Photo above: Student Councillors at our Community Open Day. 

Dear Parents,

Thank you to our wonderful Parents and Friends Association and all of our families who supported the College at Open Day last Saturday. It was extremely pleasing to have so many community members come along and enjoy the Kennedy experience. Open Day provides a great opportunity for the College to show what a dynamic community we have at Kennedy and it was so pleasing to see everyone sharing their experiences with such a large number of visitors. In particular, thank you to our Parents and Friends executive who worked so hard to co-ordinate the range of activities available on the day.

Arts Production

It has been fantastic to see our Arts Learning Area shine over the past weeks. Our major Arts Showcase, “Those Were The Days” was an outstanding event involving all of our Arts disciplines and was greatly appreciated by our community. Students were provided with opportunities to display their exceptional talents and continue the development of their skills and abilities. I know all audience members greatly enjoyed the performance and the very high standard presented is testament to the commitment of both our students and staff. Congratulations to our Arts Learning Area staff for their hard work and commitment to the planning and development of this complex production.

Community Engagement Survey

Recently we launched a comprehensive questionnaire to all community members to collate feedback about Kennedy Baptist College. We greatly value the input of parents and this will be used in further strategic planning for the College. I strongly encourage all parents and students to complete the survey to ensure that future strategic directions take into account the comments of all members of our community.

Mr Mark Ashby
Principal

Forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors
Matthew 6:12

We sometimes put limits on our forgiveness, such as forgiving but refusing to forget. Can you imagine what would happen to us if God put those same restrictions on His forgiveness of us?! We would be walking around with our own ‘sword of Damocles” hanging over our heads, living, not in freedom but in fear. To forgive as God forgives means that we are to forgive “Seventy times seven,” (Matthew 18:22). Here Jesus is stating that there are to be no limits or restrictions to our forgiveness.

When a debt is forgiven it is cancelled; forever removed from the ledger so that there will not even be an expectation of any type of repayment. This is an important concept to grasp because often we forgive with the underlying expectation that the person we have forgiven will reciprocate the favour at some point in the future, if needed. Again, that is not how God forgives us our debts because of course He can never be in debt to us.

Forgiveness does not mean that there aren’t any consequences though for those who have been forgiven whether it is when God forgives us or when we forgive others. The best example of this is found in the Old Testament, through the story of David, Uriah and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11, 12 and Psalm 51). It is forgiving the person who crashed into your car (which has happened to us) but they will still have to face court for their negligence.

To forgive means that we are free to live in the moment called today rather than be tied to past hurts. Forgiveness becomes a blessing not only for others, but a place of healing for ourselves. The Lord’s Prayer guides us into full forgiveness, to that place where we, having been freely forgiven,  can let forgiveness flow out through us to others.

The recent Professional Learning day provided staff with the opportunity to design or improve upon the teaching and learning programs for all students. The next phase of the implementation of the Western Australian Curriculum will see Arts and Technology and Enterprise implemented in 2018. All students from Years 7-10 will be graded against the achievement standards described by the Western Australian Curriculum in all learning areas, except language from 2018. The grades allocated at the end of Semester One are interim grades, meaning the mid-year grade is an indication of student achievement to date. The year report states the level of achievement of the prescribed standard within a Learning Area and year level.

The implementation of the Western Australian Curriculum is likely to impact on the style and information included in College reports. As a parent, if there is a particular aspect of our reports that is important to you or if there is an element that you believe may enhance the report, please provide that information through the College Survey.

The changes within the curriculum impacts on Year 7 student classes with Media added to the mix of taster electives, replacing Fitness. Requirements for Year 8 prescribe that students are to complete courses from the Arts and Technologies Learning Areas. In addition students must complete a Visual and Performance Art course as well as a Digital Technology and General Technology course. Year 8 students will be able to choose between Art or Media; Dance, Drama or Music; Food Technology, Fabric and Design or Future Technology. Each Year 8 student must choose one course from each of these groups of courses. Elective information for current Year 7, 8 and 9 students will be distributed shortly. Please ensure that selections are submitted on or before Monday 19 September.

There have been many exciting events and activities occurring in the Kennedy Pastoral Care Program recently.

This morning Kennedy Baptist College held its Annual Father’s Day Breakfast in the Staff Lounge. Fathers, grandfathers and staff members from within the College community all enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast from our Beedawong Cafeteria. Our guest speaker for the morning was Dr Phil Ridden who is currently a College Board Member. His professional background includes being a teacher, a curriculum writer, a professional learning consultant, a Deputy Principal and Principal, and authoring more than a dozen non-fiction books. Phil spoke from his experiences in his roles as a father and leader but mainly about his role as foster carer over the last 20 years to over 40 infants. Our attendees enjoyed their morning and were very appreciative of his important message. 

