Welcome back for Term 3; it’s hard to believe that the year is halfway over already.  For our Year 12 students it is more than half over as they only have one term to go as formal classes will finish early in Term 4, before exams for some subjects.  Whilst the Year 12s are thinking about their next steps in terms of further study or employment, our Year 10 and 11 students are doing the same thing with subject selection coming up next week where they will start, or continue, to plot their post-school pathway.  Information has been sent home to all families about subject selection, however, if you have not received anything, please contact the school for further information.

Annual Parent Survey

Parents are invited to complete the 2023 annual Parent Survey, which is now open.  You should receive an email or SMS from the Parent Survey Team with a unique link to participate in the survey this week.  If you don’t receive an email or SMS with your unique survey link, contact education.ParentSurvey@sa.gov.au and include our school’s name in your email.

The survey takes less than 10 minutes and will help us understand:

• what we’re doing well
• where we can improve
• what’s important to you.

It has been coordinated centrally and your answers won't identify you or your child and only collated feedback will be provided to us.  Information collected will inform school improvement planning and activities at the school.

We encourage all parents to complete the survey, which closes midnight Sunday 27 August, and to share the positives as well as areas in which we can improve.

Staffing Update

This term we have welcomed Tarsha Briscoe to BHS.  Tarsha completed a placement here last year as a pre-service teacher and she has now graduated and has joined us for the rest of the year to teach PE and Mathematics.

Josh Jenner has, once again, taken up a 6 month position in Central office working with staff across the state teaching students from the APY Lands.  This role is two and a half days a week and he will remain teaching at BHS for the other two and a half days and will also retain his role as Aboriginal Education Teacher.

At the end of last term we farewelled Jamie Banwell who has accepted a role in a school much closer to his home.  Jamie has been with us for seven years and has worked as an SSO in both our Special Class and Enhanced Learning Hub as well as supporting students in classes and running our successful Car Care Club.  Whilst he is a loss for the school, we know both Jamie and his family will enjoy having him home more.

Thank you – Adelaide Plains CWA

At the end of last term, we received a generous donation from the Adelaide Plains branch of the CWA to help support our food program.  We are grateful for their donation and will use the money to continue to have food available for students who need it to access through the Hub.

Schools Canteen

We know that children and young people are more likely to achieve their learning potential when they have access to healthy food and drink options.  The Department for Education has revised the Right Bite standards to meet the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the new Wellbeing SA nutrition classifications for schools.

The revised standards are recommended as best practice for food and drinks sold or provided at all public schools and will be applied at BHS.  This means you will see some healthier changes in the food and drinks sold in our canteen.  For more information about the Right Bite Food and Drink Supply Standards, visit www.education.sa.gov.au/rightbite

Student Free Day

On the first day of this term we had a student free day where staff undertook a review of our Empower Program, worked in learning areas and, in the afternoon, learnt new skills from each other.  The sessions offered for staff members to choose were:  ChatGPT, using STEM resources, gamification in classes, using podcasting equipment and lesson transitions.  It was a great opportunity for our staff members to share their areas of expertise with their colleagues.

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

The Subject Selection process for 2024 has commenced, with Year 10 and 11 students receiving information this week. Prior to our subject counselling weeks, it will be important that parents/guardians have a conversation with children about their direction for future employment and / or training. Where is your child heading career wise? If your child is in Year 10 or 11 this year, have they looked into the requirements of University courses or the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank) required? To help you with this, a digital copy of the current SATAC (South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre) guide has been distributed to each student via Daymap.

The process of accessing information for subject counselling this year:

Curriculum Handbooks

Are available online and can be accessed from the Balaklava High School website. If you do not have access to the internet, we can provide a digital copy for you to view. If you have no access to the internet or computer we can print a copy (please indicate this on the attached sheet).

Year 8 into Year 9

Subject counselling will occur in Empower Program in Week 5. Students will be supported by the subject counselling team to select appropriate subjects. They will complete their selections using the online platform – Web Preferences. This will need to be digitally signed off by parents/caregivers, students will be given access codes. If you need any further support, you can contact Assistant Principal, Carena Brookes.

Year 9 into Year 10

Subject counselling will occur in Empower Program in Week 5. Students will be supported by the subject counselling team to select appropriate subjects and consider their pathway through Stage 1 & 2 subjects. They will complete their selections using the online platform – Web Preferences. This will need to be digitally signed off by parents/caregivers, students will be given access codes. If you need any further support, you can contact Assistant Principal, Carena Brookes.

Year 10 into Year 11

Subject counselling will occur by appointment on Wednesday 9^th August (Week 3) 9am – 7pm. All students have received the Appointment Request form; this needs to be returned to school by Monday 7^th August. A General Pathway will lead to University, TAFE or work; whereas a Vocational Pathway will be selected if your child is intending to follow a vocational career. In your appointment a member of the subject counselling team will support you and your child to select appropriate subjects and consider potential pathways through Stage 1 & 2 subjects. Selections will be made using the online platform – Web Preferences. This will need to be digitally signed off by parents/caregivers. If you need any further support, you can contact Assistant Principal, Carena Brookes.

Year 11 into Year 12

Subject counselling will occur by appointment on Wednesday 9^th August (Week 3) 9am – 7pm. All students have received the Appointment Request form; this needs to be returned to school by Monday 7^th August. A General Pathway will lead to University, TAFE or work; whereas a Vocational Pathway will be selected if your child is intending to follow a vocational career. In your appointment a member of the subject counselling team will support you and your child to select appropriate subjects and consider potential pathways through Stage 2 subjects. Selections will be made using the online platform – Web Preferences. This will need to be digitally signed off by parents/caregivers. If you need any further support, you can contact Assistant Principal, Carena Brookes.

During the last Art lesson of Term 2, Year 7 students were introduced to the element of space. 

To help recognise the role space plays in art, students experimented with forced perspective photography to create optical illusions. 

Students needed to communicate and work as a team to show 'smaller' students in the background and 'larger' students in the foreground. To achieve forced perspective, the Year 7s needed both the foreground and background to interact with each other in creative, and often humorous ways.

For their first assessment, Year 7 students are being introduced to all the elements of art, such as colour, line, shape, texture, tone, form and space, to draw their name in one-point perspective. We will then build our understanding of each element for the remainder of the semester. 

Amy Tilbrook

On Wednesday of Week 9 the Year 7's visited the Mirror Mirror exhibition as part of the Illuminate Adelaide event. We were fortunate to be some of the first members of the public to experience the new interactive light and mirror displays. 

In the afternoon we were treated with great weather to visit St Kilda playground and the Adelaide Central Markets. 

Thank you to all of our support staff for helping on the day and a big congratulations to all the students for displaying our PRIDE values and patience despite some bus difficulties. 

Hudson Noack

The YMCA South Australian Junior Parliament is a non-partisan program that gives young people aged 12-15 an opportunity to learn about parliament, team building, public speaking and leadership skills in a fun and supportive environment. The program is a 3-day camp run during the October 2023 school holidays and is based on the successful and nationally recognised Youth Parliament program.  

For further information about the program, see attached our Program Overview, and a link below to our website: 
https://www.sa.ymca.org.au/what-we-do/youth-empowerment/junior-parliament