27 September 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principals Report

It has been a busy term at Hawker Area School with lots to report on and celebrate. The school has seen students participate in a number of events including the Leigh Creek Sports Day on September 14th, the F-2 Class Camp to Blinman in week 9, the Choir Performance in Adelaide in Week 9 and this week we have received students from the School of the Air from Monday to Thursday, adding to the atmosphere of our own Sports Day on September 27th. Apart from this there is a lot to report on to the community.

After some initial challenges in setting up our iPads are now up and running. The devices have been set up with a variety of apps suggested by teachers, and students have access to keyboards for their use. Each iPad is set up for the individual student to use, can access the internet, with the 3-6 students also able to access the Office 365 services which will allow them to show work at home using their Learnlink accounts. The iPads performed especially well in the recent Naplan Online testing with no issues. There have been some positive comments about the level of engagement, with students using the technology in a vast range of activities from Art and Design through to Literacy and Numeracy. Combined with a lot of work this year that has gone into improving our wireless access, the ICT experience of our students is improving.

A variety of testing activities have happened this term. The school this term participated in the final NAPLAN online training and testing, which involved students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sitting an Omnibus test. This was not a test of the students but a trial of the system and student understanding of the online format. The test went smoothly for all students, a positive in particular being that our wireless network handled the traffic of the online test comfortably, which was one of the goals of the trial. At the end of the term students from year 3 – 10 have been involved in PAT tests, PAT R – Comprehension and PAT Maths 4th Edition. These are standardised tests that are part of a state-wide approach to measuring student progress in literacy and numeracy. Some tests here will continue into Term Four.

We have participated in a variety of professional development activities, starting with a One Plan Training –Wednesday August 8th. The One Plan is a new planning tool for student improvement, assessing student needs, along with the strategies and resources that may be used to achieve student goals. In addition to this staff have continued to work through the course ‘Learning Differently in Contemporary Classrooms’, which addresses a wide variety of teaching approaches to meet the needs of the great variety of students today, including Differentiation, Explicit Teaching and tapping into Metacognition. We have also been involved two more sessions of the Kids Matter program.

On Tuesday July 31st I attended the Far North Partnership Review in Port Augusta, with the other school leaders from our region. The meeting was attended and led by Rob Harkin, our partnership Education Director, along with Anne Millard from Partnerships Schools and Preschools and Susan Cameron, the head of the Learning Improvement Division for the Department for Education in Adelaide. It was described as a two way learning dialogue at the start, where open discussion was had on a variety of topics to explore the stories behind our data. Discussion especially focussed on Literacy Development from Pre School through to Secondary Years and SACE. It was a very positive experience as a leader; the discussion was open and honest. From the meeting Susan Cameron proposed a set of key directions for our Partnership to follow in the future.

This term I attended the South Australian Area Schools Leaders Conference – on August 2 and 3. SAASLA is a representative association that focusses on the unique settings of Area Schools in South Australia, the needs of the people who work in them and most importantly the students. The Association especially is concerned with the continuing support of Area Schools and maintaining them as schools which engage strongly with their communities. The conference covered a range of themes and topics, from an in depth study into the wellbeing of school leaders, through to a think tank session looking at the staffing challenges faced rural schools and how we can successfully get teachers into country areas.

This term we saw Janet Spooner-Adey move back to Adelaide to be closer to her family. We were sad to see her go as she has done a great job in her short time at the school in the library and working with students. Sasha Andersson has stepped into the Librarian role and is continuing this good work. On the arrivals side Stef Teague has been announced to the community as our Pastoral Care Worker, she has prepared an article for this newsletter introducing herself to the community. The school has also been graced by the presence of Morgane Chapponnier, a French speaking student from Morocco who is in Australia to improve her English. Her stay in Hawker was initially going to be 3 – 4 weeks, but she has thoroughly enjoyed her time mixing with our students and has stayed to the end of term. Morgane also has a short article in this newsletter.

Looking forward to next term I can also announce that the school will have a Pupil Free day on Monday November 19th. The purpose of the day will be to plan for 2019 and review our Site Improvement Plan. I wish everyone a great holiday and look forward to seeing our students back refreshed for the start of Term Four.

