Kimberley College Newsletter - Term 1 2023

Principals Welcome

Bright sunshine and big smiles marked the start of the 2023 school year. I was delighted to personally welcome so many returning students, new students, and parents/caregivers as they headed through the school gate. 25 students took their first steps on their educational journey with us, starting as preppies in our Koko space. Whilst there were a few tears (mostly from the parents/caregivers), the little ones had a great day and settled into Kokomini life.

In our Middle School, we had 76 new students commence in year 7, joining our Year 6 students who graduated from Primary School last year. We also had a number of new students join in other classes/boats/faculties across the College. I would encourage all of our existing students to make our new students welcome and extend a friendly hello. It is amazing how even a small gesture like a warm smile can brighten someone’s day.

It is with pleasure that I announce our Student Council Executive for 2023: Ashton Bennett, Charlize Cullen, Rylan Warrilow and Leah White. In January, our Exec members participated in a three - day Australian Student Leadership Conference (ASLC) run by yLead at the University of Queensland. I was able to attend the last day of the conference and was greatly impressed by their level of engagement and commitment to make a positive difference for all students at the College. Developing a KC Vision and action plan for 2023, the Executive will work with the Student Council body to bring this to life. It was great to see their photo booth in action on the first day of term with so many students keen to have their picture taken on return to school.

In the week preceding the start of term, our staff participated in rich professional development opportunities at the College – in Collaborative Philosophical Inquiry (CPI) and Microsoft workshops respectively. Given the importance of developing and growing students as critical, creative and collaborative thinkers, the teacher CPI workshops proved integral to the implementation of CPI across P – Year 9 in 2023. Our staff were also upskilled in the Microsoft suite of products. I look forward to seeing the positive impact of the professional learning in CPI and Microsoft benefit the teaching and learning taking place within our classrooms.

Alongside our parent-information evenings in Week Two, our first Invictus Community Wellbeing presentation for 2023 will take place for our Primary parents/caregivers on 1 February. Throughout the year, we hold a number of Invictus Community Wellbeing presentations in order to provide information and support to our community. I encourage you to attend these sessions; they provide a great opportunity to hear from experts and ask questions so that you are set up well to support the needs of our young people. Sessions for Middle and Senior parents/caregivers will be held in Term Two with details to come.

Our College Principal Glenn Johnson is on the road to recovery. He was able to join the staff for a brief zoom meeting last week and we all look forward to his return in due course. He extended his sincere thanks for all the kind words and get-well messages from the College.

Our new Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027 is in place. This document, a culmination of the voices of teachers, College leaders, Board Directors, students and parents, provides us with a clear strategic direction across the next five years. We are responsible for teaching students today in order to prepare them for tomorrow's world. The Strategic Plan, and the operationalization of it, provides a fertile environment to nurture the growth of students as critical & creative thinkers, compassionate connectors, and purposeful contributors. This will set them up for success in tomorrow's world.

I am excited about the coming year; working collaboratively as a College community to nurture students’ holistic growth and celebrate all of their successes.

Acting Principal
Janine Parkinson
principal@kimberley.college

Parents and Friends (P&F)

Coming soon is the famous Kimberley College P&F Trivia Night - Saturday 22 April 2023 at Fitzys Hotel at Loganholme. It is a great night with lots of fun and a relaxed way to meet other parents and members of the wider school community. 

The theme is 'Through the Ages' with team (table of 10) or individual bookings available. Prizes also available for best dressed team and decorated table so start organising your team. Bookings to go live soon so watch the P&F and KC community page for details or scan the QR code below for a direct link. 

* Participants must be over 18 years of age and non current students of KC. 

Invictus Community Wellbeing Presentation

This year we will be starting our Invictus Community Wellbeing  Presemtation series with an information session for the parents and caregivers of primary age students. 

Date: Wednesday 1 February 2023
Time: 6.00 - 7.00pm
Venue: Mabo Classroom

Register online: https://www.trybooking.com/CFNFY

True Education: True Relationships and Reproductive Health - This term your child is going to be involved in a relationship and sexuality education program run collaboratively with True Relationships & Reproductive Health and the classroom teachers. The many benefits of relationship and sexuality education include supporting the development of a healthy self-esteem, a positive attitude towards sexuality, information to care for bodies and the development of skills to make healthy decisions.

At Kimberley College this year in line with the national HPE curriculum, we will be delivering sessions to Prep - 4 on protective behaviours. The information includes naming body parts, identifying feelings, what children can do if they feel unsafe and safety networks. Each child will receive a leaflet outlining the information that they learned in class, allowing families to continue conversations at home. Year 5-6 sessions will include information on healthy relationships, decision making & puberty. Each child will receive a booklet to bring home.

Please note: Middle and Senior students will participate in their workshops in Term Two. There will also be an Invictus Wellbeing Evening for Middle and Senior Parents and Carers in Term Two.

Alumni Connection - Social Event Invite

Are you a former student of Kimberley College and now a parent? or do you know of any past graduates? If so we would love to invite them to our upcoming special alumni event, Alumni Soiree 23.

