Term 2 Newsletter – 2023
Principal's Report
Once again, we have had a busy term with students engaged in a range of learning tasks and many extra- curricular activities, excursions and interschool sporting events.
The term started with the traditional observance of ANZAC day, which included a special assembly where student leaders and invited guests laid wreaths to commemorate this important remembrance. School Captain Ben Salter also presented a speech at the community ANZAC ceremony, which was well received by all who attended. 
Students have also enjoyed a music incursion, participation in the Pedal Prix competition, AEP tree planting excursion, and many sporting events including Winter Carnivals, interschool AFL Football and Netball games, and of course, Country Week. We are very grateful to the staff who make these experiences possible for our students and I am sure that this extra effort is similarly appreciated by students and families.
Our Aboriginal students have also been engaged in cultural learning activities, including the Koolinga Chef Program, Follow the Dream Yarning Circles and the
Boodja Yokas program. The whole school will come together to share in further cultural learning through the celebration of NAIDOC Week, in week 8 of term 3. This year the theme of NAIDOC is ‘For Our Elders’. This important event will be an opportunity for all members of our school community to further develop understanding and respect for Aboriginal culture.
Although probably less exciting for the students, they have also been working hard in classes and on external assessment programs, including NAPLAN, OLNA, ESTs and of course, course examinations. Semester One reports have been sent home to parents and carers via email this week. A letter explaining the changes to the report content has also been provided. I would encourage all parent and carers to access the booking system to secure appointments with your child’s teachers at the upcoming parent evening, which will be held on Tuesday 25th July. We sincerely believe that face to face meetings and conversations are the best way to enhance the quality of communication between home and school, which ultimately supports students’ progress. Even if you do not usually attend parent evenings, we would appreciate you considering attending this next one, to help us improve our ability to assist our students to meet their goals.
As we round out Semester One, I feel it necessary to remind parents and carers of the critical nature of your partnership to guide positive and appropriate student behaviours at school. During this semester, we have seen an increased incidence of students engaging in negative behaviours that ultimately take their focus (and ours) away from effective learning and progress. In particular, students refusing to attend scheduled classes and just wandering around the school creating disruption for others, using mobile phones at school, refusing to follow reasonable instructions and verbally abusing staff have been very disappointing and concerning. These behaviours have a negative impact on the school and classroom environments for everyone, and it is very unfair for the minority to be having this impact on the majority of students who consistently do the right thing.
As we head into Semester Two on 17th July, we will be resetting very clear boundaries around student behaviour, with consistent consequences for those students who do not abide by our school values and positive behaviour expectations. Please reinforce with your child the importance of appropriate behaviour at school, to enable all students to learn effectively, build positive relationships with peers and teachers and ensure a safe and orderly learning and working environment for all. We want our school to give our students the best educational experience that we possibly can. Minimising the negative behaviours that undermine opportunities to achieve this will be a priority for our school community as we move forward. Your support is vital and appreciated.
Finally, our school has completed our Public School Review this term, which is a self-assessment process that occurs every three years. The process was very affirming and indicates that we are performing well. Please take the time to read the Public School Review Report, which can be accessed via the school website.
I wish you all a well deserved break over the upcoming school holidays.
Jan Stone
Principal
Chaplain's Column
What a whirlwind term! There have been so many great things happening and Jackie and I have felt privileged to be a part of many of them, amongst giving ongoing pastoral care support to students, staff and families.
Our Year 7 GRIT (Growth Resilience Integrity Traction) program is winding up next week with the final challenge being tacking the high ropes course at Dwellingup, which should be fun. The group has steadily worked through various team challenges over the term, all the while learning new skills in teamwork, communication and conflict resolution. We have also helped our Head of House staff run House Competitions for our entire Year 7 and 8 cohorts on a few occasions that have encouraged House spirit and teambuilding.
