5 July 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principals Report

Welcome to the end of Term 2, it has been a hectic term, with some important school events especially in the second half of this term. Some of these will be reported on by staff in their own reports on their teaching areas, but it is always worth me flagging them as some of the great things about Hawker Area School. After you have read this report, don’t forget to look through the newsletter and school yourselves up on what our staff have to say.

In Week 8 Amanda Hilder’s F-2 students came to see Julieanne Ashenden and myself to make their presentations as part of an integrated unit which will culminate in the modification of the garden area out between the library and the playground. The unit has crossed over into many learning areas: Design and Tech, Science, Arts, HASS, English and Maths, having a theme that has challenged the students to think about concepts ranging from the principles of design through to the sustainability of our environment.

Students started by brainstorming ideas for the garden in front of the library, asking questions about what particular features and materials would look like. After Amanda provided information in response to these questions, students were then split into teams to start designing their ideas. As a part of this process team drawings went up on the wall in the F – 2 classroom. Discussion at this point then went onto how students could make their plans ‘real’, causing them to pose more questions about the process and issues such as cost, where supplies might come from, materials and who might help. From here, they constructed some 3D models and prepared presentation scripts, which they practiced before coming into Julieanne and myself to make their pitches. Along the way, students also dabbled in mosaics as a way of designing plant pots, came up with ideas for recycled products and considered which types of plants would be sustainable in the Hawker environment. After we deliver our feedback to the students, the unit will flow into the final phase where students line up helpful adults who might be able to assist in the garden design. Presentations focused on sustainable idea in particular, some pictures are included to give an idea of student efforts.

Cyber Safety

On the Wednesday of week 8, all students at the school received a visit from SAPOL, who were delivering presentations on cyber safety, titled ‘Thinkuknow’, which focused on issues surrounding the use of Social Media by young people and its pitfalls. Senior Constable Rachael Bowles and Constable Bradley Amos delivered presentations which looked at the use of Social Media by young people and its consequences. The idea of the digital footprint was addressed and the significance that what we do on Social Media stays with us forever, affecting the ability of people to succeed in the world through things such as job applications where prospective employers are able to see how people portray themselves online.

The fact that Facebook is available for students as young as 13 was discussed, the important point about this being this limit is linked to US guidelines that state that 13 is the legal age for information sharing by individuals. This is significant as it is a legal limit but does not take into account the social development of young people at this age and what they should be exposed to. The use of technology in private areas was also discussed, and how this leads to young people engaging in inappropriate behaviour online.

The Thinkuknow program is also backed by a website, which can be found at

and contains a variety of great resources and advice for young people, parents and educators. A key message of the website is that

“Technology is no different to anything else a young person encounters. They will make mistakes, and we need to be able to support them through this and arm them with the right information, and empower them to make the right choices.”

One of the most powerful points of note is that our children don’t have to be online alone, parents have the right to know what they are doing and where they are at, just the same as a child telling a parent where they are going when they leave the house, in both situations there is a level of vulnerability for the child and responsibility for the parent.

The Ghost of John King

On the Thursday June 28th our year 3 – 10 students visited Leigh Creek to view the play ‘The Ghost of John King – A Burke and Wills Grand Adventure’. This was an interactive theatre event telling the story of the Burke and Wills expedition from the perspective of the only survivor John King, who was saved by a local Aboriginal group after the deaths of Burke and Wills. It has been a busy term for students taking their learning outside the classroom, with our 3 – 6 students also travelling to Sacred Canyon on June 1st as part of the revegetation project for the area, an activity that also includes the opportunity for students to have a role in the development of an app for the area.

Project Empower

With our students travelling to Leigh Creek the favour was returned when Leigh Creek students came to Hawker for the Project Empower experience presented to our girls from Year 6 – 12. With the theme of “Driving Change for Young Rural Women”, the national road trip to spread this powerful message came through Hawker on Monday July 2nd. The goals of the national road trip to every state and territory are mentioned on its website at

“to educate about diversity, build self-esteem and encourage young women to embrace their leadership strengths”

The aim of the program is to empower teenage girls in rural and remote Australia to achieve their leadership potential. At the time of writing this article the show had not arrived but I am sure the girls attending will bring home great points of conversation from their experience on the day.

