PRINCIPAL'S NEWS
The last three weeks have been action packed and include experiences such as a group of senior HPE students visiting UniSA’s Magill campus, an Olympic guest speaker, two senior first aid courses, a visit by Flinders University, a Studio excursion to Adelaide Oval, Year 9/10 girls and boys basketball and the Year 8 Maths Trail excursion is on tomorrow so this week will finish strong! We were also very pleased to welcome parents back on site for Student Led Conferences over the past two weeks. A reminder to families that you don’t need to wait until a formal Conference night to contact your child’s teachers. You can contact the school at any time to request a meeting or you can contact a teacher via DayMap or email. All staff email addresses can be found on our website for you to contact a staff member directly.
Two other recent events saw our Show teams head to the Royal Adelaide Show last week and the Year 6 transition evening for future students and their families. Our three Show teams had a great time showing our steers, merino sheep and boer goats while also experiencing all the Show has to offer. Thanks to Miss Holly Crighton, Mrs Sally Cowan and Ms Anthea Ness for all of their work preparing our students and the animals for this amazing experience. Please see Holly’s article later in the newsletter for more information about their many successes.
The Year 6 Transition Evening for students and their families was organised and very ably facilitated by Middle School Assistant Principal, Lucy Thiel, but the real stars of the show were the students, parents and teachers who made up the various panels and more than capably fielded questions from the audience. Thank you to all involved but particularly Jacob Swift, Tahlia Zerk, Maya Shepherd, Erin Boobyer and Henry Marshman who gave the best insights into what it’s like to be a current Year 7 student at BHS and Ben Marshman and Elly Swift who gave us a parent point of view.
5 Steps to Study Success
We are approaching the time of year where our senior students are preparing for exams, or are currently doing practice exams, and it can be tricky to know how to most effectively study for an exam or test. The following tips from Reachout.com are not only useful for senior students but also for younger students preparing for a test:
- Break your study up into manageable 20 or 30 minute chunks. No one can study for 6 hours straight and be effective. Get some more info about setting small goals here.
- Talk about it or say it out loud. When you say something out loud, you'll find it much easier to remember it. Chatting with someone about what you're studying is even better
- Remove the distractions. Put your phone on silent and out of reach and turn off pop-up notifications on your computer. Research shows that it can take up to 20 minutes to refocus on what you're doing once you've been distracted
- Take breaks. If you plan your study chunks with breaks in between, having the time away can help you to come back refreshed
- Get some sleep! Getting a good night's rest helps your brain and body to rest and recharge. In fact, you'll do better at your exams and remember more of what you studied if you get a good night's sleep, rather than if you stayed up late studying.
Other things you can do include eating the right foods, perfecting your time management skills and knowing when to take a break from studying and getting some physical activity or social time in.
School Closure Day
A reminder that Governing Council has approved a School Closure Day on Wednesday 27th September (Week 10) to support our young people to attend the Paskeville Field Days with their families. Balaklava Primary School also has a closure day on this date and, as such, buses will not run that day. The following Friday is the last day of term and, as always, school will be dismissed an hour early that day. Term 4 will start on Monday 16th October 2023 and we look forward to welcoming students back after a safe and relaxing holiday break.
As always, I invite parents to contact me at the school if you would like to discuss any aspect of your child’s learning. I can be contacted via DayMap or email Sonia.Pringle235@schools.sa.edu.au or you can phone the school on 8862 0600 to speak to me directly or to make a time to come and see me.
Sonia Pringle
Principal