Student, Parent and Teacher Interviews  

We encourage your attendance at the upcoming student, parent and teacher discussions to talk about student achievement, progress and goal setting for the remainder of the year.

Interviews are not just for students who aren't progressing as well as expected, they are an opportunity for all students and families to discuss the skill development of students.  For those students who are doing well it is an opportunity to talk about the appropriate level of challenge to enable students to continue to develop their skills and understandings. 

Students are able to set goals and put actions in place to improve results during the remainder of semester 1. Use the online booking system to reserve your preferred time slots and bring your child along with you on the night for the discussion.

Visit: www.schoolinterviews.com.au 
Booking code: v3t2m

Closing the Gap

Last week we held a family evening for Closing the Gap Day. The national Close the Gap campaign arose in response to Professor Tom Calma’s Social Justice Report (2005) which challenged governments to bring about health equality within a generation. The aim is to “close the gap” between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in “life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity”. For our school it meant finding out from families the strengths and challenges for a successful education at Renmark High School. Thank you to everyone that attended and gave their valuable insights that we can use to further improve the engagement, access, teaching and learning for our students. Thank you also to the representatives from a variety of organisations who attended to promote the services available in our community.

Sports Day and Interschool

It was a terrific day for our sports day recently. Congratulations to Chaffey for their win and well done to all students who participated on the day. Today we hosted the RSSA Interschool Sports Day, which was a successful day with our three surrounding Riverland High Schools - Berri Regional Secondary College, Loxton High School, and Waikerie High School. Go Renmark!

Welcome to our Governing Council Committee

We held our Governing Council Annual General Meeting (AGM) a few weeks ago and I am looking forward to working with our 2024 members who have kindly volunteered to support our school: 

Mobile Phone Ban and Consequences

In line with the State Government’s ban, students are required to keep their mobile phones and other personal devices (such as smartwatches, off and away for the whole school day).

In order to reinforce this expectation the consequences for student infringements of the ban will not 'reset' next term. Unlike previous years where a student has started from the beginning each term, from next term any infringements will also take into account any accrued in the previous term(s) resulting in a higher level consequence.  

1st offense – Parent contact, student can collect phone at end of the day

2nd offense – Parent contact, parents to collect phone

3rd offense – Internal suspension

4th offense – External suspension

The State Government ban helps to:

• limit the times students may be exposed to negative impacts from inappropriate or unsafe use of devices, such as cyberbullying or harmful content
• promote classroom environments where teachers can teach, and students can learn, free from distractions caused by personal use of devices
• encourage use of breaks as quality time away from screens for more physical activity, play and face-to-face connections.

Students can still bring phones and use them before and after school for contact with their families, friends, and out-of-hours commitments such as part-time employment. Students are encouraged to always report to a school staff member in the first instance if they become unwell or experience an issue at school. This is so staff can provide appropriate support, including contact with parents and following formal processes for early collection from school where necessary.

Please contact student services if you need to get in touch with your child during school hours, and any cases where your child needs to leave school early. Likewise, school staff will contact you directly wherever needed.

Mat Evans
Principal

Elevate Education

I look forward to sharing more senior news and student success stories throughout 2024.

Marina Pater
Assistant Principal
Director of Operations

Year 12 - Stage 2 Outdoor Education

Our year 12 Outdoor Education class set out on their 3 day kayak trip this week. The class started at Lake Bonney in Barmera and followed the Loch Luna Creek system, finishing back at Lake Bonney this morning. Students have been learning the fundamentals of canoeing and camping in the lead up to this trip.

Interschool Sports Day

Thank you to those who came along and supported our RSSA Interschool Sports Day today hosted at Renmark. We were thrilled to be able to showcase our new Renmark High School athletic singlets. Congratulations to the U16 boys on winning the age cup flag. 

Well done to all athletes; the SRC who assisted with catering at the BBQ, students who participated in the team games and volunteering their time to assist with events. 

