1 November 2019

Newsletter Articles

VET Student of the Year, Adam Schmidt with members of The Rotary Club of Barossa District, Brian Eckermann (awards organiser) & Brian Barnett (President)

From Our Principal

Kapunda High School Students’ Achievements Recognised

VET Student of the Year Awards

On Monday evening, I had the opportunity to attend the Barossa VET Awards sponsored by the Rotary Club of Barossa Districts. Five of our students were recognised with awards and cash prizes during the evening: Shania Chenoweth, Bella Schrapel, Kayla Shaw, Mitch Lovell and Adam Schmidt.

Shania Chenoweth, Kayla Shaw, Adam Schmidt, Mitch Lovell and Bella Schrapel

A special congratulations to Year 12 student, Adam Schmidt who was named ‘VET Student of the Year’ for the four participating schools: Faith Lutheran, Nuriootpa High School, Eudunda Area School and Kapunda High.

As part of his SACE, Adam undertook both Certificate III and IV studies and now has a very promising career in the fitness industry.

We’ve come a long way since vocational education and training first entered the realms of secondary education just over twenty years ago. Prior to that time, there were clear boundaries between school, employment and training. Students had to leave school to undertake the latter two.

Soon, VET competencies became recognised as accredited learning within the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) and over time the universities began to accept completion of a Certificate III as ‘equal’ to a Stage 2 subject for the purposes of tertiary entrance.

We are very proud of our VET high achievers and also acknowledge the work behind the scenes from our Flexible Learning Pathways Leader, Penny Chancellor as well as parents, trainers and employers.

Adam with Principal, Kristen Masters and Flexible Learning Pathways Leader, Penny Chancellor

Adam with his TAFESA trainer, Kevin Littler and employer, Shaun Ahearn of Barossa Valley Personal Training

Adam with his parents, Gary and Natalie Schmidt

Adam with proud Flexible Learning Pathways Leader, Penny Chancellor

Minister of Education’s Children’s Week Award

On Friday, Year 12 student, Elijah Smith was presented with the Minister of Education’s, Children’s Week Award (secondary) in recognition to his outstanding contribution to school and community.

Elijah’s interest in politics and contributing to Australia’s democratic processes has seen him involved in Youth Parliament in 2017 and 2018 as well as representing our school at the South Australian Schools’ Constitutional Convention in 2018 and the UN Youth State Conference in 2019. He was then selected to represent South Australia at the National Schools’ Constitutional Convention and the UN Youth National Conference – both in 2019. Towards the end of Term 3, Elijah participated in the Evatt Competition – a model United Nations Security Council diplomacy competition for secondary students and along with his partner, placed in the top 5 for South Australia. Most recently he has been one of eight South Australian students who met with the Senior Executive Group within the Department for Education to present a range of student perspectives.

Assistant Principal, Elizabeth Gary-Smith, Elijah Smith and Minister for Education, John Gardner.

Preparing for 2020

Planning for the 2020 school year is well underway.

• The selections made through the subject counselling process last term have ‘driven’ the school timetable. Commencing with Year 11s, students will be receiving letters informing them of their subjects for 2020. Due to clashes and demand for subjects, it may, in some cases, be necessary to ‘tweak’ the preferred programme. If you are ever unsure, please contact the Year Level Manager for clarification.
• If circumstances have changed and your child will not be attending Kapunda High School in 2020, please contact the Front Office.
• If you are aware of any students moving to the community, please encourage them to contact the school as soon as possible so that we can ensure we have adequate staffing in place for the beginning of the year.

The Kapunda High School Eringa Award

Nominations are open for the prestigious Eringa Award. This award acknowledges outstanding contribution from a student, staff member, parent/caregiver or community member and will be presented at our Presentation Evening on Monday, December 9, 2019.

Previous winners have been Mr Grantly Bell, Mrs Kristin Hodge, Mr Andrew Mickan, Mrs Anne Hornsey, Mrs Deb Hook and Mr Peter Murphy. Nominations for this year’s award can be made by completing the form below and/or emailing Kristen.masters775@schools.sa.edu.au – maximum of 250 words. Nominations close on Friday, November 15.

Budget 2020

At this time of the year we review our financial position and make decisions about how we spend our available income to best support our students as learners.

