Well Term 2 is flying by and our students are well underway with the semester studies.

Anzac Day Ceremony

We began the term by acknowledging all those who have served in the armed forces for our country.  There was a special commemoration of the sinking of HMAS Sydney with our band premiering a piece written by Band Director Peter Hind for the occasion.  This is always a significant event in our school year and we thank the Humanities and Music staff and students for their efforts in leading this event.  As it turned out it was particularly important given that the lockdown impacted other events over the long weekend. 

NAPLAN online

After NAPLAN was cancelled in 2020, we have now successfully completed our NAPLAN online for our Year 7 and Year 9 students.  Our technology ran smoothly and we thank our IT department and Mr Bennett in particular for all their careful preparation for this testing.  Results will become available later in the year.

Year 12 ESTs

Our Year 12 students studying General courses have now completed their External Set Task for the year.  This is worth 15% of their marks and will go towards the completion of their WACE.  Congratulations to all students for giving of their best in these important assessments.

Senior School Exams

Shortly our senior school students studying ATAR courses will undertake their Semester 1 exams.  These will be held during Week 7 and 8 of the term and full details will be provided directly to students, and uploaded onto Connect.  Most students not undertaking exams will be participating in a Work Place Learning program and the paperwork for these placements is being completed now.  If you have any queries about placements, please contact the Christine Hamilton (VET Coordinator) or Meredith Rubrey (VET Assistant and WPL Coordinator).

Enrolments for 2022

Just a reminder that all Year 7 enrolments for next year from within our local school catchment are due by 23 July 2021.  Even if you have a sibling already enrolled at the school you will need to complete your enrolment package by this date.

Application for our special programs is closed and the testing and audition process is currently under way.

Welcome

We welcome Ben Lines (Mathematics), Jessica Baradziej (Home Economics), Alan Gamble (Indonesian) and Mary Murphy (Humanities) to our staff as they replace Di Jackson, Jaime Lee Duncombe and Kuldeep Kaler on leave.

Welcome also to the following new students:  Gabriel Ciutina, Matthew Day,Liam Kempton, Zach Laidley, Ella Wright, Raymond Yappo, Isaac Zonta.

I wish all our students all the best as they work hard with their assessments this term.

Helen Deacon
Principal

Our Year 12 students have settled back into Term 2 with the focus on learning. The Class of 2021 are having to confront the reality that school for them will be ending in a little over a term not a lot of time to make the necessary changes to achieve the results they aspire too. The leavers jackets have arrived and have promptly become a feature of the Year 12 school uniform, identifying them in their final year. Whilst this can be a stressful time, it is important 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 School Curriculum and Standards 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 in the Year 12 Information Handbook which is available on the Authority website.

The Year 12 students will very soon be sitting exams, it is imperative to remember being prepared for your exams is a key element, having everything you need available and remaining focused will certainly help support the achievement of better results. I would also like to 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 ensure that every piece of work is handed in on time and each one of you is putting in the required effort and study time required to succeed.

Can I also remind Year 12 students along with parents, that Connect is a vital part of the school communication and a lot of information is available on Connect so please make you time to check any updates or reminders? Please contact me if you have any concerns on 9293 6400.

Sharon Andrews
Program Coordinator - Pathways

E-Safety and Online news

If you are looking for some assistance with on-line and being “E-Safe” there is a new app from the Telethon Kid’s Institute that could prove to be very useful. It is called Beacon and would be worth a look.

Harmony Week celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity.  It is about inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging for everyone.  Kalamunda SHS has students from 34 different nationalities from around the world bringing a wide variety of cultures and views that are embraced within our community.  In Term 1, teachers and students worked together to celebrate our inclusivity, this week allowed students to experience cultural performances, participate in daily quizzes and the ‘Battle of the Mentors’ as well as tasting international cuisine.  I would like to thank all teachers and students that supported Harmony Week especially the Humanities and Social Sciences learning area and Languages department.

Lauren Johnson
Humanities Teacher

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION & TRAINING

WORK PLACE LEARNING –  SEMESTER 1, 2021

Our Year 11 and Year 12 students are preparing to embark on their first two weeks of Workplace Learning for this year and I have been amazed at the maturity and resilience that students have shown in researching industries and seeking out opportunities for work placements.

It is natural to feel nervous when introducing yourself to potential employer’s/workplace supervisor’s.  For some, this experience can be very confronting and extremely challenging. 

Our students have shown fortitude and great determination to “push through” these challenges and thus are already growing in  self-confidence and personal/professional development.

