SA Public Teaching Awards 

I encourage students, families and colleagues to nominate staff for the Public Education Awards to acknowledge the amazing work happening at Renmark High School.  If you have been inspired by an educator in some way, please help recognise these important role models by nominating them. A nomination is simply a great way to say thanks to your favourite educator in appreciation of their work - so if you know someone who's doing a fantastic job in a school or preschool, be the one to nominate them and encourage them to apply for an award.  Nominations are open until 31^st May.

Daymap and Student Reporting

In our journey of improvement we are continuously reviewing and refining how we do things in our school.  Recently we have reviewed some aspects of our assessment and reporting procedures.  Over the last 12 months we have increased the amount of ongoing written feedback relating to assessment tasks over the term available on Daymap and emphasised the value of parent, teacher, student interviews.  In reviewing our processes we have identified that this isn’t currently meeting the needs of teachers, students or parents in the ways we anticipated. As a result, we have made some slight changes.

Daymap continues to be a rich source of communication from teachers to students and families. During each term, for each class, students  will be provided with a full written comment on at least one summative assessment task. There will continue to be term grades, traffic light indicators and ongoing assessment results available on Daymap. While there may be less written ongoing commentary recorded in Daymap, this will be replaced by ongoing, timely  feedback given directly to students or recorded on the assessment task itself. Term 2 subject overviews will be available on Daymap by the end of this week.

We are always reviewing our processes so please let us know if you have any feedback (on assessment and reporting or any other school processes) at any time.  

Uniform

Please continue to support our efforts to have all students in uniform.  I recognise this can be more difficult in winter (pants can be harder to get than shorts) however we have been working with both Yates and Tri State since last year on sourcing pants that are cost effective, appealing to students, and in compliance with our uniform policy. I encourage you to visit these suppliers to ensure your child is in uniform.

Mobile Phones

Please read the article in this newsletter on mobile phones at RHS.  I would like to highlight a small but important change in the ways we will follow up on breaches in our current mobile phone expectations.  Our aim is to ensure students remain focused on the learning opportunities in the classroom.  For students who repeatedly prioritise their personal phone needs over their learning, we have implemented a 3-strikes consequence.  On the third confiscation by a teacher as a result of infringement in class, the mobile phone being used will need to be collected from the front office by a parent or caregiver.  We appreciate the support from families in this as we continue to work together in maximising student success at school.

BYOD

We are continuing to work on a BYOD solution and have been negotiating competitive prices with suppliers. We are test running a new parent portal and will announce an information night soon!

Regards,

Mat Evans - RHS Principal

Renmark High School's Student Review Team comprises skilled dedicated staff who work together to provide additional support to students, families, and teachers for improved wellbeing, behavioural and learning outcomes.

We meet regularly to discuss issues arising for young people at our site and decide how we can support them. The team includes leaders from across the school, each with a different focus and skill area.

Director of Student Inclusion – Amy Evans

This is a new leadership role for RHS in 2019. It is student focused and includes the leadership of the Student Review Team. As The leader of this team, Amy is responsible for the whole school management of intervention, wellbeing and engagement strategies.

Tamara Hooper will fill this role whilst Amy Evans is on leave in terms 3 and 4 of 2019.

Leader of Flexible Learning Options Program – Alistair Ward

Alistair is a new member of staff in 2019, employed to manage the school’s Flexible Learning Program. This is an alternate program of learning aimed at supporting students in senior year levels who are at risk of leaving school or whom, for other reasons, mainstream schooling is not appropriate at this stage. Learning in this program is delivered by teachers and our two youth workers. Each student in this program has an individualised learning program designed to meet their needs, as well as a youth worker to support them.

Student Wellbeing Leaders – Matt Abbott and Kristina Kalkstein

Matt and Kristina work with students, families and teachers to resolve wellbeing issues. They support students to develop strategies to improve their wellbeing. They are also responsible for the school’s anti-bullying programs. Matt and Kristina also run intervention programs for small groups of students.

Student Support Coordinator – Danielle Weeks

Danielle supports teachers and students who have additional learning needs. This year, she is leading the implementation of One Plans, the new individual learning Plans developed for students with identified learning needs. Danielle supports teachers to plan their lessons and assessments for students' specific learning needs. She also manages our team of classroom support SSOs who support students with additional learning needs in their classes.

Aboriginal Education Teacher – Martine Turnbull

Martine works between Renmark Primary School and Renmark High School, and is at RHS two days per week. Martine is supporting our staff to ensure we have culturally inclusive classrooms. She also collaborates with Daniel Giles and Pammy Main to support our Aboriginal Education Program. Martine can support families and students to make sure the needs of their young people are being met.

