I hope everyone connected to our school community is travelling well as we prepare for the school holidays.

NAPLAN online

Congratulations to all our students in Year 7 and 9 who have completed these online tests during Weeks 7, 8 and 9.  Results from these tests will be available later in the year, and parents will be informed when they arrive.

Australian Government Initiative - Free internet

The Australian Government School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) is offering free home internet for eligible families with school-aged students until 31 December 2025.

To be eligible, families must:

• have no active broadband service
• have a device capable of accessing the internet
• live in premises where they can access a standard NBN service
• have a child living at home who is enrolled in an Australian school.

The free broadband starts from the day the service is activated with a participating internet provider. Families will not be placed on a paid service by the internet provider at the end of the free service without consent.

For more information and a list of participating internet providers, visit NBN Co School Student Broadband Initiative or call 1800 626 269.

If you think you are eligible and want to self-nominate for the free broadband offer:

• call the National Referral Centre on 1800 954 610 (Monday to Friday, 10 am to 6 pm Australian Eastern Daylight-saving Time)
• visit the School Student Broadband Initiative website.

For technical support in more than 100 regional and remote communities throughout Western Australia, contact your local Community Resource Centre

Congratulations to our students

We congratulate Rachel Bradfield and Lara Savage on being selected for the prestigious Australia wide Lester Prize exhibition.  Having 2 students from our Gifted and Talented Visual Art program selected out of 30 across Australia is an amazing achievement.

2024 – The Lester Prize - finalists

We congratulate four of our current and former Gifted and Talented Visual Art students for having their work selected for the Perth Comic Festival – they are -Zuri Matthews, Ane Greyling, Ana Fehrman and Anna Plaistowe.

We also congratulate Sean Paxman, Toby Trent and Marc Rouillard as they represented Curtin University in the First Robotics National Competition regionals in Sydney this month.

Congratulations to Phil Blurton who is participating in the Djinda Ngardak – Prepare Produce Provide program.  This is an annual culinary program for First Nations youth and Phil who was involved last year has recently been part of this year’s event.  This was the Bunuru Festival Gala Dinner at Government House.  The Bunuru Festival in 2024 had a theme of Culture: Survival, Resilience, Strength and Celebration and honoured Yaagan (turtle) and the connection to water.  Phil worked with Ultimo Catering and “Yoda” from Fervour.

Containers for Change

I would like to remind families that you can donate your Containers for Change to Kalamunda SHS P&C by using this code.  Bins are available at the school for students to use, which are collected and recycled.

Building update

These are some progress shots of the building since our last issue of the news review.

Road and carpark safety

Just an ongoing reminder that the main carpark on Canning Rd is not to be used for student drop off or pickups.  Please use Cotherstone Rd, Central Rd or the Kalamunda Sporting Complex for safer drop off and pick up locations.

WA Student Assistance payment

Information about this payment of $250 per secondary student has been sent directly to all parents listed on our school information system.  Parents and carers will need to claim this payment, they will not automatically receive it.  Claims can be submitted through ServiceWA from Monday 15 April and must be received by Friday 28 June 2024.  Further information can be found online.

Parents and carers can call this helpline 1800 882 345 for support between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday.

To make this claim, you will need to know your child’s WA Student Number (WASN).  This can be found on the top of your child’s previous report or NAPLAN results.

Contributions and Charges

I would like to thank those families who have already paid their school charges and contributions.  For some families it might be easier to make arrangements to pay the balance over the year via a payment plan.  Please contact our manager of Corporate Services, Natalie Robertson to finalise your account or to set up a payment plan.  These funds are used to pay for teaching materials to deliver high quality programs for your child.  All tuition, staffing and infrastructure costs are provided by the Department of Education.

Wishing everyone all the best for a relaxing Term 1 holiday break.

Helen Deacon
Principal

Sharon Andrews
Year 11 and 12 Program Coordinator

Students in the Academic Excellence Program classes have continued to be challenged and enriched, exploring a range of topics and completing and receiving feedback on their first assessments of the year.

During Meeting period, the Year 11 ATAR students participated in a mini-seminar on Managing Expectations and Receiving Difficult Feedback. The timing of this seminar was designed to coincide with the ATAR students receiving results and feedback for their first assessments in their ATAR classes. We discussed what ‘good’ progress looks like in the ATAR pathway, and constructive strategies for responding to and using feedback to improve future performance. The Year 11 ATAR Meeting period teachers have also been checking in with students one on one in our student conferences, an integral component of the Year 11 ATAR Support program. Students also have also been using this time to receive extra tuition and support from their ATAR teachers who have generously donated their time to supporting their students’ academic progress.

In the Primary Academic Excellence Program this term, the subject focus is Mathematics. The Year 6 students have completed their program, investigating numbers and patterns. In their final session, students explored the Mathematics of bees. The students practiced their grid enlargement skills to work as a 'colony' to create a ‘bee art’ collage. The Year 5 students commenced their first session on Monday 11^th March, followed by their Welcome Afternoon Tea held in the Staffroom, where students were presented with their program certificates by our Deputy Principal, Mrs Melissa Shepherd. The Year 5 group are focusing on codes and ciphers this term and have been learning about the shift cipher and the Enigma machine.

