This was just one of the ethical cases that six Year 5 students had to discuss during the inaugural Primary School Ethics Olympiad. The students exhibited fairness and kindness towards school teams from across Australia and New Zealand, with over 50 schools participating.
Students competed in three 75 minute heats. King’s culture was evident in every interaction: Perseverance, humility, respect and excellence reigned on the day.
Poppie Barnes from 5PK agrees: “Judges were so eager to help Year 5s through the ethics competition, that we had judges calling in from New York and even Canada to judge it. We were so happy to be able to expand our knowledge about the judges’ countries of origin as well as find out everyone's opinion.
"Another thing about the judges was their kind heart because when they had to pick a side, they never said that one side was better than another. They would just say that they were more drawn to one side, and then they stated their justification on why they chose a certain side but they weren't harsh when the time for choosing came."
The students commented that the feedback was very helpful because they received sound advice on structuring their evidence and the strength of their reasoning and introduction.
"Overall, the judges were so amazing in helping us during the ethics competition. We would like to start an Ethics Club at school,” said Poppy after the competition.
"Clearly, the experience was met with great enthusiasm and passion, and we look forward to next year’s Ethics Olympiad," said Mrs Elize Strachan, Year 5 Lead Teacher and a John Maxwell Certified Teacher.
The High School Ethics Olympiad is scheduled for 29 November 2021.
The Ethics Olympiad provides schools with a unique opportunity to develop skills in critical thinking, collaboration and communication.
During an Ethics Olympiad students engage with each other and with students from other schools on interesting and relevant ethical questions based on the cases previously provided to schools. Students work as a team to respond to the questions and critique their own and others arguments. Judges award points on the basis of clear, concise, critical and collaborative thinking. Students and teachers report that they enjoy the opportunity to engage with each other in a framework that encourages careful considered responses to important issues.
For 12 hours straight on Thursday, 26 August, nine Year 6 students participated in the national Write a Book in a Day competition. From 8am - 8pm, the students had to write and illustrate a book from start to finish. Funds raised go to the Kids’ Cancer Project, a national charity supporting childhood cancer research. Digital editions of the completed books are shared with hospitals across Australia.
Each team was provided with a unique set of parameters for their story: two human characters, one non-human character, an issue, a setting and five random words. This year, our Year 6 team had to write a book based on:
All students worked extremely hard and collaborated well. We are very proud of the team and look forward to hearing the results from the competition in November.
A team of Year 4 and 5 students also got to participate in the Write a Book in a Day competition. The students spent 12 straight hours planning, drafting and editing their books.
This year, our Year 4 and 5 team had to write a book about a driving instructor, a piano tuner and a crocodile at the zoo. Unfortunately for the driving instructor he ran into an issue.. he was on his last dollar!
Both teams had an absolute blast collaborating together to create their book for a special audience.
To welcome the loveliness of the new season, the primary students have been working on different SPRING themed art. Students from Years 1 to 6 created their artwork to the sounds of Vivaldi's Spring. It was a new classical experience for most of our King's Kids.
Year 6 artists have produced some stunning impasto paintings, inspired by Van Gogh's Sunflowers, plus some intricate spring bouquets and gardens using paper QUILLING.
Year 2 has been experimenting with Indonesian Batik. They created 'secret spy' floral designs with white wax, which were only revealed after applying colourful dyes.
Year 5 used wet-into-wet and pointillism to complete their stunningly Spring trees. They completed their painting by adding sequin and glitter highlights.
Some very excited Pre Prep students enjoyed a special visit from our Prep classes for Buddy Reading Time, dressed as their favourite characters for Book Week
The five Prep classes joined our Noah's Ark children to share the joy and excitement of story reading. The Prep students demonstrated their reading skills and confidence as they read out loud to their younger buddies.
This was the first of many upcoming Prep transition experiences for our Pre Prep children, who have already visited the Primary School and library.
Year 3 have been exploring the wonder of the Earth, Sun and Moon this term. They wrote an information report, created a poster and directed a podcast and iMovie to demonstrate how the sun, earth and moon work together in our solar system. They displayed their findings to the Year 2 students at their ‘Science Showcase’.
King's recently received a summary of our students' results from this year's NAPLAN tests and this table shows the 2021 State average, National average and King’s average. Our results are above National and State averages across almost every category, which is particularly commendable as students in southern states are older when they sit the test. King's enrols students across all academic aptitudes and has achieved results comparable to those of academically selective schools. We congratulate our students on their collective success. Individual NAPLAN reports will be sent home with students in Week 1 of Term 4.
