Balaklava High School
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14 Gwy Terrace
Balaklava SA 5461
Subscribe: https://balakhs.schoolzineplus.com/subscribe

Email: dl.0769.info@schools.sa.edu.au
Phone: 08 8862 0600
Fax: 08 8862 0650

Principal News

I would like to welcome everyone back for Term 2 and I hope that students and families had a safe and relaxing holiday break.  I would especially like to welcome students new to our school this term and hope they settle in well and actively participate in all of the outstanding learning and extra-curricular activities Balaklava High School has to offer.

New Buildings

As many of you know, we were very excited to take ownership of our new buildings last week.  We spent much of that week having interactive boards installed, moving resources, putting our furniture in (and discovering that we didn’t quite have enough!) and generally getting everything ready for classes to commence in the rooms on Monday.  If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to ask your children about these new spaces and what they think of them.  We think the buildings really are amazing and we are very thankful to have them.

Open Night

Last year we had to cancel our traditional school Open Night due to COVID restrictions, however it is back on the calendar this year.  It is scheduled for Wednesday 19th May from 4.30 – 6.30 pm, which will also provide the perfect opportunity for you to call in and have a tour of our facilities, especially if you’re keen to see inside our new buildings.  There have been significant changes to the school buildings and grounds over the past five years.

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day is a time of reflection on the sacrifices of so many others who went to war, many of whom paid the ultimate price by losing their lives, which have allowed us to have the life and freedoms we ultimately enjoy today.  It is important that we pay our respects to them each year. We have traditionally sent Student Council representatives to the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at the Balaklava Triangle, however we have students who come from many other towns in the district and we felt it was important for our students to represent the school in their local communities.  As a result, BHS was not only represented by our Head Girl, Tiahrn Carpenter in Balaklava where she read the ANZAC Requiem and placed a wreath on behalf of our school community, we also had students who attended services in Mallala and Owen as well.  Next year we plan to continue this broader community representation and hope to add Port Wakefield to the list too.  Thank you to Tiahrn as well as Samantha Lockwood, Dahli Jacobson and Emily Curnow (Mallala) and Paige Bubner, Alice McArdle and Bella Pratt (Owen) for attending these important events and representing our school.

Staffing News

At the end of last term, we farewelled two staff members and, as of next week, there will also be another change to our staffing.  Anthea Papagiannis has been our French and English teacher for just over three years and, during this time, she has also had a number of short term leadership positions here.  These opportunities gave her the experience needed to match her existing skill set to win a position at Parafield Gardens High School as English Coordinator for the remainder of this year.  At this stage we are hoping to welcome her back to BHS next year, however I would like to thank her for the work she has done at BHS to this point.  I extend a welcome to Miss Eva D’Alboy who has replaced Miss Papagiannis for the remainder of the semester.

We also farewelled Hannah Hoepner who joined us at the start of this year when Sue Pratt was seconded to undertake some curriculum writing for the Department for Education.  I thank Hannah for her work in Ag and Research Project and we wish her well in her new position at Riverton and District High School.  We were also very happy to welcome Mrs Pratt back to BHS this week.

Josh Jenner has also been seconded by the Department for Education to work on creating a culturally responsive framework and then introducing it to teachers.  At this stage the position is four days a week for Terms 2 and 3, starting next week.  He will retain his 0.2 AET (Aboriginal Education Teacher) role with us at BHS so we will still see him each Monday.  We are currently working on a solution to replace him and will get this information out as soon as possible.

Communication

Communication is one of the key pillars of success in schooling and it needs to be continual between students, families and teachers.  There are often times parents have questions about their student’s education or there’s a need to share information or contact us with a concern.  I encourage parents to contact teachers directly via Daymap or phone the school on 8862 0600 and leave a message for them to call you back when this need arises.  Some teacher emails were provided in welcome letters at the start of the year, however, other email addresses can be obtained by contacting the front office.  For questions regarding individual subjects, parents should initially contact the subject teacher; the Homegroup teacher should be contacted for broader concerns or absence information and parents should contact a member of the leadership team for more significant issues or if you need further follow up.  Another great form of communication is through social media and I remind all students and their families to like us on Facebook to keep up-to-date with school events and information.  Skoolbag is also an important communication tool to be used to stay up to date with bus information and I encourage families with students who catch a bus to download this app too.

As always, I am available to speak to parents about any issues or concerns or to discuss any aspect of their child’s learning.  I can be contacted at the school via Daymap, email Sonia.Pringle235@schools.sa.edu.au or phone 8862 0600 where you can speak to me directly or make a time to come and see me.

Sonia Pringle

Principal