As we head to the end of term, we start to farewell our Year 12s.  It has been amazing to see them all grow over their time at Kalamunda and look forward to celebrating with them at Valedictory when all their exams are over.

Year 12 breakfast, Final Assembly and School Ball

On our last day of this term, we will hold a special breakfast for our Year 12s followed by their final school assembly.  Due to the small capacity of our gym, only Year 7, 10 and 11s along with siblings will attend.  In recent years we have allowed parents to attend if they wish however there is limited capacity and unfortunately only those who have booked tickets will be able to be accommodated.  Later that evening the students will enjoy celebrating the end of term at the Year 12 School Ball.  This year it will be held again at the Convention Centre.

As we finish up the term, we will also be farewelling Sharon Andrews who will be taking 9 months LSL.  We wish her all the very best for this time to travel and enjoy some well-earned rest.

Year 12 Valedictory

The final farewell for our Year 12s will be at the Valedictory on 15 November at the Curtin University Stadium.  This is a very special evening, which is open to all parents and family members, where we acknowledge all our students and present them with their certificates and references.  Tickets are available online here;

KPA musical

This year’s musical The Lion King was a spectacular event and I hope that many of our school community were able to experience this outstanding production over 4 sell out performances.  The combination across the board of amazing singing, great acting, superb choreography, excellent casting, creative screen projections, amazing props and fabulous costumes was of such a high quality.  This could not come together without the amazing work of our KPA Coordinators Anna and Michelle, along with a huge team of staff, students and parents who provided various technical and other support.  We are very proud of our KPA program and the high standards the students achieve.  Congratulations to everyone.

Outdoor Adventure Program

Students participating in this program work towards undertaking a series of expeditions.  Recently our Year 8s walked parts of the Bibbulmun and our Year 11 students completed 4 days of the Cape to Cape, covering 136.8km.  A great achievement.

Technologies

Congratulations to our Year 9 Woodwork students for these amazing wooden platters recently on display in our front office.

Thank you also to our Year 12 Children Family and Community students who made gifts for residents of a local aged care facility.

Student Leadership

Many of our students participate in the City of Kalamunda Youth Action Group.  They recently had the opportunity to visit the City Chambers and learn firsthand about local government in a mock council meeting.

Robotics

Recently our robotics students participated in the WA Robotics Playoffs (WARP).  Our two teams (My Chemical Robot and Panic at the Drill Press) made it to the finals, and along with a team from Southern River College who were in their alliance – finished 2^nd overall.  The teams also won Judges Choice award and Creativity award respectively.

The Arts

Recently our Arts have held showcases in Dance and Drama with our Year 12s on stage for the final time.  It is always rewarding to see the growth and development of our students over their time at the school.

Our music students have had a busy term with their camp, competitions, lunchtime concerts and Rock Night this term.  We look forward to our annual Twilight Concert on 15 October where the music of Elton John will be featured.  This event involves all our music students and in particular showcases and acknowledges our Year 12 students.

Our students studying fashion recently experienced a photo shoot in our media facilities.  This is a great way to have authentic experiences in creating and editing images into Vogue worthy quality.

Our Year 12 Media students recently visited SAE to tour the facilities and learn how to make music and film scores on Abelton.

Cross Country Carnival

We were very disappointed to not be able to hold our House Track and Field Carnival this year after rescheduling the event twice due to weather.  Our athletics students will have an opportunity to participate in a cut down event early next term to prepare for the Interschool Carnival to be held at the end of Week 1 in Term 4.

We were able to enjoy a wonderful House Cross Country event however – which morphed into an opportunity for our students to be involved as spectators and our Year 12s to dress up and have some fun in place of the Athletics Carnival day. 

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Our English department have been very busy recently with Book Week, Write and Book in a Day and the Premier’s Reading Challenge.  Thank you to our Library staff for supporting the students in this challenge of reading books.  129 students signed up for the challenge with 470 books logged.

Our winners for the challenge in each year are:

Year 7 - Daniel Coetzee, logging 76 books/items

Year 8 - Lachy Wellington, logging 24 books/items

Year 9 - Emily McDowell, logging 52 books/items

Year 10 - Joy Plaistowe, logging 45 books/items

Building update

Our building project is coming along well and we are looking forward to this next stage being completed into the new year.  The cladding is being added to the visual art block and the main teaching block has nearly finished the roof framework.  Here are a few progress photos.

Wishing everyone all the best for the upcoming holidays.