Loxton High School NEWSLETTER · NEWSLETTER. FROM THE PRINCIPAL - DAVID GARRETT. Term 1 at Loxton...

13 MARCH 2020 Loxton High School Newsletter Term 1 Week 7

NIPPYS GIFT

13 March 2020 Term 1 Week 7

Loxton High SchoolNEWSLETTER

FROM THE PRINCIPAL - DAVID GARRETT

Term 1 at Loxton High School is always a very busy time. This newsletter gives a glimpse into some of the events and activities that happen in the life of our wonderful school.

Loxton High School Continental, Friday 20 March and our strong community connectionsLoxton High School is strongly connected with our local community, enriching the education enjoyed by our students. Our Continental on Friday 20 March relies on this connection. We would not be able to run the event without the donation of goods and services by many generous parents, individuals, businesses and organisations from the community. We welcome community members to our school and enjoy each other’s company. This enables our students to achieve something of value by working together, with amazing support from our staff. The school makes an effort to contribute back to our community through the Mardi Gras and Nippy’s Gift, with staff and Prefects being involved in the parade, and helping to set up and pack up the Nippy’s Gift. In a letter of appreciation, Nippy’s Loxton Gift Committee Chair Paul Lewis reminded me that Loxton High School has been involved with the Nippy’s Gift since commenced back in 2002.

Parent/teacher interviews Monday 30 March 1.45 to 6.00pm and Tuesday 7 April 4.00pm to 6.00pmI encourage parents and caregivers to book times to meet with Home Group and subject teachers, to discuss your child’s progress. PTO will be open for bookings on Friday 13 March. For more detail please refer to the letter that was sent to parents and caregivers this week. Please note we have adjusted interview times, which will now be scheduled from 1.45pm to 6.00pm on Monday 30 March. Students will be dismissed at 1.30pm. Those who are not able to travel home after the early dismissal will be supervised as they complete private study tasks. Interview times are also be available from 4.00pm to 6.00pm on Tuesday 7 April.

Dr Kerry Halupka holiday STEM student session, Thursday April 16 2.00pmWe are fortunate to have past Loxton High School student Dr Kerry Halupka available to run a workshop and discussion session with interested high school students, parents and staff, on Thursday April 16 at 2.00pm in our Innovation Hub. We understand that this is in the first week of the school holidays, but the opportunity offered by Kerry is too good to miss. Kerry will be showcasing her contribution to STEM and her ground breaking work in science and technology. For more details, refer to the flyer published later in this newsletter.

CURRENT DIARY DATES

MARCH

17 LHS Sports Day Governing Council Mtg 20 Continental 23-24 Yr 11 Canoeing 25-27 Yr 9 DOE Camp 26 Yr 10 Careers Pathway Day 30 Interviews

APRIL

1 Interschool Sports Day 3 Yr 11/12 Art/Design Exc

Bookpurnong Road PO Box 446 LOXTON SA 5333 P: 8584 7339 F: 8584 7765 [email protected]

TRUST OPTIMISM RESPECT SUPPORT COMMITMENT


Professional Learning Day, Friday 6 MarchWhile the students began an extra long, long weekend last Friday our staff were busy at school with a professional learning day with a focus on numeracy. Improving our students’ numeracy is one goal in our School Improvement Plan.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority says that, Numeracy encompasses the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that students need to use mathematics in a wide range of situations. When teachers identify numeracy demands across the curriculum, students have opportunities to transfer their mathematical knowledge and skills to contexts outside the mathematics classroom. These opportunities help students recognise the interconnected nature of mathematical knowledge, other learning areas and the wider world, and encourage them to use their mathematical skills broadly. This means that numeracy is a foundational skill that equips students to be successful in all subjects at school as well as in life and work beyond school.

