Filter Content
Since our last newsletter, our Year 7 and 9 students have undertaken NAPLAN testing and I would like to congratulate our students who sat these tests and completed them to the best of their abilities. I would also like to acknowledge the work of our Middle School Assistant Principal, Lucy Thiel, for her coordination of the tests, which requires a great deal of forward planning and problem solving on the day when things don’t go quite as planned and the teachers who supervised the tests. Results will be released later in the year and we will send them home to families once we receive them.
Staffing
Jerry Elder has resigned his position as English/HASS teacher and, after much searching, we are very pleased to announce that we have been able to secure Mrs Jacqui Schulz (Monday, Tuesday and Friday) and Mrs Brooke Wheeldon (Wednesday, Thursday) to replace him until the end of Term 2. Since Mr Elder left, his classes have had relief teachers and we acknowledge how unsettling this has been for these classes. We are putting strategies in place and are working with these classes to get some consistency for them.
Energy Drinks
We have noticed the number of students who are bringing energy drinks to school is increasing, which is an extremely concerning trend causing great concern for the health of our young people. Energy drinks provide a potent source of caffeine and can contain high levels of sugar, sodium and herbal stimulants. Telethon Kids Institute researchers have found more than half of young people who consumed energy drinks suffered negative health effects including heart palpitations, insomnia, headaches, agitation, dizziness and stomach upsets. Common brands include Mother, Monster Energy, Red Bull and V. From the beginning of next term, energy drinks are banned in the school. Students are able to drink water only in classrooms and energy drinks are not to be consumed on the school grounds at all. If students bring them to school staff will confiscate them and discard the contents of an open container or, students can have a closed container returned to them at the end of the school day. Refusal to follow this reasonable instruction to give the drink to a staff member, will result in our Behaviour Support Policy being followed.
Site Improvement Plan (SIP)
We are in the second year of our three year SIP cycle and, after much discussion and analysis of data by the staff, we have decided to remain with a focus on writing and numeracy. Our new three year SIP has been developed by Hannah Hoepner (English/Literacy Coordinator) in collaboration with former Coordinator Josh La Grutta and Amber Buick (Mathematics/Numeracy Coordinator) and me, with input from staff and our Local Education Team. Our two goals are:
Goal 1 - Increase student achievement in NAPLAN writing.
Goal 2 - Increase student SEA achievement in numeracy.
If you are interested in further information or specifics about our improvement work, there is a summary document available on our website or you can contact Hannah, Amber or me if you would like more detailed information.
Reports
At Balaklava High School, we provide grades only and no written comments for students in Years 7-11 with more relevant and real time feedback being provided to students and parents through each individual assessment on DayMap. This is in place of comments in reports, which can provide limited time for students to act on the feedback and make improvements, whereas ongoing feedback allows time for change. Year 12s have full written reports for Terms 1-3, with their SACE results acting as the report in Term 4. As always, we will publish student reports on DayMap for students and parents to access on the last day of term. There are instructions in this newsletter on how to access your child’s report if you have not done so in the past. Please contact us at school if you are not currently on DayMap so you can access these documents or if you’d like to request a printed copy of your child’s report.
School Closure Day
The Paskeville Field Days are on this year, in Week 10 of Term 3, and we traditionally have a school closure day to support our students to attend these days with their families. Last week our Governing Council approved a School Closure Day for the Field Days on Wednesday 27th September. A reminder that we have already confirmed two Student Free Days for Tuesday 13th June (Week 7, Term 2 after the June long weekend) and Monday 24th July (Week 1, Term 3 first day of term). We still have two student free days to allocate, which we will try to align with our feeder schools if possible and we will let you know dates as soon as we are able to.
I wish you all an enjoyable, relaxing and safe break both over Easter and again when we get to school holidays the following week. As always, I invite parents to contact me at the school with any issues or concerns 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.
Sonia Pringle
Principal
Accessing End of Term Reports on Daymap:
Term 1 Reports will be available on Student Profiles on the last day of Term (Friday, 14th April, 2023).