Please put the dates for the next available round of Workplace Learning (in Semester 2) in your diary

Note: Students are required to attend a meeting during Period 1 this Friday 22 May, 2021 where they will receive their Workplace Learning Logbooks and other vital information. This is also a great opportunity for students to gather together as a collective community and ask questions.  The room will be abuzz!

Work Place Learning DATES – 2021

YEAR 11	YEAR 12
31 May – 11 June, 2021	31 May –11th June, 2021	Sem 1
8 Nov – 19 Nov, 2021	11 Oct – 22 Oct, 2021	Sem 2

Please contact Mrs Hamilton (VET Coordinator) or Mrs Rubery (Vet Assistant) in the VET office with any questions.

Christine Hamilton
VET Coordinator

A busy start to Term 2 in the HOPE department as our school teams are well into their fixtures against other schools. The Year 12 ATAR Outdoor Adventure class are eagerly planning their major expedition and putting a lot of time into ensuring the camp will run smoothly. The Year 9 Outdoor Adventure class are also preparing for expedition with a challenging 2-day mountain bike camp at the end of the term. The Year 8 Outdoor Adventure class are preparing for their hike to the Hills Discovery Centre as the Year 10s are also preparing for their hike of the Cape to Cape track at the end of this term.

Lightning Carnival

The Year 8 Lightning Carnival took place 13 May across various locations. Two netball teams battled it out at Ray Owen Sport Centre and came second in Division 1 and fourth in Division 2. Special mention to both teams star shooters, Lily Ajduk, Hannah Booler, Freya Pivac and Shayla Kenny. Each student participated to their full ability and pushed themselves hard for their teams. Centre court players Skyla Mitchell and Matayah Casper were outstanding at controlling the game and defensively Mataya Rea and Tayla Renouf made some key turnovers and kept the other teams to low scores.

Soccer Program

The Year 8 Soccer Specialist program has really kicked into gear this term with a host of School Sport WA matches being held after school, along with their annual Lightning Carnival held last week. The boys finished the day in 2^nd position overall, unfortunately going down to Darling Range in an entertaining final, 3-1. The girls did themselves proud on the day finishing 3^rd overall with a strong result against Harrisdale, winning 4-0. Both squads have had some amazing team performances and are both looking like they have a bright future in the program.

The Year 9 Girls have gotten off to a great start in the Inter-School competition, winning their first two games. The girls got an impressive 3-1 win against Lynwood Soccer Academy with Poppy Calvert scoring a great goal.

The Year 9 Boys lost their first game to Lesmurdie Senior High School but, have been working extremely hard in their three training sessions per week to ensure they pick up three points in their upcoming game. The boys always have fantastic attitudes and resolve and this will stand them in good stead for the remainder of the Inter-School Competition.

Alice Hall
Health and Physical Education Teacher

Saving the planet

Certificate II Conservation and Ecosystem Management students have been studying plant features to help identify and recognise our native flora. This is an essential step in identifying and protecting endangered species and eliminating feral plants that out-compete our native residents.

Ivy Armenti and Darcy O’Connor (Year 11) are busy looking at the features of leaves while Levi Rossi and Shane Shudolz (Year 12) are using dichotomous keys to identify which native flora type they have.

Lindesay Pound
Science Teacher

I would like to formally welcome Ben Lines to the Mathematics team for the rest of the year.  He has settled in quickly and it is fantastic to have someone with his experience joining our team.

Term 2 is proving to be a very busy term. Mr McMullen has been working hard to get a robotics team ready for the Space Odyssey STEM showcase next term. They are meeting every Monday at lunchtime and before school on Tuesday to prepare for this event. We look forward to being able to share more information and details about this event, later in the term.

Our Year 7 and 9 students have completed NAPLAN, and our senior students are preparing for their first semester exams. This tends to be the time of year when many students start to feel overwhelmed with the various assessments that seem to be piling up.  Setting aside some study time every day can assist in reducing the stress and anxiety that assessments can bring. 

As some of you may be aware, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is proposing changes to the content of the Mathematics curriculum from Pre-Primary to Year 10. Our team has been spending time looking at the proposed changes to be able to provide feedback to School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) regarding these changes. 

It has been great to see so many students attending Homework Club on Wednesday afternoons, especially in the lead-up to exams. If you have not ventured to A5, yet, I encourage everyone to come along as there will always be members of the team available to answer any questions and provide assistance.

Alanna Webb
Head of Mathematics Learning Area

Geography 11 - Bushfire Excursion

Our intrepid Geography students journeyed all the way to the Hill Forest Discovery Centre on the 24 March in their pursuit of knowledge regarding the natural hazard of Bushfires. A presentation about the 2014 Parkerville Bushfire provided students with a real life local example of a bushfire. The Parkerville story is a dramatic one, but one that many lesson have been learned from. Significant changes have occurred in relation to the preparation for, response to and the recovery from bushfires that occur in Western Australia.

