Solid Gold Dance Showcase

Solid Gold are the best words I can think of to describe the incredible efforts of the Dance community of Newman College. The 2018 Dance Showcase was an outstanding display of the talents and dedication of the Dance Troupe students. The Dance Troupe students were able to showcase the three items that were taken to the Catholic Performing Arts Festival, as well as their own choreography in the styles of Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Lyrical and Acrobatics. The dancers have worked incredibly hard all year, rehearsing whenever they could; before school, lunch times and weekends! Their hard work certainly paid off with over 500 people in the audience, our dancers were cheered on and encouraged from start to finish!

I am so thankful to each and every dancer, to all the parents who have given their time to help throughout the year, the Senior Leadership Team, our amazing sound and lighting team and the Arts Department for their constant support. It has been so amazing to see Dance grow so much at Newman College; and this wouldn’t be possible without the support of such generous people. For so many of these students dancing is not what they do, it is who they are and we are so lucky to have these dancers share who they are with us.

Miss Stephanie-Kate Crothers, Dance Teacher

Student Reflections

Last Friday night, the Newman Dance Troupe held our end of year Showcase. The theme was ‘Solid Gold’ and the Auditorium foyer was was filled front to back with dazzling decorations to match. All 50 members of the Troupe, led by Miss Crothers, worked tirelessly for months to put together this amazing show. We gave up our Sundays, lunchtimes and had 7.00am weekday starts; we all put blood, sweat and tears into the rehearsals… sometimes quite literally!

Every item that was performed on the night was spectacular. Some of the stand-outs were all three of the performances that the Troupes debuted at the Catholic Performing Arts Festival earlier in the year (‘Enter the Circus’, ‘Connect’ and ‘You’ve got the Love’). There were also some amazing routines performed and also choreographed by some of our talented dancers and a couple of outstanding acts from Newman’s very first Year 11 ATAR Dance students. Another highlight was a solo dance performance which featured the beautiful vocals of Holly and Claudia Drinkwater.

The Auditorium was filled to the brim with teachers and staff, as well as our families and friends. The atmosphere was truly incredible with enthusiastic applause and cheering before and after every performance! The Dance Troupe itself consists of students ranging from Years 7 – 11. Despite the age differences, everyone has become such great friends and created bonds that will last beyond our school years. We are all so supportive of each other on stage and off. Everyone will give time to help another dancer learn a routine or practice a trick.

Many of those watching on the night might not have realised that quite a large number of the girls in the Troupe have never taken a Dance class in their life. Everything they have learned has been taught to them this year by our talented and very patient teacher, Miss Crothers. She has created a program that has inspired and challenged us to be better people as well as better dancers and created a community of students who came together with a shared interest and are flourishing under her guidance. We would all agree that being involved in Dance Troupe at Newman College is changing our time at school for the better.
We would like to again thank everyone who supported us throughout the year and on the night. Of course the biggest thank you of all goes to Miss Crothers for her hard work and dedication to us and the Dance program.

Elysia Harris, Year 9 Student

On Friday 26 October, we had our Dance Showcase, Solid Gold, that we have been working hard towards all year. This showcase had a variety of different performances that Miss Crothers and the students choreographed. I really enjoyed choreographing our duo with my friend and learning different choreography from other students who were assigned to make up Troupes. It was a fun and enjoyable event to showcase our talents, hard work and effort. I really loved this experience as I got to do dance with people I don’t usually dance with, make new friends and do what I love to do!

Ashlee Tana, Year 8 Student

Year 10 RAC bstreetsmart Excursion

Last week the Year 10 students were provided the opportunity to attend a full day excursion offered by Rotary WA Driver Education which was sponsored by the RAC, the Road Safety Commission and the WA Police. The key strategy behind the program was to educate teenagers about the skills and knowledge needed before gaining their drivers licence.
The road safety program targets adolescent school students who are about to become young drivers as they are highly vulnerable and over represented in fatal and serious crash statistics. The day comprised of six sessions and students rotated through each of them.

Student Reflection

A session that stood out for me was presented by Danny, a survivor of a major road accident that left him a paraplegic. Danny was involved in an accident as a young driver and was left with devastating physical disabilities. Listening to his account was a sobering experience for me and my peers as many of us are about to enter the world of driving.
Some of us in Year 10 have already acquired our L-plates and have started the journey to become a licensed driver. This program has challenged the way we think about road safety and has compelled us to question some of the decisions that we make as novice drivers.

