Articles from March 2005

18 March 2005
Aranmore Netballers Coach the Future

Aranmore's Senior Netballers put their skills to use in a different way when they ran a Netball Clinic for the Year 6 and 7 netballers at Our Lady of Grace School in North Beach.

As part of their Netball studies, the Netballers had to develop and deliver drills to the primary school students. Each of the Aranmore girls took turns to coach the group in different techniques. At the conclusion of the session the young netballers played a game with the ongoing support and coaching of the Aranmore girls.

Some of the OLG students commented that they were learning tricks that they had never tried before and that they would like to be able to play netball like these "big girls"! A number of the OLG parents came over to watch and were impressed by the teaching skills of these young coaches.

It was an extraordinarily hot and humid afternoon but the Aranmore students and OLG students worked hard together, learning a lot about coaching, netball and teamwork. They even had the energy for more than a few laughs!

The Aranmore netballers were, as always, great ambassadors for the College and for its Specialist Netball program. We are sure that this coaching exercise will encourage more than a OLG girls to continue netball into high school.

24 March 2005
Making Sense of Easter

Miss Smith's Year 8 Class was given an interesting task in their Religious Education class. In order to truly understand the story of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection on Easter Sunday, they were asked to study the Easter story, act it out and make a diorama of the scene on Easter Sunday morning. The students' efforts are pictured here and it is clear that they put a lot of effort into understanding the true meaning of Easter.

18 March 2005
Students Have Sum Maths Fun

On Friday evening, 18 March, a group of Aranmore boys competed in the annual MAWA 'Have Sum Fun' Mathematics competition.

The boys, Vi Tran, Alan Quan, Zi Liu, Thai Le, Adam Wang and Jamie Grojak, were a credit to Aranmore. They placed second, narrowly behind Scotch College and beating St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls.

The competition involved students answering four rounds of eight questions in their group. There was approximately 35 schools in the North of the River suburbs.

Given the very high quality of the opposition, the boys showed just how good at Maths they really are. We are looking forward to some great Maths results from this group.

Congratulations boys and good luck for the rest of the year.

11 March 2005
Haircut for a Cause

On Friday 11 March, in the heat of Open Day, Year 12 student Michelle Ranieri raised money for a good cause and found a way to keep her head cool at the same time.

Michelle had seen people raising funds by shaving their head, and had often thought it would be a good thing to do. She got in touch with the Leukaemia Foundation and they sent her a fundraising kit.

Michelle approached people to sponsor her to shave her head. " My friends laughed at me at first, but they knew it was thje sort of thing I'd do," she said.

Principal Jim Elliott granted special permission for the 'number two' haircut and in front of a huge lunchtime crowd Manual Arts teacher Mrs McDonald wielded the blades.

Michelle's feelings on the day? " I wasn't nervous, I was really excited. It didn't bother me because it was for a good cause." And there is no doubt Michelle really loves her new haircut.

Michelle raised over $800 for the Leukaemia Foundation.

19 March 2005
ESL Picnic

The ESL and Intensive English Centre students had a wonderful chance to get to know each other with the annual ESL picnic at the PIoneer Women's Memorial in Kings Park.

As well as students, there were also many parents and guardians. Mrs Goldsmith and Miss Smith organised lots of activities including a very exciting Easter egg hunt. The students came back from behind trees, under bushes and around rocks with handfuls of eggs.

A number of teachers joined the group as special guests and a fun afternoon was had by all.

Aranmore Open Day 11 March 2005

Aranmore opened its doors to the public last Friday, with a very successful Open Day. Dubbed ‘the Big Day Out’ by staff, there were three major functions: a breakfast in the morning, Open Day in the afternoon and a Friends of Aranmore Sundowner in the evening.

The Building Bridges Breakfast is an opportunity for us to thank the many people in the wider community who support the College. The day started bright and early – with at least six staff at the College being here before 6am to set up, which was above and beyond the call of duty. Student councillors followed shortly after, and did stirling work in decorating the marquee. We were fortunate to have over 70 guests attend our breakfast and were pleased to see so many staff from Aranmore Catholic Primary School attend. Mr Mark Martino and his students did a wonderful job providing music.

Open Day was a great success with Student Councillors on hand to show prospective parents around our school community. Parents commented on the professionalism and friendliness of our students. Special thanks to Mrs Tara Hill and Mr Chris Brennan for coordinating the tours.

The Friends of Aranmore Sundowner also exceeded expectations, with over 60 past pupils and staff attending. The Friends of Aranmore Committee did a fantastic job coordinating this event.


For further information about a tour of Aranmore or joining Friends of Aranmore please contact Georgia Loney, Community Relations Officer on 9201 5241 or g.loney@aranmore.wa.edu.au

Harmony Day Breakfast 15 March 2005

As Aranmore is the most multicultural school in Western Australia, Harmony Week is special time for us to focus on our common humanity.

To mark the beginning of Harmony Week, we asked various religious leaders in Perth if they would join us for a simple breakfast, shared with some staff and students. Our hopes were that it would be a relaxed, sociable meal, followed by prayers for peace.

The morning was more than we could have asked for.

Firstly, we were honoured by our distinguished guests:
The Most Rev. Barry James Hickey, Archbishop of Perth;
The Very Rev. Dr John Shepherd,Dean of St Georges Cathedral;
Rabbi Freilich,Orthodox Jewish Temple;
Rev Josie Steytler, Anglican Church;
Brother Geoff Seaman, Christian Brothers Community;
Rev. Rosemary Miller, Social Justice Consultant for the Uniting Church and Fr Thi Lam a former Aranmore student who is now an ordained priest.

Campus Minister Chris Brennan, with the help of students, opened with a beautiful Grace, after which guests, students and staff sat at small tables to enjoy breakfast.

We were also honoured by the 40 students who volunteered to come and help at the breakfast, who sat with our guests, and acted as perfect hosts in our school community.

Archbishop Hickey, Rabbi Freilich, The Very Rev. Dr John Shepherd and Rev. Rosemary Miller, all offered their own prayers on peace, which focused on our belief in the One God, and our shared desire for a world free of hatred and intolerance. Miss Krishnasamy, then offered a beautiful Sanskrit prayer to close the day.

Special thanks to the myriad of staff who helped make such a sacred, special morning.