Junior School 

Raising the Age

In a significant move to promote youth well-being and online safety, the Australian Government has raised the minimum age for access to TikTok and other social media platforms to 16. This policy shift, inspired by the "Raise the Age" campaign, is designed to protect children from the potential risks associated with social media use at a young age. By setting the age limit higher, the government aims to shield younger users from cyberbullying, exposure to harmful content, and the addictive nature of social media, while encouraging more responsible use as they mature. The policy reflects a growing consensus that online platforms, while valuable, need to be accessed by age-appropriate users who can handle the challenges of online interactions.

This new age restriction also addresses increasing concerns among parents, educators, and mental health advocates. Studies have shown that excessive social media use among young people can contribute to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. By raising the age limit to 16, the government is taking a proactive approach to safeguard children’s mental health and help ensure they can enjoy a balanced and healthy relationship with technology. These restrictions also push social media companies to develop more reliable age verification systems and enforce stricter regulations, which may set a precedent for other nations considering similar policies.

For parents, especially those with daughters in Junior School, this is a time to stay strong in supporting these age restrictions, despite the popularity of social media among young people. Encouraging children to follow the government’s guidelines can empower them to focus on real-life relationships, engage in enriching offline activities, and build resilience away from the pressures of social media. Junior School parents play a critical role in reinforcing these guidelines, promoting a healthy digital culture, and showing their daughters that it’s okay to wait until they are ready to handle the complexities of social media. By standing firm, parents help lay the foundation for responsible technology use that will benefit their daughters well into the future.

Mr Stuart Coppin

Deputy Principal - Head of Junior School

Mandatory Data Collection

Every year, we ask families to update their personal and medical details, so we have the most current information pertaining to you and your daughter/s. This is an annual mandatory requirement and is critical to ensuring we can fulfil our duty of care to your daughter. 

By now you will have received slip notifications from the Edsmart system asking for the following:

• A slip notification for each of your daughters requesting an update to their medical information, emergency contact information and image use consent. If you have any changes to your own personal details (e.g. a change of mobile phone number, email address etc) or any change of preferences in relation to sharing your contact details with other class parents, you can also indicate on this form. Please note that if your daughter has asthma or anaphylaxis, you will need to have access to a copy of their current action plan to complete the submission.
• If your daughter is a boarding student, you will receive an additional slip notification asking for some additional information specific to the boarding environment. 

Unlike previous years, the slips can be responded to via any mobile device. Even if your information has not changed, we ask you to take the time to review it. We anticipate this process to take no longer than five minutes. 

Should you have any questions please contact the Junior Student Services Office, by emailing juniorstudentservices@kambala.nsw.edu.au

The Ingrid Holden Cup

“It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” Mark Twain

The Ingrid Holden Cup is a tradition established many years ago in honour of Mrs Ingrid Holden, who served as Deputy Head of Junior School for close to two decades. Our Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 students have been refining their persuasive writing skills in class by writing both prepared and impromptu speeches on a variety of topics. They considered strategies to consider the Matter- what they chose to write about, as well as the Method- how they structured their speeches. Their public speaking skills were enhanced by focusing on Manner, including posture, eye contact, gestures and the 5Ps for voice:  projection, pace, pausing, pitch and pronunciation. 

Two finalists from each class were selected to prepare and present a speech at the final. This is a daunting task for most adults! Our Kambala girls launched themselves at it with characteristic confidence and intelligence. They encouraged the audience to have empathy, no regrets, to clean up their own mess (personally and globally) and to delve deeper to understand those who are misunderstood. Such wise advice from our young learners!

Congratulations to the following students:

Stage 2 Winner: Evangelia Botros

Stage 2 Runner Up: Madeleine Peters-Brown

Stage 2 Notable Mentions: Freya Johnson and Ellen Wu

Stage 3 Winner: Gabriella Botros

Stage 3 Runner Up: Zara Jindrich

Stage 3 Notable Mentions: Araminta Dusseldorp and Erykah Skimin

Congratulations to all of our competitors; they provided such engaging, educational and inspirational speeches. Our world would be in safe hands with these young women at the helm.

