Shaping Our School's Future Together

As we look ahead to 2025, our school’s centenary year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on who we are, what we stand for, and where we are headed. Celebrating 100 years of education is a significant milestone, and it provides a unique opportunity to unite as a community to revisit our school’s purpose and vision. 

In alignment with the new Department for Education’s South Australian Public Education Strategy, we are committed to ensuring our school continues to inspire, empower, and achieve success for every student. This strategy highlights the importance of connecting schools with their communities, celebrating diversity, and shaping futures that are not only academically rich but also socially impactful. 

To ensure our school continues to thrive, we invite you, our valued parents, caregivers, and community members, to share your thoughts. What do you value most about our school? What do you see as our core purpose? What vision do you have for our school’s future? 

As you reflect, we encourage you to think beyond the basics. What kind of sporting programs, technologies, or extracurricular opportunities would you like to see available to students? What kinds of learning experiences—inside or outside the classroom—would you value most for our young people? How can we ensure our school continues to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world while preserving the traditions and values that make us unique? 

We’ve created a short online form where you can share your ideas and reflections. Your input will play a vital role in shaping our direction for the years to come. You can access the form: https://forms.office.com/r/YWMwTipmhT or by visiting our school Facebook page. It only takes a few minutes, but your contribution will have a lasting impact. 

We are excited to work alongside you to honour our past, celebrate our present, and propel our school toward a future filled with limitless possibilities for every student and family. 

Year 12s: Celebrating an Incredible Milestone

We are delighted to announce that our year 12 students have successfully completed their final exams, marking the culmination of their journey at Renmark High School. This moment represents not only the completion of their secondary education but also a celebration of the determination and growth they have demonstrated throughout the year. 

With their final assessments now sent to moderators, we take this opportunity to commend each student for their hard work, resilience, and achievements during this significant chapter of their lives. 

To the parents, teachers, and support networks who have supported these students, your encouragement and guidance have been invaluable. You have played a vital role in shaping these young individuals into the remarkable people they are today, and we thank you for being part of their success story. 

Congratulations to our year 12 students on reaching this important milestone. We wish you every success in your future endeavours. May you continue to pursue your dreams, embrace new opportunities, and inspire others as you step into the exciting adventures that lie ahead. 

BYOD in 2025: Empowering Student Learning Through Technology

In 2025, all students in years 7-12 are expected to bring their own laptop to school or borrow a school-provided device for use on site only. Owning a personal laptop offers significant advantages, allowing students to access their learning tools seamlessly at both school and home, which is increasingly essential in our digital age. 

Most of our students already bring their own devices to school. For families concerned about security, lockers are provided to ensure safe storage during the school day. Families can choose to purchase a laptop independently or explore the recommended models available through our school portal. These devices are robust, designed for student use, and have a battery capable of lasting the entire school day. 

Choosing a recommended device simplifies the process for families, addressing the common question: "What should I buy for my child to use at school?" Additionally, the more students who bring their own laptops, the more funds we can redirect towards improving our school’s network and expanding access to cutting-edge technological tools for all students. 

To view the purchase and payment options and for further information, please click the link: https://renmarkhs.sa.edu.au/parent-info/byod-program/

If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Together, we can ensure every student is equipped to thrive in a technology-rich learning environment. 

Mat Evans
Principal

Year 12 students

The year 12 cohort have officially completed all of their final exams and assessment tasks and are now preparing for their end of year activities. They are to be congratulated on the way they prepared for and sat their final exams. We are expecting some excellent results.

We continue to receive information about job opportunities that may suit your child. Please feel free to contact the school if you want any more information about the opportunities advertised in this newsletter or on Facebook.

SACE Results will be released on Monday 16 December.

It is important that students can access their Students Online portal. They have been shown how to do this but may want to check they can still access it before this day.

Students may also change their SATAC University course preferences up until the 2 January with the main round offer occurring on the 10 January with subsequent offers after that.

The next major year 12 celebrations will be Prom, which will be held on Thursday 28 November at the Renmark Club from 5.45pm. Arrivals will start from 5.45pm. Parents and friends are welcome to mingle outside the club on the lawns to take photographs, where year 12 students will enter the club after for formalities.