Overall it was a great day with our surrounding Riverland High Schools - Berri Regional Secondary College, Loxton High School and Waikerie High School, with Loxton High School winning the overall championship shield. It was great to see so many students involved in such a terrific day. 

Upcoming Sport Events

• Adelaide Athletics - Friday 5 April (week 10)

Aaron Camplin 
Leader of HPE and Sports

Last Friday we celebrated Harmony Day by wearing orange or any cultural clothing at our whole school assembly. Students of each year level shared what activities they have participated in over the past weeks to celebrate. We had two students; year 11 student Tenu who spoke about his and his family's experience relocating to Australia from Sri Lanka and why Harmony Day is symbolic to him. He also dressed in a traditional Sarong commonly worn by Sri Lankan men. Esti, our new year 10 student, who spoke about her and her family relocating to Renmark from South Africa. 
After assembly, all students located to the oval for a whole of school drone photo. It was great to see students celebrate by proudly flying a flag from their family or ancestors country.

Renmark High School entered teams in the annual South Australian Secondary Schools Pétanque Competition held in Unley Park, Adelaide. Championship winners in 2023, students were vying to keep the winning shield in Renmark High School’s possession.

Of our four Renmark High School teams, three made it to the finals, beating St Peter’s Boys College, St Dominic’s Priory College, Mercedes College, Emmaus Christian College and Trinity College Gawler River.

Congratulations to Sarsho E, Kurt W, Levi C and Jacob C, who not only made it to the grand finale, but remained the only team in the competition who were undefeated on the night. Matched against a highly competitive Trinity South team in a thrilling match, cheered on eagerly by their Renmark High School peers.

Despite the long return trip to Adelaide to participate in the competition, it was most certainly a rewarding one.

Renmark High School has succeeded in returning the championship shield to our school, as back to back state champions. The shield will be on display in the front office until March 2025.

Jasmine Sotiroulis
French & Spanish Teacher

Renmark High School has once again competed in the annual Australian Computational and Linguistics Competition. We entered 6 teams of students from years 8 to 11, a total of 27 students.

Languages students needed to decode with in 2024 included;

• The Yurakaré language of Bolivia
• The Sogdian language, once spoken in the ancient Iranian civilisation
• The Ewe language, spoken in Ghan, Togo and Benin.
• Coptic language, last descendent of Ancient Egyptian
• Tariana, an endangered language spoken in the Vaupés river area in Brazil with 100 speakers remaining.

An intense afternoon of competing, students worked superbly in their teams, decoding and translating words and phrases, then uploading them onto the online platform for the two-hour duration of the competition.

Jasmine Sotiroulis
OzCLO Coordinator

Students in Miss Caputo's year 8 HASS class embarked on a walking tour of historical sites as part of their local history unit. Students engaged in a tour of the PS Industry; learning about the steamers rich history dating back to its commission in 1911. On the excursion, students explored one of Renmark's most iconic landmarks, the Renmark Hotel, learning about its significance in the community. The class concluded the walk surrounded by the beauty of nature, enjoying a peaceful moment in the Rotunda Bandstand in the Jarrett Memorial Gardens, built in 1931. 

Kardinia Caputo
HASS Teacher

Stage Combat Performance

The year 8 Performing Arts class performed their stage combat plays to a small audience of year 8s. Students developed their play building skills as well as incorporating combat scenes into their plays. Students were creative, organised with learning lines, costumes, props, and performed with confidence.

Wendy Matulic
Performing Arts Teacher

Appetizers

The year 9 Food Technology classes have been learning about appetizers and plate presentation. Students designed, organised, and prepared their own appetizers for an imaginary restaurant with a theme of their choice and presented their dishes to judges in week 7. The criteria included plate presentation, taste and balance and theme of their restaurant. All students were well organised and creative with their appetizers. Judges were impressed with the high quality of food and presentation of their dishes.