With a lot of families in our school community experiencing financial hardship and even loss of homes it’s been a privilege linking them in with various supports that have been able to assist with payments for school uniform, booklist items and excursion/camp costs. Our school Breakfast Club continues to serve 45-50 students each morning and our Student Services pantry also feeds a number of students each lunch time. If your family needs any Financial support of this kind please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Last week I (Justin) had a great time driving the bus and hanging out with our students on Year 10 AEP Camp down at Busselton. It was great relationship building time mixed in with some awesome activities including High Ropes adventures, Whale watching in Augusta and caving in Margaret River. Thankfully the weather was really kind to us and the students were great
Justin Hill and Jackie Greene
School Chaplains
Pinjarra/Waroona YouthCARE – Supporting school Chaplaincy 
Our committee continues to support our local school Chaplaincy program, if you’d like to help with our sausage sizzles etc. we’d love to hear from you! For more info please contact our Chairperson Sheryl Gangell on 0424 239 367.
The Pinjarra/Waroona YouthCARE Committee
Vaping
Pinjarra Senior High School, like many other schools, has seen a recent increase in young people vaping.
E-cigarettes, or ‘vapes’, are not safe for young people. They come in many shapes and sizes and can be hard to spot as they can look like everyday items including highlighters, pens or USB memory sticks.
Key vaping facts
• Many vapes contain nicotine. Nicotine can cause long-lasting negative effects on young people’s brain development, including impaired learning ability and altered mood, and can increase the risk of depression and anxiety.
• Vapes can contain the same harmful chemicals found in cleaning products, nail polish remover, weed killer and bug spray, which can lead to serious lung diseases.
• Young people who vape are 3 times as likely to take up smoking cigarettes.
The laws around selling vapes
It is reported that young people often purchase vapes online, from retail stores or from friends and contacts in the community. However, it is illegal in WA to sell e-cigarette devices and nicotine vaping products to anyone regardless of age, unless they are prescribed by a doctor for smoking cessation purposes and obtained with a prescription from a pharmacy.
E-cigarette devices and their components, whether they contain nicotine or not, cannot be sold by tobacco or general retailers in WA. You can report suspected illegal sales of vapes to the Department of Health by emailing TobaccoPolicy@health.wa.gov.au.
Talk to your child about vaping
It’s important to take the time to talk to your child about the risks of vaping. Try to start the conversation in a relaxed easy-going way, and remember your goal is to have a conversation, not deliver a lecture. Importantly, get the facts at: www.education.wa.edu.au/drug-education
Alcoa Apprenticeship Information Session
Alcoa, through an expression of interest for Year 11 and Year 12 students, presented information on the application process and first-hand accounts from apprentices at Alcoa. Craig Watts, WAO Apprentice Supervisor/Coordinator was keen to give hints and impress on the students the importance of first impressions and taking every opportunity to network. He emphasised the need to do the very best you can at all times and that high attendance and the ability to promote yourself positively through your schoolwork, part-time employment and community involvement was a must in a highly competitive application process. Alcoa recruitment Program opened on the 20 June and closes Friday 21 July 2023. Application information can be found on Connect.
Mrs Julie Gray, Career Practitioner.
Year 10 Alcoa Prospects Program
The students in the program recently workshopped personal branding and work expectations including interview techniques. The students in the program were fortunate to be walked through Alcoa’s employment process and expectations. They were given hints for success and practiced interview techniques with Alcoa employees. The students participated in a range of discussions focused on personal presentation at interview and how to use situation, action outcome (SAO) within their answers. Students have been given a USB with further information to assist them in their job search. Student homework is to create/update their résumé by the end of term two for the Alcoa Human Resources team to review and offer feedback for improvement. The incursion finished through recess with morning tea and the opportunity to network.
Mrs Julie Gray, Career Practitioner.
Year 9 Career Taster Program – South Metropolitan TAFE Career Day
Activities galore! Students had to bring their A-game as they were challenged by activities; a fun filled way to learn about career possibilities in industries such as plumbing, drones, engineering, cyber security, building and construction, community services and more… The day included a walk-through of the brand new hair and beauty facilities and state of the art hospitality training restaurant.