Homework Centre

Near the end of term our Homework Centre was launched on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 3.30 to 4.30pm. The aim of the centre is to provide all our students the opportunity to come in to the library after school and receive assistance with their school work. The centre will be attended by staff each session, and parents are encouraged to come along to support their child’s education. So far numbers have been great and staff have been kept busy. Many thanks especially to Kerri Coulthard, our ACEO and Janet Spooner Adey, our librarian for their roles in initiating the program.

Please have a look through this newsletter to take in the many events and happenings from the term. It has been a busy one that is always worth reflecting on. As always if you wish to contact me you can contact the school on 86484003 or email me at daren.oneill253@schools.sa.edu.au.

Have a wonderful holiday.

Mr Daren O’Neill
Principal Hawker Area School

Foundation – Year 2

An update from the strange and mysterious land of the little people…

Semester one draws to a close and as I look back on term 2 I am reminded as to why the children and teachers are so tired. What a wonderful term we have had.

The F-2 class spend the majority of our STEAM time on garden design and process, and I’m happy to say we are almost ready to actually create and install it for ‘real’, starting early next term. We have completed all of our inquiry steps and once we have done the creative and physical work we will reflect upon our journey and celebrate with a little ‘opening’.

Writing time during term 2 has been spent consolidating recount planning and writing, and then beginning work on narratives. So far we have talked about how every good story has characters and they may be good or bad. The children have been building vocabulary lists of what a good and bad natured character may look/feel/sound like. The older students will learn how to edit their draft work with a simple checklist. Our narrative learning will continue into term 3 where we will look at settings, problems and solutions. Each child will celebrate their narrative writing by publishing it into book form for our class library.

Maths time this term saw us concentrate the areas of Number and Algebra and Measurement and Geometry. We did lots of work with number strategies such as rainbow facts, doubles; near doubles etc… these are essential strategies to know to be able to use the four basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division effectively and with speed. We have spent lots of time on measuring length informally with blocks and hand spans, and formally with metres and centimetres. Our shape learning has revolved around 2D and 3D shape recognition and what uses these shape could have.

A few weeks ago we had a visit from a travelling science show. All of the primary students attended. It was a very high quality show with actual teachers delivering the learning in a very entertaining and organised way. Lots of the F-2 class got to go up and take part.

Thank you for the support that you have afforded your children as individuals and to myself and the class this semester. There have certainly been some challenges and with support around us we can all do our best work and use our energy for learning and teaching.

I look forward to beginning our second semester next term after the holidays. Enjoy your time at home with your children and I’ll see you back at school in a couple of weeks.

Mrs Amanda Hilder
Foundation – Year 2 Teacher

Year 3-6 class

This term has been another busy one! In the year 3-6 class, our theme was Vikings. We had a great time learning about life in the Viking age.

I learned that Viking women lived until about 35 due to child birth.—Emily

Not all Viking helmets have horns. Vikings wore necklaces with runes and they usually carved on stone or wood.—Annabelle

Odin sacrificed his eye to gain magical powers.—Jack

Vikings sometimes had to use their wood cutting axe in battle.— Paul

People said that Vikings had horns on their helmets because it made them look more dangerous.—Callie

YEL Planting Day

Earlier this term, we went out to Sacred Canyon with members of the Friends of Ikara-Flinders Rages National Park, to execute our revegetation project. We spent one lesson each week this term learning about erosion, figuring out the materials required to successfully grow plants, and we selected suitable plants to revegetate the area. We managed to plant approximately 70 trees on the day! We had two members of Friends of IFRNP visit us this term. The first was Mr. Jim, who showed us some appropriate plants and provided us with some tips for our excursion. The second visitor was, Bob, who created the My Tours app for the IFRNP. He taught us about the app and told us what we needed to provide in order for the school to have a Sacred Canyon tour.

