Photo above: Year 12 Beau and Belle of the Ball, Daniel Kempson and Emily Felstead Welch.

Dear Parents and Families,

Kennedy continues to build on the wonderful start to the academic year with some very successful events. Our Year 7 “Meet the Teachers” event and the Year 11 Study Skills presentation were great opportunities for families to connect with the College as we work together to maximize student outcomes. Throughout the year, we will have many more opportunities for families to actively engage with our community and strengthen our partnership.

Opportunities include:

• Our Easter services
• Parenting information evenings
• Teacher feedback afternoons
• Parent and Friends Association meetings
• Parent focused social events
• The Fathering Project

I encourage everyone to be involved with these opportunities and contribute to our community.


College Ball

It was a pleasure to join our Year 12 students, partners and staff at Frasers Restaurant, Kings Park on Friday 14 February. The Ball was a wonderful event where it was obvious that our students had a fantastic night and enjoyed each other’s company in an amazing setting. The approach of our students was outstanding, and this greatly contributed to the night being a success. Congratulations to all our Year 12 students who are to be commended for their exceptional attitude to the night. Congratulations to Mr Britza and the Year 12 Councillors for their great efforts in organising a wonderful evening.

Parent-teacher Interviews

In an effort to provide greater flexibility for parents making appointments with teachers, the structure of this year’s parent interviews has been changed. Interviews will take place in all year groups in all subjects on the following days:

• Tuesday 17 March: 2.00pm – 7.00pm
• Wednesday 18 March: 9.00am – 7.00pm

We trust this will provide greater choice for families when planning to meet with our staff. No classes will take place during these times. You will soon receive an email from the College with instructions about the booking procedure.
 

Easter Services

Our Easter Services are an important part of our College culture and ethos. They are also an excellent opportunity for us to connect with local churches and reinforce our Christian ethos. Both services will commence at 7.00pm and I would like to emphasise that this is a compulsory event for all students. Our two Easter services will be held on the following dates:

• Monday 6 April: Eyre and Forrest families.
• Tuesday 7 April: King and Stirling families

We hope all families can join us for these special events.

Mr Mark Ashby
Principal

A new year provides an opportunity for each student to start fresh and establish positive routines that enhance their learning. It is wonderful to hear from staff about the positive attitudes they are witnessing in their classrooms, and I look forward to following the academic progress of students throughout 2020.
 

Academic Commendation

The College encourages each student to embrace the opportunities given to them and give their best effort in all pursuits. This year the College introduced a new award, the Academic Commendation, which recognises a student who demonstrates significant academic improvement in a subject.

The award begins with measuring, for each student in every course, the improvement in results from Semester One to Semester Two. The improvement in results is converted to a score (z-score for the mathematicians), and where the score is significantly high, a student may qualify for the award. Qualifying students will then have their marks scrutinized to ensure that any student receiving the award has been enrolled in the course for the entire year and has made a reasonable attempt in all assessments. The award will be presented annually. At the first assembly this year we recognised 53 students with the 2019 Academic Commendation award.
 

Parent-teacher Interview Information

Parent-teacher Interviews are planned for Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 March 2020 with a small Careers Expo occurring on Tuesday 17 March.

Students will be dismissed on Tuesday 17 March at 1:05pm, with interviews being held from 2.00pm – 7.00pm.

On Wednesday 18 March there are no classes timetabled, students will not attend the College unless they are coming with their parents to the interviews. Interviews commence on Wednesday at 9.00am, the evening concludes at 7.00pm.

I would encourage parents to utilize the daytime interviews as much as possible. The new format will minimise disruption to student learning and provide parents with the opportunity to see all their children’s teachers on one day rather than our previous restricted year group interviews. Further information about booking interviews will be distributed by email. The interviews are five minutes in length, with regular breaks allocated for teachers.

Please note that other curriculum initiatives the College has introduced for 2020 include a homework schedule for Year 7 and 8 students and formal examinations commencing in Year 9.

Child protection is of paramount importance at Kennedy Baptist College. Thus at the College we have a strategic and targeted Protective Behaviours Program.

Protective Behaviours and Sexual Abuse Prevention Education is an important and integral part of the College Pastoral Care Program and is a mandatory requirement for all schools in Western Australia.

At Kennedy we have implemented the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (KS:CPC) which is a nationally recognised and accredited program operating in this space. Keeping Safe is a world-class, evidence-based child safety program that is used by a wide selection of Australian and international schools, and is endorsed by the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia. It teaches students a range of skill sets, including understanding ways of keeping themselves safe. Research suggests that children who have been taught Protective Behaviours are more able to discern threats to their safety. The two main themes of the program are:

• We all have the right to be safe
• We can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we trust.

The focus areas covered include: the right to be safe, relationships, recognising and reporting abuse and protective strategies.

