Term 1 Wk11 No2 - 12 April 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principals Report

It has been a busy but productive term for our school and now it is coming to a close. As normal term one has been punctuated by sporting events, especially involving Hawker students at the Quorn Area School Swimming Carnival and Sports Day. This is a pattern that will continue in future years and it will give our students the chance to progress as far as they can with their sports, including representation in MNSEC events and possibly representing MNSEC in Adelaide sporting events. As evidence of this 8 students from Hawker represented Quorn (and Hawker!) in the MNSEC Athletics in Jamestown recently.

In this newsletter, you will find articles by all our staff concerning their term programs, summarising student activities and the learning involved. Our teaching programs for 2018 are one quarter complete and the articles explain what classes have been up to, including out of school excursions and in school activities with visitors.

The end of term one marks a change in our approach to assessment and reporting. Parents of our secondary students from Year 7 to 12 will receive Mid Semester One written reports that detail student progress so far. These reports will be different in their content, as they will detail progress so far, as well as how improvements in student achievement can be made. In this way our staff are providing an opportunity for parents to get evidence of academic performance while the semester is progressing and are given the opportunity to work with their child and teachers to achieve greater success. This is part of an overall strategy of increasing our efforts to inform about student academic performance. Part way through term two, another form of reporting, the Progress Check will also be sent home. This will apply to all our students and will be a further attempt to provide information to parents, this time in the form of a brief report on student progress and effort. The Mid Semester One reports will have a different look and presentation that parents will notice. For one, the banner on the front page will change. We will also provide a summary of the goals that students, parents and teachers have agreed on early in term one. In addition to this apart from the diagnostic style of the written report, students will have a rating for their progress and effort.

Early in term two students across the state and Australia will undergo once again the annual NAPLAN tests. As usual these will be for our students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 and will involve testing in ‘Writing’, ‘Reading’, ‘Language Conventions’ and ‘Numeracy’. NAPLAN is a nationally developed program that provides schools, states and territories with information about how education programs are working and what areas need to be prioritised for improvement. Of course, tests will vary in length across year levels. At Hawker the tests will be on paper, but there is a process occurring whereby eventually schools will administer the tests online in future years. The tests will occur over the week of May 14, with tests scheduled for the 15th, 16th and 17th of May, while students can also catch up on missed tests over these days and the Friday. The tests are aligned in particular to the Australian Curriculum for English and Mathematics and are just one of many assessments in which your child can participate during a school year. No specific skills need to be learned for the tests which are a one off snapshot of students in May of each year. A parent information brochure is available and the school will make this available to parents of students in the relevant year levels.

Parents who want to know more can find out by going to the website below

Over the end of this term the school will be seeking information from both students and parents in the lead up to re drafting our Whole School Literacy Agreement. This agreement will document our approach to the teaching of literacy across F – 12 at Hawker. The school will seek the information through online surveys which will aim to get an understanding of student and parent perspectives on literacy in Hawker, including levels of engagement, understanding of how it is taught, relationships between school and home, how literacy learning is viewed at school and at home, and the types of literacy that students have access too. It will play an important role in our moving forward in this area. Parents will have received the survey in two possible ways, through the Feed tab on their Schoolzine App, or by a link delivered through email.

Please take the time to reflect and complete the survey if you have not done so

As always if parents have any questions they can contact myself at the school through our Front Office on 86484003, or by my email at daren.oneill253@schools.sa.edu.au.

Enjoy the coming opportunity to catch up on your family time. I look forward to seeing parents over the end of the term and during our holiday break.

Mr Daren O’Neill
Principal Hawker Area School

Foundation – Year 2

The Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2's have spent the last 5 weeks 'Going around the World' with Mrs Jane Tanner and Mrs Janet Spooner-Adey... while Mrs Hilder has been on holiday at home!!

It started with the older children writing about if they could go anywhere in the world - where would they like to go? Inspired from the Winter Olympics in South Korea, they made designs and models of drones - with cameras for top, side and bottom views that led into location and positional understandings, as well as 2D v's 3D shapes relating to maps and globes.

