2025 SRC Representatives and Prefects with Lauren Mace, Principal Mr Tim Jones, Mayor Bill O'Brien, and SRC Mentor Mr Josh Earle

We have had a positive start to the year with several successful events over the past few weeks. Last week, we hosted our Year 7 Welcome BBQ to introduce our middle school team. Year 12 teachers were available for interim parent-teacher interviews, and we held a Year 9 Canberra camp parent information session. This week, our Year 7 and 9 students have been preparing for NAPLAN 2025. Next week, we look forward to our Athletics Carnival on Thursday, followed by our second pupil-free day on Friday to support staff professional learning.

STUDENT VOICE

Invited Guests Lauren Mace and Mayor Bill O'Brien with our Year 12 Prefects on Tuesday

On Tuesday, we formally inducted our 2025 Prefects and SRC. It was a pleasure to hear from Lauren Mace (formerly Schmidt), one of our Head Prefects in 2015, who shared her leadership journey and reflections on her time at Kapunda High School, along with valuable advice on leadership. We have invited a leadership development team, Driven from Within, to work with our student leaders this year. This partnership with Eudunda Area School aims to build connections within our district. Special thanks to Matt Krieg from Driven from Within and Dan Kirk from gr8r.me for providing this opportunity for our new leaders.

Introducing Your Parent Representatives

On Wednesday evening, we held our Annual General Meeting of parents, with a strong turnout. This is encouraging for KHS, as parents are taking a keen interest in school operations. Thank you to the following parents who are our elected Governing Council for 2025:

Veronica Thomson- Chairperson

Stephen Ruediger- Deputy Chair

Belinda Matz- Secretary

Jenny Polley- Treasurer

Irena O'Reilley

Rebecca Holstead

Robyn Haywood

Jack Mickan

Benjamin Forster – Staff Representative

Tracy Warner – Staff Representative

Retiring Governing Council Members

On behalf of the school community, I wish to recognise the contributions and service of our retiring members: Rosi Wendt and Sue Woods, who have had a long-standing association with KHS GC chair, including significant events like the 100-year celebration in 2022.

The 2024 Annual Report was presented at the meeting, along with my Principal's report. This outlines our current status at Kapunda High School and our Site Improvement Priorities. In 2025, Kapunda High School will focus on enhancing achievement, wellbeing, and belonging. Key initiatives include:

CONNECTION AND BELONGING

Post-COVID and the fire in ERINGA, this area within our school has required significant investment to maintain connection with our students. Our attendance data, along with wellbeing and engagement data, suggests we are making gains in this space. However, this will remain a key improvement priority. Efforts include:

• Positive School Culture Focus
• Wellbeing and Engagement data collection and analysis
• Berry Street Education Model

CONDITIONS FOR LEARNING

Kapunda High School has invested heavily in this area. Our first whole staff professional learning day was with Bill Hansberry, who worked with our staff in week 2. This aligns with our ongoing learning with the Berry Street team, aiming to develop whole school agreements and processes to ensure a safe, predictable, and productive learning environment. Key focuses include:

• Consistency around Hats, Phones, Bags
• Attendance intervention

PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS

In 2024, we saw our largest number of students complete their SACE at 68, with nearly 30% of grades in the A Band. We aim to provide pathways for success in both University and Trade pathways. We encourage students to consider STEM pathways and are working with regional cluster schools to support students interested in Physics, Chemistry, and Specialist Mathematics. Additionally, we are supporting girls in STEM to explore pathways in this area. Initiatives include:

• Heritage Trades and Carpentry
• Entrepreneurial Learning Strategy
• Girls In STEM Program
• Emphasis on Local Delivery of Academic Pathway Subjects
• High ATAR and Study Skills Program
• Tailored Learning options on site at Kapunda

STUDENT AGENCY and VOICE

Feedback suggests we need to enhance how we provide a genuine voice for students in decision-making at KHS. I have started conversations with the SRC leadership to grow this area. Beyond SRC, we see an increasing role for student agency and entrepreneurial learning in the classroom, providing opportunities for students to learn in a relevant context and develop skills to become independent learners.

FACILITIES AND GROUNDS

The majority of the rebuild of Eringa and Building C (60s replacement) will take place in 2025. We look forward to progress on the classroom and Eringa Rebuild. BADGE Construction has been supportive, working with our Doorways to Construction students, and we hope to involve students again this year. Additionally, we will continue to invest in our grounds to improve movement across the school and support safe entry and exit at the front. In the coming weeks, phase one of our CCTV installation will begin, funded corporately to enhance security and safety across our site.