In health/ wellness lessons this term, we have had a strong focus on positive interactions. Being such a small school, children are interacting with other children outside of their age bracket. Differences in experiences and maturity can make social interactions challenging at times. Some of the things we have been doing in class this term include role plays and written reflections on their own behaviours. We have had many positive discussions on the topic.

That’s all for now, I hope you have a safe school holidays and I look forward to seeing everyone back in term 3!

Miss Hayley Brown
Year 3-6 Teacher

Year 7-12 class

Term 2 of 2018 is over! This sounds like a big fat lie but it is indeed true. Term 2 is always jam packed with a variety of activities including; NAPLAN tests, SACE Stage One and SACE Stage Two assessments with candidates completing some of their courses at the end of this semester. There was a lot of hard work lined up for these students and they were counting on the support from not only their teachers but parents and caregivers so they continued realising even greater achievements than they have realised over the previous years. Thanks for your continued support parents and caregivers; we know we can always count on you.

In their English lessons the 7 – 10 class explored ways of writing spectacular narratives and creating colourful and enticing persuasive posters. They also studied Tim Winton’s Lockie Leonard Human Torpedo, an Australian classic that helps adolescents come to grips with their identity and puberty battles. They also collaboratively linked their English Curriculum to other subjects through incorporating the STEM whole school focus. I was exceedingly pleased with the high standard of English work produced by my students this term.

This year’s plans in HASS are to complete History in Semester 1 and hopefully Geography will be done in Semester 2. Our History topic for Term 2 was Asia and the World (1750 – 1900) and our focus countries were China and Japan. We focused on the key features of Chinese and Japanese societies around 1750. Secondly, we investigated the effects and results of Chinese and Japanese invasions by European societies. We went on to investigate the significances of The Boxer Rebellion and the students produced their best pieces of research work on this topic. They had smashing oral presentations, power point presentations and poster presentations. Last but not least we found out information on how life was like in both China and Japan by 1900.

In regards to our senior students; this year we offer one of the largest varieties of SACE Stage One and Stage Two subjects ever! These subjects include Stage One and Stage Two English, Research Project 2, PLP, General Maths, Essential Maths, Stage One and Stage Two P.E, and Stage Two Tourism. We also offer Child Studies, Psychology and Business Enterprise through Open Access. Furthermore, we have VET courses such as Pichi Richi Training, Certificate 3 in General Construction, Certificate 3 in Rural Operations and many others.

I believe my students did sterling work this semester and they do deserve their upcoming two week break so they recuperate a little. All the best for the rest of the year.

Mr Mphilisi Manombe
Year 7-12 Teacher & SACE Coordinator

Physical Education and STEM

Another term has quickly passed by and our school community has put in a lot of hard work and been rewarded with individual improvements and personal achievements. In Week 2 Miss Brown, Kane, Mariah and Ebony embarked on the Operation Flinders exercise which tested their physical, emotional and psychological strength. The effort displayed by this group was fantastic and I am very proud of their resilience, teamwork and leadership throughout the exercise. In Week 4 Cameron and Andrew from HyperGym ran gymnastics sessions over two days for all of our students (and some staff!). They were able to develop their fundamental movement patterns and developed their gymnastics skills including floor, tumbling, vaulting and trampoline. The feedback we received from all students was extremely positive and they were engaged and having fun for their whole session. I will endeavour to make this a yearly event as gymnastics is a wonderful physical activity for all ages and abilities.

In our 7-10 STEM class we have been heavily focused on forces and the Human Body. This term we discovered in Science how the human body works, how external factors impact our bodily functions, the forces around us (gravity, friction, etc.), DNA and predicting what will happen to the human body and sporting equipment in the future. This prediction of future applications allows the class to use the Engineering process where they: 1; define the problem, 2; brainstorm potential solutions, 3; design a prototype, 4; test and 5; repeat. Our class has needed problem solving, inquiry and critical and creative thinking to solve these real world problems. They have used Mathematics including statistical analysis, geometry, measurement and probability. We have also linked in our Health by researching the impacts that drugs and alcohol have on the body and designing health advertisements for the public. In the final weeks we have been focusing on the positive impacts that physical activity has on your overall health, not just the physical!

