15 December 2017

Newsletter Articles

Kapunda High School Eringa Award recipient, Mrs Deb Hook with Shaaron Coe, recipient of the Minister for Education and Child Development Volunteering Award for Outstanding Service award

From Our Principal

PRESENTATION EVENING

It was wonderful to see our gymnasium filled to the brim on Monday evening to celebrate and acknowledge the many achievements of our students. Thank you to all families and community members who made the effort to come along on a rather warm evening. Your support was greatly appreciated.

Congratulations to all award winners – you can feel very proud of your achievements this year.

For our departing Year 12 students we wish them well as they await their SACE results. It was good to wish our departing Year 12 students the very best as they await their SACE results. This year has been a challenging one on so many levels – especially in the second half of the year – but it is obvious that they have grown through adversity.

There were many important messages from our special guest, Rosina Helbig (1997-2001) – an airline pilot with Jetstar.

Rosina spoke about her journey from Kapunda High School (and flying lessons after school) to university and corporate life to eventually making a decision to change direction, follow her dreams and pursue her passion for flying.

Once again, the entertainment during the evening was of high quality and highlighted the talent that exists in our school with performances from Sharna Grant, Shannon Skinner and the concert band. I’d like to especially acknowledge Carolyn Thorne and Victoria Newbold for their work in preparing students for this.

Thank you to members of the Presentation Evening Committee – Kerry Brown, Ann Richardson, Carolyn Thorne, Lee-Anne Cummins, Tracy Warner, Penny Chancellor and Craig Cope. It was again a pleasure working with such a ‘can-do’ group of people.

I was especially impressed with the students who compered the evening (Kayla Malkin, Cayse Dew, Isabel Castaneda, Georgia Flavel, Andrew Prior, James Spaan and Marisha Hughes) and the members of the SRC who acted as ushers.

Thank you also to:

• Craig Cope, James Soar, Brodie Markos and Cayse Dew for sound and lighting
• Steve O’Donnell, Mel Coulter, Peter Murphy and Tracy Warner for setting up
• Jennifer Ahrens for co-ordinating the Art display.

YEAR 10 CELEBRATION ASSEMBLY

Once again we enjoyed a very successful celebration assembly on Tuesday morning and it was great to see so many families in attendance.

Thank you to Year Level Manager, Craig Cope, comperes and the music students for their work in making this a success.

Year 10 Music Ensemble Performance

CONGRATULATIONS

At Presentation Evening we acknowledged two members of our Kapunda High School community: Deb Hook (Eringa Award) and Shaaron Coe (Minister of Education and Child Development Volunteer Award.

The Eringa Award is awarded annually to a member of our school community who has given outstanding service to the school. The recipient may be a student, parent, staff member or community member.

Previous winners have been Grantly Bell, Kristin Hodge, Andrew Mickan and Anne Hornsey.

STAFFING CHANGES:

The following staff are taking leave for 2018:

Stuart Hoerisch – pursuing his Art and working as a relief teacher
Madeleine Hart – maternity leave
Christie Bridge – maternity leave
Neville Sloper – long service leave
Emily Ritchie – taking leave to work in DECD State office.

The following teachers are concluding their contracts at KHS:

Don Grinsted
Bradley McLeod – taking up a permanent position at Banksia Park International School
Glenys Morison – moving to another part of the state to be closer to family
Andrew Healy – focussing more on short-term contracts and relief work at schools – including KHS
Alex Glen – teaching in the UK in 2018 (may be doing some relief work at KHS in Term 1)
Emma Aucote – travelling mid-year and unavailable for full-year contracts

Transfers:

Kerensa Greenfield will be moving to Oakbank Area School (closer to her home) after nine years at KHS

Retirement:

Rob Van der Wijngaart will be retiring after dedicating 30 years of his working life to teaching – 25 of them at KHS. He has been a stalwart of the Science faculty and Year 9. He has also been a leader in outdoor education.

Rob van der Wijngaart, Principal, Kristen Masters & Kerensa Greenfield

UNIFORM

A reminder that we no longer sell uniforms directly through the school and that they need to be purchased online through Devon Clothing.

I encourage you to organise new uniforms as soon as possible to avoid any delays at the start of term.

Alternatively, pre-loved uniforms can be obtained at a number of the thrift shops here in Kapunda but you are advised not to rely on this.

BYOD 2018 - REMINDER

From the beginning of 2018, all students will require a device for school. Options include:

• Recommended device (either purchase or rent to buy) – see link below

• Own choice of device – see BYOD booklet for minimum specifications

• Long term loan of school device (financial hardship)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Thank you to everyone who has supported our school in any way during 2017. I wish you all the compliments of the season and look forward to working with you again in 2018.

To families who are ending their association with our school – thank you for all your contributions over the years.

