Dear Parents and Families,

The first term of 2020 has been an extraordinary time in history and has impacted everyone in many ways. It has been our goal that, despite the circumstances, we have endeavoured to provide the best possible education services for our students and families, maintaining our commitment to our mission and values. Our staff have worked incredibly hard to develop online learning opportunities that provide both structure and engagement for students whilst meeting the requirements of the West Australian Schools Curriculum and Standards Authority. After completing two weeks of our curriculum continuity plan, we will continue to review our strategies and persist in modifying and fine tuning our delivery of resources and lessons to students. At this stage, it appears that there will be no change in the social distancing requirements for the foreseeable future. Therefore, it seems inevitable that this mode of delivery will continue throughout Term 2.

Staff Additional Professional Learning Days and Dates

After consultation with staff, the Executive Team and the Chairman of the College Board, the below information outlines Kennedy’s revised dates for Term 2, 2020. These changes are in response to the impact COVID-19 is having on the delivery of the curriculum and care of our students and staff. 

• Tuesday 28 April - Staff PL (no classes or off-campus learning for students) 
• Wednesday 29 April - Term 2 commences for students 
• Monday 11 May - Staff PL (no classes or off-campus learning for students) 
• Friday 29 May - Staff PL (no classes or off-campus learning for students) 
• Wednesday 10 June - Staff PL (no classes or off-campus learning for students) 
• Thursday 25 June - Staff PL (no classes or off-campus learning for students) 
• Friday 3 July - Term 2 concludes for students
   

Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support. Your co-operation and supportive feedback has been greatly appreciated by all staff. We will soon be providing you with an opportunity for formal feedback through a survey which will be sent to all families.

We wish everyone a safe holiday and pray that the current situation will end as soon as possible to provide a sense of normality to everyone’s lives.

Have a wonderful Easter break.

Mr Mark Ashby
Principal

It is a natural trait of mine to be quite optimistic, that can be annoying, so this is a brief warning because I am about to be optimistic! I personally think we will need some more optimism.

I have found that when things like health, wisdom, freedom or life face a challenge or hardship, the outcome is a better understanding or a clearer vision than before.

What do I mean by that? We can experience health, but if we lose our health and gain it back, we appreciate good health so much more. Wisdom grows by coming through a challenge. Freedom is so much sweeter for a captive set free than for a person that never experienced the loss of freedom. For me it is a simple equation… (Life + challenge = greater appreciation of LIFE).

So, your optimistic chaplain would love to encourage you to see that life is like a 2-sided coin. If HEADS is ‘good’ and TAILS is ‘bad’, we can feel like the coin is always landing on TAILS! Please always remember to turn the coin over to check the HEADS side is still there! It is always there! Even if ‘HEADS’ is just remembering that we are all growing a deeper value system as we navigate these challenging days.

If you ever feel like your optimism is running out, go and borrow from someone else. Likewise, if you have a bit of optimism to spare, share it with someone who’s running a little low today, tomorrow that may be you! Turn the coin over there is always another side.

We have arrived at Easter… and we celebrate this time as we do every year, as a global human community. I have been pondering what Easter over the centuries has looked like. Easter has happened during times of war, in times of famine, when the world has been less advanced as it is now, less global. For 2000 years Easter has seen it all... Please click here to see video.

As part of maintaining our Kennedy community during this time of "COVID" time we are running four challenges for your child to take part in during the school holidays. They are:

• Trickshot basketball challenge - a video clip of your child completing a basketball trickshot.
• Fitness challenge - a video clip of your child doing a physical activity. 
• Guess the song challenge - guess the five songs played by the House Coordinators.
• Isolation photo - send in a photo of your child doing school work in an extreme/creative/unique way while still maintaining social isolation.

There are prizes and house points for each challenge and an overall prize for the most outstanding entry. These competitions will run until the end of Week 2 of Term 2 (8 May). We will announce the winners in Week 3!

How to enter the challenge:

Your child will have to upload their video or photo to their House Teams group. If you have any queries please direqt message the House Coordinators.

Note: Please notify us if you do not give consent to images or video being used on social media or the yearbook.

The majority of our instrumental music students have made the transition to online instrumental music lessons via the Microsoft Teams platform.  Thank you to all families for adjusting to this new mode of delivery. 

