Dear families and the wider community,

Welcome to Term 4 at Kapunda High School.

Acknowledgement

Firstly we acknowledge some very sad news that a young person in Year 7 passed away at home on Thursday 19th October. Our thoughts, sympathy and support are with the family and friends of the young person at this time.

We understand that this news may be unexpected and upsetting and we will continue to provide Wellbeing support for students at school. A letter was sent to all school families earlier this week, along with some documents regarding Wellbeing support.

Term 3

We finished Term 3 with 101 individual student Personal Best awards, for Excellent effort in ‘All Subjects’ and ‘Most Subjects’.

This represents a steady increase in the number of students achieving their personal best across each term, over Terms 1, 2 and 3 this year. Well done to all students on your achievements.

Term 3 also saw higher achievement in A & B grades, with for the following cohorts showing growth on Term 2 grades:

• Year 7s
• Year 8s
• Year 9s
• Year 12s

Again, well done to all students on your individual commitment to growth and success. Let’s keep up the efforts over this term to finish the year with your best personal achievement.

Curriculum

Families recently received communication from our school that Term 4 Subject Assessment Deadlines are now available to access via DayMap. Working in partnership with students, families and staff this is an initiative that we do at the start of each term, to work in partnership and help students achieve their best. 

At the end of Term 3, I was pleased to award the first “Re-Making Eringa: Principal’s Award” to Year 8 student Addison. This award has been created to provide learning opportunities for students to think creatively, contribute to the school re-build effort and also to provide works for our community to look back on in the future.

Addison undertook a project to document the early stages of the clean-up and re-build of Eringa. This has involved using a 360 degree camera to take a series of photos and create a Virtual Tour where you can ‘walk through’ the building. The Virtual Tour will be showcased for our community in the near-future.       

Entrepreneurial Education

Our school is heading in an exciting direction with lots of learning opportunities for students. Some of these include:

• School Agricultural programs – innovative programs,      
• Kappy Brew Café – a student enterprise café, with Barista training and also entrepreneurial business thinking.
• School Trades programs – including Doorways 2 Construction and our new Heritage Trades program.
• Re-Making Eringa initiative: a future school community exhibition – where student works will be displayed about our school re-build, for years to come.

 

Additionally we are working in exclusive partnership with the William Lakes Lifestyle Development by Villawood, to grow student opportunities and career awareness in town planning, infrastructure, housing trades and much more. Stay tuned for more work in this space.

Japanese Delegation Visit

In Week 1 we received a visit from His Excellency Mr Ryuta Ibaragi, Governor of Okayama Prefecture Japan and Delegates.   

This visit occurred in the context of the 30 year Sister – State relationship between South Australia and Okayama.   

The delegation discussed bi-lateral cooperation initiatives for education, as well as toured our school facilities and visited Ms Sarah Holty’s Japanese Class. The Delegates were very glad to visit our school, meet students and staff and also participate in a Japanese class. 

An acknowledgement to all of our staff and also students who contributed to the visit, showcased our school proudly and also made it a memorable success.

Also in attendance and participation in the visit were Education Director Ms Tanya Oshinsky (Gawler 1 portfolio), Mr David Pitt (Principal Kapunda Primary School) and representatives from International Education Services (Department for Education) and representatives from the Department of Premier and Cabinet. 

School Rugby Jumper

Our Student Rugby Jumper has now progressed to the pre-order stage. Please ensure that you take the opportunity to pre-order, with dates listed in the advert above.

This is a great outcome for students, who have been part of the consultation and design process to add this as an extra item to our School Uniform. A reminder that the School Rugby Jumper is an additional optional, approved-school uniform item which families can choose to purchase. It does not replace any other existing jumpers or uniform options. Thank you also to our School Governing Council for their contributions and involvement throughout the consultation process.        

Governing Council

A reminder that we have an upcoming Governing Council meeting next week on Tuesday 31st of October. This is the second to last meeting for the school year. There is an opportunity for our school community to join for the Material & Services charge 2024 discussion item. 

