MARGARET RIVER SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER 10th March 2015

158 Bussell Highway Margaret River WA 6285, Ph: 9757 0700 Fax: 9757 2253 Absences: 9757 0795

Email: MargaretRiver.SHS@education.wa.edu.au

Website: www.margaretrivershs.wa.edu.au

Principal’s Message

The beginning of each new school year opens a new chapter at Margaret River Senior High School. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all students, parents and staff to Margaret River Senior High School for 2015. In particular, I welcome students who are new to Margaret River Senior High School, particularly the 153 Year 7 students and the 173 Year 8 students who are attending high school for the first time. We thank you for choosing our school and hope that your time with us will be both productive and rewarding.

We have had an excellent start to our school year with students and teachers returning after their holiday break invigorated and keen to get to work. The start to the school year has been extremely smooth and it is exciting to see many new enrolments which has resulted in our numbers increasing to 859 for 2015. It was particularly pleasing to note the high level of compliance with our dress code at our first assembly; I thank students and parents for their assistance in this matter. A reminder that the school uniform is compulsory and has been endorsed by the Margaret River Senior High School Board.

This Year we welcome 16 new staff to accommodate the increased enrol-ments at MRSHS. All new staff have been specifically selected to teach at Margaret River SHS. We welcome:

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 

Friday 6th March– Swimming      

Carnival. 

Tuesday 10th March— Friday 20th 

March, OLNA Tes ng. 

Friday 13th March—OPENING OF 

NEW BUILDING 

Year 12, 2015 School Ball 

Thursday 19th March—A er school 

play rehearsal. 

Thursday 19th March—Year 9 High 

Ropes Explorus. 

Friday 20th March—School Surf/

Body Board Compe ton. 

Monday 23rd March—Rehearsal and 

Performance for Year 11 students. 

Monday 23rd March—PACTS Train‐

ing, Year 7 & 8 Parents. 

Tuesday 24th March—Upper School 

Play Performance. 

Wednesday 25th March—Year 7’s 

Water in the World Excursion. 

Thursday 26th March—Upper School 

Soiree, Year 10—12  6.30pm. 

Friday 27th March—Year 12 Biology 

Cave Excursion 

Wednesday April 1st—ANZAC Ser‐

vice P5. 

Thursday 2nd April—School Athle cs 

Carnival. LAST DAY OF  TERM ONE. 

 Term 2 Commences: Monday 20th April 

OPENINGOFNEWBUILDING.

FRIDAY13THMARCH

Kylie Marsh Deputy Principal Year 10—12

Shane Joyce HOLA PE

Chris Bailey HOLA HASS

Andrea West Science

Johno Miller HASS

Mark Miolin Mathematics

Lisa Elliott Mathematics

Kath Galaeni Mathematics

Amanda Gradisen Dance/PE

Josh Hardy Computing

Isabelle Lemon Music

Claire Lacy English

Alastair Allen Technology & Enterprise

Brigitte Lawrence Education Assistant

Cindy Dombrowski Education Assistant

Gail Williamson School Officer

To notify of absences from school please phone

Student Services on 9757 0795

or email: MargaretRiver.SHS.StudentServices@education.wa.edu.au

Our 2014 School results were outstanding with our median ATAR of 81.65 resulting in our

school being highest achieving school in the Southwest in this area. This statistic includes both

government and non-government schools. Other outstanding results include:

 

Year 7/8 Lunchtime Volley ball Competition

Year 7 students have been engage in a Lunchtime Volleyball Competition in which student representatives from each form play against rival form classes to decide who is Number 1. There has been an extremely high partici-pation rate from all form classes and all games have been played with great spirit and exceptional sportsman-ship. Special thanks are extended to student volunteers who have assisted with umpiring and to Mrs Buck-land, Miss Goyder and Mr Kupfer-Hollis for their organisation and supervision of the competition.

I am extremely proud of the achievement of our Year 12 group who embodied our ethos: The purpose of our school is to ensure that the academic, creative, social and personal potential of each student develops to the highest possible level.

