29 June 2018

Newsletter Articles

Year 11 Australian Business Week CEOs, Kaha Morrison for AstroTech, Macey Bell for Joösd, Elijah Smith for Speedy’s Sporting Warehouse and Corey Wall for Prestige Golf, all aiming for a win!

From Our Principal

AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS WEEK

This week approximately half of our Year 11 students have been involved in Australian Business Week – along with teams from Eudunda Area School.

It has been great to observe the high level of energy, engagement and enthusiasm as students have focussed on working together as a team to make good ‘business’ decisions, prepare for a trade display, make a video advert’, write a company report and prepare for an oral presentation.

In fact, the whole week’s learning typified what education should be about:

There was an intellectual rigour as the students came to terms with the concepts that are central to the world of business and enterprise.

Students had to draw on their higher order thinking skills as they applied and evaluated their learning to create a new business.

They were required to be involved in substantial communication through company meetings, preparation of written company reports, the production of an advert and the final oral presentation.

There were high expectations of all students. They had made a commitment to being involved and success depended on everyone contributing.

There was strong social support and students felt comfortable taking risks with their learning. ABW took many out of their comfort zone.

Students were self-directed and self-regulated. They didn’t need a teacher ‘controlling’ them.

There was a strong sense of engagement. Students were far more than just ‘on task’. There was a real ‘buzz’ as students worked through break times to get the job done.

There was a strong sense of significance and connectedness to the ‘real world’.

BUSY TIMES

In recent weeks our students have been involved in a range of extra- curricular activities and I would like to acknowledge the contribution of their teachers to make this happen.

Six of our instrumental students participated in the annual country music camp at Port Hughes last week. Their work over that time culminated with a very enjoyable performance in the Wallaroo Town Hall on Tuesday evening. Thank you to the encouragement of our instrumental teachers as well as our own Mrs Carolyn Thorne.

Next Monday and Tuesday evening sees the Youth Opportunities graduations. Youth Opportunities is a personal leadership programme for Year 10 students. Students nominate to be involved and go through a selection process. Students are selected for many reasons – sometimes they lack motivation with their learning, sometimes they are looking to develop extra confidence, sometimes they are looking to develop a clear idea of their pathway beyond school, sometimes they want to improve their relationships with others. Facilitated in teams of two trainers (including one school based), students come out of classes for one day per week during Term 2 to participate in the programme. A special thanks to Miss Shani Robinson and Miss Lara McCarthy who have been the school-based trainers this year.

It was great to see a number of students take the opportunity to attend the school social last Wednesday evening. While relatively small in number, they were enthusiastic in sprit with some fantastic costumes that fitted with the theme of ‘Movies’. I would like to congratulate the SRC on their organisation. Socials only occur because our staff are prepared to freely give of their time to supervise and to that end I’d like to acknowledge the support of so many – especially SRC mentors: Ms Kathy Coombs, Mrs Felyka Leske and Miss Lexi Champion.

This week, four Year 10 students headed to Flinders University as part of the annual Brain Bee Challenge. Conducted by the Australasian Neuroscience Society, Brain Bee sees participating students learn about the brain and its functions, learn about neuroscience research and find out about careers in neuroscience. Earlier in the year, our students participated in an online quiz which saw three students qualify for the individual state finals and a team of four invited to participate in the teams’ event. An enormous thank you to Ms Natalie Knowler who has run both lunchtime and after school sessions – complete with brain food!

END OF TERM REPORTS

Hard copy reports will be issued on the final day of term for all students. They will also be available on DayMap in the days following.

CONGRATULATIONS

We have gained news in recent times that two of our students have gained state representation.

Congratulations to Zoe Perry (Year 9) who has been selected in the 15 and under girls football team and Darcie Brown (Year 10) who has been selected in the 15 and under girls netball team.

END OF TERM

School will ‘break up’ for the holidays on Friday, July 6. There will be normal lessons in the morning and then an assembly after lunch. At the conclusion of the assembly reports will be issued. Buses (with the exception of Gawler) will leave shortly after.

REMINDER PUPIL FREE DAY – MONDAY, JULY 23

There will be a pupil free day on Monday, July 23 for the purpose of staff professional learning about student well-being.

Term 3 will commence on Tuesday, July 24.

The Digital Youth Research Project

Kapunda High School has been invited to be part of a long term research project for Flinders University and the Australian Research Council. The research is supported by the Department for Education and also involves researchers from New South Wales and the United States.