Wendy Matulic
Food Technology Teacher

Yeast

Year 10 Food Tech students learnt about yeast, and were able to design their own bread. Students learnt about the techniques involved with various types of bread and were then able to create their own. These ranged from fruit loaves to garlic bread rolls and various herbal focaccias.  They all looked delicious.

Wendy Matulic
Food Technology Teacher

If you have any further general enquiries or questions, please contact our front office administration. 

From 1 March 2024 new regulations will extend the smoke-free and vape-free areas to within 10 metres of site boundaries.

This includes:

• school drop-off and pick-up zones that are within 10 metres of the school fence, gate or boundary
• school ovals and sporting fields and within 10 metres of the boundary of the oval or sporting field
• footpaths, roads, public nature strips and public recreation areas that are within 10 metres of a school boundary.

E-cigarettes

E-cigarettes, or ‘vapes’, are not safe for young people. They come in many shapes and sizes and can be hard to spot as they can look like everyday items including highlighters, pens, USB memory sticks or watches.

Key vaping facts

• Many e-cigarettes contain nicotine despite being labelled as not. Nicotine can cause long-lasting negative effects on young people’s brain development, including impaired learning ability and altered mood, and can increase the risk of depression and anxiety.
• E-cigarettes can contain the same harmful chemicals found in cleaning products, nail polish remover, weed killer and bug spray, which can lead to serious lung diseases.
• Young people who vape are 3 times as likely to take up smoking cigarettes.
• E-cigarettes are harmful to the environment as they contain single-use plastics and lithium batteries, cause pollution and can start fires.

The laws around selling e-cigarettes

It’s illegal to sell or supply e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18 years. Young people often purchase vapes online, from retail stores, or from friends and contacts on social media. There are a number of retailers who sell e-cigarettes to young people. This is a crime.

Talk to your child about vaping

It’s important to take the time to talk to your child about the risks of vaping. Try to start the conversation in a relaxed easy-going way, and remember your goal is to have a conversation, not deliver a lecture. Parenting SA provides a Parent Easy Guide on talking with children and young people about drugs and alcohol – visit parenting.sa.gov.au.

Get the evidence and facts about vaping at www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/vaping.

Find out more about how we manage alcohol, tobacco and other drugs in schools at www.education.sa.gov.au/vaping

Careers Counsellors make an invaluable contribution to helping secondary school students achieve their goals. In recognising the vital role you play, we feel we should make our organisation known to you, since our aim is in line with yours: helping students gain entry into the course of their choice.

As you may be aware, the UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) is required for entry into most medicine and dentistry courses across Australia and New Zealand. Students who wish to enter such courses in 2025 will need to sit UCAT in 2024.  

MedEntry is run by doctors and academics, and is the trusted leader in UCAT preparation. We provide resources for Careers Counsellors which can be accessed from MedEntry's teacher portal. Here you can find resources to pass onto your students (including a Medical Entry Handbook, 2 hour UCAT bootcamp and information sheets / posters), as well as resources to assist Careers Counsellors (including a recorded information seminar - a live event will be held on 6th March). As a Careers Counsellor, you can also nominate students for discounts and scholarships, as well as request free educational events. 

Many students mention in their evaluations that they wish they had known about MedEntry earlier. We therefore seek your assistance in making students aware of the services we provide by placing an article in your school newsletter or careers website along these lines:

Students interested in pursuing medicine and dentistry need to sit the UCAT test in July/August 2024. MedEntry is a government-accredited Registered Training Organisation specialising in UCAT preparation. MedEntry offers free resources, discounts of 40% for groups of two or more, and many other discounts including for those nominated by their teacher. For more information, please visit www.medentry.edu.au

UCAT 2024 Registration is Now Open

Candidates taking the UCAT ANZ in 2024 for entry to universities in Australia and New Zealand in 2025 should note the following key dates. 

UCAT ANZ 2024 Key Dates 

PLEASE NOTE: UCAT registration is only via the UCAT ANZ website - ucat.edu.au