For Students: Once your Report has been published, it will be located on Daymap in the Reports tab of your Portfolio as a PDF.
For Parents: Once your child’s report has been published, it will be available to parents on the Daymap Connect Parent Portal as a downloadable PDF. All reports are located under each student’s profile, in the Reports tab.
Your child’s classroom teacher is the best person to contact regarding grades and assessments for End of Term Reports.
Daymap Connect Parent Portal guides and tutorials are available in previous Newsletters, on our Facebook page or by request. If you would like support accessing Daymap please contact the school.
Daymap Scheduled Maintenance
Please be advised that on Tuesday, 18 April 2023 Daymap will be unavailable for several hours. On that day Daymap will be performing maintenance and updates to the infrastructure and will affect Daymap access for all users (staff, students & parents).
Date and time of the planned maintenance:
Tuesday, 18 April 2023 from 9.30am to 1.30pm ACST
Daymap, Daymap Connect, Daymap Kiosk, Daymap Mobile and Daymap Depot will be unavailable for the duration of the maintenance.
AgCAREERSTART Program
Elizabeth, a former Balaklava High School student, has been accepted into the 2023 AgCAREERSTART program. Elizabeth will be working on a pig farm for a year, receiving free training whilst on the farm and attending industry events throughout the year.
We are recruiting students for 2024 and would love to offer this opportunity to other students at Balaklava High School. The attached flyer provides more information for 2024 participants.
The program includes
- Full-time paid farm job with a passionate host farmer
- A $4,500 Training and Engagement Bursary to upskill yourself
- Funding to travel for industry events
- A dedicated support team
- A network of peers across the country
Ingrid Gow
Student Engagement Officer | AgCAREERSTART
For Harmony Day on Tuesday 21st of March our Special Options students baked orange cupcakes and gave them out at recess time for our Staff and Students. Our Student Council presented information and a video about Harmony Day during extended Home Group on Friday morning and ran a BBQ and drinks at lunchtime.
The Year 9 Home Economics class (9HECC 9B) have been investigating Fast Fashion. Many people have heard of fast fashion, which is the term used to describe highly profitable and exploitative business models. The focus being that fashion trends are replicated and mass-produced at a low cost. Although, fast fashion has also begun to be named “disposable fashion” which is causing mass-production of waste. Australia is one of the biggest contributors to fashion pollution, now only second to the US. This is where both sustainable and ethical fashion come into play. Students were asked to investigate what is currently happening in the fashion industry surrounding Fast Fashion and communicate their findings in a mode of their choice. Here is one student's findings.
Louise O’Halloran
Home Economics | Food and Hospitality Teacher
In LGP some of the Year 8 classes have been reading once a week to the Reception/Year 1 students at Balaklava Primary School. It’s a short 15 minute activity which works to improve the students' confidence, expression and fluency when reading aloud. It's been fantastic to see many of the students demonstrate our schools PRIDE values when conducting themselves on these outings and providing a positive experience for the Junior Primary students.
Sally McArdle
REMINDER - 2023 MATERIAL & SERVICE CHARGES ARE NOW DUE
THANK YOU to those families who have made a payment, submitted a school card form or who have made contact with the school to discuss a payment plan relating to their child's M&S Charges for 2023. We appreciate your promptness.
This is a friendly reminder that all M&S Charges are due in full by 30th April 2023 unless you have entered into a payment plan or submitted a school card form. School card forms can be completed online using the link below or you can collect a paper copy from the Front Office to complete and return.
SA.GOV.AU - School Card scheme (www.sa.gov.au)
If you have any questions, need help completing a school card form, or would like to discuss a payment plan, please email dl.0769.finance@schools.sa.edu.au Alternatively please call the Finance Team on 8862 0600 or pop in to speak to either Peta or Elly before the end of this term. If you have any questions throughout the holidays, please email us or leave a message on the school's answering machine and one of us will get back to you.
All outstanding accounts will be followed up from the start of Term 2.