In 2015 the school has a clear focus on providing students with relevant homework that is aimed to assist with completion of school courses and provide extension for high performing students. Parents are encour-aged to assist by checking student diaries and helping set good study and homework routines at home. The school’s Homework Policy can be viewed on the school’s Website in the ‘About Us’ section under School Policies: www.margaretrivershs.wa.edu.au.

I am extremely proud of the achievement of our Year 12 group who embodied our ethos: The purpose of our school is to ensure that the academic, creative, social and personal potential of each student develops to the highest possible level.

In 2015 the school has a clear focus on providing students with relevant homework that is aimed to assist with completion of school courses and provide extension for high performing students. Parents are encour-aged to assist by checking student diaries and helping set good study and homework routines at home. The school’s Homework Policy can be viewed on the school’s Website in the ‘About Us’ section under School Policies: www.margaretrivershs.wa.edu.au.

Andrew Host

Principal

Principal’s Message cont…...

33rd ranked school for 75+ Number 1 student in Mathematics Specialist

3rd Highest Country School in the State Student in top .05% in Physics

8th highest Government School in the State 6 students with Certificate of Excellence

24th ranked school for 65+ 91.46% average for Literature

Number 1 Country School in the State Top Ten Schools in Biology

6th highest Government school in the State  

HEALTH & PHYSICAL EDUCATION

It was a rude wake up call at some ‘ungodly’ hour on Thursday morning of 12th Feb-ruary 2015. The bus departed at 6.00 am to transport 17 budding Biologists and 2 staff to the Perth Zoo for the day; a journey that was to take 3hours and 30 minutes one way. If one does the calculations, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to question such a quest, to spend just 4 hours at the zoo.

But, it was well worth it. Students enjoyed a one hour presentation on the topic of classification by zoo staff which included a close encounter with a handsome lizard, a very spikey echidna and a Rottnest Island quokka, followed by a self-guided walk through the marvellous grounds to learn some Biology. Throw in some beautiful Perth weather and an excellent cohort of students and the whole experience was an awesome one to be had by all.

Just one last note: We are very fortunate to have such a well designed and well kept zoo in Western Australia and a visit comes highly recommended.

Year 11 Biology at Perth Zoo

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION  

 

Year 7/8 Lunchtime Sporting Equipment During Recess and Lunch, Year 7 and Year 8 students have been utilising the addition of sporting equipment from the Health & Physical Education office, adding to their enjoyment and level of activity during breaks from class. On offer are a number of Basketballs, Footballs, Soccer Balls, Touch Rugby, Cricket Sets, Tennis equipment and Frisbees. We hope to add fur-ther variety to the selection as the year progresses. Physical activity is a very important aspect of everyday life and being physically active during breaks at school can assist in improving academic achievement by increasing a student’s ability to concentrate in class. Students should be commended for their responsible use and taking great pride in the care for their new sports equipment.  

   

School Development Day – Tuesday 3rd March  As part of the School Development Day on Tuesday 3rd March, 17 staff members participated in Provide First Aid (Senior First Aid) Training at the school run by the school’s very own First Aid Trainer, Mr Kupfer-Hollis. Staff members involved came from a range of areas such Learning Area Teachers, Year Coordinators, Camp Co-ordinators and Student Services staff. This training provides staff with an opportunity to develop and reinforce their skills and knowledge to provide a high level of first aid care to your child whilst they are at school, attending school events and excursions or trav-elling away interstate and internationally. The level of care provided to students is always enhanced by the supply of up-to-date medical information to the school and ensuring your child brings and carries the necessary medications when at school and attending ex-cursions. Please contact the school on 9757 0700 should you wish to update any medical information for your child.  

