Welcome to our new school year, complete with an almost new Admin Block after our construction projects from last year. We have been in a phase of redevelopment of the Hawker site and for the moment there is just a little bit left. There are a few events coming up and we have just returned from Quorn so there is a variety of things I would like to cover in this article.

Site Projects – Our Disability Access Project toilets (DAP) are nearing completion and along with this our staff toilets. Projected finish dates for these are week 4 (February 19 – 23) for the staff toilets and early March for the DAP toilets. This will bring to an end for the time being all current construction tasks.

Assessment and Reporting Policy – At the start of this year staff reviewed and developed a revised assessment and reporting policy for 2024. In reviewing the policy we considered the present ‘Education Department Guidelines on Assessment and Reporting Requirements for Schools’ and ‘Reportng on Australian Curriculum in Department for Educaton schools: recepton to year 10 procedure’. We also looked at other school models in the Far North region. Discussion by staff focused on how to most effectively get quality information to parents in a productive fashion that supported department guidelines, which include the requirement for two written reports a year. The main features and changes in the new policy are:

• The introduction of an Acquaintance night at the start of the year.
• Parent Student Teacher Interviews in Terms One and Term Three.
• Two Written reports at the end of Semester One and Two.
• An Open Day in Term three where parents can come in to see student work, presented by students.

Our Acquaintance Night will be on Tuesday February 20^th, running from 6 – 7pm. It will consist of three 20 minute sessions where teachers of the different classes will introduce themselves, present to parents on their role, curriculum and expectations of students in their relevant class. The Parent Student Teacher interviews will largely perform the function of a progress check for parents and students, outlining student progress and providing support in how to improve student learning.

Quorn Swimming Carnival – this year we had 25 swimmers attend the Quorn Swimming Carnival, with many of our swimmers putting in some really great performances. Our Junior Primary swimmers had a great time with the lunchtime events, whilst our Year 3 and 4 students put in some notable efforts. It was great to see some students at the pool for the first time engaging competitively in longer events for the first time. Lily Morgan and Sammy Haywood, along with Alice Wallis were in the pool often and had a great go at both the 25m and 50m events. Bayley Hatch jumped in the pool with great enthusiasm, completing his events with enthusiasm and a smile. We had a group of older students who all entered 50m events, competing well and then were asked to compete in extra events to support their houses, as well as representing their houses in the relays. Of special note here were Pjay Milera, Esme Teague, Will DuBois, Jimmy Morgan, Harry McAuley and Lachlan Hilder who all finished up competing in relay events at the end of the day. Have a look at the photos from the day, the students had a great time – well done to all.

Positive Behaviour for Learning – Jan Love who was our Principal in the second half of term one last year has continued her work with our staff and students at the start of this year, in the development of our Positive Behaviour for Learning Framework. Jan started this process last year in a series of workshops with staff and one of the Pupil Free Days in November. She continue the work with our staff on January 24^th and 25^th, and was here over February 12^th to 15^th, continuing her work with staff, parents and students, including presenting to Governing Council on Monday Night. I encourage you to read Jan’s article in this Newsletter, which outlines the process so far and what the framework is all about.

Yard – with the return of our hardcourt area students have taken the opportunity to play on the newly laid surface and to use the equipment found in their class sports boxes which were organised by SRC last year. In particular this enthusiasm has been most prevalent on days of cooler weather, a few recent hot days led students to play in the shade a little more. For this term as a staff we are trialling having the whole oval (minus the area out back of the sports shed and behind the kitchen garden area) available for student play. So far the pattern with play has seen our younger students still playing on the playground and the hard court area, whilst the secondary students have moved out to the oval at times. The yard trial is there to assess the effectiveness of supervision of the oval in addition to our normal yard supervision area, consisting of the playgrounds and hardcourt.

External Learning Provider – this year the school has taken on the services of Cue Learning, a Department for Education approved external learning provider. There are many external learning providers who service schools in areas such as literacy, numeracy, wellbeing etc. The department to assist in the process of schools making choices provide information on providers who meet the departments standards in these areas, a guarantee of sorts that these providers are of the highest quality. Cue Learning is one of these providers. Sharon Cullen from Cue Learning will be here next week from Tuesday to Thursday working with staff in a variety of capacities from lesson observations through to 1:1 meetings to provide professional support, to help meet our goal of successful teaching and learning in literacy.

SRC – Our SRC elections kick into gear next week, with elections of representatives from each of our three classes for 2024. This will consist of nominations of students, which will be due by Wednesday February 22^nd, followed by elections on Friday February 24^th. Our SRC teacher this year is Sharon Lam.

Long Service Leave – at the beginning of Term 2 I will be taking leave for the first two weeks, using the time for a family holiday. Site leader in this time will be Jan Love.

