Issue 1 Term 1 2021

Important Dates to Remember 3 - 5 March - Year 8 Camp 8 March - Public Holiday 9 March - Student Free Day

11 March - SRC Induction Assembly 12 March - Sports Day 22 March - Governing Council AGM

24 March - Open Night2 - 5 April - Easter Long Weekend9 April - Last Day Term 1

Principal’s Report

Welcome back to 2021. I want to extend a warm welcome to all students and parents who have joined us for 2021, along with our continuing families.

As usual, this year has started with a rush. The builders handed over the Gym extension buildings and began their work on the English and HASS areas.

During the holidays, the support staff worked tirelessly on moving furniture and lockers ready for the start of the year. At the same time, the re-roofing of the Library/Arts and main building started. This will be a rolling project to minimise the school’s overall impact, although our classroom spaces are getting very tight.

Other building work that occurred over Christmas are:

• Removal of lockers from the two computer rooms (creating open planned computer rooms)

• Re-design of an office area

• Relocate ICT help desk to the library

• ICT help desk area converted back into a classroom

• Locker area developed in old Boys changerooms

Throughout this year there will be more building projects including:

• Two new Disability classrooms

• Outdoor locker area

• Front Office relocation

Congratulations to our 2020 Year 12 Students

Our Year 12 results from 2020 showed significant growth in the B grade bands, and we continued with our 100% SACE completion.

As a school, we are very proud to acknowledge the following achievements:

• Dux of the School: Nicholas Shute and Jemma Harvey

• Merit Certificates: Shaya Paddick for English

• Two ATSI students completed their SACE

• 15 students from the AHVC completed their SACE

• Two students completed modified SACE

Staff Changes for 2021

I want to introduce our new staff:

Sarah Brooker Harold Mitchell Centre

Matt Devine English, HASS and Resource Centre

David Howling Home Economics, Art and Science

Heath Masters English and HASS

Daniel Ralph Outdoor Education and Science

New SSO staff

Paul Roberts Grounds

Returning Teaching Staff

Jack Clayton Special Needs and Connect

Mel Dunn Personal Learning Plan

Josh Guttilla English, HASS and Resource Centre

Kate Hynes Outdoor Education, English and Resource Centre

David Jenkins Mathematics

Adele Liebelt English and HASS (Semester 1)

Glen Mears Adelaide Hills Vocational College

Emma Raper Science, Health and Physical Education

Ross Templeman Agriculture

Mel Turner Home Economics

Gym Extension Building

English and HASS Redevelopment

Comparison of results from 2019 and 2020

% o

f res

ults

Issue 1 Term 1 2021

Returning Support Staff

Tayla Dunn Science Laboratory

John Evans Learning Support

Mel George HMC

Scarlett Gluyas Learning Support

Maddi Harper Learning Support

Ruth Hughes HMC

Liz Membrey HMC

Jes Rogers HMC

Carole Sadler HMC

Carl Schilling ICT Support

Emma Steele Learning Support

Petra Turner Learning Support

School Leadership

Executive Team

Warren Symonds Principal

Jenni Cook Deputy Principal: Student Wellbeing and Support Services

Kerryn Keys Business Manager

Assistant Principals

Andrew Dunn Innovative Pedagogies and Curriculum

Karen Horvath Adelaide Hills Vocational College

Tim Rodgers STEM Coordinator

Kirsten Wissell School Operations

Coordinators

Penny Collins Leading Learning

Shannyn Daniel English

Nathan Doble Student Pathways

Taylor Goodwin House Leader: Hindmarsh

Richard Greig Wellbeing Coach

Nicki Hacquoil Harold Mitchel Centre

Sam Hall HASS and Cross Disciplinary Studies

Matt Honner Healthy Lifestyles

Vanita Hutchinson Creative Lifestyles

Jarrod Jones House Leader: Angas (Term 1)

Kelly Kimber House Leader: Barker

Kerry Woods House Leader: School

Teacher Release

Amanda Clark Mathematics

Matt Devine Resource Learning

Josh Guttilla Resource Learning

Kate Hynes Resource Learning

Josh Farmer AET

Governing Council

On Monday, 22 March, we will be holding our 2021 Governing Council AGM meeting. Our Governing Council is a vibrant group of volunteer parents who actively support the school in making a range of decisions and developing ideas/concepts. The Governing Council has been pivotal in the significant changes occurring at Mount Barker High School. If you’re interested in becoming a member of our Governing Council, could you either attend this meeting starting at 7.00 pm in the school’s new Gym Extension or email me at warren.symonds138@schools.sa.edu.au.

The main reasons for absence are:

Sickness – There are always times when students need to miss school, such as when they’re ill. It’s vital that they’re only away on the days they are genuinely sick, and setting good sleep patterns, eating well and exercising regularly can make a big difference.

