Issue 3 - May 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

This term we have entered a new phase in our school COVID19 journey, with a “soft start” opening. As schools return to compulsory education, we have seen our attendance return to almost normal, with 88% of our students attending at the start of Week 4 and a small number of students with medical exemptions continuing to learn from home.

We continue to follow the guidelines and recommendations for schools set out by the various health authorities and will continue to adjust and adapt these as the year continues and advice changes.

Our current measures in place include (but are not limited to) regular COVID19 cleaning of high touch surfaces throughout the day; provision of hand sanitiser and disinfectant in every classroom; soap and hand washing facilities; modified activities; cancellation of assemblies, camps, interschool sports, performances and events; staggered breaks and student locations; modifications of the drink fountains for single use and water bottle filling; limitations on visitors to the school site; postponement of work placements and work experience; and social distancing measures for staff.

We hope that all our families are travelling well at this time as we continue to partner in supporting your child’s education, learning and wellbeing.

As our community begins to emerge from isolation over these next few weeks and months, we will keep you updated as our activities return.

School Board

We thank all those who nominated for the two parent positions on the board. I am very pleased to announce the outcome of the voting and welcome our new School Board parent members, Joanne Betti and Emma Harris who will shortly begin their time in this important role for our school. We are looking forward to being able to hold our meetings again within the new restrictions.

Semester 1 reports

We will still be producing a Semester 1 report for our students, however with the disruption that this semester has brought to assessments, there will be difficulty in determining grades at this time. As such Years 7 to 10 reports will include comments and an assessment against Attitude, Behaviour and Effort only. Year 11 and 12 reports will include a grade, however this will be an interim grade only and will be finalised at the end year.
All reports from Years 7 to 12 will be distributed at the end of Week 1 in Term 3.

Semester 1 exams

Our senior school exams this semester will only involve Year 11 and 12 students, and not Year 10s. Exams will be used formatively to help students and staff identify areas of strength and areas which need more revision. These exams have been pushed out by a week and specific details have been communicated directly to respective parents and students.

Year 12 parent information meeting

We will be holding a special online meeting for our Year 12 parents on 28 May via Webex to provide tailored information for our families in navigating this year. Information has been sent directly to families and bookings can be made here

Gifted and Talented - Pandemic Portrait Prize

Our very own Gifted and Talented Visual Arts students are participating in this competition to create a portrait. Given the creativity that has come out of isolation at this time, we are looking forward to seeing some of the works produced at home. I want to thank our Coordinators Zoe Wittber and Emma Goodin and art tutor Gordon Mitchell for all their creativity in producing this online learning for our students.

Visitors to the site

Just a reminder to our parents that at this time we continue to have limitations on adults entering our school site. We value your partnership with us in educating our students and are still available to meet with parents. Please ring to make appointments if you would like to meet in person on site so that we can make the necessary arrangements and accommodate these visits.

Welcome to our new staff and students

We welcome the following staff members to our school; Rebecca Prentis (English), Blair Riseborourgh (Maths), Jess Baradziej (Home Ec), Jess Cicchini (PE), Claire Connor (Hass) and students; Taneka Clarke, Kaitlyn Greenham, Hamish Hogg-Schoone, Ava Holmes-Kirby, Mya Holmes-Kirby, Safin Nanne and Drazik Oosterom. We hope that they feel welcomed into our school community.

Finally, I want to thank our parents and school community for their continued to support through this unusual year. The kindness and community spirit has been inspiring through this difficult time.

Stay healthy and safe and go well.

Helen Deacon
Principal

Senior School Report

The Senior School students are settling back into Term 2 after a disruptive end to last term with their focus on learning. The Class of 2020 are having to confront the reality that school for them will be ending in a little over a term. Not a lot of time to make the necessary changes to achieve the results they aspire too. The leavers jackets arrived and have promptly become a feature of the Year 12 school uniform, identifying them in their final year. Whilst this has been a more stressful time than previously for our senior school students, it is important to recognise the benefits of a balanced approach to study, physical activity, social life and sleep.

