We acknowledge that Renmark High School students, staff and community live, study and work on Erawirung Land. We acknowledge the First Peoples of the River Murray and Mallee as Traditional Custodians of the Riverland region and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We respect the deep connection Aboriginal people have with land, animals and waters. 

We honour the Lores and customs that cross this traditional Country, the Ancestors who taught and still teach the knowledge that is embedded forever with Aboriginal people today. 

Flood Thanks

We are extremely grateful to have been able to have a successful start to our school year with much reduced impact to families than it could have been with the risk of flooding as we finished last year. For this we offer a huge thank you on behalf of Renmark High School to the coordinated efforts of our local council, private contractors and organisations, emergency services, Government organisations and the community, to mitigate the impact of the flood.

Despite the challenging circumstances, everyone came together to support each other and this was a reminder of the strength of our community when we come together to face a common challenge. This sense of togetherness is what makes our town so special and is what we stand by in our own school motto non nobis solum “not for ourselves alone”.  I am proud to be a member of this town, and I am grateful for the incredible efforts of our community in mitigating the impact of the flood for the benefit of all.

We recognise that we do have students and families who have been affected by the events over the last few months and we encourage you to contact our wellbeing staff for student support as needed.

Swimming Carnivals

Congratulations to students for our fantastic successes in swimming carnivals: Renmark High School Swimming Carnival, Interschool Swimming Carnival and Adelaide Swimming, where we were extremely competitive in B Grade. Thank you to parents, the HPE team, swim team organisers Karina and Jodi, and to all staff who have volunteered and assisted in the lead up and on the days. 

Department for Education Mobile Phone Policy

Thank you to families for your support of the new phone policy from the Department for Education implemented this year. In practice for Renmark High School it doesn’t look much different from what we had already implemented as a school over the last 3 years as we have prioritised the teaching and learning and the wellbeing of our students.

The next step is for us to ban mobile phone use in the canteen, that is, paying for recess and lunch via mobile phones. Students will need to find their bank card or be prepared to use cash from the beginning of term 2. 

Governing Council Meeting AGM

I encourage parents and caregivers to attend the upcoming Annual General Meeting hosted on Wednesday 22 March in the Elaine Balfour-Ogilvy Library from 7pm. This is an opportunity to put yourself forward as a volunteer to join as a member of our council. Being a Governing Council member is a great way to contribute to our school community, helping to shape our school for its exciting future. Meetings are held twice a term for two hours in the evening. If you are interested, have a chat to an existing Governing Council member, or our chairperson Darren Bussenschutt and/or please contact Carli at the school for more information.

Student Free Day

Our Student Free Day is next Tuesday 14 March. Staff will be involved in important professional development in our pursuit of providing high quality teaching and learning for students. Topics will include Positive Behaviour for learning, our school values, and agreements on quality teaching and learning at our school.

Kind regards,

Mat Evans
Principal

Academic Recovery

The school supports an Academic Recovery system. If a student has failed to submit a draft or appears to be falling behind in their assignment work, the subject teacher will issue an Academic Recovery on Daymap. This means the student has lost their rights to go home for study and must report to the Senior Learning Hub and work independently or with support to finish their draft or assignment. Alicia, our Social Worker, often drops in to catch up with these students to provide further support.

Studiosity

This year the school has engaged with Studiosity company. They provide one-to-one online help for the following subjects: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English. They also provide a drafting/editing role where students upload any written assignment and receive feedback from an expert. They will receive this within 24 hours, often less. This allows the student to receive two drafts, one initially from Studiosity and then one from their subject teacher. Students have been shown how this works and we hope they will make good use of this. 

University Camp

This year we are offering a camp to Adelaide for year 12 students to visit universities, boarding colleges and provide opportunities for students to get acquainted with the city. The expression of interest forms were handed out in BT in week 2. Only students who are on a university pathway and have shown a strong academic start to the year will be considered. Year 12 camp will be in week 11 this term, from Wednesday 12 to Friday 14 April.

