Issue 4 – June 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

The school is a hive of activity as teachers finalise their exam marking and begin preparing reports. Years 10 to 12 will receive their reports at the end of this term, while Years 7 to 9 will received theirs at the end of Week 1 next term.

Our Year 10s are well underway with their course selection for 2019 and our new process will use these selections to inform our grid construction for next year.

Quiz Night

Our quiz night is fast approaching and we thank all our staff, families and students for getting behind this event. It you haven’t already booked your table – you can book online. We look forward to seeing you there.

Save the date

I recently visited the combined Year 8 KPA class to have a peek at the preparations for our upcoming musical – Alice in Wonderland. I was very impressed with the enthusiasm and quality of the work so far and encourage you to make sure you get along to this event – Sat 28 July and Sun 29 July. Booking details will be out soon!

Cause to be proud of our Kalamunda students

We are very proud of Gifted and Talented Visual Art student Emma Cammack (Year 11) for winning the Youth Award category at the City of Gosnells 2018 Community Art Exhibition and Awards. Emma’s piece entitled ‘Tiger’ was created in fineliner and watercolour pencil on paper. The exhibition categories include Acrylic, Watercolour, Oil, Sculpture, Digital Media Youth Award and Local Artist Award, with each winner receiving $500 and an overall award receiving $5000.

Lead Language School

Kalamunda SHS has recently been selected to become a Lead Language school in recognition of the fantastic work of our language department. Our teachers, Tori Maguire, Kuldeep Kaler, Bozena Sturmer and Maria Pennington provide enriching programs in Italian, Indonesian and Japanese and we look forward to sharing their work with other schools in our community.

Home Economics classrooms

As parents will know, with the recent wet weather, the roof in both our Home Economics Food classrooms have leaked causing some damage to the ceilings. These classrooms are now out of action for the rest of the term while they are being repaired. Classes have been relocated and programs adjusted to accommodate this. I would like to thank all our students and staff for their patience during this disruption to their program and commend them for the positive manning in which they have handled these changes.

SKI Trip

At the end of term, 16 of our students and 3 teachers will set off to the Victorian Snow fields. We wish them all the best for this exciting and enjoyable trip and look forward to hearing of their adventures when they return.

Welcomes and Farewells

We welcome a number of students to our school who have enrolled since our last newsletter. They are Ben Barnett, Ocean Henare-Lynch, Aidan Perejuan, Kahli Roberts and we hope that their time with us is successful and enjoyable.

At the end of term, we will be farewelling two of our teaching staff. Christine Wingate, who has been teaching Science with us since the start of 2013 has won a position at the new Harrisdale SHS and will be moving closer to home. We wish her and her family all the best for this next exciting new chapter in her career.

Stuart Jackson will also be taking up a new position next term at Eastern Hills SHS. Stuart has a long association with our school community, being a former student of the school, and has been teaching in the Worklinks, now Stepping Up program since 2004. Stuart has skills in many areas, being a Chaplain in the local area before moving into the Stepping Up program and more recently into Design and Technology teaching. Stuart’s new position will enable him to extend and utilise these skills and we wish him all the very best for this new adventure.

I wish all our families and students all the very best for a restful holiday and look forward to an exciting Term 3 ahead.

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 2, this is a great time to reflect and reassess how to successfully finish the year.

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 had the opportunity to further develop their work ready skills, enhancing their capacity to move into the world of work in the future.

Upon receipt of Semester 1 reports students will need to apply themselves to the areas requiring improvement, as they work towards the achievement of their WACE. Please heed the advice and warnings; it is not too late for every student to make any change for the better.

Year 12 students need to be especially vigilant in these last weeks to ensure they receive every mark they can. Please be reminded that students 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.

Mr Carl Stott
Acting Head of Senior School

Middle School Report

Semester 1 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. This year we have moved away from end of semester exams for our Middle School and instead had a formal testing week. This is a new innovation this year and as we move forward, students will cover a range of exam skills that have been identified that students need to develop as they move into Senior School. We are looking at building their exam skills ‘toolbox’ in Middle school so when they leave us for Senior School, they are prepared for the job at hand.