Mr Daren O'Neill

Principal 

My name is Priya Moyle and I live both here in Hawker and at Port Noarlunga which is about a 25 minute drive south of Adelaide. I have been teaching Performing Arts with the Education Department since 1989 as what was known back then as a HPI (Hourly Paid Instructor). Until 2015, I worked simultaneously in the Performing Arts Industry and with the department choreographing and directing such things as Rock Eisteddfod and Wakakkiri (both Nation Wide Dance Competitions for school students).

In 2016 I began my studies as a school teacher at Flinders Uni. I completed a Bachelor of Arts (Drama and English) and then a Masters Degree of Teaching (Senior School).

I received my degree one week before the first COVID lockdown and so was not able to secure a teaching contract due to huge disruptions in the Department caused by the epidemic. 

The City of Onkaparinga then approached me to facilitate Dance Classes for Aboriginal school students. This changed my career path leading me to become a TRT (Temporary Relief Teacher) so that I could offer these classes after school and use my degree. 

The pandemic had a relentless impact on all of us and after 2 years of juggling cancelations and isolation, we closed down the dance school and I took an experimental position as a Country TRT. 

This bought me here to Hawker for the last 7 weeks of 2023. I really enjoyed the calm and friendly nature of the town and the students. Even though I always said I wouldn't settle at any one school, when Daren O'Neill offered me this position, I decided that Hawker could be a good town to land for a while and I'm glad I did.

Priya Moyle

Year 7-12 Teacher

Hello, my name is Ingrid Condon and I am the new 3-6 teacher here at Hawker Area School. I have met many parents already, and hope to meet the rest of you very soon.

I have been a teacher for nine years and have come to Hawker after a stint in Oodnadatta and have previously worked in Adelaide, Whyalla, Marree and Cairns. I have taught many different subjects to many different students, including TAFE students and university students. Prior to becoming a teacher, I was a lawyer for nearly twenty years, so I have plenty of unique experiences to draw from, and I’m looking forward not only to teaching here but also to exploring the wonderful Flinders Ranges. Say hello if you see me round!

Ms Ingrid Condon

Year 3-6 Teacher 

The Year 3-6 class have been enjoying getting to know some new students and our new teacher, Ingrid Condon. We have drafted our class agreement, incorporating out class values of Respect, Kindness, Co-operation and Safety. We have been writing about ourselves and have been reading our class novel, Billionaire Boy, each day. In Maths we are studying numbers and place value, as well as our times tables. We are looking forward to an enjoyable and productive year ahead!

Ms Ingrid Condon

Year 3-6 Teacher 

Welcome back everyone to the 2024 school year!!  I am very excited to be back at Hawker Area School teaching Art every Tuesday this year after being on leave for the last 10 years.  We have had a great start to the year in all three classes and I look forward to displaying some of the amazing artworks the students have been working on around the school for all to enjoy soon.  So here is what we have been doing so far…………

This term the F-2 class have been exploring different ways of mixing colours and creating artworks other than the traditional ways of paper and brush.  Two of our favorite activities have been “Berry Printing” which was both fun and delicious.  Kids made their prints by squashing berries onto their paper and then eating the berries to discover the pattern that was left behind.

We also looked at the American artist Jackson Pollock and used marbles to create paintings in his style.  Our class motto is “Art is Messy”

The 3-6 class started the year learning colour theory basics and then moved onto POP Art.  We have started our POP Art journey by learning about the artist Andy Warhole and creating portraits in his style.

The 7-8 class have been very studious so far this term beginning their artist study on the Russian Painter Wassily Kandinsky, combining the senses, mixing music and the visual arts, creating an artwork about what they could hear in the selected music.

Miss Emily

Art Teacher

News from the Library

Teacher Librarian: Ailsa Green; CLA: Amy Simpson Hawker School Community Library gives ‘children opportunity for power, freedom and wisdom. [We] provide access to information, carefully chosen resources, stories, and help when it is needed. [The library is] for shared learning, for rich deep engagement, collaboration and equal access. [It] opens doors to the next stage of learning, to future careers, and to a better life. [It] offers the critical link between people of all ages and their learning needs’. https://studentsneedschoollibraries.org.au/faq/ The library is open from 9 a.m. every school day and is open at lunchtime for students to spend time reading, playing board/card games, using their laptop/iPad for computer games (Wednesday lunchtime only), reading, borrowing, chat or get involved in some STEAM activities. The Foundation to Year 6 students have a weekly library lesson, both groups on Thursday. This is a time where they return and borrow books, are involved in the Premier’s Reading Challenge, and learn more about the library and how it can help them both at school and for personal pleasure.

