April 2021 Newsletter

By now you have probably heard others in our school community talking about the use of the online environment called Connect. You may even have had access to Connect at a previous school. Pinjarra SHS has been using the Connect portal for some years now with our students, particularly students in Year 11 and 12 but, since the Coronavirus pandemic, many more students have had to access their distance learning through Connect.

In case you have missed the discussion around Connect use in our school, here is an overview.

Connect is a secure online environment developed by the Department of Education for staff, students and parents/caregivers in public schools.  It gives our teachers a tool to deliver content to the students via an online classroom.  This means your children will be able to share with you what they are learning about, submit assignments and discuss issues together online anywhere, anytime.

While students have always had access to Connect, we have not yet rolled out access to parents/caregivers. The recent move to students learning online has prompted a move to enable access for parents/caregivers. Connect provides easy access to information relevant to your child’s classes and learning such as assessments, teacher feedback and attendance data. Connect also provides access to a ‘marks book’ where parents/caregivers can keep track of student achievement.

Schools can also use Connect to keep you updated with important information.  Things like up-coming events, excursions, classroom activities, photos and stories can be sent to you via email or, if you prefer, via a push notification on your phone.

The Connect Now app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

You will soon receive your login details via the email address we have on file for you.  If you have recently changed your email address, please let us know by phoning (08) 9531 7000 or emailing pinjarra.shs@education.wa.edu.au so we can update our details.

How do I find out more?

•   Check out the short video clip on Connect at https://vimeo.com/connectwa/welcome

The Year 11 General Outdoor Education and Year 12 Certificate II Outdoor Recreation students recently spent a day on beautiful Rottnest Island for our Annual Snorkelling excursion. It was an early start at PSHS so we could board the 9:30 am Ferry from the ‘B Shed’ in Fremantle.

The weather was windy and the ferry crossing was quite rough but all staff and students were excited about the day ahead. After arriving on the Island we collected our hire bikes, loaded up our snorkelling gear and head for our first location at Little Salmon Bay. The reef around the bay protected us from the strong winds but we still found ourselves contending with waves and rough water. The water was still clear and was full of fish life for us to observe. After a half hour snorkel here we again loaded up our bikes and moved around to The Basin where we would be protected from the Strong South West winds. The water was calm and we explored the underwater caves and ‘swim throughs’. The fish were plentiful and we were able to observe them for over 45 minutes.

After navigating our way back to the Settlement we had enough time for a quick lunch before boarding the 2:30pm Ferry home.

Thank you to Clay Philpott our HPE Trainee and Miss Ditchburn for attending the excursion.

-Mr Galloway

Sheridan Gangell (Year 12, Forest) and Zakiya Bevan (Year 11, River) were chosen, as past award winners of the Year 10 Alcoa Prospects Program, to attend the Award Dinner as part of an Alcoa Australia group at the Perth Convention Centre. Alcoa was nominated for their Prospects Program in the category of Outstanding Company Initiative. The evening started with canapes in the foyer and moved into Dinner where the evening saw several awards presented. The students met Annabel Crabb political journalist, commentator and television host who was MC for the evening. The students enjoyed the evening and chatted to many of the Alcoa’s team (should I mention the band and the dance floor?). The evening concluded at 10.45 pm and after a full day at school and Workplace Learning this meant a weary trip home.

-Mrs Gray

During the final week of Term One, many of our Year 10, 11 and a small group of Year 8s have been meeting with past students, teachers, principals and some of our current teachers in order to conduct video interviews that will be incorporated into the Centenary Open Day displays on June 5^th.

We have been very privileged that so many wonderful alumni agreed to give us their time for the interviews. This has been a wonderful learning experience for our students in terms of developing their interpersonal skills and in the collection process involved with recording historical information.

Thank you to all those who agreed to take part in this activity and thank you to the Administrative and Humanities and Social Sciences Staff who organised this opportunity for students.

