Magis
Last week Year 9 student Hannah Flavell attended the SPIRIT course at UWA with a group of her Magis peers. Hannah wrote of her experience:
"Overall, I enjoyed it very much. The software we used, Stellatarium in particular, was very easy to use and being able to download it at home was an added bonus. The instructions were clear, although we were a little rushed in how much time we had to spend on them. The presentations were also good and getting to see the actual telescope was great. The main negative would be that we always felt rushed for time. It was good not to miss too much school but I felt we only skimmed the surface of what we could have been shown. Perhaps a follow up course? The topic was very interesting and definitely worth it." I was delighted that Hannah felt she has only "skimmed the surface" in relation to astronomy. How exciting that she wants to go deeper into this area. We will organise a second, advanced coursed for these students. Hopefully we will see the fruit of their space exploration in the next few weeks when they take their own photographs of deep space.
Magis Book Club & Young Writers
The Magis Book Club is meeting every second Tuesday. An invitation has also gone out to Year 10 readers to join the group. The students are reading two books a term. The first for this year, Joan London's novel The Golden Age has proved to be very popular. Students are thoroughly enjoying reading a local work. In relation to literature, the Talented Young Writers' Programme, run through the Fremantle Literature Centre, starts soon. Mrs Allen, the English Learning Area Coordinator, will be taking lower school students this year.
Science
We are currently planning to restart the College Robotics Club. Any interested students should see either Mr Cotter or me. Astronomy Club is running on a fortnightly basis. Interested students need to watch the Notices in SEQTA for information or speak to Mr Mazur or me. I am still looking for students interested in an audio engineering workshop. Please come to see me or email if this interests any student. All students from Year 10, 11 and 12 are invited to participate.
Library
The Library has been very busy with the new academic year. We have many new books for all readers. The Library opens at 8am Monday to Thursday, Friday we open after the Community Mass at 8.20am. We close at 5pm Monday to Thursday and at 3.30pm on Friday. Library hours will be extended soon for Year 12 students. I will email students once this is finalised. In the past we have opened two nights a week going into examinations for Year 12 students. I am planning to trial late opening after Manresa to see if our Year 12 students are keen to make the most of such an opportunity.