Some of the feedback from our music tutors includes the following: “Students are very excited to be continuing lessons… I have been impressed with how quickly and easily they have embraced off-campus learning… being able to speak to parents while the student is there really seems to let the students know that we’re all taking this seriously and professionally”. 

Some parents have also said that the transition has been smooth, and one parent writes: “It would have no doubt been challenging but from our perspective it was a great success”.

Opportunities for Music Lessons in Term 2

There are vacancies for all instruments offered at Kennedy – Bass Guitar, Cello, Clarinet, Drumkit, Flute, Guitar, Keyboard/Piano, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Ukulele, Violin and Vocals.  We also have one cello available for free hire until the end of Term 2 if a student would like to trial lessons just for one term on this instrument.

Please make direct contact by next Wednesday 15 April with Mrs Anthony if you would like to take up instrumental music lessons next term.  In Term 2, instrumental music lessons will be billed in 5 week blocks rather than by the term.

Mrs Janelle Anthony
Music Teacher and Instrumental Music Coordinator

In the Research and Study Centre, as with everybody, we are trying to make sense of a difficult and unprecedented situation. We continue to support the College with curriculum aids and with lessons promoting different genres in English, but it is all a bit weird – especially having very few students. We miss them!
 

E-platform to download books

Something we were going to purchase next term, but have sped up the process with is our new e-platform - Wheelers. This means our students can now download an e-book or audio book onto their laptops, or phones and then sit in a comfy chair, with a good book!

David Walliams is a very funny author and we have several of his books in the Research and Study Centre. He is releasing a free audio story every day until 23 April. You and your children can listen to them here.
 

Research and Study Centre Website 

Check out our website for some great online activities and resources. In our Maker Space section Mrs Gersbach has some Easter activities for our students to enjoy over the Easter break! Please click here for more information.

In Term 2, Mrs Hanham will be running a live lego competition over several weeks which students can participate in from home. Updates will be in the notices.

We are currently preparing some guides for 'study skills when learning off-campus' which we will upload to our website next term to help with the new environment in which our students find themselves! Once they are published, we will let you know through the notices.

A big part of what I am reading as I prepare this, is about how important it is to have a routine, and to recharge. One way to do this, is to do something you have not done for a long time that you used to enjoy – for some that is as simple as reading a book! For others it may be playing an instrument again. I am currently learning the ukulele! As we enter unchartered waters, I encourage you to pick up that book you have been putting off, relax in a comfy chair and recharge your batteries.

Mrs Yurisich
Head of Research and Study Centre

Our Year 11 students had the opportunity to make some delicious hot cross buns in class this week. We thought this could be a fun recipe to make at home during the school holiday break, as we are reminded of Jesus' death on the cross (which is where the idea of the cross on the bun comes from). So get your child busy in the kitchen and let them make you some of these delicious hot cross buns for Easter. Please click here for the ingredients and method.

Please be advised that the Administration Office will re-open on Monday 20 April 2020.

Students commence Term 2 on Wednesday 29 April at 8.15am for both on and off-campus learning. Students are to wear full winter uniform for Terms 2 and 3 when coming to the College campus, and PhysEd Uniform is advised when working from home, to maintain routine. Please note that Tuesday 28 April is a Staff Professional Learning Day (students do not have classes).

We hope that you have a restful and safe break during this school holiday period.

Easter commemorates Jesus Christ's victory over death. His resurrection guarantees that eternal life is granted to all who believe in Him. We encourage you to gather your family together at home and join any of the churches below for an online Easter experience. Let us not forget the reason behind the season.

• Southern Christian Church
  Every Sunday at 10.00am live streamed to your home.
  www.southern.org.au
• Lakeside Baptist Church
  Listen to Lakeside in the Lounge Room - updated every week!
  www.lakeside.asn.au
• Nations Church
  All our regular Sunday gatherings are now hosted online!
  www.nationschurch.com
• Mount Pleasant Baptist Church
  We are doing church differently during this season. Join us for Sunday@Home. 
  www.mounties.org.au
• The Red Door Community Church
  At Red Door we will be making times to gather online.
  www.thereddoor.cc
• Kingdomcity
  Physically distant but still spiritually connected online! Join us for Easter at home with a full kids program. 
  www.kingdomcity.com
• Oasis Church 
  Find Life - watch Easter online.
  www.oasischurchperth.com