As we near the end of the Semester 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 five 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 visiting our local schools and speaking to all Year 6 students about what they can expect next year when they enter high school. Probably the most exciting thing for the Year 6 students was hearing from a former student from their school who accompanied me at these visits. The schools have been very receptive and the students are keen to hear about the school and how we operate. Our Year 7 students were invaluable in providing that ‘real life’ experience that has helped to alleviate a few fears.

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 with their classmates.

In Term 4 we have our Orientation Day (23 November) where we bring all of the incoming Year 6 students into the school for a day. They will meet their mentor teacher for 2019, have a chance to familiarise themselves, ensuring that day one 2019 is a little less stressful.

Middle School Assembly

Congratulations to the students below for receiving a Values award at the last Middle School Assembly.

New research about the online experiences of Australian adolescents

The Office of the eSafety Commissioner has just released two reports that make quite interesting reading.

The first one is a report titled ‘State of Play—Youth, Kids and Digital Dangers’ and it examines how young Australians aged 8 to 17 deal with online challenges, including contact with strangers, negative online experiences and sharing of personal information. The research also compares these experiences with those of adults.

Key findings include:

• One in four young people were contacted by strangers or someone they didn’t know.
• One in five young people were socially excluded online.
• Adults are experiencing similar online challenges to those encountered by young Australians.
• The second one is really interesting if you have a child who is an online gamer (does the term Fortnite ring any bells?). Some of the findings include:
• Online multiplayer gaming is a very popular activity for young Australians, with 6 in 10 young people aged 8-17 having played these games.
• Nearly 1 in 2 young people have played ‘esport’ video game titles.
• An estimated 17% of multiplayer gamers experienced in-game bullying.

Both reports are available at the Office of the eSafety Commissioner website and our school website under publications.

Mr Mark Pettit
Head of Middle School

Year 9 Report

As Term 2 draws to a close I would like to congratulate the Year 9s on their behaviour, effort and commitment this semester.

During Week 7 we held our Year 9 assembly. The Year 9 leadership group are now planning and helping to run the assemblies. On this occasion they spoke to their peers about bringing their ideas together through a suggestion box. The suggestion box will be visiting each mentor class so that all students have an opportunity to share their thoughts. I am looking forward to seeing the ideas.

Each term the mentor class with the most Kala Credits wins the honour of being ‘Top Mentor Class’ for that term. I am delighted to announce that 9.01 were the winners for Term 1. Congratulations on your efforts! The following students were also rewarded for achieving the highest number of Kala Credits in their mentor class. Each student received a canteen voucher.

We have also been tracking the Kala Credits by house. These will be counted at the end of term to determine the winning house for Term 2. The totals as they stand with only a couple of weeks to go are:

I wish you and your family a lovely relaxing break and look forward to welcoming the students back in Term 3.

Miss Karen Stuart
Year 8 Coordinator

Year 8 Report

I can’t believe that we are almost approaching the end of Term 2. It has been a very busy Semester 2 with immunisations, Bibbulmun Challenge, In Real Life, Swimming Carnival and Armed for Life just to mention a few of the programs our Year 8s have been involved in.

Last week the Student Leaders ran their first year assembly in the canteen during extended mentor and they did an amazing job. They took the time to update the Year 8s on the survey they have created to find out the views of the cohort. Every Year 8 had the opportunity to complete the survey to share their view on how the Student Leaders can make the school a better place. They have also created a suggestion box which will be placed within the Library for students to share their ideas with the leadership group on a more regular basis. So if you have a great idea that will help strengthen our school values then please write it down and pop it into the suggestion box.

A very disturbing and inappropriate game has been played amongst a few of the Year 8 boys. This was discussed at the Year 8 assembly. So I would like to take the time to remind students that they are to maintain an appropriate level of personal space at all times and no physical contact will be tolerated.

