9090
Brunel Drive Modbury Heights South Australia, 5092 Ph: (08) 8263 6244 Fax: (08) 8263 6072 Email: contact@theheights.sa.edu.au WWW: http://www.theheights.sa.edu.au
OUR SCHOOL VALUES We work hard to learn We respect ourselves and each other We value acts of generosity
IN THIS ISSUE Manga Math Student Awards Volunteers’ Week
DIARY DATES 9/5 – 20/5/11 Sister School Visitors from Penang 13/5 – NAPLaN catch-up 16/5 – Parent Club 9am 17/5 – Governing Council 7pm 18/5 – MS/SS ParentTeacher- Student Interv. 19/5 – Australian Infomatics Comp. 23/5 – Yr 10 Work Experience
YEAR 8 ED176 – APPLICATION FOR ENROLMENT IN YEAR 8 FORM needs to be returned to Michelle Crush as soon as possible please.
IGNITE TESTING 24 June 2011 9:30am The second and final round of Ignite testing will be held at The Heights School. Application forms and further information is available from Michelle Crush 8263 6244
We have much to celebrate already as term 2 begins:
• We received the news in the holidays that THS had been selected to host the Prime Minister’s Community Cabinet meeting. While this meeting is a forum for the community to meet with and ask questions of Federal leaders it also provides opportunities for our students to demonstrate their skills. Students are involved in catering, musical performances (including Olivia Brownsey singing the National Anthem at the Public Forum) and as Ministerial G uides. Students are excited about the event and are proud hosts. • Two students have been invited to attend the first national cybersafety forum as a result of the quality of their involvement in the Youth Advisory Group. • Open Night was a resounding success with a record number of families from a record number of primary schools enjoying group tours, hands on activities, demonstrations and displays throughout the school. • The new online booking system for student/teacher/parent interviews has recorded 345 appointments after only 3 days online. We trust that this system will be more convenient for parents and result in more conversations about student learning and achievement between home and school. Meeting with every parent of every student is our aim. • This is the 10th anniversary of Volunteers’ Week. Our school will provide a morning tea on 15 June for the many parents and community members who generously support our school and students. For those who are unable to attend at this time we would like to acknowledge your support. • I was pleased to present awards to Year 10 and 11 students who achieved ‘A’ results in all their subjects in term 1. High levels of achievement, work completion and regular attendance are elements of success in life and work that we foster. • Four of our teachers have been nominated for a SA Public Teaching Award. These activities and events create rich, vibrant learning experiences within and beyond the school, opportunities for success and high levels of achievement, and a culture that values contributions and partnerships with the community – a powerful environment for learning Helen Calvert, Principal
NEWSLETTER No. 5 12 May 2011
IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR PARENTS Due to security requirements for the Prime Minister’s Community Cabinet on Thursday 19th May, ALL students and parents will need to be offsite by 3:30pm to enable all gates to be locked. Out of School Hours Care will operate as normal – access to this area for students and pick up by parents will not be restricted. The Uniform Shop will be closed at 3:00pm. Staff will need to relocate their cars when the staff car park closes at 12:00pm. Parking for parents will be impacted. It is suggested that parents use the ‘Pick Up and Drop’ Zone to avoid parking delays and congestion before and after school.
Student Parent Teacher Interviews Yr 6-12 To co-ordinate this year’s interviews we have employed an online booking system to assist parents in securing their preferred interview times. The procedure is as follows: • If you wish to see any of your child’s teachers, you need to secure an appointment time using this system. • If you do not have access to the internet the alternative method is to call the school directly on 82636244 and we will make the bookings for you.
• In your web browser type in this address:
http://www.sobs.com.au/pt /parent.php?schoolid=438 or use The Heights School website. The link to the online booking system is on the home page. We are hoping that these changes will make booking an appointment more convenient and that queuing times can be reduced for informal appointments.