‘Day off ’ – Think twice before letting your child have a ‘day off ’ as they could fall behind their classmates – every day counts.

Truancy – When students choose not to go to school without their parent’s permission. There can be many reasons for truancy, the best way to address this is for the school and parents to work together.

While all absences are bad for academic performance, unexcused absences are a much stronger indicator of lower reading and maths achievement.

Remember, every day counts. If your child must miss school, speak with your classroom teacher as early as possible.

Openly communicating with the school about all absences is an excellent way to prevent attendance issues from escalating to a School Attendance Officer.

If you are having attendance issues with your child, please let the House Teacher, House Leader, Deputy Principal or other relevant staff members know so you can work together to get your child to school every day.

At Mount Barker High School, we aim for an average attendance rate of 94%, which is less than two days of absence any term. Please help us reach this goal by ensuring: Every Day Counts!

Warren Symonds Principal

Attendance

Every day counts: It’s essential to be at school every day

In Years 8-12, students miss on average almost a week every term across Australia – that’s four weeks of school per year!

Going to school every day is the single most crucial part of a child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind.

Why it’s important

We all want our students to get an excellent education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day.

Students develop good habits by going to school every day – habits that are necessary to succeed after school, whether in the workplace or in further study.

Missing school can have a significant impact on students academically and socially. It can affect their test results, including SACE, and, just as importantly, it can affect their relationships with other students, and lead to social isolation.

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind and can affect their educational outcomes.

Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading.

Getting in early

It’s never too late to improve attendance – going to school more often can lead to better outcomes. Going to school more often can make a big difference. Every day counts. If you’re having attendance issues with your child, we are there to help, and please call us to investigate ways to address these issues.

Only missing ... That equals ... Which is ... and over 13 years of schooling that’s ...

10 minutes per day 50 minutes per week Nearly 1.5 weeks per year Nearly half a year

20 minutes per day 1 hour 40 mins per week Over 2.5 weeks per year Nearly 1 year

Half an hour per day Half a day per week 4 weeks per Year Nearly 1 and a half years

1 hour per day 1 day per week 8 weeks per year Over 2 and a half years

mtbhs.sa.edu.au

House Leaders Update

The House Leaders would like to welcome our students and families back to school for 2021. The House based system implemented this year has already brought positive results. It is great to see our senior students mentoring the younger students within their House Groups. There is also some healthy House competition occurring, with quite a few students collecting house points for acts of community service.

The Year 8 Camp is happening in Week 6. Our students are very excited about the camp which provides our Year 8s with opportunities to get to know each other outside of the classroom and to participate in aquatics activities.

Sports Day will occur on Friday 12 March, Week 7. Our House Captains and Sports Captains are busy preparing students for the athletic events and House march. Our captains have demonstrated great enthusiasm and leadership in these tasks, and we look forward to seeing how our students perform on Sports Day.

We would like to remind parents that student absence needs to be communicated to the House Teachers or Front Office so that rolls can be updated. Please note that no student should be signing in or out as Home Study during the day. Senior students are required to be at school every day, including during their study lessons and all House Time. On Wednesday we finish at 2 pm, and students need to remain in House Time until then. If students need to attend an appointment, etc. they need to provide a note to Student Services when they sign-in/out. When students leave on Wednesday at 2 pm they are encouraged to stay away from the local schools that finish after 3 pm to avoid any disruption to these sites.

Student drivers and passengers need to provide a signed form to their House Leader regarding their vehicle/driver details. These forms can be collected from the House Leaders’ office.

We look forward to a great term, feel free to contact either your child’s House Teacher or Leader if you have any questions.

– Kelly Ktenidis (Kimber)

– Jarrod Jones

– Taylor Goodwin

– Kerry Woods

Kindness in Practice

Unsung Heroes: Who in your family or school community is an unsung hero of kindness? Who can you count on for a kind word or listening ear? Many heroes go without recognition. After you identify your hero, brainstorm 3 ways to thank them for their kindness. They are setting an amazing example for you and others in how to be kind, even during difficult times!

HMC1 Swimming Lessons

In Week 3 of Term 1, some of the HMC1 students completed an intensive week of swimming lessons at the Mount Barker Mountain Pool. All students learnt about water safety. It was great to see the incredible improvement in all students during the week.

