Photo above: Despite the weather, we had a fantastic Open Day on Saturday 17 August.

Message from the Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians and Families,

I am pleased to welcome Mr Rod McNeill to the College Board. The Governance Board is an essential part of the leadership structure of the College and its members are tasked with the responsibility of overseeing our mission and development. Rod McNeill has experience as a teacher and a Principal, and has been a pastor in both Australia and overseas. I look forward to him contributing to the Kennedy community through his service on the Board.

Community Open Day

Thank you to our wonderful Parents and Friends Association along with all families who supported the College at Open Day. This occasion provides a great opportunity for the College to showcase the dynamic community that we have here at Kennedy and it was extremely pleasing to have so many visitors come along and enjoy the Kennedy experience. It reflects incredibly well on our students and parents that they can share our College values with such pride.

Thank you as well to our Parents and Friends executive team who worked so hard to co-ordinate the range of activities available on the day and our staff for continuing to excel in their representation of Kennedy Baptist College.

30 Year Celebrations

In the lead up to Open Day, it was my privilege to sit alongside the inaugural Principals of Winthrop and Somerville to reflect on 30 Years of educational excellence. The attendance at this event was a fantastic reflection of the enduring impact of our College on the lives of our students, families and staff. Recordings of this event are available on the Kennedy Baptist College YouTube page.

Kennedy Day

Congratulations to our student executive leadership team on coordinating a wonderful Kennedy Day. Kennedy has a comprehensive student leadership program designed to help all students grow and develop as leaders, and this day is a great learning experience for our student leadership team as they completely manage the day’s events.

It was great to see all our students get involved and support them with the wide range of activities developed to further promote our College community.

Mr Mark Ashby
Principal

Chaplain Chats

If you are listener of podcasts, might I recommend one of my favourites: Undeceptions. There’s over 100 episodes of interesting conversations, as host John Dickson analyses various (mis)conceptions around Christianity. A recent example is ‘History Wars’, where Dickson asks whether or not the study of history is useful. If looking back can be painful, is history actually helpful? The pain can be all-consuming so many of us don’t look.

There is a famous saying, “The one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.” I don’t know about you, but it is from my personal history that I have learnt all my very valuable, although often painful, life lessons. Now, in my ‘job’ of chaplaincy, much like the ‘job’ of parenting, part of my goal is to try to help children through life by looking at the past with them. The aim is to extract as much learning from previous challenges and mistakes as we can together. We call this ‘raising children’. The surprise at the end of the parenting job is that have a fully formed adult and not just a child. We could reword the parenting job description as ‘raising adults’! This one thought changed my personal parenting.

History can be painful, and sometimes messy, but it is the greatest tool in shaping a fully formed adult. Avoiding the past detracts from the greatest power of history, finding out what can be learnt and improved on next time. Growing is a series of facing mistakes, seeing that there is always a future, and moving forward in the full light of history. Let’s look back together before moving forward together.

Curriculum Report

Thank you to those students who volunteered their time to assist in different Learning Area displays at the College’s Community Open Day. It was fantastic to have our families attend and visit the various curriculum displays which showcased a variety of ways that students can demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of curriculum.

NAPLAN

Individual student NAPLAN reports can be accessed electronically through SEQTA and each student has been given a paper copy. If your child has not yet received their paper copy, please encourage them to come to Student Services.

In 2023, NAPLAN reporting shifted from bands to proficiencies. The NAPLAN proficiency standards include four proficiency levels for each assessment area at each year level:

• Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
• Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
• Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
• Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

There have been numerous articles in the media around NAPLAN and the standards of student performance. The national and state results do not equate to the performance of students at Kennedy Baptist College and our students achieve well above national and state averages. The following is a snapshot of our NAPLAN results, averaging all assessments.

It is important to note that if a student remains in a particular proficiency from Year 7 to Year 9, they are likely to be progressing. The expected level of achievement is increasing from year to year, therefore a student who remains in ‘developing’ from Year 7 to Year 9 is still progressing.