In our PE class we have finished our basketball and sailing assessments for the semester. Our SACE students performed well and have shown improvement throughout the first two terms, as have the Year 7 to 10’s. I have been pleased with their leadership and teamwork skills and look forward to their continued development for the remainder of the year.

Good luck to all Hawker students continuing their sporting endeavours during the holidays. Make sure you stay warm and injury free! For those who are still interested it isn’t too late to join a sporting club. It is a fantastic way to improve your health by socialising, having fun and being physically active. I hope that all staff, students and parents have a safe, fun and relaxing holiday break.

Mr Vinny Urbancic
Physical Education Teacher and STEM Coordinator

Music and Languages

Music:

This terms music program has shown the amazing development of skills in all classes in our school. Shout outs to:

The 7-10 class, who have completed a number of complicated performance tasks, including singing a known folk song in 4 different ways (rhythm, solfa, letter names, with conducting), played it on the piano, and are working towards singing and playing in canon! They’re also used their composition skills to create a new stick-dance pattern in the style of the Maori people.

The 3-6 class, who are able to compose simple rhythms and melodies, and perform them, but who can also write down an unknown melody, using stick notation, after only 6 listens! We’re also working on performing simple tunes with rhythmic ostinato, and learning about motifs and phrases.

The F-2 class, who have shown improvement in their listening and audience skills, both while listening to myself model performance skills, and while others have been performing. General pitch and beat skills have also improved across the board.

Languages: (Indonesian/Adnamatna)

The F-2 class have continued with their Indonesian studies this term. We have been introduced to a couple of wayang golek characters, who have helped us with our vocabulary and in particular our counting! We named them B.B. (bibir besar, or big lips) and Janggut (janggut hijau, or green beard). Nearly all students are now confident in greetings and in numbers to 10.

For Indonesian, students in years 3-9 are reading a class book, totally in Indonesian language (Balon-balon saya in 3-6, and Wombi di pantai in 7-9), as part of the Premiers Reading Challenges’ Indonesian Competition. We have used these books to test our pronunciation, our ability to infer meaning and to learn some new vocabulary. The students have then taken that language and used it in new ways, either to create new sentences, or a whole new story.

In Adnamatna classes, we have spent the term revising knowledge learnt last year, including greetings and basic sentences, and are beginning to extend ourselves to unknown vocabulary. This has involved spending time with Aunty Pauline out on the oval, looking at plants and other objects, and learning the Adnamatna names of some species of plants, so that we can put them into new phrases and sentences, extending the work done in the classroom. We also spent time learning about Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week this term, and some of the students work is currently on display in the library.

Our schools NAIDOC Week celebrations will occur on Thursday the 26th July (week 1, term 3). We are having a Yura Muda Group meeting soon to plan this day, and information will be sent out to parents about this early in week 1. We will be staying at school for the celebrations this year. The theme for 2018 is because of her, we can.

Band:

Our two band lessons are working well, with most students able to attend weekly this year. Practising at home is still cause for some concern – please encourage your children to practise every day.

Choir:

This term we have had practises at lunch times, but with some potential changes to the timetable next term, we may be able to move to a lesson slot again. Our choirs’ appearance at the Festival of Music has been booked for Thursday of week 10, term 3. Once again we intend to run a camp for all students to be able to attend, and we will be travelling with the Leigh Creek Choir. More information will be sent home about this next term.

As always, feel free to contact me at the school, either on 86 484 003, or my email sasha.andersson157@schools.sa.edu.au. I will be checking my emails periodically during the holidays if you would like to chat. Have a great break!

Mrs Sasha Andersson
Music and Language Teacher

Teacher / Librarian

Cyber Safety

Hawker Area School Community Library was accredited as an eSmart library site in Term 2. The eSmart Libraries initiative is a partnership between the Alannah & Madeline Foundation and the Telstra Foundation seeking to develop smart, safe and responsible use of digital technologies. This program assists the library in integrating cyber safety in its policies and agreements, mitigates risks in our practices, and helps staff model responsible online behaviour.

