Dear Parents and Families

Kennedy has a strong partnership between students, families and the community to produce the best possible outcomes for students. It is our intention to encourage family and community involvement with the College wherever possible. Research indicates that this shared approach is the most effective way to achieve common goals. Often there is a tendency for families to become less engaged and involved at the secondary education level, however, current studies indicate that parent and community connection is even more important at this stage. All research indicates that when the responsibility for student learning is shared by the College, home and community, students have greater opportunities for meaningful and engaged learning and are able to see the connection between the curriculum in the College and the skills required in the real world.

Throughout the year we will have many opportunities for families to actively engage with our community. Opportunities include:

• Study skills seminars
• Parent information evenings
• Teacher feedback afternoons
• Parent and Friends Association meetings
• Parent focused social events

I encourage everyone to be involved with these opportunities, contributing to our community.

College Ball
It was a pleasure to join our Year 12 students, partners and staff at the Hyatt on Friday night. The Ball was a wonderful event where our students had a fantastic night and enjoyed each other’s company. The attitude of our students was outstanding and this greatly contributed to the night being a success. Congratulations to all of our Year 12 students who are to be commended for their exceptional attitude to the night. Congratulations to Mrs Meadows and the Year 12 Counsellors for their great efforts in organising a wonderful evening.

Kennedy Extension and Enrichment Program
The K.E.E.P. program commenced at the beginning of the year to provide even more opportunities for the wide range of students attending Kennedy. A class of Year 7 students were selected through a national standardized testing program to be included in the program that provides exceptional opportunities for students to be extended in the learning areas of Mathematics, English, Science and Humanities. It has been rewarding to see the planning for this program now being implemented and our students benefiting from the diverse curriculum on offer.

Drama and Dance Upgrade
Our new Drama and Dance studios were opened at the beginning of the year to provide excellent facilities for these subjects. The new facilities are located on the upper level of the Arts Centre at the rear of the Auditorium. It is wonderful to see our students utilizing and appreciating these great amenities. Works are now being completed on the Visual Art studios to complete the total refurbishment of the Arts Centre.

Mark Ashby
Principal
 

For too many people – including believers – faith is defined as believing what you want to believe. Whatever you want to hold to as being true is both tolerated and accepted. This view is prevalent in our society even if it is not acknowledged. What amuses me is that if we take this to its logical conclusion we have anarchy - a society without rules or boundaries as we all hold firmly to the right to believe what we want to believe. 

So, when we say that we value faith, the first thing we must do is define the term faith. For the Christian that definition must be found in the Bible.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen… But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

From these verses in Hebrews we learn that faith has both the qualities of substance and of evidence and is defined as knowing that God exists and that God rewards those who seek Him. This is no leap into the dark; this is not the opium of the people (because if it was there would be more people in the Church than outside of the Church).

The reason why faith is valued is because it is an invitation to dive into God; to be honest and transparent as to what is real and to grow in the knowledge that there is a God, who having revealed Himself in Christ, not only keeps His word but is also longing to gather us nearer. As a Christian, our greatest joy is found in the person who invites us to trust and to believe and then, to enjoy for eternity, the reward this relationship brings.

This year the Parent and Friends Association (P&F) of Kennedy Baptist College are focusing on being sociable and making the wider Kennedy community a friendly communicative one. If anyone has any suggestions on gatherings they would like to propose please forward them to the Kennedy Baptist College P&F email address.

We in the P&F would like to say a big thank you to all those Year 7 parents who have embraced the opportunity to embed themselves into the community of Kennedy Baptist College by purchasing tickets to attend the Year 7 Parents Evening. We wish you all an enjoyable time in March. Click here to purchase tickets.

If you are not yet part of the wider Kennedy community and want to have a choice whether to dip in and out of the social events, buying and selling of books and uniforms or browse the posts about lost and found items that may be posted when other parents find themselves with extra shorts or shoes etc. Yes, it all goes on; please sign up to our Facebook page.

If you would like to be included on the P&F contact list, please email pandfkennedybaptistcollege@gmail.com. You will then be able to receive information about upcoming events and other relevant items.

The new Entertainment book will be coming soon. Watch this space.

Thank you to all the families who have made arrangements with respect to the settlement of their fees for 2016.

Reminder notices for overdue fees have been posted.

If your first fee instalment has not been received, your account has now defaulted to Option 1, Annual Payment.

Should you have any queries or concerns regarding your fees please contact Mrs Michelle Willans at mwillans@kennedy.wa.edu.au or phone 9314 7722.

