Our Year 12 students have settled into Term 2 with their focus on course work completion, ESTs, exams, and WPL. All made especially better due to arrival of their leaver’s jackets just in time for the onset of cooler weather. The Class of 2024 are having to confront the realism that school for them will soon be concluding, in just over a term, however there is still time to make the changes necessary to achieve the results they hope to. Whilst this can be a stressful time, it is imperative to recognise the benefits of a balanced approach to study, physical activity, social life, and sleep.

All Year 12 students are required to complete the online collection of student declaration and permission details for the Authority. The Authority’s purpose is to ensure all Year 12 students are aware of the requirements to achieve the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) and for sitting the WACE examinations. Additional information can be found at the website and in the Year 12 Information Handbook which is available on the Authority website.

Click here to visit the Authority website http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/year-12-information

The Year 12 students will be sitting their Semester 1, ATAR exams in Weeks 6 and 7 of this term, it is imperative to remember being prepared for your exams is a key element, having everything you need available and remaining attentive will certainly help support the achievement of better results. Other Year 12 students will be completing Workplace Learning, valuable for achievement of their WACE. Can I also remind all Year 12 students that Semester 1 is fast drawing to an end, attendance and completion of assessments will also help to ensure good results. It is vital for all students to make certain that every piece of work is handed in on time and they are putting in the required effort and study time essential to succeed.

Can I also remind Year 12 students along with parents, that Connect is a vital part of the school communication. A lot of information is available on Connect so please take the time to check any updates or reminders. Please contact me if you have any concerns on 92936400.

Sharon Andrews
Year 11 and 12 Program Coordinator

At the end of last term, the Year 8 and 9 Academic Excellence Program students participated in sessions focused on the students’ socio-emotional development. The Year 8 students participated in a workshop presented by IZRA called ‘Failing Well’ that develops students’ resilience, based on the growth mindset work of Dr Carol Dweck. The Year 9 students completed an intense mindfulness and yoga session with practitioner Sharnell Avery, learning skills to manage stress and anxiety. We learnt that our eyes are actually connected to the bone at the base of our skull and ran through stretches  to release these muscles when they are strained from studying.

On Monday 29 April, select Year 10 students attended the Science and Engineering Challenge hosted by the Rotary Club of Dalkeith in collaboration with the University of Newcastle at the Claremont Showgrounds. They engaged in a series of challenges throughout the day and our teams won half of the activities they completed. An excellent effort!

Our Year 7 students commenced their Creative Schools projects in English and Science in Week 3. The students and teachers, Mrs Kelly Walker and Mrs Laura Morris, will be working in collaboration with creative practitioners over the next 2 terms in projects designed to increase students’ creativity and academic achievement. In Science they are deep-diving into the moon, phases of the moon and its significance in ancient civilisations. In English, students are exploring different ways of responding to poetry. It will be exciting to see the products these students produce in the coming weeks and months.

The Year 6 Primary Academic Excellence Program students returned in Week 3 for their first Science session with Mrs Laura Morris. They are exploring soil science and were met with Mrs Morris’ pet stick insect. They worked in groups to make bait bags and ‘plant’ them in the ground to attract soil critters to be observed over the next few sessions.

The Year 11 ATAR students participated in an exam preparation seminar during Meeting period on Friday of Week 3 organised by Mr Richard Guthrie, Head of Humanities Learning Area. We started the session singing ‘Rubber Duckie’ and learnt about the study strategy of ‘rubber ducking’, with all students taking home their very own rubber duckie study buddy. Mrs Helen Deacon, Mr Tim Bennett and Mrs Tori Maguire also came in to speak with the students and offer their words of advice and encouragement as the students prepare for their first set of ATAR examinations. In Week 4, students participated in ATAR English and Literature exam workshops and coming up this Friday, there will be sessions for students in Chemistry, Human Biology and Biology and Psychology with presenters from Academic Task Force, as well as Mrs Laura Morris and Mrs Teagan Sloman. We thank these teachers for their time in preparing and presenting these sessions and we wish our Year 11 ATAR students all the best as they enter their Semester 1 examination period.

Orietta Stokes
Academic Excellence Program Coordinator

KPA has had a busy and exciting start to Term 2, with our first Showcase of the year, auditions for The Lion King Jr, and all the creativity that goes into formulating our vision for the production.

