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We are coming to the end of end of 2021, much the same as 2020 a demanding year in many different ways. Our staff have been putting a lot of time this term into developing our School Improvement Plan, a challenging exercise that will bring it’s rewards over 2022 – 2024.
This term we are farewelling four staff members:
- Lidia Szlezak who has been here since 2019, teaching Maths, Science, the Personal Learning Plan, the Research Project, Flexible Learning Options and Polish. Her hard work and commitment in teaching and differentiating for all students has been a hallmark of her time at Hawker.
- Harald Walther has been here in the second semester taking over from Hayley Brown in the Year 3 – 5 class teaching in all the core learning areas. Harald has taken on the class, continuing as he always does to maintain good working relationships with all his students. Harald will continue on as a relief teacher next year and we may well be able to bring him up from Meningie!
- Paul Lowe has been our bus driver and had responsibilities with the grounds at Hawker since before 2017. He is now moving into retirement for medical reasons after many hundreds of kilometres travelled.
- Dean Humphries has been an unofficial member of our staff, travelling up from Gladstone for the last two years to relieve in all our classes. Without exception he has been able to come in and work productively with staff and students. It is great to see a teacher who can walk into a class at both ends of the school, have great relationships with the students and keep the curriculum moving forward. Dean is also moving into full retirement.
We will miss all our departing staff. As always when people move into a country town and work in our schools, they develop their connections with the community. It is always a significant moment when staff move on and I would like to wish all our departing staff the best for 2022.
We also will be welcoming new staff to the school for 2022, we have had the opportunity as a staff to catch up at our Pupil free day with some, but the wait is still on for one new staff member:
- Sharon Lam will be teaching Maths, Science and PE. She will teach Maths to the Year 7-11 students and the Year 5-6 students and Science to the Year 7-11 students.
- Kim Adele is arriving from Victoria with a specialised background in the Special Needs area. Kim at this stage will be teaching three days a week. We are waiting on Kim to be able to cross the border, where she was delayed until the border opened up.
- Victoria Barratt will have the Year 3 – 6 homegroup and be teaching Year 3 – 4 for English, Maths and HASS and the Year 3 – 6s in Science, Health and LOTE.
- Travis McDonald will continue to teach our Year 3 – 6 and 7 – 11 students in Design and Technology.
Slowly over the year we have been building up to some exciting developments in career education. The Adelaide Institute of Hospitality (CEG) is our Flexible Industry Pathway (FIP) provider delivering the Certificate 2 in Hospitality Course to Year 11 students at Hawker next year with block weeks of training each term at Hawker. Schools across the state have been working to develop agreements with Registered Training Organisations as Flexible Industry Providers, tapping into the local economies of different areas and at Hawker this has led to the AIOH delivering in the area of hospitality. The FIP will involve students from other schools, with students from both Marree and Leigh Creek attending Hawker for curriculum delivery. As students move through secondary years at Hawker similar certificate courses and pathways will be available within and outside the Far North partnership. These will lead potentially to school based apprenticeships linked to the courses, whereby students can continue their education and pathway and at the same time be paid and trained on the job.
The recent announcement that COVID-19 vaccinations will be mandatory for all people who work at an education and early childhood settings, except those who have a medical exemption endorsed by the Chief Public Health Officer will have implications for schools. In 2022 at Hawker this will include:
- all Department for Education employees and contractors
- anyone who visits a Department for Education site for work purposes
- all Governing Council members and employees
- all Department for Education volunteers / parent helpers (people who assist with reading, camps, excursions, canteen, fundraising etc)
- Department for Education contracted bus drivers
Under this Direction, all of the above-mentioned people must receive at least 1 dose of a Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) approved COVID-19 vaccination and a booking to receive a second dose by 10 December 2021.
At the end of this challenging year I would like to thank all the staff, parents and students, along with community members who have put the time into supporting our school and local community. Enjoy your Christmas breaks and I look forward to seeing everyone in 2022.
As usual if anyone has any questions I can be contacted through the front office on 86484003 or through my email at daren.oneill253@schools.sa.edu.au
Mr Daren O'Neill
Principal
Term 4 at Central Station, that’s the Junior Primary class in the centre of the school which has bolted into term 4 with lots of planning, practicing and performing of songs and dances for the end of year occasions.