Manga Math The Heights has been selected to trial an on-line math program developed in the UK. We were keen to try new programs after examining several online math options. Middle school students began trialing Manga High in term 1. Almost immediately students were eagerly logging on and increasing the amount of work output both in school and at home. Having seen other positive outcomes in student learning, we decided to sign up for a twelve month period. Manga is a highly stylized comic/cartoon art form popular with many students. Manga High is a series of online teaching resources based upon the comic animation style. Students are introduced to exercises and tasks that range from simple addition right up to complex mathematical theory with thousands of tasks in between. Once the theory is learnt, the teacher can set students various challenges in either quiz style or as a computer game trying to achieve higher scores and better times. Students must successfully complete these challenges before moving to a harder task. They receive immediate feedback, hints and worked solutions as they progress through their given tasks. Teachers can examine the effort of individual students while tracking their overall progress. Manga math enables students to compete both against their own score, and with other students and schools online, which can increase interest and make math tasks more enjoyable. The online competitions are called Fai-To (pronounced Fight-o) which lets two schools enter maths combat against one another. The students take an active part in Fai-To, voting for their next opponent as well as contributing scores during the rounds. In the first couple of weeks of term 2 we have logged nearly 1000 hours and have scored 279 Medal achievements. The Heights are sitting 4th on the National rankings (and moving up) and last term Mr Roubanis’ Yr 8 Maths Class undertook our first ever Fai-To Challenge and won! Steve Sakovits, Math Coordinator VISITS FROM AN APPRENTICESHIP BROKER Over the last month The Heights School has had three visits from an apprenticeship broker, Mr Scarman. Employed by DECS, Mr Scarman is one of a number of brokers who visit schools in their area, giving students collective and individual advice. Mr Scarman has addressed all year 10s, 11s and 12s explaining their post secondary options, especially related to a future working in a traditional trade or other areas where traineeships are supported by formal training at TAFE. Mr Scarman talked about apprenticeships; both full time and school based, and traineeships and how participation enhanced students’ chances of achieving the SACE. He also talked about responsibilities of participants and expectations of bosses. Mr Scarman has also scheduled one morning per month scheduled to work one-to-one with our students. If you would like your son/daughter to have such a session, please encourage them to make an appointment through Mr Surikov.
YOUTH ADVISORY GROUP ON CYBERSAFETY The Heights School is one of only six South Australian Schools involved in the Youth Advisory Group (YAG). The YAG provides students with a direct line of communication to the Federal Government on issues such as cyber bullying, mobile phone safety and social networking sites. Fifteen students from The Heights have been involved in providing advice on cyber issues faced by their peers and I am pleased to announce that Kaitlin Withers (807) and Nikita Mickan (906) have been selected to represent The Heights at the YAG Summit in Canberra on May 30th. I have also been invited to attend and will be involved in providing advice to the teacher and parent advisory groups. Rob Perkins, Middle School Senior Leader Kaitlin Withers
Nikita Mickan
Congratulations to 807 debaters (Nikil Kathiravan, Buvanesh Ravichandran and Kaitlin Withers) who in their first debate, drew with Christian Brothers College. Thank you to Ms Cichinski for her help with the Team.
Teacher Professional Learning Program Pupil Free Day 2nd May The program focused on professional learning teams as the most effective structure to achieve significant and sustained improvement. Faculty and cluster teams analysed data – Running Records, reading diagnosis tests, NAPLaN results and term 1 report results - to determine action for improvement. Teachers deepened their knowledge of literacy practices in sessions focused on explicit teaching of persuasive genre (the form of writing being tested in the NAPLaN writing component), questioning and subject specific reading comprehension skills The purpose of working together in professional learning teams is when teachers return to their classrooms they will possess and utilise an expanded repertoire of skills, strategies, materials, assessments, and ideas in order to impact student achievement in a positive way. Pupil free days and early closure on Monday enable teams of teachers to work together regularly to have this impact. Monday 2.45-3.30pm Week 2: Teachers met in Sub School teams for training in the new online Student/Parent/Teacher interview booking system, attendance improvement, Relationships and Sexual Health pastoral care programs, behaviour management
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT (In our next newsletter we will publish a Perfect Attendance List for the Middle School for Term 1)
