From the Co-Curricular Department

Congratulations to our Primary B Grade Chess Champions in the South Australian Junior Chess League.

The team have worked hard all season, showing great improvement in their strategy, resulting in their Grand Final win. Well done Thomas, Inesh, Nathan, Mikey and Hemil.

On Monday, 9 September the Senior VEX Robotics team headed to Pedare Christian College to compete in the Qualifier event for VEX V5RC. The team consisted of Michael, Marcus and Jarad, with the former two attending the competition day.

The day saw 4 hours of qualifying matches, with knockout finals for the top 16 teams in alliances. The goal was to pick up the team alliance’s colour donut and place it on a mobile goal with a spike. The more donuts placed the higher the score. The day started with their robot being just too big for the requirements, so they made some on the fly adjustments. They then competed during the day to achieve their highest score. Although much work was put in during the day, they were not successful in reaching the finals this year.

On Saturday, 21 September the Middle school VEX Robotics teams headed to Pembroke College to compete in a Qualifier event for VEX VIQRC. The two teams were: TSSS - consisting of Thomas, Keagan, Samuel N and Samuel Ki (with Sahaj and others helping build the robot) and Fishwalkers – consisting of Akarsh and Jayden.

Both teams started the day with their robots needing some last-minute tweaks to fit within the size requirements. After they passed that hurdle, they competed through the day for 4 hours trying to achieve their highest totals for the day. In the knockout finals, TSSS came in as the fourth alliance and Fishwalkers came in as the third alliance.

There was good effort by both on the day and the lead up to the event, but it was obvious that other teams had spent far more time on their robots and hence why they ranked higher. This was a good reminder that time put in equals levels of success and something both teams were looking to improve for next season.

Alexander Massy Gartly
VEX Robotics Mentor/Manager

Over the first weekend in Term 4, Future Problem Solving Team M150 – Oceana Fok, Alexander Kokegei, Benjamin Pattison, and Janice Li – travelled to Carey Baptist Grammar School in Kew, Victoria, to participate in the National Finals.

While the team didn’t place this time, they are recognised as achieving in the top ten percent of the Australian affiliate – an honour in itself as this is one of the largest Future Problem Solving affiliates in the world.

On Friday morning, Alex Kokegei was nominated to represent the state by bearing the South Australian flag at the Opening Ceremony on Friday evening. This significant honour allowed Alex to represent not only Saint Ignatius’ College, but South Australia, on the national stage.

Saturday was competition day and the team had two hours in which to respond to a previously unseen Future Scene. They were required to identify possible problems and challenges related to autonomous ships transporting cargo through the Cook Islands in 2040, brainstorm futuristic solution ideas, and select the best idea to develop into an action plan. The national evaluators noted the clarity and insight shown in identification of problems and the elaboration of solution ideas. The team scored particularly strongly for their creation of criteria to appraise their ideas, and for completing an action plan which would have a significant positive impact.

The team were then required to move well out of their comfort zone in the cognitive arts and challenge themselves by presenting their action plans in the visual and performing arts arenas. Their communication of relevant ideas was notable.

We are proud of the ways in which Janice, Oceana, Ben and Alex conducted themselves and represented the College. They have analysed and internalised their feedback, and returned to Adelaide keen to apply their learning to the 2025 topics: Food Security, Agricultural Industry, Rising Sea Levels, and Nanotechnology, so they can achieve even more.

Joanne Cameron-Smith
Teacher-in-charge of Future Problem Solving

Saint Ignatius’ College demonstrated our strength as a Track and Field competitor over the weekend, with our athletes winning 14 medals in the All School State Athletics Championships. With all athletes vying for the opportunity to be selected in the South Australian team, it was wonderful to see some personal bests achieved as well as many placings against tough competition. The 10 Ignatius athletes brough home 14 medals, including 5 gold medals, which is an outstanding result for the College.

• Lily McBain ran strongly over the 2000m Steeple Chase.
• Rafael Rivera demonstrated his speed in the U14 100m.
• Jack Pontt’s hard work at training paid off with a solid performance in the shot put and a bronze medal in the Javelin.
• Alex Kavanagh ran a brilliantly timed race to win bronze in the 3000m after finishing strongly the day before in the 1500m.
• Tehan Appuhamilage Don made the finals of both the 100m and 200m as well as securing a silver medal in the Long Jump.
• Ella Sloan’s return to competition saw her take out the gold in the High Jump with a personal best result.
• Lola Whiteman competed brilliantly to win a silver medal in the 80m Hurdles and the Triple Jump and she competed well in a strong field in the Long Jump.
• Lily Whiteman had a brilliant weekend winning a silver medal in the long jump and bringing home the gold medal in the triple jump as well as a unique tied gold medal performance in the 90m Hurdles.
• Jayden Cooray ‘s courage and determination were on show throughout the weekend as he won silver in the 100m falling over the line; however, the injury sustained in this fall didn’t stop him from securing gold in the 400m and then silver in the 200m.
• Josh Kavanagh showed his growth as a runner, displaying speed, endurance and tactics to win gold medals in both the 1500m and 3000m.

Miriam Doyle
Teacher-in-charge of Athletics

The College celebrated a standout performance at the Ekiden Relay on Thursday, 17 October. The Open Boys team shattered the course record by a remarkable 2 minutes, covering the 20.9 km distance in an impressive 1 hour and 8 minutes, securing the gold medal.

A massive congratulations goes out to the team members—Tom, Rafael, Reid, Alex, Adam, Hugo, Josh, and Henry—who each contributed to this incredible achievement.

The Open Girls team also delivered a strong performance, taking 3rd place. Meanwhile, the Junior Boys and mixed teams put on impressive displays, showcasing the school’s depth of talent and commitment to excellence in sport.

Congratulations to all athletes on a fantastic event!

Saturday, 26 October, marked a record-breaking weekend for our First XI cricket team, with two school records being set.

In our match against Pembroke’s 2nd XI, Saint Ignatius First XI won the toss and elected to bat. Opening batters Liam Murphy and Riley MacDonald combined for a new school record, amassing 316 runs for the first wicket.

In addition to this milestone, Riley MacDonald scored an unbeaten 175, setting a new school record for the most runs scored by a batter in a one-day game. Liam Murphy completed the innings with an unbeaten 127. It was an outstanding display of disciplined batting from both players throughout the innings.

Following this remarkable batting performance, the team showcased an equally impressive display of bowling by dismissing Pembroke’s 2nd XI for just 59. Seb Rice was the standout bowler, taking 4 wickets with an exceptional opening spell.

Deven Bell
Program Leader - Cricket

Please click HERE to view the latest Junior School Sports Reports.

Please click HERE to view the latest Senior School Sports Reports.