We have passed the mid-point of Term 1. Towards the end of the term parents/caregivers will receive their child/ren’s interim Semester 1 achievement report. The opportunity to meet with your child/ren’s teachers will occur on Tuesday 11 April. Please mark this date in your calendar as we look forward to discussing your child’s progress.

This year we have reverted back to pre-COVID arrangements. This is seeing significant planning of curriculum based learning through excursion and camps. Interest in the proposed ski trip for the July school holidays has been high.

With respect to the Government’s banning of mobile phones during school hours, we continue to have improved engagement in class, between students and their teacher in class and between students at break times. You may have noticed that there is currently an awareness campaign focussed on the importance of phones being switched off at school. A dedicated website www.phonesoff.sa.gov.au provides information about the policy as well as frequently asked questions. I made the decision not to include smart watches being put in the Yondr pouches. Students are expected to have their smart watches set to ‘do not disturb’. Teachers have reported that more students are accessing their apps using smart watches. Should this continue, the update policy will require smart watches to be put in the pouch for the day. The review of our current policy will need to meet the requirements of the Department for Education and the Government. An update policy will be in place for the beginning of Term 3.

Thank you to the parents/caregivers who have worked with us in relation to clarifying student needs so that we make an informed decision.

The school values of respect, care and compassion and honesty are critical to ensuring a safe and productive learning environment. When people get together conflict can occur. This gets played out at times by:

inappropriate comments face-to-face and online
pushing and shoving
physical altercations

None of these behaviours are appropriate for school. Name calling, demeaning comments and verbal abuse can have detrimental effects not only on the victim but also those who witness it.

It leads to a sense of lower self-worth and robs the person of their healthy sense of self-worth.
It impacts on a person’s identity amongst their peers and often leads to others joining in reinforcing the negative message.
It impacts on a person’s mood resulting in withdrawing or outbursts.
It can potentially lead to the emotional pain manifesting as physical pain such as stomach aches, loss of appetite, headaches, ulcers and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
It can lead to self-talk which is critical. It can have a lasting and life-long impact on the way a person judges and views themselves.

Where students are involved in physical altercations the school will, at a minimum, suspend a student from school. This action is to give everyone involved an opportunity to reconsider their actions and responses as well as putting support in place.

It is important that we have accurate information about students on the school site as part of our duty of care and in case of an emergency such as a fire.

A reminder that students who are late for school need to sign in at Students Services. Students who need to leave school early also need to sign out through Student Services except Year 12 students. If parents/caregivers wish to contact their children during the day, please telephone 8270 4455 and select 1. Our staff will contact the subject teacher who will relay the message to your child/ren.

As a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) school, it is important that students remember to charge their devices before they bring them to school. This enables continuity of learning as resources are posted for students on Daymap or in Google classrooms.

Governing Council

On 21 February, the AGM for the Governing Council was held. The following are the members of the Governing Council:

Parents/Caregivers:

Kristy Chapman

Vikki Thornton

Amanda Ardill

Gabby Rutherford

Matt Sarre

Yvette Packer

Andrew Otto

Susi Tyler

David Hunter

Elle Millard

Deb Kelly

Loid Thotekat

Tahlia Van Dyke

Community Member:

Erin Thompson – Member for Davenport

Students:

Konon Kuboi

Reuben Visser

Harmony Wimalaratne

Caitlin Tyler

Staff Representative:

Cassie Dickeson

Lee Pope

Rachael Kuhl

Following the AGM the following office bearers were elected:

Chairperson: Matt Sarre

Deputy Chairperson: Kristy Chapman

Treasurer: Gabby Rutherford

Secretary: Rachael Kuhl

I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Wendy Looi-Penhall who has been on the Governing Council for five years and most recently the Chairperson. Also Stéphane Maurin who has been on the Governing Council and Finance Advisory Committee for two years

Student Free Day training

On Tuesday 14 March we had our first student free day for 2023. Staff undertook the second part of the Managing of Actual and Potential Aggression (MAPA) training. The training involved identification of risk and appropriate level of response. We continued with introducing one of the concepts to support a refocus on learning through brain breaks with staff providing a variety of activities that can be used to help students.

A workshop on differentiation occurred followed by curriculum teams implementing some of the suggestions staff identified relating to:

What content is delivered
How content is delivered
How knowledge is assessed

Differentiation can be thought of as ways teachers accommodate and modify what they do to support the range of student learning needs in their classes. We then took assessment tasks and looked at changes we needed to make to encompass the range of our students. Our next student free day is on Monday 1 May. The staff will continue professional learning related to the Berry Street Education Model.

School Buses on Friday 14 April

School buses will leave the school to coincide, for this term only, with a 2.15pm dismissal.

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