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T2N1 Heritage College Newsletter 2024

FROM THE PRINCIPAL'S DESK

Term 2 brings with it a sense of excitement and anticipation with the Primary Musical and Careers Week to name large events, and we share some recent highlights from our vibrant school community.

A Lively Community Hub

We invited you to witness our curriculum in action through classroom interactions and engagement. Our Special Morning Tea was a joyous occasion as we welcomed a multitude of Mums, Grandmas, and Special Aunties to our school community. These moments of connection are invaluable in strengthening the bond between home and school. This firsthand experience provided you with insight into your child's learning journey and the pedagogical approach that shapes their education.

Community Engagement and Fundraising

Our Parents and Friends (P&F) association organised a super fundraiser with a delightful Mother's Day stall, displaying the creativity and generosity within our community. We extend our sincere gratitude to all who contributed to making this event a tremendous success, and especially to our volunteers who generously gave their time and expertise to enrich the lives of our students through this opportunity to show respect for their Mums.

Celebrating Success

We are delighted to report the resounding success of our recent YMCA vacation care program. With exciting incursions and excursions, the children had a wonderful time exploring and learning in a safe and nurturing environment, making friends across year groups. We are thankful to the YMCA team for their dedication and enthusiasm in providing this service on our site that is respectful of our ethos.

Growing Programs and Welcoming New Students

Our YMCA before and after-school club continues to grow steadily in this enriching program, and we extend an open invitation to all parents to consider if this is something that can be helpful to you for your personal circumstances, to use on a regular basis, sporadically or occasional use.

We are excited that an information session, uniform purchase and 2 to 1 interviews took place to start the transitioning of seven new students into our Mid-year Foundation Intake, who will be joining our Foundation class in Term 3. These young learners will later in the term have their transition mornings as part of their embarking on an exciting learning journey with us, as they start their growth and development within a happy, safe and secure environment.

Enhancing Services

In our ongoing commitment to providing the best possible experience for our students and staff, we have transitioned to a new managed service provider, Subnet, for our IT needs. This transition will enable us to improve the quality of service to the College, ensuring a seamless and efficient technology infrastructure for teaching and learning.

Celebrating Achievements

Furthermore, we are proud to celebrate the achievements of our secondary students, with a record number participating in a recent Mountain Bike Competition, our teams showing a great spirit and performing well in the rankings. We were particularly thrilled to see our girls' team enter the competition, demonstrating courage, resilience and teamwork.

In conclusion, as we journey through Term 2, let us continue to follow in His steps, embodying compassion, integrity, and a commitment to lifelong learning together and in pleasing God. ‘So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God’ (Col 1 v 10 ESV).

Justin Robinson

Annual General Meeting 2024

The annual general meeting (AGM) for 2023 operations and finances of Heritage College was held last night. This allowed the 15 stakeholder ecclesias to gather to learn about the last year’s performance and for member ecclesias to be able to raise concerns or ask questions.

The AGM is required as due to Heritage College Inc being a business. It is the means to hold the College Council (Board) accountable for their stewardship and to elect Council members. Two presentations were given: Operations of the College for 2023 through commentary on a scorecard against the key strategic objectives and key 2023 financial metrics and their comparison to previous years.

Here are some Highlights from these presentations:

Acceptance of evidence by the Education Standards Board, using their framework of self-review, to continue registration to operate as a school for 2023-2028.
Strength of curriculum delivery and high-quality teaching as validated by NAPLAN and SACE scores of 2023 within our unique supportive environment to make Friends for Life.
Increased digital competency by staff impacting student learning, work efficiencies and improved parent experiences.
Evidence of a supportive culture for students and staff with embedded consultative Student Councils, individual and College wide wellbeing strategies and increased provision from parent feedback with a mid-year enrolment and OSHC subsequently implemented in 2024.
High engagement of families with their child’s education with 44% currently registered as volunteers to enrich and support the College.
Positive impact of increased deliberate messaging on social media which has reached the highest level of engagement strengthening our connection with parents.
P&F continue to support our student’s lives with special lunches and fundraising that we are thankful for and we have a vibrant Playgroup meeting Friday mornings.
Focus on sustainability whilst maintaining the objective of the College being accessible to all Christadelphian families. Heritage College provides exceptional value for money for students and their families.
Current fee structure covers costs and has enabled debt reduction but revenue is increasingly under pressure with rising costs, increased fee remissions and reduced building fund donations.
No significant capital development occurred in 2023. A Secondary wing refurbishment is to be completed in 2024 to accommodate increased student numbers in Secondary cohorts from 2025.

