S E A T O N H I G H S C H O O L

Newsletter A Culture of Achievement

Department for Education and Child Development T/A South Australian Government Schools CRICOS PROVIDER : 00018A

December 2014

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CORE VALUES • Respect • Responsibility • Achievement

Principal’s Column This week sees the end of another year full of highlights for the Seaton High School community. Acknowledging success and achievement forms an important part of our culture of achievement and so recent weeks have been full of presentations, celebrations, ceremonies and farewells. The successes and achievements acknowledged at these end of year events are made possible by the hard work and dedication of the staff of Seaton High School. Staff Changes 2015 (to date) As is generally the case, some staff members are leaving us at the end of the year. Some have been with us for a relatively short time while others have been a part of the school for many years. In each case they have made an invaluable contribution to the education of the students of Seaton High School. I’m sure the whole school community joins me in thanking them for this contribution and wishing them well for the future.

Thanks to Nick Brown, Steven Nesbitt and Stuart Williams who have been with us this year and are moving on to other schools in 2015. We wish Kate Lonergan and Meredith Gray all the best for their teaching exchanges next year. Similarly we wish Lara Golding all the best for her leave in 2015. New teachers Raiph McPherson – Physics and Mathematics Tim Cooke – English and SOSE Melissa Ferris – English and SOSE 1 year vacancy Jennifer Neff – English and SOSE 1 year exchange from Canada Several teacher and Coordinator positions are still to be confirmed.

Seaton High School Glenburnie Street Seaton SA 5023 Phone 8445 2944 Fax 8445 7159 Email:dl.0941.info@schools.sa.edu.au Web – www.seatonhs.sa.edu.au

See page 2 for important school dates

50th Birthday celebration On Sunday the 16th of November we held a very successful event celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the School. The event was very well received by those who attended – some great connections and reconnections were made! The displays were fantastic and are now organised as a resource for future years.

I would like to acknowledge the enormous contribution of Lee Katsimaglis in planning and organising the day. Lee spent many hours working on this and her effort and dedication are much appreciated. Tim Johns also made a huge contribution in time and effort – including making the excellent planter boxes commemorating the occasion. Lee and Tim and a small but hardworking team of staff spent many hours planning and organising the event. Some great photos from the day appear later in the newsletter. Shark of the Year On the evening of Thursday November 27 I was fortunate to attend this dinner celebrating the achievements of the baseball program in 2014 and acknowledging some individual achievements and awards. Congratulations to all award winners and to Fraser Bradfield on being awarded the Shark of the Year award – a deserving winner! Year 8/9 Panel Presentations Students have been working hard with the support of their teachers to prepare for their final panel presentation for the year on Friday December 5. These are a great way to present their achievements and learning for 2014 and are always a very positive event. This term we are fortunate to have the DECD Chief Executive Tony Harrison and Chief Education Officer Jane Johnston participating as community reps – along with our local member Stephen Mulligan, Charles Sturt Council reps, School Council members and many others. In closing I would like to wish all the members of the Seaton High School community a safe and happy festive season. Richard Abell, Principal _____________________________________________________

SACE Stage 2 results will be released on Thursday, December 18th. The Senior School office will be open on that day from 9am to 1pm if students have queries about pathways or results.

Students can access their results via the SACE Board “Schools Online” the morning of the release of results. Results will also be posted. University preferences can be changed up until January 5th for most courses. The first round of University offers will be made via email on January 15th.

Monday 8th December Year 8 Excursion Year 9 Alternative Program Tuesday 9th December Year 9 Excursion Year 8 Alternative Program Wednesday 10th December Year 9 Transition & Graduation Day 8.50am-12.45pm Term 4 reports will be posted home Wednesday 17th December .

Monday 26th January Australia Day Public Holiday Tuesday 27th January Term 1 commences 8.35am ____________________ Outcome of the 2015 Materials and Services Charges Poll

At the School Council meeting on Monday 3rd November 2014, School Council recommended that the 2015 Materials and Services charges be set at $465-00 for years 8, 12 and 13 and $490-00 for years 9, 10 and 11, and be legally recoverable in the event of non payment.

