18 May 2018

Newsletter Articles

KHS STEM Drone challenge team: Adam, Jed, Noah, Noah & Mitchell (see STEM Drone Challenge article in this newsletter)

From Our Principal

Attendance – some food for thought

Last week at assembly, I spoke to our students about the importance of regular attendance at school. The Department for Education has set 95% attendance as a target.

In Term 1 our school attendance rate was 90% which meant that, on average, 10% of our students were missing each day.

For individual students to hit the 95% target, they need to have less than 10 days absence per year.

In term 1, 42% of our students achieved between 95-100% attendance; another 25.5% were between 90-94%.

What this means is that almost one third of our students are currently on track to miss more than 18 days (almost a month’s) learning this year. Some are on track to miss far more. See the chart below for the full breakdown:

While there are always legitimate reasons why students are absent from school, longitudinal data shows that some students have low levels of attendance over a number of years – including primary school.

As an example, we know that 30% of our current Year 8 students missed in excess of 20 days school in Year 7.

So what is the impact of this?

When I visited Hewett Primary School recently, I saw the following poster in their Reception area:

I shared some of this information with our students at assembly and there were more than a few surprised reactions.

The reality is that we have some students trying to complete their SACE, having only spent, seven or eight years at school. Should we be surprised when they are having difficulty with their learning?

While we do not have a magic wand, we can work with families to support improved attendance at school. Key people who can be involved include:

• Mrs Lee-Anne Cummins, our Leader of Well Being
• Relevant Year Level Managers (Year 8: Mrs Dani Ryan/Mr Mark Leslie, Year 9: Ms Jo Jaensch, Year 10: Mr Craig Cope, Year 11: Mrs Megan Samain/Miss Shani Robinson, Year 12: Mrs Tracy Warner)
• Mr Brodie Grocke, our Aboriginal Secondary Education Transition Officer

Parent/Student/Teacher interviews

Last week teachers were available for interviews with parents and students at Freeling Primary School and Kapunda’s Dutton Park.

Over 150 families participated in the interviews which was an increase from the past few years.

Some questions we have:

• How did you find the online booking process?
• How did you find the venues?
• How can we better ensure that all families are aware of the interviews? (we advertised in the newsletter, on Facebook, sent an email to all families and sent a letter home with reports – yet some families said they weren’t aware of them being on).
• Is the timing right - ie a few weeks after Term 1 reports?
• What were the benefits?
• What were some of the problems you encountered?

We would welcome your feedback – either sent to Kristen.masters775@schools.sa.au, tim.jones205@schools.sa.edu.au or in writing and left at the Reception area of our school. We will also be opening up the discussion on our school Facebook page in the coming days.

Kristen Masters
Principal

Governing Council – Meet the Committee

Just Two More Japanese Host Families Required

We are seeking another two host families this year to accommodate a boy each from Hachioji Junior High School in Japan. Hachioji students will arrive Wednesday, 25 July and leave Friday, 3 August 2018. Host families in the past have truly valued this experience.

‘It really was an invaluable experience for our family. We learned some of their language and culture and also shared our lifestyle and experiences with them.’ host family 2017

If you are interested in hosting a student or have any questions please contact Dani Ryan on 8566 2203 or via email Danielle.Ryan489@schools.sa.edu.au

Fundraiser - Entertainment Books

Get your Entertainment Membership to support Kapunda High School - $13 of every membership goes to the school.

Student Illnesses

From time to time, common illnesses become prevalent amongst our students. Though the school promotes regular attendance, if a child is unwell, and particularly with communicable diseases such as gastroenteritis or influenza, parents are encouraged to keep them at home.

This will help prevent other students and staff from becoming unwell. It will also reduce discomfort for your child, as there are limited facilities at the school to care for them.

If a child is ill while at school, parents will be contacted.

Thank you for your support with this matter.

Taking our breath away

Spray deodorants and perfumes are banned at KHS. Last week at our assembly Principal, Kristen Masters, discussed the issue of spray deodorants and the significant danger it presented in our school environment to people who have asthma.

Strong smelling colognes and perfumes can also trigger a similar response, particularly when applied in confined places such as classrooms, change rooms and hallways.

Over the years, a number of staff and students have had asthma events whilst at school. It can certainly be a frightening experience for those involved and potentially life threatening for the person concerned. Unfortunately, some members of our community are still bringing sprays to school - perhaps under-estimating the impact that they can have on the health and well-being of others.

