Post on 04-May-2019
Principal: Phil Fitzsimons 8532 1788 – Chairperson Governing Council: Keith Simmons 0407 396 749
It is through working together, with respect, that we can achieve excellence
Murray Bridge High School
Excellence, Respect and Working Together Tel: 8532 1788 Fax: 8532 5335 Email: dl.0785.info@schools.sa.edu.au Website: www.murraybridgehs.sa.edu.au
From the Principal Phil Fitzsimons
iAwards
Congratulations go out to Digital Technologies Coordinator Steven Barclay and his gifted
IT students who recently won the 2015 State iAwards in the Secondary Student Category.
For over 20 years the iAwards has been recognising and celebrating the achievements and
innovation made in ICT across all areas of the economy.
The iAwards honours a broad range of categories at the cutting edge of technology
innovation and through the Student Domain, celebrates the up and coming innovators of
the future. The iAwards provides the platform to discover, recognise and reward ICT
innovations that have the potential to, or are already significantly impacting the community.
The iAwards are judged by the industry and provide recognition that extends across all
sectors of the digital economy.
As a result of this award the students and Mr Barclay will travel to Melbourne in late
August and attempt to win the National iAward.
Mr Barclay will present his full report on the State iAwards ceremony in the next
newsletter.
EduTECH Conference in Brisbane
Keeping with the theme of Digital Technology a group of leadership and IT staff travelled
to Brisbane recently to attend the 2015 EduTECH Conference. This is the largest
educational gathering in the southern hemisphere.
This conference was thought provoking and brought a number of new ideas/approaches
towards the delivery of 21st century learning through a digital classroom.
All staff that attended the event came away from the conference keen to move the
conversation forward on digital technologies and create new opportunities for students
and staff.
A viewpoint that was shared at the conference by futurist David Price from the UK is that
an estimated 47% of jobs currently in existence today will be automated in 2030.
Alarming as this prediction is, education circles are taking this view seriously and are
looking at strategies to best prepare our students for this future through initiatives such as
STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics). Murray Bridge High is currently
working in collaboration with the tertiary institutions such as University of SA to build
improved learning connections for our students to transition into this new world of
learning.
Student Free Day – Australian Curriculum
Moderation of student work was the key focus of the recent student free day held on 5
June. Teachers within the English, Science, Mathematics and HASS faculties moderated
samples of student work against the Australian Curriculum framework. This activity aims
to ensure the assessment of student work is consistent across these learning areas.
Teachers in the other learning areas used this day to design tasks that meet the
achievement standards.
TERM 2, Week 8 – 15 June 2015
CALENDAR
TERM 2
Tuesday, 16 June
Finance Committee – 4.30pm
Monday, 22 June
Semester 2 begins
Tuesday, 23 June
Parents and Friends – 5.30pm
Governing Council – 7pm
Sunday, 28 June
Arrival of Australian Girls’ Choir
Thursday, 2 July
Youth Opportunities Graduation – 3.30pm
Friday, 3 July
Last day of Term 2 – 2pm dismissal
Transition Evening – 3 June
The transition evening held on 3 June was an
outstanding success with over 200 parents/caregivers
and future students in attendance. The evening
provided a wealth of information as well as an
opportunity to tour the school. I would like to thank
Darren O’Connor and Helen Partridge for
coordinating the evening.
If parents have any feedback from the evening please
feel free to call me at the school or send me an
email at phil.fitzsimons652@schools.sa.edu.au
Student Uniform
Parents/caregivers are reminded to please ensure
their student comes to school with the appropriate
full school uniform every day. Hooded jumpers are
slowly becoming more evident at school recently and
this is not acceptable. These students will be told to
remove their hooded jumpers even on cold days.
Please avoid this situation and ensure responsibility is
taken for the correct uniform. An overwhelming
majority of the students are in correct uniform every
day; however it is not an onerous task to ensure
100% of our students are in correct full school uniform on a daily basis.
Murray Bridge High School Newsletter 15 June 2015
2
My Healthy Kitchen Rules! by Ruth Mussger
Students in Year 10 Home Economics were able to showcase
their kitchen and front of house skills in the preparation and
presentation of a meal to invited guests last Wednesday evening.
The challenge was to prepare a delicious, healthy meal with
limited time and budget. Students also needed to consider the
venue and ensure the setting reflected a formal dining situation.
I was really impressed with the collaboration of the teams and
the extra special touches they added to make their meal special
for their invited guests.
Climate Change Sustainability Summit by Kirrily Martin
On Thursday, 28th May, the Year 8 accelerated class were
given the opportunity to attend a Climate Change Youth
Sustainability Summit at Cornerstone College, Mt Barker. This
initiative is funded by the South Australian Murray – Darling
Basin Natural Resources Management Board through the
NRM levy.
