Issue 4 June 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

It is hard to believe that our term is nearly over already. I hope it has been a successful one for you. This term we have seen many of our students participate in camps, expeditions, breakfasts, excursions and performances. I would like to thank our wonderful staff who organise these activities to enhance the teaching and learning program for our students.

Taking stock academically

In the school cycle, Term 2 is one where we have a number of key assessments. Our Year 7 and 9s completed their NAPLAN testing and we commend them for their efforts in achieving the best they can. Our Year 12s studying general courses participated in their Externally Set Tasks (ESTs) and our Year 8 to 12s also completed their Semester One examinations.

Semester One Academic Reports

Academic reports will be available electronically for the first time this semester (Online on connect and via email). Senior School students will have their reports available by the end of term (30 June), and Middle School students will have their reports available by the end of Week 1 next term (21 July).

Year 10 Counselling

The counselling interviews will begin next term and parents of Year 10 students will receive more detailed information about the process directly. If you have any questions regarding the course counselling, please contact Emma Dunstan (Year 10 Coordinator) or Dave Brady (Associate Principal for Senior School).

Enrolments for 2018

We held our School Open day earlier in the term and hosted a large turn out of prospective parents and students. Just a reminder that all school enrolments for Year 7 2018 need to be completed by 21 July 2017. Please be aware that siblings of current students also need to complete an enrolment form. These can be found on the school website, or alternatively you may contact the front office.

End of term events

We look forward to finishing the term with some exciting events. These include our school production of ‘Annie’, mid-year Music Concert, and Annual Quiz Night. We hope that you have been able to enjoy some or all of these community events.

Uniform

For some time, students, staff and the School Board have been considering an alternative option to the girl’s pants. Feedback has been that they are cold in the winter and do not match current fashion styles with the flared legs. Last year the school met with Lowes, our uniform provider, who provided three different sample items for students to try on. The pants are made of thicker, warmer, stretch material. We had hoped that they would be ready for the winter season, however unfortunately there has been a hold up with the delivery and stocking of the new pants. I am pleased to say, however, that they have now arrived. I would encourage parents and students to ensure that all students are in the correct school uniform by the end of term. I remind parents that track suit pants are not part of the school uniform.

Welcome to our Kalamunda family

We welcome the following students to our school Daymon Eades, Jack Poingdestre and Shaylah Poingdestre and hope that their time with us is successful and enjoyable.

As we end the term, I would like to thank Melissa Ierace, Emma Hayward and Emma Constable for assisting us while staff have been on leave this term and welcome Cheney Armstrong and Andrew Summerton who have taken up classes. We also wish Dee Goldstone and Carl Stott all the best as they each welcome the birth of their first child and Charlotte Westrip who is leaving us to live overseas. We wish her well on her life’s journey and look forward to hearing of her success.

Finally I wish to thank everyone for their support during this term. It has been a term of holding things together while we waited to find out the outcome of the process of selecting a new principal for the school. I am very pleased to announce that I have won the position and will be staying on as principal. I feel deeply honoured and humbled by the opportunity to be able to lead the school into the future. I am very proud to be a part of this wonderful school and look forward to all that lies ahead.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Mrs Helen Deacon
Principal

Senior School Report

June is upon us already, Term 2 is nearly completed and the year is moving along at quite a pace. As senior school students progress into Semester Two, this is a great time to reflect on how to finish the year with success.

It was pleasing to see that the Year 11 and 12 exams ran smoothly. Also I was impressed with the general attitude of all students, who presented punctually and were organised for each of their exams.

For students who participated in work placements over this period, hopefully they had the opportunity to further develop their work ready skills, enhancing their capacity to move into the world of work in the future.

I encourage students to review their Semester One reports where necessary finding areas requiring improvement, as they work towards the achievement of their WACE. Please heed the advice of your teachers to make any change for the better.