Spraying deodorants and perfumes in rooms or the vicinity of others is very dangerous as across Australia, on average, one person dies each day as a consequence of asthma.

Immunisations - B PART OF IT

On Thursday, 31 May (Week 5), the first of two vaccination sessions for Meningococcal B will happen at school for students in Years 11 and 12 who began participating in the Study last year. If you would like to know more about the study, please visit:

PE Sailing Camp

The Year 12 SACE Stage 2 PE three day sailing camp was held from Monday, 30 April to Wednesday, 2 May at the Murraylands Aquatic Centre in Murray Bridge. We were joined by staff and students from Eudunda Area School making a total of 12 students. The camp venue is a fantastic place where students’ self-cater and live in small dormitory style huts.

The camp gives the students the opportunity to develop their physical skills in an outdoor activity as well as demonstrate initiative, self-reliance and effective interpersonal skills. The highly qualified instructors place a large emphasis on student learning and expectations which resulted in all of the students gaining high marks for this practical component. Their days consisted of being on the water by 8:30am and off the water at 4:30pm. Needless to say, many students slept well and certainly ate well.

The final day consisted of racing, where students put their knowledge and strategies into action. The races were very competitive in nature as they all vied for one of the three first places up for grabs.

As usual, all students represented their schools in a positive light; they worked together as a team both on and off the water. The students also take with them many funny memories of learning to sail.

Tracy Warner
Assistant Principal
(SACE/Senior School/HPE)

Year 12 PE Sailing Camp

STEM Drone Challenge

We have a team entered into a STEM Drone challenge run by Stemnation and SA Power Networks. The challenge is to use a drone to identify faulty insulators on Stobie poles and present a report to SA Power Networks. Jed Carpenter, Mitchell Trotta, Noah Seward, Noah Ralph and Adam Greenwood are our team members and they recently had their first flying lessons. They learned about the drone and how it handles, as well as some of its capabilities. Their training will continue up until the competition.

Mitchell and Jed are also the year 8 STEM Ambassadors and one of their roles is to promote STEM during the year, so you will be hearing from them more as time goes on. One of the STEM projects they will be looking at is the use of drones for other projects such as monitoring crops or livestock, or other uses they are yet to discover.

Materials & Services Charges – does this concern you?

Are your fees still outstanding?

Have you been waiting for School Card acceptance and now you've found out that you're not eligible?

Are you worried about how you will ever manage to pay your child/ren's Material and Services Charges?

Haven't yet applied for School Card this year - you've been eligible in the past, but have you checked the criteria - have your circumstances changed? Are you sure you are still eligible?

Are you receiving invoices from the school each month and you're ignoring them, because they're just way too scary - your vision blurs and you get heart palpitations when you so much as glance at them?

KHS understands that families sometimes have difficulties in meeting their financial obligations. If you have not yet completed this year's payments, please make contact with our Administration/Finance Officer, Sue Coppin and she will assist you in setting up a manageable payment plan to avoid an inevitable referral to the Debt Recovery Unit as required by DECD process.

Options for payments

Payment may be made by cash, cheque, EFTPOS, Visa, MasterCard or by Direct Bank Deposit (see details below) Students are to make payments prior to the start of the school day (8:50am) to avoid carrying around large sums of money through the day. Parents/caregivers may make payments anytime from 8:30am to 3:30pm.

Have you considered scheduling payments using online banking to meet this financial obligation? Some families have found that being able to set the amount and regularity suits their needs well.

Instalment options – remaining due payment dates:

Learning Support Centre

Welcome to new SSOs

My name is Kelly Jenner and I completed my schooling at Kapunda High in 2013.

I live with my partner, Reece and my family in Kapunda. We purchased a block of land at the beginning of the year and we are looking to start building in 2019. As well as working at Kapunda High every Thursday, I am also a medical receptionist in at PhysioActive in Willaston. Previously, I was a cadet journalist at The Leader Newspaper, and I have also managed the store Dusk in Elizabeth. In my spare time I enjoy studying massage therapy and spending time with my friends.

In the future I hope to spend some time traveling, building my dream home, fulfilling our career goals and hopefully, one day having a family of our own.

Thursdays have become one of my favourite days of the week, as I look forward to spending time helping students. I particularly enjoy helping in both English and History. I am really thankful for this opportunity and excited to be back at KHS.

I am Stacey Rosenzweig and I am a former student of Kapunda High School, completing year 12 in 2014.

I enjoy netball as well as spending time with my family and friends. Having just purchased our first house in the Gawler region, I have two daughters and a fiancé.