Awareness of sports from Winter to Summer Olympics were highlighted from newspaper pages, with local March sporting events like cricket, car and horse racing included. How sport's equipment and fashions have changed over the years and what cultural costumes suit Summer or Winter weather; recognising different seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, in different countries and in different continents were worked out from the range of library reference books that took the children's interest; and stories like ‘My Cat likes to hide in Boxes' and 'Whoever you are' were a multi-cultural focus.

We discovered that some countries have interesting names when we each painted onto material a flag that was chosen from the designs we saw on the new smart board... and how does a computer work or what is an algorithm? Did you know that pushing and pulling forces make things fly, spin, bounce, slide and roll? We experimented with each movement.

English included exploring narrative texts, using Capitals, finding Proper and Common Nouns and lots of Jolly Phonics sounds, spelling and where to start letter formations. Maths included measuring areas and comparing lengths, counting and ordering numerals in sequence and making number sentences that went into the Hundreds... we learnt how to divide wholes into halves and quarters, even associating moon phases leading up to Easter's Full Moon, as well as cutting Hot Cross buns especially along the crosses!

We were visited by Marree School puppets - Gabby Get-along, Pete Persistence, Oscar Organisation, Ricky Resilience and Connie Confidence. It has been a wonderful few weeks of activity - thanks to regular SSO support with Sharon, Linda and Joelle, along with everyone at our school. It has all come together 'in Harmony' - with the class building their sense of belonging and being ready for considerations of our natural outdoor environment with Mrs Hilder for the last few weeks of term... thanks again everyone!

PS - there has been a lot of chasing up of hats - please ensure your child has theirs named and at school daily to be worn when outside... it is not good to wear other's, especially when head lice are around!

And if anything not belonging to your child should come home, please send it back to school to be given to its proper owner... we are missing a few items of clothing as well as Gabby Get-along hiding somewhere!

Mrs Jane Tanner and Mrs Janet Spooner-Adey
Foundation – Year 2 Teacher’s

Year 3-6 class

In English this term we had a focus on persuasive texts. Students came up with some brilliant topics such as the country is better than the city, motorbikes are better than push bikes and music is an important subject.

Our science topic this term has been biological sciences. We did a lot of research on living and non-living things and we even had a pet lizard for a few weeks! His name was Stumpy and he helped us to understand how adaptations work.

HASS this term has been a lot of fun! Students chose a native animal to Hawker, an extinct Australian animal, and an introduced species. They presented their information in the form of either a power point presentation, a poster, or an oral presentation. The extinct animals that the students chose were very interesting and included an Allosaurus, a Diprotodon, a Marsupial Lion and Pig Footed Bandicoot.

We have been very busy in Maths this term but have found a way to cover many topics! We have incorporated group investigations, math games, independent work and a computer program in order to make math lessons more engaging!

In week 8 we had a Junk and Nature Play session with Glenn Wagland. We got to make things out of sticks, barrels, rope and clay. It was quite messy but we had a ball!

Leading up to Easter we did some Easter craft in art! Some of the students decorated rabbit masks whilst others decorated eggs.

Miss Hayley Brown
Year 3-6 Teacher

Year 7-12 class

Term One of 2018 has swiftly glided by and most of our students have worked extraordinarily hard and are ready for their 2 week break. I hope you had a wonderful Easter holiday.

In English this term the Years 7 -10 students studied George Orwell’s Animal Farm. They explored Orwell’s satirical, ironic and sarcastic techniques which he employs to critic what was then his contemporary society. At the end of their learning experience, students completed work on chapter summaries, character (s) criticism and theme exploration. The text seemed a bit hard for Years 7 – 8 but Years 9 - 10 really enjoyed it.

In Stage One Essential English, our sole candidate is tracking well in his Scientific report. Stage Two English students scored very good grades in their English folio which was a comparative analysis of two texts where they evaluated themes, language and stylistic features in their selected texts; Orwell’s Animal Farm and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

In History this term the 7 – 10 class explored the 19th Century ideologies on Capitalism, Marxism, Socialism, Communism and Egalitarianism. The students then moved on to the comprehensive study of the topic; ‘Making a Nation’ and researched how Non-Europeans were discriminated against in Australia prior to 1900. Most students did a sterling job in this research, well done guys.