Nicki Hacquoil HMC Coordinator

Issue 1 Term 1 2021

English

It is hard to believe that four weeks have already passed! Our Year 8 students have settled in well and have been producing some excellent work. They have already completed some Personal Reflective writing and they are all currently working on a Recount task. This is a great way to transition from what they would already know from their learning about Recount texts in Primary School, and we plan to build on this knowledge by introducing some new writing techniques. After we have finished the Recount task, we plan to spend some time on Poetry. This is a brand new unit and we will be looking at some more modern forms of poetry, including ‘Instapoetry’. Students will have the chance to both analyse and create some poetry, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Our Year 9 students have been busy working on a Novel Study and will soon undertake the ‘War on Waste’ exposition task. Not only does this help to foster and develop a greater understanding of our impact on the world around us, but it will help to prepare them for the NAPLAN. We hope to encourage students to understand the importance of NAPLAN

in helping us to identify areas we need to extend students, and areas where students may need additional support.

This is just one data set we use to help plan for and implement learning programs.

Our senior students have been working on a range of Text Response and Text Production tasks, including an Instagram Feed with a focus on language techniques, and a guest speaker, ‘Luka Lesson’, who spoke about and performed poetry to our Year 11 students. This was a great opportunity for our Year 11 students to engage with a ‘real’ poet, and the work we are seeing students produce as a result is fantastic.

Shannyn Daniel English Coordinator

Insta English

A new year and new beginnings. Our Year 10 English classes have spent the first two weeks of Term 1 creating an Instagram feed that represents each student’s identity. A seemingly simple task at first was made more challenging as students were asked to incorporate a plethora of language features, some meaty metaphors, sophisticated similies, and hilarious hyperbole, just to name a few. Students spent the first lesson furiously searching for the best images to curate an Instagram feed that was both aesthetically pleasing and spoke to who they are as young citizens.

Josh Guttilla English Teacher

I am the Person Who

I am a person who loves soccer but can’t play as a goalkeeper

I am a person who likes Maccas and KFC but not Hungry Jacks

I am a person who likes songs but does not like singing

I do not get as much attention as my siblings because I am the middle child

I am a person who likes tomato sauce but not tomatoes

I am a person who does not like fruit on pancakes

I am a person who likes to draw but does not do it very often

I am a person who likes texting people rather than calling them

I am a person who is a huge Messi fan but also thinks Ronaldo is a good player

I am a person who thinks Minecraft is the best game ever created.

Caliotis Year 8 Student

mtbhs.sa.edu.au

For tomorrow’s students

Mount Barker High School warmly invites you to our OPEN NIGHTTour the school’s new facilities and building developments, experience the school’s 112 year heritage and discover how we’re leading the way in Positive Education to build positive futures.

Wednesday 24 March 2021 | 4.00pm - 8.00pm | Bookings essential(via QR Code below or bit.do/2021mtbhsopen)

2 Wellington Road, PO Box 456 Mount Barker South Australia 5251T 08 8391 1599 F 08 8391 0631E dl.0783_admin@schools.sa.edu.au W mtbhs.sa.edu.au

EST

19 08

Breakfast Club

From 8 - 8.30am in the Home Economics area on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Year 12 Conference Day

Our Year 12 students attended a Conference Day at Arbury Park where they attended sessions on how to survive their final year of school.

HMC2 Lincoln Park Visit

Students and staff from HMC2 went back to Lincoln Park Horse and Human Rehabilitation Centre for their first visit for the year.

It was great to see Sonya and the horses again. The students had a great time reconnecting with the horses they worked with last year.

Year 12 Revision

Week 1: 13 - 15 April

Week 2: 20 - 22 April

Adelaide Education Consultants

Early Bird $149 full subject

www.aeg.sa.edu.au

BIKE SHED

The bike shed is locked between 8.50 am to 3.10 pm Monday to Friday.

Students arriving during this time will need to chain their bike up temporarily to the outside of the shed.

It will be unlocked briefly at 11 am during Recess to move your bike inside.

PLEASE DO NOT CHAIN BIKES TO THE GATE.

It is recommended your bike is locked inside the shed as the school does not accept responsibility for damage or theft.

Keep up to date!

School website:

mtbhs.sa.edu.au

School Facebook page:

facebook.com/MtBarkerHS

School calendar:

mtbhs.sa.edu.au/about/school_calendar

Daymap parent portal (access guides/resources):

mtbhs.sa.edu.au/students/digital_literacy

Issue 1 Term 1 2021

19 08

EST

Department for Education T/A South Australian Government Schools. CRICOS Provider Number 00018A

2 Wellington Road, PO Box 456, Mount Barker South Australia 5251 T 08 8391 1599 F 08 8391 0631 E dl.0783_admin@schools.sa.edu.au W mtbhs.sa.edu.au

Principal Warren Symonds

Deputy Principal Jenni Cook

Assistant Principals Andrew Dunn Kirsten Wissell Karen Horvath Tim Rodgers

Business Manager Kerryn Keys

EXECUTIVE TEAM

Our Community

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.

~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.