Date: Friday 24 February 2023
Time: 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Venue: Redland Bay Golf Club

Numbers are strictly limited so register today https://www.trybooking.com/CENYN

While COVID might have slowed us down over the last few years, we look forward to warmly welcoming you and reconnecting with past friends and classmates this coming February 2023.

Primary School Update

Welcome back to an exciting New Year in the Primary School. It was wonderful to see all the student's excited arrival on their first day back at school.

Let's look at what's in store for our students in each primary space for term one.

In Kokomini this term, there is an exciting theme called "Magical Adventures". Students will begin by getting to know their class friends, their school environment and where the Kokomini name originated. They will engage in Nursery Rhymes and stories filled with rhyme and creative ideas. They will look at science experiments that can seem like magic, and in Mathematics, focus on learning the numbers 1-10. This will lay the foundation for a successful year of reading and writing that they are about to embark on. Students will develop strong relationships with their classmates and teachers through sports games focused on team building and engage in the You Can Do It Program to build resilience.

In Kokowara, this term, the theme is 'Zootopia'. The students will explore living and non-living things in this theme, focusing on animals, their features, and their habitats. From there, they will design a hybrid animal and plan and construct a diorama with a habitat to meet the needs of their new animal. During writing sessions, students will learn to write 6 sentence stories about the hybrid animals they create, and in Mathematics, students will have fun using games to practise their number skills to help them with skip counting and partitioning, and we will be putting our animal knowledge to the test as we collect data and create displays, showing what we have learned. We hope to have Wild Rangers Brisbane bring school animals and talk to the students about adaptation and habitats, which will be very exciting.

In Waka Waka, the students will explore the theme 'Setting the Record Straight'. Students will explore world records and why we have world records. Who decides, records and judges if someone has achieved a world record. In Writing, they will 'Set the Record Straight on how to write a narrative, while in Mathematics, they will explore measurement concepts of length, weight, time and speed records. Students will design and organise their own Waka Waka record day and list the results of the records they set. An exciting excursion to Ripley's Believe it, or Not is also on the cards!

In Gubbi Gubbi "Our home is an ancient land." In the unit titled, Long Ago, our Gubbi Gubbi students will be exploring the wonders of the history of Australia. From the cultures and traditional practices of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People to stories of the past, students will develop a greater appreciation for our ancestors. By reading Dreamtime stories, learning Aboriginal art techniques, and being fully immersed in a tribal survival challenge, the students this term will form connections to the land, our spiritual ancestors and each other.

This year all of the Primary student’s will be engaging in Communities of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI). During Philosophical Inquiry, students ask questions, make judgements in order to make sense of their world. As life's big questions are explored, a rigorous process of inquiry is used. Respect and reason are developed and practiced by all students through listening to each other, building on each other's ideas and understanding that there will be many possible answers to their questions. Students will learn to be fair, open-minded, intellectually cooperative and mutually respectful of each other. They will reflect on their prevailing beliefs, explore possible alternatives, and give and accept reasons. They will learn to be reflective, sensitive to meaning, divergent, and reasonable.

Well, such an exciting term is planned for our Primary students. 

Denise Bould
Director of Teaching and Learning

Middle School Update

Hello, and welcome back to an exciting and busy 2023. This year the Middle School students are going to embark on a journey through the theme of “For Right or Wrong”. There are many times throughout our lives when we are plagued with ethical and moral dilemmas; sometimes, we turn to family or friends to gauge our responses, but how often do we look inward? This theme is designed to support students in analysing the world around them and deciding where their moral compass points them.

Through lessons and activities, each unit will touch on the theme ranging from our interaction with people to how we treat the environment around us. This year the students will start philosophical inquiry, where they will hone their critical thinking and questioning skills.

There are many opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities throughout the year. Coming up this term, we have our swimming carnival, STEMPunks competition and raw challenge. We look forward to all our students finding getting involved in an extracurricular activity that they feel passionate about.

For all the adults out there, here are a few events to pop on your calendar for Term One.

- Our ‘Parent Meet and Greet’ evening will take place on Monday 30th of January at 5.30 pm. This will be held in your child’s classroom and run by the teachers. Unfortunately, we are unable to record this session. However, a PowerPoint will be emailed home for you to peruse if you are unable to attend.

• The swimming carnival will be held on Tuesday 31st of January, so get your house colour ready and turn up your voices to cheer on your peers as they take to the water.
• School photos 1st March. Sibling photos will be held before school in the auditorium.
• NAPLAN will now be run on the 16th and 17th of March.
• Student-Led conferences will be held in Week 9
• The Raw challenge will also be held on the 25th of March.
• Camp will be held in Week One of Term Two (17th - 19th of April)

I look forward to getting to know all of our new families and welcoming you to our Middle School Community.

Margherite Rigden
Middle School Coordinator 

Senior School

Welcome back everyone. I trust you are rested, tanned (in a sun-sensible way) and raring to go.