Thursday 2 May saw 100 students descend on the Kalamunda Performing Arts Centre in preparation for our Semester 1 Showcase. There were 32 items encompassing drama, dance, and music. Of note were the number of original musical compositions, student choreography, and small group devised numbers. There is a plethora of talent in the KPA program and the audiences displayed enthusiasm, enjoyment, and appreciation.

We have also had our auditions or the annual musical production. Michelle Vivian and I were delighted to see our strongest auditions yet, however, this only made the decision process more difficult. The cast list has been revealed in-house and all will be released publicly later in the year. We are so proud of how the students continue to grow in their performance maturity.

Anna Head
Kalamunda Performing Arts

The great honky countdown

There are a lot of honky nuts (marri gumnuts) on the ground in the Science quadrangle.

Too many to actually count one by one.

Our ATAR Biology class calculated the total number to be in the vicinity of 12 000 for the patch investigated, using a field technique known as quadrats. The square (quadrat) is placed on the ground and the number of gumnuts counted inside it. This is repeated at random across the area to generate an average number per square meter. Then we multiplied the average by the size of the total area to produce our estimate.

In the real biological world the gumnuts would be non-mobile species like anemones or plants.

Our students showed admirable patience in determining this result.

Lindesay Pound
Science Teacher

On Wednesday 24 April the Year 12 ATAR English students participated in an incursion to assist them with exam preparation. We welcomed guest speaker Leanne Bondin who is an experienced ATAR teacher, WACE marker and author to the school to speak to the students specifically about preparing for the responding section of the exam. She also gave some insight into the moderation and scaling process. The students were given specific examples and study tips to assist in their preparation to understand course concepts and how to revise their studied texts.

The Year 10 English cohort have been studying Shakespearean sonnets. In class, they comprehended Sonnet 18, 141 and 147. To develop their understanding and engagement, the AE class competed in a treasure hunt around the school. In teams, they solved multiple clues embedded within sonnets. They had to decode the meaning for finding a location and password. During the treasure hunt, they visited Ms George at the front office, Ms Clues at the library, and Ms Wilkinson in her class. All the students were courteous and competed in good spirit. All the teams successfully completed the hunt within one lesson. Congratulations to the winning team of Charlotte Feltham, Isabella Coatsworth, Audrey Coetzee, Elouise Crum and Alisa Ovcharenko. 

To compliment the Shakespeare study happening in the classroom, a group of Year 10 students recently had the opportunity to attend a performance of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the Heath Ledger Theatre in Northbridge. The play was performed by the Bell Shakespeare Company. It was an excellent opportunity to see how a play is staged and the students were able to observe the effect of theatrical elements such as lighting, set design, music and costume in action. During the play it was clear why Shakespearean plays were once such a major form of entertainment in Elizabethan and Jacobean times, as characters like Bottom had the audience laughing so hard that some of them cried! There was no shortage of applause, laughter and jeering from the audience at different parts in the play.

The Year 11 Literature class have been studying Australian prose and Greek theatre this term. They have explored the representation of place and people in Henry Lawson's 'The Drover's Wife' and Craig Silvey's 'Jasper Jones'. Students have developed their critical terminology, using a post-colonial lens to explore the ongoing impact of colonisation in these texts. They also produced their own creative writing that encapsulated their connection with the Australian landscape. Students have been immersed in the context and conventions of Greek theatre in their study of Sophocles' 'Oedipus Rex'. 

Nicolee McNally
Head of English Learning Area

Can Self-Compassion Help Teens With Depression?

A new study finds that learning to be more supportive and kind to themselves can protect teens who are struggling.

Thirteen year-old Alita told me she knew there was something wrong with her—something that made her 'less than'. She felt that, somehow, she was 'marked' and deeply unacceptable—even ugly—inside. She was sure everyone else could see what was so blatantly wrong with her, but for the life of her, she couldn’t put her finger on what it was, what made her this way, or what she could do about it. All she knew was that she was not quite like everyone else.

This is all too often how teens feel. Different, alone, apart, unworthy, and undeserving. Like they don’t 'belong'—anywhere, to anything or anyone. According to a CDC report, in 2021, 42% of teens—57% of females and 29% of males—experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness to the degree that they could not engage in regular activities; and 13% of females and 7% of males attempted suicide.

Although navigating the teen years has never been easy, it’s harder now than it was in the past. Today’s teens are still going through the same physical and emotional transitions that they always have, but they are also burdened with pressures from the outside world that we never could have imagined even a few years ago—from fears of school shootings, to the relentless isolation caused by social media and the pandemic, to the terrifying impact of climate change.