All families received, by post, a letter outlining this proposal and voting slips to enable families to vote for or against this proposal.

The result of the poll was 73% in favour of the above proposal.

Important Dates Term 4 2014

Stage 2 – Release of Results

2015

How does it feel to go hungry? 1 in 8 people in the world know all too well. Seaton High’s Senior School Council has always had a large focus on helping the wider communities, and over the last few years, the school has had strong levels of participation in World Vision’s 40 Hour Famine program.

40 Hour Famine is an initiative run by World Vision, to sponsor and support programs to help end world poverty. The focus country for this year’s campaign was Rwanda; a small African country. Most Rwandan people work in agriculture. But the country’s dense population and hilly terrain mean good farmland is hard to come by. Out dated farming techniques, and poor infrastructure as a result of the 1994 genocide, also contribute to insufficient harvests. Many families experience regular food shortages, sometimes for 4 to 6 months, or more. In the Northern Province, child malnutrition is more severe than anywhere else in the country.

The Senior School Council held assemblies for each of the year levels, as an informative talk about 40 Hour Famine, and what it means to go hungry. This was followed up with a visit by Chris and Lucinda, the Youth Representatives for World Vision.

125 students came to our information session. And with their help, we were able to raise over $2700. This money goes directly to World Vision initiatives in Rwanda, to help increase food, aid, and sustainability.

The Senior School Council sincerely thanks the staff and teachers of the school for helping to promote maintain this campaign. But most importantly, the SSC wishes to thank the students who took part in the famine for their time, loss, and money, to help end extreme poverty in Rwanda.

Well done to everyone who took part.

Students from this year’s Creative Arts course gave a farewell performance outside the music room at lunch time on Monday and the crowd loved it. An example of things to come when next year an outside stage will be built.

40 Hour Famine

Year 11 Creative Arts

We acknowledged the achievements of our Year 12 Graduating students at a Ceremony at the Christian Family Centre on Thursday, November 20th attended by parents and caregivers, family members, school staff and students.

Allisha Foster and Ben Wesley spoke eloquently on behalf of our Year 12 students thanking staff and families alike for their support throughout the year. They reflected on the many experiences they have shared as a cohort and memories they leave Year 12 with.

Graduating students received a certificate for their year of Stage 2 studies announced by their home group teachers including Ms Jenny Scott, Ms Jackie Swan, Ms Caroline Bey, Mr Rob Edwards and Ms Angela Heap.

The following students were awarded subject prizes, nominated by their teachers, for excellence in individual subjects. Emma Matthews for English Communications Tim Bouwmeester for Maths Applications Georgia Kaluza and Zac Turner for Material Products Madison Fleming and Lewis Stute for Physics Harrison Sutcliffe for Systems and Control Technology in robotics Alisha Roy for Tourism Sophie Loxton for Modern History and Society & Culture Omid Vojdani for Information Processing & Publishing and Visual Art Megan Gillespie for Processing & Publishing, Visual Art and Business & Enterprise Wala Haj Ali for Biology, Chemistry, English Studies, Maths Studies and the Research Project

Students who have received A grades overall for the school assessed component of 4 or more of their subjects were presented with an Award of Excellence medal and certificate to acknowledge their dedication to their studies throughout the year.

