I would like to welcome everyone back for Term 2 and I trust that students and families had a safe and relaxing holiday.  I would especially like to welcome students new to our school this term and hope they settle in well and actively participate in all of the outstanding learning and extra-curricular activities Balaklava High School has to offer.  An example of this is the recent Canberra Trip, you will read about in further detail later in this newsletter, where students had an action packed week in our nation’s capital learning about our history and participating in a variety of cultural activities.

During the holidays I had the pleasure of accompanying Blake Geurin and Karl Binka, two members of the Student Council Executive Team, to the ANZAC Day Dawn Service held at the Balaklava Triangle.  There were approximately 300 people who attended the service and these two young men represented our school with pride when they read the ANZAC Requiem and placed a wreath on behalf of our school community while the sun rose in the background.  Our school was also represented by students Mitchell McLean and Abbey Bubner and teacher Merridy Manuel who all performed in the band.  Next year I hope to have student representatives at more services around our local district as Balaklava High School is located in Balaklava but our students travel from many local areas and we need to acknowledge that more.

ANZAC Day is a time of reflection on the sacrifices of so many who went to war, many of whom paid the ultimate price by losing their lives.  In his address at the Dawn Service at the War Memorial in Canberra this year, Corporal Mark Donaldson VC commented on ‘the capacity of all ordinary humans to do extraordinary things when coupled with extreme circumstance’ and how we should ‘honour their sacrifice by living a good life in support of others; respecting the freedoms given us and inspiring others to build a better Australia.’  Whilst I am not comparing the sacrifice of our soldiers now and in the past to our actions every day, I am asking you to take the time to reflect on this and think about where you fit here.  How do you and your personal conduct compare?  What do your actions reflect?  I challenge you to lift from ordinary to extraordinary and to live a life you are proud of.

Staffing News

At the end of last term, we farewelled Cendall Cowan and wished her well on her new appointment.  I am now pleased to announce that, after a rigorous application process, Cerys Harris-Howson has been appointed as Coordinator: English/Literacy/LOTE/Performing Arts/Year 8 for the remainder of the year.  We have also appointed Jess Daniel to work in the Special Options class to release Cerys for her Coordinator duties and Kirsten Mooney to take Cendall’s English classes.  I would also like to thank Carena Brookes who has taken on Cendall’s Research Project class and we value the years of experience she brings to this subject.

Communication

Communication is one of the key pillars of success in schooling and it needs to be ongoing between students, families and teachers.  There are often times parents have questions about their student’s education or there’s a need to share information or contact us with a concern and I encourage parents to contact teachers directly via Daymap or phone the school on 8862 0600 and leave a message for them to call you back when this need arises.  For questions regarding individual subjects, parents should initially contact the subject teacher or the Homegroup teacher for broader concerns and parents should contact a member of the leadership team for more significant issues or if you need further follow up.  Another great form of communication is through social media and I remind all students and their families to like us on Facebook to keep up-to-date with school events and information.  FlexiBuzz is also an important communication tool to be used to stay up to date with bus information and I encourage families with students who catch a bus to download this app too.

Site Improvement Plan (SIP)

This year all South Australian schools adopted a new, common approach to school improvement planning based on the evidence of international best practice.  In planning for this last year, the staff and Governing Council were involved in reviewing the School’s data and deciding on the areas to focus on for improvement.  The goals of our 3 year school improvement plan are:

• Literacy - Improve students' ability to write effectively (structure, fluidity, formal language and concise expression of ideas) at Year 10 to maintain upper-band level achievement in SACE results
• Numeracy - Improve students' ability to apply number skills in all curriculum areas.

A range of strategies will be implemented across the whole school, both with teachers and with students to not only have an impact but to see improvement.  I would like to acknowledge the work of David Szular in Numeracy and Josh La Grutta in Literacy as they lead the staff on these aspects of the improvement plan.  A full copy of the SIP can be found on our website or you can contact the front office if you’d like a hard copy to be sent home.

School Uniform

Finally, a quick reminder about school uniform.  As the cooler weather has arrived, some of the uniform standards in the yard have slipped.  Students are expected to wear a navy or white school polo top, navy bomber jacket, navy rugby top or plain navy hoodie, all of which are available for purchase from TADS in Balaklava.  Shorts and trousers are to be navy or grey and trackpants are to be navy with no stripes or large logos.  Families are reminded that black pants and tops are not part of our uniform and leggings, jeggings and jeans are also not acceptable for school.  If meeting the uniform expectations is a concern for families, please contact the relevant year level coordinator to discuss this.

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.

