2022 Term 1 Week 7

PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

LAURENCE VICTORIOUS

What a fabulous day! 

Our annual Sports Day was conducted in good spirits with high levels of participation and strong competition – but ultimately Laurence prevailed in a close fought contest – narrowly moving past Fenden.

A special thanks to our Health and Physical Education Co-ordinator, Mr Corey Ottey, for his outstanding organisation.  Events like this do not just happen and many extra hours were put in to make it a highly successful day.

Congratulations to all age division winners  and runners up – there were some very tight fought tussles through the day – with ties recorded in several divisions.

Moving offsite to Bridgestone Athletics Centre was a masterstroke on a variety of levels.  Not only did it give students the opportunity to compete on a world class track and access other professional facilities, but it also supported staff workload (eg not having to mark a track for one day) and contributed to a very positive school vibe. 

ROBOTICS SUCCESS

Our school is quickly developing a reputation for itself in the world of STEM competitions.  I had the pleasure of attending the VEX Robotics National Championships last weekend to see our team in action.  After finishing 3^rd in the teamwork competition and 5^th in the skills competition, the team has now qualified for the World Championships in the United States.  Many thanks to their staff mentors, Jamie Broadhurst and Pete Phillips for their leadership in this area.  For a more detailed report, please read the next article.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY

Friday was the first of our pupil free days.  Originally it was planned that we would undertake Day 1 of the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) training. Unfortunately, due to scheduling issues, this has been postponed to the end of Term 2.

As such, the day had a curriculum focus with staff involved in collaborative moderation of student learning to ensure consistency of teacher judgement as well as a range of planning and decision-making activities.

TACKLING BULLYING – EVERYONE’S BUSINESS

Next Friday is the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence.

In a survey of wellbeing and engagement undertaken by our students last year, it emerged that verbal victimisation (name calling, teasing and being humiliated) was the most common form of bullying experienced by our students. 

The survey also indicated that bullying was most prevalent at Year 8 and decreased as students progressed through the school.

At Salisbury East High School, we have an extensive education program through Mentoring and also follow up reports of bullying seriously.  We know that prolonged bullying can have a very profound impact on a young person’s mental health and well-being.

But we cannot do it alone.  As parents we also can support our young people to make good choices about how they communicate with their peers.  We can teach them about empathy for others and question their motives and actions, rather than assuming that someone else must have caused it.

And if they are on the receiving end?  Rather than condoning retaliation or getting involved yourself, advise them to not respond but to report it instead.  Two wrongs do not make a right.

We also encourage students to report when they witness bullying – even if it doesn’t involve them. 

Recent Australian research into bullying shows that:

• Three out of five students (59%) have experienced bullying.
• One in five students (20%) admitted they had bullied another person.

As parents, it is difficult to accept that our own children may be responsible for bullying others or just being plain mean.  I can personally recall going on a school camp in Year 7 and treating several others in my dormitory quite poorly. Reflecting back on this, I am deeply embarrassed and appalled that I would do such a thing but I can recognise that I was trying to impress other people – but in the wrong way.

Rather than thinking, ‘my child wouldn’t do that’ or ‘my child always tells the truth’, it is more productive to work with them to understand why they did what they did and help them to make better choices in the future.

PROGRESS WITH NEW BUILDINGS

Our new modulars have arrived and our builders, Sarah Constructions, are busily working onsite in readiness for a proposed ‘handover’ on March 29.

The two buildings will house a new Design and Technology workshop, a new Food Technology kitchen and several rooms that ultimately will become theory spaces for Technology. 

VEX World championships here we come!

Our VEX robotics team have done us proud once again this term by qualifying as one of the Australian representatives at the 2022 World Championships in Dallas! Having qualified for the national championships back in November last year they have been working hard to make improvements to their robot and performance.

We went into the tournament quietly confident of surprising some the big teams from around the country. Our tournament started off shaky when our robot was deemed too large to compete less 24 hours prior to our first match. The team came together and completely redesigned the base of the robot and completed the impossible, highlighting the togetherness and resilience of our team.

When the tournament began our team started strong and posted some competitive scores, buoyed by positive comments from other teams about the unique and effective nature of our robot.

During the teamwork stage of the competition our boys ranked 7^th out of 24 teams to qualify for finals and ranked 5^th for individual skills. In the finals matches our team had a clean run and scored 64 points, securing a 3^rd place finish!  