Peta Solomon, Business Manager
Elly Swift, Finance Officer
The Senior School Formal was held at the Balaklava Town Hall on Friday 31st March. It was excellent to be able to invite parents/caregivers to attend the first hour of the night again and to finally have minimal disruptions due to Covid, as has happened in the past three years.
It was great to see the students looking their best but also amazing to have such positive feedback about our students from both the photographers and the DJ on the night.
A special congratulations goes out to Connor Robinson and Kashaya Carpenter for being voted Formal King and Queen and Josh Michael and Bligh Wilson voted Formal Prince and Princess.
The link to purchase photos from Photo will be sent to students who registered via the QR code, provided on the night. For those who haven’t registered yet, please DayMap message me for the code.
Sarah Reusch
Has your child participated, competed or achieved well in an activity outside of school? We would love to hear about it! This could be competing in a state sports team or performing on a national stage. Each year we collect these achievements to share them in a PowerPoint at our Presentation Night in December. If your child has been involved in an out of school activity, please send through a short description of the activity and some photos to suri.umapathysivam286@schools.sa.edu.au
Interschool Athletics Carnival
On Thursday the 23rd March our Interschool Athletics Team travelled to Riverton Oval to compete in the Lower North Zone Interschool Athletics Carnival against Riverton and District High School, Clare High School, Kapunda High School, Burra Community School and St Joseph’s School Clare. Our students displayed excellent athleticism and all students performed well in their events. The overall results of the day saw us finish 3rd in the Boys, Girls and Championship Overall Shields, 4th in the Improvement Shield and 5th in the Di Day Shield. Jake Dean was this year’s Plains Producer Handicap winner in a tight finish against the other top 100m sprinters from each age group as well as being crowned the 14 & Under Boys Champion. Sebastien Hughes was crowned 15 & Under Boys Champion and Sasha Branson 19 & Under Girls Runner-Up Champion. Due to an unfortunate technology glitch on the day, the age group champions were unable to be announced. We will award medals to our three athletes at our end of term assembly in Week 11. Well done to all the students selected in the team that represented our school proudly.
School Sport SA Secondary Track and Field Championship
On Monday the 3rd April, 34 of our students were selected in the combined Lower North Zone Athletics Team who competed in the School Sport SA Secondary Track and Field Championships at Athletics SA Stadium. The combined team is made up of students from BHS, Riverton and District High School and Burra Community School. Students who place highest out of these three schools at our Interschool Athletics Carnival are selected in the team. We competed in C Grade Division 2 against Cedar College, Clare High School, Eastern Fleurieu School, Kapunda High School, St Michael’s College, St Paul’s College and Tatachilla Lutheran College. Our Lower North team finished 2nd in the Girls, 6th in the Boys and 4th place in the Overall Shield. Well done to all the students selected in the team who competed and achieved great individual results. We will receive certificates for place getters early next term.
Alison Parsons
The BHS Wellbeing Team would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Easter break filled with fun and enjoyment. Some holiday breaks can also be a little bit harder on some people, if this is the case and you want someone else to talk to over the break, see the free call numbers and websites below.
Phone Numbers:
- Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800
- Headspace 1800 650 890
- Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
Websites:
- Reachout https://au.reachout.com/ Kids Helpline https://kidshelpline.com.au/
- Headspace https://headspace.org.au/
- E Safety Commissioner online safety advice https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people
Remember for any emergencies contact 000 for Police, Fire or Ambulance.
There is also targeted support for our families, see the Regional Access website https://saregionalaccess.org.au/
The Wellbeing Team
To our valued school community in South Australia
Parents Say February edition is now available to read online.
We find out exactly what goes into a Day in the Life of a Teacher as well as shining the spotlight on Lincoln Gardens Primary School.
There are tips around talking to children and young people about vaping along with a great article from Bobbie Taylor, President of SA Wellbeing Leaders In Schools (SAWLIS) about the critical role parents and families have in student mental health and wellbeing.
Please visit this link to access the publication.
Link https://bit.ly/3FFCrY6
or click on button below