2023 Careers Week
2023 National Careers Week (15 – 21 May)
2023 National Volunteer Week (15 – 21 May)
This year saw both National Careers Week and National Volunteer Week fall at the same time. What a perfect opportunity to contemplate how volunteering can assist a person’s career pathway. 95% of employers believe volunteering is a credible way to gain real world experience. Students were encouraged to find how many different employability skills (e.g. a critical thinker, digitally literate, aspirational, collaborative, adaptable, able to self-manage, a leader and resilient) were on posters around the school as a part of the “What do you want to be when you grow up?” series. At the beginning or each lesson, over the week, there were Career Speed Facts, and a large 5 x 5 Career Matrix was developed on the library wall with career learning suggestions. Career Support sessions started in Room 25 at recess and lunch when the sign is on the door. These sessions continue to operate to allow students to create cover letters, improve their résumé and seek assistance around career opportunities and applications. Thank you to all staff tat were involved in presenting a range of career activities throughout the week.
Mrs Julie Gray, Career Practitioner
ISSF/Pistol National Competition
2 of our students, Amy Moody and Harper Floyd, competed in the ISSF/Pistol Australia National competition in Darwin. Both students ranked in the top 10 in air shooting in Australia, and Harper ranked in the top 23 in Australia for 25m Pistol. Congratulations to both students on this wonderful achicvement!
Science Updates
South West Engineering Challenge
Students from Year 9 AEP class attended a day of STEM challenges in Australind as part of the SW Science Engineering Challenge involving schools from southwest WA. Out of the eight participating schools in this first regional round, students worked hard to achieve sixth place. Here are some reflections from the day;
ElectraCITY By Katie
The aim of the ElectraCITY activity was to give electrical power to as many buildings as we could for the lowest possible cost. Every cord we connected had a price. We couldn’t go over our budget or we wouldn’t beat the specific challenge we were on. Our method was to use short $1 black cords and the long $3 black ones as they were the least expensive. They didn’t transfer as much energy (resistance) as the red cords. We rarely used the red cords ($3-$5) or left a building without power. ElectraCITY simulates the job of Renewable Energy Engineer, Renewable Energy Systems Designer, Mathematical Modeller, Energy Systems Designer, Data Cabling Technician, and various others not included here. So many jobs, so little time to read all of them. But if you’re interested, go look at these jobs, or even some more! I’m sure you’d learn something.
Stringways By Xander, Kaleb, Kobe and Taiven
In the String Ways activity, the aim was to use string to connect towns or cities together with as little crossovers as possible. As we progressed through the challenges the rules changed and another rope was introduced, we could not crossover any string and we could only go to cities or towns. The activity was fun as it was easy to go through the different challenges while each providing a new feature for us to beat.
Return to Mars By Lucas, Devan, Luca and Taj
The Return to Mars challenge was to create a rover that could hold a rocket stationary and transport it over a rocky terrain without it tipping over. You were not allowed to strap it or restrict its movement in any way. It could topple over onto the rover, but if it were to touch the ground, you’d lose the challenge, thus having to restart. We were timed and whoever got the fastest times would be the winner of the challenge. There were various sizes of rockets, gradually becoming more difficult, and prone to movement. We each put in an equal amount of effort, for both ideas, and the construction. We’d test to see what worked and what didn’t and would pivot off our rover. After many attempts, and design changes, we managed to come up with an ugly, yet effective design that got us third place. Overall, the challenge was fun and engaging, forcing us to change designs multiple times and take input from everyone to get the best outcome.
Flight By Erina, Jack and Lilliana
Our task was to design and build a plane out of thin wood and tape. Success was measured on the maximum distance it could travel and the accuracy to hit the centre of a bullseye. The diagram we were given was hard to recreate and we struggled to construct and build the plane. We were given minimal help, as this is a challenge for students and not teachers. We followed advice to angle the wings of the plane, but it resulted in the plane doing backflips. We felt underprepared for this activity and would have got higher scores if we had more time to prepare and experiment at school.