Sonia Pringle

Principal

Open Night

On Wednesday 22^nd May (Week 4) our school will be open to the public, and in particular the Year 7 students and families who would like to see more of what we have to offer. This year we will hold the Open Night between 4:30-6:30pm. We will meet in the Performing Arts building at 4:30pm for a short information session, where staff and students will speak about a range of opportunities. Then our students will act as guides and direct visitors to each of the different learning areas, discussing the highlights and aspects of the school throughout the tour. We will finish back outside the Performing Arts building at 6:30pm for a Student Council fundraising sausage sizzle and an opportunity to answer any questions. A crèche will be offered to help support parents of younger children. Please contact the front office on 8862 0600 to book in to the crèche facility and notify us of your children’s ages.

NAPLAN

The Year 9 students will be tested in the Online National Numeracy and Literacy Tests next Tuesday to Thursday (Week 3). Students have been practicing using the online version of the test over the past several weeks. An incentive program is in place to encourage full participation and effort.

All students are expected to attend school during the NAPLAN testing period and participate in all the tests. If absent on any one day, your child will sit the test the next day they return. If you have any concerns about your child’s participation in the NAPLAN tests please contact me at the school on 8862 0600 prior to the testing.

Reporting and Student Led Conferences

In response to educational studies regarding the value of timely feedback to students and the importance of students taking responsibility for setting achievable learning goals and actions, we are trialling a few changes to our Reporting and Student Led Conference timelines and formats. These are outlined below.

• Student Led Conferences (SLC) held in the first 5-6 weeks of each semester.
• Student Tracking every 4-5 weeks throughout every term – this is sent home to parents.
• Assessment specific feedback, relevant to individual student goals, provided by teachers via Daymap for each assessment task.
• Reflection of student goals to occur in Pastoral Care in the week after Student Tracking.
• End of term reports – Yr 8-11 grade only, no Homegroup comments; Yr 12 Term 1 – 3 subject comments, no Homegroup comments. Accompanied by copy of SLC goal setting sheet with end of term reflection
• Trial for 2019 – review for future years. Parent, student and teacher feedback will be sort towards the end of the year.

 Carena Brookes

Adelaide Athletics

On the 9^th of April, a group of 20 Balaklava High School students travelled to Adelaide to compete as part of the Lower North Team at the Adelaide Athletics Carnival. Combined with Riverton and Burra High Schools, Lower North currently sits in the 6th division (of 12). The Lower North team was competitive all day and finished in an overall position of 5^th. The following students managed to place in their event, a great achievement and something they should be proud of:

• Cody Redpath- 2^nd U16 200m, 2^nd U16 High Jump
• Lachlan Hendry- 2^nd U16 800m, 2^nd U21 1500m
• Jayden Hendry- 2^nd U16 Triple Jump
• Liam Bigg- 2^nd U16 Discus
• Tahneil McArdle- 3^rd U16 100m, 3^rd U16 200m
• Ailisha Saunders- 3^rd U21 200m, 3^rd U21 Hurdles, 3^rd U21 High Jump
• Mel Myers- 3^rd U15 400m
• Kara Binka- 3^rd U21 800m
• Hayley Armstrong- 1^st U16 800m, 1^st U16 Triple Jump, 1^st U16 High Jump, 3^rd U21 1500m
• Abbie McArdle- 2^nd U16 Discus
• Tiarhn Carpenter- 3^rd U15 Discus
• 1^st U16 Boys 4 x 100m Relay
• 2^nd U15 Girls 4 x 100m Relay

I would like to congratulate all students who participated, having represented themselves, the school and the team with pride. I would also like to thank the parents who came along supporting the students and the team and Dave Cmrlec for driving the bus and officiating High Jump on the day.

Alison Schahinger

Balaklava High School music students Mitchell McClean and Abbey Bubner performed in the community band at the Anzac Day Dawn Service in Balaklava.

Tyler Durdin represented Balaklava High School at the Balaklava Town Hall Open Evening on Tuesday April 30th. He played a beautiful Chopin solo. Well done,Tyler!

More Balaklava High School students were involved in the sneak preview performance of the Balaklava Community Arts show, ‘High School Musical’. A small section of the cast performed one of their songs for the audience at the Town Hall.

Students included L-R Tyler Durdin, Tyler Hendry (former BHS student), Angie Barr (former BHS student), Abbey Bubner, Amelia Greenslade, Charlie Evans.
Well done Team!

