Dear Community,

This week I had the privilege of attending our Year 9 Expanding Horizons Camp at Charnwood in the Strathbogie Ranges of regional Victoria. It was an outstanding opportunity to see our students interact in a different context.

The three-week Camp is a key component of the year-long Expanding Horizons (EH) experience. This is a carefully designed program that offers our students engaging experiences that teach them relevant life-skills that nurture their development as well-rounded people.

Much research has been done into students through the middle years of schooling. The major Australian study was the Middle Years Research and Development study (MYRAD). This study’s findings painted a bleak picture. It showed that middle years students displayed decreased motivation, engagement and joy for school. Their academic outcomes were severely impacted by social factors. The researchers recommended devising middle years programs that offer experiences outside of the

Yesterday, 31 students in Years 7 to 12 took to the pool to compete and represent TKDS in the EISM Swimming Carnival. Swimming against much larger schools, our students performed with great enthusiasm and effort throughout the day. After all the races were swum , King David finished in 4th position overall. A fantastic effort.

All the swimmers did a great job however there were some stand out performances which deserve special mentions. These students have qualified to compete in the EISM Champions Swimming Carnival.

Students have been studying the inter-war years and the Jews in Carlton as part of the Year 10 History curriculum. Shayndel Samuel's class enjoyed the lively stories of Esther Shoueka recounting her memories of growing up in Carlton. When some students asked Esther if she knew their grandparents who also grew up in Carlton, she vividly recalled details of each family. "Having Esther speak to us made everything we studied about the Jews in Carlton really come to life" noted Hannah Cohen. "It was emotionally provoking, bringing our studies to life".

The Year 2 students have commenced their very first science unit. The unit is a Chemical Science unit all about 'mixtures'.

The students have enjoyed conducting investigations, predicting results and making observations. So far, the students have made slime and have mixed cocoa powder, rice bubbles and icing sugar to compare their texture.

Wellbeing is a strong focus at The King David School. Every morning in Year 2, students place their photo on a quadrant of the Mood Meter corresponding to how they are feeling.

The 'Class Charter' is also up on the wall. The Charter was compiled by the students and addresses how to achieve a positive learning environment.

The Twitter board displays a live feed of the students' challenges, achievements and feelings throughout the day.

The purpose of the Wellbeing Wall is to create a visible learning environment for both the students and teacher.

Year 10 student, Riley Hart, represented Victoria at the Cycling Australia National Junior Track Championships held in Melbourne recently. Riley is an Under-17 cyclist and competed in a variety of endurance races across the four-days and nights of competition. He managed to claim three national titles including the Points Race, Scratch Race and Team Pursuit (breaking the Australian record in this event). He also won a Silver medal in the Individual Pursuit.

Riley’s results helped Victoria secure the prestigious Ray Godlkin Shield for leading State at the championships and have also earned him an invitation to be tested for a Victorian Institute of Sports (VIS) scholarship.

As a Purim celebration, Year 9 students who are on a 3 week camp as part of their Expanding Horizons program, hosted students from the local Catholic school, Faithful Companions of Jesus Christ College in Benalla.

After an exceptional lunch prepared by KDS students which included Shalach Manot for the visiting school, both schools began a program developed in partnership between Jane Branigan and Isaac Demase of FCJ College and Damien Green. KDS students gave a presentation on Judaism and both schools participated in Socratic Circles before FCJ students shared their experiences of life in a country town.

In the Victorian Parliament recently, The Hon Kelly O'Dwyer, Member for Higgins, acknowledged the Higgins Medal winners for 2014. Our student, Naomi Rubenstein, who graduated VCE last year, was a recipient and we are very proud that she was named among other deserving students from State and Independent schools in the Higgins electorate.

The Higgins Medal is an award initiated by Kelly O'Dwyer to recognise students who "demonstrate excellence in attitude and achievement, are strong and consistent participants in school and community activity and exhibit an awareness of others and their needs".

Last week, the Year 3 students visited Scienceworks as part of our Unit of Inquiry topics, 'Night and Day' and 'States of Matter'.

We experienced a 'very cool' liquid nitrogen demonstration to illustrate the properties of solids, liquids and gases. Students were amazed by the demonstrations in changes of states, which resulted in fog, froth and fun.

In the planetarium the students examined the path of the Sun and the tilt of the Earth to find out about the day-night cycle at different times of the year. They discovered how the seasons are opposite in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and are caused by two factors, the tilt of the Earth and the path of the Earth around the Sun.

I recently had the great pleasure of spending time with our Year 9 cohort on their Expanding Horizons camp near the Strathbogie Ranges in country Victoria.

I was fortunate to spend my time primarily with the same camp group. As I arrived, I was handed a rucksack and a tent and before long was hiking out of the gate with an excited group of students. Campout 101 gave us an opportunity to refresh our hard-earned camping skills from Year 8 Survival Camp.

Our trangia dinner was the culmination of a well-rehearsed production line of veggie cutters, water boilers, pasta stirrers and trangia supervisors. The final offering consisting of two different pasta sauces (to cater for different student tastes) and Mars bar infused chocolate custard for dessert. Two students even volunteered to clean up as part of self assigned amends for an overly enthusiastic footy match resulting in a snapped tent pole. We told ghost stories by the open fire before the resident wombat scared us into our tent

The Maths Department invites all KDS students to participate in the 2015 Maths Challenge. Have fun resolving weekly Mathematical problems and win a prize at the end of the school year. Please e-mail your full solutions to yulia.dozortsev@kds.vic.edu.au

Congratulations to the following students who submitted the correct solution for Maths Challenge 5: Julian Adey (Year 6), Jake Hayman (Year 7), Benji Kabillo (Year 8), Sasha Kiroi (Year 8), Raphael Schwalb (Year 6)

For Israel's Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror. Tuesday 21 April Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University.

Our 2015 King's Carnival will be held on Sunday 22 March at Southwick Campus, 117 Kooyong Road, Armadale. Please click http://www.kds.vic.edu.au/our-community/parents-friends-association/kings-carnival-2012/ here for updates on stalls, volunteer information etc on our website.

Important panel discussion after the Israeli election results. Panelists Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor, The Australian;Nathan Jeffay, Israel Correspondent, The AJN; and Or Avi-Guy, Policy Analyst at AIJAC, will discuss the election results and their ramifications as the "winners" begin the process of building a ruling coalition. The program takes place Sunday 22 March, 7:45pm at Beth Weizmann Community Centre and includes a light supper. Free entry.

Yom Ha' atzmaut Concert - Wednesday 22 April- 7:30pm Melbourne Recital Centre Tickets: $67 Premium, $38 Reserved/S20 Youth Book Online: melbournerecital.com .au Ticketing Enquiries: (03) 9699 3333

Yom Hashoah Commemoration. Sunday 15 April 2015 7.30 PM, Robert Blackwood Hall

Join Etz Chayim Community at a multi-generational women's Seder led by Rabbi Allison Conyer. Celebrating women’s perspectives. 7pm Thursday 9 April

In One Voice - a Jewish culture street festival is THIS Sunday, 15 March. See attached for detail.