Photo above: Interschool Cross Country

Dear families,

June is a very busy month at Kennedy. It was pleasing to see students apply themselves so well to their preparation for completion of examinations. Staff are now working hard to mark and process results. These results will soon be available to families through SEQTA. As we endeavor to improve communication with families semester reports will also be issued electronically through SEQTA. We hope this will be a much more effective process for sharing student achievement with families.

The review of exams and reports should be an important process for all. These reports provide information to students, parents and staff regarding the student's achievement for this year so far and identify strengths and weaknesses. I encourage families to celebrate student strengths and achievements across all Learning Areas. I also encourage families to review areas that need to improve and consider strategies to help improve for the future. Kennedy has a range of strategies and services to address areas of concern for students. These include:

• Individual tuition with current class teachers.
• Our ongoing tutoring program, as per the weekly roster.
• Individual sessions with the Research and Study Centre staff to improve study and learning processes.
• Access to Learning Support Staff.

I hope that you will consider all of these options in reviewing semester results and reflecting on how best to improve for the future.

Celebrating Success

Two special assemblies are planned to celebrate the successful Semester One achievement of students. It would be wonderful to have as many families as possible join us for these events. Year 10 to 12 students will be awarded academic prizes on Wednesday 22 June, whilst Year 7 to 9 students will be celebrated on Wednesday 29 June. Both events commence at 8.45am in our Auditorium. We hope to see you there.

Interschool Cross Country

It was wonderful to spend time watching our Interschool Cross Country team at Perry Lakes on Thursday 2 June. Kennedy produced an outstanding effort of finishing 13th out of a total of 63 Colleges competing. Congratulations to all members of the team. On the day we had some stunning results considering each race had over 300 participants. This included:

• Luke Shaw finishing first. An amazing effort.
• Jay Lindorff finishing second in his race.
• Luke Pidcock and Mitch Thomas both finishing third.

Outstanding achievements by all of these students. Congratulations!

Mr Mark Ashby
Principal

Hebrew is a language that paints pictures and the first chapter of Genesis paints a picture of God as one who is not only intimately involved in His creation but also shows His immense love for diversity. In Genesis we are presented with a creation story which stands in stark contrast to the other, incredibly violent creation stories of the day. It is a picture that culminates in the formation of humanity, male and female who are both made in the image of God. 

In Psalm 139:13-14, David focuses in on the wonder of this creation:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvellous - how well I know it…

David did not know then what we now know about our bodies; that we have over 200 bones and more than 500 muscles, or that our hearts beat over 100,000 times every day, or that a single chromosome contains 20 billion bits of information, but David knew that he was someone who could take down a giant with a single stone and lead armies into battle and yet also was able to write songs that we still sing today. 

Now, I will never lead anyone into battle, and you do not want to hear me sing, but I know that I can do amazing things. I can drive a car, I enjoy dressing up, I love the research and study that must take place before preaching and I love preaching. I am unique. I am wonderfully complex and so is each and every person, because we all bear the image of God.

I think we need to remind ourselves of that truth and also remind those we live with, that they are unique because they are the marvellous workmanship of God.

As examinations for Semester One draw to a close I would encourage all students that the end of examinations is not the end of study. Research shows that spaced, mass practice has a significant impact on learning. All students should continue the daily habit of summarising the material presented in each lesson. Regular practice of questions or essay writing completes a rigorous revision program.

The remainder of this term provides an opportunity for every member of the College community to reflect on the skills and understanding that each student has developed. Year 11 students may wish to make changes to their course selections and this is now the time to make that change. Year 10 and 11 students will also be selecting their courses for 2017. Year 10 students and their parents have received an invitation to meet with a member of the Executive team to discuss their future direction and Senior School selections. Year 7 to 9 will receive elective choices for 2017 in Term 3.

All students are expected to strive for personal excellence in all that they do. Those who have excelled in their course work this Semester will be recognised at upcoming assemblies. I would also like to commend all students who have maintained a consistent and conscientious approach to their work throughout the Semester in order to achieve of their best.

Semester Two provides further opportunities for students to set aspirational goals for their learning.

On 3 June our Pastoral Care team attended the Generation Next Conference at UWA. The conference had a number of keynote speakers discussing adolescent health issues including:

• Drug Education: Paul Dillon - Director of Drug and Alcohol Research Training Australia (DARTA).
• Online Gaming: James Driver - NZ Psychologist.
• Digital Citizenship: Greg Gebhart - Senior Trainer for the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner.
• Radicalisation and Vulnerably Youth: Dr Jones Clarke - Co-Director, Australian Intervention Support Hub, ANU. 
• Understanding Self-harm: Michelle Mitchel - Founder, Speaker and Author of Youth Excel.
• Bigorexia in Boys: Beth Shelton - Psychologist and Senior Clinician, Victorian Centre of Excellence in Eating Disorders.

