16 December 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principals Report

We have reached the end of another school term and year. In this Newsletter you will find summaries of the learning programs and activities that our students have been involved in during this term. I would like to thank all our staff for their efforts over this term, at the end of a very busy year.

This week, school reports will go home with our students. These will include Learning Area Grade summaries in line with the requirements of the Australian Curriculum. Primary reports will include written comments for the home group and all subjects, while Secondary reports will include home group teacher comments, effort grades for subjects and Learning Area Grades, once again in line with Australian Curriculum requirements.

One planned for part of our setting of direction for the next few years in particular was going to be our External Review, which was scheduled for November 19th and 20th. Unfortunately due to circumstances elsewhere the Review had to be postponed after it had already started, with the peer Principal needing to leave to return to her own school. This was the first time this has happened since reviews have been held, so I guess we are on the map. I would like to thank everyone however for their involvement which did not come to fruition i.e. staff, the Governing Council and volunteer parents who had made time to be available. A special note however to our tour guides, Kane Press, Rebekah O’Neill, Jack Allen, Annabelle Allen, Harry McAuley and William Dubois who put in a big effort to get their tours ready. On the day they did complete their responsibilities before things closed down and they got some very positive feedback from the Review Officers for their efforts.

We are well into the phase of planning for the next school year, having held our 2020 planning day during the Pupil Free Day on November 25th. On this day we conducted an extensive student by student analysis to get a picture of where students are at in preparation for next year. As part of this process we prepared some open ended questions to ask our students as part of a TfEL (Teaching for Effective Learning framework) online survey where we worked in conjunction with the TfEL team to prepare a survey to give us feedback on student engagement and disposition at this stage of the year. The survey is completely confidential, with students not passing on any personal information ie name, age. The online survey was conducted with our students last week and at this point in time is being analysed by the TfEL data analysis team and will be reported on back to us at the start of 2020.

Staff also reviewed our present School Improvement Plan for the year 2019 and prepared a new draft of the plan for 2020. Our goals and Targets in Reading, Numeracy and Writing were looked at and reviewed in the light of various bits of data including NAPLAN, PAT tests, Running Records amongst a variety of tests. Our specific targets for this year have been met with some good results in NAPLAN testing in particular. Other data however is also important and in reviewing our targets and planning for 2020 this was an important part of our discussion. We have drafted our 2020 School Improvement Plan and once approved this will be published on our school website.

Having mentioned the website it does deserve a special mention here. The school recently launched its new website, located at our previous URL below. If you haven’t visited it is much more visual and functional than our old website, credit going to Rachel Sinkinson-McInnis for this. The website is easier to navigate with a focus in particular on the presentation of visual images to help tell the story of our school. Access to all relevant information about the school, including a link to each edition of the School Newsletter is there, along with the Sun Smart widget, to further educate our students on the UV levels in Hawker. Key links of importance to parents such as the reporting of an absence and copies of our key school documentation are all clearly visible to click on and read.

Finally I would like to thank all our staff, students and parents for the efforts they have put in this year to make it a success for all our students. After a busy year we come to an end and as usual we need to say some goodbyes. After six years at Hawker we farewell Mphilisi Manombe who is returning to Adelaide and his family. Mphilisi taught in the areas of English and HASS, as well as in a variety of SACE subjects. We are going to miss Mphilisi and wish him all the best in his return to Adelaide. We also say goodbye, to Leonie McKenzie after far too short a time here as ACEO and classroom support. Leonie has been a great addition to our staff, where passion for all students to succeed has been obvious. She has enjoyed especially her role in our classrooms as learning support and I know all our staff have appreciated her contributions here. In addition to this Leonie has been a great link to our community and beyond, her role in organising this week’s Blue Light disco on Thursday being a good example of this. I know all our staff are going to miss Leonie and we wish her all the best. I would also like to publicly thank Paul and Min Smulders for their efforts over the year on both Governing Council and Parents and friends. Their involvement comes to an end this year and I am sure they take many happy memories with them. All the best to all members of our school community, I look forward to seeing you all in the new school year.

