We acknowledge that we are on the land of the First People of the Murray and Mallee.

We pay our respects to the Elders both past and present and honour the laws and customs that cross this traditional country, the ancestors who taught and still teach the knowledge that is embedded forever with the Aboriginal people today.

Year 12s

Our year 12 students finished their final exams last week and with classwork being sent off to the moderators, their year is over.  Congratulations to the students on completing their final year in difficult circumstances; your resilience and ability to meet challenges have been recognised.  All the very best for your results due out later this year!

Design and Technology teacher

Congratulations to Damian McCarthy who will join our team next year as a Design and Technology and Mathematics teacher.  Damian is currently a year 7 teacher at Wallaroo Primary School and is moving his family to Renmark for the role.  We are excited to have another qualified D&T teacher joining Matt in the workshop for next year and look forward to their work together.  Damian will be here this Wednesday for our student free day.

Remembrance day

Thank you to two of our student leaders, Aidan Prokopec and Rachel Humble, who represented our school at Remembrance Day last week.  Well done also to RHS student Desmond Chester who was in the cadet contingent who provided the catafalque party for the ceremony. 

Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states. Remembrance Day has been observed since the end of the First World War to remember armed forces members who have died in the line of duty.  In most countries, Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the end of First World War hostilities. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month", in accordance with the armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente between 5:12 and 5:20 that morning. The First World War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919. 

Remembrance Day is an opportunity to pay respect and honour those who lost their lives serving their country. It also gives us a chance to remember family and friends who lost their lives fighting in wars and for us to consider the cost of war.  

NAIDOC week - Always Was, Always Will Be

Last week was also NAIDOC Week, an event of national importance for all Australians.  A week borne from a day of protest, NAIDOC Week each year reminds us of the ongoing aspirations of our communities as they continue the movement towards justice and equality.  Importantly, NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians to come together to celebrate not only Indigenous achievement but the history, rich culture, and survival of the oldest continuing living culture on the planet.

The theme of this year’s NAIDOC week - Always Was, Always Will Be- - acknowledges that hundreds of Nations and our cultures covered this continent. All were managing the land - the biggest estate on Earth - to sustainably provide for their future.  NAIDOC Week 2020 acknowledges and celebrates that our nation’s story didn’t begin with documented European contact whether in 1770 or 1606 - with the arrival of the Dutch on the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula. The very first footprints on this continent were those belonging to First Nations peoples.

First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years. They are spiritually and culturally connected to this country. This country was criss-crossed by generations of brilliant Nations. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Australia’s first explorers, first navigators, first engineers, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, first astronomers and first artists. ​     

Australia has the world’s oldest oral stories. The First Peoples engraved the world’s first maps, made the earliest paintings of ceremony and invented unique technologies. They built and engineered structures - structures on Earth - predating well-known sites such as the Egyptian Pyramids and Stonehenge.  Their adaptation and intimate knowledge of Country enabled them to endure climate change, catastrophic droughts, and rising sea levels.  Through ingenious land management systems like fire stick farming, they transformed the harshest habitable continent into a land of bounty.   

 Student Free Day

On our student free day this week staff are working on the new language and literacy levelling, and then working on curriculum planning for year 7s who will be joining us in 2022.  Thank you to parents and caregivers that have had to make other arrangements for students to enable staff to collaborate on this important work.

Presentation Night and Prom

We recognise that it is important to celebrate the achievement of our students, so we are endeavouring to hold a presentation night and a year 12 Prom, however, with some necessary adjustments due to COVID restrictions and safety.  So far, our plan for presentation night is that two tickets will be available per year 12 student and major award recipients.  As per the letter that was posted home last week, these tickets will need to be pre booked through the Chaffey Theatre.  For Prom, any onlookers must socially distance (e.g. be 1.5m from each other).  For both events you must not attend if unwell.  Please keep alert for any communications from the school for any updates to arrangements, especially with the new community cases in Adelaide announced on the weekend.  We look forward to celebrating our students' success.

 Planning for 2021

Planning for next year is well underway. Please let the school know if you are planning on enrolling your child for the first time at RHS in 2021 (unless you are a year 7 parent who has already informed your primary school as we would already have this information), or if your child is not planning on being at RHS in 2021. This information is very important for the successful planning of classes, subject offerings, staffing and budgets.

Mr. Mat Evans - Principal

Congratulations to the students below who have been selected by their peers and will represent RHS Sport as House Captains and Vice Captains.

PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

Our year 10 photographers were recently given the task of choosing a product they would like to showcase through a range of photographs. Students discussed various aspects of product photography and its significance and importance in ever-evolving digital world we live in.  This led to exploration of various camera techniques, lighting, use of props as well as digital editing using Lightroom and Photoshop, to produce photographs that show off best features of chosen products. Enjoy some of our young photographers fantastic photos!

Mrs Atsaves, Photography Teacher

On Thursday of week 3, a group of year 9 students, Cameron D, Kelli W, Jorja K and Cooper M competed in the 2020 PIRSA Riverland Drone Challenge. Over the past term, they have been working hard to develop a remote disease detection system for the Agricultural industry. This not only involved improving their ability to fly the drone, but also how to identify the disease using the drone camera system and best communicate this information to the grower. This competition, the only school-based drone challenge in an Agricultural setting, was a fantastic opportunity for our students to develop their ability to problem solve, work under pressure, and think creatively. Our students did an excellent job on the day, producing a well thought out company report, presentation and a highly innovative solution. We congratulate Glossop High School on winning the 2020 competition and look forward to next year’s competition.  

