At the end of Week 6 we held a Student Free Day which had a focus on Cultural Awareness.  The day gave staff the opportunity to hear from experts in this area including our own Mr Josh Jenner who put in a considerable amount of effort to plan the agenda as well as presenting a session on the day.  We also had time in the afternoon for teachers to work on embedding Aboriginal perspectives in their teaching programs.  We trust families enjoyed the extra long weekend when it combined with the School Closure Day on Monday.

Our Show team headed off to the Royal Adelaide Show last Tuesday where they had a great time showing our Merino sheep and experiencing all the Show has to offer.  Thanks to Mrs Colleen Lowe for her work with this group of students and to Mr Geoff Cavanagh and Mr David Pratt for their work behind the scenes and at the Show respectively.  Please see Colleen’s article later in the newsletter for more information about this.

Staffing

As this is our last newsletter for the term, I would like to take the opportunity to wish Mrs Alana Sharman all the best as she leaves us to start her 12 months of maternity leave.  We are currently working through a process to replace Alana’s leadership and teaching commitments and will announce this as soon as we are able to.

Centenary Celebrations

This year we are very excited to be celebrating 100 years of public education at Balaklava High School.  The centenary committee have been working all year to organise a weekend of festivities in October to acknowledge and celebrate this milestone.  Our program of events are:

Friday 21st October – Art Exhibition at the Balaklava Courthouse Gallery 6pm

An exhibition of current and past staff and student artwork will be showing at the Gallery from 4^th-30^th October, however, we will celebrate the formal opening of the exhibition on this night.  Nibbles are provided and drinks will be available for purchase.  A tour of the school, by appointment, is available at 4pm before the exhibition opening.

Saturday 22nd October – Gala Dinner at the Town Hall 6pm – SOLD OUT

Tickets for this event went on sale at 9am and were sold out by lunchtime.  The evening will have musical items by past and present students and feature an interview panel of old scholars and past teachers.  A tour of the school, by appointment, is available at 4pm before the dinner.

The Balaklava Courthouse Gallery and the Balaklava Museum will also be open on this day from 2-4pm.

Sunday 23rd October – Open Day at the school from 10am – 2pm

Tour our state of the art facilities, view memorabilia displays, speak to current staff and students and have the opportunity to reminisce about school years gone by.  Governing Council will be running a BBQ and both Lisa's Latte coffee van and the Lions Donut Van will be on the grounds to provide some sustenance during the day and merchandise will also be on sale.  There will be an official welcome at 12 noon on the steps of the new building looking out to the oval.

The Balaklava Courthouse Gallery will be open on this day from 2-4pm, as will the Balaklava Museum from 2:30-4pm.

To register your interest for any of these events, please contact us at the school or via this link https://forms.office.com/r/UxAQ8AUwkw

Office365

Did you know that students are able to download Office365 for free if they sign in with their LearnLink account?  They can install this full suite on up to five devices so it can be shared with their immediate family if needed.  Part of Office 365 includes access to OneDrive, with 1TB of free cloud storage for each student.  This form of cloud storage allows students to access files from any computer, in any location, when they sign in to Office365, whereas if they only save work to a USB it can be forgotten or lost or if work is saved to their H drive at school they need to be on site to access it.  This cloud storage has proven particularly useful in the last couple of years when we have had to move to online learning and students could still access all of their school files.  To access this free resource, go to https://portal.office.com/account

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

Adelaide Show 

Last week 15 students attended the Royal Adelaide Show with 6 merino wethers that had been raised in the school feedlot, under the care of the Merino Wethers Studio class. Students were required to develop feeding rations as well as set production and financial goals. They cleaned the feedlot weekly and spent hours walking to the wethers to ensure they were comfortable on a halter and walking in unfamiliar environments. All students worked extremely hard and produced high quality, well behaved wethers to showcase at the Show. Unfortunately we did not place this year, with over 70 schools involved, the competition was fierce!

We did, however, place first in the fleece competition that was judged before the start of the show and one of our students, Bella Pratt, placed in the top 18 in the handler competition out of a field of over 200 competitors.

All students represented BHS with pride and were excited to speak to anyone who and to tell them all about their sheep. Results aside, the team did a fantastic job at the show and certainly did BHS proud with the quality of their sheep and the professionalism with which they conducted themselves. Well done to all involved!