Year 12 students need to be especially vigilant in these last weeks to get every mark they can, resulting in the best grades possible. Please be reminded that every student needs a good life balance, making sure health, study and extra curricula activities are given fair time allowance. It is never too late to make minor adjustments to get a better overall result, ensuring all assessments are completed and handed in is a really good place to start.

Mrs Sharon Andrews
Head of Senior School

Year 11 Report

Coming to the end of first semester I have been very proud of the work of the vast majority of students who have committed themselves to their education. It has been great working with so many students who are not only committed to their achievement but the achievement of others.

After the first round of ATAR course exams and work experience I hope students take the opportunity to reflect on their efforts to celebrate their successes and learn from the experience. There is another semester ahead to build stronger results and improve.

We have recently established the school ball and leavers jumper committees to start the planning for 2018. It is important for students to maintain their good standing throughout the year to be eligible to attend the ball. We will be working with students to create action plans towards achieving in all areas in order to have their good standing at the end of the year.

As I mentioned on the parent evening I am looking to hold the ball earlier in the year to celebrate the work achieved by students in Year 11 and get Year 12 off to a great start. I will be sending more information out to parents in Term 3 to outline the process for ticket sales, expectations and details for the night.

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holidays and you have a chance to relax and come back to school refreshed and ready for second semester.

Mr Carl Stott
Year 11 coordinator

Year 10 Report

I am writing this as we have just come to the end of a couple of very busy weeks for the Year 10s. We have had a week of exams and also we have started some subject information sessions in preparation for Year 11 subject selections.

It is really important that your child starts thinking about some career pathway they may want to undertake post school. Whilst they don’t have to have a solid plan (I’m still trying to work out what I want to be when I grow up) - an indication of an ATAR or Non ATAR pathway is a good start. The University and TAFE websites are a great source of information. I have also passed on information about the myfutures website. This is a great tool that the students can log into using their education department email address. Once they have created an account they are able to answer a series of questions which will give them some career ideas.

I have spoken to the year group as a whole due to some levels of unacceptable behaviour. As our students move through the school on their way to adulthood, we expect them to treat each other with respect and use appropriate language. A positive attitude is really important and we ask you to re-iterate these messages at home.

On a more positive note today I went and visited all the Year 10s in class and asked the teacher to nominate their best student of the week. I was so overwhelmed to see all the teachers say that they couldn’t just pick one student because their classes were wonderful.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday and don’t forget to log on and do your child’s Senior School subject selection and make a booking for an interview with a councillor for next term.

Ms Emma Dunstan
Year 10 Coordinator

Middle School Report

Semester One is rapidly drawing to a close and just a reminder that Middle School reports will go out at the end of Week 1 in Term 3. As I write this we are nearing the end of Exam week and thanks to the efforts of all the staff there have been very few disruptions. Middle School exams not only are a really valuable assessment for staff to use but they help get students ready for the procedures and demands of exams in Senior School as they become longer and more difficult. Students have a think about your exam results and look for areas you can plan to improve in the end of year exams.

With winter well and truly here please make sure you are coming to school in full uniform. Please contact Lowes in Cannington for your uniform needs. Hoodies and tracksuit pants are definitely not allowed even with the hood tucked in!

I also want to thank all the staff for their efforts with our Year 7s, 8s and 9s over the first semester. There have been a whole range of excursions, carnivals and activities that have taken place which makes Kalamunda SHS the vibrant and busy campus that it is. Early next term we have Kalamunda Day so our Year 7 cohort will experience that for the first time.

Year 7s

Now that they have had a semester at high school we will be expecting our Year 7 cohort to continue to improve in their application of our 5 Values. They all play a major role in the student journey at Kalamunda SHS so we make no apologies for really pushing these with the students next semester. They only have a semester to go and they will not be the youngest in the school and we will expect them to show the incoming Year 7s what it means to be a Kalamunda SHS student.