Jessica Farrelly - Science Coordinator

Congratulations to Josh D, Blake W and Emma-Rae M (absent) who received an award at assemby on Friday for taking part in the DFE Aquatic swimming program for term 3.

Parallel Stories

Year 10 students had the honour of viewing the very special cinema event 'Anne Frank's: Parallel Stories' at the Chaffey Theatre. Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren retraces Anne's life through the pages of her remarkable and enlightening diary, and through the lives of five women who as teenage girls were also deported to concentration camps but escaped the Holocaust.

Students gained an authentic insight into the experiences of young people and how they endured all in the battle to stay alive. After the film students had a discussion about a variety of themes ranging from hope, survival, empathy and the power of the written word.

Biljana Elliott Senior Leader - Literacy and Global Perspectives

Year 10 Agriculture Class

Recently year 10 Agriculture class transformed an empty and unused space behind Home Economics to a working vegetable garden. A small group of year 10 students worked diligently and completed a number of tasks to finish the garden. This included working with Home Economics staff to come up with a design, removing debris, aerating the soil, mixing fertilizer, setting up irrigation and planting the seedlings. Home Ec. kitchens will now greatly benefit from sourcing fresh produce such as fresh herbs and seasonal vegetables, literally from their backyard. Well done to the participating students; an awesome job.

Mr. Singh - AG Teacher

BEFORE

AFTER

Hello from Pammy

Hi everybody! It feels like summer has arrived today as I sit in my office and the sun is shining outside. Beautiful Riverland weather. So many things are happening in the lead up to the end of this interesting year. Exams are happening and I am sure this is the year that our year 12 cohort (and all of us I imagine) will never forget.

The year 7 students have been coming in and I have been supporting them, Daniel and Martine for the last three Tuesday afternoons.  It has been a lovely time getting to know these students better. I loved hearing  about and seeing students artwork guided skillfully by Daniel, and seeing and hearing them talk and show what they learned about the story of Keppon and the river. Lastly, but by no means least, I visited the class run by Chris about Identity. Wonderful stuff and the students had such insight.

Have a lovely week everyone and take care and keep smiling and enjoy the sunshine.

Pammy - Pastoral Care Worker

The Audition

Year 9 Performing Arts students performed the comedy, “The Audition” on the 6^th Nov in front of a live audience. The play centred around teenagers auditioning for ‘The Chorus Line’ where students were able to enhance their performing skills through the many monologues from the play.

Even though the script was a challenge for the students, through hard work and persistence it was a very successful performance, full of energy, dancing and many laughs from the audience. Well done to the year 9 Performing Arts class.

Wendy Matulic - Performing Arts Teacher

I feel like……

I chose the eagle because I feel like an eagle. When I am alone it feels like I fly though the skies looking down onto every living thing from animals, plants to people. Eagles fly over and around buildings looking, searching always on the move. I am never intrusive, always at a distance looking on with purpose.

I also chose the kangaroo because I feel like one when I am doing things. I work on them until it’s complete. Some days I get tired and sleepy like a kangaroo when they’re lying on the ground soaking up the sun. I’m approachable and friendly like some of the kangaroos I see, always out and about seeing new faces. When kangaroos get threatened by something up close, they kick you. Like when I get angry I retaliate and I care about my family like a kangaroo does look after family.

The wood burning was a struggle at the start because of the eagle’s head. I didn’t know how to get the feathers, and the beak was the hardest to draw onto the wood to get it how I wanted it. Daniel and Andrew gave me some clues and I pictured it in my mind and drew it. It turned out well, almost how I wanted it. I’m happy with it now. I struggle to put my ideas down on paper. I went to Google Docs and saved it in my own email so I could work on it at home with mum. I improvised during my writing, having it edited and getting help with my grammar and the way I put things.

Kaleb 

My Artwork

I chose the kangaroo because it is an Australian animal. They don’t run, they jump far. I had trouble with this task because my mates had already chosen some of the animals I wanted to choose, like the dingo. I wanted to have something different so it didn’t seem like I was copying other people.

I researched the kangaroo a lot, first I was going to do its paw print. There were lots of pictures on the internet and I didn’t know which one to choose. I worked with Uncle Barney. Uncle Barney saw the wood and the animals stood out to him. He could see a koala. There were marks on the wood that looked like the koalas eyes and nose. When Barney showed me then I could see it, but I couldn’t see it before. I liked that he could see what was in the wood.

I had trouble drawing the kangaroo, but Uncle Barney helped me with the drawing.

I’m not that experienced with wood burning, even Uncle Barney had trouble with it. The different wood burner was easier. It’s really hard when you haven’t done it before. It could be the way I hold it, because when Daniel did it it was perfect. I keep adding to them and I could have done a better job with the wood burning but I’m still happy with them.

Ash

Congratulations to our World Class Language Students

Education Perfect has recently acknowledged three Renmark High School language students as world-class, with the presentation of ‘Elite Status’ badges for their academic achievement and dedication to languages.

Embracing the opportunity at Renmark High School to learn new languages and master others via this educational platform, Cameron B, Penny B and Shamsher S performed in the top 0.2% of 181 000 language students around the world. Performing superbly in Spanish, Greek, Malay, Russian and Japanese among others, they were instrumental in Renmark High School’s victory in the Language Perfect World Championships held in May this year.

A wonderful recognition for our talented language students, we congratulate all three who look forward to competing once again in 2021. 

Jasmine Sotiroulis - French & Spanish Teacher