The day began with staff developing a shared understanding of Numeracy strands and levels for Years 8 to 10 in the Australian Curriculum, led by Numeracy Leader Sheree Arnold. They then moved into faculty groups to identify and document numeracy skills that are taught in each Curriculum Area. When this was completed, most teams reviewed numeracy learning described in learning units, tasks or assessment rubrics. Some staff used the time in the afternoon to continue a task we began last year, which is to include vocabulary strategies that we learned last year through our work with Dr Rosie Kerin.

Curriculum reviewThe arrival of Year 7s to high school in 2020 has provided an opportunity to review aspects of Loxton High School’s curriculum and particularly, how we deliver the Australian Curriculum in our lower year levels. We began our research last year by visiting Clare High School, which has had Year 7 students for the last 15 years. We also visited John Pirie Secondary School, which is a Department for Education Year 7 Pilot School. We have met with leaders and teachers in our local primary schools to find out what works well with Year 7 students, and what they think is important for us to consider in our planning. By the end of 2020 we will have conducted a review, made recommendations, consulted with the school community, made some decisions about how we will organise the younger year levels. In 2021 we will be planning and writing curriculum materials ready for 2022.

FROM THE PRINCIPAL CONT... FROM THE PRINCIPAL CONT...

Led by Tara Deren, we have already reviewed key Department for Education documents and other policies. We have reviewed literature about what is needed to equip young people to be successful and considered data that illustrates what our students are choosing, how they are performing and where they head after finishing high school. We will report our progress in newsletters throughout the year.

SAPOL student sessionsParent/caregivers may remember that late last year there were reports of a stranger approaching children. There was also a serious road accident in front of the school. At the time I said we would invite SAPOL to talk to students about staying safe when faced with these and other circumstances. We invited Loxton SAPOL Sargent Mark Howie to talk with our Year 10 and 11 students then our Year 8 and 9 students. With the Year 10 and 11 students, Mark gave information about the consequences of unsafe driving as well as the types, impacts and legal consequences associated with illegal drug use. He then talked to the Year 8 and 9 students about stranger danger, as well as the legal implications of assault, and the use of objects to threaten other people. This was to supplement our usual Child Protection and road safety programs.

A snapshot of lunchtime activities at LHSA couple of weeks ago I scanned our student notices for additional opportunities our teachers provide students during their lunch times (this is the time when teachers might actually be having a break – if they’re not doing yard duty!) This is just in one week: Ben Grieger ran a fishing knot workshop; Trish Yandell ran AI for Good preparation sessions; Cheryl Burgemeister, Sheree Arnold, Hayley Ramsay, Margot Kranich and Julia Andriske worked with the Show Choir; Kate Simes, Penny Gill and Trish Yandell offered students the opportunity to make jewellery with our new laser cutter in the Innovation Hub; Janine McAllister worked with students in the Sewing Room to repair clothing; Grant Fisher prepared the House Leaders and extra helpers for Standards Day (and did line marking after school with interested helpers); Grant Fisher and Jackie Dahlitz ran lunch time organisation meetings and a swimming training for the Adelaide swimming team; Hayley Ramsay ran impromptu speech workshops and an organisation meeting; and Russell Voumard with Thomas Pilgrim kicked off the Pedal Prix season with a meeting of interested students. In the last week many of these activities have continued, but with lunchtime athletics trainings added. Whew! No wonder the staff room is a little deserted at lunchtime!


School Improvement Plan and Annual ReportThe Governing Council has recently endorsed two key school documents:• Our School Improvement Plan• The Annual Report

These documents provide information about where we are going and how our school is performing and can be viewed on the school’s website. Click on the ‘About’ tab at http://www.loxtonhs.sa.edu.au.

