Photo above taken by Year 9 student Nikhita Nageswaran - Waterfall. 

Dear Parents and Families,

Currently, there is a national trend to promote the integration between Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) across the curriculum. To accommodate the continued development of STEM at Kennedy, the final stage of our master plan for capital works commences next week. This is an exciting time and is part of our commitment to provide the best resources and opportunities for our students. The building program will commence with the development of a new Food and Textiles Centre where our old Science Laboratories on the northern part of the campus are situated. This initial project will be completed by the end of the year and ready for Term 1, 2019. Once this project is completed we will develop a new Mechatronics centre where our current food rooms are located.

Community Open Day 

Our Parents and Friends Association has now formed an Open Day Parent Committee to commence planning for this year’s Open Day community event. The structure of Open Day will be similar to last year and aims to provide a snapshot of the many facets of Kennedy College life. Our focus will be to make this another chance for current families to experience and view the great achievements of our students as well as promoting the College to prospective families. This year will be particularly special as it offers a great opportunity for families to experience a range of presentations from Visual Art, Drama, Dance and Music and all Learning Areas will have great displays of their current curricula.

Soon our Parents and Friends will be asking for volunteers to contribute to the day. We hope you can help us. We also hope everyone can join us on the day.

Community Open Day will be held on Saturday 25 August from 10.00am - 2.00pm

Mr Mark Ashby
Principal

If you were asked what was the number one subject that Jesus spoke about, what would your answer be? Love; repentance; sin; the Cross etc.? While these replies are part of the answer, they are not complete in themselves. The main theme of Jesus’ teaching was the Kingdom of Heaven/God - a subject that was close to the hearts of Jewish people as they looked for a Messiah who would rout the Romans and bring that Kingdom to Israel, who would then rule instead. Our introduction to Kingdom thinking is found in the first chapter of Scripture:

So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Then God blessed them and said, 
“Be fruitful and multiply.

Fill the earth and govern it.
Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky,
and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
(Genesis 1: 27-28)

It is here that we are given our purpose. To reflect God (the word translated ‘image’ here is elsewhere translated ‘idol’), to flourish, and to rule and reign (Kingdom terminology) as rulers in our own right. As rulers God has given us both moral responsibility and stewardship. What this means is that when we ask the question, “Why doesn’t God do something about it?” the answer is, we should be doing something about it. It also means that it could go wonderfully well, or horribly wrong. And it went horribly wrong (Genesis 3).

Thankfully, the story does not end there. God continued to invite others to share in his Kingdom. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Israel through the giving of Torah (teachings) and the Prophets. Then, with the coming of Jesus, the invitation into this Kingdom continues (Matthew 4:17); a kingdom that comes without physical violence or the overthrow of a nation, yet where the citizens will flourish (Matthew 5-7).

College Examinations

Examinations are currently being conducted for all students in Year 8-12. The College holds examinations for students in order to conduct, at the same time, a common assessment for students in a course. The common assessment provides validation for class assessments. Examinations also provide students with the opportunity to practice their revision techniques. All students should be revising regularly throughout the year; revision just prior to an assessment can be ineffective as the material is quickly forgotten. Regular revision consolidates learning and allows students to retain information in their long term memory.

2019 Course Selections

Course selection for 2019 will begin for current Year 10 and 11 students once examinations have concluded. Year 11 students will be provided with selection information on Monday 11 June. Interviews for Year 10 students with members of the College Executive will also begin on 11 June. Parents usually attend the interview with their child. Please ensure that all subject selections are submitted by Monday 25 June. The College may not be able to accommodate choices for students who submit selections late or change their initial selection. Year 7, 8 and 9 students will make elective choices in Term 3.

NAPLAN

The College has concluded the on-line trial of NAPLAN. Generally any issues that were encountered were to do with an individual computer and not related to the NAPLAN assessment browser. The greatest benefit of the on-line testing is the ability of the program to assess student performance and provide questions appropriate to a student’s demonstrated ability which the paper based NAPLAN cannot achieve.

PISA

The College has been randomly selected to participate in international testing known as PISA (Program for International Student Assessment). The testing date is August 3 and a group of 30 students will be selected (at random) from all enrolled students born between 1 May 2002 and 30 April 2003 across all year levels. The assessment is computer based and will be conducted using the computers in one of the College laboratories. More information will soon be distributed to selected students and their parents.

