Term 4 Week 4
Principal's Message
Dear Parents and Carers,
World Teachers’ Day
This year, World Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Australia on Friday 29 October. Celebrated in more than 100 countries worldwide, World Teachers' Day was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1994 to recognise the role of teachers in society. It is an opportunity to celebrate and thank our teachers for their important role and for the positive impact they have on the lives of students. It is usually not until later in life, in a moment of reflection, that we come to think: I learnt that or feel this because of what one of my teachers said or did all those years ago. A day such as this is an opportunity to thank that teacher and I encourage all of us to take the opportunity to show our gratitude to those teachers.
On behalf of the Kimberley College community, I thank all the wonderful teachers and teaching support staff for their dedication, kindness and humour.
College Electives Program – Students finding or following their passion
For a brief period during my walk around the campus on Thursday afternoon I thought Kimberley College had been invaded by aliens. You may well agree when you view the photo below, which features a group from our Middle School who this semester have chosen to study beekeeping for their elective program. Our mission statement includes our aim to support students to find or follow their passion. This was certainly evident in the enthusiasm shown by this group of students (and their teacher) as they headed to the farm.
Instrumental Music Showcase
This edition of our newsletter also features some photos from our successful Instrumental Music Showcase. One of the highlights of the evening for me was watching the friends of the performers offering their support and encouragement from their seats in the audience.
End of Year Celebration Events
Finally, a reminder of our upcoming year end celebration events. All families should have received an email providing details of how to book your tickets. Please contact us if you have not received yours.
Senior School Graduation - Wednesday 17 November at Sleemans Sports Complex
Primary School Graduation - Tuesday 23 November at the College
Middle School Graduation - Thursday 25 November at Sleemans Sports Complex
Kind regards,
Glenn Johnson - Principal
Middle School Update
It’s election time! No, Scomo is not calling another election as Australia prepares to open up to the rest of the world… We are! Kimberley College Middle School is about to go into political campaigning overdrive. Starting next week, students in all Middle School boats will be forming political parties and will begin writing their policies to campaign to the rest of their classmates in the hope of their party being elected and their ‘leader’ becoming their boat’s Prime Minister.
In the spirit of our theme POWER, students have been learning about the history of politics, systems of government and civic identity during HASS and English lessons. They have been shining a light on their understanding of energy transfer and transformation, and electrical circuits in Science; and they have been learning how to collect and represent data in Mathematics. Soon, we will be delving into Australia’s system of government and our parliamentary levels and processes in preparation for our boat election campaigns. Once political parties have been formed, each group will develop a party platform reflecting a distinct political ideology for an Australian federal (boat) election. Group members will research and formulate policies on three major issues facing Australians. There will be political posters hung, speeches given and ballot room boxes set up for voting in our elections. We are super exited to see students campaigning and hear their speeches, not to mention finding out who will be each boat’s prime minister! We encourage parents to get involved by having discussions with your children about their party roles and issues they can focus on for their party policies.
While all this is happening, our Year 9s, who have been working through their Great Heights careers booklets and creating their resumes and employment cover letters, will participate in mock job interviews and begin their subject taster classes in preparation for Year 10.
In other news, our Year 7 debating teams competed in their Round 4 debates this week, after postponements from Term 3. It was a short preparation debate, for which we practiced at school in the lead up, and both teams handled the pressure well. Our Jagera team are now finished their rounds, but our Lama Lama team still have their Round 3 debate to go (postponed for the second time to the 3rd November).
It’s almost Week 5 already, people! Let’s finish the year strong, engaged and committed to producing our best work. Good luck to all our political candidates throughout Middle School.
Primary School Update
Term Four has gotten off to a fabulous start in Kokowara, and we have got lots of exciting things to share with you.
In particular, we have been enjoying our Drama unit that has been unfolding this term. We are working towards performing an Aboriginal Dreaming story in small groups towards the end of the year, and so we have been practising our acting skills with lots of fun games to help us step outside of our comfort zone.
We have used our incredible imaginations this term to become authors. We have been brainstorming our ideas to continue the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. We are extending the journey of either the Wolf, the Woodcutter, or Little Red, and have been looking at the concept of 'what next?' as we develop our own narrative.