As well as teaching safe and responsible online behaviour through Digital Literacy classes, the library hosted a THINKUKNOW presentation by SAPOL officers for all students addressing issues such as cyberbullying, the sharing of images and information, inappropriate content and respectful online behaviours. All students attended and found the session very informative.

Book Club

Thank you to everyone who has purchased a book through the book club as the library is the beneficiary of its reward program. So far this year we have purchased over 20 books which have been catalogued for general use by all students, staff and the community. Such a process builds our collection and enables an invigoration of the resources we have on offer. Thanks again.

National Simultaneous Story Time

In May, the whole school gathered in the Library for National Simultaneous Story Time. This event occurs across Australia and New Zealand in thousands of schools at the same time and highlights the value of reading and listening. The text this year was “Hickory, Dickory Dash’ and our principalMr O’Neill did a fine job of reading the story and engaging his audience. “Hickory, Dickory Dash’ is available to borrow and can listened to online via YouTube.

Home Work Club

The Home Work Club began last week, Tuesdays and Thursdays after school in the library. Kerry has made snacks and drinks for the children and teachers and staff have volunteered their time to assist students with their school work, reading and learning. It runs from 3.30-4.30 pm and all students are welcome.

Reading Group Proposal

As well as being a Teacher Librarian, I am a Senior English teacher who has taught Years 8-12 for many years. As a result of this and my own strong interest in reading, I’m very familiar with many texts considered significant in English Literature. I have had some requests from members of the community about selecting literature resources and was wondering if anyone was interested in joining a Reading Group to discuss influential texts. If you want to know where the term ‘Big Brother’ comes from, or where the phrase ‘Out damned spot’ is spoken or which novel begins with ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’, please talk to me. I am also happy to discuss poetry, drama and film. We can select texts from important English, American, Australian, French and Russian writers as well as others. If you’re interested please contact me via the library or message the library Facebook page.

Cuppa and a Yarn in the Library

This term the library hosted a Cuppa and a Yarn morning tea for Aboriginal parents and carers. It was great to see such a good turn out and meet everyone. Thank you for coming.

National Reconciliation Week

The library created an inspirational National Reconciliation Week display through the work of staff and students. The back wall was covered in poetry and paper hands with words to explore the theme “Learn, Share and Grow” in order to strengthen and explore the respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this.

National Disability Insurance Scheme

Courtney Dowling, an information Officer from NDIS via Mission Australia visited the library to assist any members of the community with questions they may have about the scheme. She is planning to return and will commit to a regular visit. She has left brochures at the library.

CBCA Book Week

The Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week is August 18-24 2018. The theme is Find Your Treasure. Please start planning your costumes.

Term 3

A regular Morning Tea for all parents will begin on the second Wednesday morning of Term 3 in the library. This will continue on a fortnightly basis and we would love to see you. It will start at 9.00am.

I would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment to all those staff who have worked in the library this term particularly Rosie.

Mrs Janet Spooner-Adey
Teacher Librarian

SAKG – Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden

This is the day we all went bananas from Foundation to Year Ten. Thanks to the Ellis family for the donation of a box of delicious bananas. We made ice-cream, cakes, some were dried for breakfast Club and munchies packed in bags.

7 to 10 classes Week 6 Organic roast chicken lunch with fresh vegetables. The meal was delicious, restaurant quality. We ate it all and forgot to take pictures...

French onions soup. We all cried slicing the onions but the result was an authentic French winter soup. A specialty of “Les Halles” the main food market in Paris. It was like being there…

The students also studied cold uncooked dressings which took us to Spain, South America with the use of chillies, French with Dijon mustard.

The rabbits were at it again: digging holes in the vegie patch. We decided to make a “scare rabbit” instead using balloons like we did last year, knowing it works well.

The question asked was: “Who wants to sleep in the garden tonight to shush the rabbits away? “ So many volunteers…

We planted hundreds of seeds: vegies, flowers, bushes and trees, making the most of the greenhouse, tricking the seeds in “believing that it is almost spring. In a few weeks we are going to be very busy planting and transplanting. Hoping for very productive vegie patches...

Mrs Joelle Sharples
SSO & Kitchen Garden Specialist

Reminder