The assembly was another great opportunity to celebrate the amazing efforts of our students. The top merit point winners from each form for Weeks 1-6 of Term 2 were announced and received a canteen voucher. The winners are as follows:

I would like to take the time to congratulate these students and to remind all students that the way you earn merit points is for demonstrating our school values.

Thank you for a wonderful Semester 1 and I look forward to working with the Year 8s next semester. Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at laura.cheetham@education.wa.edu.au.

Ms Laura Cheetham
Year 8 Coordinator

Student Services Report

Morning Routines

Here are a few tips for a less stressful morning routine.

Lawstuff WA

This is a very useful site for parents and students as it describes the law in Western Australia on a number of topics related to teenagers.

Safe on Social Media

Please have a read of the latest article by Safe on Social Media Pty Ltd who are leaders in Cyber Safety education about ‘FORTNITE’ a game that has gone viral around the world in a few short months.

Mrs Amanda Morton
Manager Student Services

From the VET Office

Semester 1 is over and the first round of work placement for the year has been completed. Congratulations to those students who ventured forth into the workforce. For some this has been an eye opening experience. We were fortunate to be able to place 132 students in a variety of businesses from dog walking to heavy diesel machinery.

We would like to thank the students who performed admirably in the work place and who continue to maintain the excellent reputation of Kalamunda SHS students in the work place. Employers have been heard to comment that students from our school are better workers than most. We appreciate your enthusiasm and efforts to complete the work placement at this time when the weather changes and the temptation is to succumb to illness and the cold.

Log books need to be returned to the VET office.

Please ensure your placement for November (Year 11s) is arranged sooner rather than later.

Mrs Jane Rebeiro
VET Coordinator

Languages Update

Languages for the Future Seminar

This term, Ibu Kaler, Sensei Maguire and Signora Pennington arranged for all Year 10 Languages student to participate in the ‘Languages for The Future Seminar’ hosted by the University of Western Australia. We participated with Christchurch, Canning Vale College, Iona College, St George’s Anglican School and Langford College. It was an inspirational event for all students where they sat and listened to their very first lecture in the Social Sciences Lecture theatre. Dr John Kinder, Professor of European Languages, spoke about the role of languages in the world today. He mentioned that most human beings speak more than two languages. However, Australia is statistically behind. Dr Kinder then gave our students a glimpse into the various opportunities and learning experiences that are available beyond school and in the workplace.

The second part of the lecture involved a panel of UWA students who are currently studying for their degrees in various fields. Ross Godwin was a panel member studying medical science. Ross explained to students that he is aiming to obtain a better understanding of health systems around the world and he chose to attach a second language (Indonesian) where the health system is still developing. Other panel members attached a language to their degrees in Engineering, Bachelor of Arts, Linguistics and International Law. It was an eye opener for our students to recognise the benefits and skills of a foreign language in the workplace.

Interesting information and advice that we learnt from the panel members:

• Become a savvy traveller.
• Engage with local people and professionals.
• A foreign language can be used as an “ice breaker.”
• It is essential to build positive rapports with different people.
• Increase your employability with a foreign language.

After the seminar the Italian students participated in a treasure hunt lead by Italian PhD students and Professor Marinella Caruso. It allowed our students to ask questions, explore the UWA grounds and speak Italian. The Japanese students were very excited to visit the Tatami room, a traditional room in Japanese culture. The Indonesian students all agreed that visiting the new, refurbished, Reid library was a highlight. Students commented that it was amazing. They explored all three levels and looked at the different types of resources for languages.

Did you know?

• UWA is linked to universities all over the world.
• UWA offers four Asian languages, Spanish, Italian, Latin and Ancient Greek.
• There are 193 countries in the world and over 6912 languages spoken.

Become an Internationalized citizen of the world!

Italian Update

Year 7 Italian students have been learning about Leonardo Da Vinci.