At Kennedy we cover this curriculum through a range of areas including the Extended Form Pastoral Care Program, Health Classes, Guest Speaker incursions, as well as our Thrive Program which operates in Year 7 and Year 8 for all students. The Thrive Program covers topics such as Cyber Safety, Digital Citizenship, Mindfulness, Emotional Literacy, Healthy Headspace, Networks, Assertiveness, Unsafe Secrets and Stress Management.

This term our Year 8 students will have a Protective Behaviours incursion, “A Teenagers Guide to Personal Safety”, hosted by Andrea Musulin who is a Senior Trainer with WA Child Protection Society which is a registered Child Safe organisation. Their goal is to teach young people skills to keep them safe and provide further strategies that can be easily adapted to all environments. Other incursions will occur throughout the year for various year groups, covering a number of topics such as harassment, consent training and a leavers preparation seminar for our Year 12s.

These important issues are ongoing and we look forward to continued positive benefits for our students through the College Protective Behaviours Program.

Would you like to be able to help your child develop lifelong skills of assertiveness, self-confidence, problem-solving, communication and resilience?

At Kennedy Baptist College we place a high value on the social and emotional development of all students, and we are constantly seeking opportunities to enhance their safety. We are honored to have Andrea Musulin with us for the evening. She is a leading expert in child protection, teenager safety and cyber safety.

DATE: Wednesday 4 March 2020
VENUE: Kennedy Baptist College Auditorium
TIME: 5.30pm - 7.00pm
COST: Free of charge
REGISTRATION: Via Trybooking at www.trybooking.com/bimsf

We are excited to announce that we will be launching a dads group with The Fathering Project here at Kennedy.

This is a fantastic opportunity for dads and father-figures to meet up, chat and be encouraged. It will be an informal yet informative event for dads, father figures and school leaders. The Fathering Project Dads Group is an opportunity to have fun with your kids and become part of a strong and supportive network of committed dads within our College community. The launch presentation date is confirmed for 24 March, more details will follow. 

The year has begun with great energy in the Research and Study Centre. We have already built our first Lego project – an amazing Treehouse. It took just under two weeks for our students from Years 7 to 12 to put 3000 pieces together!
 

Extracurricular Clubs

Book club has begun on Tuesdays with Mrs Yurisich and students from Years 7 to 12 who love reading. Maker Space is buzzing – Mrs Gersbach has been doing projects on Tuesdays with a great group, Mr Burton and several students are building an ANZAC diorama on Thursdays and Mrs Hanham has been supervising students adding Lego models to our Treehouse display. Mrs Fleming and Mr Dennis have been overwhelmed with numbers for the Wednesday Chess club they run in the Research and Study Centre.

Programs and Study Skill Presentations

Staff at the Research and Study Centre run programs to help our students develop good study habits. We have been conducting SMARTS for our Year 7s which runs for this term and covers topics such as being organised, taking notes in the Cornell style, and the Growth Mindset. At the moment we are also teaching them how to juggle!

Year 11 students attended a study skills presentation in the first week of the term. It covered a variety of study strategies useful in Senior School. This was followed up with a presentation to parents of Year 11s – Top Tips for parents.

Reading at Kennedy

We have launched a new reading program for Year 8 students – Eights’ Epic Reads, where they gain points by doing certain tasks all of which involve reading – the students are responding well to this and we look forward to celebrating their achievements with them.

March Memory Madness

If you find your child wandering around muttering numbers or asking you to check their spelling they may be preparing for March Memory Madness. In March we celebrate memory by encouraging our students to memorise all sorts of things. We run spelling bees with English, Pi day with Maths and daily "tray of the day" competitions among other things!

As a Learning Area, we aim to continually be a place where students feel welcome, are encouraged to read, are given the best tools for research, are equipped with sound study strategies, and are able to express themselves creatively – we look forward to what 2020 brings!

Mrs Virginia Yurisich
Head of Research and Study

Highlights of being in the High School Musical Production

The College production of High School Musical is coming along really well and it’s so exciting to see choreography progressing well and scenes piecing the show together bit by bit.

Over the past few weeks, we have been splitting up and focusing on specific scenes that are relevant to the cliques our characters belong to. Read more about Emily Felstead-Welch's experience here.

Fees - Secondary Assistance Scheme

The State Government, through the Department of Education, provides financial support to eligible parents through the Secondary Assistance Scheme (SAS). The scheme aims to assist low-income families with secondary school costs. Applications close on Thursday 9 April 2020. Please click here to read more. 
 

Problematic Video Gaming and Addiction

This video from Generation Next can help parents and educators identify some of the signs and symptoms of gaming addiction. There are some key risk factors and will help you learn ways to better prevent and manage problematic gaming. 

Each year we value the support of our volunteers who contribute to the College community by helping at the Café, Research & Study Centre, Uniform shop, Sports Carnivals and Open Day. Co-ordination of all our volunteers is coordinated through the easy to use automated online system SIGNUP.com. Current volunteer opportunities are as below:

• Beedawong Café
• Book Covering

​​Please click here to sign up and volunteer.