Transition from Kindergarten students came to the school over 6 weeks this term and it was fantastic to see how well everyone adjusted and enjoyed the time together.
All the Year 1 and 2 students moved up from Read, Write Inc. applause, applause and onto Literacy and language, the next level to R.W.Inc. We studied a unit of work on script writing, exploring and comparing the process of script writing from a story.
On the calmer side of life in the JP class, we have been looking after our patch in the garden, watering, weeding and planting. The students love this time spent in this special place, as we always see lots of lizards, insects and birds.
Revision and problem solving has been at the centre of Maths this term with some time has been spent exploring great Maths games too.
Ms Penolope McCulloch
Foundation - Yr 2 Teacher
Who would have thought that Term 4 would draw to a close so quickly? Well, the conclusion to the 2021 school year is upon us. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Year 3-5 class and will certainly miss them, and school staff, next year.
During the last few weeks we explored topics like internet safety, rules and laws in civics and citizenship and a variety of Science and Maths topics. Students particularly blossomed with creative tasks. The results include an impressive piece of dot art by Deborah, Nicole and Opheilia.
The class also used technology, with an app called “Kahoot”, to be more creative in their learning. This involved creating quizzes about the various topics they have studied and then testing each other.
After studying a novel “The Gizmo” by Australian author Paul Jennings, we looked at a number of “Round the Twist” TV episodes based on Paul Jennings’ writings. The class enjoyed these. The theme of weirdness then laid the foundations for the class Presentation Night performance of “The Three Little Pigs”, a send-up of the traditional tale with hints of modern television and advertising. Creating props and masks was a lot of fun and provided a chance to be creative and innovative. Problem solving is a fantastic way to learn. The class did well with limited time and resources. I’m very proud of them. Best wishes for 2022.
Mr Harald Walther
Year 3-5 Teacher
Well…where did that term/year go?? Here’s a quick run down on the happenings in English, HASS, Home Ec and HPE.
English Year 6-10
This term we completed a study of the picture book Azaria, which looks at the story of Azaria Chamberlain from Lindy Chamberlain’s perspective. We then studied newspaper articles and video footage of the news and documentaries from the time of the incident (way back in 1980!!). We also looked at terms like “Dingo stole my baby” and how they filtered into popular culture.
The assessment task for this unit of work was a balanced news article. Students were asked to present both sides of the story, without giving their own opinions, or allowing their thoughts on what happened to influence their writing.
The final weeks of the term have been spent brushing up on vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, with a focus on what makes a whole sentence versus a fragmented sentence. We’ve also had a bit of fun (well…I had fun!) changing the meaning of different paragraphs using only punctuation.
HASS Year 6-10
We switched to Geography for HASS this term, students have been looking at food production and food security. They also completed a research task on a Biome of their choice and linked the importance of the environment in our aim for food security in the future.
As part of HASS this term the students also had the opportunity to visit Yappala and Hookina Springs to learn about bush foods, mediciines, look at some Aboriginal paintings and witness Gudgeon monitoring in Hookina Creek. The Gudgeon are an endangered fish, native to the Flinders that have been released in Hookina Creek. Unfortunately, due to recent rain, the water was a bit murky, and the sub used to swim around and film the fish kept blocking up, so we didn’t actually see any fish. This didn’t stop us from having a great day out though, and enjoying a meal provided for us by Aunty Deidre and Aunty Regina in Hookina Creek.
HPE Year 6-10
The students have enjoyed some badminton coaching this term during PE lessons. We’ve also had some refresher lessons on tennis leading into the tennis season, played a bit of cricket, done some yoga and played some lawn games.
During health lessons we’ve been looking at the effects of caffeine on our body (a certain teacher found this a little confronting!) and recognising that even though it’s widely accepted by society, it is still a drug that alters the way our brains work.
HPE F-2
During PE for the little people we have played basketball and given our new basketball rings a good test run. It’s been great to have the ability to lower the rings so that smaller children can have success when shooting hoops!
In Health lessons we’ve looked at who is important to us, and what role different members in the community (like health workers, police etc) play in keeping us safe and helping us. We’ve also looked at how much we’ve grown and talked about the new skills we’ve learned now that we are getting bigger.