Presentation Evening – celebrating success

Thank you to 2017 Donors

JAMES SOAR – AIR CADET OF THE YEAR

It has been a very exciting week for Year 10 student, James Soar. He was promoted from Sergeant to Squadron Sergeant – the highest ranking position achievable for a member under the age of eighteen. James is also the only person in South Australia to currently hold the rank.

He was also chosen as the South Australian Cadet of the Year and will be travelling interstate next year to participate in nationwide activities ahead of judging for the 2017 All Australian Cadet of the Year.

This week, James won the Year 10 ADF Leadership and Teamwork award at Kapunda High School and was presented with this at our Presentation Evening.

Transition Day 2017

On Thursday, 7 December, we welcomed many future year 8 students from a number of primary schools for a whole-day transition. When they arrived, we saw many happy, excited, nervous and curious students who were looking forward to learning more about high school.

During the day, students actively participating in the following subjects: Home Economics, Digital Technologies, English and Music. Our Learning Support School Services Officers (SSOs) assisted students during the day in classes and aspects of school life such as purchasing from the canteen, uniform expectations and classroom locations. At the conclusion of the day, the students enjoyed an afternoon tea prepared by Mrs Lee-Anne Cummins, Well-Being Leader, and a mingle amongst their future peers.

We look forward to seeing you all around the school yard starting term 1, 2018.

Drum Making

A damaru is a small Hindu chanting drum; the style being common throughout East Asia (Tibet, Nepal, India, China, Taiwan, Japan etc). As pattern and decoration is an important feature of the traditional damaru, Year 10 Art students focussed not only on Asian culture, but also other cultural styles and influences when making their drums. Students were encouraged to develop their own decoration designs, whether culturally inspired or personally derived.

Stuart Hoerisch
Visual Art Teacher

Year 9 Living and Lifestyle

The year 9 Home Economics, Living and Lifestyle class have been learning about Hygge. Hygge is a Danish concept and is about being cosy and comfortable, connecting with friends and feeling happy. The Year 9 students made a lovely morning tea for the staff at KHS as way of explaining and sharing Hygge. Everyone did a great job preparing food safely and presenting it in an attractive way.

Doorways 2 Construction

D2C students have been busy during Semester 2; trimming the vines along the Hawke Street fence line and constructing a retaining wall and paving in the Agriculture block.

The groups enjoyed a BBQ to finish the term.

Year 9 Art

The Year 9 Art students looked at the Day of the Dead festival as inspiration for clay sculptures. First they needed to research typical images from the Day of the Dead and understand more about this cultural practice. Then they had to create their own designs. Those students who participated and provided good evidence of the planning process did really well and it was clear that they had thought their sculpture design through.

James Prior took a traditional take on the task; his sculpture looks at the concept of duality and traditional motifs. Some students took their own take on the festival, such as Jack Meldrum who connected his work to Australian culture looking at Aboriginal art and a kookaburra skull, showing a clear concept behind the work. April Ford looked carefully at the anatomy of a dog, displaying the skeletal structure with accuracy. Austin Poole was inspired by Maori culture. Corey Raine looked at Aboriginal and Mexican motifs. Courtney Basham and James Prior created bull skulls, while Connor Farrelly made a gory horned skull with good sculptural form. Nick Beauchamp and Mathew Birmingham created skulls of a gorilla and alien, showing the ability to adapt when work doesn't go quite the way as planned. Deni Burgess made a lovely skull form, learning the hard way that when air is trapped in clay, the air expands leaving pieces of a sculpture instead and smattered dust - it happens to the best! Paige Launer learnt that same lesson, but was able to re-attach the cracked elements to fix her skull. Ronan Erskine and Katie Waters didn't quite finish their work, but have made awesome work in previous tasks. Skye Wright went beyond the norm and created a cavity inside for a coloured, light making the cracks and eyes glow. She also used glow in the dark paint to create an eerie and dramatic effect. Well done to the year 9 class!

Jennifer Ahrens
Art teacher

LEARNING SUPPORT CENTRE

Quicksmart results

Quicksmart Maths was a new program introduced at the school this year. Maths Coordinator, Jeanette Venhoek, Learning Support SSOs, Sarah Johnson and Madonna Dolphin, were trained throughout the year to become certified instructors. Each instructor worked with a group of students three times a week to assist with their number facts and maths operations. There was improvement from all participants throughout the year and this was evident in their PAT Maths results, with all students exceeding the expected growth rate. The Quicksmart Maths program will continue in 2018.

Literacy Intervention

This year KHS implemented a new literacy intervention program called MacqLit – the Macquarie Literacy Program and throughout the year a total of 32 students took part in the program. The program is an explicit and systematic reading intervention program for small groups of older low-progress readers. It provides a comprehensive sequence of lessons that include all the key components necessary for effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

Selected students received four lessons a week and regular monitoring took place to ensure progress was being made. A rotating timetable meant that students did not miss a significant amount of time from any one subject. Termly progress reports were sent home to keep both students and parents/carers informed of results being achieved.