On Monday 2 March thirty five students headed to the State Swimming Centre at Marion to compete in the C Grade section of the School Sport SA Swimming Championships. After a surprise victory at our local Inter School Swimming carnival we were keen to test ourselves against the bigger schools from all over SA.The event results started a little similar to our Inter School night at Renmark two weeks ago, with us midfield in the Butterfly events and then slowly improving our placing’s by gaining some top three finishes in the Backstroke. We moved from Backstroke to Breaststroke, which allowed us to place thirteen times in the top three out of eighteen events. Our Freestyle competitors had mixed results from a few low placing’s to some solid top three finishes. We were confident our relay teams were as strong as we could make them. This proved again to be a telling moment in the competition with our team’s finishing in the top three positions seven times out of a possible ten events. Our students all contributed to a consistent performance throughout the day which enabled us to finish First in the Girls and Third in the Boys. These two results combined allowed us to win the overall best school for only the third time in nine years.Well done to our two Captains this year in Lacey Hill and William Gillett who led the team well all day. Thank you to our small group of parents Pip Inglis, Trini Hale, Kym Binder and Elton Ogle who helped time keep and support students during the day. Well done to our Champion Manager Mrs. Dahlitz who had each student at their event on time and performing well. Overall a fantastic way to finish our short Swimming season at school.Results: Girls: Loxton High 639, Clare High 605, Concordia 594Boys: Adelaide High 642, Concordia College 622, Loxton High 600Combined Team Scores: Loxton High 1,239, Concordia 1,216, Clare High 1,180

GRANT FISHERSPORTS COORDINATOR

On Wednesday 19 March Loxton High took seventeen teams to West Lakes Canoe Club to compete in the School Sport South Australia Championships. Well done to Tia Dahlitz (2nd in the Intermediate Girls State Individual event) and also to Monty Wall and Molly Wishart who both finished fourth in their respective age groups in the Come & Try Individual event. All of our teams were competitive in each of the age groups with many of our juniors competing for the first time. Our best results were a third in the Intermediate Mixed with the team of Zoe Raynes (Swimming), Mitchell Koop (Cycling) and Corey Gow (Running). The Junior Mixed team consisting of Jessica Inglis (Swimming), Andy Kariuki (Cycling) and Sarah Beames (Running) finished in first place to gain a gold medal each.Well done to all of the students who participated, some of which filled in at the last minute so all teams could still go. Those that wish to have a go at the Individual event next year will need to do some training in all three disciplines as soon as the New Year starts. Those in the Team’s event only should also be training well before we get back to school if they wish to be competitive at this level.A big thank you to Mrs. Dahlitz and Mr. Voumard who made the long haul down to Adelaide the night before so they could support all of our students in both the Individual and teams events.

GRANT FISHERSPORTS COORDINATOR

Adelaide swimming

Triathlon

FROM THE PRINCIPAL CONT...

ADELAIDE SWIMMING

TRIATHLON


PATHWAYS INFORMATION

This editions pathways snapshot is on Law enforcement. The following mindmap demonstrates potential areas within this area. It is interesting to see that there are a lot more professions in particular areas than we think.

Parents and students are also reminded about the Loxton High School Careers Toolkit https://www.loxtonhighschoolcareers.com/


PATHWAYS INFORMATION


NATIONAL YOUTH SCIENCE FORUM

National Youth Science Forum:It’s difficult to find an original description of a science camp that’s been running for 37 years, as anything worth saying has surely been stated already. That being said, some things are worth repeating praise for. For those who are vegan, that’s lentils, for those who love science, that is the NYSF, a 10-day camp on which you sing like a lunatic and learn just how important friends can be. See, when you’re sleep deprived, the only things keeping you motivated are the support of your peers and the pure energy of the Staffie’s nonsensical chants. If you’ve ever heard about the moose who liked juice or the breeze in my knees, you’d agree with me. There’s a moment for every writer when they must decide whether or not their text will be full of clichés, fortunately, I never had a choice: the NYSF was such a rewarding experience that it would be a severe understatement to call it anything other than life changing. From the people you meet to the unprecedented exploration we’re given into science in industry and academia, there is truly nothing like the NYSF. The best analogy that comes to mind is if you cloned David Bowie and spliced his DNA with Richard Feynman, that’s the NYSF. Eccentric, entertaining, and educational. You’ll spend what will feel simultaneously like a lifetime and a great weekend on camp and come home hungry for more. But because you only get one NYSF, you’ll have no choice but to follow your passion, because that is how you can make the NYSF proud.

