Dear Parents/Caregivers,
The last four weeks have been incredibly busy with our students continuing to engage with their learning and participating in many extra curriculum activities.
Teaching and Learning
Teachers have continued to work in their PLTs, exploring different elements of pedagogy. On Friday the 3rd of May, curriculum leaders met to discuss their improvement plans. Leaders shared their journeys so far and what elements of pedagogical practice their faculties were exploring. Some of the areas explored are differentiated learning, multiple exposures, questioning, collaborative learning, and feedback. In addition to individual faculties exploring specific elements, the whole school is working together to learn more about metacognition and teach students metacognitive strategies for learning. With this work, we aim to improve the teaching and learning experiences of the students and support them to become effective learners, which is one of our school’s goals for 2024.
School Culture
The culture committee has continued to work with staff to unpack the behaviours which underpin each of our school’s values: We are United, Passionate, and Accountable. During our student-free day, which took place on the first day of the term, they worked with staff to unpack what behaviours impact how well the school values are realized. The exploration started with the value of “we are passionate.” Over the next few weeks, Ms. Casey Rendell, Learning Environment Assistant Principal, will be running a number of similar workshops with students to get their input, so as a school community, we have agreed expectations of what positive behaviours reflect each value.
NAPLAN Results
The preliminary results for NAPLAN have been provided to us. There are five aspects to the test: Numeracy, Reading, Writing, Grammar and Punctuation, and Spelling. In all areas except for Grammar and Punctuation, both our Year 7 and 9 students sit in the “strong performance” category. In Grammar and Punctuation, we sit mostly in the developing category. We will continue to unpack this data and determine strategies to improve in all aspects of the tests, particularly Grammar and Punctuation.
Parent-Teacher Interviews
Parent-teacher interviews were held on Thursday the 16th of May. Over 850 appointments were made with teachers. It was pleasing to see so many parents attend the interviews and to see teachers smiling at the end of the day, commenting on the positive experience they had. They were very appreciative and thankful for the support they received from parents.
Pedal Prix
On Saturday, 18 May, the Pedal Prix students competed at Tailem Bend. Thirty students attended, along with the Fast Cats racing team. Mr Wayne Ferguson and Mrs Jess Hanlin were extremely impressed with how well our students participated. Pink Panther won 4th place out of 7, and Links came 8th out of 39 teams. The Masters Team, Top Cat from Fast Cats, came 1st. Thank you to Jess, Wayne, and the Fast Cats Racing Club for their planning, organising, and ongoing support of the Pedal Prix program.
Hydrogen Car Racing
A group of four students competed in the Hydrogen Grand Prix racing. These students belong to the STEM club, which operates every Wednesday afternoon. They developed their own hydrogen car and were successful in winning third place. This is an extraordinary achievement, as this is the first time that the students undertook such a project and competed in this event. Congratulations to Riley, Samuel, Liam, and Declan for their achievement, and thank you to Mr. James Dundon for the mentoring and support he has provided to the students.
Farewell to Hannah Downes
It is with sadness that our school community is farewelling Mrs. Hannah Downes, Assistant Principal of Learning Environment. Hannah and her family are moving interstate. Hannah has been an incredible leader who has touched the lives of many students and staff at Modbury High School. Hannah’s enthusiasm, passion, and commitment to Modbury High School were evident in everything that she did. Her students loved her passion for physics and sense of humour. Her colleagues loved her commitment to making Modbury High School a better place for everyone. Thank you, Hannah, for all your amazing work over the years. Modbury High School wishes you a bright and wonderful future. You will always be a part of Modbury High School.
Ms Joanne Costa
Principal
Every day a student attends school has a positive impact on their future prospects and their development as an individual. A focus on increasing student attendance through support and intervention with the student and their families creates a culture of success within the school community.
Research from around the world has demonstrated a clear link between improved literacy and numeracy outcomes and attendance at school. Family engagement with the student and the school around attendance and achievement has also been shown to be critical; when families understand the relevance of attendance they work more closely and effectively with the school.
As a parent or caregiver, it is your responsibility to:
Reminder we will not be using Spacetalk for SMS or email from Mon 27 May. It will all be through Daymap.
For more information and how to guides please click the following link.
Each term, the school acknowledges the students who achieve exceptional end-of-term results.