Primary Transition

I have been going out to our local schools and speaking to all Year 6 students about what they can expect next year when they enter high school. The schools have been very receptive and the students are keen to hear about the school and how we operate. Next term we will be running Transition Days for our local schools. Year 6 students will come to the school and experience a day in high school. In Term 4 we have our Orientation Day where we bring all of the incoming Year 6 students into the school for a day. They get to meet their mentor teacher for 2018 and have a really good look at the school and have a day that will make day one 2018 a little less stressful.

Award winners

We had an assembly 23 May and I want to congratulate the following award winners. We are acknowledging efforts based on our school values so well done to the following students.

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

Mr Mark Pettit
Head of Middle School

Year 9 Report

Congratulations Year 9s for completing a great semester of learning. It is a great time for you to reflect on the effort you have put into your learning– academically and behaviourally. What new skills or knowledge have you gained and what you may need to continue working on? Some reflections may be more positive than others – stay positive, keep trying and never give up.

Year 9 Leadership Award Recipients

We would like to recognise and encourage the leadership qualities of our Year 9s – The leaders of our Middle School.

Our school community nominates Year 9 Students who are demonstrating the characteristics, initiative and behaviour of great leaders and role models in our Year 9 cohort.

At each Middle School Assembly, nominations will be reviewed and worthy recipients will be acknowledged, with a particular focus on the School Values of Respect, Pride, Resilience, Community and Learning. In recognition of these admirable attributes, each student will be awarded with a Year 9 Leadership Award Pin and Certificate.

Armed For Life

Adam and Kaya came to speak to our Year 9 students in separate gender groups on Friday in Week 7. They had some great messages to share about what it means to have ‘True Inner Beauty’ rather than the superficial exterior appearances the media portray. Kaya encouraged students to change their perception of beauty and learn to accept themselves and understand that their value is not based on what they look like. Adam encouraged students to concentrate on developing inner beauty through these five suggestions:

The capacity to:

1. Recognise personal issues and deal with them.
2. Care about others – be selfless.
3. Respect others – don’t put others down to make yourself feel better.
4. Show self-control.
5. Lean on your reasoning and conscience – when in a non-emotional state.

Sijka’s Squad – Term 2

Year 9 Students who have been demonstrating school values in an outstanding way were nominated by their Mentor Teacher. These students were rewarded with a morning tea with me – delicious chocolate croissants and a warm drink. I have listed these students below – fantastic effort guys and keep up the great work.

Year 9 Assembly

Our Year 9 Councillors and House Captains are now running our Year 9 Assemblies. Year 9 Students will continue to be rewarded for their positive efforts with Kala Credits from their teachers. This may be for good behaviour, effort, correct uniform, attendance, or other positive contributions their schooling. The students were drawn and rewarded for their great efforts in our Kala Credit Raffle last term are listed below. Awesome effort!

House Points

Kala Credit Raffle

Each Kala Credit represents 1 House Point, which will be collated at the end of each term – the House earning the most points receives a pizza lunch reward.

KSHS Good Standing

Please check your child’s Student Planner for information about maintaining Student Good Standing to ensure that your child will be included in the reward at the end of this term. I would encourage a particular focus on wearing appropriate school uniform this term – no hoodies please.

Thank you for your support and please don’t hesitate to contact me, your child’s Mentor Teacher or Learning Area Teacher if you have any questions.

Mrs Nicole Sijka
Year 9 Coordinator

Year 8 Report

Term 2 has been busy with the Year 8s preparing for their first exams. I would like to congratulate the Year 8s on their behaviour, effort and commitment to the exams.

During week six we held our rewards assembly. The following students were rewarded for their effort in class, behaviour and standard of work they have been able to produce.

I would like to congratulate all of the winners and encourage everyone to continue to strive for your best.

The Middle School Rewards Day will be held Thursday 29 June where those students who have Good Standing will be eligible to attend a movie day followed by a pizza lunch.

Please do not hesitate to contact me via email Teagen.Smith@education.wa.edu.au if you have any questions or concerns.

