Welcome to Term 4, a period in our school calendar that feels like if you blink, you will miss it! During this term, we say goodbye to our Year 12s and we send off the Year 11s to finish the year in a blaze of exams. By week 5 the school feels smaller, with less students, and moments are taken up with planning for next year. Later in the term, we will train our 2027 Year 11 Peer Mentors, ready to meet the emerging Year 7s for orientation, then finish the year with a leadership camp to help grow and maintain the Kennedy community.
COMMUNITY. I mention it a lot in these Chaplain Chats. I see community as one of the greatest influences on our daily lives. We are designed to connect; we find true meaning to come from the people we feel we belong to in some way. In my life, I have watched the drive to belong fuel so much human endeavour. On the flip side, the lack of connection and belonging is behind much of our mental health burden today, and as a chaplain, I see much of it up close.
One of our cultural points at Kennedy is to grow and maintain a deep and genuine feeling of connection throughout our whole college.
Being together in one place greatly helps us grow and maintain community. This is the main reason we opened our daily Pop-Up Café in the Lower Foyer this term. My dream, as your Chaplain, is that every morning from 7:30-9am, there is a growing community in that space. It has a simple look: parents parking for a few minutes after drop-off and adding their presence to the community. We also have a space to pray together on Wednesdays with KPOW at 2:30 pm in the Staff lounge. If you want to find a way to engage in community, nothing is better than praying together.
Peter Chase
College Chaplain
Our Pop-Up Café is now open from 7.30 am for parents, staff and visitors. Convenient parking is available near the Auditorium drop-off area, making it easy to stop by for a morning coffee. As College events may occasionally affect trading days, please look out for the Café Open sign.