When your child comes to the library for their library lesson, they can borrow and return books. They can have these books for up to 4 weeks. Students can borrow DVDs at lunch time and after school. We would appreciate your support in helping your child develop positive library habits by having a safe place for library items to be stored at home, for example, in a library bag placed in the same spot all the time, and reminding your child to return their borrowed items on or before the due date. Should your child’s books become overdue, you will receive an email to let you know this and a note will go out to your child. Students can borrow up to 5 or 6 books at a time. If they have overdue books, they will not be able to borrow. You are welcome to come in with your child and borrow at other times.

The Premier’s Reading Challenge is a literacy engagement program that was introduced by the Premier of S.A. in 2004 to encourage students to read more books and enjoy reading and to improve literacy levels. Every year, students have almost three full terms to read their 12 books for the year. The Challenge commences on the first day of the school year and reading concludes in week 7 of term 3. Students in Year 3 and above are responsible for filling in their student reading record (usually during library time) and handing to me before the end of Week 7, Term 3. The student reading record for the F-2 class is managed by the classroom teacher and me. Eligible books include e-books, audio books, class/shared reading, picture books, novels, and non-fiction books.

The National Simultaneous Storytime will be held on May 22 @ 11 a.m. in the library. A special guest will be reading the book, Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker.

Book Week-August 17-23. A wonderful theme this year: Reading is Magic. We will be having a dress-up day and parade in that week.

The Digital Technologies Curriculum offers children the opportunity to become innovative creators of digital solutions, effective users of digital systems and critical consumers of information conveyed by digital systems. This curriculum area provides students with authentic learning challenges that foster curiosity, confidence, persistence, innovation, creativity, respect, and cooperation. (Source: Australian Curriculum). The Digital Technologies Curriculum has been spilt into two areas – knowledge and understanding and processes and production skills. The knowledge and understanding strand teaches children about how information systems represent data and the components of digital systems (hardware, software and networks). The processes and production strand educates students about collecting, managing and analysing data and creating digital solutions. I teach Digital Technologies to students in Foundation to Year 6. The work we do includes using digital devices, such as their iPad and Blue Bots. It also includes written work and ‘unplugged’ activities, which are games and puzzles that are not on a digital device but allow the students to still learn about digital systems.

This term, all the F-6 students are working with the 3D printing program, Maker’s Empire on their iPads. They will be involved in design thinking, where they will identify and define problems, brainstorm solutions, and test those solutions using Maker’s Empire that can then be printed on our 3D printer. The theme for the F-2 students is Fabulous Fairy Tales, the 3-4 students, Oceans of Trash and the 5-6 students, Climate Change.

Mrs Ailsa Green Teacher Librarian and Miss Amy Simpson CLA

During my time as Acting Principal in term 1 last year, I had some great discussions with staff members about Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL).  In the three schools where I had previously been Principal, this approach helped us bring about big shifts in student behavior that greatly improved outcomes in teaching and learning.   Hawker Area School staff have since participated in an introductory session and two pupil free days undergoing Tier 1 training so that PBL can be implemented here at HAS.

PBL takes an instructional approach to the development of behavior skills, similar to how schools teach the academics - teach, practice, feedback and encouragement. 

What is Positive Behaviour for Learning?  

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) is an evidence-based framework that supports equity and improved learning outcomes for students.  

The PBL framework has been implemented in schools across Australia, New Zealand and the United States for more than 20 years. It brings together the whole-school community to contribute to developing a positive, safe and supportive learning culture.

A PBL Team has been established at HAS and over the next 6 months will work with staff, students and families to 

• develop school-wide behaviour expectations
• develop lesson plans to explicitly teach these expectations and establish clear and consistent boundaries 
• develop an acknowledgement system that recognises positive student behaviour
• review and clearly articulate consistent processes to address behaviours of concern 
• monitor student outcomes and use data to inform decision making.

The PBL framework helps schools teach behaviour skills proactively, and address behaviours of concern without immediately resorting to exclusionary discipline, such as office referrals, take home and suspension. 

The PBL framework, resources and practices takes into account the needs of neuro-diverse learners and any adjustments that might be required for individuals.  PBL is inclusive of trauma informed and restorative practices.

The next few months will be very exciting as the school team plans for the implementation of PBL later in the year.  I had the opportunity to address the School Governing Council this week to talk about PBL.  There will be requests for parent feedback and I encourage you to respond to these within the timeframes so that this work can proceed smoothly.  Your voices are critical to the success of this endeavour.

Members of the PBL Team are Victoria Barratt (Chair), Anna Oakey, Karmy Coulthard, Polly Smart, Priya Moyle, Sam Weinert, Leonie McKenzie and Daren O’Neill.  In my role as PBL Coach I am providing ongoing support to the school team as they do the ground work to be ready to implement PBL.

Jan Love