Principal's Report
I hope that everyone has had a good start to Term 3.
COVID update
Although we are starting to recover from the huge impact covid had on us last term, we are continuing to experience cases in the community. You will be aware of the changes to the close contact exemption period from 12 weeks to 28 days, and the changes to eligibility for a winter booster for many in the community. We thank everyone for their diligence in ensuring that we do everything we can to minimise the spread of covid by following the Health Department guidelines.
Year 10 Course counselling
Year 10 course selections have now closed and a timetable grid is being generated based on these selections. In this way we are able to provide a wide range of course selections that match the choices of the students. In some cases, however, where there are small numbers of students selecting a subject, we may be unable to run a course. In these situations, students will be placed in their reserve courses. Final confirmation of student selection will be made during parent interviews on 16 and 18 August.
Music Concert and Camp
Last term our music students held their concert on 21 June. It was a wonderful way to finish the term, with the acapella group providing a surprise serenade for our front office staff and visitors to the school.
This term the music students attended their music camp in Week 3. We thank all our music staff and IMSS teachers who have been a part of organising these special events for our students.
NAIDOC Week
We finished last term by celebrating NAIDOC week with special year group assemblies, special guests and activities. Thank you to our students and staff for organising the activities this week. In particular, we thank Year 7 Mia Grant-Comeagain for sharing Nyungar language with us in her acknowledgement and also to Year 12 Olivia Kalin for her special artwork.
Olivia’s art work is painted on two canvases connecting two art works as one. The artwork depicts the meeting place of Darlington, with symbols that represent higher land and mountain ranges, as well as housing, gathering spots of bush trails and turning points along with the Helena River passing through the mountain ranges.
Good standing – student rewards
At Kalamunda SHS we encourage all students to maintain their Good Standing. This includes demonstrating respectful behaviour at all times, wearing school uniform with pride and attending school and classes with resilience. Given the disruption with covid to attendance, we have not included this aspect in the Good Standing review for Semester 1 this year.
Students were rewarded with nachos for our Middle School students and burgers for our Senior School students.
Our wonderful canteen staff prepared these rewards for the students which were very popular. We thank our P&C for supporting the canteen and as always welcome parents as volunteers. Any time that you can provide is greatly appreciated. In particular, we are calling for volunteers to assist on the House Track and Field Carnival to be held on 26 August.
St George’s Cathedral Art Exhibition
Congratulations to Isabel Jeffreys for her entry in the St George’s Cathedral Art exhibition. Her piece reflects the present-day Pripyat Amusement Park in Chernobyl.
Kalamunda SHS – art student exhibition
We are very excited to be exhibiting our student’s artwork this year in the Zig Zag Gallery.
Musical Oliver
Each year our KPA students perform a musical – with this year’s offering of Oliver. This will be held on the 2nd and 3rd of September and tickets are on sale already.
Robotics club
Students participating in the KSHS Robotics club spent time during the holidays working on a special project. They are building a robot to participate in the FRC competition coming up shortly. We wish them all the best for this event, and send a huge thank you to Science teacher Amber Bullock who has been supporting the students.
Year 11 - Career preparation sessions
Our Year 11 students have been participating in some special workshops on resume writing and interview techniques, organised by our Career Practitioner Amanda Moreno Diaz.
Languages Week
Week 3 of this term we celebrated Languages week. You can read more about this in this issue. We thank all our language teachers and assistants for their energy and enthusiasm in making language learning fun at Kalamunda SHS.
As well as organising activities for our school, our staff also visited local primary schools to share in the celebration.
Building update
If you have visited the site recently, you will see that the footings and concrete reinforcements are now in place for the Art block and the Teaching block groundwork is nearing completion.
Principal