In the face of all this, teens no longer have a 'safe space'—a place where they can escape to when they’re being bullied, or when the strain of school, friends, and the outside world becomes overwhelming. Heading to their bedroom and closing the door—as teens have done in the past—no longer works. Today, smartphones linger within arm’s reach, abuzz with possibilities, but all too often resulting in disappointment or rejection. 

As caring adults, how can we help teens work through and overcome these challenges? Although there are no simple answers to this question, part of the way forward is helping teens learn self-compassion.

How self-compassion helps with depression

Self-compassion means treating yourself with kindness and support when you’re having a hard time, being aware of difficult emotions and recognising that they are a normal part of life. This may sound like no big deal, but actually most of us do the opposite. When something’s happened that makes us feel badly, for example, we tend to be overly self-critical, often assuming that whatever happened was our fault, or happened because we’re fundamentally flawed—like Alita felt.

In a recently published study, my colleagues and I taught one group of teens the Mindful Self-Compassion for Teens (MSC-T) program, eight sessions designed to help them be more supportive and compassionate to themselves. Another group learned a healthy lifestyles curriculum that included sessions on nutrition, exercise, sleep, and healthy social media use, among other topics.

In the MSC-T program, one of the teens’ favourite practices was a 'music meditation'. We played a piece of relaxing instrumental music and instructed teens to simply listen to the music and, when their minds wandered, return to paying attention to the music. Teens found this practice soothing and enjoyed the opportunity to select their own music. One teen said the music practice 'made me realize that I can do that every time I listen to music and I always listen to music so that means that, like, 24/7 I can be calm'. While this sounds like a simple mindfulness practice, we were inviting teens to use it as a way to calm and care for themselves.

Another practice that teens were drawn to was using a 'comforting gesture' to support themselves and remember to be kind to themselves when feeling anxious or afraid. This could be simply rubbing their two hands together, resting a hand over their heart, or cradling their face in their hands. Here are some downloadable audiorecordings of MSC-T practices.

In our study, all the teens were exhibiting some depressive symptoms to begin with, and these symptoms were expected to increase over time, as they tend to do in teens. The results showed that after six months, teens in the self-compassion group were more than two and a half times less likely to develop full-blown depression compared to teens in the healthy lifestyles group, suggesting that the self-compassion course protected the teens from getting more depressed. In fact, the self-compassion group actually decreased in depression.

Similarly, in a recent study (currently under review), we taught Mindful Self-Compassion for Teens to transgender and gender-diverse teens, a population that experiences high rates of depression and suicidal thinking. These teens had significantly fewer suicidal thoughts two months after the program than before it began.

How does self-compassion work?

Although we can’t determine from these studies how self-compassion is protective, we suspect it has to do with teens developing an understanding of common humanity. In one class, a teen said, 'Whatever you’re feeling, you’re not alone in it. Somebody else will feel the same way, will know where you’re coming from, even if you think that no one understands, there will be somebody who does'.

Through taking Mindful Self-Compassion for Teens, teens may realize just this—that, contrary to Alita’s perceptions, they aren’t alone; many others share their experiences of sadness, loneliness, or worry. That experiencing these emotions is part of being a teen.

Research from several meta-analyses (analyzing the results of many studies together) aligns with these findings. For example, teens who are more self-compassionate tend to experience less depression, anxiety, and stress in general than those who are less self-compassionate.

Even more, being more self-compassionate may protect against some of the onslaughts of being a teen. Not only are these self-compassionate teens less likely to become depressed when stressed, but when they are depressed, they’re less likely to self-injure. They’re also less likely to get stressed when academic pressure is high, less likely to get anxious or depressed when using social media, and less likely to get depressed when cyberbullied.


Self-compassion isn’t going to solve all teens’ problems. But it will give them a new way to approach their problems—without blaming themselves and with a new perspective, one that can be enormously eye-opening. As one teen said to me after taking a self-compassion course, 'You know, it’s changed the way I look at myself and the world'. And that can make all the difference.

BY KAREN BLUTH | APRIL 8, 2024

Aundraea Stevens
Convenor of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee

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If you save $50 a month for 10 months, ANZ will double it. The money helps you with school costs. Income, eligibility, and participation criteria apply, go to saverplus.org.au to find out more.