Outstanding Achievement awards are presented to students who obtained the maximum number of A grades for their year level. The academic achievement of these students was recognised at our Outstanding Achievers Recess in Week 2 this term.
High Achievement awards are presented to students who obtain one fewer A grade than the maximum for their year level.
Congratulations once again to these students!
Outstanding Achievement
| Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 | Year 11 | Year 12 |
| Skye Parrish | Jules Sualog | Jess Freebairn | Breanne Button | Jasmin Andrews |
| Eileen Zhang | Gargee Vyas | Charli Hodson | Jordyn Cook | Madison Benton |
| Saarakshya Sharma | Rei Cook | Hannah Dones | ||
| Scarlett Taylor | Cameron Green | Quinn Duncan | ||
| Arved Grotmaack | Lawrence French | |||
| Danika Low | Kaiwen He | |||
| Emily Zhang | Lianna Lineage | |||
| Kahlan Mashford | ||||
| Tanvita Naik | ||||
| Hana Wong |
High Achievement
| Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 | Year 11 | Year 12 |
| Abbey Carroll | Armaan Babwani | Logan Ashman | Ronan Atkins | Charlotte Bland | Jack Counihan-Abbott |
| Thomas Coombe | Felix Brotherton-Collins | Hong Chen | Lara Azo | Molly Cox | Sarah Crozier |
| Andrei Dumitrescu | Sibella Kastanos | Tyler Gaskin-Osborne | Isha Bane | Katelyn Fraser | Marli Donsberg |
| Erin Freebairn | Isobel Leyson | Hudson Geier | Ella Boyle | Imogen Janicki | Oscar Elder |
| Imogen Gillespie | Ruby McFarland | Liam Hanlin | Abi Cavenett | Lia Kais | Trinity Fowler |
| Isabella Gilligan | Hudson Mentha | Nicholas Haskard | Izzy Dube | Christopher Kastanos | Carlos Gray-Claveria |
| Reva Khanna | Prithvi Patel | Ava Huettenrauch | Inyoung Kim | Jade Kolman | Anton Kastanos |
| Ella Lee | Payton Richardson | Maddison Johns | Angelica Lizaso | Ariel Lim | Romeo Mangava |
| Amalie Ross | Fleur Rowe | Brendan Keast | Aki Sicoy | Mia Ly | Tyson Nottle |
| Toby Strelan | Branson Kusmadi | Emily Totani | Mika Osborne | Jade Pelton | |
| Elsie Zhang | Hasifa Mbatudde | Elliot Webster-Brown | Xavier Paulson | Jazsmin Smith | |
| Miley Mugford | Tom Whistler | Raina Saitov | Andrea Sualog | ||
| Roshani Rajkumar | Olivia Wighton | Alecia Saldavia | Leo Vorrasi | ||
| Vivaan Rajpal | Caitlyn Scott | ||||
| Paige Sharpe | Mady Sharma | ||||
| Ella Taylor | Josh Stewart | ||||
| Elisha Tonkin | |||||
| Isabella Wright |
Term 1 in Spanish we have been learning about Spain and introductory sentences. We have been focussing on numbers, months of the year and pronunciation (phonetics) of the Spanish alphabet. Lots of new vocabulary has been learnt for greetings and basic conversations. Students have been working in class or for homework on Duolingo or blooket to assist in revision of vocabulary and phrases. Students have looked at the famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and decorated their book covers with a Picasso style self-portrait. We looked at artwork from Picasso’s blue and rose periods and students then chose to either replicate these or draw their own self.
Ms Fiona Muggleton
Spanish Teacher
Mr Jorge Paredes
Spanish Teacher
Shaelee Herman and I were lucky enough to be invited to the HiViZ Women Building SA Luncheon at the Adelaide Convention Centre last Friday. The inspiring afternoon featured numerous powerful women who shared their stories, offering insights and encouragement to women navigating male-dominated professions. It was fantastic to see a room full of strong women supporting each other and proving that men and women are equal! A key message taken from the event was that together, we can break barriers, inspire change, and create a more inclusive environment for everyone.
We are incredibly proud of Shaelee for following her dream of becoming an Australian Defence Force Electrician.
