Welcome to our second school newsletter for Term 3. There are many successes and achievements to share with our school community as we work through the latter part of the term.  

Term 3 to date has seen an engaging and enriching variety of Curriculum and learning experiences for our students.

Curriculum Updates

In the week of Monday, 22 August, we hosted a Barista VET training course in our Creative Technologies space. This was a great opportunity for students to learn a new skill, gain learning accreditation have an enriching learning experience. Students who participated in the program found it interesting and engaging.   

On Friday, 26 August, we acknowledged Book Week 2022. Developing and improving students’ literacy skills is a core focus of our work across all year levels of schooling. To commemorate Book Week, a number of staff dressed up as characters from Harry Potter. Students and staff enjoyed the day. 

On Wednesday, 31 August, we were privileged to welcome world-renowned musician, educator and public speaker, Scott Darlow to our school. Scott shared First Nations' music, stories and culture with students and staff at a whole school assembly. He also ran a series of workshops for classes, sharing insights from his experiences, cultural stories and songs.

It was a great opportunity for our students to learn about our First Nations' rich culture, history, current issues and how we can realise reconciliation.

We have Student, Parent & Teacher interviews upcoming on Tuesday, 13 and Wednesday, 14 September from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. This is a sound opportunity to meet with subject teachers in-person, celebrate student achievement and look into the next steps for maintaining and increasing students’ achievement. I invite parents/caregivers to book in.

On Tuesday, 6 September, we held a Staff Professional Learning Pupil Free Day. The day consisted of an intensive focus on Australian Curriculum. This included a workshop facilitated by Nicole Cawley (Curriculum Lead for our Education Partnership region). In the afternoon, staff took part in a number of team building activities and exercises, including initiatives to enhance Wellbeing for Learning, organised by Assistant Principal: Positive School Culture & Wellbeing, Sam Milne. 

School Sports

It has been pleasing to see a wide range of school sports back in operation over this term.

This has recently included 9-a-side football and netball. Congratulations to all students on their efforts, team work and also their match wins. Well done, to the Open and Year 9/10 Knockout Netball teams on both winning silver medals in the competition.

School Community Updates

As you may be aware the Kapunda High School Governing Council ‘100 years sub-committee’ is planning a school-community celebration event on Sunday, 23 October. The purpose of the event is to mark '100 years of schooling at Eringa' and our current school site. While the building has suffered a fire, there is still much to celebrate about our school community and we remain hopeful and optimistic. In this same spirit of optimism, we invite interested members from the community to celebrate with us through this event. I hope to see you there.    

I’d like to acknowledge the efforts of our Governing Council members and local community for their intensive work around the planning and preparation for this event, including: Chairperson and organiser Rosi Wendt, Drew Mickan, Danny Menzel, Anne Hornsey, Governing Council Chairperson, Sue Woods and Ann Richardson and Prefect Mentors, Natasha Koritsa and Brae McConnell.

Bookings for the event are essential and can be made via our school website (see below).

School Vision and School Purpose

We are doing some work collectively as a school around clarifying our School Purpose and School Vision.    

When we have a ‘vision’ – we have a plan of somewhere to go.

When we have a ‘shared vision’ – we are on our way somewhere together.

When we have an ‘excellent shared vision’ – we are heading together to somewhere amazing. This is our intent for Kapunda High School.

I’ll keep you informed of this important and exciting work as we continue to workshop and refine our purpose and vision as a school.

David Marino

Principal

Organisation is underway for a 100 years of schooling at Eringa celebration event, which is planned for Sunday, 23 October.

Volunteers are being sought to help with setting up and packing up, as well as hospitality and other tasks during the afternoon (2:00pm - 5:00pm). An hour of support would be hugely appreciated.

For further information, please contact the school by email: dl.0779.admin@schools.sa.edu.au

Groundspersons, Lance and Shane, preparing for the special event

Our new Hawke Street classroom development is nearing completion, with handover expected by the end of this month.

KHS Success

Open

On Monday, 29 August, eight girls played up to 2.5 hours of netball throughout the day. Their persistence and determination was demonstrated in all of the games. We came up against Mt Barker High School and St Mark’s College in the Pool games, winning both of these. Then we had to play against Modbury High School in the first final game, coming away with a win in this as well. The gold medal match was played against Modbury - we knew that this was going to be a tough competition as they had won all of their games as well. We were only 4 – 6 goals down all game and then in the final quarter we lost our drive and the score line blew out to 11 in the end. Credit goes to the team as they all played extremely hard - missing a couple players meant that there was limited time to rest players. Well done girls, you all played your part in the games.

