Welcome to week 6, and as the mornings are showing us - winter is here! 

Student Free Day

A reminder that this Friday is a Student Free Day. This time is dedicated to professional development for our teachers, aligning with the DfE strategy for public education, our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) framework, and the South Australian curriculum. These sessions are important in ensuring our educators are equipped with up to date knowledge and skills to provide the best education for our students. Our commitment to continuous improvement reflects our school values of respect and achieve, as we respect the importance of professional growth and strive for excellence in education for our students. 

World's Greatest Shave

Congratulations to our incredible staff and students who participated in the World's Greatest Shave. Together, we raised over $4000 for the Leukemia Foundation. This terrific achievement encapsulates our school motto, "Not for ourselves alone," and highlights our value of connect as we come together to support a worthy cause with enthusiasm and generosity.

National Volunteer Week

Last week was National Volunteers Week, and we extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our volunteers, including our Governing Council members, and parent and community members who assist with sporting events. Your dedication and support embody our value of respect, as you selflessly give your time and effort to enrich our school community. We are grateful for your contributions.

Daymap

As we approach the end of the term, it's essential for students and parents to regularly check Daymap for assessment comments. These comments provide critical insights into student progress and highlight areas for improvement. Staying informed through Daymap ensures that students can address any concerns promptly and continue to strive for academic excellence. This aligns with our value of achieve, as we aim for continuous improvement and success in our academic endeavors.

PBL Focus on Kindness

Our current PBL focus is on speaking with kindness. We encourage everyone to speak with kindness to others, around others, and about others. Promoting a culture of kindness not only supports a positive school environment but also helps build strong, respectful relationships within our community. Our focus on kindness is a direct reflection of our values of respect and connect.

Transition Visit and Parent Information Night

In week 4, we held a successful Transition Visit and a Parent Information Night for our future year 7 students and their families. It was wonderful to see our future students in the beginnings of their secondary school journey. We look forward to welcoming them fully next year and supporting their smooth transition into our school community. Our transition program aligns to our value of connect, as we develop strong connections with new students and their families.

Dame Roma Mitchell Award 

We are thrilled to announce that Meegan G has been awarded a Dame Roma Mitchell scholarship at a presentation in Adelaide recently. This prestigious award recognises Meegan’s outstanding achievements and potential. Congratulations Meegan, your dedication and hard work demonstrate our value of achieve.

Mat Evans
Principal

Term 2 continues to ramp up with opportunities for students to find out more about all types of post school options available to them. It is also a time when students should be working hard to meet all assessment deadlines and set some personal goals for themselves around what they want to achieve by the end of the year.

The 'Flinders University Inspire' program has begun this term. Students who nominated have been linked with a university mentor who they will meet fortnightly either face to face or via Zoom to discuss. The Flinders University team meet as whole student groups four times throughout this term to provide further support. It doesn’t matter if students are looking to study at Flinders University, they will assist and guide students with course selection, scholarships, accommodation ideas, how to navigate university life, etc. We are very pleased to have Flinders University on board again this year. This follows on from the successful university camp we held in week 11 last term.

The biannual Flinders University Roadshow will be hosted here on Wednesday 19 June all day. All Riverland schools will travel to Renmark High School for the day to join our year 11 and 12 students. On this day students can work through a series of workshops covering a variety of potential course ideas.

Adelaide University visited Renmark High School this week to present to year 11 and 12 students who are interested in studying any of their courses next year.

As other career opportunities come to our attention, we will advertise these in our student bulletin and newsletters. We offer support to students with writing resumes and cover letters to prepare them for the workforce. Renmark High School continues to support students in their senior years by offering a range of career avenues for students to consider during school or post school. 

Elevate Education

We’re excited to announce that Elevate Education will be hosting their next parent webinar on supporting your child during exams on Wednesday 5 June from 6.30pm – 7.30pm.

Elevate works with our students, delivering high-impact workshops on study skills, motivation, wellbeing, and exam preparation. By tuning into their webinar series, you’ll learn how you can help support your child at home by reinforcing the skills they’re learning at school.

They will cover:

• Helping your child prepare in the week before an exam
• Establishing a good routine for your child the night before
• Helping your child to optimise their exam performance

To register, please follow the link:https://go.elevateeducation.com/auschoolwebinars 

Senior Study Space

Senior students have been provided with a spacious, upgraded study area and common room. Year 11 students are expected to be at school at all times. Year 12 students are granted Home Study if they have study lessons at the beginning or end of the day. Year 12 students can also access other areas in the school to be able to seek support from specialist teachers.