Firstly, congratulations to the 2022 graduating Year 12s who have secured themselves employment including traineeships and apprenticeships since finishing school. For some of those students, offers of employment were made well before they left school.

Congratulations also to those students who secured a university offer. To date 91% of those students who applied have received an offer, with 81% receiving their first preference and the remainder all receiving their second preference. That is an excellent outcome. For those who are interested in such things the highest ATAR score received was over 99.

Year 10, welcome to the senior school. You will get to catch up with friends from your from last year and also those who left the Boats to start senior ahead of you in previous years. I would also like to give a special welcome to the thirteen new enrolments who are starting with KC at the start of Year 10. It must feel daunting, but I can assure you, this is a friendly place filled with great young people who will be keen to make your acquaintance and help you settle in.

Year 11, you are mid-Unit 1. It is vital to your QCE that you start the year switched on to your studies. Building a solid foundation is very important.

Year 12, you are mid-Unit 3. The game is on for you. At this time next year what future options would you like to be able to choose for yourself. Set your goal and work towards it; every day.

Information sessions will be held for the senior school on Wednesday evening 01 February.

The Year 10 information session will go from 5.30pm to 6.15pm in the auditorium. Matters such as expectations, pastoral care & communication, reporting and what to expect in the timeline of the transitional year will be discussed, with time at the end for questions.

The Year 11 information session will go from 6.30pm to 7.15pm in the auditorium. Matters such as expectations, pastoral care, the QCE, ATARs, TAFE at school, school-based apprenticeships & traineeships, as well as the timeline of the senior certification process will be discussed. The evening is focussed on Year 11 families, but Year 12 families are welcome if you want a ‘refresher’ on last year’s session.

• Year 10 Camp is scheduled from Wednesday 08 to Friday 10 February.
• Year 12 Biology Camp is scheduled from Monday 13 to Wednesday 15 February.
• The Yunupingu faculty welcome dinner and musical is on Thursday 16 February.
• The senior school photography is planned for Friday 03 March so start to iron your socks.
• Year 11 Camp is scheduled from Wednesday 08 March to Friday 10 March.

What a busy start to the year, but it is so good to get back to normal. Please anticipate more specific communications about the camps etc being sent to families in due course.

Welcome back – I look forward to catching up with you all.

Chris McAlpine
Director of Studies

Certificate 1 in Construction on Offer

For senior students interested in construction, Kimberley College is pleased to partner with external RTO provider Adapt Education to deliver Certificate 1 in Construction, which is a nationally recognised qualification. This term we have 15 students from 11 and 12 undertaking the course that commenced this week, taking one year to complete and provides 3 points towards a Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE). 

The qualification provides an introduction to the construction industry, its culture, occupations, job roles and workplace expectations. It also covers essential workplace health and safety, communication skills, work planning and basic use of tools and materials. 

In other news, the vocational studies faculty, Namatjira is pleased to welcome highly valued hospitality teacher Miss Kim Cooper back from long service leave. All of the students are pleased to see her return looking refreshed and excited about 2023. 

Sports Update

SAVE THE DATE – SWIMMING CARNIVAL Our annual middle and senior school swimming carnival is set to be held on Tuesday 31 January (Week 2) at Pimpama Sports Hub. Primary students aged 10-12 looking to compete in district level swimming are invited to trial at this event. Further information has been sent via email and is available on the parent lounge.

REMINDER – PACIFIC DISTRICT TRIALS District sport trials have well and truly kicked off for 2023! These trials are for students who already play sports at a high level outside of school. Students wishing to trial must complete the following form before the nomination date: https://forms.gle/Ru3B6jVkD4xr5UFx9

IMPORTANT TERM 1 SPORTS DATES Beenleigh Zone Swimming Carnival – Monday 6 February Pacific District Swimming Carnival – Monday 13 February

South Coast Swimming Carnival – Tuesday 28 February Beenleigh Zone Cross Country – Wednesday 29 March. 

Kimberley College Football Academy

We are looking forward to another exciting year of Football and Futsal in 2023 after enjoying much success for individuals and teams. We currently have some spots in our extracurricular classes for students who want to join the Academy to enhance their football technical abilities and game awareness, make new friends, and most importantly, have fun!

Competitions Kimberley College will be entering in 2023 include the following with more information regarding trials for these teams is to be announced. 

Primary School Gala Days - Boys/Girls - Football (possible Futsal)
Year 7-12 Cross Rivers Championship Days - Boys/Girls- Football and Futsal 
U14 ISSA Cup - Boys/Girls - Football
U15 Bill Turner Cup - Boys/Girls - Football
U19 Uhlsports Cup - Boys/Girls
Football Premier Sports - Boys/Girls - Football and Futsal
Brisbane Metro Futsal Titles and progression will only be selected from KCFA students. 

The Subject Levy for each Year 3-12 student is $300 for the year ($150 per semester).email - football@kimberley.college for more information.

Scott Shepherd
Head of Kimberley College Football Academy