The research project will look at how young people use technology in their daily lives, and how this changes over the course of adolescence. They are interested in how different factors (individual, social, and contextual) shape the kinds and extent of technology use, and in particular, patterns of internet usage that may be risky or delinquent. To this end, they are conducting a four-year longitudinal study of South Australian secondary school students. A representative sample of Year 8 students will be asked to complete a simple 20-minute paper- based survey once a year, which asks them about their Internet preferences, activities, and capabilities. The first survey will be conducted with this cohort later in 2018, followed annually by surveys in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Please be assured that any information being provided by students as part of this project will be treated in the strictest confidence and that only de-identified and aggregate data will be analysed and published. Individual student participation in the study will be entirely voluntary – with participants and parents/guardians being free to withdraw from the study at any time.

The survey will occur next term in week 2 on Wednesday, during long home group, where researchers from Flinders University will be at the school to conduct the survey.

An information envelope will be going home by the end of this term that provides information for both parents/caregivers and students; and includes and ‘opt out’ form. The ‘opt out’ form includes a self-addressed return envelope that will go directly to Flinders University.

There is a website for the project that you can visit if you wish:

Yabbies Arrival

A group of boys meet Fridays and do all sorts of activities. We decided we wanted some yabbies. We all had jobs to set up before the yabbies arrived. It took a while, but they’re here now. Although they don’t do much yet, because it’s too cold. We will be rostered to look after them and the tank.

Thanks, Ms Bromley for giving us the tank, bubbler and gravel and for doing the animal ethics paper work.

A filter would be good, so if anyone has a spare we could borrow, please contact the school.

Shawn, Noah and Jake

DEMOLITION

The Doorways 2 Construction students were invited to a demolition demonstration at the old Royal Adelaide Hospital in their last week of Certificate l in General Construction training.

The excursion follows training this semester in Work Health and Safety, workplace communication and KESAB clean site training.

The students were hoping to see the machine with the wrecking ball, but that was being assembled. Overall, students found it interesting to see how a large scale operation is conducted.

Information talk by our host

3rd floor view of an excavator moving rubble of the old east wing

Lincoln Bishop zooming in on some workers with the ‘Eye in the Sky’ safety/security cam

A virtual reality building construction

Better Pathways, NDIS and School Leaver Employment Services

Recently Paul, Adam and Bec from Barkuma came to KHS to talk with families about Better Pathways, NDIS and School Leaver Employment Services.

Better Pathways

Students from Kapunda High School have been involved in Better Pathways for the past four years. This program provides a person who acts as mentor/coach and advocate for the student in planning their pathway from school into the workplace. The mentor will work with the student on a fortnightly basis from the middle of year 10 until six months after the student has finished secondary school.

Over the years we have had many success with students supported to enter university, TAFE and employment.

This year the funding model has changed and families can access this support through their NDIS plan. It comes under Capacity Building-improved learning.

The time to consider this as an option is when you next review your NDIS plan, particularly when moving from Year 9 to Year 10. If you have missed out this year, students can still sign up in Year 11. If you want to know more, contact Elizabeth Gary-Smith at KHS.

We think it is fantastic service and have had over 40 students access this supportive program. If you want to know more, we do have a number of information kits available.

NDIS

If you are not on NDIS and think you should be, our local area coordinator is Ferros Care. They can support you to make a connection with a support coordinator. Barkuma can also offer advice to families going through the process or about to start it.

School Leaver Employment Services

This is a brand new service for students about to finish secondary school who cannot, at this stage, work for more than 8 hours per week. It is a two-year supported program that aims to further develop the student’s skills so that they can seek open employment. It covers travel training, money handling, work experience, time management, taking instructions. It aims to build independence and overcome barriers to employment.

Contacts for further information

Elizabeth Gary-Smith at Kapunda High School- 0885662203 or elizabeth.garysmith874@schools.sa.edu.au

Barkuma 84147100 or barkuma@barkuma.com.au

NDIS at:

Art Excursion

The Year 10 Visual Design class went on excursion to UniSA City West campus to tour the facilities with a focus on the Dorrit Black building where tertiary students study Art and Design. What the Uni had to offer impressed the students - especially the student lounge and recreation area within the new Pridham Hall, a well-designed building with attention to detail. A visit to the Jam Factory allowed students a glimpse into the glassblowing studio and the Fuse Art Prize exhibition.

The students have been studying architecture for their most recent unit of work in class, so on the walk to Rundle Mall for lunch we viewed the SAHMRI medical research building. The architectural design is based on a pine cone using passive design; an example of this and the main feature of the exterior are the various sized shades over the windows to minimise heat getting into the building and for wind deflection purposes. When entering the building it was apparent that this is like a ‘skin’ with two atriums housed inside. We compared this contemporary design to the traditional Greek inspired design of Parliament House; the exterior marble being sourced from Kapunda.