A huge thankyou to Sarah Johnson for umpiring a couple games and also to Kayla Malkin who umpired some of the Open and the year 7/8 games.

Megan Samain (coach)

Year 9/10 

What a great effort from a talented team! They played four games with two of them in heavy rain. They didn’t complain and just got on with the job finishing the preliminary rounds with a draw and two wins. That effort led them to the grand final, which was played inside and gave the players a chance to dry out. This final was tightly contested; eventually going down by one goal to Eastern Fleurieu, finishing in second position. The attack line proved a headache to opposing defenders all day and shot accurately in difficult conditions. The mid-court were dominant and offered drive and the defence line took many intercepts and confidently brought the ball down the court. Thank you to our two umpires, Nikki Tralaggan and Emma Valentine, who got very wet!

 Jill Nash (coach)

Year 7/8

The 7/8 team had a great day, finishing third overall out of 48 teams in the competition! The girls played against Eastern Fleurieu Secondary School, St Marks, Unity and Gleeson Colleges. They finished second in the minor round which meant they had to battle it off with Unity to make the grand final. Unfortunately, they lost by 2 goals in wet conditions. They then won the next game comfortably to finish in third place. An amazing effort by all the girls today. They worked tirelessly across the court and were excited for their well-earned McDonalds on the bus trip home. Thank you to Emma Jones and Kayla Malkin for umpiring the games. Thank you to the girls on the bench for scoring. Overall, a fantastic day out!

Megan Samain (coach)

Kapunda High Year 9 Japanese language students recently had the opportunity to participate in an online exchange with students from Hachioji Junior High School.

The online exchange took place for 90 minutes. After students introduced themselves, KHS students discussed their school life and Australian lifestyle. Our students enjoyed the interaction tremendously and were impressed by the Japanese student’s use of the English language.

We hope that the face-to-face exchange program can resume in 2023. Kapunda High would normally host a dozen students in early term 3 for a ten day exchange. This is an excellent opportunity to culturally enrich the lives of everyone in the Kapunda High School community.

If you would be interested in hosting a student for a short or long term program in 2023, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email: scott.durand752@school.sa.edu.au.

Scott Durand

Japanese Cultural Exchange Coordinator

Kapunda High School was very thankful to host Angela Meegan from the Wyatt Foundation at Kapunda High school on Wednesday, 30 August. We were able to facilitate a meeting for Angela with the Principal, David Marino, Business Manager, Sue Coppin and the Aboriginal Learners.

We were able to learn some of the background of the Wyatt Foundation and develop a better understanding of how we can use our annual Wyatt Bulawilta scholarships grant. This grant is used to support aboriginal learners who are experiencing financial hardship during their education and has been of significant assistance over the last three years in supporting our aboriginal learners to be successful. During the meeting, Angela shared information about a direct grants program which can be of assistance to any South Australian who is experiencing financial hardship on a fixed income. Individuals would need a partner organisation to apply on their behalf. Click here to view further information about the grant program. 

The Barossa, Light and Gawler Women's Football association held an awards presentation evening on Wednesday, 24 August. Amongst the recipients were several students from Kapunda High School. 

Sienna Antony (Under 13.5's Best and Fairest), Mikayla Wagner (Under 13.5's Runner Up Best and Fairest), Holly Tralaggan (Best Under 18 Player and Runner Up Senior Women's Best and Fairest) and Sophie Eaton (Under 16.5's Best and Fairest). Holly and Sophie also featured in the Senior Women's 'Team of the Year'.

KHS congratulates our students on their success.

This term, my year 8 HASS class are about to embark on their $20 boss journey for Economics and Business. During this program, students will be creating their own business and selling their products later in the year.

To get their creativity flowing, I challenged them to create an invention that would change the world. The first phase of this challenge was to create a plan; what would the product be called? What is its purpose? How does it work? What is it made of? How much would it cost? Students were required to do some research surrounding costs and function, putting this together on their planning document.

From here, the fun began! They were challenged to create a model of their invention using only scrap from around the school. They went scavenging, creating their inventions out of sticks, cardboard boxes, plastic sheets, tape, and finger painting with grey paint. They had two lessons to create their models before our Invention Fair the following lesson.