As group reading is a major component of each lesson, carefully selected reading material ensured that students were being presented with a variety of texts that challenged and strengthened their reading skills. Students were also encouraged to read at home for at least 10 minutes per night to assist overall improvement of reading and literacy skills.

In 2018, we look forward to helping students to achieve further success and improve their overall literacy skills.

Tracy Wilson
SSO Literacy Support

A different way of seeing

Earlier this term, KHS held a Wear it Red day to show our support for Dyslexia. Wearing red is: Learning Support SSOs, Leanne Laubsch, Sarah Johnson, Tracy Wilson, Emily Ritchie with Assistant Principal (Learning Support), Penny Chancellor, Learning Support SSOs, Madonna Dolphin and Caroline Tolley.

Dyslexia is a language based learning difficulty. Its severity ranges widely and can have different effects on different students. It can cause difficulty with reading, writing or maths. At our school, we undertake programs to assist these students and find strategies that work well for them. The following gives some insight into what reading is like for students with dyslexia.

What is dyslexia like for a person when they read?

There is no single pattern of difficulty that affects people with dyslexia, but for some:

• letters may appear backwards or upside down.
• text may appear to jump around on a page.
• letters may seem jumbled up and out of order.
• letters and words may seem bunched together.
• the letters of some words may appear completely backwards, such as the word was looking like saw.

People with dyslexia might feel sick to the stomach every time they try to read or develop a severe headache.

They may not be able to:

• tell the difference between letters that look similar in shape, such as: o, e or c.
• tell the difference between letters with similar shape, but different orientation, such as: b, p, d or q.
• make sense of or remember what they read, so they find themselves coming back to read the same passage over and over again.

Friday Afternoon Activity Group

Last Friday, our two Friday afternoon activity groups combined for an end-of-year party. The activities included making popcorn and cooking coloured pancake pictures that depicted the students’ challenges and successes over the past week. A popular game was ‘fishing’ for snakes with a candy cane held upside down in the mouth where all students excelled by ‘netting’ many snakes. Sadly, the SSOs and teachers remained ‘snake-less’.

Carolyn Tolley
Learning Support Centre

Maths at Kapunda High School

At the beginning of term 3, thirty-seven Kapunda High School year 8 - 10 students were brave enough to compete with top performing maths students from around Australia and parts of Asia. Students sat a 90-minute exam where they were tested on their mathematical literacy and number and problem solving skills. All students are to be congratulated on their participation and results. Certificates were awarded at the assembly and the highest performing students were James Bubner, Caitlin Edwards, William Gambling, Owen Matz and Brayden Stoddard (year 8) and Georgia Flavel (year 9) who all earned Distinctions for their efforts. Another fifteen students achieved credits. The following students participated:

Year 8 & 9 Maths Competition participants

As a school we track how maths students perform throughout their schooling from year 8 to year 12. For students to learn at their best, they are required to bring their maths equipment to school each day. This includes, pencil, ruler, pen, maths workbook and a calculator.

TI-30XB Texas Instruments scientific calculators are supplied in the year 8 stationery packs. This high quality and intuitively user-friendly calculator is essential for years 8 to 10. If a student loses their calculator, they are available for $22 from the school reception office.

For students studying year 12 SACE Stage 2 Mathematics or year 11 SACE Stage 1 Mathematical Methods and/or year 11 SACE Stage 1 Specialist Mathematics, a TI-84 Plus CE Texas Instruments graphics calculators is required. These calculators are partly subsidised by the school and available from the front office for $150. Some Year 10 students, who plan to continue maths in the senior years, find it an advantage to purchase the graphics calculator during year 10 so they become familiar with the calculator’s functions.

Whilst TI-84 Plus CE Texas Instruments graphics calculators are available for sale through theschool reception office at school, at times students are able to use second hand TI graphics calculators handed down through the family or bought second-hand. The school is currently determining how disadvantaged families may be assisted.

As the 2017 school year closes, students and parents are reminded to store their calculators in a safe place where they will not be affected by water or direct sunlight and can be found readily at the beginning of 2018. Calculators, if looked after, should last the schooling years and frequently well beyond.

We are looking forward to happy and successful learning 2018!

Formal Social – A Splash of Colour

Shady Business

In Year 8 Economics and Business lessons, the students worked in groups to design and create their own product for sale. They had to use items provided (paper, cardboard, etc) to design a hat or shoe that targeted a particular market of people. After this, they needed to create a name, brand and price for the product. The teams ‘pitched’ it to the class for a vote. There were lots of creative and interesting designs, but the design by Grace Blows and Tahlia Wendt was the winner.

Grace Blows, Tess Gerhardy, Connor Schuster & Cooper Schulz

Year 10 Physical Education

Year 10 PE class went to Vertical Reality Rock Climbing last Wednesday. Everyone had a go at rock climbing; some made it to the top multiple times, others were happy to get half a metre off the ground!

Megan Samain & Mark Leslie
PE teachers

Community Notices