There will be many more chances for students to plan their post-school pathway, and parent support with that is always appreciated. Please contact Marina Pater at the school, via Daymap or email if you would like to discuss any future options for your child.

Register your interest here: https://get.elevatecoaching.info/au/schoolwebinar

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For more information about Elevate Education, visit: https://au.elevateeducation.com/home

Traineeships and School-Based Apprenticeships

If your student is interested in pursing a traineeship or school-based apprenticeship, please contact me for more information. 

Kind regards,

Marina Pater
Assistant Principal
Director of Operations

School Sport SA Swimming Championships

After competing in, and winning the School Sport SA Swimming Championship in C grade division for the past two years, the Renmark High School swim team progressed to B grade in the 2023 Championship.

On Monday 27 February, the swim team travelled to the Marion Aquatic and Leisure Centre to compete against 9 other schools. Despite the competition being extremely tough, swimmers received good results with many recording a personal best time on the day.

Thank you to all students that competed; we appreciate your enthusiasm to try your best and organisation in preparing for race marshalling. Congratulations to the swim team on a successful year. Please find results below.

Team Results

• Girls result - 5 Renmark High School - 568 points
• Boys result - 9 Renmark High School -  458 points
• Overall result - 8 Renmark High School  - 1,026 points

The following students received a top 3 placing in Division 1:

• Jenna L, 2^nd in backstroke and 3^rd in 50m freestyle
• Bailey W, 3^rd in breaststroke
• Courtney W, 3rd in 50m freestyle
• Under 16 boys freestyle relay, 3^rd (Charlie G, Rex K, Alex K and Samuel I)
• Under 19 girls freestyle relay, 3^rd (Summer T, Paityn M, Sophie T and Jenna L)

The following students received a top 3 placing in Division 2:

• Lennix I, 2^nd in backstroke
• Lily S, 2^nd in 50m freestyle
• Paityn M, 3^rd in breaststroke

The following students received a top 3 placing in Division 2:

• Charlie G, 2^nd in 50m freestyle
• Cruz M, 3^rd in backstroke

Full results for the School Sport SA Swimming Championship can be found by clicking on the link below and then scrolling down to the B grade result information:

Swimming secondary championship (education.sa.gov.au)

Karina Lambert and Jodi Long

Angelo's Sprint Success

Over the past few years Angelo has been juggling his commitments between football and competing in the South Australian Athletics League. There are competitions held throughout the year with Angelo participating in many of them during 2022. Some of these include:

• Bay Sheffield
• Marion Gift
• Toby Schreier Flinders Pro Gift

Angelo mentioned that these events were a great learning experience and a huge challenge as he was up against some of the best sprinters in South Australia. Injuries, along with some other setbacks made it difficult for him to gain consistency which he found frustrating.

This led Angelo to refine his focus in 2023. He decided to increase his training and workload, whilst also joining the Flinders Track Squad. Angelo has also worked more closely with his Adelaide based coach.

Due to his commitment and reduced interruptions, Angelo has found success in 2023. Some of these include:

• 1^st (U18) 120m Reynella Gift
• 2^nd (U18) 70m Crystal Brook Gift
• 1^st (U18) 300m Loxton Gift
• 3^rd (U18) 120m Loxton Gift

Angelo is looking forward to football again this season although one of his main goals is to compete at the Stawell Gift late in April.

All the best Angelo and well done on your achievements so far.

Year 7 Lunchtime Volleyball Competition

Congratulations to 7.3 who took out the 'Year 7 Lunchtime Volleyball Competition'. Well done to everyone who has participated over the past few weeks. There has been plenty of excitement and noise in the gym. Our focus now turns to athletics trainings at lunchtime.

1500m Run

In week 5, students started their Wednesday morning with the 1500m event taking place on our school oval. Well done to all students who participated. Our school Sports Day is this Friday! Who will be the winners of the 2023 championship shield?

See below results.

