Well Term 4 is certainly flying by quickly, and our Year 9 to Year 12 students are in the thick of exams.

Year 12 farewells

As became our practice from last year, our Year 12s finish Term 3 with a special breakfast and assembly to celebrate their time with us at Kalamunda and to be acknowledged by staff and students.  The day culminated with their Year 12 ball held at the Pan Pacific.

For those studying ATAR subjects, they have returned this term to complete these exams, which were held at our own school for the first time this year. This has been a wonderful step to be able to accommodate these onsite and I thank our staff for their efforts in making this happen.

We are looking forward to our final farewell at Valedictory.

Year 12 Principal’s Award

Each year I present a Principal’s Award to students who show consistently positive attitude, behaviour and effort in their final year of schooling. Congratulations to recipients - Sophie Catchpole, Chloe Corfe, Sophie Eynaud, Annabella Giorgiante, Kristy Golden, AJ Hiscox, Madison Hume, Hayleigh Kerr, Rebekah Lane, Jewel Pivac, Sidney Rios, Elise Thom, Sylvia Veale and Evie Williams.

Bibbulmun Robotics Showcase

Last term we hosted the Bibbulmun Robotics Showcase for schools in our Bibbulmun network and some of our Year 7 and 8 students participated in this event.  Sponsored by Bendigo Bank, students were set special challenges, prepared especially for the event and revealed on the day. Each challenge represented a STEM superpower of problem solving, collaboration, science, technologies and mathematical skills. Students collected these superpowers as they completed a challenge.  It was fantastic to see students working in collaboration rather than competition.

Kalamunda Day

Each year we set aside a special day to celebrate our school values. A special assembly is held to acknowledge our diversity, with 41 different countries of birth represented and our students sharing important messages about our school values.  Students then spend the afternoon participating in a range of fun activities organised by Learning Areas. 

Twilight Concert

What another fantastic evening of music we had the evening before Kalamunda Day. Moved due to the wet weather, the evening was perfect weather, with the full moon rising up behind the stage. This year our music students performed the first half of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ with over 100 music students performing together in the finale – it was an amazing performance which really carried the audience away as it finished. It is amazing to see such talent with our students and staff alike.

Bibbulmun Challenge

Our Year 8 students have all now completed their traditional Bibbulmun Challenge and we are currently catching up our Year 9s who missed out on this challenge due to COVID last year. Congratulations to all those students and staff who have successfully completed this challenge.

WA CO2 Dragster Competition

We congratulate our students who participated in the state CO2 Dragster completion for the first time this year, with 4 students being placed in the top 6 across two categories-   Zachary Cover (2^nd), Nathan Ward (4^th), Anna-Rose Markin (5^th) in the first category and Drew Canlas (2^nd) in the second. We extend our thank to teacher Brad Collett who supported students in their preparation for this event.

Write a book in a day – exciting news!

You would have read about this writing challenge in the last issue of the News Review, and in further news, one of our Year 9 teams – REDACTED – has won the Best Illustalions for the Middle School Division (Year 7 -9) not only for WA but also nationally.

This team, which consists of - Toby Trent, Claire Martin, Libby Guy, Felicity Smith, Leah Kuckelkorn, Marc Rouillard, Chae Elkington and Ané Greyling - have participated in the competition together since Year 7. They have always been a well-oiled machine of talented artists, writers and team members and we are so very proud of them.

You can read their book online.

My place

Earlier this year some of our students were involved in a workshop organised by the Commissioner for Children and Young People – to determine what children and young people are saying about their living environment.  We are very proud of their involvement and you can see the outcome of their workshop in this link.

I wish our students all the best as they undertake their exams and complete their final studies this term.  I encourage them to do the very best they can so that they can finish this year well.

Helen Deacon
Principal