It’s hard to believe we are already at the end of term 1. It seems like we only just began the school year. This term has been filled with classroom activities, camps, sports and school events.  I would like to thank students for their representation of our school in these events and the staff for taking on additional responsibilities to provide these opportunities.

Interschool Athletics

Congratulations to all students who have represented Renmark High School at the Interschool Athletics Carnival at GHS on Wed 3^rd April – You will find the wrap up and results further in the Newsletter.

We thank our student athletes, student and parent supporters and the hard working helpers for their effort, dedication, cheering and organisation. Staff have highlighted students’ wonderful behaviour, sportsmanship and their willingness to give their best.

Communications

We are constantly looking at ways to ensure we are providing our school community with access to information and events.  Our new format eNewsletter is proving a successful addition to our communications toolbox. If you would prefer a printed version please contact the school and a copy of each edition will be sent home with your child.

Reports

First term reports are available on DAYMAP. The reports are intended to give parents an indication of how students have started the year. If there are any issues which arise from the reports, we urge you to contact the relevant teacher at the start of Term 2.

Parent Teacher Interviews

We recently held our first round of Student, Parent, Teacher interviews for 2019.   The new STEM works in C block were a great setting for the interviews.  It was fantastic to see so many parents attend. It was a great chance for teachers, students and their parents/caregivers to discuss student achievement, progress and goal setting for the remainder of the year. 

In my role as Principal I am privileged to be able to work with an amazingly dedicated staff, motivated students and an energetic and dedicated parent body who work tirelessly for the benefit of everyone at Renmark High School and with Term 2 just around the corner, I’m really looking forward to the goals we will accomplish together.

Have a safe and restful holidays and look forward to a new hive of learning activity in Term 2.

Mat Evans - Principal

Naming and re-naming RHS buildings and facilities.

The 2019 Renmark High School SRC would like to invite the school community to be part of an exciting and historic process to rename the main buildings and facilities on the school site. The SRC are asking for 2 types of information from the school community as part of Phase 1 of this process. Firstly, the SRC would like the community to offer suggestions of current and former Remark High School students and staff that could possibly have a building named after them. Names such as L. P. Johncock (first RHS Principal), Ian Olerenshaw (RAAF), Dean Semler (Oscar Winner), Rex Hobcroft (Musician), Pat & Mark Micken (Sports) and Rick Burr (Military) all spring to mind – yet there are many more names for our school to be proud of. Secondly, the SRC are seeking suggestions on what needs to be named or renamed. The school oval, the gym, the music room or D Block for instance could all possibly be named or renamed.

Over the course of the year, the SRC will roll out the following 5 phases of this plan:

Phase 1: Consult with students, staff and the wider school community for nominations of people to be considered and areas and facilities within the school to be considered for naming. (Term 1 -2, 2019)

Phase 2: In consultation with the Governing Council construct a short list of people from the nominations in Phase 1. (Term 2, 2019)

Phase 3: Publish the shortlist with information about all candidates for students, staff and the wider community to consider and offer feedback on. (Term 2-3, 2019)

Phase 4: Consultation with School Administration and Governing Council to discuss recommendations. (Term 3-4, 2019)

Phase 5: Publish the results and hold naming ceremonies at the appropriate times for each of the spaces. (Term 4 2019 – Term 1, 2020)

This is an exciting time for the school to remember and honour those that have achieved so much and at the same time inspire current students to also achieve and connect them to our very rich and successful history.

Please feel free to offer names of people or possible spaces and facilities by emailing to dl.0794.info@schools.sa.edu.au by the end of week 2 Term 2.

The SRC are greatly looking forward to your feedback and nominations, as well as your participation in all phases over the next year!

Mr Ben Files and 2019 SRC

Image: Year 10 student Mitchell Kroemer with Renmark High School's competition Merino

Renmark High School have been awarded the 2019 Show Society Foundation Scholarship for the School's Merino Wethers Competition.

The scholarship will provide financial assistance for accommodation and transport costs for students competing at the 2019 Royal Adelaide Show.

Being a country school, the travel costs alone to compete at the show pose a significant financial barrier for students, but with a growing agricultural program at the school, the hope is that this opportunity will attract more students to the subject.

The opportunity will not only be a showcase of students’ learning in agriculture, but also improve student engagement in the sheep industry, providing a positive outlook on future careers.

With support from Merino SA, students will engage in learning about the sheep enterprise, including animal husbandry, nutrition, safety, teamwork and overall show training.

This industry knowledge combines with a hands-on experience to develop practical skills, vast animal industry knowledge and career opportunities.