The voting saw the re-election of Councillors Rod Case and Nathan Jolly and election of new Councillors Graeme Shugg (Salisbury) and Stephen Jeffress (Enfield). This was due to the retirement of Peter Tretola and Joshua Williams who were both thanked for their labour of love and valuable contributions, and in the case of Peter many years to the Council.

The Council indicated that they are always keen to learn of those wishing to get involved in this rewarding work and to provide resilience and depth of skill set to the needs of the business.

Open Day 2024

Primary Musical 2024

Digital Wellbeing for Families Webinar

This year we have again partnered with The Resilience Project to deliver a high-quality mental health curriculum for the benefit of our students. As part of this partnership, The Resilience Project also offers our parents periodic information sessions and webinars on different topics. Coming up on Tuesday, 4 June (6pm), they are running a webinar on Digital Wellbeing for Families.

For an overview of what will be covered, please see the flyer. More details will be sent to parents closer to the event.

Sports Day 2024

Our Annual Sports Day was held on Friday 12 April, the last day of Term 1, with God’s blessing – a fantastic day of enthusiasm, action and enjoyment! The students have been building up to this event with many sports lessons and practice sessions earlier in the Term.

We are thankful for our community support for this highlight event, with parents, grandparents and friends all coming along to cheer on our students. Special thanks to our wonderful group of P&F volunteers who ran the Food Stall, helping make the day a special one, as well as raising a fantastic amount for P&F supported projects. Also to the many parents that volunteer to help with scoring, ribbon holding and place-giving – a big thank you!

We are pleased to announce the following results:

House Winner: Reuben was our overall winning House Team with 3478 points, followed by Dan with 3046, Ephraim with 3006 and Judah with 2900. Well done to all our students – every bit of involvement counts!

Parents and Friends Association

We’d like to say a BIG “thank you” for all the gifts so generously donated towards our stall - our students had great fun ‘shopping’ for their Mums and we hope Mother’s Day was thoroughly enjoyed by all! Together we raised $1,300 for our school.

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO OUR PARENTS AND FRIENDS!

$50,000 DONATED FOR SCIENCE RESOURCES

At the last School Fair P&F, through the generosity of you all, raised an outstanding $50,000 for our science lab upgrade. It has taken time to complete building works to improve and refit the lab to the shiny, bright lab it now is for our students. And now we’re really excited and so thankful to let you know that with the Fair proceeds we have recently been able to purchase a long shopping list of items for the lab. Our students are loving the new technology you’ve provided them with to learn and keep abreast of science and technology, plus all the essential items that were in real need of replacement after many years of everyday use by students.

We feel blessed to have such a caring and supportive community, and look forward to welcoming you all to the school on Open Day to see the difference your generosity has made in the science lab!

Lower Primary - Rochelle Bailye

Lower Primary - Jesse Bruce

In our classroom, The Awesome Astronauts are having a blast learning to use Keynote! 🎉

We've been having so much fun getting creative with our animations. We teamed up with our buddy classes to animate some classic stories or make up some new ones together. It was loads of fun seeing our stories come to life on the screen. Some of us even narrated them.

For Mother's Day, we made digital cards using Keynote. It was great to show our mums how much we care with something we made ourselves. We took pictures of ourselves, animated love hearts and added our voices.

We also started an underwater adventure! With Keynote, we created scenes with fish, dolphins, and even some hidden treasures. We have also begun working on the Fruits of the Spirit, our Bible Study theme for the term.

Learning Keynote isn't just about making animations. It's about using our imaginations and having fun bringing our ideas to life. So, get ready to join us on more exciting adventures ahead! Come and check out our classroom during Open Day.

Middle Primary - Jordan Morrison

In 3/4 Creative Cooks we have been investigating different sustainable practices that help us to keep God’s world beautiful. We have been engaging with professionals at IWS, KESAB, SA Water and AZZO (Aaron Grant).

We are looking to help make God’s earth greener and can’t wait to find ways to improve our whole school approach to sustainable practices.

