We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Greg Mayfield. Greg had a long relationship with John Pirie Secondary School having sponsored the Greg Mayfield Journalist Award given to a student who excels in writing. He also established the John Pirie Secondary School Interact Club where he brought students together to exchange ideas with leaders in the community and develop their leadership.

Greg served the community through a journalism career spanning 50 years, most notably as a journalist and editor of The Recorder newspaper. One of Greg’s most remarkable traits was his ability to connect with people. He had a natural talent for making each person he met feel genuinely valued and heard. Whether it was through his warm smile, his attentive listening or his wise words, he made a lasting impact on many lives especially the students of John Pirie Secondary School.

On behalf of the staff, students and school community of John Pirie Secondary School I express my sincere condolences to Greg’s family at this sad time.

After a very busy and positive 11 weeks, this week sees Term 1 draw to a close. Throughout the term, students have again had the opportunity to participate in a wide range of sporting carnivals, camps, excursions and school based-activities in addition to their regular curriculum programs. Some of these are described in more detail in this edition of the newsletter.

This week also sees students, parents and carers have access to Term 1 reports via Daymap. These reports provide an indication of how our students are achieving against their relevant year level curriculum, prior to final end-of-semester reports at the end of Term 2.

Student reporting is a small, but very important, part of the communication channels we strive to maximise with parents and carers. We know that when parents are involved in their child’s education, children are more likely to have positive attitudes towards school and learning. Research also shows that by taking an active role in their child’s education, parents can help their child succeed academically and socially.

We understand for parents and carers to take an active role in their child’s education, they must be informed about what is happening at school. We seek to maximise opportunities for parents and carers to be involved in and contribute to their child’s education.

This year we initiated a Community Information evening which had high rates of family attendance. This evening presented families with the opportunity to learn more about what their child would be doing at school this year, and to meet their child’s teachers.

All parents and carers have access to their child’s Daymap learning platform. Via Daymap, families can access important information about their child’s education such as their learning programs, resources, lesson notes, and teacher feedback and attendance rates. Should you require any information or support about accessing Daymap, please contact Student Services.

In Week 2 of next term, we will be hosting Parent/Teacher interviews. This provides families the opportunity to discuss any aspect of their child’s education with their class teachers, and I encourage parents and carers to take advantage of this.

Our school newsletter and Facebook page provide further information about all that is happening and on offer at JPSS.

In addition to these regular modes of communication, our staff always welcome a phone call should you wish to discuss your child’s education at any time.

I hope everyone has a great holiday break over the next two weeks and I look forward to seeing you all on 29^th April.

Michael Gaunt

PRINCIPAL

On Monday 4^th & 5^th March JPSS were privileged to continue our long-standing connection with the Carly Ryan Foundation. All years 7-10 students participated in a 1 hour cyber safety presentation facilitated by two passionate workers of the foundation. Students were informed about healthy relationships and strategies to keep themselves safe when online. Discussions also occurred around numerous social media platforms and enlightened students into some real truths about these major worldwide operations. Attached to newsletter are a number of fact sheets which will provide more information about each of these platforms.

 Jasmin Wright – Wellbeing Leader

On Wednesday 7th March, staff from SAASTA Head Office, Power Community Limited and Flinders University (Yungkurrinthi) had the pleasure of attending the Port Pirie SAASTA Academy for their Santos Aboriginal Power Cup Workshop. Students engaged in all workshop activities on Culture and Identity, Reconciliation and NAIDOC 2024 themes and had the chance to hear about the SAASTA KPI's and their learning tasks in the lead up to the Santos Aboriginal Power Cup. Visiting staff had the very lucky opportunity of a student-led guided tour of the Urumbula Native Garden, showing pride and ownership of their garden and impressed staff with their knowledge. Thank you Port Pirie Academy for once again being so welcoming and engaging. We look forward to seeing you all at the Santos Aboriginal Power Cup!

Throughout week 8, both Year 9 Outdoor Education classes embarked on their first official outdoor experience for the year. Over two days, each class had the chance to explore the Port Pirie Creek system.

Day one, students were introduced to the basic skills of kayaking, engaging in activities to assist their development of fundamental paddle strokes, teamwork as well as water safety and awareness. After enjoying these activities, students were prepared to embark on a longer day journey for day two, completing a harbour and creek tour. Students thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Port Pirie Creek environment with the company of their peers, whilst pushing themselves out of their usual comfort zones in the process.

Gratitude goes out to the Port Vincent Aquatics team and to Mr. Hoile for facilitating this experience.

The focus at the start of the year was with information and induction sessions and slowly getting into the routine of being involved in morning trainings, lunch time activities, after school activities, camps and many more interactions.

ABOUT THE ACADEMY - The Port Pirie Clontarf Academy was founded in 2023 and
operates out of John Pirie Secondary School. It caters for students in Years 7 to 12 and currently has 40 boys engaged in the programme.

ABOUT THE FOUNDATION - The Clontarf Foundation exists to improve the education,
discipline, life skills, self-esteem, and employment prospects of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and by doing so equips them to participate meaningfully in society.

On Thursday 14th March, some of the Year 9/10 Clontarf lads attended their first camp at White Cliff Waterhole and  Wallaroo beach. The boys went to White Cliff Waterhole in Koolunga for swimming and back to Clontarf to sleep. The next morning, we had Morning Training with all Clontarf students and travelled to Wallaroo for a swim and sandcastle contest.

On Friday 15^th March, we had our year 12 boys take on Adelaide schools in a Futsal competition. We opted to take any interested year 12 boys as the Soccer Academy focuses more on middle school years this year, but it wasn’t without a few success stories. With just three players coming from a soccer background, it left 4 boys with football or hockey backgrounds to fill the void. Credit to these boys, despite facing some tough fixtures they always managed to put up a tough contest lead by captain Harry Johnson. The boys saved their best until last to win 4-2 against a reputable soccer school and round out the day with a win, courtesy of an Adam Hissey's hattrick and an excellent Kurt Eldridge solo-effort. Well done to all involved and doing themselves and JPSS proud!

Different to the typical basketball competitions that we participate in, this year JPSS took on Adelaide schools in a modified basketball competition. It was a half court 3v3 set-up in a round-robin competition format (group stage and a knockout final). Each team was grouped into teams of four, with one team a group of year 10 boys, another was a year 11/12 boys team, and we also had a year 10/11 girls team.

The younger boys finished the day with mixed results and were always competitive, with the more senior boys finding their way to a play-off for second place after losing just one game, which they won. In a fantastic show of ability mixed with team-effort, the girls walked away as champions on the day. They won their final by a narrow 1 point and ended the day undefeated exceeding even their expectations for the day, though thoroughly deserved.

Another big success from the day was the way all our teams carried themselves throughout the day. Event organisers on the day praised how well our students behaved throughout the day to earn themselves the label of fan-favourites. A great effort by all!