It has been a busy time of late with our school camp and other events coming up and continuing on. Thought I would start with a bit of a historical and also contemporary reference that has great links to Hawker and rural SA.

The Agnew Family

I received a letter from Terry Agnew, whose father Allen Agnew was principal at Hawker from 1950 – 1953. After reading the letter I gave Terry a call for a bit of a chat and he gave me permission to refer to his letter in this article. Terry mentioned that his father was passionate about the importance of education to children and he loved teaching (and learning personally) in a range of areas including science, mathematics, history, literature and geography. Hawker was one of a multitude of locations that the Agnews lived in during Allen’s teaching and leadership career. His older brother, also Allen, attended the school when his father was Principal and had fond memories of his time as a student here. The letter also included two books that have been donated to our library and were written by Terry’s son, Dr Matt Agnew, who has pursued a career in STEM. Just scanning the two books one can see they are a fantastic read for everyone from adults down to upper primary. The books are called:

“Dr Matt’s Guide to Life in Space” and  “Is My Phone Reading My Mind?”

I am sure people will enjoy the read! Many thanks to Terry Agnew and his family, who now live in Western Australia.

Hawker Area School COLA

We have now reached the stage of planning approval and endorsement of the development application for our COLA. Basically this means that manufacturing of the materials is soon to commence with construction of the COLA next term. Construction is expected to commence in early May, and take just two to three weeks.

Parent Student Teacher Conferences

On Monday March 31^st and Tuesday April 1^st the school will be holding it’s Parent Student Teacher Conferences. These conferences will be an opportunity for Parents and Students to get feedback from their teachers (in all subject areas Primary and Secondary) on their progress so far this year. These conferences represent an opportunity for our staff to communicate to Parents and Students on student progress in the first semester, they have replaced our term one written reports and progress checks which have been used for this purpose in recent years. Student participation in these conferences is an integral requirement for the interviews to be as effective as possible, giving our teachers the opportunity to talk with both parents and students about progress and to also show evidence of student work. I encourage all parents to take the opportunity to book conferences with all teachers when the Session Keeper portal opens up on Thursday March 27^th at 9am for bookings. Timeslots will run for 15 minutes and run from 3.30pm until 6pm each night. Conferences can be booked by clicking on the following link: https://hawkeras.schoolzineplus.com/view-session/7

School Camp

We had our school camp to Adelaide last week with five teachers (Emily Fels, Annette Hill, Daniel Spick, Peter Russell and myself), three SSOs (Anna Oakey, Annalise Polkinghorne and Lisa O’Neill) and three parents (Amy Wallis, Amanda Gill and Karmela Coulthard) attending, along with 22 students. Many thanks to Emily Fels in particular, who put a lot of time into the planning of the camp, since the second semester of last year. The students experienced a wide variety of activities that kept them pretty busy. Thanks also to our parents and staff for all their efforts on the camp. It was high-energy experience and everyone put in to help move things along. We have included a variety of photos in this newsletter and hope to provide a greater variety of photos for parents and students to look at by the end of this term.

SRC

Annette Hill will be our SRC teacher leader this year. The process for electing class representatives starts this week with student nominations and speeches being planned. Last year we held a school wide election which worked well with the students as they needed to speak to the whole student body before voting occurred. The process for electing students will continue on over the next couple of weeks.

Community Portal

The Community Portal has been launched this week. A short communication went out to parents initially to prepare for the access to the portal, which was followed by another communication outlining the process for accessing the portal. This was to give parents support on setting up access, bookmarking the portal etc. Access to the portal also comes with access to the FROG Portal, which is the online environment that gives parents access to teachers and a look at the work that their students are doing. The Community Portal and FROG do perform different functions for parents. Through the community portal for instance parents can:

• Access the school calendar
• See notifications sent out to parents
• Provide reasons for unexplained absences
• See data about their students including attendance, academic results and medical details
• Access the FROG portal from the EMS
• View profiles and update them

The FROG portal will also do some of these functions for parents, it is however a work in progress and parents can expect to see some changes to the FROG Portal over time.

