Past students of St Mary's Leederville, CBC Leederville and Aranmore Catholic College are warmly welcome to come and visit the College at any time. Reunions and Past Student Sundowners are advertised on this page and past students are encouraged to join our email contact list to be kept informed of upcoming events.

To register your details with the College please contact us by email to Community Relations .

FRIENDS OF ARANMORE SUNDOWNER 2007

This year's Friends of Aranmore sundowner will be held on: FRIDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2007 at the College. Past students and staff are warmly welcome to join us between 5.00-7.00 pm in Convent Gardens.

18 November 2005
Class of 2000 Five Year Reunion

A friendly, easy going year group is how teachers who taught the Class of 2000 remembered their former students.

On Friday 18 November, the College welcomed back the Class of 2000 for their five year reunion and it seems that students from this special year group are still as friendly and easy-going as they were back in their school days.

On the night, the former classmates enjoyed reminiscing about their school days and what everyone was doing now, with their former teachers.

Most of the 35 plus ex-students who attended agreed that what they missed most about being at school was their ‘friends’ and ‘not having a care in the world’!

The 2000 Class are already planning their 10 year reunion!

If you have any informal photos of the Class of 2000, please feel free to forward them to the Aranmore Website Administrator Catherine Kolomyjec for posting on this past students' page.

PAST STUDENT NEWS
1 October 2005

The St Mary's and CBC Leederville Class of 1985 celebrated their 20 year reunion on Saturday 1 October. They toured the College with Mr Phil Andrews and then went down to the Oxford for the catch-up.

Frank Alvaro has kindly sent in these class photos for his former classmates. If you would like a copy of any of the shots emailed to you please contact the Community Relations Office at Aranmore.

If you would like to be part of the Class of 1985's future get-togethers please contact Louise Cranley. And don't forget to join Friends of Aranmore and join the past students at their next Sundowner in March 2006.

23 July 2005
SR JOANNE DICKSON
ST MARY'S HEAD GIRL 1969
Sr Joanne Dickson came to Aranmore for a wonderful chat whilst she is here visiting family in Perth. She was a student at the College, then St Mary's, from Grade Six through to graduation in 1969.

Sr Joanne has very fond memories of attending St Mary's and of the care she received. She told me that nobody ever felt like just another student; that the teachers got to know every single student and cared about their individual wellbeing.

Sr Joanne loved being at school and said that she felt privileged to have been taught by such an exceptional group of women. Not only were the sisters great educators but they also had great integrity and taught her the importance of standing up for what you believe. And, she said, they also "had a great sense of fun!"

Sr Joanne loved sport at school, particularly athletics, netball and swimming. She enjoyed the rituals of Saturday morning sport, where they went off as a group to compete at different schools all over Perth; "it was a great way to get to know Perth!" These were good bonding experiences which inevitably finished with fish and chips on the way home. Sr Raphael and Sr Pauline were great supporters of the sport, as was Sr Joan Flynn who used to run the girls down to Beatty Park at lunchtime to squeeze in a few laps.

After graduation, Sr Joanne went to teachers' college before teaching in government schools for a few years. She then did what "all Australian young people did back then" and went travelling. Upon her return, she joined the Sisters of Mercy, a calling that she says was nurtured from her early years at St Mary's.

Sr Joanne has been an extraordinarily busy woman, working in youth ministry in Melbourne, spending ten years in ministry education and also working as a chaplain at the University of Melbourne. She managed to squeeze in further studies in psychology before being awarded a PhD Scholarship to the Royal Holloway University of London. She was then offered a position at the University supporting further education for psychology clinicians.

When Sr Joanne returns to England this week, she is moving to take up a new position at the University of Liverpool. She will be working with clinicians towards completion of their doctorates in clinical psychology. Sr Joanne feels that her positions have all had a common thread of her love for education, as well as her deep commitment to community development.

Sr Joanne feels that every time she comes to Perth she has a great sense of coming home because of her warm memories of our College. She feels that the early values that she "breathed in without even knowing it" have been integrated into her life and she is mindful of appreciating these values.

June 2005
AN INTERVIEW WITH RYAN CAMPBELL

(an abridged version of the interview in Term News Term Two 2005)

Current Occupation
Professional circketer with the Retravision Warriors; TV presenter on Postcards WA and in other forms of media; part-owner of Ryan Campbell's Cricket and Football Shop.