| YEAR 9 | READING | WRITING | SPELLING | GRAMMAR | NUMERACY |
| STATE AVERAGE | 571 | 539 | 577 | 570 | 583 |
| NATIONAL AVERAGE | 578 | 551 | 580 | 571 | 588 |
| KING'S AVERAGE | 590 | 569 | 604 | 610 | 604 |
| YEAR 7 | READING | WRITING | SPELLING | GRAMMAR | NUMERACY |
| STATE AVERAGE | 539 | 511 | 545 | 532 | 545 |
| NATIONAL AVERAGE | 542 | 522 | 549 | 533 | 551 |
| KING'S AVERAGE | 571 | 543 | 576 | 568 | 580 |
| YEAR 5 | READING | WRITING | SPELLING | GRAMMAR | NUMERACY |
| STATE AVERAGE | 507 | 468 | 497 | 498 | 487 |
| NATIONAL AVERAGE | 512 | 480 | 505 | 503 | 495 |
| KING'S AVERAGE | 525 | 477 | 514 | 526 | 515 |
| YEAR 3 | READING | WRITING | SPELLING | GRAMMAR | NUMERACY |
| STATE AVERAGE | 428 | 415 | 410 | 424 | 393 |
| NATIONAL AVERAGE | 437 | 425 | 421 | 433 | 403 |
| KING'S AVERAGE | 460 | 435 | 449 | 462 | 412 |
The Term 3 Gold Coast Primary Chess Tournament recently took place on 6 September 2021 at Emmanuel College. For the King’s Pimpama students, this event was filled with much anticipation and nervousness! At the end of the tournament, whilst facing very formidable chess teams, King’s Pimpama Team 1 placed 5th, therefore, qualifying for the Queensland Interschool State Championships! Our board 1 player, Sennin Naidoo, scored an impressive 4 wins out of 7 games and had some really close games against the stronger competition.
Our board 2 player, Arshnoor Sidhu, had a very impressive tournament scoring 5 wins out of 7. Furthermore, he displayed great tactical prowess against an almost 1000 rated player!
Our board 3 and 4 players, Zoe Haines and Riley Mulford as well as our King’s Pimpama Team 2 faced some very challenging competition and played at a remarkably high standard considering the quality of chess opponents. I am beyond certain that the only way is up for our young Pimpama chess team!
Well done to all the Pimpama chess students that played in this tournament, you guys definitely impressed me! I could not be any prouder with all the time and effort that our King’s students put in behind the scenes. We are sincerely grateful that the King’s Christian values were reflected in your tournament. Remember to keep playing and to be consistent! God Bless.
Daniel Lapitan
Chess Coodinator
The unbeaten high school ‘dream team’ of Grace Browning, Nisa Ahsani Iravani, Amy-Lee Smal, Naomi Sweeney and Emily White have made it through to the Big Show at Bond University on 16 October.
It is the first time (in living memory) that a King’s junior debating team has made it this far.
Their semi-final was against a plucky St Stephen’s College team who proved to be a worthy adversary; however, our girls—now silver honours recipients—continued their winning stretch to seven from seven.
The girls are fantastic ambassadors for the College and we wish them all the best for their debate against Somerset College next term.
The girls will welcome a big audience of supporters to cheer them home.
Congratulations, girls and Go King’s!
King's Pimpama's production of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins Jr. is coming to the College in October, showcasing the talents of performers from Years 4 to 9.
Your favourite nanny takes centre stage in this supercalifragilisticexpialidocious adventure, based on the award-winning Broadway musical and classic Walt Disney film.
Our Performing Arts department has been working hard to prepare, and we look forward to supporting our young performers in this incredible show.
Tickets:
$10 / $15
BOOK NOW**Due to ongoing uncertainties regarding COVID restrictions, all tickets will be fully refundable if the event is cancelled for any reason.
The Grand Final for the Association of Gold Coast Colleges (AGCC) Semester 2 sport was celebrated on 3 September with a free sausage sizzle and soft drink for the high school students, sponsored by the sports department. Although the season was interrupted with lockdowns and cancelled sports competitions, the students’ enthusiasm continued through to the end.
King’s had six teams competing for premierships. Congratulations to all the students and the coaches for the tremendous efforts over the season.
We are all looking forward to the introduction of the Recreational Sport program (Rec Sport) in Term 4.
King's Pimpama is introducing Recreational Sport for high school students in Term 4. A first for Pimpama, the program will run in the sports timetable on Thursday afternoons from 1:30 to 3:15 pm. Twenty-two activities are on offer, some with costs associated, while others are free. A sports development program is also available for basketball, netball, rugby 7s, volleyball and futsal, at no cost.
Activities incurring a cost include:
Fishing is the cheapest of the paid-for sports options. With the Broadwater on our doorstep, our fishing program is perfect for students wanting to find out more about how to fish. Students and teachers will be heading to Cabbage Tree Point, where there are options for bait and lures. Students require their own rod and reel, preferably fitted with a 10lb to 20lb line. All hooks/bait/sinkers/old-man-fishing-stories supplied!
Free activities include:
These events all take place at school.
The sports development programs will focus on skills, teamwork and game development, with the intention of competing against external teams in the future. Students are expected to be focused and committed to their chosen sport. Professional coaches will conduct the sports development sessions.
R U OK? is a harm prevention charity that encourages people to stay connected and have conversations that can help others through difficult times in their lives. Their work focuses on building the motivation, confidence and skills to have a meaningful conversation with someone struggling with life.
At King’s, we recognise that a healthy mindset is just as important as a healthy body, and we have a dedicated Wellbeing team who help support our students through life’s ups and downs. Our upper primary and high school students got involved by creating posters. The student wellbeing team hosted a pancake morning before school and had the conversation "R U OK?" during chapel. Students learned the four steps to ask "Are you okay?" and continue the conversation if someone says they are not.
King's Church offers free short courses for the community, covering topics ranging from parenting, to relationships, to better understanding the Bible. The King's Collective courses are offered either online or in-person at King's Church on one of our three College campuses. Bookings and information:
The Athlete's Foot store at Westfields Helensvale rewards our school with $5 from every purchase of shoes you buy from their store, if you mention King's Christian College Pimpama. This term we have raised $270 from this program.