Health and Physical Education

HEALTH & PHYSICAL EDUCATION  

 

Swimming Carnival On Friday 6th March, Year 7 – 10 students who nominated, took take part in the annual MRSHS Swimming Carnival held at the Margaret River Aquatic Centre. The day comprised of a range of competitive swimming events and participation events including novelty races. Re-sults from these events will be used to select the MRSHS Swim Team that will travel to Bunbury on Tuesday 24th March to compete in the South West School Swimming Carnival. Well done to all students for high levels of participation in the events for excellent representa-tion of our school within the community.   

 

    

Category Gold Silver Bronze

Year 7 Girls Mazie Wood Phoebe Willcox Jessi Whitehead

Year 7 Boys William Matthews Ethan Buckland Lachlan Allan

Year 8 Girls Emma Horak Arabelle Gibson Zali Morgan

Year 8 Boys Reif Oxley Sam Cawood Fynn Boylan

Year 9 Girls Ester Pedrick Janaya Beddow Ruby Flintoff

Year 9 Boys Ben Spence Flynn Winstanley Archie Currell / Jack Haslau

Year 10 Girls Annabelle Jones Alex Shaw Hannah Lane

Year 10 Boys Frank Bennett George Tugwood Cooper Stubbs

HEALTH & PHYSICAL EDUCATION  

 

Swimming Carnival

        

Appreciation is extended to the Senior School students, parent helpers and spectators for their valuable contributions to making the swimming carnival a mem-orable day on the school sporting calendar. I would also like to extend appreciation to the HPE staff and to Mrs Buckland for co-ordinating such a wonderful event.   Shane Joyce – Head of Learning Area – Health & Physical Education    

             

     

   

 

1st Taurus (791)

2nd Scorpio (756)

3rd Pisces (547)

4th Aquarius (388)

Drama at Fringe Festival Busselton Sat 14th of March Week 6

Big Band Picnic Music Concert Thurs 19th of March Week 7

Dead White Males Tues and Wed 24/25th of March Week 8 We are very excited to be welcoming two arts specialists into our faculty for 2015. Amanda Gradisen has been a leader in performing arts education across our the Busselton and Margaret River district for over 18 years. She has left the private system to join MRSHS as our Dance specialist and her passion and expertise will build many more Dance opportunities at our school. Amanda is taking a group of Upper School Dancers to see the Western Australian Ballet Company production of Zip Zap Zoom in March. She will take a team of senior danc-ers to compete at a state level in Country Week Dance this July.

Well known musician (and former student) Isabelle Lemon has returned to Margaret River after completing her studies at WAAPA and Edith Cowen University. She has joined our music team as a classroom teacher, guitar/vocal specialist and the director of our choir. Isabelle brings with her talent, enthusiasm and fresh ideas for the exciting

arts event we have in store for 2015. Our first Music event is the Big Band Picnic on Thursday the 19th of March. Parents and friends are asked to join us in the Performing Arts Quadrangle for an evening of musical entertainment. Please feel free to bring your own blanket and food to this alcohol free picnic. Performances will go from 5 until 7pm and parents of each student who is performing on the night will receive notification from their Music teacher.

On Saturday the 14th of March sixteen Year 10 Drama Students will travel to Busselton to perform two original plays in the local Fringe Festival. Our actors will perform “The Sock Drawer” and “Storm in a Tea Cup” – two plays devised and written by our current Year 12s. Please come to the Fringe and support our students if you can.

Our Upper School Drama class is busy preparing for our production of David Williamson’s Dead White Males. This play is a social satire which explores the “nature versus nurture”. Williamson targets academia and the current emphasis placed on Post Modernism. His play focuses on a young, female university student who en-gages in many debates with her friend William Shakespeare about his sexist portrayal of women. Our produc-tion is comical and fun and it stars our entire Upper School class and Mr Ed Lacy. Tickets go on sale though the front office in Week 6 ($15 for Adults and $10 for students) and the production will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday the 24th and 25th of March.

At the end of this term we will be very sad to farewell our Music specialist Priscilla Den Boer who is moving to Switzerland with her new husband. Priscilla has worked tirelessly to enhance the vibrancy of our Music program. We will miss her and we wish her all the best. Priscilla is current-ly working with Isabelle Lemon to ensure smooth transition for all Music students when she leaves.

