KHS Students, Principal David Marino and Anne Hornsey attend the Kapunda ANZAC day dawn service

Welcome to the first edition of our School Newsletter for Term 2, 2023.

Over the latter part of Term 1 and start of Term 2, our students have engaged in a wide range of learning opportunities and experiences. This has included School Holiday tuition sessions where students have sought extra support across a variety of senior school subjects, as well as preparations for this year’s School Musical.    

ANZAC Day Dawn Service 2023

On Tuesday 25th April, Kapunda High School students and staff attended a range of local ANZAC Day commemoration services in our region to pay our respects and tribute. This included SRC and Prefects representing our school and participating in services at Kapunda, Wasleys and Freeling.

I was also honoured to be invited by the Kapunda RSL to speak at the Kapunda Dawn Service and share reflections on what ANZAC Day means to us as a school.

Well done to all students on proudly representing our school, paying respect and honouring the sacrifices of our ANZACs and service people.  

 Assessment Deadlines – High Expectations

Over Term 1 we undertook a review and update of our approach to Assessment Deadlines across the school. I’m pleased to share that the updated Assessment Deadlines Procedure has now been published on our school website and also emailed to families.  

Our intent is to continue building on our school tradition and culture of High Achievement.

The review involved input across a number of key groups at our school, including:

• Student input in a range of forums
• Parent/caregiver input through Governing Council
• Staff input review process

The new procedure makes expectations clear, equitable and outlines how students can responsibly navigate timelines if they need further help. There is also greater flexibility in the evidence of learning that students can put forward and teachers can accept. Please work with your children’s subject teacher in the first instance for support or clarification around subject deadlines.

In addition to the updated Assessment Deadlines Procedures, we have increased our communication home to families around Deadlines for each subject, being sent out during the first week of each term for every class. We look forward to continuing the strong partnership with parents and caregivers for the learning, growth and achievement of your children.     

School Mobile Phones

Our School Mobile Phone policy is working very well and improving the schooling experience for students. I’d like to acknowledge the great work of our students, parents/caregivers, staff and school community in supporting the intent of our updated Mobile Phone policy, which is aligned to the state-wide restriction on mobile phones in schools. 

We are finding as a result of the updated policy:

• Focus and attention on learning in class is generally improving
• Students are socialising more with peers and staff
• Mobile Phone and Cyber-bullying related behaviour incidents have sharply declined

Please remember to contact our Student Services Team on 08 8566 2203 ext. 2 if you need to contact your children during the school day.

Curriculum Offerings

Our school has a long, rich and successful tradition of innovation and providing world-class learning opportunities for our students. We are continuing to expand and innovate on our Curriculum offerings and I’m pleased to share our progress on a number of initiatives.

Heritage & Artisan Trades Program

We are in the process of signing an agreement with a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) for our upcoming Heritage Trades Program. We’ve had a number of meetings on-site and are developing a plan with great opportunities for students to learn on-site at school as well as visit significant sites in SA. We will be starting the program in Term 3 this year with an Immersion course for current Year 10 students.  

This is an exciting opportunity for our students to do something truly unique and innovative. The skills they learn and qualifications they obtain will also be of high value in the general Construction industry.

William Lakes by Villawood Industry Partnership

We have partnered with the William Lakes Lifestyle development by Villawood, to provide a wide range of learning and career opportunities for our students.

On Friday 5th May, Mr Keep organised with Ben and Mark from Villawood to visit our school and facilitate a workshop about the many learning opportunities and career pathways involved with starting a new town. This includes a wide range of career opportunities such as:

• Mathematics: surveying, estimating, costings, planning
• Trades such as: plumbing, electricians, carpentry, telecommunications, building infrastructure and services
• Business: marketing, sales, real estate, business opportunities
• Legal: conveyances, zoning, planning; and many more.

 We are also planning for classes to visit William Lakes, take part in tours at different stages of the development and be involved in projects on-site. Further information to come around this as our partnership grows and student opportunities unfold.  

School Agricultural Programs

We are expanding on our engaging School Agricultural programs in 2023. This includes a range of new initiatives or “AgVentures” from Mrs Bromley and the team such as a Flow Hive for honey production. We are also expanding on our farming focus which currently includes meat production and we are exploring some cropping ventures.

