From The Principal

Welcome to the first newsletter of the 2023 academic school year. 

2023 has seen all the plans for the start of the school year occur. We started the year with a whole school assembly where our School Captains and Vice Captains emceed. We formally welcomed our new Year 7 students, as well as new Year 8 to 12 students and 20 new international students. We started 2023 with no disruptions due to building works. 2023 has heralded the Government’s ban on mobile phones in secondary schools. Our school option was in the introduction of the Yondr pouches with all students being given pouches through their Care Group teachers. We set aside time on 30 January for students to learn the process of unlocking their pouches before they leave the school grounds at the end of the day. We also monitored the arrangement we have of the unlocking stations to make sure students could quickly retrieve their mobiles from the pouch at the end of the day.

As with all new things that are introduced, young people will test what they can do to bypass the process. We have witnessed a number of students trying to open their pouches with various degrees of success. The intention of the ban in mobile phones is to:

• reduce the distractions for students whilst learning
• increase the level of interaction between students at break times and with teachers in classes
• reduce the use of inappropriate behaviour including posting to social media, taking photographs of others 
• reduce the opportunities to bully and harass others online.

We have asked staff for their initial feedback and they have reported:

• they are getting through more teaching and learning in their classes
• noticeable change in the interactions between students at recess and lunch. They are talking with each other more and there are more students playing on the oval.

Whilst these are initial improvements staff have noticed, we will continue to monitor the impact of this decision.

The majority of students have followed the expectations of the requirements. Some students I have spoken with have decided to leave their phones at home.

I would like to thank families for the support you have provided as we have implemented this change in line with the Government's ban on mobile phones.

During the school holidays there were some improvements made around the school. This included:

• the construction of a new retaining wall on Taylors Road West outside the STEM/Advanced Technology teaching areas. A new garden bed is being planned along the length of the retaining wall
• the Food and Hospitality teaching area has been repainted
• electronic locks have been installed to all toilet doors. The locks have not yet been activated. We need to work out the process to activate Student ID cards to open the toilet doors. This action has been taken to ensure that student safety is attended to as well as addressing the inappropriate use of the toilets including vandalism. Students will still continue to ask teacher permission to go to the toilet as part of their duty of care responsibilities.

Staffing

This year we have welcomed the following new staff:

We have welcomed back:

In addition there were some very late changes from 2022 with Mr Troy Jacques winning a leadership position in another school and Mr Keith South decided to retire.

Class of 2022 Year 12

The Class of 2022 Year 12 students continued to show improvements that have been occurring over the last six years. Our students should be proud of their achievements as the cohort felt the full effect of COVID-19 with online learning, mask wearing, school closures and restrictions in some of the learning opportunities we could provide to support their learning.

A summary of the results includes:

• 127 students achieved their SACE which represents 100% of SACE completion
• 76 students received an Australian Tertiary Achievement Rank (ATAR)
• 68 students had Vocational Education and Training (VET) as part of their SACE completion
• 64.5% of the grades were in the A and B bands
• 15.79% of students had an ATAR of above 90
• 15.79% of students had an ATAR between 80 and 89.99
• 79 students got at least an A grade with 29 students having between two and five A+ grades
• Eight merits were achieved. One in each of Physics, Chemistry, Activating Identities and Futures, Japanese, Biology, Psychology and two in Workplace Practices.

Congratulations to Jordan Blanksby and Ashwin who both achieved an ATAR of 99.35 with two merits. This means we have dual Dux’s for the Class of 2022 Year 12. Jordan had merits in Chemistry and Physics and Ashwin in Activating Identities and Futures and Biology. Jordan will be doing a double degree in Chemical Engineering and Ashwin will undertake Medical Studies. Ashwin was also awarded a Governor of South Australia - Excellence Award. Students who receive these awards have demonstrated the most outstanding academic and personal achievements in the SACE, and the qualities young people need for community life, citizenship and work.

Our students will be undertaking a significant range of tertiary studies including Nursing, Criminology, Education, Creative Arts, Politics, Music, Exercise Science, Psychology, Information Technology, Occupational Therapy, Business, English, Pharmacy, Accounting, Economics, Engineering, Speech Pathology, Exercise and Sport and Computer Science. In addition to the university courses, there are students who have been successful in gaining places in a range of TAFE courses and also apprenticeship and traineeships.

The Class of 2022 Year 12’s are to be congratulated on their results and the ability to deal with the unexpected challenges that they have been confronted over their last years of schooling.

New Canteen Provider

Our new canteen provider Rory’s has commenced this year. Students have the option of ordering their food online. This means they will collect their food from a different point and not need to line up.

Preparing for the school year

Before students returned to school the staff were at school preparing for the student’s return on 30 January. On 25 January all teachers and support staff who work with students in class, small groups or one-to-one, undertook the first three hours of training in relating to setting up classes and relationships for success. Our interactions are vital in how adolescents and young people respond. This training will continue on our next Student Free Day on 14 March. It also complements the ongoing training we will do in Term 2 and 3 with the Berry Street Education Model. 

Governing Council

Information has been sent about the Governing Council AGM and the opportunity for interested parents and caregivers to nominate for the Council. If you are interested in attending the AGM and/or nominating to be on the Governing Council please contact Rachael Kuhl by ringing the school or email Rachael.Kuhl201@schools.sa.edu.au.

Farewell

We have farewelled Sarah Johnson as she has won a position at Flinders University. Sarah has worked at Aberfoyle Park High School for eight years in a role supporting our senior school students and international students. Sarah has been significant in working behind the scenes for the Year 12 Graduations. Her support for the students and staff have been immeasurable. On behalf of the school community I wish her all the best in her new role.

Claudia Welsh will be taking up a position at The University of Adelaide from the start of March for 12 months. We wish her all the best in her position and look forward to her return in 2024.

2023 Leadership

Executive

Marion Coady - Principal

Cassie Dickenson - Deputy Principal

Ryan Brown - Assistant Principal: Innovation in Curriculum and Pedagogy including IGNITE

Fran Charlton - Assistant Principal: Senior School Innovation and 7-12 Career Education

Jarrod Chave - Assistant Principal: Information Systems Timetable and Daily Organisation

Jenna English - Assistant Principal: Middle School Innovation and 7-12 Wellbeing for Learning

Lee Pope - Business Leader

Curriculum Leadership

Steve Kammermann - The Arts

Fran Charlton - Cross Disciplinary studies related to SACE compulsory

Chris Brookes - English/EALD

Raphael Zadey – HASS

Anita Sharrad - Health and Physical Education

Kate Lonergan - LOTE

Kerry Pinchbeck – Science

Kass Holmes  -  VET

Kirsty Ramsay -  Personal Learning Plan (PLP)

Ben Shanahan - Design and Technologies

Leadership Related to Wellbeing

Hayley Baker - Year 12

Julie Mohtasham - Year 11

Kirsty Ramsay - Year 10

Shauna Thompson - Year 9

Jen Shinnick - Year 8

Vanessa Ingram - Year 7

Support for Learning Needs

Ben Young  -  Learning Inclusion including differentiation

Support for Specific Student Groups

Vanessa Ingram & Nigel Lockyer  -  First Nations student

Alanna Maurin  -  English as an additional language/dialect

Support for Student Wellbeing

Heather Quinn  -  Wellbeing Teacher

We will be advertising some positions later this term which will further support our students specifically in their wellbeing. Once the processes have been finalised about who has been appointed to the position, information will be provided in the newsletter.