Term 3 Week 2
PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
A DIFFERENT START TO THE TERM
When we commenced the term last Monday, there were no indications that we’d be in lockdown within days.
But as we’ve come to learn through this pandemic, circumstances can quickly change and by Thursday we had transitioned to online learning. Thankfully, the lockdown did not need to be extended beyond the seven days and most of our school community have been able to return to face-to-face learning over the past few days.
I’d like to once more acknowledge our families’ support to keep students connected with their learning over the week. We are in the midst of collecting some feedback from students and staff to inform future planning and it is evident that some students enjoyed the extra flexibility of learning from home while others really struggled without the face-to-face contact with teachers.
But not back to normal…
While we expect to have most students back at school after the weekend, not everything will be back to normal. There will still be:
- A restriction on visitors to the site.
- No face-to-face large gatherings of students or staff
- No excursions within the next week
- Encouragement of social distancing wherever possible
- Continued focus on hygiene protocols
And the requirement to wear masks…
For the foreseeable future, staff and students will be required to wear masks when indoors. This is a new experience for most of us and it will take a little adjusting. As someone who wears glasses, I’m still experimenting with what works best for me. I’ve also learnt that some masks are more comfortable than others so it is worth trying a few different styles.
To date we have been really impressed with the response from our students and this is no doubt due to the active support from families. But doing this ‘day in day out’ will require some perseverance.
One of our school values is resilience which means staying strong, demonstrating character, overcoming barriers, pushing through and problem solving.
It’s always important to keep our eyes on the big picture – reducing the risk of the transmission of COVID-19.
PLEASING RESEARCH PROJECT RESULTS
Last week our Year 11 students who submitted their Research Project at the end of Semester One were notified of their results.
Research Project is a compulsory Stage 2 subject which all students need to successfully complete to achieve their South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE).
64% of our students gained A or B grades.
Congratulations to Sadikcha Dahal, Charlie Hurrell, Dilen Keam, Nikesh Majhi, Rylie Mulvany, Amber Pratt and Shazia Sharifi who all achieved straight ‘A’ grades for Research Project.
Another 11 students achieved A- grades.
YEAR 12 HOLIDAY SEMINARS
I would like to acknowledge the teaching staff who offered their students the opportunity to come in and work at school at various times during the holidays – providing individualized and small group support.
ADVANCE NOTICE
Monday, September 6thth will be a school closure to align with the Royal Adelaide Show.
Tuesday, September 7th is a staff development day (student free day).
The focus will be on collaborative moderation to ensure consistency of standards between classes and preparing curriculum for the arrival of Year 7’s in 2022. This will be the final student free day for 2021.
YEAR 7 TO HIGH SCHOOL UPDATE
Welcome back to Term 3. In this section of the newsletter there are two important pieces of information for new parents of both Year 7 and Year 8 Students for 2022.
Firstly, we would like your feedback and opinions about the transition to high school. We have created a survey that is open to all parents and would encourage you to complete this honestly, and in a timely manner so that we can take all of your feedback on board. The following link will take you to the survey.
Secondly, last week SSO, Stephanie Hosgood and I completed the training for the updated enrolment to High School process. There are some changes that will affect all families who will be enrolling in high school this year.
Below is a summary of the big things that will affect you:
- Parents will need to complete the enrolment forms online, unless they do not have access to internet or email, and then we will be able to provide them with a hard copy pack. Parents will need to request this from the high school themselves.
- As a part of this online process, parents will have to attach scanned copies of their child's birth certificates, proof of residence and medical records as scanned documents, or they will not be able to proceed with the application.
- Parents will only have 14 days from the time they receive the enrolment offer to complete the forms, or they risk losing their spot at the high school.
- Children in care's offer will be sent to their case workers who will need to complete the process just as parents would.
- If parents 'decline' an offer using the online system, it cannot be reversed, and the student has lost the spot at that high school. Parents can 'hold' an offer if they are deciding between two schools - however this is not indefinite as the entire system locks parents out after September.
This process will all start around August 13th, 2021. We are planning to have an evening and a morning where parents will be able to come into SEHS and have us help them complete the forms and scan documents for them. More information about this will come when we have more concrete plans.