I have previously worked in hospitality for several years, but after having my beautiful girls, I changed industries. As well as working at KHS, I am also currently a DE swimming instructor.

My hopes for the future are more traveling with the family and possibly going to university to study primary education, focusing in physical education.

I am enjoying my time back at Kapunda High School. I am glad to be back!

Better Pathways Information Session

At Kapunda High School we have a program available to a small number of year 10 students called Better Pathways. This program is led by Barkuma. Better Pathways is an external mentoring program that allows 1:1 mentoring to students from year 10 through to the completion of school and six months following exiting from school. This can be funded through NDIS. To find out more about this, we are running a session with Paul Ridley from Barkuma explaining how Better Pathways, NDIS and Supported Employment Services work. If your student is in years 9-12 this session could be of great value to you and them.

Careers & Work Experience

Year 10 Work Experience

Students will now have completed the online training that involves learning about being safe, feeling safe and not being bullied or discriminated against in the workplace and submitted their certificate of completion.

Students must organise their work experience placement and submit the completed agreement by Friday, 22 June (Week 8). The following video offers Year 10 students and their parents/caregivers an understanding of some of the expectations around work experience and ways to go about organising a placement. Should you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

What is ‘Career’?

The concept of career has evolved greatly over time. In generations passed, there were few decisions to be made; son followed in the footsteps of father, daughter became a wife, mother and homemaker.

Thankfully, times have changed, and we now have a lot more choice and control over the direction of our career pathways. Gender doesn’t determine our destination. Tertiary study is an option for all – though we still need to learn how to access it. At times our lives are still at the mercy of chance as unexpected or unplanned events can change the person we become and the course of our choices.

Career is no longer just about occupation. Career is now about our life journey and how the choices we make in one area impact the outcomes in other aspects. For instance, the occupation we choose to engage in determines our earning potential, which in turn affects the house we can potentially buy, or potential holiday destinations. Similarly, if we are passionate about and prioritise supporting the local sporting club by coaching regularly, our occupational choices will have limitations as travel, or fly in/fly out jobs won’t allow us to pursue our out-of-work commitments.

Research suggests that it is important that our young people develop skills required to manage their career and make informed choices. Furthermore, in future, people are likely to change occupations up to five times across their working life – sometimes they will have several jobs concurrently. Rather than deciding upon and committing to a particular job, it is important for our young people to be able to identify their strengths, passions and know where these will benefit others.

The following article from the myfuture website expands upon a range of different factors to consider, when thinking about future career pathways. I post other career information as well as local employment opportunities that students may be interested in on the Career Information at KHS Facebook page. You can access it at this link:

If students and their families would like to discuss career pathway possibilities, please book an appointment to see me.

Opportunities

Adelaide ADF Careers EXPO

Zoo Career Awareness Day

Penny Chancellor
Flexible Pathways Coordinator (VET, FLO and Careers)

Well & Good

Parenting Teenagers

Being a parent of a teenager can at times be enjoyable and rewarding, whilst at other times frustrating and difficult. Sometimes things are sailing along smoothly, but there are times where you feel like you are in the middle of a cyclone. There are no easy solutions, but sometimes talking to other parents who are dealing with similar things can be beneficial.

Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) is an initiative of the Parenting and Family Support Centre at The University of Queensland. It is an evidence based program and many of the ideas and principles of positive parenting have evolved as a result of the experiences and feedback provided by teenagers and parents participating in research and therapy programs. Late last term, I undertook training to become a Triple P facilitator and now am able to offer Triple P Teen discussion groups for parents/caregivers.

There are four in the series

Getting teenagers to cooperate

During this discussion, parents share some of their experience and ideas about dealing with non-cooperation and discuss reasons why teenagers can be so uncooperative. Several positive parenting strategies are introduced to help parents develop a plan to motivate their teenager to be cooperative at home.

Coping with teenagers’ emotions

In this session, parents discuss some of the reason teenagers have emotional reactions and the skills that teens need to calm themselves down. Several positive parenting strategies are introduced to help parents teach their teen to better manage their emotions.

Building teenagers survival skills

This discussion topic explores why teenagers sometimes make risky decisions and how they can learn to keep themselves safe while gradually developing independence. Parents are introduced to positive parenting strategies to help their teen plan for situations which may potentially put their health or wellbeing at risk.

Reducing family conflict

During this discussion, parents share some of their experiences of conflict with their teenager and discuss why sometimes this occurs in families. Several positive parenting strategies are introduced to help parents teach their teens how to get along with other family members and resolve problems. Ways to manage times when conflict affects the whole family are also discussed.