Year 12s – Good Luck and All the Best

A final good luck and all the best to our Year 12 students, who officially finish their subjects this week on Friday 27th October.

This cohort of Year 12s have certainly had their fair share of challenge, including the interruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic and the School Fire in 2022.

With great challenge, also comes great growth and so these interruptions have caused you to be adaptable, develop resilience and perseverance which will stand you in good stead for your future and life beyond school.  

We acknowledge all of the work staff have done to support you over your journey along with your parents and caregivers.  

It has been a pleasure to work with you for your final two years of schooling.

As we move into final assessments and exams, remember to make every moment count.

All the best for your final assessments, exams and final school holidays when they arrive. I’m sure you’ll go on to be great ambassadors and graduates from Kapunda High School.

David Marino

Principal

KHS Rugby Top Order Cut Off Monday 6th November (Week 4)

Pupil Free Day Monday, 4th December (Week 8)

Devon Uniform Try On Afternoon Monday, 4th December (Week 8)

Last Day of Term 4 Friday, 15th December (Week 9)

The KHS Rugby Top is now available to order. There are sample sizes for students to try on now in reception. Order closes midnight Monday November 6th. 

Order at the link below:

On Thursday, 28th September the year 12 cohort celebrated their formal at Gomersal Wines.

Year 12 student Kaz Rogers has been awarded a Concordis Scholarship towards their future study of a Bachelor of Music Theatre at Flinders University. 

Kaz will receive the following:

• Provide $750 towards the cost of travel in 2024.
• Provide $750 towards study-related costs such as study books, and resources.
• Provide $1,500 towards course fees for the Course of Study upon proof of continued enrolment in 2025.

Congratulations Kaz, a bright future lies ahead!

Recently, KHS received a State Visit from His Excellency Mr Ryuta Ibaragi, Governor of Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The visit was to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the sister state relationship between South Australia and Okayama. 

Students Tali and Tegan led an Acknowledgment of Country. The delegation had a tour of facilities and visited a Japanese class.

On days of forecast catastrophic fire danger rating for the Mid-North district:

Kapunda High School will remain open.

All school bus routes travelling to Kapunda High School will be cancelled.

Parents/caregivers of students who travel on school buses will be contacted via an SMS message to their mobile phone or a direct call to their landline (where a mobile has not been given to the school).  This will generally occur the night before.

Kapunda High School will additionally ‘broadcast’ using Facebook and the website www.kapundahs.sa.edu.au to remind families of bushfire procedures.

If a bushfire is reported in the area during the day:

Affected bus runs will not leave the school until the roads are declared safe by emergency services authorities.

Parents/caregivers will be notified and students will be supervised at school until buses can run, or until parents/caregivers are able to collect their children.

If during a bus run, the bus driver sights a bushfire and there is concern that it may affect the routes ahead, then the bus driver:

Has the authority to abandon the bus run and return to school, or

If safer to do so, drive to one of the pre-planned emergency areas (or CFS safer places) and activate the emergency bus procedure.

To support student safety, parents/caregivers are requested to:

Ensure that Kapunda High School is informed of any changes to phone numbers.

Follow weather announcements through the media.

Ensure that they do not put themselves at risk when coming to collect students from school.

 The Year 11 Legal Studies class had the opportunity to visit the Adelaide Magistrate and District Court on Tuesday, October 17th. It was a beautiful day for a train ride from Gawler to the city and we were very blessed with the weather the whole day. 

After departing Gawler at 7:50am we managed to be at the Adelaide District Court by 9:30am, after some careful consideration of appropriate cases we were able to view a Causing Death by Dangerous Driving. This was the sad case of a 65-year-old lady who has hit and killed at a pedestrian crossing. We saw expert witness testimony from the Department of Infrastructure and Transport on traffic light timing, while not the most exhilarating court experience it was instructive that we were able to see the prosecutor establishing the facts of the case. This case was before Judge Fuller in the District Court.