AFL – Mr Beswick, Mr Gillam & Ms Ashfold-Hutton

On Thursday, March 25, PSHS sent 56 Year 7 and 8, Boy and Girl students, to the 2021 Summer Carnival in Rockingham.

These students combined made up five AFL 9’s teams competing in a round robin style event against a number of surrounding schools. There were three AFL divisions including A Grade boys, B Grade boys and a Girls Grade. PSHS were successful in taking out the win in all three grades. Our remaining teams (A Grade Boys 2 and Girls 2) both finished in 3^rd in their respective divisions. It was a fantastic effort from all students involved not to mention some of our 12 Sport + Recreation students who umpired and coached throughout the carnival. Thanks to Mr Beswick, Mr Gillam, Miss Van Lit and Miss Ashford-Hutton for assisting and making the day happen.

Cricket – Mr Gielingh

The Summer Carnival Cricket competition was held on Friday the 26^th of March. Pinjarra SHS nominated 2 teams in the carnival, a boys team and a girls team. Our students represented the school incredibly well, displaying maturity and enthusiasm across what was a hot day in the sun. Tiana Arrowsmith and Tahj Bashford did exceptional jobs as captains for their teams. Special thanks to our student helpers, Hunter Entz, Kaleb Gittos and Corey Poolman.

Boys Soccer – Mr Patroni

The Year 7 and 8 Soccer boys faced some extremely tough sides in the A-Grade competition, versing many schools that have soccer specialist programs. A special mention goes to Tyler Norwood and Blair Look who both took on the daunting role of Team Captain and displayed excellent leadership and modelled resilience. The boys put in an incredible amount of effort on the day and came home with 6^th place.

Girls Soccer – Mr Tarboton

The year 7/8 girls teams worked hard to place 4th and 6th at the Summer Carnival. Their sportsmanship and resilience was outstanding with students such as Asia, Hope, Jordi and Gabrielle demonstrating talent in soccer that resembled some of the students from more specialised soccer programs.

Special thanks to James Waterman for helping the soccer teams on the day.

The Year 10 PFA students planned, and brilliantly executed, an ‘Amazing Race’ inspired event for our Year 8 PFA students. This event is designed to create a team bonding experience and opportunity for the boys and girls of the PFA to work collaboratively. The day consisted of a number of activities including finding hidden pieces, kicking a football into targets accumulating points, solving riddles, counting popcorn, relay races, water bucket relays and SUP boarding, to name a few. These activities combined with the race like nature of the event required teamwork and a competitive spirit to work together to beat their fellow classmates. All students involved were exceptional in the way they conducted themselves both competitively and in their behaviour. Thanks to Mr Gillam, Mr Beswick, Mr Gielingh and Clay Philpott for assisting and making the day happen.

On Wednesday 31^st March, our Year 11 Geography class, armed with insect repellent, took part in a field trip to the Goegrup Lake Nature Reserve in Greenfields and the Creery Wetlands in Dudley Park in order to collect information regarding Ross River Virus.

As part of the Year 11 Geography course, students investigate ecological hazards. An important component of their studies includes analysing mitigation strategies that are in place to protect the community as well as to observe aspects of every day life that increase the general public’s vulnerability to contracting Ross River Virus.

Our class was very fortunate that Ross Rose, Shire of Murray Mosquito Control Officer, joined us for a portion of our excursion and provided some vital information to our students about the mitigation process in place in the Murray Shire to control mosquitoes.

The afternoon was a great opportunity for our students to experience the real life application of their learning of Hazard Geography.

On Saturday the 27^th of March, The Pinjarra Under 14s Cricket Team played in the Grand Final for the Peel Junior Cricket Association against Halls Head/Hillman.

There were several Pinjarra SHS students competing in the Grand Final, Taya Bashford, Brody Poolman, Tahj Bashford, Ethan Reid, Hayden Jeffery and Hudson Regler. Tayte Regler was unfortunately unable to play due to injury. Ethan Reid picked up an important wicket, with Taya Bashford the standout bowler with 3 wickets.

