Throughout this term we have had a consistent, but relatively small, number of COVID positive cases in students and staff.  I believe this number has been kept low due to consistent wearing of masks and adhering to SA Health expectations.  I would like to thank the students and their families for supporting us with this and also for being flexible as various events and situations have had to change at short notice.  If your child does test positive to COVID at any point, please inform the school as soon as practicable after you get a positive PCR or RAT so we can inform other families of a new case and try to keep each other safe.  Now more than ever, it’s vitally important that your children stay home if they are unwell and test if they are symptomatic.

Staffing

Next term, Mrs Sue Pratt has again been seconded to the Department for Education to undertake curriculum writing for Food and Fibre units for teachers across the state to use.  Sue will then have Long Service Leave in Term 3 and, in Term 4, she will commence a new role as Lead Teacher of Agriculture for South Australia.  Unfortunately, what this means for us is, she will not be returning to her current teaching role at BHS.  That said, she has not ruled out teaching here again in some capacity in the future.  This new role is very exciting for both Sue and the Agriculture sector as it is an industry funded position where she will support and develop agriculture teachers across the state with their programs, assessment and curriculum.  Mrs Colleen Lowe will take the majority of Mrs Pratt’s Ag classes next term and we are currently working on finding a replacement Science teacher to fill Mrs Lowe’s teaching load.

Centenary Celebrations

As you may well be aware, this year we are celebrating 100 years of public education at Balaklava High School.  The centenary committee have a weekend of festivities planned in October to acknowledge and celebrate this milestone.  More specific details will follow throughout the year but the outline of events is:

Friday 21st October – Art Gallery exhibition opening of past staff and student art work

Saturday 22nd October – Gala dinner at the Town Hall with musical acts by past students throughout the night

Sunday 23rd October – Tours of the school throughout the day, sausage sizzle and a Principal’s address.

Office365

Did you know that students are able to download Office365 for free if they sign in with their LearnLink account?  They can install this full suite on up to five devices so it can be shared with their immediate family if needed.  Part of Office 365 includes access to OneDrive, with 1TB of free cloud storage for each student.  This form of cloud storage allows students to access files from any computer, in any location, when they sign in to Office365, whereas if they only save work to a USB it can be forgotten or lost or if work is saved to their H drive at school they need to be on site to access it.  This cloud storage has proven particularly useful in the last couple of years when we have had to move to online learning and students still access all of their school files.  It also prevents work from being lost so it has many benefits.  To access this free resource, go to https://portal.office.com/account

Happy Holidays

As this is our last newsletter for the term, I would like to wish all of the students and their families a safe and relaxing time for the upcoming holidays.  This break provides an opportunity for families to spend some time together, for students to catch up on some rest and relaxation as well as allowing the chance for senior students to balance some study with these periods of rest.  Just a reminder that all schools in our Partnership are having a student free day on the first day back next term so we look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday 3^rd May for the start of Term 2.

Sonia Pringle

Principal