For the Invention Fair, each student had a chance to share their ideas and see what everyone else had come up with. They were judged with three prizes to be awarded: the best model, the world changer, and the most creative. The judging team Amelia Williams, Angus Bryan, Hannah Monck and I were faced with a difficult choice, however in the end, the winners were:

• The Best Model – Matilda Spaan

• The World Changer – Daniel Thurston

Daniel identified the issue of global starvation and created an invention called the 'Cell Rapid Generator'. This is created using a DNA sequences, a cell of the grown food flesh, and a skin cancer cell. After the two cells are sequenced, something sterile is used for the rapidly generating cell to spawn like a beaker. Its purpose is to promote the rapid growth of food to end world hunger.

“By adding the cancer cell’s function to rapidly duplicate, shed and change to other cells, we can make mass amounts of any grown food.” – Daniel Thurston

• The Most Creative – Zac Lemar

Zac created a small machine created using renewable resources that drives around planting trees in places that are more barren or uninhabitable. It would work by rolling a set path, places, waters, and feeds the seed. Each day, it rolls through this area to water and fertilise the plants. Zac identified the global issue of deforestation and want to create a self-efficient system to provide a solution to this problem.

“I feel as a species, we don't take enough care of our environment. We destroy many habitats and something like this could repair them.” – Zac Lemar

I was incredibly impressed with the creative inventions that the students presented and the excitement for the task was unmatched! Overall, everyone did any amazing job, and I cannot wait to see what they create in their $20 boss unit.

Isabella Reed

HASS/English/PE teacher

Volunteers play an important role in our school canteen, the Kidman Kafe, being able to offer a wide variety of healthy food to our students and staff at recess and lunch times. Volunteers are encouraged to come and help in our canteen - even for an hour. Assistance during the peak preparation times, between 10:00am and 2:00pm would be most valued and appreciated. And of course, a regular commitment would enable Canteen Manager, Sam, to better plan the menu in advance.

What hoops do I need to jump through?

Yes, there is some paperwork and some legal requirements such as completing the online Responding to Abuse and Neglect (RAN-EC) course and having a Working With Children Check (WWCC). Mrs Sue Coppin, our Finance Officer, can assist with beginning the process of applying for the WWCC, which is free to our volunteers. There will also be a general induction with the Department for Education and we will share other important information before you begin.

School volunteers must also show evidence of COVID-19 vaccination.

Call the school and ask to speak to Sam at the canteen if you'd like to learn more about the kind of help our canteen requires, or if you're keen to begin, please contact Volunteer Coordinator, Ann Richardson, by email: ann.richardson395@schools.sa.edu.au or by phoning the school.

The Kidman Kafé now offers an online ordering service through the free smartphone or tablet App, Qkr!™. Search for Kapunda High School and register. Orders may also be made using your PC/laptop at Kidman Kafé Qkr!™ Follow the prompts to set up an account, then begin ordering your recess and lunch online!

The advantages of ordering online are:

• Fast, convenient payments from a secure mobile app, anywhere and any time.
• Lunch orders can be copied from one week to the next to save time.
• Payments direct from credit or debit card. 
• Transaction tracking is easy with online receipts.

Qkr!™ orders may be made in the morning before 9:00am (when orders for the day close) or evening before - even a week in advance, as a two week menu will be listed. Daily and weekly specials will vary each week. Receipts are available online or be sent to you by email.

Order cancellations can be made easily, provided this occurs prior to 9:00am for that particular day's order. Use the search facility to locate and cancel the order. A credit for the transaction will appear and be available for future orders.

For those who don't have a mobile device or online access, cash and EFT sales will still be available. These orders must also be made before 9:00am.

As there is limited stock available, particularly specials, hot foods, sandwiches and salads, for 'over the counter' sales  - avoid disappointment and order beforehand. 

Our canteen will cater for special dietry requirements and Qkr!™ shows various dietary options such as gluten free.

Contact Sam Barclay, Canteen Manager on 8566 2203 for further information.

Spring has arrived and as the weather warms up, personal hygiene becomes increasingly important.

The use of spray deodorants in our school environment poses a significant danger to people who have asthma and other allergies. Sometimes we under-estimate the impact that they can have on the health and wellbeing of others.

Strong smelling colognes and perfumes can also trigger a similar response, particularly when applied in confined places such as classrooms and hallways.

Spraying them in rooms or the vicinity of others is very dangerous as across Australia, on average, one person dies each day as a consequence of asthma.