Ms Teagen Smith
Year 8 Coordinator

Student Services Report

Good Standing Policy

We have reviewed and updated our Middle School and Senior School Good Standing Policy and I have attached a link for you to look at the relevant documents.

I have just finished a Good Standing review and letters have been sent out to parents if your child has lost their Good Standing.

Often I get parents questioning about what Good Standing means and what categories their child can lose Good Standing. I encourage you to refer to the school website for all our school policies.

Middle School Student Leadership day

On the 26 May the leadership group of Year 9 as well as other leaders throughout Middle School had the opportunity to take part in the annual leadership day for Kalamunda Senior High School. This day-long event was an extremely effective way for the leaders of the older years to bond with the younger years. The day began with Ms Smith conducting an icebreaker activity where we were introduced to other leaders of the middle school through entertaining games. On the arrival of Fish (interestingly nicknamed in kindergarten because of his last name-Gill) we conducted an activity based on good and bad leadership with the help of four chairs. Aside from this we used an orange table cloth to showcase scenarios where leadership is demonstrated. After we truly discovered the potential of leadership all the years came together to brainstorm ideas on the goals that we hope to achieve throughout the year. Some of our main goals include: having a growing sense of respect throughout the school where no one feels alone and everyone is empowered to make our school better than it was yesterday. Aside from the social aspect of our school we as Middle School leaders want a clean working environment. We plan to achieve these goals by having lunch time clubs where students of different backgrounds can socialise and mingle, creating opportunities for students that don’t recognise themselves as leaders to have an impact in the overall atmosphere of the school as well as introducing recycling bins and promoting a cleaner environment.

The day ended with a delicious pizza lunch and a farewell from Fish. This year’s Leadership Day was incredible and got all leaders from Middle School to view leadership under a different spotlight. On behalf of middle school we would like to thank Mrs Morton as well as other staff involved for giving us this opportunity.

Chamoda (Middle School Leader)

We were introduced to the amazing Fish (Mr Gill) he facilitated group discussions on what we wanted to achieve as a Middle School Student Council. This was something out of the ordinary because it’s something we’ve never done before. It gave us a clear picture of what we need to achieve and how to do it to our maximum potential. We got to learn more about our fellow councillor and the lovely Year 7s as well. Thank you Mrs Morton for organising this and the amazing pizza lunch.

Drew, Lachlan, Kelsey (Year 8 Councillors)

Safe on Social Media Pty Ltd App reviews for May 2017

I have included this article for parents to check which Apps their children are using and to start the conversation on being safe on social media.

As I receive updated information I will include these in future articles.

A great website to look at is:

Popular VPN Apps

• Astrill VPN Client
• Free VPN -Hotspot Shield Basic
• Free VPN Proxy by HexaTech
• My Expat Network VPN Pro
• Private Browser - Secure Proxy by Free VPN .org™
• PureVPN - Complete Online Privacy & Protection
• Robo VPN FreeVPN PROXY NonStop security & privacy
• Touch VPN Proxy for WiFi Security & Privacy
• Wangle VPN for Mobile

All of these VPN apps are identified by Safe on Social Media as being unsafe for children to use. VPN apps are used to access information through a proxy server and bypass firewalls or parental controls. If your child has a VPN installed, we highly suggest removing it from the device.

Mobile Zone

Install the Mobile Zone App on your child’s iOS and Android smart devices to extend the Family Zone outside of home. The app includes a simple interface for your kids to interact with the Family Zone plus it embeds technology to allow you to remotely manage the device and impose internet filters. Supports iOS versions (iOS 8 or later) and Android versions (4.0.3 and up).

The Mobile Zone App is designed for your kid’s devices. It is not for parents and does not have parental features. To manage your family's settings you need to access the Family Zone Web Portal.

Rating: Recommended

SQA My Study Plan

SQA’s My Study Plan is an app that will automatically create your own personalised study plan based on your exam times, their importance and when you want to study. It allows users to added subjects and exam dates, set priorities and set study times. The app is ideal for learners of all ages from school pupils and college students to adult learners.