Career highlights
Playing for Australia. It is every kid's dream to play with the likes of Shane Warne and the Waugh brothers. Also winning two Sheffield Shields and three One Day titles for WA.

Memories of Aranmore
Greatest memories were of hanging out with the guys and playing footy with them. Ryan says " I didn't really enjoy the schoolwork very much and to be honest I wish I had worked harder on my education. My favourite times were playing footy and enjoying the school socials!"

"Like most people you don't realise until you're older that your school days are the best of your life. Looking back I think Aranmore was a great school and I enjoyed every part of it.

I always keep an eye out to see what's going on there and was thrilled to see you have Rugby and Netball scholarships now. As a professional sportsman...I love to see young people getting a chance to live their dream."

(Photo courtesy of the WACA)

28 April 2005
KIRBY BENTLEY CLASS OF 2003

Aranmore is very excited to hear that one of the Class of 2003, Kirby Bentley has been selected for an AIS Scholarship for Netball. She has already moved to Canberra to take up the scholarship.

Kirby hails from Mt Barker and made the decision at a young age to leave home to pursue her dream of playing netball through a sports scholarship at Aranmore.

In 2001, at the age of 15, she was selected for the State 17 and Under Netball Team and the National 17 and Under Squad, attended an AIS training camp and won the Junior Noongar Sports Star Award.

In 2002 she was again selected for these teams and also invited to train with the NewTel Perth Orioles National Netball Team. She was nominated for the Coca-Cola Junior Netball Sports Star of the Year.

In 2003 Kirby was selected for the State 17 and under Team and the 19 and Under Team and the final squad for the Orioles.

Kirby managed to squeeze in schoolwork on top ofl her punishing training schedule so that she can later realise her dream of becoming a Physical Education teacher.

Throughout her time at the College Kirby was gracious for the support she received both from Aranmore and also from the North Perth Rotary Club who sponsored her with proceeds of the Hyde Park Community Fair.

Aranmore Catholic College is very proud of Kirby, not only for her netball achievements but also for her personal qualitities. She is a great past student of the College.

Bree Franklin (3 December 2003)

Congratulations to Bree Franklin (Class of 2002) who has been selected for the Perth Orioles, WA's National Netball League team.

Congratulations to former student Laurie Ormond on the premiere of her play Ghost Story based on her experiences here at the College. An energetic and convincing young cast performed before a full house on Saturday to great acclaim. Some of the past-students, and at least one teacher, upon whom the characters were based were in the audience and admitted it was surreal to see their own real lives interpreted in art. The play involved characters based on Laurie's friends and acquaintances and set in a school remarkably akin to Aranmore in a location very similar to Convent Gardens! Spooky!

On Friday, October 17, Warriors and Australia A wicketkeeper Ryan Campbell addressed the Year 11 students at Aranmore Catholic College as part of their Leadership Day. Ryan is an 'old-boy’ of the College (Class of 88) and wanted to talk to the students about why Aranmore was important to him.

He said “I suppose my highlights in sport at school was being part of the senior cricket team which won the ACC competition in 1988. I was also a member of the footy sides all through school, as footy was my preferred sport as a kid. I like most, dreamt of playing footy for West Perth. I still pinch myself everyday about the life that I lead and look back very fondly on my days at Aranmore, which instilled the discipline and sacrifice which has made me an elite sportsman.”

One of Ryan’s strongest messages was that you need to apply yourself to get to the top. He was grateful that Aranmore always supported his dreams and the extra work that he needed to put in to make it in his chosen field. He said “there is no such thing as potential-if you don’t use it, it’s nothing.”

He also told the students to “Be the best you can be” and that is in every area of your life. Ryan is an active member of the community, supporting work such as Camp Quality and the Starlight Foundation.

The teaching staff enjoyed Ryan’s words as he told the group, “be good to your teachers; they are doing it all for you. I wouldn’t get out of bed for what they get paid!” Ryan had a special hug for one of his former teachers, Ms Krishnasamy, who attended the session.

Many of the students approached Ryan after the session with questions about how he made it to the top of his sport. Ryan left the group very inspired for the rest of the day as they prepare to take on the mantle of leaders of the College.