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'13' mesmerised!

'13' mesmerised!

There was no shortage of talent as our audience delighted in watching our Senior School musical, '13' as Evan Goldman (aka our mesmerising Year 11 student Jules Salter) mastered the complex social circles of his new school as his Bar Mitzvah approached and he 'became a man'. Please click here to see photos from the show (there are more photos on myKDS). There were rabbis, jocks, cheerleaders, geeks and goths to watch with fascination as they all kept us enthralled with song, dance and storytelling. Well done to the cast and crew. We loved the show!

Our beautiful ELC S'darim

Our beautiful ELC S'darim

At our Early Learning Centre, the children are clearly very ready to participate in their family Pesach Seders. This week our Junior and Senior Kinder students showcased their Jewish learning to their adoring families during model s’darim, replete with songs, frogs, avadim (slaves) and pharaohs. Please click here to see photos from the s'darim. There are more photos on the myKDS Photo Gallery. Thank you to our ELC teachers and the Jewish Life and Learning team for creating an amazing experiential learning opportunity for our students. 

Insights: My recent trip to Israel

Insights: My recent trip to Israel

Dear Community,

I have just returned from a visit to Israel where I participated in the Herzog United Fellowship program which involved 21 heads of Jewish schools from 13 different countries. The program aims to offer school leaders strategic support in managing change and addressing common challenges that occur in Jewish education. The program began in the middle of last year and has involved a series of online sessions before the group came together in Jerusalem for an intensive seminar. Please click here to see some photos from the trip.

The events of October 7 and the ensuing crisis led to a change in the programming to focus directly on the impacts of the events on Israeli society and its relationship with the Diaspora. 

Round one of the Mikolot public speaking competition

Round one of the Mikolot public speaking competition

Year 10 students Reuben Goldfarb, Dylan Padowitz and Lennox Burstin-Irwin competed in the first round of the Mikolot public speaking competition and will represent our school at the state final of the competition, which will take place during Term 2. Kol HaKavod Reuben, Dylan and Lennox!

Ilan Bloch

Director of Jewish Life and Learning

Year 1 learn from our Firefighters

Year 1 learn from our Firefighters

The Year 1 students were lucky to welcome firefighters for a special visit to our school this week. During their visit, the firefighters engaged our students in an informative discussion about their crucial role in our community. Please click here to see photos from the incursion. 

They shared important safety tips with us, emphasising the significance of fire prevention and how to be prepared. Our students learned about the importance of regularly checking fire detectors and what to do in case of an emergency: "Crawl down low and go, go, go!"

But the excitement didn't stop there! Our young learners were thrilled to have hands-on experiences, including the opportunity to use a real fire hose. They even got to hear the blaring si

Avi Dabush from Kibbutz Nirim visits

Avi Dabush from Kibbutz Nirim visits

As part of their Jewish Studies classes on the history of the Arab/Israeli conflict, explored through multiple and competing perspectives, our Year 10 students heard from the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights Avi Dabush. A resident of Kibbutz Nirim in the Gaza frontier area, Avi endured the horrific attack on October 7, and has been evacuated from his home on the kibbutz for the last 6 months. He spoke of his perspective on the war and his hopes for a peaceful future. Students had the opportunity to ask probing questions in an attempt to better understand Avi's viewpoints. 

We hope and pray for the release of the 133 hostages in the Gaza Strip, including two of Avi's fellow kibbutz residents. We are thankful to the New Israel Fund for sponsoring the visit. 

Ilan Bloch

Director of Jewish Life and Learning

Dreams and Dilemmas conference - Israel

Dreams and Dilemmas conference - Israel

Feygi Phillips and David Opat are busy at the Dreams and Dilemmas: Exploring a Changed Landscape conference in Israel. The conference, organised by Makom and the Jewish Agency, has brought together Jewish educational leaders from across Australia to explore the challenges faced by Israel since October 7. As part of the jam-packed trip they visited the Kinneret School (pictured) that was built in just 6 weeks to educate students evacuated from across the North of Israel. There they delivered letters of support written by our Year 6-8 students. 