Mr Daren O’Neill
Principal Hawker Area School

Foundation – Year 2

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

…here we are again, signing off on the completion of another school term. Our two themes this term have been; Finding Your Treasure and Our Alpana Station Camp. Our Finding Your Treasure theme looked at mapping and maps, blu bots programming, Recounts and descriptive language, Arid land, mind-maps, Van Gogh and Time and Money. Our second theme concentrated preparing for our class camp which was very strongly linked with our first theme, comparing old and new in communication and toys, narratives, solar energy, arid land survival, continuing with Van Gogh and number strategies, data collection, graphing and probability.

Week 9 saw us embark on our biannual class camp for 3 days and 2 nights at Alpana Station. All students attended camp with several students day tripping on Wednesday and Thursday. It seems we all had a wonderful time and experienced some new things, grew our knowledge and skills in other areas, and further established within ourselves that we are very capable and growing in independence.

Our camp was a mix of planned activities and play. I as an educator have always been an advocate for learning in the field. For me it is very natural, organic and fun. On camp children had the opportunity to earn badges. The badges were; Arkaroo Rock Hike, landscape sketch, pom-pom and 7 strand plait, nature collection, harvesting water from trees, solar oven building and use, compass use, Rocky Knob hike, Art Exhibition, Miners Crib biscuit decorating, Blinman Mine tour and Wilcox hut tour. Their certificates with badges will be coming home this week. I hope you enjoy a few of the photographs from our camp.

I hope you all enjoy your school holidays break and come back ready to tackle the last 9 weeks of school for 2018.

Mrs Amanda Hilder
Foundation – Year 2 Teacher

Year 3-6 class

I can’t believe term three is coming to an end already! We have been very busy in the 3-6 class this term and I think everyone is looking forward to the break!

This term students were able to start using their iPads! Some of the apps they have been able to utilize are mathletics, Makers Empire and iMovie.

In English we read the novel ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. We the watched the movie and made some comparisons. Some of the language in the book was hard to understand, but we had fun translating it. E.g. ‘I know not as it is, but this lamp on the post worketh upon me strangely’, we decided that this must mean ‘I think I’ve seen this lamp post before’. Later on in the term, students did some script writing. They are now in the process of creating their movies on the iMovie app.

Our science topic this term was Earth and Space sciences which fit our topic ‘going on a journey’ well. We have had a blast learning all about space, and will continue with this unit into next term.

In Art this term we have been working from the dance curriculum. It’s been fun doing art a bit differently this term and most students really enjoyed this. Some dances they learned included the waltz and the Charleston.

In week 5, the year 5-7 students had the opportunity to participate in the SAPSASA athletics carnival at Stirling North Primary School. It was a freezing cold day but the kids had a ball and did a fantastic job of representing the school. In week 8 the year’s 3-12 students travelled to Leigh Creek Area School to participate in their school sports day. Another fabulous day for our students who bought home many ribbons! We’re very lucky to be invited to these sporting events and have so many opportunities to participate.

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest and comes back refreshed and ready for term four!

Miss Hayley Brown
Year 3-6 Teacher

Year 7-12 class

The 7 - 9 English class focussed on nonfiction and they explored nonfiction comprehensions, the procedure and the persuasive. The entire spelling they did for the term was based on nonfiction subject specific terminology. In their comprehension texts the learners linked literacy with their Scientific skills and explained the processes involved in organ and tissue donation. In their persuasives they selected a STEM subject of their choice and justified its retention in the Australian Curriculum.

In Geography, the 7-9 class studied the topics Migration and Tourism. Students used their empathy skills through role play. They imagined themselves as newly arrived Austalian migrants and wrote a letter back home briefing their friends or family on what was happening to them in Australia. The class is still doing field work (will spill to Term 4) and using the inquiry approach to investigate tourism in Wilpena Pound and Castle Rock and are still to research the plant and animal life in these areas and how humans are influencing the change of the landscape there. They are travelling to Castle Rock in Week 9 and then to Wilpena Pound in Week 10.

