3 May 2019

Newsletter Articles

Prefects, Callum Rawlinson and Jack Meldrum thank guest speaker, ADF Captain Bradley Nothrop for our annual ANZAC ceremony.

From Our Principal

Welcome to Term 2

I’ve enjoyed my first week back at Kapunda High School following a brief ‘stint’ as Education Director for the Gawler Portfolio of schools in the final four weeks of last term. I’d like to acknowledge the leadership of Tim Jones during that period – along with the whole senior leadership team who supported him in my absence.

We commenced the term with a special ANZAC assembly co-ordinated by our Prefects. The respect of the whole school community was evident throughout and is testimony to the calibre of our students – many who attended ANZAC Day ceremonies in their own communities last week.

KHS ANZAC ceremony

Prefects and SRC attend Kapunda’s ANZAC Day Dawn Service

This Sunday is our Open Day and I’d encourage all families with students in years 6 and 7 to come along – even if you already have a child attending our school. We will be open from 1:30 - 4:00 pm and there will be a number of displays and staff to catch up with.

The term is traditionally a very busy one and I encourage you to ‘keep track’ of key events by reading the newsletter and following us on Facebook.

I’d also like to remind you of the information that is available on ‘DayMap’ in relation to your child’s progress. While our end of term reports provide summary information of student achievement, you can use the parent portal to gain access to assessment information in ‘real time’.

Parent/Student/Teacher Interviews

Hopefully, your child has passed on a letter with details of our forthcoming interviews – Tuesday, May 7 at Freeling Primary School and Wednesday, May 8 at Dutton Park in Kapunda. This is a great opportunity to sit down and discuss progress with your child’s teachers - whether they are doing really well or whether they are struggling. The online booking system is very simple but if you have any difficulties, please contact the reception staff for assistance.

We very much encourage students to be part of these conversations as well as parents.

Year 12 Holiday Seminars

I would like to acknowledge the teaching staff who offered their students the opportunity to come in and work at school at various times during the holidays - providing individualized and small group support.

Similarly, I would like to congratulate the students who made a decision to attend a holiday session here at school and/or attend a school funded seminar conducted in Adelaide.

Year 9 NAPLAN

NAPLAN assessments are occurring in weeks 3 and 4 of this term.

By the time students get to Year 9 there can be a “what’s in it for me?” attitude from some.

At Kapunda High School, we greatly value the data we receive - both on a whole school level as well as individually. It enables us to see where our students have strengths and where we need to have greater emphasis.

For students and parents it is a really great insight and snapshot ahead of the senior years. In fact, as part of their Personal Learning Plan in Year 10, students reflect on their literacy and numeracy skills as indicated by their NAPLAN results.

Interestingly, students who are absent for NAPLAN tests are viewed by the Department as not having demonstrated the Standard of Educational Achievement (SEA) for Year 9.

That is why we strongly encourage full attendance and do all we can to ‘catch up’ if students have been absent due to illness, etc.

If you wish to discuss exemption or withdrawal from NAPLAN, please contact me as soon as possible.

Welcome to New Staff

• Natasha Koritza – History and Geography
• Sarah Molloy – Health and Physical Education
• Alex Glen – English, History and Geography

Kristen Masters
Principal

SRC Report

SRC ended Term 1 with a casual day to raise funds and Easter egg hunt. Students needed to find coloured pegs that were hidden around the grounds and exchange them for an Easter egg.

ANZAC Day Dawn Services

As mentioned above, many of our Prefects and Student Representatives attended dawn services at Kapunda, Wasleys, Freeling and Gawler. Students lay wreaths in commemoration of the fallen.

KHS ANZAC Ceremony

SRC would like to thank Captain Bradley Nothrop, ADF, in attending our ceremony on Tuesday this week, and also Mr Gary Schmidt for playing the Last Post and Reveille.

‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.’

Lest we forget.

Japanese Host Families Required

We are seeking ten host families this year to accommodate visitors from Hachioji Junior High School in Japan. Hachioji students will arrive Wednesday, 24 July and leave Friday, 2 August 2019. 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 Kristin Hodge via email kristin.hodge993@schools.sa.edu.au.

National Careers Week

National Careers Week occurs during the week of 13 – 19 May. Career Council Industry of Australia explains:

What is National Careers Week?

National Careers Week aims to celebrate careers, career development and career development practitioners and to promote the economic, social and personal benefits of career development.

Everyday decisions and priorities affect career development. Career development is about much more than jobs – it is about how to live your life.

The objectives of National Careers Week are to:

• Develop community awareness of the concept, benefit, and value of career development.
• Raise aspirations, challenge stereotypes, and broaden horizons about careers.
• Highlight the need for ongoing reskilling and upskilling to support careers throughout life.
• Identify the changing nature of work and its impact on all Australians.
• Showcase industries and the career opportunities available in them.
• Provide opportunities to partner with key stakeholders.

More information can be found at:

With this in mind, I will attempt to provide some resources through this and upcoming newsletter articles, which will provide strategies and opportunities for our young people to reflect on their skills, interests and passions. In turn, students can make informed future pathway decisions and be more aware of their strengths, as well as consider areas for improvement to prepare for desired vocational pathways.

