So much has happened since our last newsletter!  We’ve had the two week holiday break and then the 7 day statewide lockdown.  I would like to commend our students for the way they switched to online learning and the participation they showed with their classes.  Feedback from teachers suggested very high attendance and engagement levels from students and I also thank parents for supporting their children with this.  The other groups that must be mentioned here are the teaching staff who were prepared for learning to move online and the support staff who were also flexible with their roles.  We were so much better prepared for this move to online learning than we were at the end of Term 1 last year when the concept was quite foreign.

We have had a smooth start back at school this week with staff and students moving to mask wearing without too much trouble.  We have disposable masks available for students and they can access a fresh one from their homegroup teacher at the end of each day to take home ready for use the following day.

Student Free Day and School Closure Day

Governing Council had approved a student free day on Tuesday 24^th August for us to continue our work on literacy, in particular writing, in a combined student free day with Riverton and District High School.  Our guest presenter for this day is from interstate and, due to the unknown nature of COVID restrictions, we have decided to cancel this day.  Please remove this date from your diaries.

I have contacted our local primary schools in an effort to coordinate dates and I have some alternate dates to present to Governing Council at our meeting in two weeks.  I will let you know of the new dates once they have been approved.  We already had a School Closure Day approved for Monday 6^th September and this date will go ahead.

Student Led Conferences (formerly known as Parent Teacher Interviews)

Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions and the Department for Education directive to minimise visitors to the school, we have made the decision to move Student Led Conferences to an online format this year.  The conferences will be held on Monday 9th August 2021 between 3:30 - 8pm and a letter with details on the event will be sent home on Monday.  If you have any questions about the process or are having issues booking conference times, please contact the front office on 8862 0600.

Baby News

We were very pleased to hear this week about the arrival of Miss Spartley and husband Dan's baby girl, Sadie and we can’t wait for restrictions to ease so we might have the chance to meet her.  Next Friday, Mrs Thiel will start her maternity leave and we very much look forward to meeting her little one too.  We are still working on a replacement for Mrs Thiel and we will let you know details of that as soon as we are able to.

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

PRIDE Certificates - Year 8

PRIDE Certificates - Year 9

Certificates of Achievement are presented to students to acknowledge their academic success at the end of each term.

Congratulations to our Middle School students who received the High Achiever Certificates to acknowledge excellence in their overall performance for the Term 2 reporting period.

Congratulations to our students receiving their Improver Certificates which are awarded to students to acknowledge a significant improvement from the previous reporting period.

In Term 2, I was fortunate to visit all our Primary Schools and speak to all our future Year 7 and 8 students. It was a fantastic opportunity to speak with students who had many questions about transitioning to Balaklava High School. It also provided the opportunity to speak with teachers to understand each student’s individual learning needs.

Selected Year 8 students will return to their primary schools this term, as our Year 8 Ambassadors, to speak with the current Year 6 and 7 students about their first year of high school and proudly display some of their school work. This also provides a fantastic opportunity for primary school students to ask any further questions they may have about high school.

Extra transition visits have also been organised for students with additional needs and these have been arranged for the following times and dates.

Monday 2nd August 9:30am -10:50am
Thursday 26th August 10:45am - 12:45pm
Thursday 16th September 9:30am - 1:10pm

Travel arrangements and staff supervision will be communicated with families through your child’s primary school if your child has been identified as needing one of these visits.

Balaklava High School will soon send out information regarding Transition Interviews where each family will be able to discuss the following; your child’s strengths, interests, what you would like the high school to know about your child and how best the high school can support your child with achieving success.

Our transition days will be held separately for each year level, please see table below.

On these days, students will meet their Homegroup teacher and participate in a range of subjects.

If your child will be catching the bus to Balaklava High next year and on transition days, please ensure the bus form which will be attached with the enrolment form is correctly filled in. Please contact Balaklava Primary School on (08) 8862 1660 if necessary to find out details regarding times and location of pick up/drop off.

This year for the first time the enrolment form will be emailed out for completion with a number of other forms. This will occur during August to all families who provided email addresses during the register for enrolment process. 

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact myself or our Principal, Sonia Pringle on (08) 8862 0600.

Michelle Pudney
Middle School Assistant Principal

We Need You!

As you can see, there are still a number of days this term where the Canteen is operating without the help of a volunteer. If you can spare as little as an hour please contact Lisa – Canteen Manager.