Our Heads of Year and Counselors will be bringing the information from the Conference to present to our students in the coming weeks. One of the main themes of the conference was the need for Pastoral Care in Colleges to be undertaken in a range of ways and across a range of areas with deliberate and specific time allocated for this.

At Kennedy Baptist College we have a designated weekly Pastoral Care Period with age appropriate content. This involves a deliberate program across all year groups, involving the broad areas of Character Education and Positive Relationships. This includes topics such as: identity, beliefs and values, self-worth, mental health, personal goals, resilience and relationship skills among others.

Overall our ongoing goal at Kennedy is to continue to pursue and implement the best practice, to ensure we have an updated and well developed Pastoral Care Curriculum.

Our focus for the Year 7s has been about positive thinking and acting, being positive about ourselves whilst also being positive towards our fellow classmates. As Abraham Lincoln said “We can complain about rose bushes having thorns or rejoice that thorn bushes have roses”, very often our perspective on a situation will influence how we perceive that situation. 

Therefore, we are working with the students to encourage them to see themselves in a positive light, even when things don’t work out as they planned. In particular we are focusing on the idea of seeing things as black or white. The idea of over-generalisation is if you want to do something with someone but they are too busy then you think that all people will be too busy to do things with you. We also looked at what happens when predicting bad outcomes for future events and that it is baseless and won’t come true.

There are numerous other areas we are looking at but the best way the students have of overcoming these negative thoughts and actions are by implementing some simple tips and techniques. The mindfulness that is being done in Thrive is a very simple and easy way for students to gain control of their thoughts and channel these into positive actions. Students need to find the positive point in any situation, there will always be something good - a silver lining. 

We encourage students to be positive in all that they do, to create a mindset that means whenever they encounter negativity they squash it with positivity and finally we encourage students to not let their fear of failure or not reaching their goals hold them back from striving for excellence. 

I enjoy working with the Year 8s who have demonstrated many excellent skills and attitudes through the term.

A reminder that the College photographs will be taken in a few weeks’ time and the hair and general appearance must be according to College standards for this occasion. I would also like to thank all the parents who have marked the children’s clothing and bags as this has made re-uniting students and possessions much easier.

I hope all families have stayed positive through the exams and that the students achieve the results they deserve. Many have worked consistently hard and this seems to be the key to success.

I would encourage parents to ensure that electronic devices be managed in an appropriate and acceptable manner while studying.

We are looking forward to the community service tree planting with the City of Canning on 26 June. I would encourage as many students to attend as it is a great achievement on their resume and to recognise the value of Community Service.

An idea from, ‘Tips for fathers and father figures’ is; ‘Take each of your kids out regularly for a dad date (no other adults, no other kids), dinner plus movies, beach walk or shopping trip.’ This is obviously a good tip for any parent and builds great memories and I encourage parents to make quality time for their kids.

Wishing all of you the best and God’s richest blessings for the rest of the Term.

Exams have now concluded for the Year 9s. The exams this year were slightly longer than last year and this can bring about some anxiety and nervousness. I hope that students studied effectively and made the most of their lessons in class.

An ice skating social event will be held on Friday of Week 8 after the exams. This will be a great time for students to come and let their hair down after a challenging exam period. More information will be distributed shortly. 

At the end of the Term, Eyre 2 and Forrest 1 Forms will have the opportunity to come to our BBQ lunch Community Service event with the residents from St Bartholomew’s house, a residence for homeless men. These have been really well received by the students and it is great to see them interact with these gentlemen and also have the opportunity to serve them during the lunch.

What an exciting time it is for our Year 10 students. Now that the exams have finished it is time to look at the subjects that they will be choosing for Year 11 and 12. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage all parents to be actively involved in this process. Your student may be feeling anxious about these decisions and your support and advice could be helpful in minimising the stress.

In addition to subject selection choices Work Experience placements are past due to be submitted to Mrs Mary Minorgan. If you have not yet done so or are having problems finding a placement please contact Mrs Minorgan mminorgan@kennedy.wa.edu.au as soon as possible.

During Week 7 and 9 the Year 10s will engage in some Community Service at Manning Park. This is a great opportunity for the whole year group to be involved in the community. More information will be distributed shortly. During Wednesdays Period 1 Term 2 we have been focusing on appropriate behaviour and reputation both online and in person. Kennedy Baptist College has a zero tolerance policy to bullying and harassment of any sort. If you know of any occurrences or have any queries please contact myself or Mr Dunn.