Mr Daren O’Neill
Principal Hawker Area School

Foundation – Year 2

From the strange and mysterious land of the little people…

So it happened, the school year has come to an end. Wow! When I look back and see just how far students have come this year I am astounded. The Foundation to Year two students have all come a long way on their individual journeys…as have I with new learning through Read Write Inc. training and Big Write/Big Talk training. In 2020 we will be introducing Big Talk/Big Write from Foundation to Year 9 to improve writing attainment at our school. There will be more information to follow on this as the new year unfolds. The Read Write Inc. with continue Foundation to year 4 with Read Write Inc. Literacy extension work in the under primary grades.

Some of the activities we have completed lately are;

Student travel Passport for HASS. You can see William holding up his finished passport to Japan.

Our funny dancing elf selfies for Visual Arts, and you can notice a little collection of these.

Our finished scene for Presentation Night depicting Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem for Drama. A silly skeleton with moveable joints for Science.

These are just a few things to show to finish off the term. Obviously we have been very busy practising our Presentation Night item with lots of singing, painting and a little dancing too. I wrote this poem for last year’s newsletter and really wanted to include it here again. I hope you enjoy.

School Year’s End

The students have cleaned out their drawers,
And taken all their work off the walls.
Cardboard and cellophane fly,
With split pins and scissors on high.

Borrowers have returned all their Library books,
And received some favourable looks,
From proud adult staff who have worked very hard,
To guide so futures aren’t barred.

Play practise has been daily
Children working not to fail
With their intention on the night
To make folks proud not feel fright.

So as a busy and challenging year closes
We look back understanding how thing go
When we work hard, take our time,
Respect and be kind.

Thanks for a great year and I will look forward to working with you again next year.

Mrs Amanda Hilder
Foundation – Year 2 Teacher/Literacy Coordinator

Year 3-5 class

Term 4 has flown by so fast! Early in the term Hawker Area School students braved the cold and participated in the Leigh Creek Area School Swimming Carnival. Almost every one of our students received a ribbon and I was very proud to see so many participants from our school. Hawker came second after Marree over all.

During PE lessons this term, students participated in games such as Speedminton and some minor games taught by our student teacher Erica Graham. The High school class enjoyed a few weeks of Touch Football, while the 3-5 class learned how to play Touch Football and the F-2’s began learning End Zone.

In English the 3-5 class continued the Freshstart program, and most of the class got to finish the term learning about and writing poetry. Some of the types of poems they learned to write about were Haiku’s, Acrostics, Cinquain’s and everyone’s favourite, Limerics.

It’s been a whirlwind year with lots of memories made. I hope everyone has a fun filled holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone in the New Year.

Miss Hayley Brown
Year 3-5 Teacher and HPE Coordinator

Year 6-12 class

Phew! 2019 is over and well done everyone for your hard work this year. I hope you had a wonderful and unforgettable year like myself. Once again a big thank you to everyone for your support when I was away on sick leave in Term Three. I was very impressed with the way my students adapted to a new environment and probably new teaching methods.

This term, the 6 – 8 class reviewed a film and their library novels, analysed wedding speeches, wrote narratives and they also explored Tim Winton’s Blueback. They indeed sharpened their critical appreciation skills by responding to chapter questions from this text and through writing short essays.

Our Year 10 English candidate worked exceptionally well on her SACE Stage One English. Her work has been graded and she will be mailed her SACE results slip on the 17th of December. Her grades have already been confirmed and we are proud of her achievements.

In Geography, the 6-8 class explored the causes for water scarcity and did case studies allowing them to research the effects of water scarcity in Yemen, Cairo, Sao Paulo, Mexico and Lima. Our research skills are still at developmental stage but we did all right. They also studied Economics and Business focussing on why we need to have careers, types of careers we can do and we also looked at alternative ways of earning an income without being an employee. This proved more popular than Geography and my students never cease to amaze me because their grades just soared in this area.