Melanie Evans

Specialist Music Teacher

In Week 10, Term 1 the Year 9 Boys' Club held a fundraising stall inside the quadrangle at recess time in an effort to raise much needed money and food for the Guardian Angel Animal Rescue (GAAR) organisation. The stall was a huge success with $120 raised to go towards veterinary bills and around 100kg of dry and wet food ready to feed the many hungry cats and dogs currently waiting for adoption at GAAR. This was a fantastic effort from the boys and a huge success. Thank you to all who donated and stopped by the stall during the fundraiser. You have made a few tails wag no doubt!

Ashley Parsons

After months of planning by an enthusiastic committee led by Tanika Kirchner-Scheer, the 2019 Balaklava High Formal was held on April 6th in the Balaklava Town Hall. With a theme of "Masquerade", the Hall was stylishly decorated with a giant mask, feathers, balloons and fairy lights and many staff also added a mask to follow the theme. Arriving in a variety of classic cars, a hot rod, a truck and by foot, the students and their invited guests had gone to a lot of effort to make this a special event with glamorous dresses and sharp suits. The students all really enjoyed the music provided by DJ Holzy and after the dinner, the dance floor was very busy! The Prom King and Queen Mitchell Taylor and Haylee Studham were popular choices along with Prom Prince and Princess Jack Heaslip and Chloe Lamond. 

A special thanks to Tanika Kirchner-Scheer who started the organising through Community Studies last year but went above and beyond the requirements of the subject in the time and effort that she put in to it. Thanks also to the committee of Year 11 and 12 students - they all contributed very effectively to the evening's success.

Sue Pratt

Year 12 Coordinator

On the Monday 6^th May, 17 Year 10 students attended the World of Work program at Barossa TAFE at Nurioopta. Students were exposed to a series of workshops which were specifically designed to inform Year 10 students about the various TAFE programs available. Students were able to select different workshops like Construction, Hair and Beauty, Info Tech, Fitness, Aged Care, Cookery and Hospitality. All students had a thoroughly positive experience and thought the excursion was worthwhile.

Richard Thomas 

VET Coordinator

Australian Government Assistance for Canberra excursion

Students from Balaklava High School have recently undertaken an educational tour of the national capital. Whilst on this tour, students participated in a variety of educational programmes with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit their National Capital as part of their civics and citizenship education. To assist schools in meeting the cost of the excursion, the Australian Government is contributing funding under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate (PACER) programme. All students who participated in this excursion will be refunded $60 through this programme to alleviate the travel costs incurred by this trip. This contribution will be paid directly to the school upon the completion of the excursion and submission of paperwork.

We would like to thank the Australian Government for their support of this program.

The activities undertaken during this trip have been outlined below in the newsletter.

We hope that this excursion was a rewarding experience for all students.

 Karyn Von-Zieden

Departing at 7pm Sunday 28^th April, 30 enthusiastic Year 10 and 11 students, Mr Mussared and Mrs Von-Zieden (our teachers) and Mrs Naomi Bousfield (parent representative) endured the long bus trip to Canberra.  We were kept entertained with three movies (The Castle, Lion King and Greatest Showman); we were amazed with the number of kangaroos watching our bus pass by and we were relieved to have regular toilet stops before having breakfast at Gundagai.

We arrived in Canberra around 11am and went straight to our first attraction which was the National Capital Exhibition.  This was the perfect start to our trip as it explained the history behind the selection of the site, naming and planning of our national capital.  After lunch (no, the sandwiches were not that impressive!) we walked along ANZAC Parade learning about four of the monuments, then headed to the National Museum to see Chris the sheep, Phar Lap’s heart and other national treasures.  We then visited Old Parliament House to learn about Democracy through the interactive displays and a role play.  Finally, we made it to our accommodation, Ibis Styles Eaglehawk Resort, where we unpacked and had tea.  Our final activity for this day was to visit the Telstra Tower on Black Mountain to see the lights of Canberra and feel the cold wind!

Tuesday was a really busy day as we had seven different activities.  We had an early start with a tour of the Australian Institute of Sport, a visit to the Royal Mint then a tour of Government House all before lunch. A two hour activity at the Ian Potter Foundation gave students the opportunity to be creative and invent a useful device using small robots.  Our final destination was the High Court of Australia.  After tea we went bowling which was a great opportunity to relax and have fun.

Wednesday was a more leisurely day and we started the day observing Canberra from the Mt Ainsley lookout. Perfect sunshine, no fog and no other tourists meant that the views and photo opportunities were amazing. A drive around the Diplomatic Embassies was very interesting before our educational activities at the National Art Gallery – seeing and learning about Jackson Pollock's painting, “Blue Poles” was certainly a highlight.  Some retail therapy at Canberra’s Outlet Centre was enjoyed before our relaxing one hour boat cruise on Lake Burley Griffin.  Seeing many of the places from the lake gave us another perspective on the layout and special features of Canberra.  We finished the day with “Q at night” - a two hour session using the interactive science and technology displays at Questacon.

