T1N1 Heritage College Newsletter 2024

FROM THE PRINCIPAL'S DESK

We embrace the commencement of another exciting school year. It is with immense pleasure that we extend a warm welcome to our new parents who join our school community from our ecclesial community.

New Additions to the Heritage College Family

We are delighted to announce the addition of 20 new Foundation students and another 11 students across various cohorts. Each new face brings with it the promise of enriching experiences and shared growth, and their own personal learning journeys further strengthening the bonds within the Heritage College family.

Staff Welcome Back

A special welcome back to Emma Sanderson and Shannon Kennedy, who return to us with experience and enthusiasm after their parental leave. We are equally thrilled to have Naomi Tretola back, covering release time and contributing her expertise to the success of our students.

Unveiling New Horizons

In keeping with our commitment to providing a nurturing environment, we proudly unveiled the new YMCA OSHC facility. Incredibly positive feedback has been received from parents who have already engaged with this service. (See the OSHC flyer below). We encourage those who have not explored this resource to consider its potential benefits for your personal situation.

Celebrating Achievements

Our Dux Assembly marked a brilliant start to the academic year. We extend our gratitude to all parents who actively engaged with this event. It was a joyous occasion celebrating the achievements of our outstanding students in each year group for 2023, and we look forward to all our students striving to do their best this year with further successes.

Parental Involvement

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Parent Information Night. This was a valuable opportunity for parents to gain insights into class expectations and curriculum both inside and outside the classroom. Your active involvement is key to the success of our students, and we appreciate your commitment to their education. Relevant resources have been uploaded onto Sentral for you to consult.

Transformative Improvements

As we navigate this school year, we are excited to share the numerous improvements around our school grounds. From enhanced facilities such as the new fence to the preparation of OSHC and associated spaces. These enhancements are a testament to our dedication to continually improving a conducive safe learning environment for our students.

Embracing our Ethos

At Heritage College we promote our ethos, offering a curriculum through a biblical lens. Our commitment to "Follow His Steps" teaching and learning pedagogy guides our exceptional pastoral care and the development of the whole child. Our aim is to support parents to raise children to share our hope, have friends for life and equip each student through their learning journey with the skills and aptitudes necessary for future successful independent living.

In conclusion, we express our gratitude for your continued support. Together, let us make this academic year one filled with growth, learning, and cherished memories. We look forward to the collective achievements and successes that lie ahead whilst we are ‘waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2 v 13 ESV).

Justin Robinson

YMCA OHSC at Heritage

Sentral Parent Portal Tricks & Tips

Sentral Home Screen

As there are a few new families that have joined us this year, we thought it would be helpful to introduce the Sentral Parent Portal with its functions.  From the home screen the buttons hold helpful information to assist your child as a student and yourself as a parent.

Newsfeed provides links to all documentation that applies to your children both individually and as a group.  Your child’s initials are listed in the purple circle to help you identify which child in your family the message applies to.

Absences allows you to enter your child’s name, reason for the absence and date range by selecting the + symbol.  You can also use the Comment section when your child needs to be picked up from school early or arrive late.

Calendar lists all events happening at the school including Student Free days and Public Holidays.

Interviews is where you can book a time with Teachers after a notice is sent out on the Parent Portal saying bookings are open.  This is also a handy spot to view your reserved bookings with your child’s teacher for Parent/Teacher Primary Interviews and Secondary 3WLC’s.

Photo of Child/Student Info provides the Class, Timetable, Attendance Summary, House Team and Academic Reports for your children under the Student Details tab.  There is a drop-down menu in the top left corner to find each child in your family.

Forms isn’t used by Heritage but is used by other schools.

Resources holds several valuable documents from Extended Absence forms, School Policies, Parent Handbook, Specific Year Level Info Brochures, Upcoming Event Details, Uniform Requirements and Daily Lesson Times.

Links is where you can get quick access to our Careers Website and the Uniform Shop Order Form.

SACE Merit Ceremony

Our Year 12 students of 2023 performed remarkably well again last year with their academic results heavily skewed toward high achievement.  Of the students who performed exceptionally highly, 4 achieved subject merits and received their Merit Certificates at the SACE Merit Ceremony at Government House on Wednesday 7^th February.  Our subject merit students were:

• Eden Bennet – Psychology (studied at Marden Senior College)
• Carmel Evans – Business Innovation
• Ella-Jayne Franco – Research Project
• Tobias Luke – Research Project

Congratulations to these students on their outstanding efforts in 2023.