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

Marina Pater
Assistant Principal
Director of Operations

Our Riverland SAASTA academy visited Alberton Oval last week for the football carnival, careers expo and cultural immersion.

Congratulations to Renmark High School student, Mia S who designed the Riverland SAASTA guernsey’s this year. Her story reflects her connection to her Arrernte/Walpiri mob and Erawirung Country where she lives now. 

Lachlan was recently selected for the School Sports SA 16 and Under Boys Basketball team. Lachie attended 3 trials in Adelaide on Sunday nights during May, competing for a spot in the 10 man team against 60 other students from across South Australia. He is one of only 3 players in the team from outside the metropolitan area. Lachlan is one of two players that will be representing SA for a second time in this competition, after competing last year in Perth, winning the bronze medal. Lachlan will attend 6 trainings on Sunday nights in Adelaide with the team between now and July to learn new plays, and to develop team chemistry with his new teammates.

The team will be flying to the Gold Coast to compete against the other States in the School Sports Australia National Competition in at the end of July.

He also recently competed in the Basketball SA State Championship in Adelaide. Representing the West Adelaide Bearcats U18 Division 1 team, Lachie and his teammates won the bronze medal, defeating Norwood by 11 points in the final. After finishing in the top four teams in South Australia, Lachlan and his team will now travel to Melbourne on the June long weekend to compete at the National Junior Championships, also known as 'the Classics'.

Congratulations to Meegan G who has been selected as one of the Dame Roma Mitchell Scholarship recipients in 2024. The scholarship is named after the late Dame Roma Mitchell AC, QVE, CVO, QC who had a long association with reconciliation and Aboriginal communities. Meegan received her scholarship at an official presentation at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre at the end of May. 

Meegan was chosen for the scholarship because of her level of consistent achievement, her drive for learning and improvement, her career aspirations and statements from her referees.

Martine Turnbull
Aboriginal Education Teacher

Sustainable Dining

Year 9 Food Tech classes cooked their sustainable meals in pairs, in week 3 after designing their own dishes based on what they’ve learnt in class. Some students also made bread rolls and various types of pasta from basic ingredients.

"I enjoyed making the bread rolls for our practical." Meka

"We made the shortcrust pastry for our pie instead of buying it so that it was more sustainable. It’s also cheaper." Logan

"The pasta was easy to make from scratch, I thought it would be harder. It also tastes a lot better." Caleb.

"I was very happy with how my chicken broccoli pasta turned out. It smelled good, and it was the best thing I have made so far and it also looked the best." Sarah

Wendy Matulic
Food Technology Teacher

Students in Miss Caputo's year 9 English class have kicked off their debating unit by solving a fictional bank robbery. Student crime solvers were given several pieces of evidence including suspect profiles, witness statements, and potential alibies to analyse and identify a potential culprit.

Students had to justify their findings with evidence, construct potential rebuttals, and practice their public speaking skills when presenting conclusions to the class.

An awesome display of teamwork, analytical skills, and creative problem-solving - all very important skills when it comes to executing a successful debate!

Kardinia Caputo
English Teacher

Pavlov, does that name ring a bell? 

This week, Mrs Hooper’s year 11/12 Psychology class developed their understanding of classical conditioning by using each other as test subjects. The class were randomly allocated to the ‘experimenter group’ or ‘test subject’ group. The experimenters repeatedly ‘administered’ Wizz Fizz at the sound of bell in a bid to classical condition the test subjects to salivate. The students said that participating in the fun and frivolous experiment helped them to begin understanding the process of classical conditioning.

Tamara Hooper
Psychology Teacher

Renmark High School will be offering an Adelaide 36ers Academy and XVenture Schools Program as a subject next term. The schools program is an experiential learning program that focusses on emotional agility, resilience, leadership and aims to equip young people with important life skills to thrive in their life. The subject will be offered to students in year 10 and 11, which they can select at the end of this term as part of the subject selection process. Further information will be released later in the term. 

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

Students and families who have inadequate or no access to internet at home are eligible to apply for a free internet connection to support learning.

There are 2 options available to eligible families:

• wireless internet access from the Department for Education through the student home internet program
• NBN broadband internet access until December 2025 from the Australian Government through the School Student Broadband Initiative.

You might be eligible if you:

• have a school aged child
• don’t have reliable home internet access or have no active NBN broadband connection.

Find out more about what options are available and how parents and carers can apply by visiting the department’s website.