Home Economics Year 6-10
This term home economics switched from food technology to textiles. This was met with some trepidation, particularly when we started with hand sewing! With the help of Deb Youle, the students have all successfully completed a cross body bag made from calico, with an applique of their design hand sewn on the front. Some chose not to sew a design on the front, all those fine motor skills for big teenage boys was a bit much! For the most part, they all persevered and managed to finish their projects with a little help from myself and Deb.
As we wind up the year and look toward the next I’d like to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year. I’ll be back next year to teach English and HASS to the big kids (and some not so big kids) and have started my planning and preparation for that. I hope the holidays bring some rest and relaxation for everyone and will see you all next year.
Learning about the Gudgeon at Hookina Creek.
Mrs Sharon Bates
Year 6-12 Teacher / HPE Coordinator
Term 4 during Polish lessons students had an opportunity to learn about seasonal celebrations in Poland: All Saints Day. They learnt about similarities and differences between their own celebrations and of those events and celebrations in Poland. Halloween is observed in many different parts of the world. However, on the 1st of November in Poland “All Saints Day” is celebrated. During “All Saints day” for the whole day people visit the graves of their loved ones and friends who have already sadly passed away, they reminisce about them, pray for them and light candles in their intention of showing respect and honour. This all together creates an outstanding view of the cemetery in the evening or at night….
Students also researched about Polish Christmas celebrations. Poland has many customs and institutions related to the entire Christmas period. The most eagerly anticipated part of Christmas Eve – “Wigilia”, both for children and adults, is quite naturally the exchange of presents. Christmas Eve is a day of fasting, followed by a sumptuous dinner, consisting of 12 traditional dishes, which in most homes starts with the appearance of the first star. The Wigilia celebration includes carolling or carol singing, as well as the singing of melodious seasonal songs called pastorałki. Traditional Nativity plays are held and the art of building Christmas cribs continues to this day, especially in the South of Poland – the Krakow cribs are particularly famous.
Mrs Lidia Szelzak
Mathematics Science & Language Teacher
Transforming the Library
Further work has occurred in the last few weeks in the library. The public library computers have been moved closer to the front entrance and bay end panels have been attached to all the bookshelves. A bright coloured rug has helped create a welcoming area for students to use during lesson time as well as at lunchtime.
Library Opening Times
As the school holidays commence on Friday, December 10, the Hawker School Community Library will operate at the following times until school resumes on Monday, January 31.
Please Note: The library will close for the Christmas/New Year period on Wednesday Dec 22 @ 4:30 p.m. and will open again on Tuesday January 4, 2022 @ 12 noon.
Overdue Notices
Hawker School Community Library is one of 5 libraries left in the state to be transitioned to the agreed standards for notices that inform members of their overdue items. This changeover will occur in the next few weeks. In short, this means that you will receive notices to inform you that an item you have borrowed, or has been borrowed by your child, is due to be returned and/or is overdue. The main aim of this is to provide consistency across the One Card Network with the overdue notices. We will be able to provide you with more information early next year.
Space to Dream Challenge
Earlier in the year, the 3-5 students participated in the Space to Dream Challenge, one of three challenges created by the Commissioner for Children and Young People that students could participate in. The purpose of the challenges is to expose students to critical and design thinking through their involvement in digital technologies. The Space to Dream Challenge supports students to learn design thinking skills and then apply their knowledge to design a toy or gadget for someone their age who is moving to Mars. Our students used the 3D printing program, Maker’s Empire, to do this.
Of the around 10,080 students from 220 schools in SA that took part in this year’s challenge, 21 designs are currently featuring in the Space to Dream Exhibition at the Australian Space Discovery Centre on North Terrace, Adelaide. This is the site where the old Royal Adelaide Hospital used to be.
The top-rated designs, including Jimmy’s, will be on display in the Endeavour Room at the Australian Space Centre until the end of January 2022. These designs will also feature in a Travelling Exhibition that will be held at Hawker School Community Library in April/May 2022.
The new 3D printer in operation.
Congratulations Jimmy on this terrific win.
The designs by the other students in the 3-5 class…
Mrs Ailsa Green Teacher Librarian and Ms Rosie Luckraft CLA
NOTICEBOARD