1 Newsletter No. 19 - Term 2 – Week 9 Thursday 19th June 2014 From the Principal…. ASIA EDUCATION FOUNDATION CONFERENCE This week I was fortunate enough to attend this second conference from the Asia Education Foundation. Last year the conference was in Melbourne and this year it was sited in Sydney. Delegates from all over Australia, and from all sectors of Education, attended the conference. The conference was over three days and we heard a range of speakers and attended workshop sessions. We began on Monday morning at the opening session with Scott Ryan, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education. This was followed by a terrific panel discussion with panellists, Hayley Bolding, Lead, Young People Without Borders, Professor Okhwa Lee, Chungbuk National University Republic of Korea, Natsuko Ogawa, Partner, Ashurst Australia and Dr Gene Sherman AM, Director, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. The topic was “The Growth of Asia” but also Australia’s place in this growth and the importance of education in making the right connections with Asia. After this session I chose a workshop group, which was “New World: Preparing teachers for a global classroom” run by Dr Libby Tudball, Monash University. After lunch on Monday I went to “Spotlight on Schools: Learning from, with and about Asia – Across the Curriculum” and then one called “New thinking: Leading Asia literate schools. Late in the afternoon we were all back together and we had an inspiring talk from Pallavi Sharda, Australia’s Bollywood Actress; and what an interesting person she is! Born to two PhD parents, Pallavi was academically gifted and completed high school in five years. Pallavi commenced her triple degrees of Law, Media & Communications and French at the University of Melbourne when she was sixteen years old, and completed her degrees in five years also. Her passion is the Performing Arts, especially Bollywood dancing. She is extremely popular in India as well as in Australia. Pallavi is a very articulate young woman who, for an hour, described to us her life as an Indian child growing up in Australia, then as a highly educated academic, changing her life to a Bollywood dancer. Pallavi had no script, she simply sat there and talked about her experiences, which I’m ashamed to say, weren’t always good as a child. The world really has changed as we are learning more and more about different cultures and different languages. Although there are some members of Australian society who are very resistant to learning about Asia, our multi- cultural society has brought an incredible richness to the way we live our lives. Pallavi took questions at the end before we all went to the Welcome Reception where we were entertained by school children and their fantastic Korean drumming before the close of Day 1. Day 2 began with a session with Professor Fazal Rizvi from The University of Melbourne. I have heard Prof. Rizvi before and he speaks passionately about the need to continue our learning of Asia in new forms as our society keeps changing, and almost re-formatting. After Prof. Rizvi, His Excellency General, The Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (ret’d), Governor-General, Commonwealth of Australia, spoke to us. His Excellency was strong in his praise of Australian schools connecting with Asian schools but also reiterated the need for our society to be working with companies and governments in Asia. He did give some examples of very successful partnerships which provided jobs and economic opportunities. He also stayed for morning tea and was very generous with his time and meeting many of us during the morning. 2 My next workshop group was “New Thinking: Developing our future workforce: what Asia capabilities do Australian businesses need?” presented by James Hogan, Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC Australia. James certainly supported the information given to us by Sir Peter Cosgrove and, again, gave many examples of successful business opportunities with Asian countries. Those of us who have lived in Australia all our lives, including myself, had our eyes opened to the number of Australians who have lived in Asia for many, many years and have been very successful in their business ventures. I had chosen this workshop so I could further understand what the end result is of our children connecting closely with Asia and, as I expected, there really is not only a need for connection with Asian countries, but the future is quite optimistic for our children and their chosen careers. The next session was labelled “Spotlight on Schools” and this is where I gave my presentation. I was part of a group sharing experiences of sister–school relationships to a wider group. The presentation was very well received as many schools are just starting into their journey with sister schools and wanted to hear more about our experiences. I also enjoyed hearing from other speakers who had sister schools in places