Upper Primary - Jason Hauser

Wednesday morning of Week 2, our classroom buzzed with excitement as we welcomed some very special guests: Mums, Grandmas, and Aunties to the school.

In Science, we've been learning about the fascinating and sometimes frightening world of natural disasters. Students have worked in pairs to research and prepare a presentation on the natural disaster of their choice.

Further to this, armed with coloured pencils and a little creativity, each pair of students used a large sheet of paper to depict their chosen natural disaster, practising various shading techniques with the help of our special visitors.

We had a fantastic time welcoming everyone into our classroom, and it was a wonderful opportunity to share our learning. Thanks to all our visitors for joining us!

Upper Primary -Rachel Morrison

We have been exploring Natural Disasters/Extreme Weather and their impact on people and the environment. We are completing this unit of work with an inquiry-based task around finding a solution for a problem to do with Natural Disasters. We began by ideating all the things we could think of as problems stemming from natural disasters. We then picked a problem that resonated with us and chained with other people who had similar problems. Working out the exact part of the problem came next before we ideated as many solutions as we could think of and then sketched our favourite 5. We are now up to picking the top 2 and prototyping the solutions.

We had a lovely morning of art when our mothers/grandmothers/aunties came to visit. These art pieces also related to our Natural Disaster topic. Please enjoy some photos of our experiences.

All Primary - Brett Arnold

During Term 2, primary students from Foundation to Year 6 are involved in Friday After-School soccer clinics from 3.30pm – 4.30pm. These are run by Football SA, and they provide their own coaches. This year we have a whole new set of coaches which means that they will take some time to get to know our students. The coaches have a set routine of drills and as there are only three groups, each coach will keep the same group of students every week. Thank you, parents for being organised in time to register your child so that this program can be successful. If you haven’t joined and would like to register your child, it’s not too late. Please contact the front desk at Heritage for information, as there are still six sessions left.

Lower Secondary - Kirsty Palmer

As part of our First Nation’s Music unit this term, the Year 9/10 class has been learning about graphic notation. A graphic notation sound scape is a piece of music that tells a story through the use of pictures and symbols to represent sounds and concepts, we spent some time looking at First Nation’s Dreaming Time stories and soundscapes. The students are now applying their knowledge to their own context by creating a graphic notation sound scape for a Bible story of their choice. The students have had to analyse the story to pick out the crucial elements and character. Then they have experimented with many various instruments and sounds to find something that they think properly represented each element.

The students have really enjoyed being able to dig into some of their favourite Bible stories and think about them in a new way. Below are some of their works in progress before they perform them in week 5.

Lower Secondary - Julie Samuel

In Year 9 Science, we have been exploring the amazing world of atoms, molecules, acids and bases that God created. The students have been learning about the uses of acids and bases in real life and experimenting with them in the classroom to get a better understanding of the topic. We made an indicator using purple cabbage and tested a variety of acids and bases to get colourful results.

Upper Secondary -Shannon Kennedy

Earlier this year the Year 11 Food and Hospitality students have been looking into contemporary flavour trends, legislation regarding food labelling and food safety. As part of this, students were required to create a popsicle that reflected a contemporary flavour trend. Students designed appropriate labels which included accurate nutritional information in line with industry standards. Here are pictures of a few of their creations.

All Secondary - Trevor Dodson

The Student Representative Council (SRC) has commenced the school year with some energy and enthusiasm to make a difference to the school experience of fellow students at Heritage College. Some of the things that we have been busy doing during the first Term of 2024 include:

Fund-raising and events

We held a whole-of-school fundraiser activity to raise money for the purchase of a 10,000 litre water tank for the Kenyan Community through Agape-in-Action. Approximately $2000 was collected through the fundraiser, enough to purchase two water tanks! A huge thankyou to our school community for your amazing support. The funds were gratefully received by Agape-in-Action.

Primary SRC

At our Primary SRC meetings we:

highlighted the need for some improvements with the lateness of some of our school buses;
raised the need for some other sporting equipment;
noted that the new water fountains installed at the beginning of the year were an excellent improvement from the previous ones;
asked for the role and value of the Primary Buddy Bench to be highlighted to all students and teachers;
committed to ask our teachers to support us with ways to keep the school grounds litter free.