The final event for is our Presentation Night held at the Chaffey Theatre on Wednesday 4 December at 7.00pm. All year 12 students must attend in school uniform, as they will be officially graduated as they enter and accept their certificate on stage. Award winners will also receive a personal invitation to attend in the upcoming week. Tickets are free and can be booked via the Chaffey Theatre.

We farewelled our year 12 students at the whole school assembly at the end of week 3. Each day throughout the week, students dressed as a different theme in the lead up to their final day of high school.

Year 11 student

The year 11 students continue to work hard as they lead up to their last day. They will have final exams, tests and assessments during week 7. Their last day of school will be on Friday 29 November where they will be able to meet up with their Stage 2 subject teachers and find out more information about next years subjects. An Edsmart broadcast has been sent home to parents outlining all this important information.

Students are also completing the final part of their Research Project and this will also need to be handed in by next Friday 29 November. If not completed, students will be required to attend in week 8 to be supported in finishing this compulsory SACE subject before they start year 12 in 2025.

Any support from parents in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Marina Pater
Assistant Principal
Director of Operations

Our Enterprise students have been on a journey of entrepreneurship this semester, generating innovative ideas that solve identified problems in our society. Some exciting business ideas are a local paddle board hire/sale business, innovative lifejackets, healthy eating gym-goers app, extendable and self-cooling esky, outdoor chair and ocean sweeper. We congratulate Aaronpal S, Jackson W, Ben L and Kirby R, as well as Ethan E and Amir U for making it to the semi-finals. We especially congratulate Aaronpal S, Jackson W, Ben L and Kirby R for making it to the national finals where they will pitch their idea to a panel of judges this week, competing against 8 other teams across Australia. We wish them the best of luck to our top team!

Darija Atsaves
Enterprise Teacher

Last Thursday, Renmark High School First Nation students were invited to celebrate their success and improvement in their PAT data for the year by enjoying a morning tea in Namawi Pulgi. Students gathered with Mr Evans, Mrs Turnbull, Ms Weeks and Daniel, where they all spoke about their wins, what they liked and how they could improve for the future. Once concluded, students enjoyed their delightful morning tea with one another.

On Monday our SAASTA Connect students met with experts from the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board in Berri to talk about the carpet python and its importance to the local area. The students learnt about the declining number of carpet pythons in the region, and ways First Nations people can help support identifying this important species. Students were also able to hold a carpet python for the first time!

Alistair Ward
Senior Leader of Creative Technologies and Entrepreneurship

This Monday, staff and students came together at lunchtime to compete for the top spot in a match of volleyball. It was an intense few rounds, with the staff taking home the win. Our senior students played incredibly well and it was great to see some of our junior year levels cheering the students on. 

Our students have shown outstanding commitment to our school values of Respect, Connect and Achieve. As a result of their hard work and positive behaviour, they reached an impressive milestone of 6,000 house points!

To celebrate this achievement, a special PBL reward was held on Monday during lunchtime. Students were treated to Zooper Doopers, which were a hit with everyone.

We were also thrilled to welcome the year 6 students who joined us as part of their transition program. It was wonderful to have them share in this celebration and experience the spirit of our school community.

Congratulations to all students for their fantastic efforts. Keep up the great work!

Wendy Matulic
PBL Committee 

Our instrumental music students had a visit from Renmark Primary School students today as part of a combined band session. Students played several tunes with one another, followed by a fun game to conclude the session. Thank you Ms Roberts for taking the session!

Congratulations to our Renmark High School volleyball teams who competed against other Riverland schools at the Riverland High School Volleyball Tournament today. All students played exceptionally well and allowed teams to practise for Adelaide Volleyball next month.

Below are the final results:

• First place: year 7, 8 and 9 girls
• Second place: year 7 boys, year 8 boys and year 9 girls.

Well done to all teams involved! 

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

• Dress sizes available: Size 4, 14 and 16
• Scarf (navy blue) 

Available to purchase at Student Services.

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.