2024 Australian Chess Championships

From Jan 2^nd to Jan 21^st, 3 Heritage College Students participated in the 2024 Australian Chess Championships and Australian Junior Chess Championships. Our students met with MP Katrine Hildyard,  Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing and received words of encouragement from her, as well as Australia’s very first Grandmaster of chess, Ian Rogers. Our students played admirably in these two national most prestigious championships with the best players in Australia, resulting in significant growth of ACF/FIDE rating.  We are also very proud to be one of many South Australian schools contributing to the success of these two national events by loaning equipment.

Swimming Carnival

Heritage Playgroup

2024 Sports Day

Sports Voucher 2024

If any of your children are participating in sports this year, please have a look on this website to see if they qualify to redeem a Sports Voucher.  The value is $100.  A great savings!

Lower Primary - Leeanne Clark

Lower Primary - Jesse Bruce

In the Year 2 classroom, we're embarking on a fun coding adventure with ScratchJR! This simple program is introducing our students to the basics of coding in a fun and interactive way. 

As they explore ScratchJR, our students are developing essential skills like logical thinking and problem-solving. Through trial and error, they're learning to create their own stories, using their creativity and imagination. 

One of the best parts of using ScratchJR is seeing how much joy it brings to our students when they successfully complete a lesson. They're excited to tackle challenges and work together to overcome obstacles, all while learning valuable skills that extend beyond the screen. 

In our classroom, coding isn't just about mastering technology – it's about collaboration, resilience, and a love for learning something new. ScratchJR is helping our students build a strong foundation for future success, one project at a time. 

Middle Primary - Jordan Morrison

In The Creative Cooks, we have spent our first few weeks cooking up a storm in our literacy!  We have been practicing our Daily 5 key skills, through reading to ourselves and to others, doing our best listening, writing and playing with words.  The rules of Daily 5 are:

Each day, we are set different tasks to complete and new challenges to face!

Middle Primary - Emma Sanderson/Elisa Wiafe

There has been great excitement in 3/4SW this term with the introduction of silk worms! We have been caring for and observing our silk worms since Week 2 and have watched them eat many mulberry leaves and double in size! More recently we have enjoyed watching them spin their cocoons and excitedly await the next stage in the life cycle!

Upper Primary -Jason Hauser

Last Wednesday, the Year 6s came together to meet Mato Jelic, our chess instructor from Chess School SA, for an introductory lesson.

He will come weekly during the rest of this term to train the Year 6 students in chess strategies. After some direct instruction, the class is given time to practise the skills he has taught and then each lesson finishes by the students playing each other in a tournament round.

By the end of the term, we will have some chess champions to announce.

Here are some comments from some students…

Henry: ‘I’m looking forward to chess because I actually won my first game and I want to get better at it.’

Ana: ‘I enjoyed Mato’s sense of humour in our first lesson.’

Eli: ‘I like playing chess because I play board games with my friends every Saturday.’

Lily: ‘It was a fun lesson because we were able to play against our friends. Mato made it interesting with his stories.’

 Silas: ‘I like chess because it’s a fun game that gets my brain working.’

So, if you’re brave and you have a child in Year 6, why not try your chess skills out against them at home!

Upper Primary - Rachel Morrison

Arabian Nights Tales: Setting the Scene:

Queen Scheherazade was fearful for her life. So, what did she do? She told stories. She didn’t just tell one story, she told story after story after story. For writing this term we are looking into Arabian Tales. This is to support our understanding of our characters in our musical for term 2 as well as look at a different way of writing narratives.

To engage the students we designed and have made our own palaces for the King and Queen. This has helped us to understand the grandeur of the time, where they lived, what it was like when these stories were told.

Along with this, we have looked at asking Queen Scheherazade some questions: How old is she? How did she become queen? How did she come up with story after story?

We also delved into how she would be feeling and her thoughts at the time of thinking of all of these stories. Ultimately, you should stay tuned for the 1,002^nd Arabian Nights Tale, as we write our own tales.

Lower Secondary - Brett Arnold

In Year 7A we have been looking at and discussing the six concepts of history.

We spent quite a bit of time talking about primary and secondary sources and for one of our lessons, James Archer brought in an old piece of newspaper. We were able to look at it and decide that it was a primary source and find out a bit about it using the key questions guide and the evidence before us.

For example:

• What type of source is this?
• Who wrote or created this source and when was it written or created?
• Why was this source written or created?
• What evidence does the source provide?
• What was happening at the time the source was written or created?
• Can I trust the source?