Secondary SRC

At our Secondary SRC meetings we:

discussed the whole of Secondary student survey that was conducted through Home Groups;
identified the need to upgrade the surface of the basketball courts;
supported the installation of an outdoor study area;
advocated for improved access to fresh water outside the secondary block;
arranged for the purchase of a digital clock for the science lab;
identified a potential need for additional information to be provided to Year 10-12 students regarding the transition to each year level and the expectations of each subject.

We have a few events and activities planned for the remainder of the school year include:

Term 2 - a promotional activity for the Heritage College musical (Aladdin Trouble) – with an Aladdin themed dress up for students, some musical related activities, and magic carpet rides!
Term 3 - A whole-of-school fun activity to raise funds for the purchase of Heritage College equipment.

We thank all our Primary and Secondary students and School Captains/Vice-Captains for their time, effort, ideas, and contributions to the Student Representative Council.

HeLP Awards - Foundation Dodson

Taj Kendall for always having a cheerful approach to his work.

Albert Plail for giving things a go even when they are tough.

Sienna Mitsos for trying her best and doing lovely singing in our assembly practices.

Winslow Clark for doing an awesome job of sharing her ideas with the class.

Luca Mansfield for doing an amazing job of practising his reading at home.

Calvin Yuile for always being a kind and friendly member of our class.

Phoebe O’Callaghan for writing amazing sentences describing what she sees.

Felicity Schulz for doing an amazing job in writing, using ‘special friends’ we hadn’t even learnt yet.

HeLP Awards - Year 1 Clark

Jesda Smith for being responsible and working hard in learning tasks.

Harper Scott for making an amazing start to Term 2!

HeLP Awards - Year 1 Bailye

Archie Milliken for putting a lot of effort into his writing.

Patrick Mitsos for consistently responsible and respectful behaviour.

Imara Khokhar for being a loyal and friendly class member.

Joel Ward for showing responsibility by tidying up the classroom without being asked.

Audrey Hornhardt for being a responsible learner and trying her best at all times.

Asaph Edgecombe for his positive attitude and friendly presence in the classroom.

Theodore Cheek for being a friendly and kind member of our class.

HeLP Awards - Year 2 Bruce

Lewis Gurd for responding well to feedback from his teachers.

Edison Liu for always being a responsible classmate.

Evie Richards for always having a positive attitude towards learning.

Jachin Bennett for an outstanding effort in Maths this week.

Margot Crispin for trying extremely hard in maths and demonstrating good subtraction skills.

Jude Dowling for making an increased effort in Maths.

Olive Jurevicius for being a helpful member of the class.

Jachin Parry for good accuracy and fluency in Maths.

Amali Richards for a great effort in Comprehension Critters.

HeLP Awards - Year 3/4 Morrison

Savannah Hammond for a fantastic Infographic about The Water Cycle.

James Ward for a fantastic Infographic about The Water Cycle.

Max Gong for a fantastic Infographic about The Water Cycle.

Jonty Archer for showing self control and taking responsibility for your own actions.

Ezra Henriksen for being a responsible and diligent member of our classroom.

Jessica Sui for always producing a great quality of work and being a good friend to everyone around. Well done.

HeLP Awards - Year 3/4 Lagowski/Witton

Nyssa Lines for a positive attitude to learning and for always being willing to help.

Hadassah Mansfield for managing her time will in class and for good organisational skills.

Harmony Badams for asking questions and seeking clarification to improve your learning.

Patrick Flood for consistently having neat handwriting and receiving your pen licence!

Cormac Flood for consistently having neat handwriting and receiving your pen licence!

Harlequin Clark for demonstrating exceptional typing skills and typing 49 words per minute!

Isabelle Jamieson for using beautiful expression when reading.

Grace Edgecombe for working diligently in Maths.

Rylan Arnold for sharing his knowledge and helping others (including his teachers!) with all things technology.

Imani Wiafe for displaying enthusiasm and dedication when learning times tables.

HeLP Awards - Year 3/4 Sanderson/Wiafe

Amber Mackinnon for doing an amazing job in maths!

Sophie Perks for doing her best in all areas of the Curriculum.

Odelia Mansfield for doing her best in all areas of the Curriculum.

Macedon Pearce for excellence in writing tasks and a dedicated approach to debate preparation.

Asaph Mitsos for a great start to Term 2 and a mature approach to learning.