The purpose of the summit was to increase student
understanding of climate change and in particular, its impact
in our local area. Students were lucky enough to hear from
inspiring speaker, Ian Tooley, who trained as an Al Gore
climate change presenter. They also heard from a number of
local experts on the impacts of climate change for the
Coorong and Lower Lakes.
Throughout the day, students participated in hands-on
activities lead by experts that helped them to develop new
skills to combat climate change and live more sustainably.
Our students worked collaboratively with presenters and
students from a number of surrounding secondary schools,
upholding our school values to a very high standard. At the
conclusion of the day, all students had an increased
understanding of not only the causes of climate change, but
how they as individuals, can make a difference and reduce carbon emissions.
Student Principal for a Day by Phea-Jae Gage and Shaun Tyas
On the 11th of June, Shaun Tyas and I became Student Principals
for the day. This meant stepping into the role of the Principal,
and following him around for the day, attending all his meetings
and dressing up formally. The day’s events were met with
excitement as Shaun and I attended various meetings with Mr
Fitzsimons and also had time between meetings to visit
classrooms. One of the meetings was three hours long! After
lunch we attended a 2 hour Partnership Executive meeting at
the Murraylands Education Office before the day ended. Once
the day ended we hung up our student principal badges and
went home. Overall the day was fun and it gave us some insight
into what Mr. Fitzsimons’ day is like. Phea-Jae Gage
On Thursday 11 June, Phea-Jae and I did the Principal for a day
program. The day consisted of a phone call to a Principal in the
United States, a meeting with a teacher, a meeting with the
Principal’s Secretary, Ms Watkins, we also went around to
classrooms and had a look at how other teachers teach their
classes. During lunch time we had a yard duty and yard clean up
Phea-Jae and I picked up a little bit and helped shuffle some
students to class. After lunch we went to the Education Office
for one last meeting for the day with us both. We finished at
the end of normal school time because we both had after school
commitments.
My highlight of the day would definitely have to be the meeting
with the architects for future school developments. I thoroughly
enjoyed the day and would do it again if I had the chance.
Shaun Tyas
Shaun and Phea-Jae enjoyed sitting in the Principal’s seat for a day.
Murray Bridge High School Newsletter 15 June 2015
3
Aboriginal Power Cup 2015 by Miranda Mulder
On Wednesday, 3rd of June, the Murray Bridge High School
SAASTA team departed for the Aboriginal Power Cup.
Both the girls’ and boys’ team played 9 games of football
over the two day carnival which was held at Alberton Oval.
The students participated in a Career Workshop on the
Thursday, creating a team painting and Cultural Dance
rehearsal on Friday. This dance was performed by all
students before the AFL game on Saturday night. The
Murray Bridge High School team won second prize for their
painting.
The grand final was played as a curtain raiser for the Port
Power vs Western Bulldogs game on Saturday night.
Unfortunately our teams didn’t make it this year, though 8
Murray Bridge High School girls were able to fill in for the
teams who were selected to play. The boys’ team won the
‘Solid’ award for showing excellent team spirit and
sportsmanship at the carnival and the Murray Bridge High
School SAASTA staff were awarded with the ‘Staff
Leadership’ award. Overall it was a fun and successful carnival.
Students perform at Reconciliation
Breakfast By Hannah Smith and Sophie Meers
On Tuesday, 2 June people travelled from far and wide to
celebrate Reconciliation Week in Murray Bridge at a
community breakfast.
Held at Edwards Square, visitors arrived from Raukkan, Berri
and Meningie to spend time having a free breakfast and
activities with family. Sophie Meers and I (Hannah Smith)
had the great opportunity to perform at the educational
event. We performed 4 songs. Even though it was the
coldest morning Murray Bridge had in a very long time and
our hands were about to get frost bite, we still really
enjoyed performing and representing Murray Bridge High
School for such an important event.
Murray Bridge High School Newsletter 15 June 2015
4
Open Girls Knockout Netball by Lucinda Howell
On Tuesday, 2 June we played
Open Girls netball at Unity
College. As a team, we
played three 12 minute halved
games over the course of the
day. Our first game was
against the Unity College girls.
It was a fight for the finish all throughout the course of the game
with the High School winning by 6 goals. In the second game
we were up against Keith. This game was a little bit easier than
the first but their team still put up a great competition. Murray
Bridge High coming out on top once again winning by 14 goals.
For the last game we played the Upper South East group of girls.