Our final day in Canberra was spent at two of the most important places.  A tour of Parliament House gave us the opportunity to view the city from the rooftop, underneath the big flagpole.  Inside we participated in a role play debating the issue of “free internet on public transport” and viewed the Senate and House of Representatives. The Australian War Memorial was our last destination and probably the most enjoyable.  After our orientation session we went straight to ANZAC Hall to experience the light and sound shows.  We spent some time in the World War 1 section and this was incredible as all the displays had been recently upgraded.  An education session on “We Will Remember Them” explained the significance of many of the World War 2 displays and the Hall of Remembrance.  Our final activity was to attend the Last Post ceremony where Cody Redpath, Tahneil McArdle and Mr Mussared laid a wreath on behalf of Balaklava High School. This was an emotional experience and one that many students will remember.  Use the following link to see this ceremony (May 2^nd 2019) on the War Memorial’s website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKIk4ocqGoo

The overnight bus trip went very quickly and we returned to Balaklava during the morning, tired but happy. During our 3 ½ days in Canberra we participated in 18 different activities.

Students have made the following comments which reflect their learning and enjoyment.

“My experience in Canberra was so good, learning about all the places we went to and my favourite places was the Australian Institute of Sport and the War Memorial”.  Chloe

 “The mint was really fun and interesting and it was interesting to see how robots have taken over”  Maddie

 “My favourite things about Canberra were the Embassy Drive and the AIS. I enjoyed the Embassy Drive as I got to learn about the architecture and government of different countries and I loved AIS as I got to learn more about the training and processes that different athletes go through. Overall it was a great learning experience and lots of fun”.  Abbie

 “I enjoyed going to Questacon and Parliament House. My impression of Canberra was that it was cold! School students should go to Canberra because they can learn a lot from it”.  India

 "Being involved in the Last Post Ceremony and getting the opportunity to lay the wreath was truly amazing”. Cody and Tahneil

"Canberra was really cool and scenic, my favourite place was the War Memorial”. Emma

Thank you…

I would like to thank staff member James Mussared for his participation on this year’s Canberra Trip and a special thank you is extended to Naomi Bousfield, our parent representative, for her active participation and enthusiasm.

I congratulate the 30 students from Years 10 and 11 for their punctuality, good behaviour and genuine interest which made our visit to Canberra a most enjoyable experience.  Prepared for cold autumn conditions, we were fortunate to have warm and sunny days which were almost too warm for our Canberra hoodies, however, we certainly looked good!

Karyn Von-Zieden

Canberra Trip Coordinator

Recently I was reading through an article about counselling teens and came across a brilliant quote by Milton Berle. He was quoted to have said ‘If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door’. This quote got me thinking; what do so many of us do if opportunity doesn’t knock??  We sit back and feel dejected and let down and disappointed. Is it any wonder, then, that we are now seeing many young people struggling to find direction in life?

When we find ourselves lacking opportunities, how about we go out and build some doors? You never know; the door you build might be the doorway into an amazing future just waiting for you! As we model this to our kids, we are going to see a new level of resiliency in them as they learn to create opportunity, not just wait for opportunity.

I am at school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and can be contacted by email at ryan.bernhardt246@schools.sa.edu.au or by contacting Balaklava High School on 88 620 600

Ryan Bernhardt

Pastoral Care Worker    

Students from Meidei High School will be visiting the school during Term 3 –  arriving Wednesday 31st July and departing Wednesday 14^th August. 38 students will be coming to our local area (Balaklava, Clare, Kadina and Moonta) and Balaklava High School is hoping to host at least eight of these students.  Please consider hosting one of these students and discuss with your family. This has been a wonderful cultural experience for all families who have hosted before and it is also a significant fundraiser for Balaklava High School. Please contact Cherie Cmrlec at the school 8862 0600 if you would like to be involved.

Nominate, recognise and celebrate an outstanding education in the 2019 Public Education Awards

Get involved and say thank you to a leader, teacher or support staff member making a significant difference to the lives of their students and their communities.
The Public Education Awards recognize excellence in South Australian public education, and nominations are open 1 to 31 May. Visit www.education.sa.gov.au/awards to nominate and find out more about the awards. Application guides and nomination forms are also available from the Front Office.
#PublicEduAwards2019

Balaklava Museum