Since our last newsletter, our Year 7 and 9 students have undertaken NAPLAN testing and I would like to congratulate our students who sat these tests and completed them to the best of their abilities.  I would also like to acknowledge the work of our Middle School Assistant Principal, Lucy Thiel, for her coordination of the tests, which requires a great deal of forward planning and problem solving on the day when things don’t go quite as planned and the teachers who supervised the tests.  Results will be released later in the year and we will send them home to families once we receive them.

Staffing

Jerry Elder has resigned his position as English/HASS teacher and, after much searching, we are very pleased to announce that we have been able to secure Mrs Jacqui Schulz (Monday, Tuesday and Friday) and Mrs Brooke Wheeldon (Wednesday, Thursday) to replace him until the end of Term 2.  Since Mr Elder left, his classes have had relief teachers and we acknowledge how unsettling this has been for these classes.  We are putting strategies in place and are working with these classes to get some consistency for them.

Energy Drinks

We have noticed the number of students who are bringing energy drinks to school is increasing, which is an extremely concerning trend causing great concern for the health of our young people.  Energy drinks provide a potent source of caffeine and can contain high levels of sugar, sodium and herbal stimulants.  Telethon Kids Institute researchers have found more than half of young people who consumed energy drinks suffered negative health effects including heart palpitations, insomnia, headaches, agitation, dizziness and stomach upsets.  Common brands include Mother, Monster Energy, Red Bull and V.  From the beginning of next term, energy drinks are banned in the school.  Students are able to drink water only in classrooms and energy drinks are not to be consumed on the school grounds at all.   If students bring them to school staff will confiscate them and discard the contents of an open container or, students can have a closed container returned to them at the end of the school day.  Refusal to follow this reasonable instruction to give the drink to a staff member, will result in our Behaviour Support Policy being followed.

Site Improvement Plan (SIP)

We are in the second year of our three year SIP cycle and, after much discussion and analysis of data by the staff, we have decided to remain with a focus on writing and numeracy.  Our new three year SIP has been developed by Hannah Hoepner (English/Literacy Coordinator) in collaboration with former Coordinator Josh La Grutta and Amber Buick (Mathematics/Numeracy Coordinator) and me, with input from staff and our Local Education Team.  Our two goals are:

Goal 1 - Increase student achievement in NAPLAN writing.

Goal 2 - Increase student SEA achievement in numeracy.

If you are interested in further information or specifics about our improvement work, there is a summary document available on our website or you can contact Hannah, Amber or me if you would like more detailed information.

Reports

At Balaklava High School, we provide grades only and no written comments for students in Years 7-11 with more relevant and real time feedback being provided to students and parents through each individual assessment on DayMap.  This is in place of comments in reports, which can provide limited time for students to act on the feedback and make improvements, whereas ongoing feedback allows time for change.  Year 12s have full written reports for Terms 1-3, with their SACE results acting as the report in Term 4.  As always, we will publish student reports on DayMap for students and parents to access on the last day of term.  There are instructions in this newsletter on how to access your child’s report if you have not done so in the past.  Please contact us at school if you are not currently on DayMap so you can access these documents or if you’d like to request a printed copy of your child’s report.

School Closure Day

The Paskeville Field Days are on this year, in Week 10 of Term 3, and we traditionally have a school closure day to support our students to attend these days with their families.  Last week our Governing Council approved a School Closure Day for the Field Days on Wednesday 27^th September.  A reminder that we have already confirmed two Student Free Days for Tuesday 13th June (Week 7, Term 2 after the June long weekend) and Monday 24th July (Week 1, Term 3 first day of term).  We still have two student free days to allocate, which we will try to align with our feeder schools if possible and we will let you know dates as soon as we are able to.

I wish you all an enjoyable, relaxing and safe break both over Easter and again when we get to school holidays the following week.  As always, I invite parents to contact me at the school with any issues or concerns or if you would like to discuss any aspect of your child’s learning.  I can be contacted via DayMap or email Sonia.Pringle235@schools.sa.edu.au or you can phone the school on 8862 0600 to speak to me directly or to make a time to come and see me.

Sonia Pringle

Principal