At Kapunda High School, our major source of funding is from the State Government. This comes to just less than $6 million based on anticipated enrolments for 2020. However, this is largely tied to staff salaries, utilities (cleaning, telephone) and building maintenance.

Beyond that, the next largest source of income is through Materials and Services charges. It is through the contributions of our families that we can provide maintain our technology infrastructure, update the equipment and textbooks that students use for their learning, provide consumables to support student learning – whether it be foodstuffs in Home Economics, paints in Art, chemicals in Science, etc.

Our Governing Council has recently reviewed our anticipated revenue and expenditure for and is recommending that the Materials and Services Charge for 2020 be set at $460. That works out to be $2.30 per school day. Should you wish to participate in discussions regarding this charge, you are invited to attend the Governing Council meeting on Monday, November 1, commencing at 7.30pm in the Kidman Room.

Kristen Masters
Principal

Year 12 Information

Last week for Year 12s

Last week was the 2019 Year 12 student’s last official week of school, beginning with a Dress Up Day on Monday and moving on to a Staff vs Students Table Tennis on Wednesday and rounding off Friday with a special morning tea provided by staff and a farewell assembly on in the afternoon.

Good luck to these students with their exams and their future lives.

Dress Up Day

Staff vs Students Table Tennis

Last day events

Year 12 Remaining Events Calendar

Japanese Excursion

The Year 9 and 10 Japanese classes have been researching Japanese art - in particular, the work on Pre-Meiji Ukiyo-e (woodblock screen prints), and its impact on Western art. In order to bring this learning to life, we visited the Art Gallery of South Australia toward the end of the term 3. Fortunately, the Art Gallery had a small exhibition of Ukiyo-E and sample of paintings that may have been influenced by them.

The main areas of influences of the Ukiyo-E are the composition of painting with the Ukiyo-E providing influence on non-asymmetric painting, content and colour. It was a valuable experience for the students to see real life examples of both the screen prints and the Western painting and to learn how Japonism was a movement from the end of the 19th century and early 20th century that influenced the impressionist movement in Europe. There is also an installation piece from Chiharu Shiota, a modern Japanese artist, so we stopped to have a look at that too. Since we were in the area, we stopped by the University of Adelaide’s Barr Smith Library, looked at their reading room and then travelled past the Asian Studies building.

Our last stop was the Japanese restaurant Matsumoto that lives up to the classic Japanese food idiom: hayai (fast), oshii (delicious) and importantly yasui (cheap). This place serves simple hearty set meals that are delicious. The students were able to taste authentic Japanese recipes such teriyaki chicken and side dishes such as miso soup and tsukemono.

It was an excellent day of authentic learning that was enjoyed by all.

Stage 1 Legal Studies Excursion

On a beautiful spring day in late September, the Stage 1 Legal Studies class visited the city of Adelaide to experience the law courts.

Our first stop was the Sir Samuel Way Building, home of the District Court of Adelaide. This building also houses some Supreme Court cases. We were able to experience a District Court Case where the defendant was on trial for multiple charges, including aggravated serious criminal trespass and assault. The prosecution case relied on the testimony of the victim who was the key witness. The victim wanted to use an aspect of law that allows partners of defendants not to testify against them. However, the prosecutor was able to use two precedents from other cases to have this motion dismissed. Unfortunately, the reluctance of the key witness to testify meant a delay in the case, so we were unable to observe her testimony.

Our next stop was the Magistrates Courts where we able to sit through a number of committal hearings. These are the hearings where the defendant is remanded for trial if there is enough evidence and they learn the nature of the charges brought against them. The students were able to observe a range of cases, including a committal hearing where a man was charged with attempted murder, even though the facts of the cases relied on the sole testimony of an unreliable witness and there was confusion over who had discharged the firearm.

The value of this excursion is that the students are able to see the law in action. This experience gives them an excellent insight as to whether they would like to work in the law or policing.

Presentation Evening 2019

Kapunda High School has again had a most successful and eventful year and it is now the time when we are looking to acknowledge the success of our students and their efforts throughout the past twelve months.