Recently a few students in Year 10 and Year 11 attended the Masterclass Bible Event run by the Bible Society of Australia. The event was designed for students who would benefit from a day of quality input into their spiritual development, and better prepare them to be spiritual leaders within their school and local community. The event involved a range of speakers including Mr John Dixon who also spoke at various venues around Perth throughout the week including the Mount Pleasant Baptist church. The students involved reported that they received great benefit from attending.

As well as these events, the College’s weekly Pastoral Care program has provided many opportunities for students to examine a range of Pastoral Care topics and develop their awareness of important issues. Recently the Year 12s had a speaker from the Paraplegic Benefit Fund to talk about road safety and related issues, the Year 10s had an information session with the RAC, while the Year 9s examined a range of issues regarding cyber safety.

Overall, our students have enjoyed the opportunities to explore interesting topics affecting themselves and others as they continue to grow into well-balanced and informed young adults.

Thank you to all who attended our annual Community Open Day. It was the best Open Day yet as we had such great weather. There was a fantastic atmosphere throughout the College and the day ran smoothly. Record numbers of visitors stayed for extended periods of time and really enjoyed themselves.

We are very proud of all our wonderful and talented students who participated and volunteered in the different displays, performances and activities. We would like to thank all our College staff, parents and families for their support.

We look forward to another successful event next year with enthusiastic participation by all. If you are yet to be part of it, we would like to encourage you to join us next year. If you attended on Saturday we are interested in hearing about things that went well and areas we could improve on. Please let us know where you saw Open Day advertised by clicking on this link here.

Thank you once again! Please click here for more photos. 

Ms Linda Ang
Public Relations Officer

Last week our Arts students took the College community on a journey through the exciting 1960's.

Those Were The Days was a collaborative work bringing together from the passion, diligence and skill of all subjects within the Arts Learning Area. As a team, the Arts staff creatively developed curriculum covering the fascinating and powerful 1960's decade. Staff and students explored 1960's life centred around Fashion, War, Technology, Human Rights, Art Movements, Music, Popular Culture and Mass Media.

Semester One classes contributed to either the Lower Foyer presentations or the Auditorium performances. The Drama students, along with their teachers, wove a story and dialogue connecting the snap shots of this incredible time in history.

Congratulations to all our Arts students for their enthusiasm and commitment to this major project. Please click here for more photos.

Ms Carolyn MacDonald
Head of Learning Area: Arts

This year the Language Perfect World Championship was held from 15 May to 25 May. Every year thousands of students from around the world participate in this World-Wide Competition. It is also an excellent online resource that promotes language learning.

Congratulations to the following students for achieving awards in the following categories:

• Elite Award:
  Blake Della Bona

• Gold Award:
  Ian Lee, Elijah Styles, Christopher Lee, Manrose Saini, Kiara Becker, Yaadwinder Singh, James Warwick
   
• Silver Award:
  Elizabeth Bryant, Maria Bebich, Stephane Migui, Sophia Matassa
   
• Bronze Award:
  Sam Ado, Ethan Elliott, Jordan Marciano, Brian Lee, Phoebe Ashworth, Nicholas Payne, Ella Marshall, Mikayla Fairchild, Crystal Manson, Beth Mather, Lilly Cagney, Indi McLeod, Myra Fitzpatrick, Heidi Conti, Rachael Patman, Alexia Munguia Lucio.

We also have 16 other students who received Credit Awards. This is an outstanding achievement. Well done! 

English and Languages Learning Area.

Unknown Deposits

The following deposit have been made to the College's bank account. Details are as below:

• 07/06/2017 MISS SARAH MARE

If you have made this deposits please contact Mrs Michelle Willans in our Finance Department on 9314 7722 or email mwillans@kennedy.wa.edu.au

Visit From the Federal Member of Parliament

On Thursday 24 August, Students in Year 12 Politics and Law had the privilege of a visit from the Federal Member of Parliament for the seat of Tangney.

Mr Ben Morton (MP) shared his experiences that led him to being in politics, and also his experiences as a sitting member in the House of Representatives. Prior to his visit, students were taught how to ask questions like a journalist.

They were taught to ask questions using the following three parts:
1) Fact (mention facts which provide the context to your question)
2) Observation (highlight an issue surrounding this context)
3) Question (ask an open ended question)

The students asked many different challenging questions relating to content that they had been learning throughout the year. Mr Ben Morton did a fantastic job answering the many tough questions posed by the students and provided valuable insights into the role and power of parliamentarians.

Mr Manuel Ilchuk
Politics and Law

Community Open Day Thank You!

A big thank you to everyone who extended a helping hand at the Community Open Day! You are all very much appreciated. The College looked amazing and this year the sun managed to grace us with its presence.

It was great to see the new and very impressive Sport Centre, student displays and performances. Another thank you to all those who donated items for the cake stall and silent auction and thank you to those who helped us in the lead up to Open Day.

Silent Auction Hampers

We have several silent auction hampers still awaiting collection from the
College. If you received any notification about winning a hamper, please
make payment as instructed and await details regarding collection.
If you collected your hamper on Saturday and have not yet paid for it
please email the P&F.