such as Bhutan, where Aussie kids had a wonderful experience hiking with children from their sister school. My last Master Class session was with the children’s author, Christopher Cheng. Christopher writes books with incredible historical accuracy and we followed his family’s journey in China and Australia. Children learn through stories, in fact most of us love stories, and Christopher tells the history of the Chinese in Australia through his stories. Do keep a watch out for his books. The last session of Day 2 was all of us back together with Fred Smith, Singer, Songwriter and Diplomat. Some of you would have seen Australian Story featuring Fred. He has worked in many troubled regions of the world including Bougainville in New Guinea and Kandahar in Afghanistan. Fred works for the Australian Government but includes the world wide love of music in his dealings with people. I have seen him sing in a small music club setting and he was terrific but on Tuesday he was mesmerising in a big auditorium with a large audience. He is a humble speaker and a straight talker and told of the horrors of conflict and the wonders of human connection in war. A great end to the day! My last day was spent at the Art Gallery of NSW in the exhibition, “Theatre of Dreams, Theatre of Play: Nô and Kôgen in Japan”. Through viewing the exhibition and listening to curator talks we learnt all about these forms of Japanese theatre with their elaborate masks and costumes. This is a very special exhibition to come to Australia as the Japanese Government does not usually allow these beautiful items to go out of Japan. Over the next weeks I will be briefing staff on our next steps to fully integrate Asian literacy into our curriculum so that our children will be well prepared for the future. 3-Way Conferences Tomorrow, your child’s report will be sent home in an envelope addressed to parents of the child. In the last week of term, 3-Way Conferences will be held to discuss the report and set goals for next term. 15 minutes has been allocated for each conference, however, if you wish to speak to the teacher for longer then you are able to book in another time early next term. We do ask that every family make a time to come to a conference with your child. Bookings for the conferences can be made online with instructions sent home in a note with your eldest child Tuesday of last week. Booking for interviews will be open from Friday 13th June and will close at 5pm on Friday 20th June. There will also be a link from our Facebook page. TOURS I am still conducting tours of the school for potential Prep enrolments for 2015. The end of this term is coming up very fast and we would really like all enrolments in by the end of this term so that we can plan for next year. This applies to all schools in the Maroondah Network. GAIL POLLARD PRINCIPAL ENROL NOW FOR 2015 A reminder that all primary schools in Maroondah ask that students are enrolled for 2015 before the end of this term, Friday 27th June. This includes families with children already at Kalinda and who have Preppies for 2015. 3 Events Calendar June Forward Dates: 20th - Interschool Sport – R. 8 – L.4 1st September – Father’s Day Stall rd th - Student Reports distributed for Sem.1 3 - 5 Sept. – Level 3 Phillip Island Adv. Camp 22nd - Working Bee – Sunday – 10am-12noon 13th – 25th October – Branch Out Japan Trip 23-27th 3 Way Conference Week. Book your time 10th December – Christmas at Kalinda Kafe 24rd Prep PJ Day. 27th - End Term 2 – 2.30pm Dismissal TERM DATES 2014 July Term 1 – 28 Jan (teachers start) - 4 April 14th - Beginning of Term 3 Pupil Free Day 29 Jan – Students begin 30th Jan. 18th - Level 3 Incursion - Rap unzel Term 2 – 22 April - 27 June th 19 - Working Bee – 10am-12noon Term 3 – 14 July - 19 September 21st - P&F General Mtg. – Stadium 9.30am Term 4 – 6 October - 19 December 23rd - L4 Selected students Ench Forest Ex 26th - Trivia Night – Stadium 28th - House Athletics CANTEEN ROSTER st 31 - Branch out Meeting at KPS 4 -5pm th 25 - Hillary R. & Mel M. August 26th - Michelle B. & Nicole D. 27th - Last day of term, NO CANTEEN th 17 - Working Bee – Sat. 10-12noon th 18 - P&F Meeting – 9.30am Stadium If you wish to contact Jo in the Canteen, th 19 - Whole School Production Rehearsal at please note her mobile number is 0402 031 447. George Woods Theatre – 9am – 3pm - School Production – Pirates of the Curry Bean – George Woods Theatre th 20 - Pirates of the Curry Bean – George Woods Forms sent home to Families 29 May – 4 June 2014 Notice Distributed to: Return by: Trivia Night Booking Form Eldest ASAP School Interviews Online Booking Information All Book by 5pm Friday 20th June PMP Helper Roster Term 3 Prep ASAP Pyjama Day Level1 N/A L3 Incursion - Rap unzel Production Level 3 26th June CBL Enchanted Forest Excursion Selected L4 Students 19th June Production Newsletter Eldest n/a A reminder to parents in regard to end of term arrangements: - Students are dismissed on Friday 27th June at 2.30pm.