All Year 12 students are required to complete the online collection of student declaration and permission details for the Authority. The Authority’s purpose is to ensure all Year 12 students are aware of the requirements to achieve the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) and for sitting the WACE examinations. Additional information can be found in the Year 12 Information Handbook which is available on the Authority website.

For the Year 11 and 12 students sitting exams, it is imperative to remember that being prepared for your exams, having everything you need available and remaining focused will certainly help support the achievement of better results. I would also like to remind all Year 11 and 12 students that Semester 1 is fast drawing to an end. Attendance and completion of assessments will also help to ensure good results. It is vital for all Senior School students to ensure that every piece of work is handed in on time and each one of you is putting in the required effort and study time required to succeed.

The Year 10 cohort will soon be making important decisions about next year. This is a significant time for Year 10s building information towards making choices for Year 11. Parents there will be information coming out later in the term discussing the WACE, pathways and the course counselling process.

Can I also remind all Year 11 and 12 students along with parents, that Connect is a vital part of the school communication and a lot of information is available on Connect so please make you time to check any updates or reminders? Please contact me if you have any concerns on 92936400.

Sharon Andrews
Head of Senior School

Middle School Report

Well as we move toward “the new normal” and we come out of our “social isolation” and into “phase 2” of our “roadmap to recovery”, I wanted to start my article off with as many new terms as possible. Now that I have done that the only pressing piece of information that I thought I might pass on is a useful web page.

The Office of eSafety is a federal government resource that provides some excellent information for not only parents but also teenagers, kids and grandparents.

You can navigate your way around a whole lot of resources, webinars and activities that may assist you if you are worried about the amount of screen time or quality of screen time that is occurring for any member of your household.

Mobile Phones

As students return to school, they will need to remember the Education Department’s policy on mobile phones, earphones and smart watches. We understand that whilst they have been away from school they have become really important communication tools but now we are back at school, the policy still applies.

Dress Code

With the onset of the cooler mornings we are starting to see the emergence of the “hoodie” on a more frequent level. Just a reminder that these are not part of the dress code for our school. If students wish to they can wear a plain navy blue or white long sleeve top under their shirt to help keep them warm and plain blue pants are also acceptable. Girls can wear plain blue leggings under their shorts if they choose to do so.

Year Coordinators

Just a reminder that we are really lucky to have three amazing Year Coordinators on hand to help support our students as they navigate Middle School. Alana Stanbrook in Year 7, Lea Richards in Year 8 and Ashley Meaden in Year 9. They are amazing supports for not only students but also parents and they are here to help. If you have any questions, concerns or you just want to check on something they are a great source of information.

Alana Stanbrook - Alana.Stanbrook@education.wa.edu.au
Lea Richards – Lea.Richards@education.wa.edu.au
Ashley Meaden – Ashley.Meaden@education.wa.edu.au

I would also like to say a huge thank you to all of the families that I have been in touch with over the past couple of months. I know the statement “we are all in this together” has been thrown about quite a bit but the support that you have shown all staff and students here at school has been really appreciated. I guess with one of our school values being “Community” it has certainly shown the scope of this in a real local sense. Thanks again.

Mark Pettit
Head of Middle School

Student Services Report

We have been encouraged by our student attendance since resuming Term 2 schooling. It is fantastic to see students enjoying being back at school and getting back to their studies.

Student Services have been monitoring student attendance and engagement for those who are working from home to make sure they feel connected to the school and are accessing the curriculum from either hard copy work packages or online curriculum through the Department’s Connect page.

Please do not hesitate to contact the team if you have any queries or concerns.

Amanda Morton
Manager Student Services

Academic Excellence Program

This term, students engaged in modified enrichment activities that allow opportunities for extension in the current climate.

The Year 7AE group attended the Perth Zoo virtually in Week 2, viewing a keeper talk on the critically endangered Sumatran Orangutans and engaging in themed number and word puzzles from the Perth Zoo’s Home Safari webpage. Students then devised their own Recovery Action Plans for their choice of endangered species. Congratulations to Ryan Thomas for his winning entry on the Bengal Tiger and Charlotte Hulcup for her entry on Giant Pandas, which was awarded second place.