Features: Educational Information
Rating: Recommended

2048

2048 is a math-based puzzle game. It encourages math skills, but is also accessible to younger players, who just have to match like numbers. The game also promotes strategic planning to maximize playtime before you're out of moves. Parents should be aware that the app includes to links social media and the App Store. There are several 2048 clones flooding the app stores now, so parents should be aware that developers of some of these may not make them as family friendly as the one we tested.

Features: Gaming, Educational Information
Risks: Screen Time
Rating: Recommended

Pokémon: Magikarp Jump

Pokemon Magikarp jump is a game about the weakest Pokemon Magikarp. To win the game you have to train your Majikarp to jump the highest and win the jumping league. There are in-app purchases, however they are not needed to complete the game.

Features: Gaming
Risks: Screen Time, In-app Purchases
Rating: Recommended

Fidget Spinner

Fidget Spinner is a very simple game with pretty concrete goals: Swipe your screen to spin, spin to earn coins, spend coins to upgrade your spinner or change it cosmetically. It is full of ads, in-app purchases and heavily pushes information sharing.

Features: Gaming
Risks: Screen Time, In-app Purchases, Personal Information Sharing, Digital Footprint
Rating: Be careful up to 8 years

WeChat

China's most popular messaging apps, WeChat allows users to send text messages, photos, videos, audio messages and make phone calls to and from contacts in your address book. Group chats between friends are also commonplace. The risks associated with this app are similar to those in the messenger category. The app also contains a 'People Nearby' geolocation feature to talk to users in close proximity. The sharing of inappropriate content or conversations is at the discretion of the user, so some teens will use this app for innocently chatting with friends, while others may use this app for the purpose of sexting or cyber bullying. With ongoing supervision and use of the app in central family locations (ie. not in bedrooms), this app may be used by teens.

Features: Video & Photo Sharing; Private Messaging, Geolocation
Risks: Bullying, Offensive Language, Screen Time, Digital footprint, Sexual Content, Sexual Predators, Location Tracking, Personal Information Sharing
Rating: Unsafe up to 16 years

Wish - Shopping Made Fun

Wish is a shopping app with a large selections of products from world wide outlets. Upon joining this app they give a free gift worth up to $30 and users just pay for shipping. Like all shopping apps they require either credit cards or a PayPal account to make purchases. The app doesn't have any parental controls or controls on adult merchandise. There is no need for children under the age of 16 to be using this app unsupervised.

Risks: Personal Information Sharing, Adult Content, In-app Purchases
Rating: Unsafe to up 16 years

School Bus Services

There have been a number of complaints about student’s behaviour on the buses and I want to remind students of their responsibilities and the School Bus services code of conduct for students.

All students should be catching the school buses from school and not at the depot in Kalamunda.

Students visiting Dome are reminded that they need to respect the employees and the facilities of Dome. There have been a number of incidents where students have not acted appropriately and have created grief for the Dome staff. Dome are happy to have you as customers as long as you show respect and consideration. If we are unable to do this we may find that students in Kalamunda SHS uniforms may not be welcomed by Dome and it’s employers.

It is a shame that the behaviour of a small member of students reflects negatively on our school. We encourage all students to take pride in their school and behave appropriately in the community.

Mrs Amanda Morton
Student Services Manager

Interschool Cross Country

The Interschool Cross Country competition was held on Friday, 19 May 2017 at McGillivray Oval, Mount Claremont. It was fantastic to see the school values of community and pride being demonstrated throughout the day with students from all years encouraging each other to complete the challenging course. Well done to all participants who ran their best and proudly represented Kalamunda SHS. Congratulations to Darcy Jones who finished 21st out of 190 competitors in his age group and Emerson Jones who finished 33rd out of 143 competitors in his age group.