Year 12 Students

Year 12 students are in the final weeks of schooling with all curriculum programs being completed at the end of this term. Apart from examinations, all assessments require completion and must be submitted. Students are reminded that to be awarded a grade, they must complete the whole teaching, learning and assessment program. The next three weeks are an opportunity for Year 12 students to finish twelve years of schooling to the best of their ability.

Pastoral Care Report

Student leadership is a great part of the Kennedy culture, and our program provides many opportunities for students to actively participate in decision-making processes and contribute to College life. 

A recent example of this is Kennedy Day, where our students come together to celebrate the community that we are a part of. Our Student Executive Leadership team did a fantastic job organising this event, starting with a fun and lively assembly in our Auditorium and continuing with ice cream and juices at Recess and Lunch, with live music outside the RASC. I want to thank each of our Kennedy student leaders for their willingness and ability to create such an outstanding day. 

With the College year ending soon for our current Year 12s, we have completed the selection of our 2025 Student Executive. Our rigorous process involved interviewing applicants, followed by a Year 11 student vote, and giving the opportunity for staff to give their input.

Our current team will present these deserving students with their badges at the Year 12 assembly at the beginning of Term 4.

As part of the RUOK Day initiative in Week 9, we will have the privilege of hearing from three speakers who will talk to students about mental health. Year 7 will hear from Masters Psychology and Co, Mark Lloyd will speak to our Year 8 and 9 students, and Rob Mason will have a conversation with our Year 10-12s. Pancakes will be available, and staff-student sports games will build on our strong community feeling at Kennedy Baptist College. 

Finally, as we approach the end of Term 3, I would like to encourage students to make the most of all the available opportunities. There are many chances to participate, including with Community Service, cohort socials, and a large range of activities during Extended Form. 

Kennedy News

Father's Day Breakfast

Thank you to those fathers, grandfathers, and father-figures who were able to join us this morning in the Lower Foyer. Over a fantastic breakfast catered by our Beedawong Cafeteria, these men shared some great moments getting to know each other better and enjoyed the story-telling of Graham Mabury OAM.

Graham's message to our dads was to remain consistent and persistent with their engagement of their children, making sure to show up each and everyday for them. We hope that this time was a great encouragement to you each.

College Notices

Pavers for the P&F

The Kennedy Baptist College Parents and Friends Association are continuing their fundraising efforts from this year's Community Open Day in order to acquire shade sails near the Murdoch Sports Oval, providing much needed shade for our students and staff. With a donation of $50, you can both help the P&F and have a personalised engraved paver to be placed in the Year 11 and 12 area as recognition of  your support.

Please contact the P&F to organise a paver, and please note that pavers need to be ordered over the coming days.

Positive Mobile Phone Use

In the 15 August eNewsletter, our Pastoral Care team provided some practical advice on reducing student phone use at night. Paired with our Protective Behaviour presentations to students over the last few weeks, including representatives from Lighthouse Cyber Education and the WA Police, we hope that this information is helping transform mobile phone use into a more positive experience. A Parent Forum on 15 August helped our parents to understand what their children are learning in this space and reinforce it at home.

If you were unable to make it to our most recent Parent Forum, here are some of the basic but effective ways you can help your child:

• Only allow the use of devices in a common space where screens cannot be hidden.
• If your child has a personal device, monitor their activity and set time limits using 'Parental Controls', available on both Apple and Android.
• Move charging stations to a common area to avoid the use of devices (including smartwatches) in bedrooms.
• Set an example and put your own device down, especially when engaging with your child.

Campus Drive (South) Opened

As communicated previously, Murdoch University has temporarily reversed their decision to close Campus Drive (South), between Farm Road and the University Carpark 8. Please note that this road closure may go ahead in future.

Consider the best school route for your family, including if Murdoch University is required to close the road again. We will notify families through the newsletter of any updates to this decision.

The next newsletter will be published on:
Thursday 12 September 2024.