These discussion groups are designed for parents/caregivers with concerns about their teen’s behaviour or development. Each session is a 2 hour small group discussion and parents also receive a workbook to take away, which outlines the things discussed throughout the session. Each discussion group is a stand alone session and you do not to attend all four. There may be one topic that is relevant for you and you can attend just that session.

I am planning to offer these sessions across terms 2, 3 and 4. The first one will be on Wednesday, 13 June from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in the Kidman Room of the main building. The first discussion group will be: Coping with Teenagers’ Emotions. If you are interested in attending or would like some more information please send me an email: leeanne.cummins452@schools.sa.edu.au to register your interest.

Lee-Anne Cummins
Well Being Leader

Keeping Warm at KHS

As winter approaches, most students have begun wearing warm KHS winter jackets and jumpers.

Unfortunately, there are a number of students who are choosing to wear clothing that is not part of KHS uniform. For example, some students have been wearing a non-uniform hoodie underneath their school polo shirt or a non-uniform jumper.

Students are expected to comply with the wearing of our uniform and those not doing so, without a note or exemption will have lunchtime detention.

It should be noted that no consequence will result in loss of learning time.

Our Uniform Brochure has policy and further information, available online at the link below or from school Reception

Devon Clothing is the supplier of most of our school uniform items and offers an online ordering service via website:

KHS reception staff are able to assist in this process, if required and the school has a full size range of all items to assist in fitting. Contact the school for further information.

Secondhand clothing: Sally’s Clotheshorse, Main Street, Kapunda stock some secondhand uniform items.

Kidman’s Kafé

Volunteers Needed

Volunteering at the KHS canteen offers the opportunity for people to connect with the school community, share knowledge and skills by offering a helping hand. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Deb Hook, Canteen Manager at the school on 8566 2203.

Menu Information and Changes

The Kidman Kafé menu follows the Right Bite Healthy Options guidelines, which use the traffic light indicators of green (health option), amber (select carefully) and red (occasionally) to help students determine which foods and drinks are healthier. Students may choose to purchase a wide variety of foods from the green and amber categories, and limited offerings from the red category. Though KHS encourages healthy choices, a few red options are offered periodically, such as pasties on Fridays. When Deb is ‘flying solo’, with lack of volunteer assistance on some days, quick preparation alternatives (from the amber or red category) are offered to satisfy demand. The canteen manager and committee members continually review the menu and look at other viable options.

A few minor price changes have occurred in our menu and traffic lights indicate the healthier choice options.

Canteen Committee

Our canteen committee meets once each term. Anyone interested in contributing may contact the school for further details.

Lunch Orders

Lunch orders can be made at the serving window of the canteen from 8:30am - 8:50am. Lunches can be collected at the window during lunch time.

Friday Activities

Finishing off the term

At recess time on the last day of term 1, staff and students had the chance to guess how many lollies were in a jar (a mixture of Minties, Fantales and Sherbies). Guesses ranged from 36 to 220. Four people were only one off the correct number, but Xavier Wilson-Hall was spot on with his guess of 68 lollies.

At lunchtime, the Year 12 students took on a staff team in a game of Softball. Memorable moments were Mr Leslie's brilliant catch in the outfield, Mr Gabb stopping the ball with his shin and keeper, Aaron Hayward being unable to walk after the call of ‘Ball 3’! Although the scoreboard said otherwise, the Staff won by one run.

Chicks on yard duty

At recess time on Friday of Week 1, Drew took several of the little chicks from the Ag shed around to students and staff for them to hold. Some students came up with interesting names for them, such as Whitey or Yolkey or KFC.

Egg Toss

The lunchtime egg tossing competition was very popular with many contestants and many spectators enjoying the thrills and spills of some big throws.

Staff Showdown 1

On Friday of Week 2, the inaugural Staff Crows vs Staff Power modified football game was played in the gym. The game was played at a furious pace with teams going goal for goal and it appeared that the best performing team in the last quarter would take home the chocolates. But with only a second to go in the third quarter, field umpire Tony Gabb awarded a mark to staff Power recruit, Nathan Brady. Brady walked back calmly, came in and kicked the ball, jamming it in the roof and therefore bringing the game to an abrupt end.

Final scores for Staff Showdown I: Crows 4-4 defeated Power 4-2

At recess time the chocolates disappeared quickly as students accurately hit the chocolate bar during the Nerf challenge.