Year 12 Graduation – Class of 2014

Emma Beaton - Research Project, Biology, English Studies, Maths Applications and Society & Culture. Natalija Demic - Research Project, Maths Applications, Business & Enterprise, Modern History and English Communications. Madison Fleming - Research Project, Japanese, English Studies, Maths Studies, Physics and Chemistry. Allisha Foster - Research Project, English Studies, Biology, Maths Studies and Chemistry. Megan Gillespie - Research Project, English Communications, Information Processing & Publishing, Business & Enterprise, and Visual Art. Wala Haj Ali - Research Project, Maths Studies, Biology, Chemistry, and English Studies. Eliza Knowles - Research Project, English Studies, Modern History, Society & Culture and Visual Art. Sophie Loxton - Research Project, English Studies, Society & Culture, Visual Art, and Modern History. Emma Matthews - Research Project, Tourism, English Communications and Society & Culture. Amy Robertson - Research Project, Info Processing & Publishing, Visual Art, Tourism & Society &Culture. The Service Award was presented in recognition of a student’s service provided to the Seaton High School Community during their time at school. This year it was awarded to Jake Alker to acknowledge his work as a member of the Senior School Council.

The 2013 VET Award was announced as Josh Hyland for his efforts in the Certificate II Electrotechnology course delivered at Seaton.

The 2014 VET Award was awarded to James Appleton for his successful participation in his School Based Apprenticeship as a Chef at the Kensington Hotel and his work in Work Place Practices at year 12.

The 2014 School Based Apprenticeship Award was presented to Alex Allen. Alex successfully gained a Certificate III Business Administration Traineeship at QANTAS last year. While doing this Traineeship, she was awarded The QANTAS NATIONAL INDIGENOUS TRAINEE OF THE YEAR. This was awarded to Alex in a special ceremony in Sydney during term 3 when she was flown to Sydney for the event.

Ben Wesley was acknowledged as the winner of the Josiah Mitton Award. This award is presented by the Charles Sturt Council and this year Ben Wesley was nominated for the service that he has shown to the school community through his continued participation in Senior School Council and this year as co-captain. He was presented this award by the Mayor of Charles Sturt Council at a community presentation recently.

The Marjorie Roberts Award this year was presented to Lauren Tedesco for her positive enthusiasm, tenacious manner and positive interactions with staff.

The ADF Long Tan Leadership Award was presented to Allisha Foster for her leadership and service to their community. Allisha has been the co-captain of the senior school this year and vice-captain in 2013. She is highly organised and efficient, an excellent role model.

The Caltex Best All Rounder this year was presented to Alicia Prettejohn. Alicia has been nominated for this award by the staff at Seaton High School due to her balance of the care and support for her family, approach to her academic study and her commitment to the Active8 and now ASPIRE leadership program.

The final presentation for the evening was the Dux of Year 12 for 2014 Wala Haj Ali for her outstanding results in all subjects and her dedication to her academic studies. It was wonderful to share with our Graduating students the last events of the year and to celebrate their achievements. We wish them all the best for a happy and fulfilled future and look forward to hearing about the next steps that they take towards their goals.

Year 12 Graduation – Class of 2014 (…continued)

On Friday 21st November, Seaton High School competed in the SSSSA Western Zone Beach Carnival at Henley Beach. We competed against all the schools in the Western Zone, playing Beach Volleyball, European Handball, Ultimate Frisbee, Bocce, 5 a side soccer, flags, boards and sand sculpture.

The day was a great success with all students participating. Some students were fortunate enough to see some dolphins whilst competing in the board events and we won the sand sculpture competition with our Seaton Shark sculpture.

Students at Seaton can first take this subject at Year 10 where they learn many fundamentals about making money in the modern day economy. This includes the establishment and management of small and medium enterprises, being an entrepreneur as well as a look at the corporate world and the stock market.

This year, a more practical approach was needed to allow students at Stage 1 to put their knowledge into practise and develop some basic business skills. After forming small groups, the brief was to come up with a simple, in demand product and to create a small business operation around it in an attempt to successfully sell the product. This involved creating a comprehensive business plan, selling shares to raise start-up capital, producing or acquiring the product and operating the business. Students were expected to manage their cash accordingly including keeping accounting records, as well as tackle any problems as they arose.