Following this presentation student visited two sites at the centre. One of the sites was an area that had not had a prescribed burn on it for quite some time. The other area had been prescribe burned only 12 months prior to our visit. Student used these two sites to focus on the mechanics of the fire, the impact of fire and the manner in which the bush recovers from fire. Some excellent examples were provided to students relating to the response of plants to fire.

Our final activity for the day was to conduct a bushfire assessment at the centre. This encouraged students to focus on the risks associated with the location of the buildings, the materials the structures were made of and the danger associated with the surrounding vegetation types. This activity allowed students to apply their learning to complete a checklist to guide a discussion as to the risks and vulnerability of the centre.

A big thank you goes to Mike from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions who was a font of knowledge and good humour throughout the day.

Richard Guthrie
Geography Teacher

The Kalamunda Senior High School community came together on to commemorate Anzac Day. The anniversary of the day when Australian and New Zealand soldiers landed on Gallipoli in 1915 has become a time for all Australians to recognise the more than 1.5 million service men and women who have served our country in conflicts and in peacekeeping operations. Our Head Girl - Charlotte McCullen and Head boy - Hayden Schwinkowski lead the assesmbly and welcomed many special guests. We thank our special guests - Robert Reid and Sebastian Rosati representing Ken Wyatt AM MP; Matthew Hughes MLA, Member for Kalamunda; Dylan O’Connor Deputy Mayor, City of Kalamunda; Geoff Irving, Colin Jobling and Wes Sutton, representatives of the Kalamunda RSL - for joining our commemorative assembly.

This year our assembly focused on two significant anniversaries: the sinking of the HMAS Sydney eighty years ago, and the Royal Australian Air Force’s centenary of service.

Year 11 students Jasmine Dunster and Hannah Whittington provided a short history of the HMAS Sydney, highlighting its connection with the people of Perth, Fremantle, and Geraldton. After taking on the might of the Italian Navy in the Mediterranean, the Sydney returned to home shores where she escorted a troopship to the Sunda Strait. Attacked by the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran off the Western Australian coast, the Sydney was sunk on 19 November 1941. All 645 men on board perished. In commemoration of the 80^th anniversary of this event, the Kalamunda Senior High School Concert Band played a song composed by Peter Hind called ‘The Rest is Silence’. It was very evocative.

Year 12 students Sophia Ferrari and Jacob Klienfield-Fowl reflected on the RAAF’s centenary of service to Australia, including their more recent contributions to bushfire and COVID-19 relief efforts. The students shared the story of Australian Pilot Officer Les Knight, a young RAAF pilot who served alongside 12 other RAAF men in Operation Chastise, the famous ‘Dambusters Raid’ of the Second World War. Awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his efforts as a ‘dambuster’, Officer Knight later lost his life in a raid on the Dortmund-Ems canal in 1943. He was 22 years old.

The assembly was enriched by the musical performances of the Kalamunda Senior High School Choir, Concert Band, and String Ensemble. We also enjoyed listening to Kalamunda RSL president Geof Irvin reflect on his own experiences during the Vietnam War; we look forward to seeing the UH-1H Iriquois helicopter mounted outside the Kalamunda RSL Hall later this year.

On behalf of the Kalamunda SHS community thank you to all those who made a contribution to make the ANZAC Commemorative Assembly a meaningful and important event on our calendar.

Ainsley Cusmano
Humanities and Social Sciences Teacher

Love of Learning Italian: Year 7 Projects

I am very proud of my group of students that dedicated their time, research and skills to produce a 3D or 2D representation of Italian culture. Students were given the task to reflect upon which part of Italian culture interests and inspires them the most. Is it architecture? History? Inventors? Geography? Art? Food? Students were encouraged to think divergently. This involved collaboration, inquiry, curiosity, experimentation, imagination and lateral thinking. I did not want to receive 30 Colosseums! All students displayed enthusiasm and excitement throughout this task. It is a beautiful thing when you see students eager to learn more about another culture and dive into the depths of knowledge creativity. Congratulations to all my students who challenged themselves and created an amazing representation of Italian culture. A special thank you to parents and other family members for assisting their child with the resources, wood cutting, gluing, colour printing, clay moulding and cleaning up the mess! Grazie tantissimo!