This is what we have learnt:

• Leonardo did not care for keeping animals and birds caged. He would buy caged animals just to set them free. And to top it all, he was a strict vegetarian.
• Leonardo dug into graveyards at night to steal corpses and study human anatomy.
• Leonardo while learning painting from his teacher, Andrea del Verrocchio, was asked to draw a painting of an angel. His drawing was so good that Andrea del Verrocchio decided to never paint again.
• Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense – “da Vinci” simply means “of Vinci”. Vinci is a city and commune of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany.
• Interestingly, he wore pink to make his complexion look fresh.
• In 1485, Da Vinci plans for an armoured car!
• Leonardo was the first person to study the flight of birds scientifically.
• Leonardo created the art technique of “sfumato.”

“Learning never exhausts the mind.” Imparare non esaure mai la mente.
(Leonardo Da Vinci)

Mrs Maria Pennington
Teacher in Charge of Languages

Science News

Plucky human biologists

As part of our study of the structure and function of Human Respiratory Systems, students were able to examine a real set of lungs (from a sheep). Supplied by a butcher, the lungs came attached to a windpipe (trachea), with the heart still between the two lung sacs, plus the liver (red-brown).

This full organ set is known as a ‘pluck’. Wearing gloves is a hygiene practice to avoid possible bacterial transfer.

Inflation of the lung spaces is possible using a bicycle pump. Cutting a small section and placing it in a beaker of water produces a floating result: the lung tissue is full of air sacs like a sponge.

After school science tutorial sessions

A reminder that staff assistance is available for students wanting a little extra help with their Science work. Check the Daily Notices for details on room, day, and time.

Mr Lindesay Pound
Science Teacher

Kalamunda Performing Arts

The KPA students are very busy at the moment, preparing for our annual production. This year we are bringing Disney’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to the stage on the 28 and 29 July at the Kalamunda Performing Arts Centre.

We have over 70 students participating in the performance from both KPA general and KPA music. We are all very excited about all the costumes that have been arriving and our classroom is filling up with set pieces and props. Tickets will be released Friday 22 June on the link below. Please be sure to get in quickly for your tickets ($15 each) as we completely sold out for our Junior Showcase.

In Term 3, our Year 9 students will be participating in a Physical Theatre Workshop, facilitated by Black Swan Theatre Company and sponsored by Perth Airport. We are very excited to offer the students this opportunity.

Our Year 10 students will be attending the musical ‘Aladdin’ at the Crown Theatre with the Year 10 Drama students. This is a fantastic opportunity to see a professional production in a wonderful venue. I think it will be a fabulous day.

Then it will be full steam ahead towards our end of year Senior Showcase, so there is a lot to look forward to. I do hope that we will see many of you in July for ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

Ms Anna Head
KPA Coordinator

Year 9 Students Take on Teaching

Academic Excellence Students in Year 9 have been participating in the English ‘Teach for a Day’ program with Mrs Adams. This program seeks to enrich student learning and encourage higher order thinking. Participating students are asked to take concepts they have been exposed to in class and to teach them to their peers in innovative ways. To be successful students have to possess thorough understanding of concepts and be able to effectively communicate this to their peers in an accessible way. Recently, students Charlotte McCullen and Aimee Bowers led the class in a narrative focused activity. Prior to the lesson Charlotte and Aimee met with Mrs Adams to plan and prepare their lesson ensuring strong links to the Year 9 English curriculum. They worked very hard on producing a fun and engaging lesson that would involve the whole class and really thought outside the box on how to make creative writing interesting for everyone. On the day, students were presented the challenge of planning, drafting and publishing a story with full illustrations within the single lesson. After voting on a story line, Charlotte and Aimee organised the class into groups of illustrators, writers and publishers and supported each group in the creation of the story. The students spent the lesson writing and illustrating the story of a child who conjures a genie after mispronouncing a product name at IKEA. The class collaborated very well and considered both visual communication and effective narrative arcs. By the end of the lesson the class had successfully produced a wonderful creative writing piece full of illustrations. Charlotte and Aimee did a fantastic job communicating their ideas and showed their amazing leadership skills on the day. Well done, girls!

