Student News
Duke of Edinburgh
Congratulations to our wonderful Duke of Edinburgh students who recently completed their Qualifying Adventurous Journey. Here is a recap of the journey:
Day One
The group had to travel by public transport to Emu Plains where they started their journey. After a short hike to the river they prepared their kayaks and carried them down to the water. They encountered some tricky rapids, however every student accomplished the rapids with skill and avoided capsize! Students set their tents up on the banks of the beautiful Nepean River and were asleep in minutes.
Day Two
Students bounced out of their tents at 6am (well most of them did, some needed a little encouragement), packed down their tents, prepared their kayaks and hit the river by 8am. We were sure heading for an adventure - a high ropes course which had 5 levels! Congratulations to the students who managed to combat the Extreme Black course - not an easy feat! Once we hit the river again it was a tough, upstream paddle to reach the final campsite, but it was worth it because, boy was it beautiful! We proceeded the night with a birthday party - Happy 17th Maddy Lane!
Day Three
We set off early today, as soon as the sun was up because we had a big paddle ahead of us. Day three tested the student's mental fortitude. It was physically demanding and required the students to maintain positive attitudes and strong team spirit. Arriving at Windsor on Saturday afternoon students were elated and proud to have completed such an epic journey.
It was great to see the students encouraging and support each other and every student demonstrated the values of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Congratulations, Mr Banks and Miss Brien are looking forward to taking our Bronze participants on their practice journey early next term.
Miss Carly Brien and Mr Luke Banks - Duke of Edinburgh Coordinators
World's Greatest Shave
On Thursday 23 March 2017, Henry Kendall High School hosted the World's Greatest Shave. The event was the brainchild of Angus Fleming (Year 9) who wanted our school to run the event because his cousin had breast cancer and lost her long hair. Angus encouraged students to become involved and organised two hairdressers, Shannon and Ellen from Justcuts in Erina to shave and cut students’ hair. These two hairdressers went above and beyond to support the event, by giving the girls who donated hair a proper haircut after their ponytails had been cut. The donated hair will be sent to Ascot Wigmakers to be crafted into wigs for cancer patients. A special mention to the girls who donated hair: Sarah Peace - Year 9, Charlotte Tucker - Year 8, Kyra Bromfield - Year 8 and Freya Chippindall - Year 8. The following boys shaved their hair: Sean Burgess - Year 8, Jessey Ritchie - Year 10, Jack Maguire - Year 10, Cameron Sanchez - Year 8, Zach Walsh - Year 10 and Liam Colbran - Year 8. The SRC were able to support Angus and promote the event. A special thank you to Willow Pratt and Payton Pene (SRC Year Representatives - Year 9) who helped run the event on the day. We would appreciate further donations to this event to support the Leukaemia Foundation and these can be made to the front office up until 30 June 2017.
We'd also like to acknowledge the work of Ellen and Shannon from Just Cuts Erina - The Corner for giving up their time to cut and shave today and thank you to Ellen who sent us these very kind words. "I came to the school today to do the shave for a cure and I could not speak higher of both the staff and students! It was lovely to see a bunch of kids so excited for a charity event. Thank you for letting me be a part!"
Thank you so much ladies!
It certainly was wonderful to see so many HKHS students supporting a great cause.
Harmony Day
On Tuesday 21 March, Henry Kendall High School’s SRC ran a Harmony Day event to promote the message that ‘Everyone Belongs’. Students wanted to get across the message, that our diversity makes Australia a great place to live. Harmony Day is a celebration of our cultural diversity – a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home. Held every year on 21 March, the day coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural and religious traditions, as well as taking on many new traditions. Collectively, these traditions have enriched our nation.
The task of arranging an event was given to our Year 10 and 11 SRC Representatives. Gemma Sharpe of Year 10 took on the responsibility of coordinating the event. Collectively the students decided to create a mural of handprints and inviting our school community to contribute. A space was organised in the Batley Street Cola for students to come and add their handprint to a mural which will be hung near the library. Gemma also located a box of Harmony Day supplies and hung various countries’ flags on the fence and had a book for students to autograph and leave a message. A special mention to Tiarna Houghton and Leo Coleman (Year 10), along with Georgia Riley (Year 11), who actively assisted in running the event.