We have been doing swimming lessons this term too. We have loved our weekly trips to the YMCA to practise our swimming strokes ready for summer - and the bus journeys have been so fun, playing spotto (a car game) and lots of friends have been taking us on a 'Redlands tour' by pointing out things or places they recognise along the way.
We've been looking at the past in our unit, 'Windows to the World'. This has prompted many interesting conversations about our knowledge of years gone by. We have looked at how household items have evolved, investigated how clothes used to look 100 years ago, played with toys and games from the past, and the topic which was most interesting was to look at how school life was in the 'old days'. The Kokowara class could not believe some of the practices used in schools back then, and they questioned if any of the Koko teachers had similar experiences. We are looking forward to an excursion to the Beenleigh Historical Museum in a couple of weeks, and will also be working on a project where we interview our grandparents. What a fun time to be a Kokowara!
Kokowara Teachers
Primary Assembly
We wish to congratulate the following students who received a KC Attitude Award at our assembly. Well done, Rosabella Evans, Summer McElroy, Amahlia Stevenson, Ashton Prior, Jett Bridges, Eligh Thompson, Lucas Maher-Capper, Ryan Thackray, Frank Cornelius, Savannah Blessing, Miller Wilson, Skyla Tennie, Miley Crampin, Alexis Hillman, Boston Kennenberg, Willow Ramsay, Bella Alexander Paige Williams and Xaivier Carpe.
We also wish to thank Waka Waka for sharing the wonderful adevtures that they had on their camp at PGL Kindilan Adventure Camp.
Primary Graduation
You are invited to join us in celebrating the Primary School Graduation at Kimberley College Undercover Area on Tuesday 23rd of November commencing at 9.30am. Seating will begin at 9:00am.
From Friday 29th of October you will be able to book tickets for this event using our dedicated Trybooking link https://www.trybooking.com/BVAFH. Please note that seating is limited, therefore each student is allocated two guests.
Kristy Shepherdson
2021 Instrumental Music Showcase
Our annual Kimberley College Instrumental Music Showcase was held last Thursday 21st October. Students, teachers, and parents were able to enjoy a wonderful evening of music and experience all the hard work that our instrumental students have put into their lessons during 2021. We are always excited to share in their continued passion and enthusiasm for our music program and we look forward to sharing in more musical performances with them in 2022!
Senior School Graduation
Our Senior School Graduation Evening will be held on Wednesday 17th November at Chandler Theatre, Sleeman Sports Complex commencing at 6:30pm. Tickets are available for purchase now through Trybooking. Please refer to the letter sent out by admin earlier this week for information on how to book these.
Dance Auditions
Our 2022 Dance Auditions are being held next week on Thursday 4th November and Friday 5th November. All information and audition packs can be found on our school website. Please direct any questions to dance@kimberley.college
Absentees, Early Collections & Late Arrivals
Please remember that details pertaining to a students absence or an early collection can be sent via:
- our school App,
- a call to 3209 0300 and select the Student Absences option or
- you can email student.absences@
kimberley.college .
There is a link within the Rollcall app, however this is not linked to the school.
When sending an email to class teachers to advise them, please ensure that you also c.c in the Student Absences email.
If you are aware of an upcoming appointment, those details can be sent through ahead of time.
When picking up students early please come to the Student Hub to collect them.
Unfortunately, we cannot allow students to sign out and leave without a parent / carer or an emergency contact person being sighted.
All students arriving after the first bell (8.45) must go to the Hub and sign in late.
Also just a reminder that the top carpark is for staff only, the main carpark at the front of the school is for parents.
2022 Next Step Survey
The Queensland Government will conduct its annual statewide survey of Year 12 completers in 2022. The Next Step survey is a brief, confidential survey that gains a comprehensive picture of the employment, study and life choices made by Queensland school completers in the year after they finish Year 12.
Between March and June next year, our current Year 12 students will receive a letter from the Minister for Education or an email or phone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office inviting you to complete the survey. To enable them to reach you, please ensure your contact details are correct in your learning account by logging into the student portal at https://myqce.qcaa.qld.edu.au/
Further information on Next Step and results from previous surveys are available online at www.qld.gov.au/nextstep.