Mrs Sarah Adams
English Teacher

Indonesian Update

Year 8 Fashion Show

Pameran mode! (Fashion Show)

This term Year 8 students studying Indonesian completed a unit on Clothing and Colours. They learnt about describing clothing using colours, expressing their likes and dislikes. The students also used adjectives for their clothing. There are some similarities with clothing that the students use in English Language. Some examples are jins/jeans and jas/jaket/jacket. Below are few photos of the Year 8 students showing their modelling skills!

Traditional dress for Indonesian women is usually spectacular and made from songket fabric. Women wear a kain (like a sarung) and a long-sleeved blouse called a kebaya to formal gatherings. It is also common to see women wearing a selendang, similar to a shawl or scarf, which is draped over the shoulders. Women often use intricate and ornate headpieces or wear their hair up to formal events.

Students were taught that even though trends in clothing for Indonesia are similar to those to Australia, Indonesian people are generally conservative. Women, for example, would not freely wear bikinis to the beach or mini-skirts in the streets. I also mentioned that among young people in Indonesian, more casual styles are certainly becoming increasingly popular.

They worked in groups and had to write out what they were going to wear in the parade. The clothing had to be worn in the winter season. The styles varied and were very interesting to hear the students using the Indonesian language learnt in the topic.

Year 9: Cooking up a storm

Bahasa Indonesia: Mari memasak!!!

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; and
• how to order food at restaurants.

Working in groups, the students decided on the food they wanted to cook and write out the recipes in Indonesian. They were responsible for bringing 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, satay chicken, fried rice, fried noodles, kue dadar (Pancakes with coconuts filling) and corn fritters. Few other groups are still doing their cooking.

Bailey and Elizabeth: Receipe - Kue dadar

Ingredients

Pandan Juice
2-3 drizzles of pandan essence
3-4 tablespoons water

Crepe Batter
120g flour
1 egg
300ml coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon pandan juice

Filling
90g Gula Melaka (Malaysian palm sugar)
1 tablespoon sugar
50 ml water
1/2 grated coconut (white part only)
1 tsp corn starch
2-3 drops of pandan essence
Herb.jpg (float right)

Method

1. Combine the pandan leaf and water in an electronic blender and blend for a minute. Wrap the pandan in a cheese cloth or muslin cloth and squeeze to extract the juice or strain through a fine sieve. Set aside.
2. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack in the egg. Slowly stir in the salted coconut milk and 3 tablespoons pandan juice. Set aside.
3. Break up the palm sugar and combine with the sugar, pandan leaf and water in a pot. Cover over a medium flame until sugar dissolves. Strain the syrup and return it to the pot. Add in the grated coconut and corn starch and continue to cook for a few minutes. Dish out into a bowl.
4. Heat up a shallow frying pan over a low flame and grease lightly with oil. Pour 2 tablespoons of the batter in the centre and swirl the pan to coat it form a thin crepe of about 13 cm in diameter.
5. When the crepe is cooked, transfer it onto a chopping board.
6. Place 2 heaped teaspoons of filing on the crepe and roll it up like a spring roll.
7. Serve immediately.

Feedback from Elizabeth and Bailey:

We thought it was a great desert to make for the class because it was a unique dish that is rarely found in Australia. It was really fun making the filling and batter for the crepes as the recipes and ingredients used were unusual to the typical cooking we do here in Australia. The pandan essence had a unique flavour that is rarely displayed in the usual cooking that we do. This new taste added to the experience of making this Indonesian dish and helped broaden our understanding of Indonesian cuisine. The coconut filling, with its gula melaka (Malaysian palm sugar), was a new taste to be added to the pandan crepe; creating a whole new experience both in consumption and preparation.

Other groups made fried rice, sate with rice, corn fritters and fried noodles.

Terima kasih.
Ibu Kaler
Indonesian Teacher

Act Belong Commit

As the school term comes to a close, the stresses and concerns we may face change from being school related to home and community based. However, the Act Belong Commit initiative and strategies are still valid and can help us navigate through times that could become rough.

As we are spending more time in the community, our tip to help us stay positively and mentally healthy is:

• The more we do things in the community for our own mental health, the stronger the community becomes. The stronger the community we live in, the better for our mental health. Act-Belong-Commit actbelongcommit.org.au

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