27 June 2025

From the Principal

It is a great privilege to introduce myself as the Acting Executive Principal of Kenmore State High School while Mr Paul Robertson enjoys some well-deserved leave, travelling overseas. From the moment I stepped onto the campus, I have been struck by the strong sense of pride, connection and purpose that exists within this school. It is clear that Kenmore has a rich tradition of excellence, built on the dedication of staff, the engagement of students, and the strong support of parents and carers. Over the coming weeks, I look forward to working alongside you—our students, staff and families—as we continue to build on the school’s many strengths.

One of my key priorities during this period will be to maintain a visible and supportive presence across the school. I’m keen to listen and learn from the experiences of students, teachers and the wider community as we work together to sustain Kenmore’s values of Respect, Belonging and Growth.

In my first week, it was a pleasure to be part of:

• Collaborative teaching and learning work aligned with the school’s Explicit Improvement Agenda
• Pedagogy coaching planning sessions
• Visiting classrooms
• The Year 12 Picnic
• The P&C meeting, where I met highly engaged parents working in partnership with the school

Thank you for the warm welcome I have already received. I’m excited to be part of this vibrant school community and I look forward to meeting many more of you in the time that I am here.

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2025-26 Student Leaders

Leadership for Life: Kenmore State High School's Student Leadership Development Program

Since the start of the year, a dedicated group of Year 8 and Year 11 students have taken part in Leadership for Life — Kenmore SHS’s Student Leadership Development Program. While the program aims to prepare students for roles such as captain or prefect, it also welcomes those seeking to build confidence and develop leadership skills. This initiative reflects our ongoing commitment to nurturing future leaders and equipping them with the tools to succeed

Program Overview

Leadership for Life provides targeted training and experiences through workshops, mentoring sessions, and practice interviews between Year 8 and Year 11 students. Originally developed by Ken Gilbert and Kenmore Rotary, the program has seen 25 students voluntarily give up their Wednesday lunch breaks throughout Terms 1 and 2 to participate.

Benefits of the Program

Our Kenmore students involved in the program gained:

• Leadership Skills – Participants developed core leadership capabilities applicable both at school and beyond.
• Confidence – Public speaking, presenting, and mentorship opportunities helped build personal confidence.
• Preparation for Leadership – Graduates are now ready to step into formal leadership roles, embodying the values of Respect, Belonging and Growth at Kenmore SHS.

By investing in student leadership, we’re not only preparing captains and prefects — we’re developing capable, community-minded individuals who are ready to contribute meaningfully to school life and society.

On behalf of the school, thank you to our community mentors — June Riley, Jason Pole, Margaret De Witt, Leanne Hardinge, and David Patmore — for generously volunteering their time and expertise. Your support has had a lasting impact on our students.

Special thanks also to the staff and community members who served on interview panels alongside Executive Principal, Mr Paul Robertson: Karina Cole, Angela Malone, Sarah Graham, Tom McNicol, Carter Smith, June Riley, Margaret De Witt, and Daniel Downes (representing Dr Christian Rowan, State Member for Moggill).

Students interested in applying for the 2026 program are encouraged to contact Mr Tom McNicol (thmcn0@eq.edu.au) or Mr Carter Smith (csmit1052@eq.edu.au) for more information.

Congratulations

Congratulations to the students appointed to 2025/26 leadership positions! After a rigorous selection process — including written applications, speeches to their year level, and panel interviews — these students will be formally acknowledged at assembly on Monday 28 July.

They will soon begin working alongside current leaders, with a leadership handover day scheduled for Thursday 31 July, followed by a leadership planning day in August

Mr Matthew McCarthy
Acting Executive Principal

Student Leaders Update

This term our aspiring leaders have gone through an arduous application process for the election of our new student leaders. As this is covered elsewhere in this update, we will focus on the recent events that have been run by our current leaders. Congratulations to all our incoming student leaders!

Community & Environment

Recently the Community and Environment Folio has been organising the Picture This competition.  For the first category we had the theme 'Fauna', where students can create a drawing or take a photograph, of their own work, within this theme.  We received 62 amazing submissions, demonstrating students' creativeness and talent. 

Students vote on their favourites and then the top 3 students will then receive a prize, for their amazing work.  Our second category, Flora, is already underway and we have over 45 submissions already! This competition is now becoming a yearly tradition.

Cultural

Earlier this term the Cultural Folio organised Ken Fest which has become an annual tradition showcasing the amazing performers of our school community. This year was another roaring success, and another sell out! As the saying goes “it takes a village” and these events cannot happen without a lot of input, so thank you to everyone who was involved. The Cultural Folio are hard at work organising KAN Week for Term 3.

Sport

The Sport Folio had a big term, organising a touch football competition for the senior school, and events surrounding State of Origin. Look out for the Senior Basketball and Junior Soccer competitions in Term 3, this year promises to be the biggest one yet!

Academic

Thursday and Friday in Week 9, our talented students partook in Kenmore State High School’s annual Film Festival! Whether students were on the edge of their seats, or laughing with the crowd the Q Block Auditorium starred the students’ and their finest cinematography. A big round of applause to the contestants!