Qualifying for a World Championship is something these boys will never forget. Now we have some more work to do to improve yet again and be ready for the challenge of taking on the best VEX robotics teams around the world.

Mr Broadhurst

CAITLIN'S COLUMN

Hello all,

I hope everyone is settling in to Term 1 well.

This is just a short introduction to me and my role this year.

I am very excited to be starting this year at Salisbury East High as the new Pastoral Care Worker and I have already felt so welcome. I look forward to connecting with staff, students and their families as the year goes on. I will be working alongside your wellbeing team assisting staff and student needs.

For those who are unsure of what my role includes, allow me to explain…

• I am fortunate to have a flexible day, allowing me to support staff and students anytime I made be needed.
• I am here to listen, support and provide pathways to relevant resources that can assist wellbeing and development.
• I will be working with the school to host programs and to develop strategies that will promote community and positive relationships amongst the students and their teachers as well as meeting any other needs necessary.
• We are fortunate to have a generous community surrounding the school and I will be building relationships with local services and churches in the area that will provide the resources we need.

This is just a brief overview of my role and if you have any questions or are in need of support please call via the school, or come and see me. My office is located at the back of the Senior Art Centre, on level 2 of the Admin Building.

I hope this year is going to be full of opportunities for us to connect and support each other. I look forward to meeting you!

Caitlin McElroy (PCW)

FINANCE NEWS

Material and Services Invoice Payments are now overdue.

Payments can be made:

• At Front Office (Cash, Cheque, Credit Card or EFTPOS)
• Via a Bank transfer:-

          ACCOUNT NAME: Salisbury East High School Inc – Consolidated
          BSB: 065-122     ACCOUNT: 11105055   Reference: (Your family code)
          Email remittance to dl.1011.info@schools.sa.edu.au

• Via Bpoint (please refer to information on school website at

           Finance - Salisbury East High School (sehs.sa.edu.au)

If you wish to make payments by instalments,

• complete an “Agreement to Pay” form https://sehs.sa.edu.au/app/uploads/2022/01/Agreement-to-pay-debt-by-instalments-updated-Jan-2021.pdf

If you wish to pay via Direct Debit, please complete Direct Debit Request Form https://sehs.sa.edu.au/app/uploads/2022/01/Direct-Debit-request-form-Jan-2022-.pdf

School Card

You can apply online at SA.GOV.AU - School Card scheme (www.sa.gov.au) . Paper copies are available from the front office.

STUDENT VOICE REPORT

Who are we? 

Student Voice is our school’s version of SRC (Student Representative Council), established to ensure that the students have a voice and right to involve in any decision makings that can impact us. Likewise, if you are a student and have a concern or suggestion that you would like to make, please feel free to reach out to us.

Our current works

In these past few weeks, Student Voice has looked at different issues at our school, and the following is an overview of the subjects of our discussion and action plan:

• New recess and lunchtime activities
• New furniture and their designs    
• Addressing littering issues
• Lollypop people (Starting Monday Week 6)
• Day against Bullying and Violence (18th March 2022)

In our first official week, Student Voice has looked at the possibility of including more activities around the school during recess and lunch. Amongst the many suggestions, a proposal to create a gaming club was made, and as a result, we now have a gaming club running every Tuesday during recess time! While it’s a given that these activities will offer students a fun and enjoyable experience, it is noteworthy that they can bring us closer to one another and strengthen our sense of belonging within our school community. Likewise, participation in these activities is highly encouraged. 

Following our first week, we have helped select the designs for our new furniture which will hopefully be installed on the school ground to provide more seating areas for students, and encourage students to move away from congregating in the central yard, especially with the increase of students with our Year 7s this year. We’ve considered various design options, factoring in their year-round functionality, comfortability and the school aesthetic.

Our most recent activity was encouraging our fellow students to work together and pick up litter around our school. It is our first step into addressing issues with littering at school. As Student Voice, we encourage and entrust everyone to help keep our school clean by respecting our learning environment and being responsible for our litter.

What’s next for student voice?

• Working on the positive postcards design and winners.
• Excursion to work on team building as a group.
• Developing understanding about bullying in mentoring.
• Open Night

Written by Sonthari Dilen Keam, Student Voice Representative