Ms Orietta Stokes

Academic Excellence Coordinator

It has been a busy term in the English Department. The teaching team has been working hard to deliver engaging content to the students and we are seeing some exciting achievement in their assessments. The Year 7 and 9 teachers have been so impressed at the maturity shown in the Year groups as they have completed their NAPLAN testing. It is a stressful few week, but the students have shown resilience and a can-do attitude when completing their tests. They completed the Writing, Reading and Conventions of Language tests in their English class, so there has been a small disruption to their class content, but we thank Mr Bennett and the IT Department at the school for their support throughout the testing process.

Dr Aslett’s Year 12 Literature class had an engaging lecture with a member of our English teaching team Anjali Chaurasia. As a class, they are studying Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe which is a post-colonial text. Mrs Chaurasia completed her Masters on post-colonial literature and has completed extensive study on the text, including writing on it for her final thesis. The discussion focused on a feminist reading of the text. The students asked many questions and enjoyed the opportunity to explore the text through this lens. They were appreciative of her time and effort in the lead up to their assessment.

On the 5^th of March, six students, accompanied by Ms Stokes, attended the Young Writers Collective Term 1 seminar at the Fremantle Literature Centre. Zoe Green, Audrey Coetzee, Sadie Harris, Joy Plaistowe, Charlotte Lee-Steere and Scarlett Courtenay participated in the workshops hosted by this term’s author WA writer Brendan Richtie. He focused on dystopia and climate fiction. He has written novels Carousel - which is based around the concept of being locked in Carousel shopping centre overnight, and Eta Draconis - a novel inspired by his frequent trips up and down the south coast of WA.

Year 11 General Modern History

Our Year 11 General Modern History students have been immersing themselves in the history of Perth and the Kalamunda area. 

Very little local history is included in our Year 7–10 curriculum, so it has been a great opportunity to be able to explore our own history in Term 1 of this year.

Students have been learning about Noongar culture, Yellagonga, Midgegooroo and Yagan.  They’ve been engaging with the topical issue of how we acknowledge the colonization of Perth and role of Captain James Stirling – the good and the bad. 

As part of our studies, the students visited the State Library of Western Australia, where they were given a tour of the Battye Library, were able to touch replica primary sources, and view actual primary sources, that tell the history of Kalamunda. 

They toured through three galleries of the Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip and thoroughly enjoyed the cultural journey of Perth, particularly the “dancing through the ages” exhibit and the arcade games.

We are lucky to have the largest folk museum in Western Australia right at our doorstep and our students were treated to an excellent tour of the museum and got a taste of early European life in our area.  They were inspired to choose a topic for their inquiry appreciating the importance of the timber industry and seeing the operation of the fruit grading machine in the Orchard Shed. 

Whadjuk country has a deep history and as always with a study of history, the connections of the past with our present day enrich our lives and help us understand our place in the world.

Our Year 9 classes in Science have wrapped their look into plate tectonics with an engineering challenge: design, build, and test a spaghetti skyscraper which can survive a simulated earthquake (using a shaker table). Limited by size and cost restrictions, they came up with some interesting features and elements, including an Eiffel tower look-alike, some sneaky braces, and a lot of triangles for strength. 

Some disqualifications based on non-conformance to the rules left half a dozen to fight it out. No clear winner was identified, as they all survived our earthquake simulator, which shook itself apart not once but twice. Perhaps the next challenge should be to build a better quake simulator.

ELECTIONS ARE HAPPENING AT OUR NEXT AGM - TUESDAY 30th APRIL 2024.

6.30pm in the KSHS Staffroom (parking Cotherstone Road side).

Every year at the KSHS P&C Annual General Meeting as per our constitution, all voluntary P&C Executive Positions are vacated and re-elected.

We are inviting anyone who is interested in becoming more involved in the school as part of the KSHS P&C to put themselves forward as a nominee for an Executive Position or Office Bearer and join the team! 

 ANYONE else who would like to just come along and see what we are all about are most welcome. 

REMEMBER you don't have to take on an executive position you can just be a general P&C member and come along to meetings when you like!

Nominations to be emailed to the Secretary by 5pm Tuesday 30th April 2024.

kshspc.secretary@gmail.com 

What is cyberbullying?

We don't necessarily know why kids bully or cyberbully; what we do know is that cyberbullying is the deliberate, persistent and malicious use of words or pictures in an online environment intended to cause harm to someone’s wellbeing.

Research undertaken by Kids Helpline found that the most common age for cyberbullying is the transition period between primary and high school when young people are around 11 or 12, but it happens throughout the teenage years so it’s important to be aware. Unfortunately, cyberbullying is really common, with the eSafety Commissioner reporting that almost one in two young Australians have had a negative online experience in the last six months.

What does cyberbullying look like?

Cyberbullying amongst teens comes in many forms but the most common are:

• receiving intentionally hurtful text messages, emails or direct messages on social media sites
• people spreading rumours or lies about someone online
• people sending images or videos intended to humiliate or embarrass someone
• people sending threats to someone
• people setting up and using fake online profiles to embarrass or intimidate someone.