A special thanks to Brenton Kroehn, Borung Property, Waikerie for supplying Merinos and Jen from Merino SA for her exceptional guidance.

Individual Student Exchange and Hosting

It is never too late to make enquiries about participating in an international exchange program. With so many countries on offer and a variety of time frames, make a time to come into the school and further explore the many possibilities from Year 9 to 12. There are also students from all around the world who are keen to experience life in Australia. If you are interested in hosting a student, it is also a great time to consider sharing your home with a young high school student from 2 months or more!

Congratulations to our Term 1 Year 8 Music Class for sharing their musical talent at last week’s debut performance! Parents, students and staff enjoyed celebrating your success with you.

Students have been invited to continue their learning by joining our Renmark High School Ensemble.

Kirralee Baldock

Director of Learning

Music Teacher

Year 11 and 12 Geography students from Renmark High School participated in a fieldwork excursion to the Renmark Ski Site along Patey Drive on Monday, 1^st April. The fieldwork trip formed part of the students’ Stage 2 Geography studies and was lead with the generous help of Miss Evans.

The excursion actively enabled students to learn and collect a variety of physical geography fieldwork techniques, which included soil sampling, field sketching, line transects and vegetation health surveys to name a few.

Students stopped at three different sites, starting next to the Murray River and moving further away, to measure the level of human impact on the natural environment. At each of the three sites students repeated a series of fieldwork techniques that when analysed back in the classroom measured the level of human impact at each of the sites.  

Now that students have participated in the excursion they will complete an assessment task based on the usefulness and accuracy of the primary data they collected. The fieldwork trip, however also served a larger purpose in helping the students to think about possible primary data collection techniques they could use in their major independent fieldwork study that they will be completing in Term 2.  

Overall, it was a fantastic opportunity to escape the classroom and participate in real life geography.  

Nathan Rohrlach – Geography Teacher

Year 8 students making Ten Pin Bowling Alleys encompasing all 3 elements of the Technical Studies curriculum: Metal, Plastic and Wood.

 From Pammy  your PCW

Hello to all of the Renmark High community. We are nearly at th end of Term 1 and I am finding it hard to believe that this term is nearly over. Where has the time gone?  

Recently, I went to Glossop High School for the Interschool Sport Day. It was so good to see all the schools together, with students trying their absolute best for their schools in their respective events.  The grounds, atmosphere and catering was all excellent. I want to congratulate all of our wonderful students on their efforts and say “you all did us proud”. Well done and I hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did. I felt a pride in our school and especially in our students….what more can I say?

I hope you all have a safe Easter and may whatever you do, be done with love, kindness and care (and  perhaps lots of chocolate and hot cross buns!). And if you are camping have loads of fun and please take care if you're near the river.

Happy school holidays and relax, rest and have lots of fun making wonderful memories. Until next term….keep smiling beautiful people….Pammy 

Young designers from year 9 Digital Media classes have recently completed a project to design a label for a product of their choice. Here are a few examples of student work.

Mrs Atsaves 

On Tuesday 26th March a group of Stage 2 Visual Arts and Digital Media students travelled to Adelaide to visit the SACE Art Show and the Jam Factory Art Gallery. The SACE Art Show showcases the best Art and Design pieces from the 2018 Stage 2 Visual Art and Design students. The collection of works this year was extremely impressive and our students gained great inspiration from the folios and final practicals on display. Students then visited the Jam Factory which comprises an art gallery, retail shop and studios for glass, ceramic, furniture and jewellery artists. We received a guided tour through the studios where we were able to view the artworks of the many talented artists that practise at the Jam Factory. We were fortunate enough to also view the glass blowing process. The tour provided students with a clear understanding and appreciation of the processes each artist follows to create their individual artworks.

Darija Atsaves, Heidi Stanojevic and Jodi Long

Former RHS Digital Media Student’s Career Success

Molly Gibbons, a former Renmark High student who completed her secondary schooling at Renmark High School in 2018, has received an Internship at Vogue Magazine in Sydney. Molly moved to Sydney over a month ago and was recently interviewed for the internship position. She credits some of her success in obtaining this great opportunity to her year 12 Digital Media folio which she presented at her interview with Vogue. We congratulate Molly on this amazing achievement.

Jodi Long

Interschool Athletics

It has been a huge term of sport, starting with swimming, triathlon and currently athletics. The success and commitment by the students/teams in both swimming and the triathlon have already been highlighted in previous newsletters, so our focus has recently turned to athletics. Congratulations to the Chaffey team who backed up their efforts from swimming by taking out the Athletics Championship for 2019.

Students were then selected, or challenged for a position in the Interschool Athletics Team who competed on Wednesday of week 10. Once again the students were happy and honoured to represent Renmark High School and put in their best efforts.