To do this we rely very much on the generosity of local businesses, community members, organisations, parents and staff of Kapunda High School, to support us. In the past we have been very pleased with the response to our invitations calling for donations to enable the whole community to be part of our school’s success.

We now have pleasure in inviting you to make a donation towards our evening in 2019. The school recognises students in years 8-11 with awards for Academic Achievement, Improvement, Consistency, All-rounder and School Citizenship. The top student of each year 12 subject is awarded a Subject Prize. Your contribution will go towards a $30 voucher for a selected student(s).

The prize will be awarded at our annual Presentation Evening on Monday, 9 December 2019. We cordially invite you to attend the evening at 7:00pm for a 7:30pm start. Your generosity will be acknowledged on the night as the student accepts the award, also in subsequent press releases, magazine and newsletter articles.

If you would like to take up this offer our bank details are:

BSB: 105006
Account No: 057125140
Ref: Presentation Evening

Or you can send a cheque or call into the school Reception Office.

So that we can finalise our prize list in good time, we would appreciate it if you could reply before Thursday 7 November 2019.

Kerry Brown
Presentation Evening Co-ordinator
Email: kerry.brown429@schools.sa.edu.au
Phone: 8566 2203

Change of Name?

At KHS, we try to accommodate those who wish to be known as a name other than the name that appears on their birth certificate. This may be achieved by adding a ‘preferred’ name to our school data base, which informs DayMap. However, there are some instances where the student’s legal name must be used. Forms of formal identification, such as ID cards and ID letters (used when applying for a driver’s licence) must show the legal name eg name that appears on the birth certificate or change of name change of name certificate.

If your child has had a change of name this year, you should contact the school, and provide a copy of the legal change of name certificate to ensure that school records are correct.

Uniform Fitting Session

This is the perfect opportunity for current Kapunda High School families, as well as future KHS parents, to bring their child/ren along to get fitted for uniforms for 2020. Devon Clothing will have some stock available, so you may be able to purchase and collect items that afternoon. Should your items be unavailable, you will still be able to order and have them either delivered to KHS before transition day or posted directly to your home.

Some discounted items available, too!

Wednesday, 13 November
3:00pm – 6:00pm
Room 50 (Home Economics room)

Important Immunisation Information

Meningacoccal B

Parents and students 14.5 years and older are receiving reminder letters from Medicare Australia when immunisation records are showing as not up to date, on Australian Immunisation Register.

Students or parents may phone HAIMS 8152 0363 if they have any questions relating to this letter.

The Meningococcal ACWY and Meningococcal B vaccines are available for students who missed the opportunity at school in years 10 and 11 to access this free vaccine from their doctor or Nurse immunisation provider.

The year 11 program will cease December 31, 2019, however year 10 cohort will be offered both vaccines in an ongoing school program.

The free Meningococcal B catch-up program ends on December 31st 2019 for young people 17 to under 21 years of age so too the early childhood catch-up program for those from 12 months to 4 years of age.

180,000 doses of the government funded Meningococcal B vaccine have been distributed with the take up particularly strong for babies. There have been 22 cases of Meningococcal in SA so far this year with 15 of those cases being the B strain.

The links to articles demonstrates the devastating reality of this disease. It is unfortunate many more tragic examples exist of this vaccine preventable disease… let us put a stop to any more.

Year 8 Immunisation Session 2

Year 8 students will have their second dose of Gardasil (HPV) on Tuesday, 19 November. Students should eat breakfast and bring their drink bottle for water.

Community Notices

Year 12 students - 2020 Hawker Scholarship

Applications for the 2020 Charles Hawker Scholarships open on 9 December, 2019 and close on 8 January, 2020. An application form and further information about C.A.S. Hawker and the scholarship is available from the link below or by contacting the secretary to the Trustees in Adelaide on 08 8127 1654.

Hawker Scholarships are valued at up to $60,000.00 over three years and are amongst the most generous privately funded residential scholarships available to Australian undergraduate and postgraduate students.

There are a number of scholarships awarded each year. The Trustees offer them to capable students of principle and character, who have demonstrated a committed to the wider community. Selection is based on personal qualities, as well as academic ability.

Since 1990, the Hawker Scholarship Trustees have awarded $6 million dollars to 126 Australian students, including a significant number from regional areas.

LinkSA Fare Increase