Principals Report
In this Newsletter you will be reading about the programs our teaching staff are planning for their students during the term. You will also notice an article by our SRC in which they will report on our Wheels Day Fundraiser at the end of last term and our plans for term three.
Term three is one of our busier terms in the school year and as such it is worth pointing out the main dates that are already on our calendar:
- August 4th and 5th – Parent/Teacher interviews.
- August 10th and 11th – External Review days.
- August 14th – Quorn Area School Sports Day.
- August 17th and 18th – Volleyball SA coaching course with our students.
- September 3rd – Open Night.
- September 8th – Autism Awareness Day.
- September 11th – Hawker Area School Sports Day.
- September 15th – Tennis SA coaching team program at Hawker Area School.
In addition to all this over the last four weeks of term three our annual PAT Maths and Reading tests will be conducted. With the relaxing of some of the measures to manage and protect against COVID-19 school sports can now be played, with schools now allowed to visit. As a result of this we will be able to invite Leigh Creek and Marree to our Sports Day on September 11th.
The External Review will be conducted over August 10th and 11th. These days will involve a visit by the External Review team, consisting of two people, a Review Officer and a Peer Principal. The team will spend two days at Hawker during which they will investigate our teaching and learning culture and through this our approach to school improvement. During the Review the team will interview teaching and ancillary staff, students, parents and our Governing Council to gather information and data. With a diverse range of learners at our school across our different classes, the findings of the team will play an important role in our school moving forward. This is the third attempt at a Review after it was forestalled after starting last year, and earlier this year the visit was cancelled on the Friday before due to the COVID-19 measures.
Earlier restrictions on parents visiting the school have now been relaxed. Now parents are allowed onto school grounds and even back in classrooms. A key proviso is still physical distancing however; there are no longer any limitations on the number of adults who can be in a room, but physical distancing is still required between adults. This does mean that rooms crowded with adults still won’t be suitable, so we are asking that parents continue to drop their kids off outside classrooms in the morning and do the same when picking them up after school. During the school day it is possible to visit a classroom eg to volunteer, drop off lunch etc, but please check in at the front office first. This means that progressively some of the parent and community activities that have taken place during the day may now restart.
I would like to thank the parents who have taken the time to come in for Parent Teacher interviews during the last week. This was the first time we have used the online booking system that comes with Schoolzine to make bookings easier. The system allows those booking to see what times are still available, hopefully making the process of booking more seemless. In keeping track of the bookings that have been made it seems that parents were able to get on and make their bookings. If there were any issues with the system however, we would like to know.
As always I can be contacted at the school by parents on 86484003 or through my email at daren.oneill253@schools.sa.edu.au . I look forward to catching up during the term.