I know the learners thoroughly enjoyed engaging in the study of the topics that were selected for the term. It’s rewarding to watch our students blossom and we are looking forward to continuing this next term.

Thanks to all parents and caregivers for your continued support to our keen learners.

Mr Mphilisi Manombe
Year 7-12 Teacher

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

Reflecting on a busy start to the year, there were a lot of fantastic achievements across the whole school community.

From a Sporting perspective, Term 1 is full of events where students are able to showcase their talents. As most of you are aware we are now amalgamated with Quorn Area School as part of MNSEC (Mid North School’s Education Cooperative). This allows our students to proceed further in sporting carnivals, if they are successful and selected to the squad. This Term we participated in the SAPSASA Netball and Football Carnival in Port Augusta and attended Quorn’s Swimming and Athletics carnival. All who attended tried their hardest, were humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Congratulations to those students who were selected for the MNSEC squads and those who won individual achievement awards. Last but not least a massive thank you to those parents and families who made it down to support and help their children. Your support is greatly appreciated and I hope it continues in the future!

In our 7-10 STEM class we have been heavily focused on our Tiny House project. The project requires students to research and develop a design for a Tiny House and produce architectural drawings without technology and using SketchUp. Students also had the option to construct a 3D model of their design. The students have needed problem solving, inquiry and creative thinking skills to develop their houses. They have used Mathematics including lots of measurement, Trigonometry, Pythagora’s Theorem and financial mathematics. Scientific outcomes such as renewable energies and energy sources, energy efficiency, climate change and global warming, natural disasters and energy transfer have been discussed and covered.

In our PE class we have been concentrating on the tactics and game plans of invasion games.

As part of their SACE Physical Education course the Year 11 and 12 students travelled to Port Augusta for a 3 day sailing camp with Quorn Area School. The first two days were perfect conditions for sailing with adequate breeze and minimal swell. The third day however was dead calm so much of the day was spent capsizing and learning the theory behind sailing. JR, Mariah, Ebony and Kane learnt the fundamentals of sailing such as rigging, capsizing, man overboard recovery, points of sail, luffed up, tacking and gybing. Thank you to all the instructors at the Port Augusta Aquatic Centre and to Matt Griffiths at Quorn for allowing us to join with their group.

In Health we are focusing on healthy eating and promoting healthy food choices as an individual and within a community. This has including dissecting food advertisements and understanding food labels.

Good luck to all Hawker students who will begin competing in their sporting areas for the upcoming season. It is a great way to meet new people, develop social skills, stay fit and most importantly have fun. Hope everybody has a safe, fun and relaxing holiday break.

Mr Vinny Urbancic
Physical Education Teacher and STEM Coordinator

HAS Combined Sports Day

On Wednesday the 14th of March the year 2-12 students travelled to Quorn to participate in their schools Sports Day. The Hawker students did a fantastic job and nine of them were chosen to participate in the MNSEC sports carnival in Jamestown the following week. Thank you to the parents, family and friends who came down to help and cheer on our students. Also thank you to Quorn Area School for presenting us with the opportunity to compete against their students and continue to build our positive relationship between our school communities.

I enjoyed Sports Day because I came first in 100m. – Eliza Cooper.

I enjoyed Sports Day because I got to race in 100m and 200m. I did well so I got to go to MNSEC which was a challenge. – Dan McCourt.

I like running, high jump and shot put and when the day was over it was fun. – Vai Uran

I think shot put, discus and high jump were fun. My favourite was high jump, I tried hard to not touch the rope. – Paul Haywood.

I loved sports day because I came third in high jump. – JJ McKenzie.

I think that I did well even though I didn’t win. I participated and had fun and that’s all that matters. – Holly Smulders.

I enjoyed Sports Day in Quorn because I nearly beat my record in high jump. – Jack Allen.

On Sports Day I liked the 100m race, long jump and the relay. – Callie McInnis.