Photos and resources for all enrichment activities can be found on Connect in the Library on our Academic Excellence 2020 Class page.

Orietta Stokes
Academic Excellence Program Coordinator

Mathematics

It has been a challenging start to Term 2 in Maths, with many students working from home with the Connect resources. The Maths department worked hard to deliver resources to support independent learning over the first three weeks, along with worksheets and other activities to allow students to practise these new concepts. It has been a good opportunity for us to upskill with platforms such as WebEx and for students to adapt to a different work environment – which some of them enjoyed. It has been great to see all students return in Week 4.

The COVID 19 pandemic has provided opportunities to relate mathematics to the real world, as we were regularly exposed to statistics and graphs indicating numbers of infections and the changing rates of infection. Exponential growth became all too real but hopefully we have passed the peak.

Have Sum Fun Maths Online May 25 – June 12

“Have Sum Fun” is a maths quiz of NAPLAN-type problems for both students at home and school year-level teams of four students. HSFOL is designed to foster mathematical problem solving for students in Years 7-10 across Australia.

The competition consists of three rounds of 10 questions, where both students at home and school teams have one hour to complete each round of questions. Each round is accessible on the HSFOL website for one week, and rounds are a week apart.

We hope some students take up the challenge!

Vanessa Barrable
Head of Mathematics Learning Area

Health, Outdoor and Physical Education

After an interesting start to Term 2, some good news comes with Kalamunda SHS’s participation in our first virtual interschool swimming carnival. All students that achieved qualifying times at the intra-house carnival had their times submitted to School Sports WA. These times for each event were ranked against other schools that submitted times to the virtual carnival with Kalamunda SHS finishing in 4th Place for the ‘B’ Division carnival. Special mention goes to:

• Grace Hope (Year 7) for placing 1st in the Year 7 girls 50m Freestyle, Division C.
• Jasmine Morgan (Year 7) placed in 2nd in the Year 7 girls 50m Freestyle, Division D.
• Marcus Latham (Year 7) placed 3rd in the Year 7 boys 50m freestyle, Division C event.

Currently, students are participating in a four week fitness program in their Physical Education classes. This program has yielded some encouraging results with students aiming to improve their personal fitness levels and set a fitness goal. Wally Gordon (Year 10) put in a phenomenal effort in completing one lap of the school cross country course (940m) in 3.01 minutes. This time trumped Mr Forrest’s speedy time of 3.30 minutes. At home workouts can be accessed via Connect in the ‘Kalamunda SHS Online Physical Education Class’.

Alice Hall
Health and Physical Education Teacher

Italian

Year 7 Italian Projects- Che Magnifico!

During Term 1, all Year 7 students had the challenging task of completing a project that represented Italian culture, their interests and creative skills. I was very impressed by the research, innovation and enthusiasm that the students displayed. Students moved away from the stereotypical representations of Italy and immersed themselves into even more unique areas of interest. Students focused on many different areas of interest such as history, architecture, transport, Italian landscape, sport, food and the Ancient Romans. Students applied divergent thinking when choosing their representation and how they were going to build it. It was great to see such determination and talent!

I would like to thank the parents who supported this learning experience during the difficulty throughout the COVID-19 crisis. I really appreciated projects being made, photographed, brought to school and also for your involvement.

Complimenti e buon efforti!

Arena Verona BMX Racetrack

I chose this Italian project because I really like BMX racing.

The Arena Verona BMX track is a track in Italy. This track was built in 2013, holding Olympic races, World Championships, the World Cup, since 2014 and the European Championships are held there. They use it for state racing Motocross and Supercross. This BMX track is 420metres long, you would get really tired after racing full lap sprints a couple of times through on this.

This BMX track is really cool there 3 berms, which is a corner. There are 5 straights and over 20 jumps to do complete a full lap, the racer has their own identification number and usually a carbon or titanium bike to race with.