My favourite part of the excursion was the Parliament House and feeling some of the Kapunda marble. Adam Greenwood

My favourite part of the excursion was visiting the Uni and seeing all of the different Art courses one could take. I also liked the Parliament house - the marble was gorgeous. April Ford

The most interesting part of the excursion was touring the Uni campus and looking at the different courses it had to offer. Also, the Jam Factory was quite cool. Ella Fiegert

I loved visiting the University, it really broadened my view about my future. The dark room and photography were my favourites. I really enjoyed the excursion. Kaileigh Hoerisch

I liked the cushion wall the most and the photography room. The Uni gym and pool was cool. William Glen

I enjoyed learning about some of the practices and processes involved in modern forms of art. Sam Woods

Gemma’s New Device

Gemma has recently received her own Eye Gaze device. She is very excited and is now learning more about how to use it. The device tracks Gemma's eye movement to enable hands-free operation for a laptop or speech generating device. This technology allows Gemma to extend her communication abilities to share whatever she wishes to say.

Mid-Year Social

The mid-year social was a grand success; the red carpet rolled out on Wednesday evening, 20 June, at 7:00pm with a movies theme. Students dressed as a favourite movie character and danced the night away!

Donuts, drinks and bags of popcorn were available for purchase. Former student, Brodie Markos, came in to be the DJ and SRC created an excellent backdrop for photos. Students were perfectly behaved and everyone had an amazing time!

Thank you, to the SRC for organizing the event and for the teachers who supervised the social. A special thank you also, to Mr Cope who organized a smoke machine, projectors and special lighting to transform the gym into a real Hollywood party.

The formal social will occur in Week 8, Term 4.

Open Girls Knock-Out Netball

On Thursday, 14 June, nine senior school students went to Balaklava for a knock-out netball carnival. There were eight schools competing to move onto the next round of the state-wide competition. We had a really physical contest against teams from Clare, Horizon, Balaklava and Riverton. We had three wins for the day including against Balaklava by only two goals. After settling into our positions in game 1, the team worked together seamlessly for the rest of the day; they looked like they had been playing together for years. Overall, Kapunda made their mark on the day, but will not progress to the next round after having a few close losses.

A special thank you to Ms Hannah Sanders, who was our team umpire for the day, as well as Francine Pfitzner and Jodie Loffler, who drove the team and supported us for the day.

Ashleigh Callins
Coach

Year 10 Fitness sessions

Throughout Term 2, the Year 10 CORE Physical Education classes had the opportunity to participate in a variety of fitness sessions. Students were able to experience High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Pilates, RPM, Aqua Aerobics and boxing.

The students were learning about the different types of training programs and how exercise can help improve their general fitness.

We were lucky enough to have Julie Lecons, from Road Map to Fitness, come to school to take the kids through a HIIT session, Pilates and also boxing. The Rex in Tanunda also allowed us to participate in an Aqua and RPM (bikes) session.

With a variety of fitness levels in both classes, it was still fantastic to see all the students ‘give it a go’.

Megan Samain and Ben Dibb
Physical Education teachers

Tourism Excursion

On Thursday, 21 June, the students in the Year 12 Tourism class had the opportunity to tour the Barossa Valley. We started at Peter Lehman Wines, where the class had to interview members of the Barossa Wine Industry, including Cathy Wills (Barossa Tourism), Kat Dundon (Whistler Wines), Sal Johnson (Yalumba), Dana Fechner (Barossa Valley Cheese) and Kylie Mansfield (The Louise). In Term 3, the students will have to represent these businesses in a seminar that discusses how they entice visitors to come, and how they are so successful.

After our interviews, it was time to explore the Barossa. We went to Barossa Visitor Centre (including Beans and Creams for coffee and ice cream!), Yalumba, Barossa Valley Cheese Company, Maggie Beer Farm shop, Whistler Wines, The Louise and to finish off Seppeltsfield.

We are extremely privileged to have a major tourist attraction at our doorstep, and I am eternally grateful that these businesses give up their time to help the Tourism class.

We all got to visit some of the Barossa’s renowned tourist destinations and it was a wonderful experience and time spent with great people. Maddy Lewis

I had never really travelled the Barossa area. So today was awesome as I found places that I will go visit again, such as the cheese shop. I would definitely go and try some of the restaurants that we came across. Overall, it was a brilliant day. Isaac Petz

It was a great opportunity to explore the Barossa as we were able to discover so many great places that I will definitely have to re-visit. Courtney Launer

It was great to understand how many ways tourism can fit in with the wineries and cheese factory, as well as discovering new places that I can potentially re-visit in the near future. Jemma Leis

Can You Help?