Ms Brooke Hoppo
English & Humanities Teacher
On the last day of term 1, Friday 12th April, two year 11 Art classes including Mrs Moeller, Ms Brown and Mr Price, went on an exhibition marathon! The Waterhouse Prize is a prestigious exhibition in the SA Museum showcasing Australian artists who explore a range of media and concepts. The exhibition is ‘where Natural Science and Art collide’. The theme is fitting for us as our Visual Study for this semester investigates Artists associated with nature. This exhibition takes place every two years, and we visited it on the opening day. We also perused the Inner Sanctum exhibition at the Art Gallery of SA before lunch and finally got to view the great works and folios of selected 2023 stage 2 Art and Design students from around the state at the Light Square Gallery. This exhibition is important as it illustrates the documented visual and written processes of year 12 students, from first ideas to the final practical, and gives all an understanding of how to write an artist statement too.
Mrs Jess Moeller
Arts Coordinator
Harvey Spencer, a year 11 student, has represented South Australia at the Australian Powerlifting Alliance Nationals in Newcastle, NSW where he placed 1st 
in his division, Sub-Junior under 93kg 
His best lifts were:
Squat 225kg
Bench Press 140kg (National Record)
Dead Lift 263.50 (National Record)
Harvey is currently ranked 13th in the world for Sub Junior under 93kg and will be representing Australia at the International Powerlifting Federation Worlds in Aug/Sept in Malta.
"Going into this comp I was the most nervous I had been before a meet. Jimmy (3rd place) and Corey (2nd place) pushed me really hard going into deads. But on my opener I failed my lockout because my left calf cramped up. For a moment I thought I had lost but my dad pulled me aside and tried to spark up as much self confidence in me he could and I smoked it on the 2nd attempt. For my third attempt I had to pull 263.5kg to tie Corey's total and win through bodyweight. In the end I got the final deadlift I needed and WE'RE GOING TO WORLDS"
- Harvey.
Congratulations Harvey! We are very proud of you and your achievements!! We will be cheering you on in Adelaide while you are at worlds! 
Rubie Lehman’s journey to 2nd place in the world started with a video submission to try-out for the Australian u/14 Cheerleading team. From there she made it through to the in-person tryouts with 60 other athletes finally being accepted onto Team Australia with a team of 31 athletes all aged between 12 and 14.
In the lead up the world championships she undertook many trainings here In Adelaide every Friday night along with two full day team trainings in Sydney and one in Melbourne before travelling to Orlando Floria for the competition.
There was 5 days of tough training and then a grueling two weeks of competition, she put in a fantastic effort along with her team eventually coming away with the 2nd place trophy “it was a really fun experience and I would do it again and recommend it to any other potential cheerleaders out there”.
Please click the following here to download information regarding Year 11 in term 2.
Wormald Canvas continue to support Design & Technology at Modbury High. They recently, very kindly supplied some canvas covers to the Design and Technology faculty free of charge. These are sincerely appreciated and we thank them for these and hope that if members of the high school community need any canvas products that Wormald Canvas is part of their consideration.
Ms Aimie Strawbridge
Coordinator of Design & Technology
Mr Wayne Ferguson
Coordinator of Design & Technology
On the 16th of May, 11 Year 10 students attended the Empowered Leadership Day at the Alberton Oval Precinct. These students represented Modbury High School on their pupil free day. Their behavior and engagement in all activities on the day was a wonderful reflection of these awesome attendees.
The theme of the day was based on leadership qualities and skills, being an upstander and online safety. Students heard from AFL and AFLW Port Power players around how they lead by example and values they strive to achieve in their leadership role so they can inspire others. Port Power players and coaching staff ran a session on scenarios of how to be an upstander in various situations. Flinders University having partnered with Centacare and Port Power to develop a Power Up Online Safety program which the students were asked to give feedback on so that this program has the best chance of appealing to as many young people as possible.
In between these sessions students were given a tour of player locker rooms as well as the High Performance Centre where the players train. They also had a chance to have a kick around on Alberton Oval and participate in training drills run by the players from the AFLW and AFL Port Power teams.
Ms Lauren Freeth
Year 9/10 Level Leader
In 2025, Modbury High School is excited to extend on the existing specialist basketball program to introduce a new basketball academy that will be available for all students starting in year 7 and going through to year 10. This academy is specifically designed to improve student-athlete's basketball ability, strength & conditioning as well as prepare them for success in SACE.