Year 4 Stop Motion Extravaganza!

Year 4 Stop Motion Extravaganza!

This week, the Year 4s held their very own 'stop motion' extravaganza, to showcase and celebrate weeks of creativity and hard work, inspired by the prompt, 'A spaceship has landed on the playground!’. Please click here to see the students' animations. 

This term, students have visited ACMI to learn about stop motion, including the benefits from including voice-overs, sounds, and large and small character movements in an animation. The students have also enjoyed planning, drafting, revising and editing narratives, and created such as Free Verse and Haiku.

Students they created a ‘story board’ of a scene from their narrative, which they then used to create their very own stop motion. They used labelled diagrams to plan sets and characters, using a rubric. Students then used these plans to create character

Exploring Pesach Traditions: Adventures in Prep Hebrew Class

Exploring Pesach Traditions: Adventures in Prep Hebrew Class

Since the joyful celebrations of Purim, our Prep students have eagerly immersed themselves in the world of Pesach during our Hebrew lessons. Please click here to see images of their learning. Over the past few weeks, they have embarked on an enriching journey through the Pesach story, its characters, and its traditional songs. 

In class, the students have been busy creating their Pesach workbooks, which include learning about the different characters of the Haggadah. They've also had the creative opportunity to design their own unique placemats in anticipation of the upcoming Seder next week.

It has been truly inspiring to witness the students' enthusiasm as they sing Pesach songs and share their knowledge with their peers during lessons.<

Year 7 Zoo excursion

Year 7 Zoo excursion

Last week, Year 7 students went to the Zoo as part of their Science curriculum, where they focused on identification of animal groupings and behaviour. Please click here to see photos of the excursion. Year 7 student Ryder Stabey reports: 

"The Zoo went off to a great start. All of us ran off the bus eager to enter. We all got to pick our own groups and wander off to see our favourite animals. Some of the coolest animals were the salamangs and the butterflies. The butterfly enclosure was full of bright and colourful butterflies. The salamangs were climbing on top of massive structures with a couple just hanging off a length of rope. Throughout the day we went to numerous talks and learnt about how these animals lived. Some of these shows included th

Making Matzah in Gan Chitah

Making Matzah in Gan Chitah

As we continue with our Pesach learning, we have added matzah to our morning tea menu and have been making our own matzah too!  The children all helped to scoop the flour and pour the water into a bowl. Once a big dough was formed, it was divided into small pieces and distributed to each child.  The children were eager to roll their dough flat with a rolling pin and poke holes using a fork. Because it was so much fun, most children ended up squishing their finished product back into a ball so that they can repeat the process again. 

We have also been making our very own afikoman bag to take home.  We used droppers with water colour to decorate the bags to promote hand separation, extend fine motor development, precision and focus. Traditionally, at the Seder table, three matzot are placed in a stack. Near the beginning of the seder, the middle matzah is broken in two pieces , and the larger piece of this matzah is called

Inaugural Maccabi Cup

Inaugural Maccabi Cup

Maccabi held its first ever Maccabi Cup for Years 5 and 6 on Friday 5 April. The Maccabi Cup is an interschool basketball tournament held between Jewish schools in Melbourne for Years 5 and 6. Please click here to see photos from the day. This year, Yavneh, Mount Scopus, Bialik, and King David all participated in the tournament, held at Waverly Basketball Stadium.  

Our Year 5 and 6 girls had tough games against a strong Bialik, and well oiled Mount Scopus. However, they finished the tournament with an impressive and nail biting win against Yavneh. They played hard from start to finish and showed amazing determination and grit against the other schools. 