The Kapunda Community Thrift Shop is a valued supporter of the Kapunda High School Centenary Foundation and has so far contributed $15,000 towards our mission of assisting country students and trainees in their post-school education.

If you are able to put in a few hours at the ‘shop’ in Kapunda Street, Kapunda, your help would be gratefully appreciated by the long-serving volunteers who currently manage the enterprise.

It is a great opportunity to ‘give back’ to our community and is also a great way to meet new people, while doing something worthwhile.

Please call in any Tuesday and meet Rae and Di who will welcome your interest.

Anne Hornsey
Secretary
Kapunda High School Centenary Foundation Inc.

A Healthy & Safe Environment

It’s Not Easy Being Wheezy

Asthma is a long-term lung condition. People with asthma have sensitive airways in their lungs which react to triggers, causing a ‘flare-up’. In a flare-up, the muscles around the airway squeeze tight, the airways swell and become narrow and there is more mucus. These things make it harder to breathe. The following video explains Asthma further:

An asthma flare-up can come on slowly (over hours, days or even weeks) or very quickly (over minutes). A sudden or severe asthma flare-up is sometimes called an asthma attack.

One in nine people in Australia has asthma. It affects people of all ages. Symptoms often vary from person to person, but they are most commonly: breathlessness, wheezing, tight feeling in the chest and continuing cough.

(Excerpt, Asthma Australia website: https://www.asthmaaustralia.org.au/sa/about-asthma)

Statistics show that across Australia, on average, one person dies each day as a consequence of asthma. An asthma attack can escalate very quickly from having a little trouble breathing, to becoming a life-threatening event.

As aerosols pose significant danger to people who have asthma, KHS has banned spray deodorants and other atomised perfumes or fragrances. They must not be brought to school and people should use alternatives.

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.

Medical Information Updates

Where students have medical conditions, the school must have a current associated care plan and medication authority (if required). Care plans and authorities are completed and signed by a doctor as well as the parent/caregiver and provide daily routine and emergency response information to enable adequate care for your child.

With upcoming camps for some year levels, parents may need to check that the school has the current information related to their children’s medical conditions.

Medication provided must not be expired and should be labelled correctly with the student’s name, dosage and instruction (including pain medication such as Panadol, and anti-histamines) with a limited supply provided for the camp period (except asthma medication). A medication authority must also accompany the medication.

If you are unsure of what the school has or need to organise the appropriate documents, please contact Ann Richardson at the school as soon as possible.

Reporting a hazard

Kapunda High School is keen to provide a safe environment for staff, students and visitors alike. As with all workplaces, KHS must comply with Work Health & Safety legislation, policy and guidelines. As such, our school staff use a particular process to report hazards within the school, so that issues may be addressed to prevent accidents and injuries.

Our wider school community is also encouraged to report any concerns within the grounds. Hazards may be reported to the school Reception office and staff will follow on from there.

Should students mention that they have noticed a hazard, parents/caregivers should direct them also, to the school Reception office to share this information.

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 date:

27 July – payment to be finalised (Term 3, Week 1)

Uniform Sale

Don’t get left in the cold!

2018 University information updates for UniSA and the University of Adelaide.

As Term 2 comes to an end, Year 12 students are getting ready for making decisions about their future Tertiary Pathways. This may be via University, TAFESA or other institutions. Tertiary institutions continue to work together to expand the options for students to access future learning for evolving new and exciting career pathways. New state of the art facilities and technological advancements in delivery methods of course content help to prepare our young people as they move towards a globalised system of work opportunities.

The University of South Australia presents new facilities and courses for students who will be enrolling for 2019 entry. The attached PDF covers: New facilities including student accommodation, New programs commencing in 2019 and Open Day information (Sunday 12 August)

The University of Adelaide presents new courses for 2019, Animal and Veterinary Science information sessions, Changes to the Bachelor of Oral Health, Entry requirements for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical science scholarship and student support. Also Open Day information (Sunday 12 August).

The University of Adelaide also promotes the Bright Sparks Science Club for kids 6 to 15 years who are inspired by science and technology. There is an information brochure and a copy of previous events.

Flinders University will be releasing their Open Day program over the next couple of weeks and will be featured in the next newsletter along with TAFESA information.

For further information please contact KHS.