After the District Court case was adjourned to locate the next witness then we made our way to the Adelaide Magistrates Court. We were able to see a case where the defendant pled guilty to driving under the influence of drugs, giving false identity and having children under 16 in the vehicle. This was very instructive for the class as we could see Magistrate Justin Wickens (Adelaide Criminal) determine a sentence based on the submission of the lawyer and the magistrate's interpretation of the facts. The other case of note we witnessed was the tragic circumstances of a homeless man with mental health issues who had misused the triple 000 number to seek help. Magistrate Wickens, the legal aid lawyer and the police prosecutor worked together for a judgement for the defendant that was based on human rights and social justice. 

Our experience in the Adelaide District Court and the Magistrates Court provoked high quality reflection and discussion upon our return to class. It will also be very helpful toward completing our next assessment task which is a Mock Trial in the Adelaide District Court. I am certain that this will be highly memorable experience for these students. 

Scott Durand

Legal Studies Teacher

Kapunda High School has had another eventful and successful year, with many new and exciting learning opportunities for students. We are proud of the achievements of our students and would like to acknowledge all that they have accomplished over the 2023 school year.

To do this we rely very much on the generosity of local businesses, community members, community organisations, parents and staff of Kapunda High School, to support us.  In the past we have been very pleased with the response to our invitations calling for donations to enable the whole community to be part of our school’s success. 

We now have pleasure in inviting you to make a donation towards our awards in 2023 for the amount of $30. The school recognises students in years 7-11 with awards for Academic Achievement, Student Recognition (previously Improvement), Consistency, All-rounder and School Citizenship. The top student of each year 12 subject is awarded a Subject Prize. Your contribution will go towards a $30 voucher for a selected student(s).

The prize will be awarded at our annual Presentation Ceremonies. For senior school students this will be on Monday, 11th December 2023 and middle school students will be presented awards on Tuesday 12th December 2023. Your generosity will be acknowledged as the students receive their awards, in the program and also in newsletter articles.

If you would like to take up this offer our bank details are:

BSB: 105006

Account No: 057125140

Ref: Your name/Pres Ev

Or you can call into the office and pay directly

So that we can finalise our prize list in good time, we would appreciate it if you could reply by Friday 17th November 2023.

Tab MacKenzie

Presentation Evening Coordinator

Email:Tab.MacKenzie108@schools.sa.edu.au

Phone: 8566 2203

On Friday the 20th the members of the Student representative Council attended a leadership and teamwork session at AFL MAX. While this session was designed to assist in their leadership and teamwork skills development, it was also a timely reward for all of the hard work they have undertaken throughout the year. They have been actively involved in weekly meetings, bringing new initiatives into the school, meeting with the Governing Council, developing fun activities for all students to take part in at lunch time and fundraising efforts to name a few. All members had a great time and benefitted from the time together outside of the school environment. As I move onto maternity leave, I would like to thank the SRC members for all of their hard work and commitment over the past 3 years I have been a mentor and I wish them all the best in the future.

Tash Koritsa

SRC Mentor and HASS Coordinator

All families were emailed the below on 19th September.

The Kapunda High School Governing Council is recommending that Materials and Services charges for 2024 be $480.00 - this has slightly increased from 2023 by $10 due to the cost of supplies increasing. Attached is a copy of the watermarked schedules for M&S and Subject fees. We have not charged any subject fees for year 7s due to all subjects being compulsory and have kept all others to a minimum.

All members of the school parent community are invited to attend the next Governing Council meeting on Tuesday 31st October at 6.30pm at Kapunda High School Resource Centre. The charge is to be discussed at the meeting prior to final approval being sought. Alternatively you can share your views on this matter by writing to the Chairperson, Mrs Sue Woods (C/O Reception of KHS).

Kapunda High School thanks the school community for your continued support.