Congratulations to these Senior School students who received Academic Excellence Awards, presented to those students who gained only A’s or B’s on their term report. Year 12 Athena Dawe, Jess Alfredsson, Ben Geytenbeek, William Bennett, Victoria Paterson, Marc Farmer, Alexander Sturm, Demi Lardner, Adam Vause, Sasha Pushkarov. Year 11 Tu Luu & Tuc Nguyen (Principal’s Award - A’s in all subjects) Bradley Kinne, Marie Angeles, Maddie Neville Year 10 Nathan Bell & Jason Oria (Principal’s Award – A’s in all subjects) Taylor Jachman-Evans, Nhi Hin, Ishtar Dawe, Erren Klarich, Jessica Middleton, Grace Lee, Kirsty van der Veer, Toogmin Park, Annie Chan, Nicole Loveridge, Shannen Koteck, Caitlin Sakovits, Rhys Katsoulis, Zac Curl, Henry Stradling, Stephanie Field, Aimee O’Range, Matthew Fraser, Matthew Gerlach, Alex Higgins, Salah Sobhi, Rhiann Baxter-Domanski, Dylan Boller, Aidan Hall, Patrick James-Barker, Abuzar Zainudin
Congratulations to these Middle School students who received Academic Achievement Awards Year 9 Riley Mullen, Jeremy Nieass, Adelena Sanders, Margarette Navaja, Bianca Watkins, Corey Wells, Haley Ruf, Beverly Kabaya, Mikaela O’Connor, Emily Hill, Jessica Baldock, Jack Stephens, Adam Sims Year 8 Chelsea Shirlock, Antonella Italiano, Con Mavrokefalos, Jasmin Tanton, Ashleigh Baannister, Genny Bond Bhuvanesh Ravichandran, Amy Shirlock, Bianca Schmitz, Chandler Saing, Nikil Kathiravan, Olivia Chong, Irenius Ling, Julia Riches, Hannah Best, Alex Tran, Jessica Curl, Hao Lam, Liam Stephens, Kynan Herbert, Chelse Bentley, Taryn Weise, Jason Nikkomvan, Tim Geytenbeek, Ryan Barraclough, Kirralee Bates, Ashleigh Jones, Zoe Hodgetts, Malik Sabateen Year 7 Nikki Curl, Alex Daniel, Alison Kobzeff, Ashleigh Williams, David Hin, Amber Bates, Courtney Spence, Lauren Chong, Sarah Alfredsson, Caleb Bond, Tiffany Stevens, Joshua Lake, Matt Rothery, Alyshia Squires, Shantell hall, Zoe Nash, Matilda Comley, Seamus McIlduff, Steven Dowding, Benjamin Parry, David Sakovits, Paul Blyth
Middle School Home Group Awards Year 9 Year 8 Year 7 -
Matthew Shinkfield, Cullen Garrick, Henry Beggs, Brandon Wingard, Braden Cranwell, Tylor Johnston-Austin, Joel Orn, Dale Latham, Leah Ryan, William Hassell. Meedo El Hamra, Krystal Hart, Zac Franceschilli, Caleb Papp, Hao Lam, Andy Park, Smitri Singh Matt Maunder, Daryl Pullen
Middle School Outstanding Academic Achievement Year 9 Year 8 Year 7 -
Dylan Storti, Gemma Street Emily Green, Caitlin Kramer, Anne Hatchard, Hayley Willey, Smitri Singh, Andy Park, Olivia McNamara, Kaitlin Withers, Shannon Chamberlain Tayla Quinn
Parenting Children with Eczema
ARE YOU CHALLENGED BY YOUR CHILD’S ECZEMA? The University of Queensland is conducting research into parenting children with eczema. Parenting a child with eczema presents many challenges (everything from the daily application of creams and avoiding eczema triggers, to more general parenting tasks). The aim of this study is to understand the factors that make the management of childhood eczema particularly difficult, and to use this information to develop strategies that might assist parents in managing their child’s eczema. If you are a parent of a 3 to 10-year-old child with eczema, we would love to hear from you. To complete the online survey, please log on to: http://exp.psy.uq.edu.au/eczema For further information about the project please email: Katie.sillar@uqconnect.edu.au or phone Amy Mitchell (07 3365 7305).
Congratulations to Jordan O’Doherty (806) who after three months of trials, has been selected as part of the Under 14 State Squad for Soccer. About 25 boys have been selected; they train and play together until September and then 16 boys will be selected as the final team to represent the State in a tournament to be held in Coffs Harbour in October. TRAINING HAS STARTED AT SALISBURY AMATEUR ATHLETICS CLUB Training is available through the winter every week night th 6:00 – 8:30pm beginning 19 April 2011. Rundle Park, Rundle Road, Salisbury South, just north of Parafield Airport Ring Warren on 0422 893 784 A Heights School and Home Wall Planner 2011-2012 will be sent home this week with students. Rob Perkins
THANK YOU to all families who have fully paid or started making payments toward the 2011 Materials & Services Charges. Unpaid 2011 Materials & Services Charges are now overdue. If you believe you are eligible for School Card, please pick up an application form from our Finance Office or if more convenient phone our Finance Office for a form to be posted or given to your child to bring home. If you were ineligible for School Card or require assistance with these fees, please see our helpful Finance Staff as soon as possible to set up a payment plan. Payment on any outstanding school fees can be made by dropping by our Finance Office which is open between 8:30am and 3:30pm Monday to Friday. Payments can be made by cash, credit card, EFTPOS or cheque. Alternatively, you can visit our school website and pay online via our Bizgate system. The prompt payment of Materials & Services Charges ensures your child receives the best possible resources to increase their educational outcomes. We strive to provide quality resources to be readily available for students to achieve high levels of achievement.