On Wednesday our school went to Quorn Sports Day and I won four firsts and one third. I came first in long jump and third in 100m. – Rihanna McKenzie.

On Sports Day I enjoyed high jump, 100m and 200m. – Annabelle Allen.

On Sports Day I enjoyed high jump. It was great day. – Emily Hilder.

Music and Languages

Music:

Firstly, I must acknowledge that we had an unexpected number of interruptions to Wednesdays this term, and students missed up to 5 Music lessons due to this. Some have been made up, some were caught up, and some will just be continued into Term 2.

Foundation – Year 2:

Students have been developing those basic comparatives (sound/silence, fast/slow etc.) using a large collection of games and songs. Older students have been challenged by seeing what musical terms they can remember from last year, and mentoring younger students in words and games. It’s also the first year since I started here, that ALL students are confident to sing independently in Term 1!

Year 3 – 6:

Students have been consolidating the various levels of understanding that exist in such a large age gap, and again enjoying their time, learning a number of concepts (without knowing it!) through games and song. Their skill development on the ukulele is increasing and some students are beginning to be able to sing the strings of the uke, in pitch, even with all the interruptions!

Year 7 – 10:

Students learnt a lot in the first few weeks regarding basic musical literacy and this has been retained through the interruptions. Unfortunately, our World Music took a few more hits, but there will still be a short performance at assembly on this, and the students have offered to write one of these assignments into the holidays to complete the planned curriculum. Reports have also been written on what was taught, not what was planned to reflect the interruptions.

Choir:

The Choir is going strong despite the messy start, and presented themselves fantastically at their Assessment. A huge thanks to the students and parents who provided food for the morning tea, we heard many comments from both the Assessor, and the Leigh Creek cohort about how wonderful it was. Students have also shown their maturity when it comes to picking up where we left off, choosing themselves, to stay back per the Assessment Grid and make sure they cover all the material, rather than jumping to the week we are in. They are to be commended for this and for their entire continued practise even without the weekly prodding.

Band:

Unfortunately, the Band hasn’t managed any catch up lessons this term, but there is light at the end of the tunnel! We have been approved for a second Band lesson, starting in Term 2. This will allow streaming of students, particularly for those more advanced to be challenged, and for the students who require more support to get it. In Week 1, when I have the timetable, I will send a note home detailing which students are in which classes (most are in only one, a couple have been asked to participate in both for various reasons). This is an exciting moment for the future of our Band program!

Indonesian:

All students have slowly but steadily been working towards their respective class goals in terms of their language acquisition this term. I’d like to take this opportunity though to relay some information about the BRIDGE Program our school is now engaged in, and share some photos of Aina Kooh and her Home Stay visit to our school and town.

Aina and I met in Sydney at the end of week 7, along with the other Brunei – Australia teachers, as part of the whole Australia – ASEAN BRIDGE Cohort for 2018 (approximately 9 countries and 70 teachers, plus facilitators) for four days of training. Aina then returned to Hawker with me for a 7 day Home Stay, starting on Harmony Day. Together we did various school activities, such as teaching Bruneian songs, co-teaching Language classes, and being the F-2 relief teachers for a day! Aina also observed a variety of Maths lessons across the school, and had meetings with leadership to learn more about the Australian system of education to feedback to her school. On the weekend I took her around the country side, visiting Arkaroo Rock, Wilpena Pound, and Brachina Gorge. We were very lucky and saw bush turkeys, yellow footed rock wallabies, a wedge tailed eagle and an echidna on our trip! I will also be travelling to Brunei in January to help cement the project and maintain relationships between sites.

Below are some photos of Aina’s time at school, but I invite you also to go to our new website. This website has been created to share the project with the school, the Brunei-Australia Cohort, and hopefully in the future, our respective education systems. It is in the beginning stages at the moment, but it will be continually added to as our project continues. I invite you to take a look, learn about the program, learn about our training, and take a look at our proposed project! The first examples of student work should be up by the end of the term!

