As we approach the conclusion of another remarkable year at Renmark High School, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on our achievements, thank our community, and share some highlights from our Awards Night celebration.

This year, our school has continued its journey in strengthening student engagement and creating high-quality conditions for learning, guided by our core values of Respect, Connect, and Achieve. These values have been central to building a thriving culture where students excel academically, creatively, and athletically.

A key initiative this year has been the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) program, which enhances positive relationships and clear expectations across our school. PBL fosters a supportive, inclusive environment where students feel respected, connected, and motivated to achieve. Alongside this, our adoption of explicit instruction has ensured every student benefits from structured teaching and timely feedback, building confidence and strong foundations for success.

We have witnessed countless examples of our school values in action throughout the year—students showing respect through collaborative group work and participation in school events, connection through sports, community and schooling, and achievement through outstanding accomplishments in academics and extracurricular activities.

On Awards Night, we celebrated these achievements, recognising students who excelled across a range of fields. We also welcomed back Zoe Siviour, our 2023 Dux, who achieved the highest year 12 score in the Riverland. Her story continues to inspire our current students.

To the Class of 2024, congratulations on reaching this important milestone. We are proud of your growth into confident, capable young adults and look forward to hearing about your future successes.

This time of year also brings farewells to valued staff members that we know that won’t be part of our team next year:

• Lauren Schiller, after eight years of service, leaves us having made invaluable contributions to Science, Stage 2 Biology, and Nutrition, and through roles on committees like the Canteen and Governing Council.
• Jake Anspach, who has enriched our Design and Technology area with hands-on learning opportunities for students heading into trades.
• Tamika Uzzell, our permanent relief teacher, who has supported a huge range of classes and events across our school.
• Toby Johnson, our HPE trainee, who has provided exceptional assistance to students this year.
• A special farewell goes to Ben Files, who departs after 20 years of dedicated service to Renmark High School to take on a regional role supporting schools across the Riverland. Ben’s contributions as a teacher and Wellbeing Leader have left an enduring impact, and we thank him for his incredible service.

As we look to 2025, we are excited to celebrate Renmark High School’s 100-year milestone. This is a unique opportunity to honour our past, celebrate our present, and shape our future together. We encourage you all to get involved next year!

Thank you to our students, families, staff, and community members for your ongoing support and contributions. Together, we are creating meaningful opportunities for every student.

I wish you all a happy and safe holiday and look forward to working with you in 2025 as we continue to strengthen our school and community, grounded in Respect, Connect, and Achieve.

Mat Evans
Principal

As we come to the end of the term 4, I would like to thank parents and caregivers for their support with our annual Presentation Night and Prom. These celebrations are an outstanding display of what our wonderful students can achieve throughout the years of their schooling. This could not be done without the hard work and support of families, teachers, school support staff and the wider Renmark community. We are extremely proud of Renmark High School's young adults and look forward to hearing about their success as they make their way into the wider world.

House Points

Last Friday we announced the winning House for achieving the most PBL points for 2024. Students were awarded points for displaying our school values of Respect, Connect, Achieve. Over the year staff have been adding house points to any students they felt has made a difference by living up to these values. 

Murray - 2777

Sturt - 2524

Chaffey - 2165

Tintra - 1897

All winning Murray students enjoyed a Zooper Dooper after the winning team was announced. We will continue to improve this process and aim to communicate with parents about their child’s input next year. 

Year 12 SACE Results

SACE results -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. To access the SACE Board of SA Students Online portal, please follow the link:
https://apps.sace.sa.edu.au/students-online/login.do 

Students can 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. Any support from parents and caregivers in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

SA Volleyball Competition

Finally, I would like to wish Renmark High School Volleyball junior teams all the best this week at the SA Volleyball Smash event held in Adelaide. This year students have been training, competing in Monday night volleyball and planning for the annual event. As you can imagine, our students are excited for the big week ahead! 

I am extremely excited to be flying up to the Gold Coast with our senior teams this week to attend the Australian Volleyball Schools Cup for the first time since the competition originally was in Melbourne. I congratulate all the hard work and planning that has gone into these events and look forward to celebrating this week with our senior students in a busy week of volleyball.

Stay tuned for results on our Facebook page throughout the week. 

I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year holiday break. We look forward to seeing everyone in 2025.

Kind regards,

Marina Pater
Acting Principal
Director of Operations

At Presentation Night last week, Oliver K and Murphy P were awarded the 'Special Service Award' for their dedication to Doorways to Construction and the Cubby House project, displaying strong leadership, persistence and being willing to dedicate their own time to its completion. All profits from the sale of the cubbies, will go back into the Doorways to Construction program.

Elders Real Estate Renmark is currently hosting a raffle, where you can win one of these cubby houses valued at $1,500! Simply drop into Elders Renmark, 8 Renmark Avenue, Renmark and purchase a $5 raffle ticket. All their profits will be going to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The raffle will be drawn on Friday 20 December at 12pm. 

The RAP Committee had its last meeting for the year last night where we celebrated what has been achieved by staff and students throughout 2024. Danielle Weeks gave a speech highlighting this year's achievements with new sporting tops and new staff tops designed by Daniel Giles, increased Aboriginal Perspectives in the curriculum and well attended Family Fire Pit Nights. She also congratulated our recent winners from Presentation Night; Biljana Elliott, Maria Dowzard, Geoffrey M and Sam Y, and thanked all the students, and parents who attended RAP meetings throughout the year.

Congratulations and well done to all the staff and ATSI students who continue to support our RAP Committee. 

Throughout term 4, year 9 students have been working diligently in a combined English and HASS unit called Mind on Your Money. This business simulation challenged students to develop their own companies, requiring them to incorporate elements such as branding, product design, marketing strategies, and financial planning.

The unit culminated in a highly anticipated Sale Day, where students had the opportunity to showcase their company branding and products to an audience. Students stepped into the shoes of entrepreneurs, pitching their ideas with confidence and enthusiasm, negotiating deals, and selling their products to generate a profit. Each company delivered a sales pitch that explained their marketing strategies, the creativity behind their branding, and how they targeted their audience.

The simulation included a Shark Tank-style twist, where students presented their business ideas to a panel of “sharks” comprised of staff as guest judges. The sharks asked challenging questions about the viability of the businesses, pushing them to articulate their vision clearly, defend their strategies, and think on their feet when questioned.

A huge congratulations to all the students and staff involved. The creativity, dedication, and professionalism demonstrated by the students throughout this unit has been truly outstanding!

Kardinia Caputo
HASS Teacher

Our Photography students had the opportunity to visit Kat Bell's Orphic Phantasmagoria exhibition at the Chaffey Theatre, drawing inspiration for their own exhibition. Currently, the school library is showcasing Music on Our Minds, a Year 10/11 photography exhibition that uses a variety of photographic techniques to creatively interpret selected song lyrics.

Darija Atsaves
Photography Teacher

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.