The boys started their day off with a tough loss to Bialik, however, winning two in a row

Learning safety at Chasers

Learning safety at Chasers

For Wellbeing this week, the Year 10 students visited Chasers Nightclub on Chapel Street as part of our Safe Partying and Drug and Alcohol education program. The workshop, titled ‘Heading Out, Heading Home’ imparted important information to arm our students with the knowledge needed to to stay safe when they are out late at night, and the confidence to make considered and responsible decisions. The students heard from a range of experts (including a paramedic) and experienced what it feels like to be in a nightclub, whilst learning about the potential risks and protective factors.

Chanie Stock

Wellbeing Program Coordinator

Netzer at KDS

Netzer at KDS

Our school was so excited to host Netzer Sprout t'filah (prayer service) on Friday, April 5. As a Progressive Jewish day school we are always happy to support and collaborate with Netzer, along with other affiliates of Progressive Judaism Victoria. For details about Netzer activities please contact Georgie at melbourne@netzer.org.au

Events

Join Elise Hearst in a discussion with Kathy Temin

Join Elise Hearst in a discussion with Kathy Temin

Friends of KDS invites you to an entertaining evening with highly accomplished Melbourne-based author and playwright, Elise Hearst and talented artist Kathy Temin, Professor, Fine Art at Monash Art Design and Architecture (MADA) at Monash University. Both Elise and Kathy are current parents of The King David School and Elise is also an alumna of the School.  They will discuss Elise’s debut novel, One Day We Are All Going To Die, which is described as 'a fast-paced and darkly humorous story about a 27-year-old single Jewish woman in Melbourne who must learn to reconcile family and cultural expectations with her own desires'.
This is a free event but please register your attendance here for security purposes.
Date: Tuesday 7 May, 2024, 7.15pm
Venue: Multipurpose Room, Magid Campus (517 Orrong Rd, Armadale)

Business in an AI driven world - King David Foundation's Business Lunch

(Event finishes 31/05/2024)

Business in an AI driven world - King David Foundation's Business Lunch

Please join the King David Foundation for their 2024 Business Lunch. Esteemed panelists Dr Leslie Cannold (Ethicist), Dr Alan Finkel AC (former Chief Scientist), and Prof. Matt Kuperholz will be in conversation with moderator Prof Graeme Samuel AC, discussing 'Business in an AI driven world'.
Thursday 30 May, 12.30 - 2.30pm at the RACV City Club (Bourke St, CBD). For more information and to purchase a seat or a table, please click here.  

Pesach with Kedem

(Event finishes 18/04/2024)

Pesach with Kedem

Join Kedem at KDS to celebrate our holiday of freedom together.
First day with Hallel: Tuesday 23 April at 10am
Seventh/last day with Hallel and Yizkor: Monday 29 April at 10am
Aliyot available.
Please see the attached flyer for more information. 

2024 Alumni Reunions

2024 Alumni Reunions

We are excited to welcome graduates from the following cohorts to this year’s Alumni Reunions:
2019 (5 Year Reunion)
2014 (10 Year Reunion)
2004 (20 Year Reunion)
Sunday 26 May at The King David School (Rebecca Magid Centre), 520 Orrong Rd.
If you have not received an invitation via email, please contact alumni@kds.vic.edu.au

Progressive B'nei Mitzvah Information Session at KDS 

Progressive B'nei Mitzvah Information Session at KDS 

If you’re interested in a meaningful, engaging b’nei mitzvah ceremony for your child, accompanied by a fun, informative and interactive b’nei mitzvah process grounded in Jewish tradition, then come along to our Progressive Movement’s B'nei Mitzvah Program info session - a great chance to get your questions answered!
Our joint program offers individualised training to lead both a Shabbat service and read from the Sefer Torah, along with group learning, diverse experiential opportunities and pathways to lifelong social connections.
Aimed at students and parents, Rabbi Allison Conyer from Temple Beth Israel will be facilitating the workshop together with representatives from Netzer and other Progressive Communities. 
Details: Wednesday 23 May
Arrive at 6.45 for a 7pm start, wrapping up by 7.45pm at The King David School (the Multi-purpose Room at the Magid Campus)