Principals Report
Welcome to Term 3 at Hawker Area School, I hope everyone has had productive holidays and have returned refreshed and ready for a new term. The term is set to be a productive one with a few school events to report on including a Pupil Free day, along with another one to report early on in Term Four. Here is a list to start with, including an early one from this week:
- NAIDOC Day – August 5th
- Quorn Area School Sports Day – August 20th
- Open Day – August 28th
- Book Week – August 18th to 22nd
- Pupil Free Day – on September 8th to allow staff to work on our school improvement plan in the wellbeing area of impact and also the further inservicing in the SA Curriculum for Public Education.
- Whole School Wellbeing Day – Thursday September 4th
- Hawker Area School Sports Day – Friday September 5th
- Parent – Student – Teacher conferences which will be on Monday and Tuesday September 15th and 16th.
Term Four
- Pupil Free Day – on Monday October 20th to focus on Self Regulation and our Area of Impact Wellbeing.
Peter Russell has informed us of his decision to step down from teaching and SSO duties at the school due to health reasons. This has been an issue for him for a while and has reached the point where he needs a break for his own wellbeing. We thank Peter for his hard work at the school in both teaching and SSO responsibilities, he has been a valuable participant on our staff and a great supporter of the school and it’s students. Currently the school is working through the options for delivering the HPE curriculum at primary level where Peter was the teacher of our F2 and Year 36 classes.
EMS academic reports were launched at the end of last term. At this stage we have most of our parents now on board with the Community Portal through the EMS and this allows parents to also have digital access to school reports each semester. At the end of semester one we sent out hard copies of all student reports and also alerted parents through the EMS of the presence of their digital report in their portal along with a pdf copy being available in the email itself.
In addition to access to the Community Portal through the EMS parents also have access to the Frog Portal at Hawker Area School. This portal will provide parents with access to their student’s timetable and increasingly to curriculum information as well. The Frog Portal also provides parents with the opportunity to communicate directly with their student’s teachers and SSOs at the school through the messages app, providing a secure safe avenue of communication for parents and staff. This will mean for parents a fast and direct way for parents and staff to communicate. Over this term the school will be putting out further communication on the Frog Portal and also will be encouraging parents to upload the newly designed Frog Go App which can be loaded onto both iPhones and Android, providing convenient access to school information and communication.
After having another go at our presentation assembly stalled by the weather last Friday the school has taken the decision to postpone our assembly indefinitely. With a busy term coming up and classes already engaged in this term’s learning it was decided that we could look for other ways to show off the student work that would have been presented. In particular we have our Open Day and also Parent – Student – Teacher conferences which will provide further opportunities for parents to see the curriculum students have been engaged in.
NAIDOC Day was held Tuesday of this week at the school, commencing with a Welcome to Country by Karmy Coulthard and a rotation of activities for students, delivered by staff and visitors. The day included a presentation and activity delivered by Jessica McKenzie, Art and Crafts activities run by Emily Fels and Anna Oakey, Twisty making, Wood Carving and the chance to have some delicious food including Kangaroo Tail, Kangaroo soup and damper prepared by Kerri Coulthard. A great day was had by all. Many thanks to Karmy Coulthard, Anna Oakey and Polly Smart for their efforts in planning a great day.