Student Representative Council

This term our student representative council have done 2 charity fundraisers: Day for Dolly and Cancer Council. They have also gotten feedback from the student body regarding seating areas in the school and have taken some steps to provide more options for students, which will be happening in the near future.

Carter Smith
Shadow Head of Year

Year 7 Update

Dear Year 7 Students and Families,

I want to take a moment to celebrate the incredible journey our Year 7 students have made in their first semester of high school and being a huge part of the Kenmore SHS family.

A major highlight this term was our Year 7 Camp. Most of our cohort participated in this valuable experience of braving the wild outdoors with impressive spirit. We discovered that sleeping bags rated for “mild chill” did not quite hold up to Queensland’s surprise cold snap in Week 8! Despite that, building friendships and teamwork skills was a valuable part of the camp. The energy and enthusiasm shown by students, under the guidance of our staff and team at Adventure Alternatives made it an unforgettable few days.

To wrap up the semester, our cohort will take part in the Meaning Project which is a series of student-led initiatives focused on community engagement and fundraising beyond the school community. We are proud to share that their efforts will be raising funds for the Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Thank you for your continued support. I am very proud of all that our cohort has accomplished so far and look forward to an exciting Semester 2 ahead.

Wishing all families a restful and safe holiday break.

Daljit Kaur Singh
Head of Year 7

The Arts Update

Instrumental Music

Kenmore High has a Symphony Orchestra!

Our school has a long tradition of successful concert bands, String ensembles and choirs…but this year we have established a new ensemble – a Symphony Orchestra!

This 75-member orchestra, conducted by Heather Conomos is made up of our most advanced String, Woodwind, Brass and Percussion students. The orchestra will be rehearsing twice a week, enabling the opportunity to perform a varied and challenging repertoire of classical, contemporary and popular music. Stay tuned…!

Faculty Concerts

On the 27th and 28th May we had a our first Instrumental/Choral Concerts for 2025!

Our Senior Faculty concert featured Percussion Ensemble 1, Saxophone Ensemble, Lyric Voices, Symphonic Winds, Sinfonia Strings, Chorale and our new Symphony Orchestra. The Junior Faculty Concert was a great opportunity to hear our Percussion Ensemble 2, Vox Nova, Nascente Strings, Harmonic Winds, Junior Jazz Band and Philharmonic Strings. It was a feast of wonderful music over two nights! Thank you to our music students for your hard work in preparing for these performances. Our appreciation too to our Music Support Group for providing refreshments on both nights. 

Choral Fanfare

Our three choirs recently competed in Choral Fanfare, a state-wide music festival. Both Vox Nova and Lyric Voices walked away with Gold Awards in the heats – congratulations to the students in these ensembles! Chorale received a Platinum award for their performance and were invited to compete in their respective regional final. These 90 students had the opportunity to perform at the Old Museum Building, and received a ‘Regional Finalist’ certificate, recognising their musical achievements and choral teamwork. A number of these students will now be heading to Tasmania for a music study tour! Thanks to our conductors, Ms Bye and Mr Clifford, for their hard work!

Tasmania Music Study Tour

On Friday 27th June, 51 students from our Chorale, accompanied by five staff members, will travel to Hobart, Tasmania to take part in the 2025 Festival of Voices. This renowned winter event is one of Australia's leading singing festivals, celebrated nationally by choirs and musicians alike.

Throughout the festival, our students will engage in a variety of performances, workshops, and cultural activities, gaining valuable musical insights and experiences.  Students attended a final tour workshop, concert & information briefing on Saturday afternoon.

We are incredibly proud of their preparation towards the festival and wish the group a safe and memorable trip!

Custom Made Violin/Viola Stands

We are incredibly grateful to the Bellbowrie Men’s Shed - especially Paul Edwards, Robin Evans, and the manufacturing team - for generously crafting two custom made violin/viola case stands for our Instrumental Music Program.

The attention to detail and craftsmanship in these stands is truly outstanding. A big thank you to our Music Support Group for coordinating this and for continuing to strengthen connections within our local community.  These stands will be well used and greatly appreciated by our growing music program!

Year 12 Visual Art Celebration Evening August 5th

Come celebrate with us! Year 12 art students are almost at the end of their creative journey at Kenmore State High School. They have worked so hard and learned so much that they would like to share with you all; parents, friends, supporters so we are gathering together to celebrate on Tuesday August 5, Week 4 of Term 3 and you are invited to attend. The evening consists of viewing of their final exhibition, some drinks, light refreshments and some tunes from the Male String Quartet. You are welcome to attend between 5.30 and 7 on the night. We ask that you RSVP by Friday 25th of July.

Jo Willett
Head of Department – The Arts

7-10 English students are mastering their Mastery Skills!

The past two-week period of Years 7–10 English has been productive and inspiring, where students have enjoyed celebrating their progress in mastering English grammar. All our 7-10 students have sat Education Perfect summative quizzes in the final weeks of term, which assess crucial grammatical skills essential for writing with precision, clarity, and sophistication.