Lastly, I encourage you all to pray for wisdom and support for all the Year 10s and their families.

As our Year 11 students finished their first ATAR examinations, I am very proud of their preparation and ownership of their revision program. May this period be a time of growth and development towards their academic goals. As with any new experience it may bring some apprehension or doubt, however if students utilised all available resources and have worked hard then they will reap the rewards as stated in Proverbs 16:3, ‘Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.’ 

With the National Blood Donor week falling during Week 8, it has been fantastic to see the high level of enthusiasm from our cohort to generously helping those in the wider community. A number of brave students have registered to donate blood at the Red Cross Service centre in Fremantle on 14 and 17 June. By being a blood donor students will be assisting many of the sick and injured Western Australians who desperately rely on these services. There will be more opportunities for students to sign up during Term 3 and 4.

It has also been wonderful to see the active participation of students in our Extended Form program which focused this term on the balance between academic excellence and maintaining student well-being. From study skill sessions to Zumba, music jamming and bushwalking students have been encouraged to refine their approach to their revision techniques as well as learn various ways on how to de-stress properly and effectively. These sessions were enjoyed not only by the students but also the Form teachers and me.  I look forward to Wednesday Week 10 where our forms will be creating an interactive way to learn about our cultural diversity within the College through traditional games and informative posters.

The Year 11 River Cruise which is our next social event for the year will be held on Friday 2 September. Permission slips will be handed out after the examinations have concluded.

Semester One exams have finished and we wish all the Year 12s the best. We trust that the two week exam break will be well used and enable students to study and revise their work from Semester One. Year 12 General course students should use this time to best advantage by making sure that all assignments are completed to the best of their ability. Feedback from the exams will help show areas of weakness in students’ work. This should help them as they start the work for Semester Two.

When returning from the exam break we will have College photos taken. We ask your help in ensuring that all students present themselves neat and tidy.

The table tennis table that was purchased for the Common Room has proven to be a great success and we are in the process of buying another one. The leavers jackets have arrived and the jackets are also proving popular amongst the students.

During the last two Extended Form times we have had speakers from various universities and TAFE address the students on university life in general and the specifics of courses that they are interested in. We hope that this will have helped them to clarify in their minds which courses they will apply for when they go on to the TISC website before the end of September.

Kennedy Baptist College was involved with helping to raise vital funds for cancer research and support for cancer patients and their families. The staff of Kennedy had a morning tea in their Staff Room and become an important part of a combined community effort.

Wishing to contribute to the event on a student level, I asked several of my friends if they would like to be part of a Bake Sale, especially since one of our close friends lost her mum to cancer last year. They were united in the idea, and we did our best to come up with an array of delicious treats to sell in order to raise as much money as possible. Our Bake Sale made $239.10 and staff joined in with $1165.55. 

Kennedy Baptist College also contributed to Melville’s Biggest Morning Tea this year, and became aware of an auction prize donated by Hawaiian (manager of Melville Plaza). 

Bidding started with it first going to Kennedy, then to a Year 4 class at a local Primary School. Feeling it would be more suited to us, I contacted my Year 9 friends to see if we could all put in some money and form a syndicate to out-bid the other offer. They made a counter offer which again put them back in the lead. More rallying, with even a friend’s grandmother coming around to my house in the evening to help boost our figures. We put in another bid raising the amount to $308, watching on-line to see if we were going to be beaten again. Bidding closed and we are happy to have been awarded the prize! Harry Perkins Institute in Nedlands - here we come!

I was fortunate enough to attend 'Melville’s Biggest Morning Tea 2016' as part of Community Service, along with my friend, Olivia Skepper.  Here we are pictured with Mayor Russell Aubrey together with the hostess of the event.

Jacqueline Charlton
Year 9

Photo above: Luke Shaw at the finishing line.

It was a chilly morning on Thursday 2 June as our Interschool Cross Country team assembled at the College ready to depart for Alderbury Reserve to compete. Our students were excited and the atmosphere at the carnival was enthusiastic and inspiring. All our competitors ran with their best efforts and it was fantastic to see some outstanding results including several medal winners. All races have between 300-400 athletes, so these achievements are very impressive. Kennedy placed 13th overall (out of 63 schools) and we are thrilled with this result.