At Renmark High School, we want your teenager to do their very best. To get the best education, they need to go to school every day. The teenage years are a time for young people to develop independence and find their place in the world, including how they take part in their school life. We know that some children may need extra encouragement to attend school regularly. By working together, our school community can address some of the reasons why teenagers may not want to go to school.

Some common problems you may have getting your teenager to school:

• They won’t get out of bed in the morning.
• They go to bed late at night.
• They take a long time to get ready in the morning.
• They haven’t done their homework or are avoiding a test or assignment.
• They are watching television or playing video games before school.

What can you do to help?

• Act early. It is important to understand and work on the underlying reasons why your teenager is not going to school.
• On average, teenagers need eight to nine hours sleep a night to be healthy and alert. Maintaining a daily routine helps. This may include monitoring internet, mobile phone and television use at night to ensure sleep is not disturbed.
• Try not to make appointments or take holidays during school time. This can make it difficult to catch up on missed school work, and cause anxiety about attending school.
• Don’t let your teenager stay home unless they are genuinely sick.
• Don’t let your teenager stay home to finish an assignment that is due. Make attendance the number one priority.
• Have clear expectations about after school jobs. Make sure work does not impact on their ability to get to school each day or interfere with study.
• Encourage extracurricular activities such as sport and creative activities. They can help your teenager develop positive relationships and experience success, helping them feel more motivated.
• Monitor your teenager’s attendance and learning at school. Periodically check with their teachers and Wellbeing Coordinator to find out how things are going.

If your child is not going to attend school, please let the school know by calling Student Services on 8586 6974.

In weeks 3 & 4 our Year 9 students will be sitting their NAPLAN tests. As a school we value these tests. Teachers use the information gained about student learning to design lessons and assessment tasks for their classes.

At Renmark High, students have been learning about growth mindset. growth mindset is the belief that when you put in effort you are rewarded with improvement. As parents and caregivers, when you discuss the upcoming tests with your child, you may like to reinforce that although students might find some questions in the test difficult, they can still demonstrate that they are a good learner. By trying hard and answering all the questions in the test to the best of their ability they have the potential to demonstrate growth since they last sat a NAPLAN test in Year 7.

Sometimes during a NAPLAN Test it is tempting for students to decide that a question is too difficult and to make the decision not to attempt it. Please encourage your child to persevere with difficult problems. A good plan is to go through the test and answer the questions you feel confident with. Then, if there is time, go back and answer the questions that required more thinking. Is there a different way you could work out the answer? Can you eliminate the wrong answers in the multiple choice responses?

Mobile phones and other electronic devices (eg. computerised watches) are not permitted in the test area under any circumstances. Students who bring these items to school on NAPLAN days will be asked to take them to our Student Services Office during Care Group and may pick them up at the end of the school day. It is preferred that these devices are kept home on test days.

We wish all of our Year 9s the best of success with their NAPLAN tests and trust it will be an experience that adds to their growth as learners.

Kirralee Baldock - Director of Learning

Over the past few years more evidence is being released that points to phone use and screen time damaging our teenagers' brains, increasing anxiety and depression.

Renmark High School has traditionally allowed students to bring their phones to school so that parents have the convenience of ease of contact or so that the device can be used at appropriate times to support learning. Many of our students manage their phones effectively and use them to check Daymap, take photos of teacher notes and explanations, record important dates and manage homework.

In a few cases, students use their phones in ways that are disruptive and therefore not supported by Renmark High School’s Mobile Phone Classroom Policy and in this case the phones are confiscated by staff until the end of the day.

To further help our students to manage their phone use in school hours appropriately, teachers have been asked to monitor the confiscations of phones for early intevention to manage constant disruptive habits.

Should a phone be confiscated a third time during a term, RHS staff will contact parents/caregivers and they will be asked to come into school to pick up the phone (it WILL NOT be returned to the student). If the phone is confiscated another time within the term, the student will receive a behaviour consequence (suspension) for not following reasonable requests.

It is important for families to support their children and their school by encouraging the use of mobile phones in an appropriate and healthy way. To help families navigate this often difficult topic, I have sourced some fantastic resources for families (please find links below), including some really great tips for parents on the raisingchildren.net.au website (Australian Parenting Website).

David Gillespie podcast 

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/david-gillespie-2019/10986686

Lawyer and social researcher David Gillespie has been delving into the complex business of the teenage brain.

"The usual teenage compulsions like smoking, drinking and drug taking are in steep decline, as teenagers are now more likely to seek a pleasure hit from their screens. But the games and social media apps they use are deliberately engineered to be addictive. Unlike drugs and cigarettes, their devices are supported by schools and parents, with few restrictions on their use."