Arts Festival 2015 will be held on Monday and Tuesday the 8th and 9th of September and in Term 2 we will pre-sent a lower school performing arts showcase at the Cultural Centre on Thursday the 11th of June. Please put these dates on your calendar and get ready for an exciting year of Arts events.

Arts Update

LANGUAGES  

 

Selamat Datang! Santa Laurensia High School From the 4th to the 11th March 20 Year 11 Indonesian students (12 girls and 8 boys) and two staff from Santa Laurensia High School are visiting Margaret River SHS.

During their stay in Margaret River, the Indonesian students and their Australian hosts have had a fun packed nine days which included a full day excursion around Margaret River tourist area as well as a farewell trip to Perth.

Thanks to the generosity of the host families, teaching staff and students at Margaret River SHS the Indonesian students have been able to experience Australian culture and a wide range of subjects offered by our school in-cluding Music, Science, Languages, Maths, English, Home Economics, Society and Environment, Arts and Dra-ma lessons.

This visit has been an enormous success and will forge many lasting friendships which can continue through personal visits, social media and email contact.

Angela McCoy Sister School Exchange Coordinator

    

          

  

   

ANIMALS & VINEYARD

We have had 2 calves born in the last couple of weeks – always an exciting time of the year. 5 cows are still to give birth – we wait with baited breath. The Year 8 classes spend time with the calves, halter breaking and leading. It has been a busy time in the vineyard. Students have been removing nets and harvesting the whites. Netting the reds and ongoing maintenance of the vineyard at this crucial time of the year.

ORCHARD & OLIVE GROVE

Our orchard has been espaliered over the past year and is now looking like it should. It is a slow process and we have sacrificed fruit for the 2014/15 years to give the trees every opportunity to establish themselves and provide good foundations for a bumper harvest in 2015/16. We hope to net it in the future to keep the birds out. The olive grove is now growing beautifully after we had another local organic farmer specialist – Jamie McCall – come in and show students how to prune the olive trees. They are now the proper vase shape, have been culled to give more space between trees and we expect a great harvest in the ensuing years.

VEGIE GARDEN

The chicken run has been extended so now the chickens can roam in the vegie garden and the orchard, fertilis-ing, eating bugs and scratching up the soil. The vegie beds now have a semi-permanent fence to keep chooks out when produce is growing but can be removed when we are finished with it and let the chooks in to weave their magic. Permaculture is a wonderful thing.

Belinda Howse Head of Technology and Enterprise.

 

Farm News

Olive Grove Pruning

Weeding the espaliered

fruit tree. 

Malakai and Jack in

the Vegie Garden

Brayden and Malaki

HYDROPONICS

We were fortunate to secure the expertise of a parent and local chef, Cain Humberstone to help us set up a very cheap but efficient hydroponics set up in the greenhouse at the school farm. These photos show the building of the setup which took only half a day with the help of our new farm manager Peter Wright. We have the “Rockwool” which is the growing medium, the “pebbles” and the nutrient and are now waiting on delivery of seeds to get it up and running. We aim to supply Home Economics, the school canteen and others with fresh hydroponic lettuce and herbs to begin with and if all goes well expand from there.

This is a very clever system which operates as either hydroponics or aquaponics. We are setting it up as hydro-ponics for the interim and once we have become experts then we are hoping to get goldfish into the tank below and convert it to aquaponics. Stay tuned for pictures of our fantastic produce in the next newsletter.

Farm News cont….

NOTICE BOARD

Jack, Sofia and Mithril

in the newly completed

Hydroponic garden

Seeking Mentors!

“An engaged community helping young people to succeed”

The MRSHS Mentoring Program is currently recruiting volunteers:

ONE HOUR – ONE STUDENT- ONCE A WEEK Please contact Kathryn Seisun on 97570719 or email

Kathryn.Seisun@education.wa.edu.au if you have any questions or would like an application form.