For a burgeoning student with a passion for aerospace and physics, that passion was thoroughly stimulated by the opportunities provided by the Forum. From exploring hypersonic wind tunnels T4 and X3 at the University of Queensland, investigating the fluid dynamics for a hypersonic second stage on an orbital rocket, to quantum laboratories engineering systems for quantum computers that could hack your bank account in minutes. But, for a science camp, the focus was surprisingly not scientific. Whilst the amazing opportunities provided by STEM and the brilliant research currently being conducted was central to the NYSF’s overarching goals, the actual Forum was far more personal than one would expect. It’s all about the people. The ingenuity behind these ideas, the lives dedicated to these discoveries, and how we ourselves can connect with people in the industry and follow our passions. You make friends that I guarantee 20 years down the line you’ll still be singing the same old chants with; you network with people involved with companies or universities with whom you would like to work and study; and you explore just how much potential you have by talking with the people who stood right where you were just a few years before.

These insane, hyperactive, passionate, dedicated, and without a doubt lovable Staffies are testament to the calibre of people the NYSF fosters, and they are exactly what makes the Forum so memorable.

The NYSF offers opportunity to any student with a passion for STEM, from Biology to Geophysics, there is a place for you. Loxton High School has cultivated more NYSF applicants and participants than I care to remember, from Jonah Hansen to Emma Knowles. This school has a dedication to providing any opportunity to every student, but this entire experience would not be possible without the support of the Loxton Rotary Club, who generously sponsored the majority of the cost. The National Youth Science Forum is an unmissable camp, and any and every year 11 studentwith an interest in science, from studying frogs to building rockets, should apply. From this year’s NYSF participant to whoever next years may be, I wish you the best of luck, and promise you this is one of the greatest opportunities you will ever find.

SAMUEL NITSCHKENYSF ALUMNI 2020 (BRISBANE)

NATIONAL YOUTH SCIENCE FORUM

DR KERRY HALUPKATHURSDAY APRIL 16

2.00PMWe invite high school students, parents and staff to attend a presentation from former Riverlander and Loxton High School student, Dr Kerry Halupka. She will be showcasing her amazing contribution in STEM! Kerry will discuss her pathway from a high school student to university and her remarkable ground-breaking work covering many areas of Science and Technology. There will also be an opportunity for Q & A after the presentation.

Kerry’s Contributions Include:

Bionics (development of prosthetic electrical

implants to help blind people to see again)

____Biomimicry (copying the way that insects see the world to improve missile

defense systems)

____ Renewable Energy

Optimisation

____Audiology

____Disease Outbreak

Prevention

____Cardiac Radiology

____Police Mental Health

VENUEInnovation Hub

Loxton High School

1889 Bookpurnong Road

Supported by the Loxton

Rotary Club


PREFECTS

Adelaide may have Mad March, but that doesn’t hold a candle to Loxton High’s supersonic start to the year. The moment school begins, the Prefects have a lot on their plates. Whilst that is meant figuratively, it would be a lie to deny that we also piled high the sausage rolls and cupcakes in the celebratory morning tea after our induction. However, after we had indulged to our heart’s content, we had the chance to walk off all the calories as we lead the Mardi Gras parade. Marching in the wake of vintage cars, fire engines, and the Loxton Hotel’s wonderful Golf Cart, the day truly felt like the community had come together. It is always inspiring to see the vibrance of Loxton’s volunteers: it’s even better to walk next to them.Whilst being a Prefect may seem glamourous, outside the local spotlight we have already begun to get our hands dirty. As the school becomes increasingly excited about the sporting opportunities this term, the Prefects have kept Mr Seiboth company as we mark lines on the oval. This ensures there is no foul play come Sports Day. Additionally, we have been involved with setting up and packing down the Nippy’s Gift, an event near and dear to the community’s heart. Despite the threat of falling asleep on the job on those early mornings, the Prefects assisted with the display of banners and the interior decoration of the pavilion. It’s important that this fantastic event had a fantastic setting to match.