Jacques Pienaar, Year 10 Student

Year 8 Italian Incursion

On Wednesday 17 October, the Year 8 Italian students were given the experience of tasting authentic wood fired pizza made by Vincenzo and Rosalbo Velletri. The chefs opened with a brief history of Italian pizza, explaining how it started as a very simple dish, made by peasants as substantial food to fill them up. The traditional ingredients were flour, water, yeast, tomatoes, cheese and sometimes basil. This pizza is now widely known as Margherita pizza and is one of the most well known pizzas around. Vincenzo went on to explain about how when the pizza was taken to the Americas by Italian traders, it was westernised resulting in all the different pizzas we now get. However, this excursion took us back to the original, simple Margherita pizza.

Following this introduction, the chefs commenced the making of the pizzas. They started by rolling and spreading the dough balls, they then applied the fresh tomato sauce and sprinkled the thin layer of cheese on top. After the pizzas had spent a short time in the wood fire oven, they were presented in front of us and and the delicious scent had our mouths watering. In a nutshell, the pizzas were fluffy, light, delicious and tasted very authentic. By the satisfied looks on every student’s face and the pleading for a second serving, it was obvious that everyone had enjoyed it very much.

I can confidently say that every student appreciated the experience very much and will remember it as a great incursion. They were able to learn something new about a very popular dish and taste a great, authentic one made the way a pizza should be.

Max Hobson, Year 8 Student

Year 12 Graduation Celebrations

This week we celebrated the wonderful achievements of our Year 12 cohort at a final assembly and Graduation Mass and Ceremony. Highlights from an emotional final assembly included Luke Ricciardi’s reflection of his time at Newman College and a standing ovation for Mr Mac, following an account of his time as Leader of Wellbeing (LOW). To the sounds ‘Amazing Grace’ played on the bag pipes by Year 7’s Noah Connelly, the Year 12’s were lead from the assembly. Year 5 students formed a guard of honour to acknowledge the Year 12’s as they exited the Gym for the final time as students of Newman College.

On Thursday 18th October, Year 12 students, family, friends and staff gathered for the final time for the Mass and Graduation Ceremony. In this “Year of Hope”, our Mass was celebrated by Fr Joe Tran. Fr Joe encouraged the graduates to continue to carry the important message and virtue of “mercy” out into the world.

The Graduation ceremony saw a number of musical acts, slideshows, and reflective addresses;

  • Luke Romano performed an amazing guitar solo ‘Always with You, Always with Me’. Click here to view this performance.
  • Grethe Pienaar gave an inspiring Graduates Address, reflecting on her time and experiences at Newman College. ‘This is a whole new chapter in our lives. The world is our oyster’. Click here to see part of her address.
  • Jess, Beth, Tommi and Mark were recognised for their contribution to the Arts program during their time at Newman College. They arranged and performed a ‘Farewell Medley’ in front of their peers. Click here to see part of their performance.

We were delighted to welcome back to the College Damien Wallman (Class of ’93) who provided the Year 12’s with some advice as they enter life after secondary school; “Failure is good, admit your faults, treasure your family & friends, work hard, challenge yourself but always have fun”.

In his Principal’s Address, Mr Finneran encouraged the Year 12’s to reflect on their aspirations and expectations of how they reached the final day at Newman College. “Whilst we may never be fully prepared for what lies ahead of us, I believe that you have many tools within you which will serve you well”.

The evening concluded with recognising the outstanding academic, sporting and community achievements and contributions of the Year 12 cohort. The following students received the College’s highest awards:

  • Jessica Ranieri, recipient of the Class of 1977 Award. The highest achieving student engaged in Vocational and Educational Training opportunities.
  • Anika Powers received the JJ Clune Award. Presented to the Year 12 student who is acknowledged as the most outstanding graduate of the year.
  • Jacinta Pavisich who was announced as this year’s Br Cletus Read Proxime Accessit recipient.
  • The Monsignor Kennedy Award for Dux of the College was awarded to Kascia Pavisich. Her average across the top 5 subjects was 86.4%. A remarkable performance!

A full list of award winners can be found here Year 12 Awards

Congratulations to our Y12s. We are delighted to officially welcome you all as our newest Alumni; The Class of 2018.