Year 6 students wishing to attend Modbury High School in 2025 with an interest in joining the basketball academy, please complete this form: https://forms.office.com/r/VgFYtzi8Ad
For out of zone students wishing to attend for the academy, a reminder that when entering your preferences on the Department Starting Secondary registration of interest form (due Friday 24/5) to nominate Modbury High School as your preference and outline that you are wishing to attend for the basketball academy, as well as completing the above form for our records.
Current high school students that wish to attend Modbury High School with an interest in basketball, please complete the letter provided in the enrolment pack.
This amazing program coincides with the continuing USA basketball tour, with the next trip being held in 2025.
The academy is overseen and coached directly by our head of basketball, Riley Harrap. Riley has years of experience coaching at state levels and currently plays NBL1 for the Norwood Flames. For further information, please contact him directly on riley.harrap439@schools.sa.edu.au
Mr Riley Harrap
Teacher | Basketball Specialist Manager
The Hydrogen Grand Prix (H2GP) program challenges tomorrow's innovators to design, engineer, build, and race their own hydrogen-powered RC cars. Through this program, our future leaders develop the creativity, ingenuity, and real-world problem-solving skills needed to tackle tomorrow's energy challenges. From the 20 teams competing, the winner would earn a place to compete in the World Final in the US.
Our team Innov8 Velocity Racing competed in an exhilarating 4-hour race, showcasing their exceptional skills and teamwork. Leading for the first three-quarters of the race, our team ultimately secured an impressive 3rd place finish. The competition demanded precise power management, with teams limited to using three batteries and 18 Hydrostiks (hydrogen fuel containers) and driver skill and endurance to achieve the highest number of laps in 4h.
Despite an early setback when a crash inadvertently switched off our fuel cell, draining our first battery, our resilient team managed to navigate the remaining 3.5 hours on only two batteries. This remarkable feat was made possible by the incredible efforts of our two drivers, Riley and Samuel, as well as our dedicated pit crew, mechanic, and race strategists, Liam and Declan.
Our team, consisting of one Year 8 and three Year 9 students were competing against much older teams, making their achievement even more commendable. These students have been working tirelessly since the middle of 2023, sacrificing lunchtimes and after-school hours to hone their skills in our STEM club.
We are incredibly proud of our team's perseverance, dedication, and outstanding performance. Congratulations to Riley, Samuel, Liam, Declan. Your hard work and passion for STEM is truly inspiring!
Mr James Dundon
Science | DATA | STEM Coordinator
If your student has had achievements outside of school, let us know! We would love to celebrate together! Just send us an article with information and photos you would be happy for us to share. Email us at dl.0964.info@schools.sa.edu.au
The start of 2024 has seen many ups and downs for MHS Music with us not attending GIJ to expanding our IM offerings.
For the first time at MHS, we now provide Voice lessons to eligible students in the Choir. We bid a warm welcome to Mrs. Schultz, our new IM voice teacher.
Our Choir has also bolstered in numbers to around 20 students under the guidance of Ms. Geszner.
We are also very proud to have established small ensembles for Woodwind, Brass, Flute, Saxophone, and Classical Guitar, run by our incredible IM staff. We thank Mrs. Sheridan, Mr. Heinjus, Ms. Paul, Mr. Moore, and Mr. Bairstow for their time and support of the MHS Music program.
A number of these groups will be performing alongside class and school ensembles at our Semester 1 Music Night, on Tuesday the 11th of June (in the school Gym). A small number of these new ensembles will also go on to represent MHS at the Balaklava Eisteddfod next term.
We look forward to our upcoming opportunities!
Congratulations to Sienna Peck for being successful with the donation letter she wrote. Sienna reached out to some of our local coffee bean roasters to gain donations for the Purruna Kuu Cafe. Veneziano Coffee Roasters have generously donated 6kgs of their delicious coffee beans. Veneziano has a fabulous cafe on Melbourne Street in North Adelaide. When you are near the cite next drop in for a coffee, lunch or treat and let me know how appreciative you are that they are supporting wellbeing initiatives at Modbury High School.
Ms Lauren Freeth
Year 9/10 Level Leader
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We believe in a culture of achievement in a respectful and rigorous learning environment