Year 10 STEAM

Our Year 10 students have been working very hard in Science Technology Engineering Art and Maths (STEAM) class this semester. They have done some great work! Here are some pictures of them constructing the mazes for their MBOTs.

Dr Jocasta Collier
Teacher Business Ed Computing

Italian Update

Did you know….Lo sapete

• Italian is the language of classical music.
• Anyone who has studied or played music will be familiar with terms like crescendo, forte, soprano, alto, and a tempo. What they might not know is that those are all Italian words! This is because Italian is used universally as the language of classical music. Musical notation became commonplace during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and as many of the most important composers of that time were Italian, the Italian language became the standard for musicians around the globe.

• Italian is spoken by over 85 million people worldwide.
• Italian is the first language of some 65 million people, and the second language of a further 15 million people. In addition to being the national language of Italy, Italian is one of the national languages of Switzerland, with which it shares its northern border, as well as San Marino and Vatican City. It is also the second most spoken language in Argentina, where it is estimated that over half the population is of Italian descent, making Italians the largest ethnic group in the country.
• Italian is the official language of Italy and one of the four official languages in Switzerland. You’ll find Italian speakers in Malta, Vatican State, San Marino, Croatia, Slovenia and France (especially in Corsica).
• Italian is also the second most spoken language in Argentina. It has however seen a decline in the African countries of Eritrea and Libya, which used to be Italian colonies.
• In Italy every village has its own little festival, often related to the typical food of the region, but the most well known are, probably the Truffles Festival of Alba and the Chocolate Festival of Turin (where Nutella was born) and Perugia (where Baci Perugina were invented).

Mrs Maria Pennington
Italian Teacher

Balliamo la Tarantella! Lets dance the Tarantella!

On the 31 May 2017 Signora Pennington’s Year 8 Italian students had participated in a couple of traditional Italian dances. Historically these dances have lasted for 3 days to 8 days. The dances of Southern Italy were believed to be performed to cure either a tarantula bite or to make a woman of any age be jolly once again.

The Perth International Dance Company came to teach us the traditional Italian dancing in the Agricultural Hall at the Performing arts centre. It was a lively and enjoyable experience for everyone! It was also great to see the smiles and hear the laughter of the class trying to master the tricky steps!

One of the dances were called the ‘Tarantella’ which involved two people (preferably a male and a female) which would let the man lead the female in different types of dance moves, and the male (generally) would hold a tambourine.

These dances were performed at parties and festivals and the whole village would get involved and would dance all night.

And the end of the dance we got to try an Italian dessert known as cannoli. It is a sort of pastry with custard inserted inside of it with icing sugar sprinkled over the top. Cannoli are very popular in Italy particularly during Christmas time and special occasions. Most students had never tried a cannoli! There are also other sorts of cannoli that can have choc chips or berries inserted with the custard.

All of the Year 8s had a lot of fun and we all wish we could do it again!

Written by Chloe Corfe, Kourtney Cummings, Hannah Cook and Fynn Doepel

Italian Incursion

On 2 June, which also happens to be ‘Festa Della Repubblica’ (the Italian Republic day), Eros Scagnetti visited the Year 9 Italian class. Eros, who is currently doing his honours in Italian at ECU, spoke to us about the values of learning a second language and why we should elect Italian in Year 10. Eros had migrated to Australia at the age of six and quickly adapted to the new language and culture, as small children do. Being bi-lingual helps you to be culturally aware, it also develops skills that will assist you in the future and offers amazing jobs and opportunities that would not be given to you otherwise. As the majority of the 7 billion people in the world are bi-lingual it is important that we also have knowledge of a second language. This will enable easier communication with other language groups.

We asked Eros many questions about himself and Italian culture and found out many interesting things. He spoke about Italian festivals and ways of life and also mentioned his love for Italy’s favourite sport, soccer.

Eros was an interesting speaker, with impressive achievements. He speaks four languages, scored 99% in his Year 12 ATAR, and earned a scholarship to study law (He did confess that he failed Maths by 5%). He is a black belt in karate too.

