The Year 9/10 Netball team after their Grand Final victory

Welcome to our School Newsletter for Week 7, Term 3.

Over Weeks 6 and 7, students have continued to excel in a range of areas and learning experiences:

• Year 9/10 Girls Netball Finals – congratulations on your success. Also well done to coach Ms Lee-Anne Cummins.
• Half-day Transition for incoming Year 7 students.
• Year 9 Astronomy Excursion.
• KHS Royal Adelaide Ag Show Team.
• Subject Counselling.
• Whole School Assembly with House Points update.

School House Points

A focus area for our School Improvement Plan in 2024 has been on growing our positive school culture. At our recent Whole School Assembly Mr Launer shared an update of how each of the three School Houses are progressing with their house points. These are achieved through a wide range of measures, including Attendance, Achievement and demonstrating School Values. All three teams continue to progress well across the term and year – with Hawke in front by a small margin. Well done to all involved.

As a result of our Positive School Culture strategies, we have seen growth in our whole school Wellbeing and Engagement Collection survey results with:

• High Engagement at school
• High Belonging at school
• High Connectedness at school

This growth is also translating to higher achievement for students, with our Term 2 results generally trending upwards.

Our recent Student Free Day on Monday 2/9 involved the Berry Street Education Model Workshop 2. This key work aligns with our whole school approach to ensuring a school learning environment that is predictable, safe and nurturing for students. 

Subject Counselling

Subject Counselling has been a big focus for the past few week, with continuing students considering and choosing subjects for the 2025 school year. I encourage families to have a read through our 2025 Curriculum Prospectus, which is a useful resource purposefully designed to support families in navigating discussions around Career pathways, planning and programs of study available at Kapunda HS. Well done to Mr Jones and the Subject Counselling team for hosting a wide range of subject counselling appointments and thank you to Parents and Caregivers for investing your time in these crucial discussions for your child/ren’s future.

KHS Ag Show Team

Well done to our Ag Show Team, who have represented KHS well at the 2024 Royal Adelaide Show. The work undertaken by this team is tremendous, with lots of preparation work in the lead-up to the show, weekend work, early mornings and late evenings. Some highlights already from the show include the professionalism of students in displaying Heifers, Sheep and handling the animals.

Some recognitions have also included:

• First Prize in the three most valued fleeces.
• Second prize in the School Egg laying competition – Commercial Layer quality.

Another big win has been the hard work, learning and expert representation that the team have shown, to represent our school. An acknowledgement to all of the providers of animals and partnerships, including Clyde and Janet Hazel. Thank you to Ms Karen Bromley, Ms Kerensa Cornish, Mr Tim Jones, Mrs Emma Jones and all students for their hard work in organising and delivering a top KHS Show Team for 2024. 

Staff Professional Learning

Over Week 7 our staff have taken part in high quality Professional Learning.

On Monday 2/9, this involved the Berry Street Education Model training Day 2: Relationships Focus.

The Berry Street Education Model is one of the areas of teacher practice which informs our Whole School Wellbeing for learning strategy. This crucial work is showing lift for students in their Engagement, Belonging and Connectedness with school. 

On Tuesday 3/9, Kapunda High School staff took part in a Gawler region-wide Professional Learning Day. Connecting with colleagues from across the partnership, staff undertook specialised training in areas including Curriculum, Pedagogy, Leadership, Wellbeing and much more. It was a valuable day for all involved. Thank you to the Local Education Team who organised the extensive and tailored program.

School Rebuild News

You may have noticed that our school re-build zone is now a hive of activity, with works taking place.

Some very welcome and positive news around our school re-build to share!

See the article in this week’s newsletter for further official information.

Personal Thank you

Thank you to Mr Jones, who has been Acting Principal and Ms Oliver, who has been Acting Deputy Principal over Weeks 4 to 6 while I have been on Parenting Leave. They have done a great job.  

Governing Council Meeting

On Tuesday 17th September is our next Governing Council meeting. At this meeting we will be considering school business which normally occurs around this time of year, such as School Improvement progress, School Uniform options and Materials & Services Charges for 2025.  

As we approach the final weeks of Term 3, we keep our focus on students finishing the term well. Most classes have final assessments for the term due around this time, so I encourage students to make every effort and take every opportunity to grow their learning.

David Marino

Principal

You might have noticed that construction work is happening around our school.

We’re excited to share that works are now underway on our fire reinstatement project.

The $23.18 million project will deliver a facility restoration after the devastating fire in 2022 that caused damage to several buildings, including the heritage listed Eringa building once owned by Sir Sidney Kidman and Lady Kidman, donated for the purpose of establishing our school.

This is an exciting time for both our school and the wider community and we will continue to provide updates as construction progresses. 

For more information about the upgrades, visit the Department for Education website at the link below:

School Closure Day Friday, 6th September (T3W7)

Wellbeing Breakfast 8:30am- 9:15am Wednesday, 11th September (T3W8)

Governing Council Meeting 6:30pm Tuesday, 17th September (T3W9)

KHS Centenary Foundation AGM 7:30pm Wednesday, 18th September (T3W9)

KHS Centenary Foundation Grant Applications close Monday, 30th September

As part of our collaboration with Foundation Barossa, we are again hosting a fundraising breakfast. We will be selling scones and bacon and egg sandwiches from 8:30am  - 9:30am in the morning. Parent/ caregivers are welcome to attend the event, which is being held here at KHS. Sign in at Reception on arrival, and staff will be able to direct you. 

Please be aware that throughout Term 4, the Canteen will be closed on Wednesdays. This will begin on Wednesday 16th October (Week 1). 

Unfortunately this is due to a lack of sales on Wednesdays, and also a lack of volunteers. 

