We are into the final term of our school year and the year has certainly passed by seemingly quickly in the face of the challenges we have confronted. The year has been a testing one, as we have had to adjust to the new reality for a while, which still lingers potentially in the background. I would like to thank all the staff at the school for the efforts that they have put in through these times as we have adjusted to a new way of doing some things.

The final term of a school year is always a busy one with a list of events (some already passed) worth sharing at this stage:

• Governing Council Meetings on October 26^th and November 30^th.
• Book Week with the book parade no October 21^st.
• Book Fair on October 27^th to 29^th.
• NAIDOC day in Leigh Creek on Thursday November 12th.
• Pupil Free Days on November 19th and 20th.
• Our Kindy transition program will run on Thursdays progressively throughout the term.
• Presentation Night on Tuesday December 8th.
• Last day of term Thursday December 10^th.

Our External Review which happened finally during term three has reached it’s conclusion with the completion of the final report. The report addresses how we have addressed the directions of our previous report from 2016 as well as setting three key directions based on the lines of inquiry that the review team looked into. The lines of inquiry addressed were based around ‘Effective school improvement planning’, ‘Effective teaching and student learning’ and ‘Conditions for effective student learning’. From this the following directions were recommended by the review:

• Direction 1 - Strengthen the focus on improved student learning through furthering effective structures to monitor impact and progress towards goals and practice actions against the success criteria of the SIP.
• Direction 2 - To enable students to be partners in their learning, strengthen teacher knowledge and action to embed student agency into the formative assessment and feedback processes between students and teachers, to impact on students’ capabilities and self-drive to improve.
• Direction 3 - To ensure a culture of high expectation from all students with their learning, embed teaching practices and structures within the learning environment that are student-centered, aspirational and improvement-focused.

I have presented the report to the Governing Council and the final stage of publicising this will be to post it on our school website with our other school reports.

As a follow up to the report staff now have the opportunity to commence their planning for the next school year and I have requested the above two pupil free days that will occur on Thursday November 19th and Friday November 20th. The first day will continue our professional learning from this year in LDAM (Learning Design Assessment and Moderation) which will involve a further look into formative assessment and reporting in line with the Australian Curriculum. The second day will specifically be about our planning for 2021, looking at our individual student data, setting up the processes to help students succeed in 2021.

From late in the second term and throughout the third term we have already been preparing for our school production of The Lion King. Students have already been involved in practicing, gaining roles, learning dance steps and singing the songs from this musical. This participation will increase over the third term as different classes take a role in different aspects of the production. I already have the feeling this is going to be a big event as students take on the engaging and challenging roles involved. As in previous years the production is a major focus for our students and staff at this time of the year. We look forward to presenting this at the end of term on Presentation night.

In this newsletter you will be able to read up on the plans set aside for this term by our teachers. Enjoy the reading and be ready to ask your kids how they are going with their work. I look forward to seeing parents more this term hopefully around the school, as always if parents have any questions they can contact me at the school through the front office on 86484003or my email daren.oneill253@schools.sa.edu.au

Mr Daren O'Neill

Principal 

From the land of the little people...

English

This term we are studying a picture book called ‘Maralinga, The Anangu Story’. This is a unique book detailing the impacts and details of the atomic testing at Maralinga in the 1950’s. The story is written by the Yalata and Oak Valley Communities and details many first-hand accounts of the people at the time. It includes beautiful illustrations and a great deal of background information on the culture and experiences of the Anangu people. We are looking at how points of view can influence a story and the reader, and the importance of primary sources.

We are also focusing on the grammar and vocabulary requirements for each year level in the interests of ensuring everyone is where they need to be before heading up to the next year level. As you can imagine, students are delighted to be having weekly “grandma” lessons!

HASS

After winding up our economics and business lessons from last term where all students managed a successful business enterprise, we have switched the focus back to history. History this term is also looking at the events at Maralinga in the 1950’s, and also the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which effectively got the whole atomic weapon race rolling. Whereas English is focusing on the events and impacts from the Anangu perspective, History will look at the effects on the Australian Servicemen who worked there, and the impacts on the environment, which are still being felt today. We are also focusing on the why. Why did Australia allow the British to test on our land? Why were we so keen and eager for this to happen? Why were the public not told the whole truth about the environmental and physical damage that would occur? And why did it take until 2014 for the British government to accept any responsibility for the clean-up of the area? This all falls under the making of the nation section of the curriculum and gives us an understanding of how the psyche of Australia has changed over the years.

SACE English

Having completed her Stage 1 English components, our SACE student is now working on her first assignment for Stage 2. After an in depth study of Macbeth, we are now looking at the literary devices used by Shakespeare to engage an audience. By the end of this term we should have completed at least 2 of the assessment tasks for Stage 2 English, hopefully taking some pressure off next year which will be very busy for our only year 12.

That’s about all from the 6-12 class for the beginning of term 4. Hope everyone has enjoyed the rain and is able to get out and enjoy this beautiful green countryside while we can.

Mrs Sharon Bates

Year 6-12 Teacher / SACE Coordinator

During term four Hawker Are School science students going to learn about 'why is biodiversity important?'

Biodiversity provides us with clean air and water, soil for crops and forests, and to sustain the productivity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.  Students are going to learn about biodiversity in the classroom and the going to explore and observe the biodiversity of the school grounds. They going to conduct a biodiversity survey with a focus on plant variety and vegetative layers as plants are the foundation upon which most ecosystems are based. The activities are designed to get the students to view their playground from a different perspective, with a biodiversity focus, and establish a sense of place.

This topic of biodiversity is designed for year 8- 9 students to develop a deeper understanding of the interrelationships between plants and animals and the non-living elements of an environment Year 6 – 7s will learn about ecosystems and food webs, while the Year 3-5s are going to explore the ecosystem and the human role in sustainable living.  In the school grounds, the students will look for small scale ecosystems, examples include the bark of a tree, under a log, in the mulch or leaf litter, even the accumulated leaves at the entrance to a drain or school garden. The students will gently explore the biodiversity within the small ecosystem. They will also take a digital photos or sketch their small-scale ecosystems and list or label the variety of species with it.

Mrs Lidia Szelzak

Mathematics and Science Teacher