Eros was an inspiring and motivating speaker and we thank him for coming.

Written by Aari Jooste-Occhiuto

Bahasa Indonesian

Year 9: Cooking up a storm!

My lovely Year 9 students decided to make some Indonesian dishes, as we have been studying types of Indonesian food. The learning outcomes included:

• eating out in Indonesia
• Indonesian food
• describing Indonesian food
• how to order food at a restaurants

Working in groups, the students decided on the food they wanted to cook and write out the recipes in Indonesian. They were responsible to bring in the ingredients. The dishes were made in class and shared with all the students.

It was great to see the group working together and sharing their dishes. Some of the dishes included satay chicken curry, mass am curry, fried rice, fried noodles and coconut rice.

Terima kasih.

Ibu Kaler
Indonesian Teacher

Below are some comments from the students:

When Milan and I were cooking things went really well, the food cooked really quickly and we had no issues doing so. Our cooking was really good; it cooked quick and tasted good. - Milan and Ruby

I think all of the food that the students cooked tasted very nice. However, I believe that our groups cooking was the best as we had almost everybody complaining that it was too spicy due to the type of hot sauce we used. Whilst the group was cooking, we all had a great time tasting the flavours as we combined all our food. It was Lezat! - Matt and Josh

Cooking Indonesian food in class was a great experience to learn about the culture. Our group enjoyed cooking and everyone liked the food. It was a fun and relaxing time in class, as well as educating. - Phornchita

When cooking Indonesian food, we put in a lot of hot sauce so we can understand how hot the food is over in Indonesia. We cooked it very well and the whole class enjoyed it. - Harmen, Ryan and Jaike

Bahasa Indonesia: Angklung

My Year 7 Indonesian classes had the opportunity to play the Angklung musical instrument when Gilang Fauz from Murdoch University visited us for an incursion. This was a wonderful experience for the students to play and interact with Gilang.

The Angklung is a musical instrument made of two bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo from. The tubes are curved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves. The frame is held in one hand, whilst the other hand shakes the instrument. This causes a repeating note to sound.

Each of the performers in an Angklung ensemble play just one note or more, but altogether complete melodies are produced. This instrument is popular throughout South-East Asia, but is originated in today’s Indonesia and has been played by the Sudanese for many centuries.

In the workshop students will not only learn about the history of the Angklung but also have an opportunity to play the instruments together to form a melody.

Below are few photos of the students playing the Angklung in the ampitheatre.

Salam.
Ibu Kaler
Indonesian Teacher

Numeracy News

Do you ever have difficulty recalling your times tables? Would you like to be able to multiply numbers without needing to reach for a calculator? If so, here are some multiplication strategies (tricks) that you can use to multiply numbers up to 12.

X 2 – double
X 3 – double and add one more lot
X 4 – double and double again
X 5 – multiply by 10 and halve it
X 6 – multiply by 5 and add one more lot
X 7 – multiply by 5 and two more lots
X 8 – double, double, double
X 9 – multiply by 10 and take one lot away
X 10 – move one column bigger
X 11 – multiply by 10 and add one more lot
X 12 – multiply by 10 and add two more lots

Of course …. if you can multiply by digits up to 12, you can partition any size of number and use the above strategies!

Mrs Alanna Webb
Mathematics Teacher

Act, Belong, Commit

Kalamunda SHS have been an Act Belong Commit school for 6 years now. The mental health message of Act-Belong-Commit encourages children and young people to deliberately do things to look after their mental wellbeing. Keeping mentally and physically active, having good friends and helping others or learning new things not only builds self-esteem and confidence, it also can reduce stress and help with academic outcomes.

Some ways we can look after our mental health through this message are:

Act – walk, swim, read, do a crossword puzzle…
Belong – join a group, chat to a neighbour, meet a friend…
Commit – take a challenge, get involved, volunteer…

Mrs Jenny Edmonds
School Psychologist

CAHDS