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November 26, 2021 | News
KHS Newsletter : 26 November 2021
26th November 2021
We were pleased to be able to celebrate our Year 12 students’ completion of schooling at the Valedictory Dinner on Friday 19th November, held at the Luxor Function Centre.
This marked a return to the way this milestone is usually celebrated, and the students and their families couldn’t have been more delighted. We are grateful to the Senior Team staff who held on to the hope that restrictions would ease in time for us hold the dinner and despite the arrangements having to be be managed within a short time-frame, the event was the usual excellent standard and an outstanding success.
In their valedictory speeches, our 2021 school captains, Chloe, Mason and Jasmyn, paid tribute to the relationships and support that enabled our graduates to reach this significant milestone. The warmth of the partnership between school and family was very evident.
Last week the Year 10 and 11 exams were held, and I commend these students for their application and effort. The return to our normal rounds of assessment, including examinations, are all significant small steps toward the larger goal of re-establishing consistent routines for successful learning. This is also an important time of transition. Our Begin 2022 program has reached the end of its first week for senior students and the remaining year levels will start their program next week. All the Grade 6s will be on site for a full day’s program on 7th December. As an indication of the growth in our roll, this incoming Year 7 will be our largest cohort for a number of years, and we are very excited to be welcoming them to our thriving school environment.
Another exciting aspect to our growth is the next stage of building works which will commence at the beginning of 2022. This stage will result in a new building which houses STEAM subjects including science, art, and food technology. There will also be refurbishment of our heritage building to create modern Music and Drama classrooms. This will of course mean that we need to manage our school operations while the building works are in progress but we are very familiar with this process and look forward to the reward of having brand new facilities to enjoy at the end.
Best wishes to everyone in our school community as we come to the end of week 8 – we have three weeks left of term 4!
Ana Rees – Principal
As part of Trans Awareness Week, the Student Leadership Team in conjunction with the KHS Pride Crew emphasized our school values of respect for self and others and by being inclusive of diversity. They coordinated a short ceremony at the front of our school at the flagpoles to formally recognize this week by raising the Trans flag and having a short speech to acknowledge.
The following is from one of our Pride Crew members:
Trans Awareness Week takes place this week, from Saturday the 13th to Friday the 19th, and is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the brilliant trans and gender-diverse community within our school and larger community! To commemorate the week, the trans flag will be flying in place of the usual rainbow flag, and there have been posters displayed throughout the school.
This week is an occasion to celebrate trans pride, and for allies, to have discussions with those around them about ways in which they can better their support of the wonderful trans and gender-diverse people around them—highlighting the importance of asking for and using correct pronouns, listening to and elevating trans and gender-diverse voices and experiences, and making their allyship visible to those around them all the time, not just during weeks of trans and LGBTQIA+ celebration.
Trans Awareness Week culminates in Trans Remembrance Day on Saturday the 20th of November, observed to honour and commemorate those who have lost and continue to lose their lives to transphobic violence and discrimination. A solemn reminder of the necessity of days and weeks of visibility such as Trans Awareness Week, this day also serves as a reminder of the transphobia, bigotry, and miseducation that continues to exist within society. Now is an optimal time to have conversations about the necessity of continued education, advocacy, and safe and inclusive spaces within schools—and for allies, to commit to listening to, supporting, and upholding the trans and gender diverse community around them, and to having zero tolerance for hate and discrimination.
Happy Trans Awareness Week!!!
Look around you!
Ashlee McMah in Year 7 was lucky enough to find a five leaf clover! Well done Ashlee on your discovery and keep up your focus on the world around you!
According to Wikipedia…
An actual survey of approximately 7 million clovers found the frequency to be about 5000 to 1, twice the popular probability of 10,000 to 1. According to an actual survey, the frequency of a five-leaf clover is 24,400 to 1, and of a six-leaf clover is 312,500 to 1. Five-leaf clovers are less commonly found naturally than four-leaf clovers. Some four-leaf clover collectors, particularly in Ireland, regard the five-leaf clover, known as a rose clover, as a particular prize.
Chess Club
Today we had a bunch of new players, maybe correlated with the blast of cold weather!
Mr Rickwood
Pre-Driver Education Camp
Last week, 16 Year 10 students, Ms Galea and Ms Cox attended an overnight Pre-drivers education camp in Charlton. The camp is a great experience for the students, who have just obtained (or are nearly at the stage of obtaining) their learner’s licence. All participating students gain experience in braking, steering, indicating, gear change, U-turn, reversing, night driving, roundabouts, angle parking, hill starts, overtaking, and cornering amongst many other things. The students gain theoretical and practical experience during the day and at night by driving automatic and manual cars. They also spend time in the classroom going over what they have done in more detail, gaining valuable experience and knowledge from trained professionals.
The students were all very well behaved and represented our school in a way we can all be proud of.
Jodie Cox
What are you having – pikelets or gingerbread?
In our final food classes for the year we have been busy baking gingerbread biscuits, in an assortment of Christmas themed shapes. We decorated them with royal icing and smarties. It has been a lot of fun to bake, decorate and eat!