All results are available online at www.accsport.asn.au

• GOLD: Luke Shaw (Under 15)
• SILVER: Jay Lindorff (Under 14)
• BRONZE: Mitch Thomas (Under 16)
• BRONZE: Luke Pidcock (Under 19)

Congratulations to the above winners who had also made it to the ACC Cross Country All Star Team. We would like to thank all the students who competed on the day, and the parents who came down to support. The Run Club will continue every Friday morning at 7.00am for the rest of the year and we encourage students to get involved and keep fit through the winter season.

Miss Katie Hair
Health and Physical Education Teacher

For more photos click here. 

On Wednesday 25 May, 24 students from the combined Year 9 and 10 Elective, Sport and Fitness classes, were selected to represent Kennedy Baptist College at the School Sport Western Australia (SSWA) High School Netball Cup. The girls were selected from their respective Sport and Fitness classes and formed two Teams - Year 9 and Year 10 with three quality umpires also being selected. These teams travelled to Fremantle Netball Association and competed for the High School Cup. A great day was had by all students.

The Year 9 girls came up against strong competition. The team had a strong defensive line up which was tough to infiltrate with Lexington Mitchell and Jenna Smith protecting the net. Offensively we were strong with Grace Channells leading the way. The team won two games but were not successful in going through to the finals.

The Year 10 team had a very successful day on the courts. The team was strong all over the court and went undefeated. The girls beamed with vibrance and no team could wipe the smiles off their faces. Jordan Scanlan was incredible through the mid court and unstoppable when shooting. Mia Hughes led the defensive unit and was a key player in many intercepts and an invaluable asset to the team.

Congratulations to both the Year 9 & 10 teams that participated, you should be proud of your achievements. Thank you to Bree Brooks, Ella Sattell and Monika Silich who refereed the games.

Mrs Jessica Kennedy
Physical Education Teacher/Sports Coordinator

Photo above: Joe Teasdale, Abbie Teasdale, Minke Terblanche and Reuben Darch.

Congratulations to Joe Teasdale, Abbie Teasdale, Minke Terblanche and Reuben Darch on their conduct and performance in the 2016 Golf Schools Championships held at the West Australian Golf Club. On a beautiful day and playing this spectacular course, our students performed well, culminating in both Minke and Reuben gaining WA schools state selection for the upcoming Adelaide Nationals. Abbie and Joe are also destined for great careers in the sport. Looking forward to the 2017 event!

Mr Richard Main 
Senior Teacher

Photo above: Indian Barnes, Cafeteria Manager Renee Anderson, Chaplain Pauline Burgess, Phoebe Ashworth and Abbey McRae

Click here to read more.

Di Silvey mother of Olivia Silvey Year 12 has been a volunteer with our College cafeteria for 10 years. Here she is on her last roster her daughter. We truly appreciate Di Silvey's contribution, time and help to Beedawong. Here at Kennedy Baptist College - we say thank you!

If you want to volunteer at Beedawong, please email the Canteen Manager at Kennedy Baptist College randerson@kennedy.wa.edu.au

Ms Karen Shea
Cafeteria Assistant

Kennedy Baptist College Open Day

The Kennedy Baptist College Open Day is on Saturday 27 August from 10.00am to 2.00pm and planning is well underway by the P&F for our various stalls and activities that will run on the day. It is a good opportunity for current and future College families to come and see what has been happening at the College in recent months with many student displays and presentations taking place and to have a look at the new classrooms and facilities.

There will be more information coming in Term 3 about how you can be involved, but here are some things we would like you to consider about how you can help with Open Day:

• Saving clean glass jars to donate - Please do not bring them to the College yet - but we will be asking for jars for jam, lemon curd, chutneys etc. Please remove all the labels, and keep an eye out for when we need them.
• Making things to donate to our stalls, such as homemade candles, soaps, bathbombs, jams. Only things with a long shelf life at the moment please, and we will let you know when to bring them into the school in Term 3. Labelling the ingredients is needed.
• Donations of items for silent Auction - again more details next term, but we will be asking for items that tie in with the theme for each student year group - eg garden and barbeques or gourmet or health and beauty.
• Helping with our Jam Making Afternoon - we are planning a Jam Making session at the College Cafeteria on Saturday 30 July from 2pm to 4pm. Maybe you are an experienced jam maker - or would like to help and learn more about it. More details will be announced in the Newsletter in Term 3.
• Volunteering for Open Day - we will need helpers both in the lead up preparations and on the day, again further details in Term 3.

Contacting the Parents and Friends Association

If you have any questions or suggestions, then we would love to hear from you. The best ways are: Via email: pandfkennedybaptistcollege@gmail.com Or via our facebook page: Kennedy P&F