Upcoming Sports Events

Aaron Camplin 
Leader of HPE and Sports

Our newly elected SRC members received their certificates in week 4 at our whole school assembly. They have demonstrated to their peers the core values Renmark High School holds in high esteem: Respect, Accountability, Fun, Trust and Responsibility.

Our other services include:

• Sign In/Out: Students sign in and out when arriving late or leaving early during the school day
• Sick Room: Our sick room is located in Student Services and the Student Services Officer is the designated First Aid Officer for the school. Medications, Health Care Plans and First Aid all operate from here. If your student has any medical needs, please ensure the school is up to date with their current health care plan.
• Wellbeing Leader Appointments: Please visit the Student Services Office to make appointments with our Wellbeing Leaders.
• Replacement School Forms: Replacement school forms can be collected in the Student Services Office.
• Payments: excursions, fees etc. can be made at Student Services Office before school from 8:30am – 8:50am and during recess from 10:40am – 11am. Renmark High School accepts cash, Visa, MasterCard, EFTPOS and direct credit via the Renmark High School bank account: BSB: 105-035 Account: 15-700-4240.
• Lockers: students can organise a new locker or if they have issues accessing their books or items within their locker.
• Sanitary items
• School Uniform & Lost Property
• Large Storage: available for after school work wear, musical instruments and other personal belongings that do not fit in a student’s locker.
• Collection of book packs/diary
• Support in any VET Documentation: help with creating a USI, Working with Children Check, valuable person related employment and aged care sector screening checks.
• Daymap: assist parents to understand, download and access Daymap to view their student’s profile and allow them to correspond with teachers and be updated with their student’s attendance throughout the day.

All of our year 7 students were extremely lucky to have Lauren Benda from Arrosto and Nathan Woodrow from Ryde Clothing talk to them about how to run an effective business.

In HASS, students are learning about the business world and the reality behind the hard work and effort it takes to become an entrepreneur. To learn more about the process, students came up with well over 60 questions to ask our special visitors. Each student felt empowered by this process because they could ask both Lauren and Nathan questions in real life.

As a result, students have been able to take away several key messages from the information that they gathered by listening, taking notes and thinking about all of the skills that are required to make a business run effectively.

Renmark High School would like to once again thank both Lauren and Nathan for coming in and giving up their time to educate and inform our upcoming business people.

Biljana Elliott
Senior Leader of Literacy and Global Perspectives

Year 8 Food Technology students have been learning about how to be more sustainable at home and at school. This has lead students to make their own beeswax wraps in the kitchen, which they enjoyed.

We made beeswax wraps. We made it by cutting cotton fabric into a 30cm x 30cm square. Once that was completed we lined a baking tray with baking papers. We weighed 30 grams of beeswax beads, and evenly spread them out over the cotton.
We placed it in the oven at 85 degrees for 5 minutes. Beeswax wraps are a sustainable way to bring foods to school without using plastic bags or cling wrap. This is related to sustainablitiy as you can use beeswax wraps over and over. - Emelia and Eliza

Wendy Matulic
Food Technology Teacher

Kicking off 2023, our new rock band performed a rendition of Nirvana’s ‘Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam’ at assembly in week 4. The band has been practising over the last few weeks to perfect their performance. With the start to a new year, we have had some changes to the configuration of the band, with Tyrone A on lead vocals and electric guitar, Lockie H on rhythm electric guitar, Cameron D on Electric Bass and Bailey W on drums. The band can’t wait to get back into our Hobcroft Music Suite to practise some more rock classics, ready for you all to see.

Alistair Ward
Music Teacher

Our senior music class is completing the first component of their SACE assessment by choosing specialised music skills and developing these over term 1. Students are engaging in both practical learning activities, as well as the study of theoretical concepts to develop themselves as modern musicians. Some of the areas students are exploring are the key components of electric and bass guitar in the genres of heavy metal and rock, modern and classical piano skills, and proficiency in instruments such as the drums or saxophone. Students are expected to have developed a range of specified skills by the end of term 1, ready to use in the creation of their own music, as well as live and recorded performances.

