Last Friday we held our first Athletics Carnival on the main oval and what a fantastic day it was!  Given the poor state of our oval by the gym, the decision was made last year that we would move our athletics day to the main oval this year and that required a significant amount of work to prepare for with an oval layout to be designed, a new tabloid style introduced and a new computer and timing system being implemented.  As with all such major events, the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes is substantial and I would like to thank Alison Schahinger and her team, including Ash Parsons and Josh Jenner, for all they did in the lead up to the event and on the day.  I would also like to thank the other staff members who worked tirelessly on the day to make it a day full of school spirit, participation and, of course, some great athletic feats.  See further in this newsletter for a full report on the day’s events.

Governing Council AGM

The Governing Council’s Annual General Meeting was held last Wednesday and I would like to thank the parents and community members who attended to hear about our achievements with the presentation of the 2019 Annual Report as well as various other committee reports.  If you were unable to attend the meeting and would like a copy of the Annual Report which reviews our priorities, goals and achievements for last year, please contact us at the school and we can send home a hard copy or you can access it electronically through our website.

The following people have accepted roles on this year’s Governing Council:

I thank the members of the Governing Council for taking this important opportunity to be more involved in their children’s education and for supporting the school community.  I look forward to another productive and successful year.  Please contact one of the members above if you would like to know more about Governing Council or if you would like something raised at a future meeting on your behalf.

School Uniform

All students at BHS are expected to wear the agreed school uniform and, if meeting these expectations is a concern for families, I ask them to contact a member of the leadership team to discuss this.

Students are expected to wear a navy or white school polo top, navy bomber jacket, navy rugby top or plain navy hoodie, all of which are available for purchase from TADS in Balaklava.  Shorts and trousers are to be navy or grey and trackpants are to be navy or grey with no stripes or large logos.  Families are reminded that black pants and tops are not part of our uniform and leggings, jeggings and jeans are also not acceptable for school.

When people ask why we have a uniform, I offer the following as some of the reasons why a school uniform is important:

• Sense of belonging – a uniform allows all students to feel they belong at school and they are equal to everyone else. If students were able to wear clothing of their choice it may cause an uneven social distinction between those who can afford name brand clothing and those who cannot
• Sense of pride – we are proud of our students at Balaklava High School and they should also have pride in their school. Members of the public can instantly recognise which school a student is from by their clothing and it sends a positive message to the community if our students look smart and are all dressed the same
• Provide a safe learning environment – we can easily identify our students in the yard, on an excursion or in a crowd through their uniform. A staff member can scan our school yard or classroom and instantly see who belongs and who shouldn’t be there
• Saves arguments – when there’s a uniform in place it saves arguments in the morning about what a student is going to wear and parents don’t need to feel the pressure to provide a variety of different outfits for their child for each day of the week. It is also a great thing to not have to think about what to wear each morning!

As always, I invite parents to contact me at the school with any issues, concerns, celebrations or 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.  Only four weeks of term left to go; it’ll be Easter, and holidays, before we know it!  Have a fabulous week.

Sonia Pringle

Principal

Bus Tokens

It has been very pleasing to see many of our students displaying our school values whilst travelling on the bus. Bus drivers, students, parents and teachers have helped create a rubric explicitly teaching our students what our school values would look like whilst travelling on a bus.

Students displaying our values have been recognised by our bus drivers and awarded a bus token, where they will be placed in a draw for a $5 canteen voucher every fortnight. All students receiving a bus token will be placed in a draw at the end of each term for a $25 voucher at either JB Hi-Fi, EB Games or Allington’s. 

Student safety on buses

It has come to my attention that some students are not wearing seatbelts whilst travelling to and from school on the bus. I have included part of the school transport policy below and encourage all parents to discuss the importance of wearing seatbelts with their child/children.

School Transport Policy

“As part of the increased safety standards for school buses, all Education Department owned and contracted buses are now fitted with seat belts to maximise student safety, and therefore the Department expects all students to use them in the interest of safety. Drivers will encourage all students to use seatbelts and will report any child who refuses to wear their seatbelt to the principal”.

If you have any questions in regards to seatbelts on our school buses, please don’t hesitate to call Michelle Pudney.

Josh Jenner

My name is Josh Jenner and I am originally from Watervale, where I went to Clare High School. I have a strong passion for Aboriginal education where I studied Aboriginal Studies in my undergraduate degree and am nearly finished my Masters in Aboriginal Studies. I also spent the first four years of my teaching career in the APY lands. I am so happy to have moved to Balaklava High School and am loving it! Thanks to everyone for the support you have given me so far, I am looking forward to seeing what the future brings.

Colleen Lowe

I am originally from a small town south of Brisbane, but have been living in South Australia for 18 years and Hamley Bridge for 14. I started teaching in 2006 at Gawler and District College B-12 (it was Gawler High School back then!) and was there for 13 years (with a bit of time off to have 3 children).

Balaklava High School Athletics Carnival

On Friday 6^th March, in perfect weather conditions, the 2020 BHS Athletics Carnival was held. This year saw a range of changes implemented to the carnival in order to increase student participation, promote House spirit and utilise the top notch facilities we now have on our school oval.