Miss Dalley
Flying high
Students with remote control plane that is part of the Aerospace Option in Year 11 Physics.
Sculpture in all forms…
…created from paper pulp clay, made using materials made by the class using recycled cardboard and the humble toilet paper roll.
Eliza Foard 
Malachi Boon 
Mia Gray 
Molly Hoyne 
Molly Hoyne 
Tyler Jackson
SCHOOL NOTICES
2022 Booklists are available and can be downloaded below
…
Alum Matthew Shaw, class of 2010, wins Asia Pacific ‘Three Minute Thesis’ competition, exploring Lunar Space Construction
From Lucy King – Alumni Coordinator
Congratulations to Kyneton High alum Matthew Shaw, an Engineering PhD student and ‘extractive metallurgist’ at Swinburne University of Technology, for winning the Asia Pacifc 2021 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition!
Matthew is currently studying a PhD in Astrometallurgy and Lunar Processing technologies (and if you know what this is you’re smarter than me!) and describes himself as an “aspiring astrometallurgist in a field that doesn’t exist yet.”
Matthew’s research explores how to extract metals from Moon rocks, for space construction.
In his 3-minute presentation ‘Lunacy’, Matthew discusses his research into extracting metals from Moon rocks by vaporising them with concentrated sunlight, in order to construct large structures in space – an area he says has not been studied in detail before.
Click here to see “Lunacy” – Matthew’s presentation at the Swinburne website
Matthew’s thesis was born from his experience working in the mining industry, where he was subject to harsh environments including more than 100C temperature ranges.
You can watch Mathew’s presentation at the Swinburne website (link above). I’ve never really fancied a house on the moon, but he’s sold me on the idea of a deck with an earth view!
Congratulations Matthew – what a fabulous achievement.
Photo and video of Matthew’s presentation courtesy of Swinburne University of Technology.
If you’re an ex-student of Kyneton High School (an alumni) and would like to be involved in the alumni program, please contact Lucy King at alumni@kynetonhigh.vic.edu.au for more information.
The alumni program is run in conjunction with Ourschool, a not-for-profit service helping Victorian public high schools build thriving alumni networks.
To learn more about Ourschool, go to www.ourschool.net.au
from the archive
1979
Large crowd sees library opened
A large crowd of students, teachers, parents and local Parliamentarians attended Friday’s official opening of the Kyneton High School Library.
They looked on as the State Assistant Minister of Education, Mr. Norman Lacy, officiated at the opening on the mezzanine floor of the library.
“I’m always extremely pleased to be present at openings like this,” he said.
He said the architecture of the building exhibited the excellent ability of the Public Works Department to design school buildings.
The new library was ready for occupation in April last year after being completed at a cost of around $400,000.
However, a number of school improvements were carried out in conjunction with the library construction and the completion of new classrooms and general upgrading brought the total project cost up to around $600,000.
Mr. Lacy said that being at the school, he had an excellent opportunity to meet the parents and was impressed by their attitude, knowing their desire to support the school.
Prior to the opening address, speeches were given by the school’s vice principal Mr. Peter Barcham, and School Advisory Council president, Cr. Carl Nielsen.
He welcomed the local Federal member, Mr. Jim Short and local State member Mr. Fred Grimwade and Mr. Tom Reynolds (a former student at the school).
He told the gathering of the presence of senior education department officials, two district secondary school principals and a number of the school’s former teachers.
Also present was a large number of people associated with the improvements in the school.
Mr. Barcham read a telegram from the school principal, Mr. Hugh Fraser, at present holidaying in Queensland.
Mr. Barcham gave a short summary of the history of the school, pointing out that being established in 1912 it was one of the oldest high schools in the state.
“Its contribution to education can be judged by the number of distinguished ex-students,” he said.
The school population is still rising and an enrolment figure of over 800 was expected for next year.
Cr. Nielsen said that it had taken “six or seven years” to get the library to completion stage.
On behalf of the school advisory council, he paid tribute to previous administration staff, and local parliamentarians who had carried out “a lot of work” on the school council’s behalf.
Also in line for congratulations were the architect, the builders, the mothers’ club, and the staff “for their input and time into the upgrading of the school.
“It’s a heck of a job to take on,” said Cr. Nielsen.
“It’s a credit to them that we have a school of this nature.”
Pictured on Friday’s opening of Kyneton High School’s Library are:
High school vice principal, Mr. Peter Barcham (left), Assistant Minister of Education, Mr. Norman Lacy, and school advisory council president and Kyneton Shire Council representative, Cr. Carl Nielsen.
Kyneton Guardian 2nd October 1979
via Mal Closter
Coming up…
Some end-of-year dates for your diary
| Friday 26th November | Year 10 Formal |
| Friday 3rd December | Last Day Year 10 & 11 |
| Tuesday 7th December | Orientation Day |
| Thursday 9th December | School Council |
| Monday 13th December | Year 8 Camp |
| Tuesday 14th December | Year 8 Camp Year 7 & 9 Funfields excursion |
| Wednesday 15th December | Pupil Free Day |
| Thursday 16th December | VCE Results Released |
| Friday 17th December | End of Term 4 |
KYNETON HIGH SCHOOL