Tim Jones

Principal

Year 11/12 Boys Cricket Tuesday, 4th March (T1W6)

KHS Athletics Carnival Thursday, 6th March (T1W6)

Student Free Day Friday, 7th March (T1W6)

Adelaide Cup Public Holiday Monday, 10th March (T1W7)

Year 12 Tourism Excursion Wednesday, 19th March (T1W8)

Lower North Athletics Carnival Thursday, 20th March (T1W8)

Year 12 Formal Friday, 28th March (T1W9)

Last Day of Term 1 Friday, 11th April Early dismissal time of 2:15pm (T1W11)

On Tuesday, 25th February we held the SRC & Prefect Induction Ceremony. We were joined by special guests Bill O'Brien, Mayor of Light Regional Council, and Lauren Mace, 2015 Head Prefect. Lauren gave an engaging speech about her experiences since leaving Kapunda High School, and shared valuable insight with our students.

Ms Fethers Year 11 Food and Hospitality class catered a delicious morning tea for the special guests, students and their families to enjoy. 

On Monday, 17th February, the KHS Swimming Team travelled to Clare to compete in the Lower North Swimming Carnival. It was amazing to see the participation of our students and the encouragement and teamwork demonstrated on the day. 

Two KHS students won Age Group Champion:

Maddison Ryan- Under 13 Girls Age Group Champion
Milan Pozsgai- Under 15 Boys Age Group Champion

Milan also broke two records:

Under 19 100m freestyle
Old Record: 1:00.95
New Record: Milan KAP 59.63

Under 15 50m Freestyle
Old Record: 28.12
New Record: Milan KAP 27.77

Congratulations Milan and Maddison! Well done to all the students who represented KHS on the day. 

Ms Fethers Year 12 Food and Hospitality class are working on completing their first task, a Celebration Cake. Here are the first few to be completed. 

Year 11 Student Tali Pipe has been awarded Light Regional Council's Young Citizen of the Year Award. Congratulations Tali, this is an amazing achievement! 

The new school year is off to a fantastic start in the Agriculture Department, with plenty of hands-on learning experiences already underway!

Our Year 9 students had an exciting opportunity to see and hold some meat chickens as they begin their studies on the broiler industry this term. This hands-on approach helps students understand the poultry industry from farm to market, providing valuable insights into animal husbandry and production processes.

Meanwhile, our sheep have arrived and are settling in well. We extend a huge thank you to Hawkers Creek Farms for their generous support in assisting us with them. Their contribution ensures that our students continue to gain practical experience in sheep care and management.

With so much happening already, we can’t wait to see what the rest of the term—and the year—has in store. Watch this space for further updates on all things agriculture at KHS!

Great opportunity to supplement your income if on a pension or semi-retired.

We are in desperate need for relief bus drivers.

With possibility of full time work in a year or two.

At present we have four departmental buses which we are very fortunate to still have.

We need to be able to get drivers as if we can not supply drivers the department will take the buses and put in contractors.  If we lost our department buses the  impact on the  school and students is huge.  It would stop most sporting activities, any excursions etc, as at present we can use the buses without a cost to us other than paying the bus driver for these.  If our buses were taken away and contracts did the routes, all excursions, sports, etc would probably not be able to happen as to use a contractor bus it is at least $1000 a day for any excursions and more.

We have four different bus routes for our school with department buses.

Approximately 15 hours a week, Monday to Friday.  7.30am till 8.30am -    3.00 till 4.30pm.

Employment is on a casual claim paid basis.  Additional hours available if willing to drive for school excursions.  This is paid separately by the school.

Requirements :

Miniumum license required is MR.  The driver will need accreditation, this entails WWCC, Full Medical, national police check and relevant driver license.

If interested please contact Kaye Clancy ( Bus Coordinator) Kapunda High School.   Email :  kaye.clancy848@schools.sa.edu.au.  Phone (08) 8566 2203.  If you know of someone who might be interested please pass this information onto them.

The materials and services charges for 2025 are $480.00, less the $200 government rebate = $280.  This is used for equipment and materials used in the delivery of the curriculum.  A basic stationery pack is also supplied (which is GST Free) which includes an ID card. The invoice and statement have been sent home with your child in week 1.