However, they call term one supersonic for a reason: from the Continental to the Hospital Gala dinner, there’s still a flood of events yet to come. As the Prefects of 2020, we stand prepared with pool noodles under either arm ready for the wave about to fall. With plans already in motion for the year ahead, we are excited for what it will hold.Stay tuned

SAMUEL NITSCHKE

On Wednesday, March 4, 14 students strived for glory in the LHS Public Speaking Competition. The quality of competitors was outstanding, not only in the prepared speeches, but the short notice speeches, which students had only 15 minutes to write. Ethan Grosse was named senior winner, with William Gillett runner up, while the junior winner was Summer Smith, with Dylan Gilgen runner up. It was a superb evening, and a big thank you must go out to all of the adjudicators who gave up their time to give valuable feedback to students and to the staff who assisted on the night. Our attention now turns to Rostrum Voice of Youth, and we are hopeful that a number of Loxton High School students make the trip down to Adelaide in May to compete alongside South Australia’s finest.

HAYLEY RAMSAYPUBLIC SPEAKING COORDINATOR

PUBLIC SPEAKING


What an exciting opportunity as a teacher it is to be able to provide your students with the ability to see other environments, particularly when you can not access them. Our Year 9 Geography class has just started to explore Biomes and Ecosystems. Our school recently purchased a class set of VR Googles. I had the perfect opportunity to introduce the students to Biomes through the use of Google Expeditions using our VR Goggles. The students were able to be transported around the various biomes and see first hand what it would be like. This was extremely useful as in Australia we don’t have each of the biomes and students could experience first hand what types of plants and animals would be in those biomes. As they explored the biomes, explanations of each were provided so students could also understand what they were seeing. It was a great experience and allowed some great discussions on biomes once they had finished. The feedback from students was fantastic and we will be looking to engage students in the use of more technologies.

It was cool being able to feel like we are in a place we are not actually in however it did make me feel sick. Alysha

Using the VR was so fun! It was really cool and I loved it! The only fault I have with the headset is that it hurts your eyes a little bit and it was a bit blurry. But you can still get the main picture, I really hope we can use them again :) Ella

I loved the experience of the VR headset. I really liked exploring the Rainforests and Tundra. The bright lights were both cool and realistic looking. I really like looking at the detailed leaves and fallen trees in the Rainforest. I also liked looking at the rocks and detailed mountains in the tundra. Jenna

I found that the VR experience was very exciting it was a first for me doing VR and I found it really good, although the VR headset was a little heavy and sometimes weighed your head down. I liked the fact that we could look from all different angles and got to see different things and what the biome looked like. So overall I found it really good and really weird how you couldn’t see my own hands or anyone else. Blake

The VR experience was a great opportunity to have as it let us experience different places around the world. Oliver

Mapping and SPICESSOur class has also been developing our mapping skills. Through the use of Google Tour students have been able to develop their own world tour of natural landmarks. They also integrated SPICESS (space, place, interconnections, environment, scale, sustainability) into their tour so people could see the connections.

Our class has also been exploring our local region and looking at places of local significance and whether they are pinned in Google for people to see. Over the next couple of weeks the class will continue to explore these places by updating information and also logging new places of interest in our local area. Why not jump on google over the coming weeks to see the logging of these places.

TRICIA YANDELLYEAR 9 GEOGRAPHY TEACHER

VR GOGGLES – YEAR 9 GEOGRAPHY

Loxton High School NEWSLETTER · NEWSLETTER. FROM THE PRINCIPAL - DAVID GARRETT. Term 1 at Loxton...

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