Instagram bans like tallies in trial in Canada

“The move comes amid growing research on the damage social media does to the mental health of users, particularly young people.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-01/instagram-trial-to-change-visibility-of-likes-on-posts/11061562

Australian Parenting Website has great information on healthy screen time for children and teenagers

https://raisingchildren.net.au/teens/entertainment-technology/screen-time-healthy-screen-use/healthy-screen-time-teens

Screen time and better sleep

https://raisingchildren.net.au/school-age/sleep/better-sleep/screen-time-sleep

I look forward to working with families as we continue to provide positive learning environments for all students at Renmark High School.

Amy Evans - Director of Student Inclusion

Renmark High School students excel in sport

As highlighted in previous newsletters and the school Facebook page, Term 1 was a huge success in a variety of sports. It began with some great individual and team results at the School Sport SA Triathlon event held at West Lakes followed by the historical win at the Interschool Swimming Carnival. The swimming team then competed at the SA Aquatics Centre in the School Sport SA Swimming Championships (C Grade) where we achieved further success as the girls finished 1^st and the team finished 2^nd  overall. This means that we will compete in B Grade in 2020.

The support, commitment and willingness by the students to represent Renmark High School was extremely positive, resulting in their success. Thanks again to Kerri Donaldson and Renmark Vitor Swimming Club for your continued support.

Winning the Interschool Swimming Championship was a special moment for RHS and we hope to have continued success in the pool but the focus quickly turned to athletics. This started on the Friday of week 7, when many students attended and participated in the Renmark High School Sports Day.

Many PB’s and great results were achieved throughout the day and the overall feeling was positive. For the next few weeks many students utilised their time during lunches and before school, to work on and develop their technique and overall fitness. It was pleasing to see the number of students out on the oval challenging and assisting their peers in preparation for Interschool and Adelaide events.

Mr Thiele, Mrs Pater and other PE staff members worked with the students to select a team to compete at Glossop High School. Once again the attitude, support and determination to do their personal best, meant that as a school we had a lot of success throughout the day. We didn’t miss an event! It was pleasing to witness the willingness of students to jump and give things a go in the rare instances where we found a gap due to injury or illness. There were many standout performances across the day but in the end everyone’s contribution was vital and those involved can hold their heads high.

Interschool Results

• 2^nd Tug of War
• 1^st U14 Boys Pennant
• 1^st Most Improved Shield
• 2^nd Championship Shield

We also achieved four Interschool Records for the day and were the only school to do so. These include:

• Bailey White U14 1500m 4:44.59 (4:51.50 – 1988)
• Isabella Cant U14 1500m 5:02.20 (5:06.00 – 1982)
• Sasha Jenke U16 Javelin 34.42m (30.80m – 2012)
• U20 Spoke Relay 1:36.89 (1:39.00 – 1990)

Topping off a great term, the athletics team travelled to Adelaide on Thursday 11^th April to compete in the School Sport SA Athletics Carnival (Division A2). The day was a celebration of a great term and it did not disappoint with many special efforts noted. The school finished 2^nd overall (by 1 point) with the boys 2^nd and girls 1^st, which means we will compete in the A1 dividion in 2020. Along with the 7 students achieving a STANDARD (top 5% of athletes across the week), Bailey White produced a memorable run and recorded the fastest ever time in the U14 1500m (as an U13) with an incredible time of 4:27.60. The standards achieved on the day include:

• Stephanie Prokopec U14 Javelin
• Gemma Letton U20 Javelin
• Hurtle Morgan U16 Javelin
• Isabella Cant U14 800m
• Alex Curtis U15 Shot Put
• Dion Brauer U20 High Jump
• Bailey White U14 800m and 1500m

Other special moments include:

• Matilda Rothe – 1^st 1500m, 800 and 2^nd in the 400m
• Maddy Long – 4^th Open 400m (as an U14)
• Hurtle Morgan increasing his  interschool javelin throw by 10m
• Hayley Poulish and Jacob Pinyon competing in the 3000m (Hayley 1^st)
• Jack Ellis and Georgia Pater running the steeple chase
• Charlize Flett stepping up for the open relay
• Dion Brauer achieving 192cm in high jump (attempted 195cm and clipped the bar – RHS record 193cm)

RHS Records (broken at Interschool or Adelaide)

• Bailey White broke his own RHS 1500m Record (2019)
• Bailey White broke the U14 800m RHS record (2017)
• Jess Price set a new U16 100m and 200m record (1995)
• Isabella Cant broke her own in the U14 800m (2018)
• Gemma Letton set a new U20 200m record (Holly Noack set in 2000)

Well done and congratulations to all of the students who were involved inTerm 1. Our focus now turns to Cross Country. The Renmark High School event will be held on Tuesday 14^th May. As a school we encourage as many students to get involved, continue to support the school/ house and utilise this opportunity to improve their personal fitness. We believe that our success can continue on Wednesday 22^nd May (Martins Bend) at the Interschool Cross Country event, if we have the same attitude and commitmentas demonstrated by the students in Term 1. We can create more history by taking out the event, making it 2 out of the 3 Interschool Sport events for 2019.  