If you have immediate concerns about this process, please feel free to contact Kate Mckinna on 8258 2070. Otherwise, we will make sure you have more information as soon as we can. Less than 6 months until we have year 7s on site – how exciting!
Kate Mckinna, Learning & Transition Coordinator
CONGRATULATIONS!
A SEHS soccer star has been officially recognised as one to watch in the future by Football Australia!
Froribert Niyonkuru recently received an invitation to an FA ‘Talent Identification Camp’, to be held in Queensland, where he will join up with the most promising young players in the country and be evaluated by coaching staff of the national under-17 team.
The Year 12 student, who plays for Croydon Kings, has been a part of our school’s Specialist Soccer Program since Year 8 and is currently studying the subject at SACE Stage 2, achieving A grades for all his assessment tasks so far.
And the highly-talented midfielder now has the chance to elevate his sport to an entirely new level by being selected for a future Australian squad and taking part in international matches.
This is an incredible, and well-deserved, recognition for Froribert, and Salisbury East High School is very proud of his achievement.
LUNCHTIME ACTIVITIES
Fifty four students participated in the e-sports FIFA 21 competition over 12 weeks at SEHS. An elimination tournament of five rounds, it ultimately came down to two: Abbas (winner) and Ali (runner-up). You are officially the two best FIFA players at Salisbury East!
COURSE COUNSELLING
Course Counselling for 2022 will begin this term. More information will be sent to parents/ caregivers regarding this but below are the important dates.
Week 4 – Wednesday 11/8: Year 11 into 12 Subject selection info sessions
Week 5 – Monday 16/8: Year 10 into 11 Subject selection info sessions
Week 6 – Year 9 into 10 & Year 11 into 12 course counselling
Week 7 – Year 10 into 11 course counselling
YMCA YOUTH PARLIAMENT
Two year 11 students, Sharifullah Habibi and Hossein Bayani, participated in the YMCA SA Youth Parliament this year. The non-partisan program empowers young people to be advocates for their community and all Youth Parliamentarians went on a six-day camp to develop their leadership skills, connect with politicians, make decisions and voice opinions and debated their unique bills in Parliament House. During the camp, they had lot of fun and learnt lot of skills. After some heated debates in Parliament House, both students are keen to do the program again and in that context, give a big shout out to the Salisbury Youth Council for sponsoring them.
Sharif’s Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation Committee passed their bill about Raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years of age to 14 in South Australia. Hossein’s Environment and Energy Committee also passed their bill about Green Industry Manufacturing, Mining and Energy Future. Sharif also presided over three debates, which he really enjoyed.
We are exceptionally proud of Sharif and Hossein for representing their school and community and look forward to sponsoring students to attend this program next year. Below are some perspectives from Sharif and Hossein.
Hossein Bayani
“Youth parliament was a great chance for me to improve my public speaking. By completing Youth Parliament I managed to make friends and get the chance to be in Parliament House to debate. I highly recommend young people to join Youth Parliament to develop new skills and knowledge that they don't know about. I thank the Salisbury Youth Council for sponsoring me and I hope SEHS will also consider sponsoring more young people to join this program”
Sharifullah Habibi
“Youth Parliament was a program that not only made me a confident speaker but also taught me lot about politics. It was a great experience for me to be presiding over three debates at Parliament House. For young people who thinks their voice doesn’t matter, then YMCA SA Youth Parliament is for you!!! I thank Salisbury Youth Council for sponsoring my camp and I hope SEHS sponsors other young people next year. I missed those pasties at parliament house☹ Can’t wait to attend this program again next year.”
2021 SENIOR SKI TRIP
On the 11th of July, 23 Year SEHS Senior students, along with Ms Shepherd and Mr Peck, made the trek to Mt Hotham in the Alpine Region of Victoria, to commence 5 days of snowsports, snow lodge living and epic fun. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, it was a nail-biting lead up, with Ms Shep and parents worrying daily whether our much anticipated trip could happen, but luck was on our side.
After a twice delayed flight, and a five hour bus trip, we made it to the beautiful snow capped Mt Hotham, and settled into Bundarra Ski Lodge. Our lodge managers, Laura and Johann, ensured that we understood the safety aspects of life on the mountain and we prepared for a few days of intense learning.