Alistair Ward
Music Teacher

During their Globalisation unit, students in Miss Caputo’s Stage 2 Geography class engaged in a global trade simulation aimed at highlighting key characteristics of international trade and economic instability. Students were split into five countries and were randomly allocated a range of goods to export. Each unit of good was worth a certain number of points, with the aim being to negotiate trade based on the perceived importance of a product. 

Throughout the trade simulation, various ‘global situations’ either increased or decreased the value of specific goods, thus affecting each country’s economic status. A massive congratulations to the nation of ‘Saudi Arabia’ (Shikabah, Jenna, Tahleya, Mariam, and Jorja) for winning the simulation.

Kardinia Caputo
Geography Teacher

The Renmark High School library website (https://renmarkhs.sa.libguides.com/library)

Students can access a variety of library services and information from our website. These include our latest new books, Premier's Reading Challenge information, digital reading magazines SpineOut and Good Reading, links to book review sites, and databases. The library catalogue (available from the Quick Links box) can also be searched from home using the student’s unique barcode beginning with B0794 (no password required). This barcode is on both the student’s school diary and/or ID card.

Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC)

The PRC started on the first day back at school, and all students can participate. Student reading records can be picked up from the library or downloaded from the RHS library website at http://renmarkhs.sa.libguides.com/books/prc.

The Book Club

The Senior and Junior Learning Hubs are spaces for students to work either independently or with assistance on any of their learning tasks. Senior students may elect to use the area as a quiet space during a study line, where other classes are located in these spaces for explicit teaching. We are currently running year 7 and 8 Maths Zone classes in the Junior Hub, while Mr Watkinson is teaching a year 10 Workforce Readiness class in the Senior Hub. The year 10s have completed resumes and are working on literacy requirements that are relevant to the workplace. All students have signed up to complete their White Card training, and are either in the process of or have finalised placements for work experience. Mr Watkinson has also organised meetings with workplace brokers to share information on employment opportunities and next term the group will be looking at participating in a gym class once a week.

Along with the Maths Zones, we are also running MacqLit (literacy intervention) from this space. This program has proven very successful in helping identified students to close the gap in their reading and comprehension skills.

Stuart Watkinson
Leader of Student Support

Our Aboriginal Education Team consists of Martine Turnbull (Aboriginal Education Teacher) and Daniel Giles, Chloe Shorrock and Uncle Barney Lindsay (Aboriginal Secondary Education Transition Officers (ASETOs)). The team works closely with staff, students and the community to improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal students and to embed Aboriginal perspectives in the curriculum. Recently, our year 7 HASS classes, led by Athina Papametis, Biljana Elliott and Daniel Giles, have delivered sessions addressing racism. This has generated some excellent conversation and has been very well received. The information gathered will assist in the development this year of an anti-racism policy specific to our site.

The Aboriginal Education Team also form the core of the Reconciliation Action Plan Group. This group meets once or twice a term and also includes parents, students, community members and staff. Keep an eye on the newsletter for updates on our past successes and future plans.

Congratulations to Daniel Giles (ASETO) who has successfully secured a place in the Milparanga Established Leadership Program in Western Australia in May this year. This program supports experienced Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders with increasing their impact, influencing positive change, and resolving conflict. Daniel will have the opportunity to build his capabilities through challenging experiences that honour indigenous learning systems, philosophies and cultural identities and create networks to drive systematic change. Daniel will also gain empowerment to engage in storytelling and advocating for positive change. We are very excited to see what Daniel brings back from this fabulous opportunity.

Save the Date - Calling all Aboriginal students and families! Please keep an eye on your letterbox for an invitation to gathering at the high school (likely to be in week 8). We want to know how best to support you and your student/s to achieve the best educational outcomes at school: What is working well? What are the suggestions for improvements? We look forward to meeting with you.

Danielle Weeks
Assistant Principal
Director of Inclusion