1450 Likes! 317 Comments! The Project that became International!

Sienna Busby (Year 7) is to be commended for her extraordinary efforts for her Italian project. From the beginning, Sienna knew that she wanted to portray her family’s Italian heritage. She came to me and told me many stories about her Nonno (Grandfather) and the many traditional, authentic experiences she has shared with him (sauce making, sausage making, gardening, Nonno’s favourite music). It became obvious that Sienna wanted to reignite her Nonno’s story. Sienna united her family together to talk openly about the project and Nonno’s life. He was nine years old at the time and very sad to leave his family, however, he wanted to be with his father who migrated three years earlier. Sienna and her family collated personal and sentimental items that represented her Grandfather’ journey to Australia. In the 1950s it was extremely difficult for Italian migrants to leave their small villages, family members and lifestyle to come to Australia, a land many knew very little about. They did not know the language and there were Italians who arrived in Australia unsure of which direction to take. Many migrants were only allowed to bring one suitcase. Sienna used the original suitcase from her Nonno’s journey in 1955 and packed it identically. Inside were extraordinary black and white photographs of his family, one shirt, a photo album, one pair of shoes, a statue of the Holy Mary and an orange. The story behind the orange is heart-warming. After boarding the ship, Sienna’s Nonno cried as he saw his Uncle waving goodbye from the docks. His Uncle threw him an orange (from his orchard but also considered a treat back then) to stop the tears! All students are encouraged to have a look at the display in the school library.

Sienna and her Mum were very passionate and proud of this project and decided to post pictures of the suitcase to three Facebook’s Italian Group sites (Calabrese Australia; Delianuova leri ed oggi; Nonna’s Calabrese Recipes) and this post made a great impression on many other Italian people, young and old. In addition, Sienna’s project was discovered by a journalist of Allora Newspaper, based in Sydney where she has participated in an interview about learning Italian and the importance of her Italian project.

Congratulations! Complimenti! Grazie anche alla famiglia Busby.

Maria Pennington
Teacher in Charge of Languages

Year 8

Both my Year 8 Indonesian classes had to create Reading Books or a Poster for the local Primary School. They had to select a topic that they were passion about and using their extended language skills. Some topics included sports (olahraga), seasons (musim-musim), clothings (pakaian), grammar (tata-bahasa) etc.

The many cognitive benefits of learning languages are undeniable.  Children  have been made aware that speaking more than one language  improves memory, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, enhanced concentration, ability to multitask, and better listening skills.

The students did an amazing job producing these book as seen below. They will be delivered to the local Primary School in Term 2.

Year 9

Students studying Indonesian in Year 9 completed two topics this term on:

• Visiting a doctor
• Creating a storyboard on bargaining at a market.

When visiting the doctor’s clinic, students had to use the appropriate language when making an appointment, informing their injury / symptoms’ / explaining how the injury occurred and whether any rest and medication is needed.

The students had to use the proper language skills for both the above topics. The bargaining process also involved using quantity and classifiers plus appropriate terms of address for the seller and buyer.

Below are pieces of work from my Year 9 class on the topics.

Ibu Kaler
Indonesian Teacher

Welcome Ibu Foen

Ibu Foen is a volunteer Indonesian language assistant. She was born on the island of Bangka, Indonesia. She has enjoyed a long career as a language teacher and examiner. In addition to playing piano and running a private language class, she enjoys walking and cooking. She is proud of the fact that she speaks 4 languages: English, Indonesian, German (where she lived as a young woman) and Hakka, a dialect of Chinese.  

She misses visiting her relatives in Jakarta and will soon be joined by her engineer husband, Michael, who has been working in Houston, Texas for over 12 months. Foen has a daughter who lives permanently in Los Angles.

Please say "hello" if you see her around.

Pac Gamble
Indonesian Teacher

On Friday 19 March we celebrated National Day Against Bullying (NDAB), alongise Harmony Day. NDAB saw a number of lunchtime events, run by the student leadership team that promoted ways to be post positvie messages on social media, write positive comments for oterhs to see and read around the school. We also had giveaways and the extremely talented band entertained us all.

NDAB aligns with our Act Belong Commit ethos of being community minded and striving to look after each other.

Act Belong Commit have recently launched a new range of TV adverts and a new logo, but still provide the same message about styaing mentlaly and physically active to promote positive mental health and all activities we undertake at the school sit under this framework.

You can visit the website to get ideas on ways to keep yourself mentally healthy. One tip offered on the website is below, and considering the area in which we live it shouldn’t be difficult to achieve this goal!

• A new studyhas revealed that 2 hours a week in nature is the 'dose' you need to increase health and happiness. And it doesn't have to be pristine wilderness. Your local park, the beach, community garden or bush land are all natural environments!

Jenny Edmonds
School Psycologist