HeLP Awards - Year 5/6 Hauser

Timothy Cridland for sending in a flurry of book reports and finishing his Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Hudson Galbraith for pushing forwards with your reading homework and tasks.

Bentley Hyndman for the efficient way you organise yourself to finish work on time.

HeLP Awards - Year 5/6 Healy

Alexis Pillion for responsible leadership in placing signs around the school to help others remember their responsibilities to our environment.

Charli Jurevicius for being a thoughtful, kind and considerate class member, always.

James Ingram for being resilient in trying new equipment in class to assist his learning.

Toby Archer for being reflective, taking on feedback and changing his approach.

Parker Scott for reflective thinking, asking great questions in science and our class discussions.

Ezra Petiet for being an enthusiastic learner and curious questioner in our class.

HeLP Awards - Year 5/6 Morrison

Noah Nolan for always being willing to ask for help and accepting it when given.

Jesse Bol Bol for always using a critical brain to come up with fantastic discussion points.

Jemima Coish for being thoughtful in actions and work.

Alisha Gibbs for continued improvement in Think Mentals.

Archie Thompson creating an amazing Natural Disaster Art work.

Darcia Hammond for taking care in her work and completing it on time.

Amber-Lee Neil for encouraging others to be supportive of each other and positive.

Toby Evans for showing great improvement in concentration during work.

Learning Support - Hannah Mitchelson

My job role as a Learning Support Coordinator – Hannah Mitchelson

As a Learning Support Coordinator, I work closely with the Teachers and SSOs to support the students with additional needs in our school. My daily role entails a range of tasks including leading intervention to help children with their learning, liaising with teachers and parents regarding students who require additional support, ensuring paperwork such as Individual Education Plans are up to date and relevant for the child and working alongside outside agencies such as Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists, Psychologists and Physiotherapists. It is so important to me that I am supporting our students (and parents) with additional needs so that they are gaining the best possible experience in their education.

Outside Agencies that we offer at Heritage College:

Occupational Therapists – Eliza Caminiti and David Trang from Early Start

Our occupational therapists can help children and young people build their confidence in the areas of social skills, play, communication, emotional regulation, fine motor & gross motor skills and much more.

Contact details:

Eliza Caminiti: eliza.caminiti@earlystartaustralia.com.au

David Trang: david.trang@earlystartaustralia.com.au

Physiotherapists - Zoe May from Early Start Australia

Our physiotherapists can help to support children develop the physical skills needed to play, learn and engage with their community.

Contact details:

Zoe May: zoe.may@earlystartaustralia.com.au

Speech Pathologists –Kasey Cummings from Connect Allied Health and Joel O’Rielly from Better, Braver, Bolder

Our speech pathologists work to improve understanding and use of language at school, home, and community contexts and speech sound development so the child can speak clearly with others. Services also include helping the child to communicate in ways that feel authentic to the child e.g., using alternative and augmentative communication (AAC), helping them to advocate for their wants and needs and help to build flexibility in communication in play and everyday routines.

Contact details:

Kasey Cummings: Kasey@connectalliedhealth.com.au

Joel O’Rielly: info@betterbraverbolder.com

If you have some concerns with your child’s learning, behaviour or development, or you wish to discuss your concerns about your child, you can contact me on hmitchelson@heritage.sa.edu.au

I look forward to working with you and your child, to ensure that their needs are supported to enable a successful learning experience.

2024 TERM 2 KEY DATES

April 29th - July 5th

May 24th Whole School Lunch Day Sausage Sizzle
June 4th Digital Wellbeing for Families Webinar
June 6th Open Day
June 7th Student Free Day
June 10th Public Holiday
June 11th-12th Year 9 & 10 Exams
June 11th - 14th Year 11 Exams
June 13th -14th Year 7-10 Focus Days
June 17th Semester 2 Begins for Years 7-11
June 20th SRC Fundraising Activity for Primary Musical
June 24th Primary Musical Dress Rehearsal
June 25th & 27th Primary Musical Evening Performances
June 26th Primary Musical Matinee Performance
July 1st - 5th Careers Week
July 1st Careers Expo Years 10-12
July 2 Year 7 Businesses
July 4th Primary Semester 1 Reports Published
July 5th Secondary Semester 1 Reports Published
July 5th Last Day of Term 2

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