For the first time in many years, we held the Carnival back on our school oval instead of the oval behind the gym, where we were able to use our brand new sand pit and shot put rings for the first time in competition. Mr Parsons is to be commended on his vision that he turned into a reality through many months of planning during most of 2019 to provide us with an excellent facility for our carnival this year. A big thank you is also needed for Chris Nolan our Groundsman for all of his hard work and many hours of line marking, problem solving and sprinkler maintenance to ensure the track was in perfect condition. Many thanks also to David Pratt who was crucial in getting the oval prepared on the Thursday before the carnival.

The day started early for House Captains who came and decorated their areas in plenty of reds, blues, yellows and greens, and there were even a few Christmas trees in the James House area. Next the Senior Captains were in charge of running their athletes through the House Warm-up which has become a highlight of the day. Events started at 9 am and there was no limit on the number of competitors per house anymore, this meant students rotated through the program of events with their age group and had the opportunity to participate in every event. This was a huge success for student participation numbers with some events having over 20 students compete.

Congratulations to Edwina Marshman and Mel Myers who etched their names into the record books in the 1500m events. Edwina broke the U14 Girls record from 2011 by 9 seconds with her time of 6:16.19 and Mel broke the U16 Girls record from 2012 by 21 seconds with her time of 6:54.00. James House also made history by being the inaugural winner of the BHS Athletics Carnival House Spirit Shield winner and Kelsey Urwin was the inaugural winner of the Plains Producer 100m Handicap Sprint winning a $20 canteen voucher and having her name be the first to be engraved on the perpetual shield. Keith House took out the Championship Cup by 164.4 points, congratulations to Keith and their House Captains who had the largest participation numbers.

Overall, the 2020 Athletics Carnival was a great success with plenty of house spirit, participation, enthusiasm and fun. Thank you to all of the parents and families who came along to support their children, it was great to see so many in attendance. Thank you to Balaklava Primary School for bringing their classes over to watch and see what a high school athletics carnival is like. A huge thank you to all staff taking on official roles to ensure the day ran smoothly and in particular Mr Parsons and Mr Jenner for their tireless efforts in the lead up to the day. We now turn our attention to Interschool Athletics at Burra Community School on Thursday the 19th of March where we have assembled a strong team of 70 athletes to compete against other schools in our zone. 

Age Group Winners

House Spirit Shield

Championship Cup

In advance of taking NAPLAN Online, students, teachers and parents are invited to use the public demonstration tests to familiarise themselves with the type of questions and related functionalities available in the NAPLAN Online assessment.

Some of the key features include a range of question types, onscreen tools, timers and interactive navigation. Students are encouraged to try all the tests for their year level to practise the complete range of question formats available in the online assessment.

The demonstration tests cover a sample of possible questions and do not reflect the range of literacy and numeracy content or skills NAPLAN Online will assess.

You and your child can access the public demonstration site by using the link below:

www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

“International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

International Women's Day is all about unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy and action.”

Here at Balakalava High School we celebrated this day by creating and sharing a video on our school’s Facebook page about women our students and staff admire. You can access the video using this link

https://www.facebook.com/balaklavahighschool/videos/234220517617094/

Congratulations to our amazing film directors, Alexander Evans and Samantha Lockwood and to our talented students and staff who starred in the film.

On March 5th 2020, the senior Drama students went to see "Children of an Idle Brain" at the Bakehouse Theatre in Adelaide. All students thoroughly enjoyed the show and found it thought provoking. "Children of an Idle Brain" was a spin off of "Romeo and Juliet" and the students enjoyed the new twist that the actors portrayed for the audience, including original songs written by one of the actors.

Recycled Art hanging on the fence near the library by Olivia Allen, Tylah Arthur, Alice McArdle, Louise Reichelt, Montana Batten & Abigail Futterleib.

Thank you to the Balaklava Church of Christ Balaklava SWAP Shop for the grant money we received last year to purchase the new bench.

We currently have an Easter Colouring-in Competition running for children aged 3 to 10 years old. Congratulations to Jackson McArdle (Year 8) and Maddison Poole (Year 9) who were the winners of our drawing competition. Their pictures are being used for our Colouring-in Competition.

Friday 28^th February students enjoyed a El 'n' Eve Boutique Scrunchie Workshop during their lunchbreak.

Miss McCormack is currently raising money for the Leukaemia Foundation by participating in the World's Greatest Shave. On Saturday 14th March she will be completely shaving her hair, and donating this to be turned into a wig for cancer patients. 

All proceeds go directly to the Leukaemia Foundation and helps to provide families with support or fund important research. If you would like to donate, please follow the link below:
http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/chelseamccormack

Hummocks Watchman Eagles FC

Senior Colts Training Commences 5pm Wednesday March 25^th at Port Wakefield Oval

Looking for new players to join the team

For details contact Simon Purdue: 0417821632

UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB

March 19

U/14 training starts

April 2

U/8 & U/11 training starts

April 30

Auskick starts

May 7

Junior Teas

All trainings 4:30pm Thurs @ Long Plains Oval

Mark Pym

UFC Junior Coordinator 

0417851213

Sports_Voucher_Info_Parents_Guardians.pdf

Sports_Voucher_Info_Parents_Guardians _pdf 1.16 MB

SA DENTAL SERVICE

Children with poor oral health are more likely to experience pain, to miss days from school and to perform poorly in the classroom.  Untreated tooth decay can lead to problems with speaking, eating and learning.

SA Dental Service sees over 80,000 children for dental care each year, but data shows that 57.5% of eligible children in SA are not using the Medicare Child Dental Benefits Schedule.

There are no out of pocket costs for children covered by the Medicare Child Dental Benefits Schedule