I wish the 6 - 12 class a merry Christmas and a prosperous 2020. We have worked very hard students and the match is over for now and it’s time to hang the boots. I’m not really good at goodbyes. This is my last newsletter before I move to Adelaide and Hawker has been home for me for the past six and a half years. It feels like I’m leaving behind a part of me. Thank you parents for your love, and thanks staff for your support throughout my stay and compassion when I was ill and thankyou students for showering me with your appreciation. I’m sure we will cross paths again in life and by that time some of you will be VIPs in top jobs because every one of you is extremely intelligent. All the best and take care!!

Mr Mphilisi Manombe
Year 6-12 Teacher & SACE Coordinator

Mathematics and Science

It has been a very productive year for most of our students. Most students should be very proud of their achievement. I just want to say:

Congratulations to all my students who worked hard and should be proud of their personal growth in mathematics and science knowledge. Have a great holiday and stay safe.

I leave you with two puzzles to solve over the holiday period.

Years 3-5

A frog has fallen into a pit that is 30 meters deep.

Each day the frog climes 3m, but falls 2 m down at night. How many days does it take for him to escape?

Year 6-7

Perfection puzzle

6 is a very special number. The factors of 6 are 1,2,3,6.

If we add the factors other than 6 we got 1+2+3 = 6

Can you find another perfect number?

Mrs Lidia Szelzak
Mathematics and Science Teacher

HAS Community Library News

Twas the week after Christmas
And all through the house
Everyone was bored,
Even the mouse.

“What can I do now?”
Was the children’s cry.
“I’m tired of my Christmas gifts.
There’s nothing to do! Why?”

Then the adults remembered
The Summer Reading Checklist Challenge sheet
“This,” they thought gladly.
“Should the boredom blues beat.”

And so, the very next day,
To find the resources they would need,
To the library they went
And located a holiday’s worth of books to read.

Ailsa Green

Remember – A person who loves to read is never bored – Susan Mallery

The opening times for the library during the holidays are as follows…

Monday: 9:00-5:00; Tuesday: 12:00-5:00; Wednesday: 8:30-4:30; Thursday: 10:30-5:00.

The Library is closed on Fridays, weekends and Public Holidays.

NB: The library will be closed for the Christmas/New Year period from Friday December 20. It will re-open again on Monday January 6.

Community Art Project Moving Forward

As I mentioned in the last newsletter, bottle tops have amazing uses, and the students had started working on a Community Art Project that would use the numerous bottle tops that have been collected in recent years. Recently, ten groups of students have been organised, with each of the groups having at least one member from each of the three classes. These groups are currently in the process of creating and executing a design that demonstrates the theme of Belonging.

We have been following the 6Ds design process, which is as follows:

Define:

• First, we needed to know what the task was - With input from the whole school, design and create a piece or pieces of art that represent our theme of belonging. The artwork(s) will be created from plastic bottle tops.
• Secondly, we had to ask questions that would help clarify the task more, for example

Discover:

• The next step was to gather the information we needed to answer our questions.

Dream:

• At this stage, the students started working in their small groups. During our first lesson together, each group discussed the theme and started coming up with designs they thought would showcase the theme.

Design:

• Once the students had worked out the picture they wanted to create, they drew it on paper, the size of the board the picture would eventually go on.

Deliver:

• We are entering the final stages of the process now. The students needed to weatherproof their piece of wood and get the design drawn onto the painted wood before they attached the bottle tops and finish it all off.

Debrief:

• Although this is written as the final step, debriefing happens throughout the process as students think about what they are doing and make changes as needed.

These kinds of projects always require a lot of organisation but the opportunity to collaborate with others to create something that will benefit the school is well worth the process. It is exciting watching the students work together, especially the older students as they take on leadership roles within their group.

Unfortunately, we were not able to complete the projects this term. Plans are in place to complete them early Term 1 2020. Watch this space for further information.

Library Blog

Happy Holidays

Reminder

Check our calendar for upcoming events each month –