Farmer's Market

Don’t forget that the Farmer's Market is continuing to run on Thursdays and Fridays out the front of the Community Library during the term (weather determining). Come and grab some fresh fruit and other produce. Currently we have some dehydrated fruit and various jams available. Keep on the look out for more products as the Studio team transitions from sheep farming to value adding! All products are made by students from farm produce and proceeds go back into the Agriculture program. A big thank you to the library staff for helping me out with this venture!

Shearing

Shearing will commence in the next few weeks. Sheep shearing more than likely before the holidays and Alpaca shearing in the first few weeks of Term 4 (dates still to be determined). If you have 1 or 2 sheep or alpacas that you are struggling to find a shearer for, we may be able to help you out at a cost per head. If this is something you may be interested in, please register your interest at colleen.lowe667@schools.sa.edu.au 

Meat Orders

Final meat orders are ready to go. We have:

Pork @ $10/kg

Lamb @ $10/kg

Turkeys – rolls or whole (price to be determined)

We also have frozen whole chickens @ $8/kg and various cuts of pork in the freezer ready to go!

Please put orders through to colleen.lowe667@schools.sa.edu.au

Pullets

I am now taking orders for pullets @ $20 per bird. They will not be ready for collection until the end of next term, but are definitely starting to shape up nicely! Email for pullet orders and I will contact you when they are ready to be collected.

We will also be selling the school layer birds towards the end of term 4 @ $10 per bird. Please also email if you are interested in any of these.

Colleen Lowe

Science/Math/Agriculture Teacher

Student Engagement Coordinator

Year 9 Science students recently showcased their knowledge and understanding of glass to students from Balaklava Primary School. Students were tasked with designing activities groups of primary school students could complete, highlighting this year’s Science Week Theme, Glass: More than meets the eye. Highlights included sugar glass, fairy floss, singing glasses, marble runs, and even disappearing glass! The students from BPS had an absolute blast learning from our Year 9s, who did a fantastic job stepping up to the challenge.

This week Car Care received a generous donation from Jack Rau from Connected Self. This enabled the purchase of oil, brake cleaners, spray paint, funnels and several industry specific tools. Students were able to put the newly acquired tools and materials straight to work and finished painting several engine parts and rims.

This week the students also received some assistance from Year 11 student Beau Warner. Beau is completing an automotive course and was able to teach some Year 7 students about possible pathways into the Automotive Industry and some mechanical skills. The Car Care group is very much looking forward to working with Beau in future Car Care lessons.

Thanks again to the students of Car Care for their hard work and great teamwork and to Jack and Beau for their amazing contributions.

Jamie Banwell

The HASS  (Humanities and Social Sciences) Faculty is hoping to run a Senior School Canberra Trip next year. We have a tentative booking for Week 1 of Term 2 2023, departing on Sunday 30^th April and returning on Friday 5^th May.

Cost is estimated to be around $900 based on 40 students attending.  On completion of the trip students will be eligible for the PACER rebate which is a $60 Commonwealth Government initiative paid to students who visit Canberra.

As an extra curricula activity, students will need to be achieving the required grades, attendance and behavioural expectations of the BHS policy.  Students will also have the opportunity to achieve a Stage 1 SACE Integrated Learning unit worth 10 credits. 

We would like an expression of interest from students within the Senior School to gauge the level of interest. We have not yet made a decision on Year 12s attending but if your child will be in Year 12 in 2023 and would like to go please put in an expression of interest.

Please use the following Forms Link to register the interest of your child.

https://forms.gle/59mw3ZgS5mbrCQEn6

Hannah Hoepner 

HASS Faculty

Are you in Year 7-9?  Do you enjoy learning French at school and want an opportunity to extend this and converse with other students of the French language?  Are you looking for something free to do in the holidays?  Then this is the thing for you!

An engaging program filled with fun activities for beginning learners of the language that focus on developing their confidence in language use will be held these holidays and all you need to do is:

Register online at: https://www.ticketebo.com.au/letstalk

When: Thursday 13 October 2022 (10.00am -3.30pm)

Venue: Clare High School, 6 Elliott Street, CLARE.

Cost: FREE for all Years 7-9 students!

PLEASE NOTE: Transport from your day school to Clare High School can be arranged if required.