Dear Community,

Some months ago, I wrote in this column of the enormous benefits of teaching creativity in schools. I discussed the ideas of Sir Ken Robinson, a global leader on education. Sir Ken famously stated that: “creativity is as important as literacy”. He argues that schools need to adapt to provide greater opportunities to foster and develop the crucial skills including those that allow us to adapt our thinking, take risks and to work collaboratively.

This week our Senior School students captivated our community with their extraordinarily successful performances of the musical, The Sound of Music. The musical was marked by the mature and sophisticated talent on display. The audience relished the incredible vocal performances, beautiful dancing, stunning orchestral accompaniment and professional lighting and stage design.

It is a misreading to suggest that Robinson’s promotion of creativity is the domain of the Creative Arts – indeed, he promotes incorporatio

It was a new and exciting experience for everybody. From watching the movie about Howl and Sophie’s journey of discovering what was really important to discovering who we are and showing it through creativity and inspiration. When we were told about this assignment we had no idea it would be such a new experience.

We started off watching a movie called ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. It’s a movie by Hayao Miyazaki who wrote and directed it. Howl’s Moving Castle is a story about Sophie, an 18-year-old girl, cursed by the Witch of the Waste into a 90-year-old woman’s body. While going out to seek her escape she finds Howl's strange castle. She meets the fire demon, Calcifer who makes a deal with her, if she breaks Calcifer's spell with Howl, he’ll break hers.

A team of 13 female students from Years 7 & 8 played in the Victorian College Championships Basketball finals. After qualifying, our students knew they were up against tough opposition in this tournament.

In the first game, the KDS team played with great spirit and flare as they took on St Ignatius College from Geelong. The girls jumped out to an early lead with three, three point scores. Abi Branicki was the stand out along with Netani Ernest guiding KDS to their first win.

Term 2 Science Club Review

Weekly Science Club was amazing! We all got to work on our separate experiments, however, we could still see what other Science Clubbers were doing. My design experiment was to test the effect of microwaves on polar and non-polar molecules. It was a lot of fun to microwave the oil, water and soap. The polar molecules heated up a lot and the non-polar ones heated up only slightly. I also enjoyed cutting the flatworm in half as part of someone else's experiment. Lesley MalliganPaul was really kind and helpful. Science club was so much fun! (Raffy Kinal - Year 6)

10 boys from Year 12 competed in their last soccer tournament for KDS. This group of boys have been very successful on the soccer pitch throughout their years at KDS. The boys traveled out to Bayswater where schools from within the EISM gathered to compete in 5-a-side Soccer. In our first game the boys were nervous as the might of Alphington took charge early with some high skill. The boys went down 1-5 in game one. They bounced back in game 2 defeating Mt Lilydale in a 8-0 thrashing where all the boys were involved in the 8 goals.

Game 3 was the showdown between arch-rivals on the soccer pitch Oakleigh Grammar. Winner of this game would make it to the final. After an early goal being disallowed by the referee, Oakleigh took charge scoring the first 2 goals. KDS bounced back, kicking the next 2 to tie however Oakleigh stepped up the pace scoring the next 2 winning 4-2.

Year 1 students had a delicious green feast this week after seeing an abundance of parsley growing in our kibbutz garden. We decided it was time to channel our international flair and make parsley, pesto pasta. Every student tried their flavourful creation and possibly found a new favourite food! Many students were pleasantly surprise by the new flavours they experienced.

Linking in with our unit on procedural writing, we carefully recorded each step of the process. You may like to try recreate this delicious recipe with your budding master chefs in the holidays.

The School was alive this week with the beautiful voices and astonishing acting talent of our Years 9-12 students who performed the much loved classic, The Sound of Music over four nights. Word quickly spread from those who saw the first performance, that this was an experience not to be missed. The impressive sets, the inspirational orchestral accompaniment and the wonderful cast delighted the audience.

The extraordinary Rachel Silber seems to have been born to play the role of the endearing Maria, as was Amira Susskind playing Mother Abbess. Freya Boltman was brilliant as Liesl Von Trapp and the other Von Trapp children were adorable. Ethan Cohen as the dashing Captain Von Trapp was perfect for this role as was Maddie Meltzer playing Elsa Schrader and Jay Boymal as Max Detweiller with Gabriel Reyzis' performance of Rolf Gruber another highlight, all ably supported by a brilliant ensemble cast.