It was a very successful day with many students achieving a personal best time, jump and/or throw. As a result of the commitment by all students, we initially managed to fill all events. in the few instances of injury or illnes we were also able to cover these events easily. Across the day RHS achieved four Riverland High School records including:

• Isabella Cant – U14 1500m set in 1982
• Bailey White – U14 1500m set in 1988 (Maison Goodman also broke the old record in the same race)
• Sasha Jenke – U16 Javelin set in 1990
• Ball Games Open Spoke Relay Team set in 1990

Due to many great results across the day, some of the RHS records were also broken.

• Bailey White – U14 1500m (set by himself a few weeks ago)
• Jessica Price – U16 100m and U16 200m set in 1995

Many students were forced to dash between events as as result of time delays and the overlap between track and field events. Senior student Gemma Letton had a huge day finishing 1^st in the Open 100m, 200m, Javelin and Long Jump and 5^th in the High Jump. This meant that she finished 2^nd by 1 point for the Female Athlete of the Day.

Overall, the atmosphere and support from all of the RHS students and staff was once again a highlight (especially as the runners came around the bend to run the last 100m) and no doubt provided that bit of extra energy for competitors. The fight, determination and willingness to do their personal best by all meant that Renmark High School were successful in a number of categories. These included:

• 2^nd Championship Shield
• 1^st Most Improved Shield
• 2^nd Ball Game Shield
• 1^st U14 Boys Pennant

All the best to athletics team competing in the School Sport SA Championships (SANTOS STADIUM) in week 11.

Well done to Josh Vater, Justin Smith, Perter Safralidis and the Glossop High Staff for hosting the event in 2019 and congratulations to Loxton on winning the Championship Shield.

Cross Country

At this stage the Renmark High School Cross Country event will be held on Tuesday 14^th May (week 3) at the Paringa Paddock (as Margaret Dowling Reserve is under construction). We encourage as many students to support this event and due to recent success in the long distant events we believe RHS will have a very strong Interschool Team to compete in week 4/5 at Martin's Bend.

Those students involved in a winter sport can use the opportunity to improve heir fitness, which I’m sure coaches will be happy about.

Knockout Cup Sport

Throughout Term 2/3 we have nominated for a variety of sports. These include Open Mixed Hockey, Open Girls Football, Open Boys and Girls Volleyball and Year 10 Boys and Girls Volleyball. Please listen to the daily notices for further information.

Volleyball Training / Heathfield visit

On the first weekend of the holidays (13^th and 14^th April) Heathfield High School will be running a camp in Renmark. Trainings and games will be held at the Alan Coulter Recreation Centre on Saturday 1:00pm – 4:00pm and Sunday 9:00am – 4:00pm.

All Year 8 and 9 students that are interested (especially those that have indicated some interest in attending Melbourne) are encouraged to attend these sessions.

Local Sports

Well done to the students and staff who have had some recent success in their local sport and all the best to those starting winter sports in the next few weeks.

SCHOOL UNIFORMS

Throughout the term quite a few items of clothing were loaned to students who either were not wearing the correct uniform to school, or who requested a jumper/jacket on a day when the weather was cooler. Many of these items have not been returned. Please ask your child if they have borrowed anything from Student Services and kindly wash and return the items.

An invoice will be sent home to parents of the students who have not returned borrowed items.

~Student Services

Thank you to all families who have paid or made contact with our Finance Officer, and submitted their applications for School Card.

Prompt payment of school charges ensures that all parents accept their share of the responsibility for the education of their students.

At times, families have difficulty meeting their financial obligations. Should this be the case, please do not hesitate to contact Sonja Modlinski, RHS Finance Officer and she will assist you in setting up a payment plan to avoid inevitable referral to the Debt Recovery Unit as required by Department processes.

Please be aware that if no prior arrangements have been put in place, unpaid monies can be forwarded to the Department Recovery Unit at the conclusion of Term 1.

Options for Payment

Payment can be made by cash, cheque, EFTPOS, Visa, MasterCard or by Direct Bank Deposit (see details below) Students are to make payments prior to the start of the school day 8.40am or at recess time 10.40am-11.00am. Parents/caregivers may make payments anytime from 8.15am to 1.30pm

RHS Bank Details

BANK SA

BSB: 105-035

ACC NO: 157004240

Family ID: eg SMIT05 (left hand side of invoice)

School Card Scheme

If you think you may be eligible for School Card please go online to: https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/education-and-learning/financial-help-scholarships-and-grants/school-card-scheme

Should you require a hard copy application, please see our Finance Officer at Reception