Brody Poolman and Tahj Bashford both put together great innings with the bat, picking up 21 and 25 runs respectively.

Unfortunately, despite putting together a strong innings total of 3/190, Halls Head/Hillman were able to score 7/263.

Congratulations to the Pinjarra Under 14s Cricket team on a great season.

The annual House Swimming Carnival was held on the 23^rd of March. This was the first major event with our new Houses, Scarp, River, Towns, Earth and Forest. It was amazing to see so much enthusiasm and house spirit from the students in attendance. As a school we’d like to thank the family members who came along and supported the event, we hope you enjoyed yourselves. We’d also like to thank the Murray Aquatic and Leisure Centre for allowing us to use their facility on the day. We were lucky enough to see some incredible swimming from our students, and were so pleased with their efforts throughout the day. The winning house, as well as Champion and Runners up will be announced at the next whole school assembly on the 23^rd of April.

On Monday, March 29, the Year 8 and 9 PFA Boys played Court Grammar School in our annual ‘Border Shield Cup’. This match has been played for the past 8 years and are always very close and played in great spirit. At the same time, the Year 8 and 9 PFA girls were also competing against Court Grammar School. This tradition has been played for four years now.

It is always great to see a neighbouring school willing to play us in football each year. It was a fantastic effort by all involved in what were very hot conditions on the day. Our PFA is always growing and our students put a lot of time and effort into their development. It is a great opportunity to showcase this hard work and progress with interschool AFL games. Thanks to Mr Beswick, Mr Gillam and Clay Philpott for assisting and making the day happen.

Indigenous Basketball Australia (IBA) aims to deliver programs at the grassroots level for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people so they have a better chance to advance in the sport and more importantly, succeed in life. The program kicked off in Perth on Sunday the 21st of February. The five week program aims to develop fundamental basketball knowledge, skills and competition, leading to an opportunity for selection to a national tournament held on the Gold Coast in April. We had three representatives from Pinjarra Senior High School in Jamal Kearing, Cyallyutt Kearing and Jurrell Hansen at Western Australia’s opening weekend. Jamal was recognised in the top 5 males for highest points scored on Sunday, with 13 points. We wish the boys all the best over the coming weeks in their pursuit for selection in the u14 National Team travelling to the Gold Coast.

The second issue of our Alumni Update newsletter is now available. This newsletter is emailed to those former students and staff who have signed up on our alumni page.

Alternatively, a copy of this latest edition is available here.

We are only several weeks away from our Centenary Open Day on Saturday June 5th 2021. The Open Day will be taking place between 10am and 5pm. The Centenary Open Day will showcase our school’s past and present, as well as the developments being made to improve the school environment for our current and future students. We are still also keen to borrow any memorabilia that past students or staff may have at home, so please contact the school if you have any items that could form part of our displays during the open day.

Pinjarra Senior High School is proud to announce the launch of our new P & C, which will occur when we meet for registration at the start of term two. We have some fantastic members, but we are looking for more!

The P & C acts at a governance level to guide school decision making, giving a wider ‘voice’ to parents and carers, non-teaching staff and school staff members about the direction of the school. One of the key functions of the P & C will be overseeing the management of the canteen and allocation of funds raised through this and other fundraising ventures, to support enhanced educational opportunities for our students.

The P & C will notionally meet once per term and key roles will be elected at the inaugural meeting. These roles are President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Other members of the P & C will provide support, advice and feedback to ensure that decisions are inclusive of as many different ideas and points of view as possible. Team work makes the dream work!

If you are interested in helping us to launch this fantastic initiative, or know of others who would like to join, please email your/their names to the school so we can arrange invite them to our first meeting.

Please consider this great opportunity to positively influence our school as we grow and improve.  Your service would be sincerely appreciated and will make a huge difference for our school community.

Many thanks

Jan Stone
Principal