We recently purchased a new School Tractor, which will be instrumental in expanding our AgVentures and authentic learning opportunities for our students.

Thank you to Steve from Vater Machinery for your help with our new agriculture equipment!

Watch this space as the project grows…

Re-making Eringa: Community Exhibit

Re-making Eringa: first display cabinet in Front Office

We have started a school-wide project named ‘Re-making Eringa’, which is an opportunity for students to collect, preserve, recount and share this period of our school’s history for future generations. The project aims to gather items of historical significance, including memorabilia relating to Kapunda High School and also Eringa before, during and after the tragic fire.

Most importantly there are learning opportunities for students to contribute to the exhibit, produce items and curate works.

One example is a senior school student in Art has created a photographic essay as an assessment piece and contributed it to the exhibit.   

The exhibit will be curated and eventually installed in the basement of Eringa, when restoration of the building is completed.

Students will then have the opportunity to run a ‘Student Tourism Enterprise’ around the exhibit – as well as tours of a number of Heritage Buildings across our school, which students will also be restoring over the coming years.

This will tell the story about how our community rallied together and worked together to overcome all challenges from the fire – just like Sir Sidney and Lady Kidman did before us.  

If you have any school memorabilia that you would like to contribute, please contact Keeley in the Front Office on (08) 8566 2203 ext. 0 or email  dl.0779.info@schools.sa.edu.au 

School Open Day May 7

Students Patrick, Freya and Lachlan welcomed guests on Open Day with a musical performance

Our recent School Open day was a great opportunity to meet families, prospective students and share the amazing learning that takes place at Kapunda High School.

The day featured a strong focus on student involvement and student leadership with:

• Our Head Prefects delivering a welcome speech to families and sharing their schooling experience at Kapunda High School.
• Our Music students provided a musical showpiece to welcome guests.
• Our SRC and Prefects along with staff provided directions, guidance and support for visitors touring the school.

I’d like to acknowledge and congratulate our SRC and Student Prefects on their outstanding work throughout the day. Also thank you to our dedicated staff for preparing engaging activities and displays for our community. I look forward to further opportunities to engage with our parent/caregiver community in the near future.

Contact Details – Let’s keep in contact

If you have recently changed any contact details including: email address, contact numbers or postal/residential address, please ensure you let our Student Services Team know so we can keep in contact with you.  

I look forward to working in partnership with you to ensure our students learn, grow and thrive. If you have any questions around your child/ren’s schooling, please contact our school via phone call (08) 8566 2203 or email: dl.0779.info@schools.sa.edu.au

I look forward to upcoming opportunities to connect with you and sharing our student’s successes and achievements.

David Marino

Principal

Public Holiday Monday 12th June (Week 7)

Pupil Free Day Tuesday 13th June (Week 7)

The materials and services charges for 2023 are $470.00, less the $100 government rebate = $370.  This is used for the purchase of loan text books, equipment and materials used in the delivery of the curriculum.  A basic stationery issue is supplied (which is GST Free) which includes an ID card and monthly printing and internet allocation. 

In the first week of term, the SRC held an assembly in honor of ANZAC day. They spoke about why we celebrate ANZAC day, conducted a quiz, and student Sam played the Last Post on a 100 year old bugle. 

During the last week of Term 1, staff were treated to a complimentary coffee to celebrate the opening of the Kappy Brew Café. Kappy Brew is a student enterprise café that gives students opportunities to learn barista skills. 

This training café has been able to happen due to the guidance and dedication of Ms Fethers and Mr Earle.

On Sunday 7th May, KHS held our annual Open Day. Staff and students worked hard throughout the week to prepare for the day and this was evident. There were many excellent curriculum displays for subject areas such as Tech Studies, Maths, English, Drama, Home Ec/Textiles, Ag, HASS and many more. 

Students in the year 7 textiles class making bibs.

The Year 11 and 12 Art and Design students went to the SACE Art Show at Light Square Gallery to view a selection of Year 12 art and design works from 2022, as well as the Art Gallery of South Australia to view the Andy Warhol exhibition and permanent collections. It was a positive day with a lot of students finding inspiration for their future art and design projects for the year.