This assessment period has culminated in our students achieving outstanding results. We are thrilled to report that the majority of students across Years 7–10 have achieved scores above 90%, with many students at full marks. This outcome reflects their dedication, hard work, and growing mastery of the English language.

These results also highlight the engaging learning environment in our classrooms, where students are encouraged to refine their writing and deepen their understanding of language mechanics. The skills tested—ranging from sentence structure to punctuation and syntax precision—are foundational for academic success across all subjects and will continue to serve them well in future studies.

We extend our gratitude to parents and carers for your ongoing support at home, which plays a vital role in these successes. As we head into Term Three, we look forward to building on this momentum, fostering a continued love for language.

Michelle Wilson
Head of Department – English

Kenmore State School 125 Year Anniversary

Kenmore State School will be celebrating its 125th Anniversary on Saturday, July 26, 2025. Visit https://events.humanitix.com/125-anniversary to learn more about this exciting milestone.

Homestay Opportunity

Got a spare room? Ever thought of being a Homestay host? Kenmore State High School is seeking homestay families!

Host an international high school student and contribute to the positive memories they will have of their education experience here in Queensland.

In particular Kenmore State High School are looking for families that would take male students.

Kim Lawrence
Homestay Coordinator & ISP Administration

Chaplaincy Fundraiser

KSHS has a great chaplaincy programme which has provided great encouragement and support to many students through the years.  The government do not fund the Chaplaincy programme though, so the P&C provide financial support, but further fundraising is also necessary.

Here is a great opportunity for the school community to get behind the chaplaincy programme and purchase a raffle ticket, as per the attached flyer.  To buy a ticket, just scan the QR code, then make sure you select Kenmore High service as the beneficiary of your ticket purchase. 

Finance

Upcoming Excursions - Payment is required 1 week prior to all excursions.   

• Year 9 Ken-X incursion BOP - $50.00 payment due 27 June 2025
• Year 8 Ken-X incursion BOP - $50.00 payment due 17 July 2025
• Year 7 Ken-X incursion BOP - $50.00 payment due 27 June 2025
• Year 11 Legal Court excursion - $49.00 payment due 17 July 2025
• GIEP Exchange 2025 – either $1500 for Payment 3, or $583 for Payment 3a, due 15 July 2025

Student Resource Scheme

Final payment for the Student Resource Scheme (SRS) was due by 28 February 2025.  Alternatively, if you chose to pay in Term Instalments, the final instalment payment is due by 18 July 2025 (Week 1, Term 3).  Non payment of SRS may result in access to resources being removed.  Parents/Carers experiencing financial difficulties can contact finance to discuss payment options on (07) 3327 1503 or at finance@kenmoreshs.eq.edu.au

Year 11 – Evening and Purchase of Senior Jerseys

Further information will be provided regarding Year 11 Evening and purchase of the Senior Jersey.  Invitiations are provided to students whose attendance and achievement meets the expectations of the School.  Families are also reminded that attendance at this event and purchasing of the senior jersey is also conditional on ensuring that there is no outstanding money or school resources owing.

Year 12 Formal – November 2025

Information for the Year 12 Formal will be provided later in the year.  Students with outstanding monies owing and/or outstanding school resources may not receive an invitation to attend the formal, or may have their invitation withdrawn if deemed necessary by administration.  

Methods of payment are:

• BPoint (click link in BPOINT box to make payment for individual invoice) *Preferred Method*
• QParent
• Qkr! App
• EFT - using Student ID as reference.  If payment is made via the internet, please ensure relevant forms are sent in to the school office, via email to finance@kenmoreshs.eq.edu.au.  The school bank details are as follows:

BSB:                      064-152
Account No:       00090103
Account Name: Kenmore SHS
Reference:         Student EQ ID             

• In person at the office using EFTPOS from 8.00am to 1.50pm
• Phone payment using credit/debit card via BPOINT 1300 631 073.  Please quote CRN and invoice number from the BPOINT box on the left of the statement.
• Please contact the school if interested in starting a payment plan

Please contact the finance team if you have any queries regarding these matters on 3327 1503, or via email to finance@kenmoreshs.eq.edu.au

Julie Taylor
Business Manager

From the P&C Association

The next General Meeting of the P&C will be held next Tuesday 19th August at 7.00pm in the PLC or via Teams.  There will be no July meeting.

Tuckshop

Parents/carers/grandparents – we would love to have you helping out in the tuckshop.  We are urgently in need of at least 10 more volunteers to fill our monthly roster.  Please could you consider if you could give just 1 day a month, or even 1 day a term to support the students and the school in this vital role.  In the three weeks of school for July, we are needing volunteers on Monday 14th, Tuesday 15th, Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th.  We are also looking for someone who would like to help make sushi on Monday mornings and another volunteer to help make poke bowls on Friday mornings from about 7.30 – 8.00am until 9.30am.  Helping in the tuckshop is a fun and rewarding day with easy tasks that are quickly learned.  Please email tuckshop@kenmoreshs.eq.edu.au if you could help in any way.  

Sue Abbott
Community Liaison and Operations Officer
Building a stronger school community through parental involvement
Kenmore State High School P&C Association