.

Supported by the College's ViSN Mentor, Mrs Lesely O'Connor, the students attend Teams calls in the Library and complete tasks autonomously. 

For the College Calendar, please see here.

www.aranmore.wa.edu.au