AFTER SCHOOL SPORTS RESULTS Baseball 9th April: Heights BYE Teeball 2nd April – Heights 21 lost to Ardtornish Red 28 9th April – Heights 16 lost to Ardtornish Blue 20 Stephanie Attenborough is holding a School Quiz Night on th Friday 27 of May in the Drama Space at 7pm. Proceeds of the night will go to The Smith Family and a donation to the school. Cost of admission is $5 each person (tables of 10). There will be raffles, door prizes and games throughout the evening. BYO food and drink. Contact Stephanie in the Year 12 Common Room at recess and lunch or leave your details at the Front Office. Tables need to be booked ahead of time. This event is part of Stephanie’s Yr 12 Research Project.
POLICE VISIT (A story from Ms Meatheringham/Mrs Rothery’s class) Today we had a policeman and a detective visit our class. They talked about police work and they showed their hats, guns and sprays and clothes. They had a bulletproof vest, handcuffs and their car and we sat in it. We put on the clothes and they left three surprises for us. It was a hat, a bookmark and a drink bottle. I had the best time of my life. Dylan
ATTENTION VOLUNTEERS! Volunteering SA&NT are running a free entry ‘THANKS TO VOLUNTEERS’ Competition for volunteers up to and during National Volunteer Week 9-15 May 2011. Over $3,500 worth of prizes to be won – some of the FANTASTIC prizes include: • Fujifilm Real 3D Digital Camera • Short accommodation getaways • Drinks and nibbles for 10 people beside a pool • Wine & spirits • Movie tickets • Breakfast & lunch vouchers • Gift packs • Entry tickets to the zoo and The Royal Adelaide Show • Personalised stationery • Magazine subscription • AND MORE….. If you are a volunteer and you volunteer at least once a month you are eligible to enter. You will be able to enter online at www.volunteeringsa.org.au or can download the entry form to complete and return it to Volunteering SA&NT. Hard copy entry forms will also be available from VSA&NT office.
SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE The South Australian Dental Service provides a range of dental services for children at clinics throughout Adelaide and all major country regional centres. Dental care is provided by dental teams comprising of Dentists, Dental Therapists and Dental Assistants. All preschool, primary and secondary students aged under 18 years, are eligible for care with the School Dental Service. Fees and conditions apply. From 1 July 2009 there were some changes to School Dental Service fees.
• • • •
•
All School Dental Service care is free for preschool children (general and emergency) Children who are dependents of/holders of Centrelink Concession Cards, Veterans Affairs Pension Concession Cards or School Cards are eligible to receive free dental care (general and emergency) For primary and secondary school children who are not dependents of/holders of the above concession, a fee will apply for each course of general dental care provided Students with a Commonwealth Government Teen Dental Voucher are welcome to use it at the School Dental Service. If presented at a School Dental Clinic, it will entitle them to a full course of dental treatment including preventive care and any treatment if required Dental emergencies treated at a School Dental Clinic between check ups will be covered by the fee paid at your child’s most recent check up.
For information about appointments and fees, contact your local School Dental Clinic at Modbury. Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on 8263 4526 – 8:30am to 4:15pm. Parents of children with special physical or intellectual needs should contact their local School Dental Clinic to discuss their child’s needs. In case of a dental emergency contact your local clinic to arrange an appointment. For after hours emergency advice phone 8232 2651 (children only).
CAREER EXPO The Automotive industry in Adelaide, through the MTA, is very pro-active at the moment in wanting to encourage students into the industry. To this end, they are holding an AUTO CAREER EXPO at 3 Frederick Road, Royal Park. Bookings are essential as there will be hourly tours of the training facility starting at 10am, Friday May 20th. For more information or to make a booking for you and your child, please phone 8241 0522 or email expo@mtagts.asn.au For any further information contact Tim Buckley on 8241 0522. We feel that year 10 or year 11 students considering automotive would, in the first instance benefit most. However serious year 9 students could also attend. Nick Surikov