With the 2025 school year fast approaching, we are keen to hear from anyone who is interested in volunteering in the Canteen. 

Volunteers play a vital role in our school canteen being able to offer a wide variety of healthy food to our students and staff at recess and lunch times. Volunteers are encouraged to come and help in our canteen - even for an hour. Assistance during the peak preparation times, between 10:00am and 2:00pm would be most valued and appreciated. You can pick your times or days, even one day a fortnight or month, and it is really only 4 – 5 hours but you can do less if you wish to. And of course, a regular commitment would enable Canteen Manager, Deb, to better plan the menu in advance. 

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

If anyone would like to know more about being a volunteer for next year please contact Kapunda High School on (08) 8566 2203 and ask for Kaye.

On Wednesday, 28th August, the Year 9/10 Netball team competed in the Grand Final of the knockout netball competition. The game took place at the Netball SA Stadium. The team put their best foot forward and were victorious!
Congratulations to the players and to Mrs Cummins for coaching, and thank you to Miss Falland and Mr Leslie for their continued support.

On Wednesday 28th August, Ms Coombs' Year 9 Space and Astronomy class travelled to the Mawson Lakes Campus of UniSA to visit the Planetarium.  They enjoyed seeing the night sky constellations that we have been learning in class and learnt more about our nearest celestial neighbour the moon, how it was formed and the moon landing missions and exploration, before learning about the important skill of complex packing used in space missions by challenging themselves to create 3 dimensional shapes with Soma Cubes. We even ran into ex KHS scholar Connon Shepherd, now studying aviation at UniSA, at lunch time.

Kathy Coombs

Astronomy Teacher

On Tuesday, 27th August, students from Eudunda, Nuriootpa and Kapunda High School competed in the regional heat of the 2024 World Skills Schools Carpentry Competition hosted by Kapunda High School.

6 students competed across the day to create a sawhorse using a variety of hand tools and techniques, complete work order plans and material orders. This competition allows students in the Doorways to Construction program to showcase their skills and compete for a place in the State finals of the World Skills for schools' competition.

Results of the day were 1st Peter Kapunda HS, 2nd Riley Nuriootpa HS, 3rd Kyle Nuriootpa HS.

Jason Keep

Assistant Principal

Pathways

The annual parent survey is underway and closes midnight Sunday 8 September. For more information please visit the department's website.

This survey aims to get your views on:

• what we’re doing well
• where we can improve
• what’s important to you as a parent/carer.

Your answers won't identify you or your child and only collated feedback is provided to our school.

You should have already received a link to the survey via email or SMS. Reminder emails are currently being sent to you unless you have completed a survey or have unsubscribed.

Please take the time to complete the survey, this is valuable information for our school. If you cannot find the previously sent link, then please use this one:

Recently KHS has been exploring Aboriginal designs that we may be able to use for house polo shirts, uniform items or other school events. In order to realise this idea, a group of Indigenous students gathered to brainstorm these designs with an activity focusing on Aboriginal Art. We also brainstormed Indigenous animals that could then be added to the tops. These designs could be a proud feature at sporting and other events for our school community. The students who participated include Tali Pipe, Jorden Rogers, Lakoda Hayes, Jaylon Hayes, Indilya Smith, and Emily Strangways. Hopefully, this will be an exciting starting point of a significant journey for the school.

Amanda Reichelt

SSO

From Monday, 16th September (Week 9) there will be a uniform giveaway at KHS. 

We will be displaying surplus stock of the older style uniforms.

These were found in the basement of Eringa and weren’t damaged at all.  They have been washed.

If you think you might like to grab some please come in anytime and sign in at Reception in the front building and ask for Kaye. 

These are obsolete uniforms now, but if worn they would be acceptable.

Blue ¼ Zip Jumper

5x Size 10 (these are small), 4x Size 12, 1x Size Small and 2x Size 2XL.

Blue Full Zip Jackets

1x Size 12, 1x Size 14, 2x Size Small, 3x Size Medium, 2x Size large.

Navy Polo PE Top

1x Size 8

White Polo PE Top

7x Size 8, 5x Size 10, 1x Size small, 1x Size 3XL.

White Long Sleeve Button-up Shirts

3x Size 18, 2x Size 22, 4x Size 24, 2x Size 26.

White Short Sleeve Button-up Shirts

2x Size 10, 2x Size 12, 4x Size 14, 6x Size 16.

The white shirts are good for prefects or special occasions if wearing blazers over them.

Hoping these can go to a good home. 

On Thursday, 22nd August we held the biennial Thing-a-Thon. There was perfect sunny weather for the 10km walk/18km bike ride around Kapunda. Students dressed up for the occasion, and there was lots of great costumes!
The event raised money for the Childhood Cancer Association.
Students collected sponsors for their walk/ride/run, and a BBQ was held at lunchtime for students to purchase food upon their return to school.

The Drama program is desperate for some props and costumes for our up-and-coming plays. If you have some suit jackets, dresses, shirts, hats (we need some character hats like a firefighter, or detective) for children aged 12 - 18. We are also on the hunt for anything medieval for our Year 11 play.

If you would like to ask any more questions, please contact me via email or DayMap.

Many thanks in advance,

Benjamin Forster

Drama Teacher

ben.forster101@schools.sa.edu.au

This year at Devon Clothing, for the first time, we’re teaming up with one of our suppliers, Biz Clothing, and going pink in October for Breast Cancer Awareness. They’ll donate a portion of each sale as per the attached flyer.

We all know someone who has been affected by Breast Cancer or perhaps been affected ourselves so I would love this to be a successful campaign with lots of money donated.

Please consider ordering a polo or a pair of socks (they’re really cute!) by following the link, and sharing this with anyone else you feel may be interested.

All orders in by Monday 9th September please.