STEM Project Class Supporting Our Community
This semester, students in the STEM Project Class elective planted and tended vegetable seedlings in the STEM garden. By Term 2, students were able to harvest eggplant, cucumber, lettuce, silverbeet, coriander, basil, parsley, pumpkin and tomatoes. Students wanted to do more with the produce than just supply to the Hospitality Department at our school; they wanted to cook for the needy in our Pinjarra community. We met with the Murray House Resource Centre to discuss ideas and strategies. We found out that to cook and supply to the public, we all needed to complete an online training course “Food Alert – Safety Handling”. Students did this, then researched what meals we could make using the produce from our garden.
With qualifications, recipes and garden produce in hand, we worked with Ms Barr, our wonderful Hospitality Teacher, in the school kitchen to cook pasta sauce, ANZAC biscuits and fresh pasta with roasted eggplant. This was very ambitious in the 1.5-hour lesson we had to cook, particularly as only one of us had made fresh pasta before, and the quantity we were making used 5kg of flour and 60 eggs. Undeterred, our formidable project class are an incredible team and we got everything done.
In early June, we were able to again meet with Sonya and Elaine from the Murray House Resource Centre to hand over the 16 frozen meals and two boxes of biscuits we had made. These meals will be distributed via the Pinjarra Church Soup Kitchen and/or the Food Bank that operates out of the Resource Centre.
“We are very impressed with the talents and dedication of the group in producing these meals and know that they will reach the intended community members that they are meant for.” (Sonya, Pinjarra CRC Coordinator)
Year 10 AEP South West Camp
The Year 10 AEP camp in early June gave 25 of our students the opportunity to explore our southwest region, challenge themselves physically and mentally, build relationships with others and be immersed in a wide range of experiences. Here are some of their reflections:
I thoroughly enjoyed every day of the AEP camp (except being seasick). Every day bought us either a new challenge or a new hectic experience to withstand. The ropes course was amazing with a variety of levels, climbs, ziplines and obstacles high in the trees such as riding a bike. (Reuben Woodhouse)
Camp was full of fun hands-on activities. School camps give students the chance to know their classmates on a new level. (Hannah Waldron) I learned so many valuable lessons on this trip, and found out so many interesting things about my classmates (Summer Butterly)
The highlight of camp was going into Boranup Forest and into the caves – we explored Brides, Golgotha and Lakes caves – it was a great experience (Charlie Bowling).
Playing volleyball with the teachers and students was the highlight of my memories (Kornkunya Chanyakam). One of my favourite things at camp was playing volleyball, spotlight and talking around the fire we lit, as no-one had their phones (Harmony Alchin).
I enjoyed walking around Margaret River…having some independence and responsibility on the camp was great. It was one of my favourite camps I’ve been on, making new memories and learning new facts was extremely interesting. (Sophie Anderson)
The whale watching trip was honestly one of the best things that we did because we were able to see whales in the wild and one even breached from the water. It was a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will never forget. (Sarah Bykerk) The whale watching tour was an experience I will never forget; we saw lots of whales (Lewis Wild).
AEP Trivia Night
Six teams of parents and teachers enjoyed the 1980s and 1990s Trivia Night on 15 June. The event was created by Year 8 students Dottie and Rhianna as part of their project class elective.
Participants were welcomed into the school’s staff room which was decorated with fluoro streamers and balloons. Everyone enjoyed excellent food created by our Hospitality students, were challenged by some of the quiz questions and tried their luck at two-up heads-and-tails. Mr Lee kept the jokes rolling and generous prize donations meant most participants went home with a gift to enjoy.
Congratulations to the seven students that organised and ran the night – it was a fantastic success.