 

Cue Learning Visit

Sharon and Phil Callen from Cue Learning visited the school this week. Cue Learning is the External Literacy Provider the school has worked with to provide support in the teaching and learning in this area at the school. This visit follows on the end of our Week 0 day delivered by Sharon and zoom sessions that have been held with staff who teach in the literacy area.

Dates coming up

The following dates apply to the end of this term and early term two:

• Cue Learning – March 24 – 26
• Parent – Student – Teacher Conferences – March 31 – April 1
• Last Day of Term – April 11
• Pupil Free Day with Cue Learning – May 12
• Whole School Closure for Hawker Races – June 2^nd

Mr Daren O'Neill

Principal 

For those of you who have not yet met me, I am Ms Annette Hill (Secondary Teacher – Home Group, English and HASS). Starting in Week 5, I can honestly say that to date, the class has been a genuine delight to teach, with a committed mindset to learning and a respectful attitude to me, as their teacher.

In English, we hit the ground running, immersing ourselves in revision for NAPLAN including narrative and persuasive writing, as well as conventions of language. In HASS, students have been using TEAMs to complete History tasks relevant to their year levels including: Investigating the Ancient Past [Year 7]; The Black Death in Asia, Europe, and Africa (14th century plague) [Year 8]; and Movement of Peoples (Industrial Revolution and British Expansion) [Year 9]. Time has been our biggest challenge with a very busy term and a late start on my behalf.

The camp in Week 8 was a huge success, with class members not only finding it enriching but thoroughly enjoyable. I am really looking forward to my time with students in 2025, particularly playing a vital part in the improvement of their literacy, as well as helping set them up for overall success, as they continue their school journey.

Ms Annette Hill

Secondary Teacher

Hi from the SWAN Room. Our students are loving our new focus on music in the classroom. Ruby, Khloe and Logan have a new rich tapestry rug to inspire sharing and creative group work.

The children hope to lead an assembly this year, helping the whole school learn tone chimes, so watch this space! Feel free to contact Sarah if you would like to chat about the SWAN room and our aims for the coming year.

Sarah Bull

SWAN Teacher

Year 3 – 6 Design & Technology

Students in Year 3 to 6 have been looking at skills in drawing diagrams using the Technical drawing methods. We have been looking at diagrams with three views, a top view, side view and end view. Students have attempted to draw their project ideas using this concept before building their idea.

Students have also continued to develop an understanding of the design, make and appraise/question process by having to solve problems with the designed ideas while building and testing.  While building we have also looked at the different types of tools available for cutting timber and metal materials and the correct way to mark lines and measurements.

Year 7 – 10 Design & Technology

Students in Year 7 to 10 have continued to develop skills in planning project ideas and working through the design process to develop a project plan. As a group we have been developing skills in using the different technical drawing methods used for planning project ideas. We have been developing skills in using the 3^rd Angle Orthogonal drawing technique showing three views, and perspective drawing in one, two and three point.  Students are continuing to further develop skills in working in the welding and fabrication area, developing skills in oxy-acetylene and mig welding mild steel as well as safe use of the metal lathe to machine diameters and project components to length.

Travis McDonald
Design and Technology Teacher

Term One is coming to a close and it has been a huge term in the art room which culminated with our Adelaide Fringe School Camp. 

The F-2 class began the term by creating an art work to display on the front cover of their art portfolios.  Students had free range on this task, they created their backgrounds, used photos of themselves and cut out letters from magazines to form their names to create a cover page that best describes their individual creative minds and personalities.  These portfolios are where we will be collating their art works and learning on different artists and their works to take home at the end of the year.  The portfolios are on display in the art room at all times so parents can come in and look at what their child has been learning and exploring during class.   

The curriculum for the F-2 class is strongly based on experimenting with different techniques and using other artists works to guide them in this exploration and experimentation as a way of building on their confidence to try new things and problem solve in creative ways to make their art work.  This term students have explored the works of two artists, Dale Chihuly and Henri Matisse.  As a class we have created artworks together to display as a whole and then students have used what they’ve learnt in the group environment to create their own individual artworks with great success.  