As it turned out, we could satisfactorily answer every question using this source (the newspaper) as evidence. It was a great way for us to hone our history skills and we are all the better off for it – thank you James!

Lower Secondary - Danielle Smith

Year 8 classes have been looking into the biblical ideas linked to the GEM program. They have been making posters showing their understanding, incorporating quotes on each aspect and an explanation of how Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness are biblical principles.

Lower Secondary - Kirsty Palmer

This term the year 9/10 Music class is learning to write music notation with the help of a program called MuseScore. The class has so far written 3 short arrangements; our first attempt which was a simple arrangement of Hot Cross Buns. The second used the same chord progression from the first song and their own brand new melody and the final one we have been working on is a 24 bar ABA form (ternary form) composition. The class has been writing music on the various instruments which class members play so that we can then perform all our music together. Some brave souls have even tried their hands at learning completely new instruments for fun.

Upper Secondary - Trevor Dodson

​2024 Student Representative Council (SRC)

Heritage College’s new SRC Primary and Secondary members have been elected for 2024!  The members of the SRC will have a voice about what happens at Heritage College, including influencing change, shaping education, helping to organise events and fundraising activities (like last year’s amazing Super Slime Sprint), and raising safety and welfare issues that affect them.  Students learn leadership skills, gain experience guiding and negotiating with others, and have the opportunity to give back to the school community.

Heritage College benefits from a SRC too, because it brings in students’ perspectives on learning, teaching, and schooling, while drawing on the enthusiasm, energy and creative thinking of students, and encourages students to share decisions about the school rules, uniform, and facilities.

Students across all year levels will hold brainstorming sessions with their teachers to identify issues, activities, or ideas that they want their representatives to raise at the SRC, including things such as:

• Fund-raising for Agape-in-Action
• More whole-of-school activities
• Improvements to the school facilities and grounds
• More sporting equipment for Home Group classes

SRC members meet several times a Term, but also get involved with other important whole of school events.  They are looking forward to sharing with the college community all the activities, ideas, and new initiatives that they are planning, and how you too can become involved in all the fun!

A huge thank you to our school community for all of your support and donations for our 2023 super slime sprint fundraiser event. We raised over $5000 and have been able to purchase several water bottle fountains for the school, much to the delight of all students and particularly our 2023 school captains who we thank for all of their hard work promoting the event and helping to fund raise.

Upper Secondary - Julie Samuel

Students in Year 10 Science have been learning about the most majestic creation of our Almighty Father which is our genetics and how information gets passed on from one generation to the next.  Recently, we extracted some DNA from the frozen strawberries and students were amazed that they could do so successfully at the school level.  They are really enjoying the topic and usually have lots of interseting questions and comments.

Upper Secondary -Shannon Kennedy

Currently in Food and Hospitality the Year 11’s have been investigating how the diversity of culture in Australia has impacted Australian foods. As an individual they were required to plan, prepare and present a single serve of a gourmet pizza, for a trendy and upmarket pizza bar, using ingredients that demonstrate the impact of cultural diversity on our society. Here are some pictures of their creations.

HeLP Awards - Foundation Dodson

Imogen Mackinnon for a fantastic and brave start to the year.

Phoebe O’Callaghan for being a kind and caring member of our class.

Luca Mansfield for being super organised and read to learn.

Taj Kendall for always trying his best and giving everything a go.

Matthew Bain for doing an amazing job of blending his sounds.

Sienna Mitsos for doing a great of asking interesting questions in sharing.

HeLP Awards - Year 1 Clark

Finn Tretola for being a reliable and responsible Jungle Friend.

Harper Scott for fantastic writing!

Isabella Arnold for being a kind and thoughtful Jungle Friend.

Anya Yuile for demonstrating artistic qualities in her self-portrait.

Ladd Hill for a fantastic effort in Maths work.

HeLP Awards - Year 1 Bailye

Daphne Crompton for her happy presence in our classroom.

Noah Lagowski for very responsible classroom behaviour.

Chloe Mansfield for being an amazing listener and a hard worker.

Simeon Todd for quietly and responsibly getting on with his work.

HeLP Awards - Year 2 Bruce

Cruz Badams for his 'no fuss, get the job done' attitude to all set tasks. 

Edison Mansfield for demonstrating a positive attitude to all classroom activities. 

Talitha Deadman for responding quickly to teachers instructions this week. 

Oscar Clark for excellent focus in Read Write Inc.  

Indira Steele for demonstrating excellent note taking for your information report!