2016 Indigenous Development Tour Information Evening

Kennedy Baptist College will be running an Indigenous Development Tour from September 19 - 28. The tour costs $2,200 and is open to all Year 11 students as well as Year 12 General students. The tour includes visits to Newman, Jigalong and Karijini. We would like to encourage parents and guardians to attend an information evening at the College, to be held in the Staff Lounge on Wednesday 9 March at 5.30 pm. For more information, please email Tour Co-ordinator Murray Dunstan at mdunstan@kennedy.wa.edu.au

Book covering happens in the Research and Study Centre every second Tuesday morning (even weeks).

The next session will be on Tuesday 8 March 2016 and starts anytime from 8.15am onwards.  Everyone is welcome, from complete beginners (training will be provided) to those who are experts.  It’s a great social occasion. We provide a cuppa and a cake.

Congratulations to Kennedy’s Mock trial team ,Year 12 Ryan Simcock,Matilda Steel, Year 11 Connie Hassell, Jane Saunders, William Service, Lucas Eade, Jack Dickinson, Mitchell Batten and Amulen Oumo.

The team won against Applecross Senior High School at the Supreme Court of Western Australia on Tuesday 2 March.

Students had to compete in the court, in front of an acting Judge. Our team of Barristers, Witnesses, Solicitor and Judges Associate spent two weeks preparing for this first round and performed exceptionally well.

Our star performer was William Service who amazed the Judge and scored a perfect score as a witness.
We will be facing 2 more rounds in the coming months, and there will be a lot of work for the students to do.
 

Mr Manuel Ilchuk
Humanities Teacher

This will be our Year 7s first House Week, one of the many events students will enjoy through lunch breaks here at Kennedy Baptist College. House Week is run by the House Captains to build community and House spirit amongst students.

From 29 February through to 4 March our Year 7 students have been participating in fun House Week activities. The week started off with a Table Tennis Tournament on Monday 29 February, Lip Sync on Tuesday 1 March and a Reverse Bike competition on Wednesday 2 March followed by Thursday’s Amazing Race and tomorrow; Friday 4 March, there will be a Music Box Session.

On 24 and 25 February the Nations Youth Team held a fun dodgeball event at recess for all students. Students got to sign up their own team with their own unique name and play against each other.

The winning teams will be playing against other Colleges this Friday at Nations Church Youth Night. There are awesome prizes to be won and this is a great and safe environment for your kids and their friends to go to. 

Some of the qualifying teams representing Kennedy:

Interschool sport has already begun here at Kennedy Baptist College and our students continue to impress. Southern Associated Schools (SAS) senior interschool sport for our Year 11 and 12’s is played Tuesday afternoons during Period 6 and 7. The term has kicked off and our students are performing exceptionally well. The boys and girls Basketball, Ultimate Frisbee 2, boys Touch Rugby and boys Tennis teams remain undefeated after two weeks of competition whilst all other teams have put up a solid competition narrowly losing at least one of their matches.

The Kennedy Year 11 and 12 SAS students must be commended on their professionalism and sportsmanship. I encourage students to continue to play at this high standard and look forward to seeing how the term pans out.

The Junior SAS competition is played Wednesday afternoons from 4-5pm and we have 6 teams of Year 7-9 students competing in Basketball, Touch Rugby and Cricket. The junior teams are a great  fun competition providing many of our junior students interschool sport representation. After 2 matches the Year 7 girls Basketball, Year 8/9 girls Basketball, Year 7 Cricket, Year 8/9 girls Touch Rugby and Year 8/9 Boys Touch Rugby remain undefeated. We are 2 rounds in with 5 games remaining but what a great start to the year for these teams.

Parents can download the following phone app for all ACC carnival information; http://www.accsport.asn.au/mobile-app

For more interest in the results, fixtures and venues, please visit:
http://www.accsport.asn.au/interschool-sport/sas

Come and talk with the experts!

Date: Wednesday 23 March 2015
Time: 2.00pm to 6.00pm
Venue: Kennedy Baptist College West Quad

The 2016 Kennedy Baptist College Career Expo coincides with the Year 10 and 12 Parent Teacher Interview Evening.  The Careers Expo will help you explore possible study pathways, potential careers and enable you to make wiser subject choices at school.

This year there will be exhibitors from the following institutions/organisations:

Notre Dame • Polytechnic West • Defence Force Recruiting • Edith Cowan University • Challenger TAFE • Master Builders Association • Curtin University of Technology • Master Plumbers and Gas Fitters Association • The University of Western Australia • Murdoch University • Murdoch Institute of Technology • Construction Training Fund • Western Australia Aviation College • WA Police Recruiting

Please be sure to mark this date in your calendar and come along to start investigating study options post high school and start career planning now. For further enquiries please contact Mrs Mary Minorgan, Career Development Coordinator, at Kennedy Baptist College.

Any requests for news or events to be included in the school's newsletter, please email news@kennedy.wa.edu.au. Content is subject to approval.