In the first quarter, the high school took a great lead but in the
second Upper South East came back fighting. Sadly for them it
wasn’t strong enough to beat our Murray Bridge High School
team with the high school girls coming out on top by over 20
goals. Over the course of the day, our MBHS netball team came
home undefeated. We would like to thank Kate Flood for
umpiring us throughout the day and the parents who came to
support us and scored.
We look forward to a successful second round at Willunga.
Year8/9 Knock Out Netball by Helen Partridge and Emily Adams
Murray Bridge High
School entered a team
into the Year 8/9 Girls
Knockout Netball
competition held at
Cornerstone College
playing against Heathfield
High and Cornerstone.
Leading up to the competition, various trials were held to select
the team as over 30 Year 8/9 girls tried out. The team of 9
girls was selected and were eager to begin the competition.
The first game against Heathfield High was played with high
intensity from both sides. MBHS took some time to settle and
by half time they were 10 goals down. In the third quarter,
MBHS worked well together and bought the margin back to 7.
Heading into the last quarter, the girls moved the ball well
down the court and accurately shot where they got within 3
goals. Unfortunately they lost the game but proved to be a
great team once they were settled with accurate passing and
shooting. The second game against Cornerstone allowed the
girls to all have time on the court. Unfortunately they were
unsuccessful in this game losing by 14 goals but all enjoyed
playing the game in high spirit.
Special thank you to Year 11 student Lucinda Howell for
umpiring both games and for the parents who came to support
the team as well as score.
Roper Road Farm Update by Serena Werner
It takes skill to teach rams and steers how to behave in a show
setting and a group of Year 12 students is hoping its efforts will
shine at this year’s Royal Adelaide Show.
Murray Bridge High School’s Agriculture course is offered as an
elective for all students in Years 8-12 who are interested in
learning more about working on a farm.
The school has a farm setting that allows students to take part
in experiences such as planting potatoes and other vegetables,
looking after baby chicks, assessing rams for breeding purposes,
learning about pasture and cell grazing or running scientific
investigations. Each year level is involved in something different
but what all the activities have in common is not just the hands-
on experience but the links to Maths and Science.
Year 12 students can study Agriculture for the full year and
students in Years 10-12 can enter the Show, which this year
runs from September 4-13.
The steers are entering the ‘led
steer’ competition so they need
to meet markets specifications for
the carcass. The students are
feeding the steers twice a day and
are breaking them in so they can
be led in the Show.
The Year 12s are taking the steers, the Year 11s take merino
wether lambs and one steer and the Year 10s are taking white
Suffolk stud ewes and rams.
Agriculture is a hands-on subject that students enjoy because it
is relevant and teaches them where our food comes from, while
also teaching the Maths and Science behind the Agriculture.
The students are quite engaged in what they are doing because
our farm is a real farm. We have a tunnel house for vegetable production. We are always busy producing food.
Murray Bridge High School Newsletter 15 June 2015
5
Murraylands Music Workshop by Ben Wohfeil
and Darcy Kleinig, Year 8 Advanced Music students
On Thursday, 4th of June, the Year 8 Advanced Music class
attended a music workshop with Alan Geddie at Murray Bridge
North Primary School. Other schools that attended were
Coomandook Area School, Meningie Area School, Mypolonga
Primary School, Murray Bridge South Primary School and
Murray Bridge North School.
The students formed two separate bands, the Junior Band and
the Murraylands Concert Band. Both bands had the challenge
of learning music they had only seen on that day. The
Murraylands Band learnt 3 songs, ‘the Spook’, ‘Freaky Fantasy’
and ‘Drummania’. The Junior Band learnt ‘Lets Rock’ and the
‘Mickey Mouse March’.
After each band had learnt their pieces, they came together to
play ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ by Pink Floyd, by memory.
After lunch the Murray Bridge North School students arrived
for the performance. The performance went really well and
once it was all done, we packed up and went back to school.
The day was incredibly enjoyable.
Trade Training Centre Update by Greg Fulwood
Doorways to Construction
The finishing touches are progressing to the major project in the
Murray Building foyer area. The trainees can be seen painting
with rollers on one side of the room whilst another “cuts in” on
the other side. The plaster board covering the old doorway
needs to have edging applied to stop damage to the soft edges of
the board prior to being painted.
Electro-Technology
A project coming up in a week or so will see the trainees building
trailer wiring simulators. The one shown will send all car like
signals to the 7 pin socket which will have a 7 pin plug inserted
and then connect with another board which will have tail lights,
brake lights and all other components seen on the rear of a trailer
or caravan.
The photo below indicates a trainee trying to figure out how to
get all the components for a stereo speaker system he has built
into the white tube shown in front of the components. He has
followed the wiring diagram and finally tested the finished article
proving it works prior to fixing it into the tube with a speaker at each end.