It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of term. We have certainly fit a lot into the second half of this term and I hope that everyone has a successful last few weeks followed by a relaxing holiday.

National Day of Mourning

As you would all be aware there has been a public holiday announced as a national day of mourning for the late Queen Elizabeth II on 22 September marked as a National Day of Mourning. 

It has been a sad and sobering time as we reflect on her career and service to the public over her 70-year reign. It is a poignant thought that throughout our schools and for the majority of people, Queen Elizabeth is the only Monarch we have known.  May she rest in peace.

COVID update

You would be aware that there has been a recent change to the quarantine period from 7 days to 5 days from 9 Sept. Close contacts with no symptoms can continue to attend school and do not have to isolate for the 5 days if they undertake a daily RAT test and wear a mask outside the home. The school has plenty of RATs should families require these. Please call the school if you need these.

Transperth service changes

The school has received information about the opening of the Airport line on 10 October. This will coincide with changes to the Transperth bus network in Perth’s eastern suburbs. These changes may impact on how your children travel to school and you are encouraged to visit the Transperth website ahead of Term 4 to ensure you are familiar with any impact of these changes. Attached is a summary of the changes that Transperth have identified may affect our school.  If there are any concerns about these changes, I encourage you to contact Transperth, either through the website or the call centre 13 62 13.

The Year 11 grid has been completed for 2023 and students have been placed into classes. Following a review of Semester 2 grades and the Year 11 Transition program at the end of Term 4 there may be further adjustments to courses.

Course selections are currently underway for next year’s Year 9 and 10s. These are due by 19 September.

Changes to NAPLAN and OLNA testing dates

From 2023 NAPLAN testing will be conducted in Term 1 rather than Term 2 and the testing period will be from 15 March to 27 March.

Parents of Year 9 students will have recently received an email from the Executive Director of the Schools Curriculum and Standards Authority. This letter is concerning changes in the scheduling for the Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA). With the changes to the NAPLAN schedule beginning in 2023, there is a need to still provide sufficient opportunity for students to meet this standard by the end of Year 12. As such, we will be offering an opportunity to sit OLNA for our current Year 9s in Term 4 this year. The testing window for OLNA will be in Weeks 3-4 Term 4 and details will be provided to parents next term.

Camps and concerts

It has been wonderful for our staff and students to be able to hold our various camps and concerts again. Recently we had our Music and KPA camps, KalaRock Night, Dance show, and in Week 10 our GAT students will be on camp.  I want to thank all our staff and parents who support the students in these activities – it has certainly been difficult for these events in the first half of the year with covid. You can read about these events later in this issue.

Final celebrations for our Year 12s

Soon we will be farewelling our Year 12s on 23 Sept with the final breakfast, assembly and Year 12 ball. Parents are welcome to attend the assembly which will begin at 9am in the school gym.

The final event will be the Year 12 Valedictory at the Curtin Stadium on Friday 18 November.

House Track and Field Carnival

Thank you to our Health and PE staff for all their organisation of this athletics carnival. It was beautiful weather and we saw great participation from the students who attended the day. In addition to the track and field events, were the novelty games and activities which are always fun. Thank you also to our P&C for hosting the BBQ and all those parents who came as spectators.

ART awards - Luminary

Congratulations to all our students who were selected for this exhibition and to the staff for their teaching and support. We want to particularly thank our sponsors for this exhibition for donating prizes White Room Framing, Fair and Co and Art Basics.

Congratulations to the prize winners:

• Year 11 - Shiri Atizili 'Three of Cups' White Room Prize
• Year 7 GAT - Silas Kempt 'Banksia Woodlands' White Room Prize
• Year 9 GAT - Charlotte Hulcup, 'Taylor' Purple Ticket Prize

People’s choice was won by Lara Savage (Year 9) for her artwork Light and Shadow.

Musical Oliver

What an amazing production of Oliver we experienced this year – congratulations to all our staff and students on such polished performances. I was really blown away by the quality of the chorus work, the soloists and choreography which was so effective. It was completely evident that all of the students were thoroughly enjoying being a part of the cast. Such success would not be possible without the vision, determination, sheer hard work and leadership of Anna Head as Producer and Michelle Vivian as Director. Thanks also go to Grace Oorschot (acting coach) and Rosie Fitoussi (vocal coach) and Claire Eden (art assistance).

I encourage you to read this review by Jarrod Buttery.

Robotics club

Congratulations to our robotics club students who recently competed in the WARP (WA Robotics Playoffs). This is the WA-only competition of the FIRST Robotics Competition. (FIRST – stands for - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). At the end of the event they were placed third overall – which is a huge achievement – considering some of the teams were university age students and our group were Years 8 to10. To top it off they won the Spirit of the Event Award.

Bibbulmun Network – Robotics Showcase

Friday 19 August our school again hosted the Robotics Showcase for the Bibbulmun Network of schools. This year’s theme was Myths and Legends and students from local primary and secondary schools worked together in teams to tackle a range of challenges. Congratulations to all the students involved and a special thank you to Bendigo Bank for sponsoring the event and to Nathan Bushby from Walliston PS as coordinator and to Amber Bullock and Ian McMullen for helping run the event. Thank you also to Aundraea Stevens and our Year 12 Drama students who provided characters in theme for the day. 

Write a Book in a Day

Congratulations to our 4 teams who participated in this year’s event. This involved planning, writing, illustrating and e-publishing a book in just 12 hours. There was a record number of students participating this year and the quality of work produced was very high. Thank you to all our staff involved in supporting the students to achieve this goal, Orietta Stokes, Claire Eden, Nicolee McNally, Sarah Adams, Karen Stuart and Grace Oorschot.

Alien Feelings - Kalamunda 4 Redacted.pdf

Alien Feelings - Kalamunda 4 Redacted _pdf 3.73 MB

Teen Triple P Seminar – for parents

Kalamunda SHS is hosting a Teen Triple P Seminar (Raising Responsible Teenagers) session on Thursday 20 October from 6 to 8 pm in the school staffroom. Bookings can be made online.

Career education

Thank you to Allison Gillett and our Career and Enterprise teachers Jacob Pettit and Reece Young for recently coordinating and organising mock interviews for the students. This is a wonderful way to gain experience to help in future job applications. Thank you also to our Career Practitioner, Amanda Moreno Diaz for organising the recent Industry panel session for our Year 11 and 12s during the meeting period on Friday morning. The information and advice on different careers, what employers are looking for and hints and tips on applications was very valuable for all those who attended.

Staff changes this term

This term we have had a few new staff join our school  We welcomed back to the Humanities Department Lea Richards and Melinda Davies from leave and welcomed Steve Stead (Humanities), Enda McFerran (Health and PE), Rachel Walker (Year 7 team – English/Humanities), Hayley White (Science), Teagan Smith (Home Ec), Petrina Harley (Humanities) and Nicole Rumsey (Home Ec).

Building update

Our building is continuing along well with the pillars nearly completed for the Visual Arts block and the Teaching block is groundwork is nearing completion ready for the footings.