PAYMENT OF MATERIALS AND SERVICES

The due date for payment of materials and services is Friday 11th April 2025 (End of Term 1).
Payment may be made by cash, cheque, EFTPOS, Visa, MasterCard or by Direct Bank Deposit (see details below). Students are to make payments prior to the start of the school day (8:50am) to avoid carrying around large sums of money through the day.  Parents/caregivers are encouraged to make payments to the Finance Desk in the Front Office Reception Building from 8:30am-3:30pm.

KHS Bank Details:

Bank SA

BSB 105-006

Acc No.  057125140

Family ID : eg SMIT10

 (left hand side of invoice)

Please remember to meet the payment deadline of Friday, 11th April 2025. If no prior arrangements are made, any unpaid amounts may be forwarded to the Department of Education Recovery Unit at the end of Term 1.

INSTALMENT PAYMENT PLAN

If you would like to opt into our instalment payment plan system, please download and return the following form to apply for paying school fees by instalment this year.

SCHOOL CARD SCHEME  

School Card is available in government schools to:

• families with children aged 4 years and over who attend a school full time
• independent full time students studying year 10, 11 or 12
• Adult re-entry students undertaking subjects to complete their SACE.

To qualify, your family's gross income in the 2023/24 financial year must be below the threshold, based on the number of dependent children you have in your family.

Information on the eligibility criteria, income limits and the application process is available at the link:

If you think you may be eligible for School Card please complete the online application form as soon as possible.

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) takes place each year for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 and has been an everyday part of the school calendar since 2008.
NAPLAN helps parents, carers and educators to see if children are meeting important numeracy and literacy standards.

Collection of personal information

Schools are required by law to collect personal information about you and your child, irrespective of whether your child participates in NAPLAN testing.
The purpose of this notice is to advise parents and carers of how personal information about you and your child will be used for NAPLAN testing (both online and paper tests) and NAPLAN readiness activities scheduled at various times leading up to the test in March 2025.

NAPLAN testing

Since 2022 NAPLAN tests are completed nationally online, except for Year 3 writing which remains paper-based and a small number of students who will continue to use alternative format (paper or electronic pdf tests).
Online testing brings many benefits and opportunities including providing better assessment, more precise results and faster turnaround of information.
More information on NAPLAN is available at:

Readiness testing activities
A critical step in preparing for NAPLAN is schools’ participation in readiness testing activities.
The purpose of readiness testing activities is to ensure your child is familiar with their device and the online test environment, as well as to confirm school infrastructure systems and processes are in place for NAPLAN testing.

Disclosure of personal information

For every student participating in NAPLAN testing and readiness activities, personal information will be uploaded by the Department for Education, as the Test Administration Authority (TAA), to the NAPLAN Online Assessment Platform (‘assessment platform’). For information on how ACARA collects and uses personal information about you and your child for NAPLAN please refer to:

The information overleaf marked with an asterisk (*) is also provided by the department, as the TAA, to FUJIFILM Data Management Solutions Pty Ltd for the purposes of printing paper test materials and the printing of student reports. FUJIFILM Data Management Solutions Pty Ltd (“FUJIFILM”) is subject to rigorous information privacy and data security obligations under its contract with the Department for Education and is only permitted access to personal information from a relevant school for the purposes of providing the contracted services.
FUJIFILM’s privacy policy can be found at: 

• Student name*
• Gender*
• School name, class and year level*
• Disability adjustments (where applicable) *
• Date of birth*
• Language background other than English
• Country of birth
• Parents’ occupation, education and language background
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status
• Student’s braille format*
• Jurisdictional and local school student identifiers*

The personal information for students who are exempted, absent or withdrawn from NAPLAN testing is collected and used for reporting purposes.

Data security

Security and privacy are key requirements for the delivery of national testing.

NAPLAN Assessment Platform

The online assessment platform has been designed to comply with relevant national data security policies and guidelines.
The assessment platform is managed by Education Services Australia (ESA). ESA is a not-for-profit company jointly owned by the Australian education ministers. ESA is subject to rigorous information privacy and data security obligations under its contract with the Department for Education.
ESA only has access to personal information from a relevant school or TAA for the primary purpose of fulfilling ESA’s role in supporting the operation of the assessment platform.
ESA’s privacy policy can be found at:

Access and correction

To request access or correction to personal information collected for NAPLAN and held by schools, please contact your school principal in the first instance. Any concerns about a breach of privacy by a school should be directed in writing to the school principal.

More information

Speak with your school principal in the first instance if you have any questions about this information.