Click on the link below – B.A.S.K = Brother Abang Sister Kakak

Have a look at the wonderful pictures taken over the week long adventure for Aina in our Gallery

Aina and Sasha in Sydney, Starting our project!, Arriving in Hawker finally!, Teaching students a Bruneian song as part of Harmony Day, Learning about Tech (something very different to in Brunei!), Helping Sasha teach Maths, Getting a HAS uniform, Meeting Daren, Meeting a local, Presenting our project idea to HAS Staff (available on the website), The entire Australia-ASEAN BRIDGE Cohort at a formal function at the Sydney Opera House, with Asia Education Foundation Directors and Staff, as well as Julie Bishop MP and Bob Randal, CEO of ACARA.

Happy Holidays see you all next term.

Mrs Sasha Andersson
Music and Language Teacher

Teacher / Librarian

Hawker School Community library has continued to be a happy and productive work and information space throughout Term 1.

The library is used by a range of classes for instruction and study and is in constant demand by students and staff for electronic equipment, books, computer access and reference support. We are also highly responsive to community needs, sourcing books and DVD’s as well as providing internet connectivity and printing availability. We are also a useful site for government and council documents.

Despite our size and location, Hawker is able to tap into the resources of library books around the State through the OneCard system. This means that we have over 4 million resources at our fingertips. A OneCard app has now been developed and library users can order their reading materials through their phone or other device if desired.

The library has ordered new resources for teaching staff this term including a Digital Literacy set of 8 books, new texts for both the primary and secondary Humanities and Social Sciences Curriculum, new readers for primary students and a range of texts for the Premier’s Reading Challenge. We have also received a donation of class texts from Port Augusta Secondary High School for which we were grateful.

Where class sizes are small we borrow via interlibrary loans the required texts and DVD’s but may purchase if the situation and price is appropriate. We have also received kind donations of useful texts from the staff and members of the community. Thank you for your support and interest.

The Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) is underway with boxes labelled in the library for each reading area and PRC books identified by a coloured sticker on the front. The Foundation to Year 2 students have been involved in their reading lesson where 4 books from the list have been read and discussed. In other classes, the students have made individual progress.

The library has recently completed its eSmart accreditation. This process seeks to promote the appropriate use of digital technology and improve cybersafety for all library users. In particular, issues such as Staying Safe Online, Digital Citizenship, Social Media, Cyberbullying and Scams and Phishing were addressed.

The Cyber Safety link from Libraries SA where you can access the document ‘Being Safe Online’ is available by clicking on the link

Mrs Janet Spooner-Adey
Teacher Librarian

SAKG – Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden

This term the Foundation to Year 10 classes, the students were kept busy ensuring the survival of the garden and fruit trees and “Going Around the World with Herbs and Spices” program in cooking.

After the successful experiment last year of giving each class their own plots, we have extended this principle by giving each student in the 3-6 class their personal garden. We already have advanced seedling in the shade house and we will select some seeds next week to be planted before the holidays. This way the students will see some plants coming up in week one or two of next term, making things exciting for the bourgeoning gardeners.

The F-2 vegie-patch has survived the summer and is doing remarkably well so far. With the very hot days behind us, we are focusing on growing herbs for bed number two which will be dedicated to these sorts of plants and flowers to attract beneficial insects. We have started to look at how diverse seeds are.

We celebrated with a mini garden party the “waking up of baby Akurra” in the round garden in front of the kitchen. Ask the children what is happening to our garden gnomes.

The 7 – 10 class has started the project of turning an old wheelbarrow into a garden feature. The first plans have been drawn and the work will carry on into next term. This workshop will take the student to a complete study of gardening “from scratch” i.e.: study of micro climates, soil, landscaping, etc. The object of the project is quite small will require the students to work together closely and give each other “space” for implementing the different points of view.

In the kitchen all the students of the school were admirable cooks for the party of Harmony Day. Many crepes were flipped and re-flipped with a lot of giggles and they were delicious. In week 10 the 7-10 students cooked the last of the Mediterranean dish study. The students showed concentration and attention to details that made them real cooks and the results were of a very high standard. Next term will see us make South American and Chinese dishes.

Mrs Joelle Sharples
SAKG Specialist

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