Dear Community,

"From Little Things, Big Things Grow".

This week many of our Year 12 students kicked off their exam period. Our formal written exams are hosted at Temple Beth Israel which also houses our Pre School for our 9 month – 3 years old students.

The poignant symbolism of our Yr 12s completing the final hurdles of their schooling at the same site that many of them began their educational journey was apparent to many. This was made even clearer, when two students who arrived very early for an exam were looking for a space to study and, with my permission, commandeered the staffroom in the Pre-School.

Seeing the students, highlighters in hand, seamlessly switching between flashcards, laptop computers and written notes, led me to reflect on the journey they have undertaken that took them from the learning through play going on outside that staff room window, to the diligent structured preparation going on inside.

I believe that our exceptional Early Childhood ed

As part of this week's Wellbeing program, Iron Man competitor, Master Sportsperson and Paraplegic, Gary Connor provided the Year 10 cohort with invaluable insights on his life and the awesome opportunity to play wheelchair basketball. Gary’s message to the cohort was clear " do not make stupid decisions and strive for success". After a workplace accident that left Gary without the use of his legs, he dedicated his life to reaching for his goals, teaching students about the possibilities in life, and creating awareness for disabled sports and recreation.

The cohort was left amazed at the sporting accolades of Gary, who uses his disability as motivation rather than an excuse. He proclaimed that to be successful in sport and all areas of life, it takes mental strength and willpower. Gary continued to talk about risk taking and using reason and logic to in every day life. He stated the importance of making sensible decisions and thinking before doing. Gary shared the story of a State

The King David School’s robotics team, A.I. Robotics, were honoured to have recently received a US $5,000 Grant from News Corporation, which will help the team enormously as it prepares for the forthcoming 2016 Build Season. News Corp, which is an official media partner of FIRST Australia (part of the global non-profit FIRST organisation run out of Macquarie University), has become the latest company to support this senior high school program that is striving to attract more students to consider a career in the STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) field.

The sensitivity of her perception and the delicacy of her touch in the use of language made Maia Loeffler (Year 10) a very worthy recipient of the Inaugural Latrobe University Young Writer’s Award. In a ceremony at Latrobe University, Maia and nine other skilled writers comprised the final 10 of 171 State-wide contestants. Each of the finalists read an excerpt of their short story on home, Maia demonstrating as much skill in poised public presentation as in writing.

Congratulations to Maia’s family, represented at the ceremony by father Yohanan Loeffler, and to Maia’s English teachers over the past three years.

The Year 2 students are learning about ‘Global Connections’ in their Geography Unit of Inquiry. This week was International Food Week. It was a great success with the students making cuisines from different countries such as; pavlova from Australia, rice paper rolls from Vietnam, hummus and pita from Israel, crepes from South Africa and Singaporean crepes. The students made flags, located the countries on a world map and learned all about the different cultures in the respective countries.

A big thank you to the teachers and parent helpers who volunteered their time this week!

One day last term my Year 8 daughter came home very excited about a workshop she and her cohort had attended about Resilience. Describing the presentation as “cool”, “funny” and “amazing”, she had me intrigued…

So when Years 6-8 parents were invited to hear Hugh Van Cuylenburg speak about The Resilience Project this week , I was there!

Hugh was indeed cool, funny, and amazing - a captivating speaker with an inspiring vision: to help young Australians be mentally healthy. As parents of primary and secondary school students, this is a message we can’t ignore.

Prep to Year 5 Inter-House Athletics Carnival was held recently. This year Negev took home the much coveted trophy. Students ran, jumped and threw themselves into all the events while equally excited parents looked on eagerly. Olympic events such as the 100m sprint and long jump were on show as well as the gruelling 800m. One of the highlights of the day was the potato sack race which provided plenty of laughs and cheering from all. Congratulations to all students for your great sportsmanship!

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 Eli Czerniecki (Year 9), Daniel Freidgeim (Year 9), Benji Kabillo (Year 8) who submitted the correct solution to Maths Challenge 24.

The King David School Centre for Student Wellbeing hosted an evening recently to announce the winners of the "Doing Nothing Multimedia Competition" .

The theme of the Competition was bystander intervention which has been a topic discussed during Wellbeing classes. Students submitted great presentations on this theme and prizes were awarded in 3 age categories - Years 3-5, Years 6-8, Years 9-12.

Attached is a list of the winning students. Mazal tov to all who participated.

Our School encourages the entire community to get involved in Mitzvah Day. This year, the date is Sunday 15 November. KDS is teaming up with Stand Up and also Camp Sababa. A Mitzvah Day Picnic on Sunday, 15 November with the Sudanese community, Stand Up, King David School and Ark Centre - 11am - 3pm at Southwick Campus At RMC there will be games and lots of activities, facilitated by this year’s Year 12 Buddies. 1.00pm - 3pm