Principals Report
Term two has started and it promises to be a busy one at the school. At the start of this term we completed our NAPLAN Testing for our Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students, with all except the Year 3 Writing test being online. Tests were predominantly held in Week 2 with a couple of catch up tests early in Week 3. These went without any major issues, and we were fortunate to avoid the major internet issues that were reported on the Thursday afternoon of Week 2. From here the tests are marked, and data collated with reports coming back to schools in early Term 3.
New Staff
We welcome one new staff member this term. Louise Watson has joined our staff teaching one day a week (two half days) in the Senior Secondary area. Louise is teaching Stage One PLP to our Year 10 students, with support from Roxby Downs Area School. Louise also is teaching the Stage 2 Research Project to our Year 11 student. These two subjects form a significant part of the SACE curriculum as both are part of the compulsory subjects which SACE students need to complete.
Dates coming up this term:
- Hotshots Tennis in Port Augusta on Thursday May 26th (Year 3-4 students) and Friday May 27th (Year 5-6 students).
- Whole School Closure Day on Monday May 30th after the Hawker Cup.
- Bikes Palya week at Hawker from Monday June 20th to Friday June 24th.
- NAIDOC day at Wilpena Pound on Tuesday July 5th.
- School NAIDOC celebrations during Week 10.
- Last day of term Friday July 8th
Hotshots Tennis
Hotshots Tennis is happening for our students in Week 4 this term. On Thursday May 26th Victoria Barratt will be taking our Year 3-4 students to the Port Augusta Tennis courts for a day of the modified tennis junior tennis format. On Friday Polly Smart will take our Year 5-6 students to the same venue for the older version of this event. We are looking for parents who are interested to support the events on each day, consent forms have gone out and if there are still interested parents in the lead up all assistance will be greatly appreciated.
Bikes Palya
Our Bikes Palya week is on from June 20th to 24th, information will be coming out steadily as the week approaches. Bikes Palya has been facilitated by non-profit Bicycle South Australia (Bike SA) since 2013. Bikes Palya is known in the APY lands and remote Outback communities for delivering bike-focused in-school and school holiday programs. Palya means “great” in Pitjantjatjara. Bikes are Great! (Bikes Palya) In getting ready for the week one of the activities planned is the opportunity for students to be involved in some bike maintenance and repair to learn how to take care of their own bikes. We would like to thank both our Parents and Friends and the Hawker Community Development Board who have supported the costs of the week. The organisers will be keen to spend some time preparing for this activity and are inviting families to make available bikes that are in need of repair for the week. Of course we are planning for all students to also bring in their bikes on this week to be a part of the activities. In preparation for this we have published a basic survey for parents to complete which focuses on topics such as bike ownership, knowledge, riding ability, availability of bikes for repair etc. We are also asking for any parents who would like to be involved in the riding activities as support – the ratio for riding activities for schools is 5:1, so if we have four adults per 20 students we will be within limits.
Over the week activities will be programmed for delivery to our three classes at the school – Foundation to Year 2, Year 3 to 6 and our Year 7 to 11 class. Activities planned for the week include:
- The week will start off with an Introduction of the program, Helmet and Bike checks
- A General skill check and introduction of turning and moving safely on the road for inexperienced riders in particular
- An introduction to road rules
- Riding through a set up road course
- Practicing riding on the road
- Bike maintenance activities:
- How to keep your bike in working conditions (chain, cranks)
- How to fix a puncture
- How to adjust your breaks
- The construction of an obstacle course for bike riders
- Building of jumps with claimed wood
- Final ride and licence hand over
- End of week Barbecue
Community Walking Trail program
Hawker Area School has been successful in gaining a grant through the Flinders Ranges Council to assist in developing our Community Walking Trail. This development will be dependent on community involvement as well as the Flinders Ranges Council who have also pledged support with the program. The plan with the program is for the trail to be developed over the next few years, some of the ideas covered so far include:
- The development of parts of the trail starting from the walking trail near the junction of Chace View and Wirrenada Terraces.
- Irrigation of these areas, drainage from the community gym.
- Planting of indigenous plants that have a history of successfully growing in the area.
- Education on the value and importance of the plants including bush foods and other practical applications.
- Research by school students and preparation of signage to support the information for visitors.
- Development of the trails including topping up the tracks with gravel, and setting up of materials such as boulders, logs, sleepers to use as nature play style features around the garden area.
- General propagation and planting by students at the school and members of the community.
- Involvement of members of the community as a source of plants and other materials for the program.
The first stage of this program will be a community meeting to be held at the start of the trail near the school, as indicated by the red arrow on the aerial photograph. This will be on Wednesday June 1st at 4pm.
Yard Supervision
With our increasing number of students at the school we have expanded our yard supervision at lunchtime to include two areas. Over lunchtime from last week we will now have one staff member in the hard court and playground area and another supervising students on the oval. This will enable staff to be able to supervise our students in these two areas. Patterns of student activity show that we have a lot of our Junior Primary students interacting in the playground and sandpit areas, as well as in general on the hardcourt side of our yard. At the same time we also have a large group of students who also play ball games on the oval. Supervision of these two areas takes time and the teaching staff have all taken on an extra supervision duty to enable this to happen.
School Sports
Congratulations to Will DuBois, Harry McAuley and Angus McInnis who competed as part of the Orroroo Football team in the U12 Mini’s football carnival over the weekend. The carnival consisted of eight teams from Clare, Jamestown, BSR (Brinkworth Spalding Red Hill), Roxby Downs and Burra. The boys played six games in total, losing just the one in the group stage. In the semi-final stage the boys were part of a semi-final thriller which went to extra time after scores were level. In the final they defeated BSR pulling away at the end, after being two goals down at half time. Apart from Will, Harry and Angus Lachlan Hilder was the unlucky fourth player, with a sprained ankle suffered during the week.
Great news as well on the Cross Country front, with Archie Morgan running well in Port Augusta. Archie qualified for the Oakbank Cross Country event, setting a high standard in the Cross Country qualifying in Port Augusta, running over 2000 metres. Archie ran the distance in 10 minutes, coming in second place overall for his age group, a great effort a great effort with the numbers competing. The Oakbank event will be run June 9th , we wish Archie all the best on the challenging course.
As always if parents have any questions I can be contacted at the school on 86484003 or by my email at daren.oneill253@schools.sa.edu.au.