2 students studying Stage One Essential English and 1 student doing PLP this term are trekking well and our candidates will hopefully be on track towards successfully completing their SACE in November next term.

The Year 12 Stage 2 English is going on exceedingly well. Our sole candidate is ahead of schedule which means she can slow down a bit and polish her work so her grades in the remaining assessment tasks are spectacular. We don’t have anyone completing the Research Project this semester. I am confident the students will successfully complete their programs. Thanks to the parents and caregivers for continuing to be supportive to our learners at this very advanced and demanding level.

Mr Mphilisi Manombe
Year 7-12 Teacher & SACE Coordinator

7-12 French Student - Morgane Chapponnie

This term we have enjoyed the presence of Morgane who has come over from Morocco to spend some time in Australia and improve her English. The students have really enjoyed Morgane’s company as she has worked to improve her English conversation skills. Morgane has socialised well with our students, mixing with them at school and outside school, where she has not been too afraid to try a little Karaoke! Below is a little message from Morgane about her time in Australia and at Hawker.

Hello my name is Morgane, I’m French but I have lived in Morocco since about 3 years. My parents decide that I should take a trip to learn English and improve my Spanish. That's how I arrived in Melbourne about 2 months ago, I stayed there for about 3 weeks and then I came to Hawker, at the beginning I only had to stay 4 weeks but I really like Hawker and I quickly made friends so my uncle and I have decided that I should stay for two more weeks until the end of term.

Now to tell you a little bit about myself, I live in a city in Morocco called Essaouira, my hobbies are surfing and spending time with my friends. My favourite food is sushi, I like to surf at the local beach in Essaouira but sometimes I like to go to a beach outside the city. I also occasionally like to skateboard but that is only when I can’t surf.

Morgane with Rebekah O’Neill in the Secondary Classroom.

7-12 Subject News Term 3 – Sport, Maths, Science, HPE

The year continues to fly by as we near the end of Term 3. Our entire school community has been busy and have shown continued individual improvement throughout this term. Our Premiers Be Active Challenge was a success this term. The challenge to do at least 60 minutes of physical activity on at least 5 days of the week was achieved by the majority of students at the school. It’s always fantastic to see students on the move before school, after school and during recess and lunch. The research clearly shows the positive impacts that physical activity has on academic performance so it is vitally important that children have a positive attitude towards health, physical activity and nutrition. From a sporting perspective, our school was very successful this term. Students travelled to Leigh Creek to participate in their sports day and to Stirling North to participate in the SAPSASA athletics carnival. There were some fantastic individual performances and I was proud of how every student represented themselves and the school. Finally, congratulations to Bek O’Neill, Hayley Brown and Stef Teague for being a part of their grand final winning teams.

In our 7-10 STEM class we have been focusing on Biodiversity and Sustainability. This term in Science we learnt about ecosystems, interactions between organisms and using science and technology to solve real world problems. The class used the Engineering design process to: 1; define the problem, 2; brainstorm potential solutions, 3; design a prototype, 4; test and 5; repeat. They used their problem solving, inquiry and critical and creative thinking skills to solve problems relevant to our school community. These projects included a war on waste, bird houses and reusable lunch bags. They used Mathematics including measurements, location and transformation and statistical analysis which helped their projects success.

As part of the Premiers Be Active Challenge, my HPE class designed obstacle courses for students to participate in during lunchtime. They collected surveys to gauge the interest of different cohorts, discussed risk management strategies and promoted healthy eating through purchasing fruit and prizes. Their next project is looking into fitness components and designing a fitness plan for themselves or another individual.

Our SACE students have had a busy term with assignments and assessments coming out of their ears. They are near the end of the road and should keep persevering for the remainder of the year. Some hard work and sacrifices in the near future will pay dividends in the long run. My Physical Education class has now completed their three practicals – sailing, basketball and lawns bowls – and are now ready to finalise their assessments and prepare for their exam next term. They have both improved throughout the year and I thank the entire Year 7 -12 PE class for assisting their development by trying their hardest during our lessons.

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

Reminder