Tracy Warner
Assistant Principal
Senior School

Year 11 Social Actions for Society and Culture

This term, the Year 11 Society and Culture class has been conducting social actions as part of their group task. A social action is something that raises awareness about a particular issue. The overarching theme that students investigated was World Shaping Phenomena.

Groups consisted of 2 to 4 people. Topics investigated included:

• Sexual assault
• # Me too campaign
• Same-sex marriage
• Global warming
• Natural disasters
• Terrorism
• Gun laws

Students were encouraged to think creatively about how they could raise awareness within our school community. Several groups have written reports about their social actions.

Report from Chloe, Kelsi, Mackenzie and Christie

Sexual Assault

The impact of sexual assault not only affects the victim, but many more around them. Sexual assault has impacted our society for many years and is such a taboo topic due to the horrific circumstances victims are put in, resulting in silence among society. Only recently, within the past few years, victims of this act have decided to stand up and speak out along with many supporting agencies and campaigns to end violence against both men and women.

As a part of Stage One Society and Culture, we investigated the impact of sexual assault and how it has shaped our world by forming a social action to improve or potentially change how society views this act; starting with Kapunda High. We invited guest speaker, Louise Dabrowski, former police investigator, to speak to Year 12 students about the police investigations of sexual assault, as well as the key factors of consent and what to do if you, or your friend were in a situation where sexual violence was evident. Following the presentation, each student (and teachers) was invited to raise awareness of sexual assault by purchasing from our bake sale, with all proceeds being donated to Rise Above the Pack. Women and men are suffering as a result of sexual assault, not only from physical pain and torment, but with lack of support and awareness of how damaging and life affecting an event such as this can be. The national colour for Sexual Assault is blue (or teal), so we made blue themed sweets. We raised approximately $165 for the cause.

Rise Above the Pack is a campaign-based foundation that aims to change the attitudes of men on gender inequality in our society. Visit the website below for more information or to donate to this cause.

Report from Jessica and Emily

Natural Disasters

Four our social action we (Jessica and Emily) made a PowerPoint presentation informing Miss Champion’s Year 8 Geography class about tsunamis. Feedback from Miss Champion was that the class was really interested in the topic. In the PowerPoint, we described how and what happens when tsunamis occur, and the effect of tsunamis. Our focus with the PowerPoint is to create an awareness around natural disasters, which focuses on the world changing impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the devastation it caused.

Report Liv and Maddy

Same-sex marriage

For our topic on world shaping phenomena we researched same sex marriage and conducted a social action. If you aren’t aware, same sex marriage is between two same sex partners. Same sex marriage has been around since 1970s in some parts of the world, but has only recently been legalised in Australia. Same sex marriage has some positive and negative outcomes.

One of the positive outcomes of same sex marriage is that it is a human right to marry no matter gender or culture. Same sex couples have the right to marry and start a family, just like everyone else. It is also positive as it creates a less discriminating world to live in.

The same-sex marriage plebiscite seriously impacted the mental well-being of same-sex couples in Australia as they had to defend their right to be treated equally.

One of the negative outcomes of same sex marriages is the impact it has for some children. It may affect them emotionally and physically.

Social Action - this was a difficult topic to conduct a social action on, so we chose to put posters on display. Posters were displayed in the: Resource Centre, Time out Room, Science Room, Reception and Study Room. The message was: Love is love, do not discriminate against same sex marriage.

Friday Activities

World Cup Fever

To coincide with the FIFA 2018 World Cup taking place in Russia over the next month, Kapunda High held its own inaugural KHS World Cup Soccer Shoot-out.

Students were given information about the country they were representing. Then they paired off, each having a kick at the soccer goals while their opponent tried to defend.

Gradually the 32 players were narrowed down to 16, then eight, then four until the grand final play-off between Matt McLean (representing Costa Rica) and Jayden Matz (representing Spain).

These two had five shots at goal each, with the winner being the person who got the most goals.

Jayden, for Spain went first and kicked two goals from his five attempts. Then Matt, for Costa Rica, was unsuccessful after four attempts - so the winner was Spain.

Spain wins the 2018 KHS World Cup! Let's watch with interest how it goes in the FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Heads or Tails, Sock Brandy & Frisbee

Mitch Lovell was the winner in a quick game of Heads or Tails at the morning assembly.

The fast-paced game of indoor Sock Brandy was the recess time activity in the gym; while at lunch time on a beautiful sunny afternoon, students did their best at trying to flick a Frisbee into Drew’s drum.

The aim is to land the Frisbee in the drum, Josh!