Check out this Facebook image, which demonstrates how quickly information can be disseminated and connected with! Surely this will impact the workplace and effect how quickly workplace change will occur in the future. Hence, it will be highly likely that students will have multiple occupations throughout their careers, or that their roles will change dramatically over time. Being adaptable and able to cope with change is likely to be an increasingly important requirement in being prepared for the world beyond school, besides ‘knowing what job’ they want to do.

Foundation of Young Australians have release a new report about ‘The New Work Reality’. Reading through will provide insight into the changing world of work that our students will enter and could spark rich conversations with our young people.

Let me know if you have any queries or suggestions. And Happy National Careers month!

Penny Chancellor
Assistant Principal (VET, FLO, Careers)

Ashly’s STEAM Camp Report

Last term, from 8 - 11 April, I attended the 2019 Full STEAM ahead camp. This was a unique opportunity for 21 South Australian Agriculture students to learn more about careers in Agriculture and meet potential employers.

This camp was a valuable opportunity for me and provided an insight on the various careers available in the agriculture industry. It provided me with unique insight on the kind of studies which can be undertaken after school for the best potential. Not only this, I made friends and met a multitude of potential employers. I recommend anyone who is interested in agriculture to apply to attend this camp in future. Not only can it help one decide on future study and career opportunities, but it also provides an opportunity to speak to potential employers - and looks amazing on a resume! Every year students have an amazing time and get to meet extraordinary people from all walks of life. It was worth every minute.

Ashly Cocks
Year 12 student

Physics Excursion

On Thursday in Week 11 Term 1, year 11 and 12 Physics students had the opportunity to observe how some of the theory they are learning in the classroom is applied in geophysical surveys. Environmental Copper Recovery are researching the potential of low environmental footprint ISR (In-Situ Recovery) for Copper at the old Kapunda mine site. Part of the feasibility study has involved Magnetotelluric studies to identify the underlying geology and hydrogeology of a number of properties around the site.

Magnetotellurics is a passive method of determining the structure of the underlying geology of a site by measuring minute differences in the speed that magnetic waves travel through the earth. Students learned that this involves the collection of an incredible amount of data, with readings being taken hundreds of times a second, and like the investigations they do themselves as part of the curriculum, requires the geophysicists to identify potential variables in the data, identify trends and have a control or reference point in order to determine the reliability of the data that they collect.

Students were also interested to learn how much travel and adventure can be involved in a career in Geophysics, with site staff telling them about investigations they had been involved in; from flying in helicopters across vast sites in outback Australia, to surveying sites in Antarctica.

Ben, one of the site staff, explains the data collection device.

Professor Heinson explains the importance of electrode alignment for the reliability and comparability of data, as Adam, a member of the site staff deploys the sampling equipment.

Professor Graham Heinson of University of Adelaide explains the underlying physics and geology of the magnetotelluric investigations.

Kathy Coombs
Physics teacher

Asthma Information

STOP….are you Winter Well with asthma?

Many people experience an increase in asthma symptoms and find their asthma harder to control during winter.

There tend to be more asthma triggers around during the winter season – including colder weather, colds and flu viruses, unhealthy eating habits and poor indoor air quality. So, if you experience an increase in your asthma symptoms over winter, you’re not alone. But, you don’t need to put up with these symptoms.

Visit Asthma Australia for information on how to reduce the likelihood of asthma triggers over winter.

Kiss My Asthma App - Helping Youth with Asthma

Asthma affects 2.7 million Australians and, of those, 300,000 are youth. In comparison with their peers without asthma, youth with asthma have been shown to have double the risk of experiencing mental health issues. An Asthma Australia survey found a link between poorly controlled asthma and increased levels of anxiety, social isolation and depression in youth.

Together with the University of Sydney , Asthma Australia has designed the Kiss My Asthma App – an App to support young people to manage their asthma and reclaim their breath.

The app includes:

• access to your Asthma Action Plan (do you have one?)
• the ability to track your asthma symptoms, severity and attacks, making it easy to inform your doctor or specialist accurately about your asthma
• mood tracker
• goal-setting and support from one of the App’s monster assistants
• reminders to take your asthma preventer medications
• Asthma First Aid instructions and emergency contacts; and
• information about asthma, asthma medications and devices as well as managing anxiety.

You can download the App via the Apple Store.

(information provided by Asthma Australia)

Community Notices

Adelaide Careers & Employment Expo

May 10 - 9:00am – 3:00pm
May 11 – 10:00am – 4:00pm

Adelaide Showground
FREE event

The Interactive Skills Zones at the Careers Expo presented by Government of SA - Department for Industry & Skills

The Skills Zones will be filled with ‘hands on’ displays, allowing students to experience SA’s Future Apprenticeship and Training Opportunities.

There will be Eight Interactive Zones featuring careers in:

• Creative Industries & Digital
• Defence, It & Cyber Security
• Construction, Mining & Energy
• Health, Fitness, Community Services & Disability
• Food, Wine & Tourism
• Transport & Manufacturing
• Business, Education & Services
• Agribusiness