Getting the students out of bed was a daily challenge, with some bouncing out in anticipation and others (Year 10 boys and girls) needing a few gentle reminders. A quick breakfast and short bus ride saw the students commence lessons, with all students progressing quickly – we were immensely proud of how committed our students were, and how many persevered to become competent snowboarders.
It wasn’t all business on the slopes though! Our evenings were filled with all sorts of non-device related fun. The ‘Spoons’ card game tradition continued, with everyone on the mountain subjected to ear piercing squeals and the sounds of flying cutlery as students fought to avoid the dreaded snow-angel-in-what-you’re-wearing, or 10-push-ups-in-the snow penalty. Our massive lounge room with open fireplace became a movie theatre each night, which inevitably ended up with several snoring students exhausted from a big day of boarding, and despite best efforts to stay up and party, it was always quiet by 11:30pm as tired heads hit pillows – so wholesome!
Our annual snow man competition was a highlight as always. The kids scrambled to build in difficult conditions, with sleet stinging their faces, and all produced awesome creations (some more X-rated than others – thanks Year 10 boys!). It was a difficult decision, but the Year 12 boys Spongebob came away with the win, while the Year 12 girls snowcat, and Year 11 girls igloo village were close behind. There was an attempted objection by the runners-up but they eventually became humble in defeat (thanks Elana!)
The end of our lil SEHS family holiday came to an end coincidently in line with the Victorian lockdown – our luck had held out. We were so fortunate to have avoided any quarantine requirements, with all students just needing to have Covid tests on our return, which were all negative.
A huge thank you to the parents for their support and patience, which was greatly appreciated.
Mr Peck and I willingly give up our school holidays to provide our students with this fantastic opportunity and enjoy seeing our students flourish as they learn new skills that can contribute to their SACE.
A massive high 5 to our 23 students, who made the trip a huge success.
Riley Bell – Most likely to cop a snowball to the face
Chloe Boldog – Award for always remaining positive and never complaining!
Jason Bowers – Most enthusiastic and earliest riser
Brayden Brightwell – Coolest dude on the slopes (literally nothing fazes him!)
Seth Candida – Most likely to drag people around by their feet
Kyrah Cannon – Most likely to lose something and avoid photographs!
Elana Dalakis – Worst non-snow related injury (who fractures their toe by dropping a chair on it? cool story bro!)
Matt DeVisser – Most likely to break something in the first 5 minutes of arrival
Jake Green – Award for most easy-going character
Zed Halteh – Most likely to never, ever, ever close his mouth
Sidney Hayes – most likely to have a clothing related incident
Chantai Hopkins – Coolest chick on the slopes (literally nothing fazes her!)
Jordan Jones – Biggest unintentional clown and muscle flex’er
Cooper McGrath – Most likely to know everything before anything happens
Brooklyn McIver – Most energetic and frenetic
Hayden Mychajiliw – Most polite, but likely to be cheeky when you aren’t looking
Kaitlyn Nowina-Krowicki – Most likely to sleep in but be ready with 2 minutes notice!
Hayley Pastro – Best smile and most sociable
Amber Pratt – Award for being the most resilient and positive
Jess Rogers – best hair and perseverance
Myah Shepherd – most likely to buy everything in the gift shop
Chelsea Thomas – Award for best recovery and being an all-round trooper
Haylee Woodman – Most likely to sing really loudly and badly on a bus
Mr Peck – Most likely to sigh, raise his eyebrows and just get on with it
Ms Shepherd – Award for biggest poser on the slopes.
Thanks everyone!!! Looking forward to next year :0)
Ms Shepherd, Deputy Principal
DEBATING EXCURSION
In Week 10 of Term 2, the 2021 Salisbury East High School Debate team, and adjudicators attended the Northern Area training day held at Twelve Twenty Five in Salisbury. This year's team includes Vicky Kim, Puja Subedi, Shivika Parshad, Cody Wood and Jolly Keam. Salisbury East High School has also entered two adjudicators Charlise Hurrell and Brooke Duncan.
Throughout the day, students worked through sessions about how to develop more complex arguments using specific figures of speech, defining phrases to set up your argument and working collaboratively to plan a debate from the start.
The last session of the day saw Salisbury East High School take on Craigmore High School in a mock debate. Salisbury East were able to dominate the debate and take away a convincing win.
