It’s hard to believe that we are halfway through the term already and well over halfway through the year.  For the vast majority of our Year 12 students, they have less than a term to go before they complete their secondary studies entirely.  I encourage them to not only continue to put in the effort to finish their subjects but really stretch themselves to go above the minimum of what is required to improve their results.

As always, our school is a hive of activity and our students have access to many outstanding learning and extra-curricular activities at Balaklava High School.  Over the past few weeks our students have had the opportunity to be involved in Science Week, Book Week, an Anti-racism seminar for Year 10 and 11 students, a PPEP (Periods, Pain, Endometriosis Program) Presentation for our Year 10 students, a presentation from the P.A.R.T.Y (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth) Program team for our Year 12 Health and Wellbeing class, a very successful day at the Copper Coast Show wethers comp and the list goes on!  These are a sample of the valuable learning opportunities for our students.

Staffing

We are very sad to say that Middle School Assistant Principal, Michelle Pudney, had her last day at BHS today.  Michelle has been a dynamo in leading the learning in the Middle School, redeveloping the MS structure to what we currently have, as well as being responsible for the smooth transitions of the Year 7s to High School this year.  Michelle has won the position as Deputy Principal at Balaklava Primary School for the remainder of this year.  At this stage, we are unsure if the position will be for any longer or not, so we are not formally farewelling her, just saying goodbye for now.  We wish her well in her new role (and hope she comes back to us!).

We have run a process to replace Michelle and I am pleasede to announce that Ash Parsons will take on the role of Middle School Coordinator for the remainder of the year.  We were unable to replace her as an assistant principal, so we have changed some of the duties of the role which means Lucy Thiel will take on transition responsibilities and Sarah Reusch will lead the Reflection of Learning work.  

Support Staff Week

This week is Support Staff Week, which provides an opportunity for us to appreciate the people we have in these important roles and to highlight what they do.  Our SSOs, Grounds staff and Canteen workers are invaluable and their importance cannot be overstated.  In case you are wondering what they might do, they answer the phones, look after students who are sick, keep our IT up and running, support students with their learning, keep the finances in order, organise the Science lab, provide support in the library, maintain our grounds to look amazing and a million other things that would take me all day to write!  The short version is, they are responsible for many of the things we need to keep the school running and we genuinely could not function without them.  We are thankful for the high quality operators we have at our school.

Student Free and School Closure Days

As published in a newsletter in Term 1 – a reminder that we have a Student Free Day coming up on the Friday of Week 6 (2nd September) which is followed by a School Closure Day on the Monday of Week 7 (5th September) for the Adelaide Show.  We hope all families enjoy the extended weekend.  On the student free day, staff will be involved in various workshops around cultural awareness and how we can incorporate it in our everyday practice as well as our curriculum.  I thank Josh Jenner for all of his work in preparation for this day.

As always, I am available to speak to parents about any issues or concerns or to discuss any aspect of your 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.  Have an excellent week.

Sonia Pringle

Principal