Term 2 Knockout Cup Sport

• Open Mixed Hockey
• Open Girls Football
• Year 10 Boys and Girls Volleyball
• 8/9 Boys and Girls 9 a-side Football

Year 10 STEM CHALLENGE

Students have been busy competing in teams to design a paper roller coaster. Their design had to meet a number of specifications with extra points being awarded for collaboration skills and ‘excitement value.’ Across the two weeks our students had to think critically and creatively, develop and maintain positive group dynamics and show persistence in completing a tricky task.

The Wellbeing Team has begun a series of small intervention programs to support students at school. These programs have been designed to enhance self-esteem, confidence and build resilience.

Ms. Kalkstein has started a year 9 girls program, with 10 young women in the group. We have met a number of times on a Friday afternoon. We begin by preparing and eating lunch together then participate in activities around mindfulness, gratitude, goal setting and relationships. Our first project has been a gratitude poster, incorporating all the things we are thankful for.  “Girls group is an inviting space that is confidential, we all get help for ourselves. We cook, as food comes from the heart and we practise gratitude to lift our day.” One of the girls.

Mr. Abbott is starting an alternative program designed to develop self-esteem, social-cognition, emotional-regulation, confidence and resilience.

Young people can access the program through several means: self, staff and family nomination. Mr Abbott has a number of young people already who have been nominated to participate. These young people will form the nucleus of the program with the opportunity for others to join. The program will take place in A21 during a double lesson every week.

The topics that will be covered include: decoding social situation, behaviours and customs, understanding personal emotions, responses and feelings. These topics will be presented in a number of formats to enhance interaction, conversations and opportunities to take risks in a safe environment.

The group will also have the opportunity to drive the direction of the time including format, delivery and time. They will undertake a Character Strengths and  PERMA Wellness survey that will inform the initial directions and provide pre and post data collection to be used as a tool to measure growth and success. As parents and caregivers, you will be part of this process with discussions taking place at home building on growth and development.

If you think that your child would benefit from being a part of a similar group please call one of the wellbeing leaders.

From Pammy – PCW

Welcome back everyone.

School holidays and Easter are over and now we are back for Term 2. We have lots happening and first up this term was the Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to everyone concerned.

I found something interesting in the holidays, when reading about lifestyle and well-being, called Wabi-Sabi. This means: Finding beauty in ageing and imperfection.  In the Western world we value permanence, grandeur, symmetry and perfection, all of which are hard work. Eastern philosophy, however, encourages us to see the beauty in things that are modest, simple, imperfect or even worn and decayed, such as a piece of bleached, old driftwood or a wonky homemade biscuit.  It’s about accepting things just as they are, because even imperfect things are perfect in their own way.

Try it – Slow down and discover beauty you might normally pass by.  Appreciate the comfort of old, worn-in jeans, or boots and acknowledge the stories told by scars, laughter lines and fingerprints instead of trying to hide them.

When I read this I thought about it and it is true. I have a lovely comfy old pair of ugg boots. They don’t look that great but they are so warm and snug and I love them.  Hope you enjoy thinking about the above.  Have a great week and be kind to each other.  Cheers Pammy J

SIBLING PHOTOS

Sibling or group photos are available for collection from the Student Services office.

UNIFORMS

Please ensure any school uniforms borrowed from the Student Services Office last term are washed and returned as soon as possible. Please ask your child if they borrowed any items as invoices will be sent home to the parents of students who have not returned their borrowed items.

There are a very limited number of jumpers/ long pants available for loan during the cooler months so please ensure students come to school in correct uniform.

ABSENCES

When phoning the school to advise of a student's absence please press 'Option 1' to have your call put through to Student Services. Please leave a message on the answering service if no one is available to take your call.

LOST PROPERTY

There has been a number of school jumpers recently handed in to Student Services that have been found around the school during the holidays. If your child is missing their jumper please ask them to visit the Student Services Office.

Riverland Youth Theatre