Health & Physical Education Updates
Cross Country
15 students were involved in the School Sport WA annual Interschool Cross Country event which was held in Mount Claremont on Thursday 18th May. Students from years 7-10 competed in their age division with hundreds of other students from schools all over Perth and the South-West including Albany, Bunbury and Busselton. The standout from the day included Reuben Woodhouse (year 10) who ran 4km in 18 minutes and 18 seconds placing in the top half of the pack. Olivia Dyer (year 10), Jack Leveridge (year 9) and Asia Hewett (year 9) ran solidly all finishing 4km in under 23 minutes. Bella Cooper (year 7) completed the 3km race just after the 16 minutes mark and Sophie Watson (year 8) just over 15 minutes. Students were surprised by the sheer number of competitors in each race and took pride in representing Pinjarra Senior High School.
Girls PFNA Football vs. Halls Head
On Tuesday 13th June our PFNA Girls headed to Halls Head to compete in some friendly football match play. All students put in a great effort, with exceptional guidance shown by our experienced footballers helping out the girls who were making their footy debut. Well done to Remi from our Year 10 program who coached the Year 8 team and captained the Year 9/10 team demonstrating outstanding leadership. We look forward to another round of games with Halls Head later in the year.
School Sport WA Netball Cup
Our school entered 9 teams in this year’s Netball Cup, competing in carnivals in Perth or Fremantle during May. This included three Year 7/8 Girls teams and three Year 9/10 Girls teams consisting of our PFNA students and other keen netballers in our school. We also had a Year 11/12 Girls team, in preparation for Country Week at the end of the term, and two Year 11/12 Boys teams. Our students competed well all day, with some teams only narrowly missing out on progressing to the next round of the competition. All students represented our school with a great level of competitiveness, teamwork and resilience whilst embracing our school value of Being United. Thank you to the students that assisted with coaching, umpiring and scoring to ensure a successful day for all involved.
Charges and Contributions
YEAR 7 – 10 VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS
Thank you to those families who have already paid Contributions and Charges for 2023. We appreciate your support very much. Your assistance helps us to work towards our whole school targets and priorities.
YEAR 11 & 12 CHARGES AND YEAR 8 – 10 HIGH COST ELECTIVES
Please be reminded that Year 11 & 12 charges are compulsory as well as Year 8-10 High Cost electives. Thank you to those that have already paid.
Payment options are listed below. Alternatively, to assist in lessening any financial burden a payment plan can be negotiated. Bank deductions can be set up and we can accept amounts as little as $10 per week. In order to arrange this, please contact the school on 9531 7000.
Proposed Charges and Contributions were included in your child’s 2023 Info Pack.
Payment Plans
If you would like to look at starting deductions, please contact our friendly administrative team at the school office for assistance either by phone (9531 7000) or email (pinjarra.shs@education.wa.edu.au).
PAYMENT OPTIONS
- Internet Banking:
BSB: 633000 Account No: 120445655
Description: (eg Student Name (John Smith) Yr8, CC (Contributions & Charges), Yr10Camp etc). - By telephone using credit card facilities on 9531 7000.
- In person during office hours (8.30am – 3.30pm), all EFTPOS/Credit Card options are available.
- Negotiate a Payment Plan.
- Post in a cheque.
- Centrepay – this can be set up by parents contacting Centrelink
Thank you in advance for your continued support.
Traffic Wardens Needed!
WA Police is reporting a shortage of Traffic Wardens in the local area, and is currently looking to recruit.
To become a Traffic Warden, applicants require access to email, a full driving licence with access to a vehicle, and the ability to work 10 shifts per week. The shifts will be an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.
If you are interested in becoming a Traffic Warden, please call 6274 8731 regarding any queries or if you would like an application pack.
Code of Conduct on School Orange Busses
Recently there has been an increase in students not adhering to the Code of Conduct whilst travelling on School Buses.
There has been an increase in reported incidents relating to:
- Students not wearing seatbelts
- Bullying on buses
- Vaping on buses
- Vandalism on buses
Please ensure you and your family are familiar with the Code of Conduct for travelling on school busses – it can be found below;