All in all, students did reasonably well, flooding the school ‘market’ with their various products and having some fun along the way whilst learning what it’s like to run your own business. “It was quite challenging at times, particularly competing with so many other good businesses. However, it was something different and was really enjoyable. We managed to make a decent profit too which is good knowing the money will go to a charity,” said one student. At liquidation, all initial investments were returned to the shareholders and some of the profits were used to fund a well-earned end of course celebration. The remaining $380 will be donated to two charities close to the school community’s heart.

Well done to the students who were involved. Stage 2 Business and Enterprise is also offered at Seaton HS as a 20-credit subject. – Jesse Wenham, Business Teacher

Beach Carnival

Business Studies at Seaton High School

SC19 have been very busy this term in art. They have worked collaboratively to produce artwork for outside their classroom and they have also painted a mural for Seaton Child Care Centre next door.

Their mural is very brightly coloured consisting of a few animals and tropical flowers and is approximately 2 meters tall. It has been installed next to the front entrance of the Childcare Centre and can be viewed from the street. The child care centre staff are overwhelmed and pleased with the painting

This project was a huge success, the students should be proud of their achievements. Well done to SC19! – Ms Sulkowski

Movember has been a fun and popular fundraiser for many years now, all over the world. For those unfamiliar with the campaign, participants shave clean at the start of November and spend the month crafting their best moustache. Whilst being a lot of fun (and probably the only way most of us can get away with such unsightly growth), the appeal aims to raise both funds and awareness for some very important male health issues.

With suicide being the leading cause of death in Australia amongst young men and testicular and prostate cancer still being such deadly killers, Movember is one of the most important ways of trying to battle these issues.

Four teachers at Seaton HS undertook the challenge this year and through the amazing generosity of both staff and students alike, were able to raise over $250 for the cause. A huge thank you to those who donated and to those that were subjected to Mr Wenham’s gloomy statistics. Jesse Wenham

SC19 Arts

Movember

New app on age of consent and sexting laws

An interactive, educational app that explains South Australian laws relating to age of consent and sexting is now available for Apple and Android smartphone and tablet devices. The Law Society of SA’s app, The Naked Truth, is aimed at educating people, particularly teenagers, about the various laws and potential pitfalls concerning underage sex and electronically sharing explicit material.

The free app contains plain English explanations of laws relating to unlawful sexual intercourse, child pornography and indecent filming, and also features quizzes, case studies, and other interactive features.

The idea to develop the app came about after District Court Judges voiced concerns about teenagers getting unwittingly entangled in the criminal justice system for sexual behaviour, including sexting.

The Law Society reviewed the legislation and saw that the laws surrounding unlawful sexual intercourse were extremely complex, made even more confusing by the fact that the age of consent is not the same in each Australian state. It was also apparent that because there were no laws relating specially to sexting, there was a real risk

of teenagers being charged with child pornography offences for sexting, even if the sexting was between two people in a genuine romantic relationship. The new app also deals with situations where embarrassing or explicit images get shared among a large network of individuals via social media. The App can be easily downloaded through either the iTunes or Google Play stores. Just type “the naked truth’.

Adelaide Olympic Soccer Club

Holiday Clinics Mon 15th - 18th Dec during school holidays FFSA in partnership with Adelaide Olympic Football Club will be conducting soccer coaching clinics for U7-U16 age group from 9am-3pm at Senior Grounds, 1 Perth Street, Ferryden Park. Cost $130. 10% discount ($117) applies for health care card holders. Registrations close 10th Dec.

To apply to attend the soccer clinic, please contact Lea Brown juniorsecretary@aofc.com.au January Trials Next round of U6 to U15 trials will be held Mon 26th and Wed 28th January - 6pm at Jubilee Reserve - Cnr Sansom Road & Hawkesbury Way, West Lakes Shore. Players 5-14 years welcome.

Junior coaches positions We are currently looking for coaches for 2015 Season. Training minimum twice a week on either Monday, Wednesday or Friday nights with matches played Sunday mornings. To express interest or for more info please email Kimmy Pham Soe juniordirector@aofc.com.au

For more information on any of the above refer to www.aofc.com.au

Community

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