29 November 2019

Newsletter Articles

Year 12 Formal attendees, Emily Stewart, Danielle Barbaro and Jessica Euing at Gomersal Wines

From Our Principal

Year 12 Formal

After the disappointment of having to postpone the Year 12 Formal last week due to a fire in the Barossa, it was terrific to reconvene at Gomersal Wines on Tuesday night to celebrate with the graduating class of 2019.

Gomersal Wines worked hard with us to secure the services of an alternate caterer for the evening and provided fine food, excellent hospitality and a friendly and welcoming atmosphere in a wonderful location.

Students looked wonderful in their fine dresses and suits, and it was fantastic to see so many parents and friends present to see them walk down the red carpet.

Everyone got into the spirit of the evening – sharing some ‘shout outs’ and recalling memories from over the past five years and then sat back and saw their five years at Kapunda High School ‘flash’ before them with a DVD of photos on the big screen. Were they ever so small and young! During the evening, students and staff ‘hit’ the dance floor and really let their ‘hair’ down.

I’d like to acknowledge the work of Senior School Assistant Principal, Tracy Warner, and her team of Year 12 home class teachers for working with students to organise the evening – especially in the context of the postponement.

Thank you also to families for your support and understanding. We knew that whatever decision we made (and when we made it), wasn’t going to please everyone and that there would be a lot of disappointment. In that context, the supportive messages from a number of families has been greatly appreciated.

Year 12 Formal 2019

Presentation Evening

All members of our school community are cordially invited to attend the annual presentation evening on Monday, December 9 in the school gymnasium. Guests are asked to be seated by 7:15pm for a prompt 7:30pm start.

The main purpose of the evening is to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of our Year 8 to 12 students.

A significant number of students will be the recipients of certificates and prizes recognizing effort and achievement. There are also a range of prestigious awards and scholarships presented on the evening.

As one of the most important events on the school calendar, it is expected that all students receiving awards are dressed in full school uniform.

Year Level Prize Criteria

Each year, the number of prizes available at each year level represents 10% of the term 4 enrolment. For example, if there are between 91-100 students in a year level, there will be 10 prizes; if there are 101-110, there will be 11 prizes.

Academic Excellence prizes are awarded to the student(s) with the best grades for the year – across all subjects. This is calculated using end of term data.

Teachers nominate students for the following awards, which are then finalised by the Year Level Manager and teachers:

All-Rounder: balancing sport, academic and service contribution over the year; responsible behaviour.

Consistency: outstanding consistent effort over the year; responsible behaviour.

Improvement: improvement in attitude, grades and involvement from previous year or start of the year; responsible behaviour.

School Citizenship: co-operation, attitude, study habits, compliance with school rules and policies including uniform. Involvement in school activities, support of home group, service to the school, responsible behaviour.

Generally speaking, there are a large number of students who are nominated for awards and those who ultimately receive awards are just a small proportion of the many great students who attend our school.

BYOD Reminders

Please remember that once again in 2020, all families are required to have made arrangements for their children to have a device for school.

If you are intending on purchasing one of the recommended devices, please make it a priority to order as soon as possible. Go to the BYOD section on the Kapunda High School website and follow the prompts to order through the LWT (Learning with Technology) portal. Remember that you can also ‘rent to buy’ a recommended device through LWT.

If you want to be considered for a long-term loan of a school device, but have not completed the application form as yet, you are urged to return this immediately. There are only a limited number of devices available and priority is given to families experiencing financial hardship. Please note that approval in 2019 does not automatically mean approval in 2020.

If you have indicated that you will be purchasing a device of your own choice, please consider taking advantage of the post-Christmas sales. Make sure that your purchase meets the minimum requirements as outlined below.

End of Year Reports

Year 8 and 9 students will be issued with written reports on Friday, December 13. Due to our timelines, these will not be available any earlier.

Due to their earlier finish to the school year:

• Year 10 students will receive their reports at the Celebration Assembly on Tuesday, December 10
• Year 11 students will have their reports available via DayMap on Friday, December 13 – complete with Principal’s comment. If they require a hard-copy of the report, they can arrange this in the week following school or at the beginning of 2020.

For students undertaking South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) studies, grades are assigned according to the performance standards that are stipulated for each individual subject. Copies of these performance standards can be found on the SACE Board website.

For Year 8-10 students, the Australia wide common definitions apply:

I believe that the ‘effort’ grade is equally important and as such award Personal Best awards at the end of each term. These recognise students who have achieved excellent effort in all or most subjects.

Kristen Masters
Principal

Canteen Arrangements in Final Weeks of School

The Canteen will have different operating days during the last couple of weeks of this term.

• In Week 8, the Canteen will be open on Tuesday to Friday. (ie Monday will be closed).
• In Week 9, the Canteen will be closed all week.

Year 12 SACE Results

Year 12 SACE Results Release 2019 will be from 8:30am on Tuesday, 17 December. Students can access their results on the link below through the student’s online portal. Ms Masters and Mrs Warner will be at KHS on that day, if you have any questions.

SATAC will be informing students of first round offers for all preferences on Thursday, 19 December 2019. Offers will be sent via email to students who have attained an early offer by 5:00pm. A second round offer will take place in early January.

Year 10 Aquatics Camp – Port Vincent

The annual Year 10 aquatics camp was held recently, with kayaking, sailing, kneeboarding and windsailing, as well as surfing at Berry Bay.

Year 10 Camp

Year 10 Aquatics Camp

Sun Protection

The KHS Sun Protection Policy has been reviewed and updated. The full policy is available on the KHS website.

As we head towards summer, the UV rating has already risen above level 3 to be consistently hovering around level 12.

The UV rays come through the cloud layers therefore even on a cloudy day, we need to be wearing broad-brimmed or bucket style hats and sunscreen to safeguard damage against these rays.

It is great to see staff and many students following the policy and becoming independently responsible for their future health by wearing the described hats or sitting in solid shaded areas when learning or being active in the outdoors.

Students and staff are required to wear hats in terms 1, and 4 and whenever the UV level is 3 and above in terms 2 and 3. Hats may be brought from home and be any colour. The hats may include logos, providing they do not promote alcohol, drugs make other illegal or inappropriate references. Alternatively, the school has a range of hats at affordable prices that are available from the Reception office.

• Reversible sports hats $9
• Bucket Hats $12
• Broad-brimmed $15

School Bus Bushfire Procedures

On days of forecast catastrophic fire danger rating for the Mid-North district:

• Kapunda High School will remain open.
• All school bus routes travelling to Kapunda High School will be cancelled.
• Parents/caregivers of students who travel on school buses will be contacted via an SMS message to their mobile phone or a direct call to their landline (where a mobile has not been given to the school). This will generally occur the night before.
• Kapunda High School will additionally ‘broadcast’ using Facebook to remind families of bushfire procedures.

If a bushfire is reported in the area during the day:

• Affected bus runs will not leave the school until the roads are declared safe by emergency services authorities.
• Parents/caregivers will be notified and students will be supervised at school until buses can run, or until parents/caregivers are able to collect their children.
• If during a bus run, the bus driver sights a bushfire and there is concern that it may affect the routes ahead, then the bus driver:
• Has the authority to abandon the bus run and return to school, or
• If safer to do so, drive to one of the pre-planned emergency areas (or CFS safer places) and activate the emergency bus procedure.

To support student safety, parents/caregivers are requested to:

• Ensure that Kapunda High School is informed of any changes to phone numbers
• Follow weather announcements through the media.
• Ensure that they do not put themselves at risk when coming to collect students from school.

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.

Community Notices

FARM Information