At our first whole College Assembly for Term 2, we recognised students who have achieved excellence across a range of areas. This included students receiving the College Colours Excellence Award. This award is the one of the highest individual awards at the College and recognises student achievement and contribution across many aspects of College life. The criteria for the award included the following.

College Representation: Students must have represented the College in the community through sport, drama or dance or be involved in the College Community Outreach Program such as local sustainability projects, supporting the homeless or animal welfare activities.

Leadership Roles: Students were required to contribute to College leadership in a significant manner including serving as Student Councillor, House Captain, Overseas Leadership Trip member, 11/7s Mentor, Peer Activity Leader or other positive roles.

Academic Standing: Students were required to maintain good academic standing in all their studies with a minimum of a C grade across their subjects.

Attitude and Behaviour: Students receiving the award all demonstrated the attitudes and behaviours that characterise a Kennedy student.

All these students received a certificate recognising their achievement and a pocket braid to wear proudly on their blazer for the rest of their time at Kennedy. Students can apply for the College Colours Excellence Award at the end of Year 10 or Year 11, and we would hope it is something that all our students would aspire to as they continue to pursue excellence. Please click here for a list of all recipients.

Please see examination timetables and rules for Year 8 to 12 below.

• Lower School Examination Rules here
• Senior School Examination Rules here
   
• Year 8 Examination Timetable here
• Year 9 Examination Timetable here
• Year 10 Examination Timetable here
• Year 11 Examination Timetable here
• Year 12 Examination Timetable here

In May, parents and guardians of students in Year 7 were invited to attend an evening to look at how Mathematics teaching and curriculum has changed since they were at school. The 'New Maths 4 Old Brains' title recognised that times have changed.

One of my former colleagues, who was recently retiring, stated that in his day 'technology' was a box of coloured chalks to use on the blackboard! Now that we have computers and access to the Internet, the way students learn has also changed.

The Mathematics curriculum currently has more rigour than previous and focuses on students using the four Australian Curriculum proficiencies of Understanding, Fluency, Problem Solving and Reasoning. Try asking your child how they solved the problem rather than what is the final answer!

A fun evening was had by all who attended, with a focus on mathematical misconceptions held by Year 7 students and advice on helping sons/daughters (as well as parents) to cope with the curriculum and expectations of High School. As one parent said at the end of the evening, “Refreshing memories of how I did Math earlier and getting interest back to myself in helping my child to support.”

Thank you to Mrs Toh and Mrs Hennighan who assisted with the evening and to those who came along to learn.

Mr Mike Hill
Head of Mathematics

Kennedy Mock Trials Team

On the evening of Monday 14 May, the Kennedy legal teams once again spent the night in court. Both mock trial teams demonstrated excellent advocacy  and performance skills, as they battled against St Hilda’s Anglican School in the Supreme Court of Western Australia. It was a civil case involving the alleged collision of a 20m Yacht with a 3m Antique cedar sailing boat, in the Swan River near Blackwall Reach.

It was a tough case to prepare for, requiring the students to develop their understanding of Negligence and Duty of Care. The students of both teams worked tirelessly in the weeks leading up to trial date. The Kennedy 1 team defeated St Hilda’s by an amazing 49 points, and the Kennedy 2 team narrowly lost to St Hildas by just only 1 point. Well done to all students. Please click here for a list of students.

It is also said that the two things that you should not bring up at a barbecue, are religion and politics. However, the two topics that are almost always brought up at some point at a barbecue are… you guessed it… religion and politics.

With that in mind, the Year 12 Politics and Law class held the annual Politics and Law Revision Barbecue last week. Since the subject of politics and law seems to always get brought up at a barbecue, it makes sense to centre a double period of exam revision around a barbecue. Each student was allocated subjects and cases, and became experts on those topics. Our Politics and Law barbeque has become quite the tradition for students each May, as and educational and enjoyable way of consolidating their learning. 

We wish all our Year 11 and 12 students the very best over this exam period.

Mr Manuel Ilchuk
Politics and Law Teacher

Jacinta & Steph Flynn

Jacinta Flynn has been selected to represent WA in the State Team at the 2018 Australian Gymnastics Championships for U/17 division in Trampolining. 

Steph Flynn with her team TNT Bombshells won the first full paid bid in Australia. The Junior International Cheerleading Competition was held in Florida, Orlando. They came 12th in the world for their division.