I am really happy my finished project.

By Matthew Currie

Roman Shield

My painted Roman shield made from wood and metal. The Roman shield was also called a ‘Scutum’ and was used from around the 4th Century BC.

By William Catchpole

What are students learning Term 2 in Italian?

Did you know? LO SAPETE

• Italy takes recycling very seriously! If you have ever been to Italy, you would have noticed that there are rubbish trucks always in sight and bin collection seems to be happening everywhere throughout the day. Italy categorises the rubbish into the following:
  - lastic and metal cans
  - paper, cardboard, aseptic packaging
  - bottles and glass
  - organic waste
  - all other garbage

Each type of trash and recycling goes into its own colour-coded bag and then into the designated bin at a roadside pick-up location. You pick up the bags at the comune offices: blue bags for plastic and metal cans, brown for paper and cardboard, white for organic waste (“umido”) and yellow for all other garbage. Glass doesn’t get a bag. It just gets dumped directly into the roadside bin, though of course you need a bag or bin to keep it in at your house until you take it to the collection bin.

Oh, and they don’t pick it all up on the same day, so you’re always trying to remember what gets collected on which day. For example, Monday is garbage day, Tuesday is plastic and metal pick-up and Thursday is paper and cardboard collection day. You can put glass in the roadside bin anytime. You can also put out the organic waste anytime but not every collection point has one for organic so you may have to drive to another one to leave your umido.

• Italy is top in the European Union for waste recycling at 76.9% of urban, industrial and other waste. According to the latest Eurostat figures this compared very well with the EU average of 37%, and the UK at 44%
• Shops are encouraging the use of reusable bags, but when they sell single use bags they must be compostable, as per European standards. Designer loving Italians, like to show off the logo on the paper bags received from fashion stores and tend to keep them for further use. In supermarkets you can purchase compostable bags.
• Supermarket chain Carrefour Italia have also partnered with Italian pasta and sauce producer Barilla to promote anti-waste pasta recipes using left over vegetables. They are raising awareness with in-store displays and competitions.

Maria Pennington
Italian Teacher

Japanese

Term 1 – otsukaresama deshita
Term 2 – Irrasshai!

Even with such an interrupted start to the year, the students studying Japanese at Kalamunda SHS have impressed me so much with their dedication to language learning, resilience and positivity.

The students studying Certificate 2 and 3 in Japanese have managed to keep up the pace, and have all kept up to date with their assessments; so despite missing five weeks of school, we have not fallen behind our schedule. This is a true reflection of the passion they have for learning, and I could not be more proud. I also need to thank Daichi Kikuzawa, who has been an incredible resource for our Certificate 3 students, and helped us all to stay on track!

The Year 8 and 9 classes may have fallen slightly behind our normal pace, however, it has been so great to see how well they have supported each other through these difficult times, and I have no doubt that with a bit of time, we will definitely be able to catch up. I will have to organise a big Japanese excursion next year! I have always wanted to take the Year 8 and 9s to the Japanese Film Festival which was planned for this year; so let’s look forward to that for next year if it does get cancelled!

My new Year 7s, who I had only just got to know before things started to get a bit crazy, still managed to deliver absolutely stunning projects. For the last couple of years, we have a bit of a competition amongst the language teachers over whose students make the best models. For the second year in a row, it looks like the Japanese students won again*! As the projects were due after the school had closed, it was great to see the students adapting and posting pictures of their completed assignments on Connect. See the photos! It definitely lifted my spirits to see the projects and the huge effort students were making during the school shut-down.

Ogenkide!

Maguire sensei

Tori Maguire
Japanese Teacher

*Not officially judged, but just a gut feeling I have.

From the school Psychologist

As quickly as we moved into online learning at the end of last term we are now back into student returning back into school fulltime. This return may be causing some anxiety in families who were only starting to adjust to the at home learning expectations. Below are some tips that may assist if your child or you are feeling a bit worried about returning to school.

Jenny Edmonds
School Psychologist