“The idea is not to live forever, but to create something that will.” Andy Warhol

 This is what the students had to say of the day:

 “We all enjoyed the day very much and got lots of inspiration. All of the pieces we viewed looked really unique and inspiring!”

Abbey Marshall

“The string artwork by Chiharu Shiota was very inspiring as well as the upside-down tree installation by Hossein Valamanesh, this artwork made me want to draw an upside-down world.”

Amber Golding

“The whole day was fantastic! We all had a great time and got inspired by the SACE artworks and Warhol exhibit. My favourite thing about today was seeing all the creativity that comes with creating art pieces. It was such a fun day.”

“Seeing the Marilyn Monroe artwork was definitely a highlight for us all!”

Amber Preece

“The SACE Art Show was inspirational, I loved seeing other people’s ideas and reading why they did it and what it means to them.”

Sam Leak

“It was so amazing to see so many talented artworks all in one place. I feel inspired to test my abilities much like the wonderful artists that had the courage and creativity to express themselves.”

Phoenix Frahm

Jennifer Ahrens

Art Teacher

Volunteers play a vital role in our school canteen 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). Kaye Clancy 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.Call the school and ask to speak either to Kaye, or Sam in the canteen if you'd like to learn more about the kind of help our canteen requires.

If you're keen to begin, please contact Kaye on (08) 8566 2203 ext. 3.

Students from Year 12 Ag meeting the new chickens for the first time

Last week 110 new meatbird chickens arrived at KHS. The meat chickens are grown each term. They take only 8 weeks from paddock to plate. They are sold to the public for $5.50 per kilogram – most averaging around $14. Anyone can place an order – just need to either daymap or email Karen Bromley.

The boer goats are kindly donated by Kapunda Chevon, who have supported KHS for more than 10 years. These goats will be trained by students, during their lunch times, to be ready for the Adelaide Show LED wether goat competition.

Karen Bromley

Agriculture Teacher

Kapunda High is very fortunate that we have access to a Japanese exchange teacher in 2023. Miki Shimizu will be with us from Term 2 until the end of Term 3. Miki Sensei is part of our sister city teacher exchange program with Himeji city, Hyogo Japan. She is bright and bubbly and very passionate about sharing Japanese language and culture with the students at KHS. She played a great practical joke on our staff by offering them a plum flavoured octopus' snack at staff meeting which was a great challenge for many of the staff. The students have already benefited from Miki enriching our school knowledge of Childrens Day in Japan. Miki led the students through making an origami kabuto-this is a paper folder samurai helmet.

Last week, a letter was emailed home to parents regarding the Wellbeing and Engagement Collection Survey, which is taking place across Weeks 2 to 5 this term. Young people's wellbeing is an important part of how they learn at school. The survey seeks students' views about their wellbeing and their engagement with school.

Further information on the survey can be found in the email sent on Friday. Click the link below to visit the department's website to learn more.

KHS has recently acquired a brand new New Holland tractor.

This is part of a wide range of ‘AgVentures’ we are creating for student enterprise learning at our school. 

When: Friday, 26th May

Where: Resource Centre

Cost: $24.95 payable directly to Terry White Chemmart on the day (EFTPOS will be available)

Consent forms will be emailed home or can be collected from Student Services

If you require further details, please email tab.mackenzie108@schools.sa.edu.au

Tab MacKenzie

Immunisation Coordinator

As part of the 2023 Vintage Festival, Kapunda High School was fortunate enough to be invited to a book launch by Rebekah Rosenzweig. Rebekah has recently published A History of the Vintage Festival Past and Present Events. The publication provides a significant record of the history of the Vintage Festival, including firsthand accounts from community members who have been part of the festival over its history. Rebekah has kindly donated a copy to Kapunda High School which will be available to students and staff to borrow from the resource centre.

Copies of Rebekah's book can be purchased from the Tanunda Visitor Information Centre.

Tim Jones

Deputy Principal

There is currently 2x job vacancies in Mintaro, South Australia that may suit newly graduated students or any family with a farming background or interest to enter this field.

 Whilst Animal Handling is advantageous it is not crucial.

Click the links below to view the job postings:

Barossa Bands Scholarships

Freeling Disco Party

Kapunda Volunteer Ambulance Team

Kapunda Rodeo Logo Design Competition