Cyberbullying is most commonly done through social media. While social media is a great way to keep in touch with friends, how easy it is to use and access means that cyberbullying on social media can be common. Learn more about keeping your teen safe on social media.

How is it different to other forms of bullying?

Bullying is a kind of behaviour that is designed to cause intentional harm. Cyberbullying can be even more distressing because of its very public and uncontrollable nature. For example:

• there’s no limit to who can view or take part in cyberbullying
• it can be very difficult to remove content shared online
• it can be anonymous
• content can be accessed through search engines

It’s hard for people to escape the bullying, especially if they use technology in their everyday lives. It’s suggested that young people can be more likely to bully someone online than they would in real-life, as they feel less accountable for their actions due to the nature of the online world.

What are the effects of cyberbullying?

The effects of cyberbullying on teenagers can range from:

• lower school attendance and performance
• increased stress and anxiety
• feelings of isolation and fear
• poor concentration
• depression
• decreased self-esteem and confidence
• in extreme cases the cyberbullying can lead to suicide.

The effects of cyberbullying are similar to the effects of bullying, but the main difference is that it's much harder to avoid, because it can follow your teen home from school and make them feel like they'll never be able to escape it. Make sure your child knows it's not their fault, they're not alone, and that there are ways to deal with cyberbullying.

If you've noticed some warning signs in your teenager's behaviour, you might be worried that they're thinking about suicide. Read more about how talk to your teen about suicide here.

Keep your teenager safe online

Only around 1 in 10 young people inform a parent or trusted adult of cyberbullying. Some reasons for this low number include embarrassment, fear of not being believed, fear of having the issue trivialised, or losing access to technology. Taking proactive steps to educate your child about what they can do about cyberbullying can be a good way to ensure they approach you for support when they need it.

• Ensure that your child’s social media accounts are set to private, and that they only accept friend requests from people they know in real life.
• Chat with your teen about not sharing personal information online. For example, passwords, their full name, address, phone number and what school the go to.
• Chat to your teenager about sharing photos online, especially risqué ones. Explain that once they’re online they can lose control of who sees them pretty quickly and that can lead to name-calling and shaming unfortunately.
• Remind them to ignore messages from people they don’t know. The internet can be a great place to make new friends but it is still super important to be extra cautious due to fake accounts and trolls
• Make sure they know that cyberbullying is wrong and they shouldn’t do it. If your teenager engages in this sort of behaviour online it may open doors for people to think they have an excuse to cyberbully your child.
• Ensure that your child knows how to block, delete or report anyone who is upsetting them online.

As much as your teen might enjoy being online, it’s important to get them engaged in offline activities. That way if something does happen online they have other things to do that they enjoy and other friends to talk to.

What to do if your child is being cyberbullied

If you know your child is being cyberbullied, the first thing to do is to be supportive and empathetic. Make sure that they know it’s not their fault. Cyberbullying is serious and upsetting, so try not to minimise or trivialise the situation in order to make your child ‘feel better’. Avoid the temptation to stop your child going online at all; this will more likely result in them not telling you if it occurs again.

Support your child with cyberbullying emotionally

• Speak to your child and really listen to what they have to say. Thank them for opening up to you, and let them know that you want to put an end to the bullying.
• Never blame your child for experiencing cyberbullying. The way young people interact online may seem excessive to adults, but bullying is never the fault of the person being bullied.
• Acknowledge their feelings and don’t try to dismiss their experiences, even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal to you.
• Reassure them that there are people who can offer support, whether this is you, their teachers or other professionals and services.
• Learn more about communicating effectively with your teen here.

If you need cyberbullying material removed or want to report it

If there are any videos, photos or comments being used to harm your teen, the fastest way to get them removed is to report it. Most sites and apps allow you to report offensive content through settings, help or privacy. Individual posts and comments also have a ‘...’ feature that you click and use to report. If you’re having trouble finding where to report cyberbullying, check out the eSafety guide.

If you haven’t heard back within 48 hours and the cyberbullying is causing serious harm to your teen’s wellbeing, you can make a report to eSafety.

If you need more information on how to address cyberbullying situations and for general cyberbullying safety tips, learn how to deal with online bullying here..

What to do if your child feels unsafe

If your child feels unsafe, for example if someone is threatening them or your family, call the police on 000 to get help.

If your child is distressed about the bullying, encourage them to speak to a mental health professional, or direct them to services that can help. This may be a school counsellor, or a service like Kids Helpline.

Article accessed from Reachout.com (you can sign up for free for lots of useful information).

What to do if your teenager is being bullied - ReachOut Parents

Please also remember that your child’s mentor teacher, year coordinator and our wonderful staff in Student Services are here to help.  You can contact them via email addresses found on Connect, or you can call the school for support. 

By Aundraea Stevens

Convenor of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee

Kalamunda Snr High School's local clinic is: 

Kalamunda Dental Therapy centre 

32 Heath Road, Kalamunda 

Ph:  9293 2801

Students are eligible to be seen until the age of 17 or end of year 11 which ever comes first for all general dental needs.

School Dental Service | Dental Health Services, Government of Western Australia