On Friday 22 June, a group of aspiring philosophers from Years 4-6 attended the Primary School Philosothon. Our students' critical thinking skills were on display as they analysed, explored, evaluated and reflected upon some of the original iconic artworks at the NGV Ian Potter Gallery. The theme of the Philosothon was Rights and Responsibilities. Some of the concepts and topics that students discussed were; women's rights, Indigenous rights, different perspectives, technology, The First Fleet and the importance of time.

To describe camp in three words it would be, enlightening, confronting and beneficial. The camp experience was enlightening due to the insight is gave us on Aboriginal heritage and culture, but also to the fact that despite being at the opposite ends of the country and sharing a vastly different lineage, the kids up there were in many ways just like us.

The atmosphere on the shuttle bus to the airport could be described as two distinct groups, the moody awake 13 and 14 year olds and the moody asleep 13 and 14 year olds.

As we disembarked the flight, a wave of 33 degree heat slapped us all in the face. Unlike having four seasons in one day, we were welcomed to the season of “Yegge” which is the “cool” but still humid season. “Cool” up their still means 30 degrees. After a 4 hour plane flight, we had a 3 hour bus ride, but without screens. We arrived at 5 o'clock in the evening to our accomodation. After a much needed collective snack and finding out our tent (or

After an intense two weeks of exams and SAC's, the Year 12 students embarked on their final school camp as a cohort. The notorious #feedthepigaton began with some fun games before we transitioned into the Shabbat service. The service, delivered by Kylie and Noa perfectly embodied the theme of the whole weekend, connecting to our Jewish identity and bonding as a year level. For the remainder of the weekend, we engaged in a variety of activities, consisting of games, group activities and a thought provoking TED talk, hosted by Yoel Benn. One of the most memorable experiences of the weekend was being given a blank book with our name for our classmates to share anecdotes, experiences or compliments with one another.

Thank you to our generous sponsors and raffle prize donors for the KDSPA Annual Breakfast. Your contribution hugely assisted this important fundraising event for our school.

Please see attached for the names of the raffle prize winners as well as all the businesses that supported the event.

Please see attached for information.

Join the KEDEM community for a get together with guest speaker, Bernard Rechter - an early Director of the Centre for Jewish Civilization, Monash University. See attached for detail.

Join the KEDEM community for a get together with guest speaker, Bernard Rechter - an early Director of the Centre for Jewish Civilization, Monash University. See attached for detail.

Carol Schwartz AM, one of Australia’s leading business identities will speak at this year’s Business Breakfast. Carol holds one of the country’s most diverse portfolios of board appointments and is recognised nationally across the fields of women’s leadership, governance, social enterprise, business and finance.

Carol Schwartz AM, one of Australia’s leading business identities will speak at this year’s Business Breakfast. Carol holds one of the country’s most diverse portfolios of board appointments and is recognised nationally across the fields of women’s leadership, governance, social enterprise, business and finance.

We are holding and Open Day at our Pre-School on Sunday 29 July. Let your family and friends know and encourage them to visit our Pre-School to appreciate the quality of the programming and environment. . To book, please register at www.tours.kds.vic.edu.au/?OpenDay=1. Limited places for our special music and story-time sessions are available. For further information, please contact our Admissions Team on: admissions@kds.vic.edu.au or 9527 0102. All welcome.

We are holding and Open Day at our Pre-School on Sunday 29 July. Let your family and friends know and encourage them to visit our Pre-School to appreciate the quality of the programming and environment. . To book, please register at www.tours.kds.vic.edu.au/?OpenDay=1. Limited places for our special music and story-time sessions are available. For further information, please contact our Admissions Team on: admissions@kds.vic.edu.au or 9527 0102. All welcome.

Please join us on Thursday 16 August for a hilarious new Saltpillar Theatre comedy 'In Bed with the Bishops' by KDS parent Rob Selzer at the Phoenix Theatre in Elwood. KDSPA have organised a special group booking together with Sholem Aleichem College. There will be a special Q&A with Rob Selzer after the show.

Please join us on Thursday 16 August for a hilarious new Saltpillar Theatre comedy 'In Bed with the Bishops' by KDS parent Rob Selzer at the Phoenix Theatre in Elwood. KDSPA have organised a special group booking together with Sholem Aleichem College. There will be a special Q&A with Rob Selzer after the show.