Camp Somerset

In the scorching heat, Year 6 ventured to Camp Somerset with a buzz of excitement and a pinch of trepidation. They jumped into the wombat hole, the milk crate stack, the totem pole climb and the cool refreshing Colo Rover with gusto.

Wombat Hole: Sabrina Zhang

The sun shone brightly over and lots of us were looking forward to finally doing the wombat hole. Once we got inside, we had a whole new feeling. A few of us felt very nervous about going in and others were extremely confident. Either way, once we came out, we felt joy and pride. We struggled to squeeze through the obstacles and manoeuvre our way to the exit. Ultimately, we had no regrets and thoroughly enjoyed the wombat hole. We also loved cooling off in the river afterwards.

Milk Crates: Luella Shah and Chloe Lam-Santos

The sun shone in our eyes. We slowly put on the harness to lift ourselves in the air. Our breath shook as we took the first step. The crates were unsteady and wobbled like jelly. Our friends stayed at the bottom, belaying, helping whoever was lifted in the air and others helped keep the ropes from loosening. One milk crate stack at a time, we kept going higher and higher while our friends carefully passed us more towering crates. We were as tall as a skyscraper! Some of us were exhilarated while others were trembling with fear. In our group, the highest stack was eleven crates which got up to a height of about 4 metres 

Totem Pole: Zara Boulton

Scaling the pole, our hearts race with anticipation, the idea of slipping and falling real and terrifying in our minds. An adventure in itself was breaking free from our fears that bound us to the ground, but not anymore. Squashed at the top of a one-person platform Jacinta Gerber, Zara Jindrich and I try to hold hands and lean our jittery bodies off the swaying platform, our grins breaking free from our faces in joy and excitement. The platform rocks wildly, sending jitters through our legs, even though it looks perfectly straight and stable from below. Everyone else is down below, belaying. The job that will save our lives if we fall. We yell things to them like 'Hold the rope tighter’ and ‘You better not let go!’ Hoping it will extinguish our glowing fires of uncertainty.

Ms Sheridan Sweeney

Year 5

National History Challenge NSW First Place Award!

Year 6 students, Piper Bell and Iolanthe Sallos-Beechey, have been named as 2024 the NSW winners of the National History Challenge! 

The National History Challenge is an Australian competition for primary and secondary students. Using the competition’s 2024 theme Crisis and Response, Piper and Iolanthe examined the Ethiopian famine crisis of the 1980s and the world's response to the disaster. They presented their research by creating an engaging movie.

Piper and Iolanthe achieved a marvellous result; their entry was deemed best in New South Wales in the Year Level 5-6 category!

Mrs Anna Koutsoukis

LE-Gifted and Talented Teacher

"We are honoured to have received this award, achieving first place in NSW for our research and project. Our competition entry, on the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s, allowed us to look closely at a difficult time in history and understand how events affected millions of people. An inspiration for choosing this topic was seeing how international aid organisations came together to help in the crisis. We found it interesting to learn about the causes of a famine like droughts, conflict, and political decisions, which made us realise that famines are rarely only about food shortages. They are complex, tough times for anyone involved and require a lot of help to get a positive outcome. 

This experience taught us that we need to consider multiple sides of any issue and how small actions can have big impacts over time. The success of this project has influenced us to do more historical research in the future."

Piper Bell and Iolanthe Sallos-Beechey

Year 6

Remembrance Day

On the Eleventh of the Eleventh, I had the pleasure of going to Mark Moran Retirement Village  to play the Last Post and the Reveille. I was very nervous when I first got there as I find playing the trumpet in front of people daunting.

There was a kind lady who met me upon arrival, and she led me to my seat. It was fascinating listening to all the stories of Australian servicemen and women who served and sacrificed for our great country. When I finally played the Last Post followed by the Reveille, I felt calmer, and it went well. 

All the elderly were very kind and congratulated me at the end. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this unforgettable experience and felt very privileged to receive this opportunity.

Jacinta Gerber 

Year 6

Junior School Music House Officer 2024