The 3-6 class and the 7-9  class have both spent the term focusing on the glass artist Dale Chihuly.  Students have learnt about the artist and his career, they have used his work as inspiration to create some marvelous art works and they have had the privilege of travelling to Adelaide to witness Chihuly’s art work in all its glory at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens where students were given a guided tour and were given access to activities along the way allowing them to make real connections with what they had been learning in the class room.   

The 3-4 students undertook a Makers Empire challenge course called Watching Glass Grow which took students on a journey from how glass is created and how it has been used in both the ancient and modern worlds.  They looked at the ways different Artists such as Chihuly and Thomas Moore use and manipulate glass in order to create their art. 

The 5-6 students using Chihuly as their inspiration have created their own sculptures representing mini worlds of light and colour.   

The 7-9 students have completed artist research pages on Chihuly and worked as a group to create an instillation piece that is close to completion and will be hung for display in the art room for all to enjoy.  Whilst in Adelaide the senior class not only got to visit the Chihuly exhibition but they were also taken on a tour of the Jam Factory where they got to go behind the scenes and see what it is to work in a real working artist studio, woodworking, furniture, ceramics, metal/jewellery and of course the amazing glass studio where they got to watch the glass artists at work.   

Emily Fels

Art Teacher

Lisa O'Neill

SSO/IMS Teacher

Working with the Secondary class has been an amazing experience. Term 1 has flown by quickly, as students have spent their class time collectively developing their teamwork and communication skills. My main highlights this term have been helping students academically (i.e. narrative structure in English lessons), participating in their P.E. lessons, and simply getting to know students. The year 7-12 class continues to shine for their year levels and role model Hawker Area School values of inclusion and respect.

 John Connelly

SSO Year 7-12

For those that don’t know me, I’m Mija and I have lived in the area for the last 14 years. I have previous experience in education support from helping my two children navigate School of the Air up to year 6-7. I moved into Hawker in October 2024 and started working at Hawker Area School at the commencement of term 4. Initially, I spent my time in the SWAN room which was a completely new area of support work that I hadn’t previously experienced. This year I have enjoyed working with the SWAN and 3-6 classrooms. Recently, I have transitioned into the front office alongside Jodi and provide support to the SWAN when required. I enjoy the different dynamics each classroom provides and pride myself on my ability to adapt to new situations. When I first started, I didn’t think I would know many of the children. However, I soon discovered that I know the parents of many of the children attending the school. Meeting all these new little faces has been a delight; especially getting to know them better and watching them grow in an educational setting. Currently, I am completing an archaeology degree and will go on to complete an honours degree in 2026. Working at the school provides me with the flexibility to study and to spend time with my children during the school holidays.  

Mija Reynolds

Front Office Support / SSO

School Representative Council (SRC) Elections

It is exciting to announce that as of Term 2, Hawker Area School will be getting the SRC up and running for 2025. As a result, elections will be conducted across the school in Week 10, in classes F – 2, 3 – 6 and 7 - 11. We are aiming to have four elected representatives from each class. Elected representatives will be announce in Week 11 at the end of term assembly.

Students running for election will need to be prepared to commit their time and energy to working constructively to contribute to their school community. They will also need to prepare a short, written pitch/speech to present to their class, outlining what they can bring to the role and why they would make a great student representative.

I am really looking forward to working with the SRC in 2025, and making it a year that includes lots of positive memories, fun and worthwhile activities for everyone at Hawker Area School.

Annette Hill

SRC Teacher 2025

We had a great start to school this term with a hearty breakfast of green eggs and ham.

Renovations to the cubby were decided to brighten it up; and we will have our sloth family "Snuggles" living there for the year.

The cubby has now become a cafe for this term, with the younger children enjoying the changes. Mr McDonald is helping us with a few adjustments and the teamwork continues. 

I have 9 hours a week here at HAS and I love being around the kids with lots of meaningful conversations and fun happening.

Our hospital visits will continue in Term 2 and we look forward to that.

Robyn McInnis

Pastoral Care