HeLP Awards - Year 3/4 Morrison

Charlotte Li for working diligently to complete activities neatly and to a high standard. Well done!

Jonty Archer for settling into Year 3/4 in a new environment in a great way.

Indie Oliver for persevering through challenges and being willing to give everything a go. Well done!

Oliver O'Callaghan for always giving your best, supporting everyone around you and offering help whenever it may be needed.

HeLP Awards - Year 3/4 Lagowski/Witton

Fergus Yuile for working diligently to complete activities neatly and to a high standard.

Nyssa Lines for settling into Year 3/4 and being involved in class activities.

Sophie Williamson for thoughtful answers in our Bible Study lesson on respect.

Maya Scott for settling into Year 3/4 LW and being actively involved in all class activities.

Ted Hill for speaking respectfully and using manners in class.

Moses Petiet for working diligently to complete tasks to a high standard.

Isabelle Jamieson for being a responsible and respectful student. Always leaving things better than she found them.

Patrick Flood for sharing practical ways on how we can wear the belt of truth with our class.

Imani Wiafe for working diligently to complete Bible Study handwriting to a high standard.

HeLP Awards - Year 3/4 Sanderson/Wiafe

Eliana Badger for being kind, friendly and accepting of change

Hugo Bain for always being ready to learn and doing his best.

Zoe Schulz for being a kind and considerate classmate.

Mia Lagowski for being a patient friend who is always willing to help.

HeLP Awards - Year 5/6 Hauser

Venetia Cheek for being polite and saying, ‘thank you for teaching us today.’

Amy Williamson for achieving full marks in your spelling test and completing your spelling unit so carefully.

Miah Wang for getting off to a fine start with the Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Abigail Henriksen for getting off to a fine start with the Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Pippa Jeffress for getting off to a fine start with the Premier’s Reading Challenge.

HeLP Awards - Year 5/6 Healy

Levi Oliver for responsibly completing work to a high standard.

Huw Archer for settling into a new school with resilience and a great attitude.

Isabella Plail for resiliently working through Think Mentals questions.

Elaina Kruger for consistently producing work of a high standard.

Brooklyn Curtin for responsibly learning most of her musical lines in the first week, with expression!

HeLP Awards - Year 5/6 Morrison

Spencer Scott for always being willing to participate and give things a go. Welcome back to Heritage.

Dallas Farren for always looking after others and showing his big heart.

Alisha Gibbs for staying focused and accepting help when needed.

Archie Thompson for always asking questions when needed and helping in anyway he can.

Sophia Atkins for creating some beautiful Japanese artwork.

2024 TERM 1 KEY DATES

January 29th - April 12th 

• February 23rd  Back to School Lunch Day
• February 26th  Photo Day
• February  27th Year 10 Immunisations
• February 27th NAPLAN National Practice Test
• February 29th  Interschool Swimming
• March 1st  Secondary Swimming Carnival
• March 4th  Photo Mop Up Day 
• March 8th  Student FreeDay/Staff Development Day
• March 11th  Public Holiday
• March 13th-15th  NAPLAN Testing
• March 14th - 18th  Year 11 Girls Camp
• March 18th  Primary Parent/Teacher Conferences in person
• March 19th  Primary Parent/Teacher Conferences over the phone
• March 27th  Interschool Athletics Competition
• March 28th  No Staff or Students
• March 29th - April 1st  Easter Weekend
• April 3rd-5th  Year 8 Camp
• April 5th  Secondary Mid Semester Reports published to the Portal
• April 8th  1500m Race
• April 8th-9th  Secondary 3 Way Learning Conversations (ZOOM)
• April 11th  Primary Sports Day Practise
• April 12th  Whole School Sports Day
• April 12th  Last Day of Term 1

HERITAGE CONTACTS

Principal  Justin Robinson
Business Manager  Adrian Maycock
Enquiries Front Desk

Staff Contact Details available on Sentral under "Resources:Miscellaneous Information: Heritage Contact List"

COUNCIL MEMBERS

Scott Robson - Chairman/Human Resources | Tea Tree Gully ecclesia
Peter Evans - Deputy Chairman | Salisbury ecclesia
Rod Case - Finance | Enfield ecclesia
Nathan Jolly - Community | Cumberland ecclesia
Peter Tretola - Secretary | Burnside ecclesia
Josh Williams - Finance| Salisbury ecclesia
James Mansfield - Treasurer| Mount Barker ecclesia 
Graeme Shugg - Councillor | Salisbury ecclesia
Steve Jeffress - Councillor | Enfield ecclesia