Dear Families,

As part of our 2023 partnership with The Resilience Project, you are invited to attend a ‘Discovering Resilience’ live webinar with Martin Heppell on Wednesday 14th June, 7.00pm-8.00pm (60 minutes) AEST.

Martin, who is also a parent of young children will talk about ways to support the mental health of your whole family in his fun, high energy presentation. He will share practical strategies that families can implement every day focussing on The Resilience Project’s GEM principles (Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness and Emotional Literacy).

REGISTER HERE

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Whilst attendance to the live webinar will provide you with the optimal experience, we appreciate that not all families will be available at the scheduled time. A recorded version of this webinar will be sent out to your early years service after the live event and will be available for two weeks. 

Please note that the webinar will include parents from The Resilience Project’s other partnership services.

If you would like any further information about The Resilience Project, details can be found on their website: https://theresilienceproject.com.au/about/

Sleep for Teenagers

Sleep is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle, and it's especially important for teenagers who are going through a period of rapid growth and development. However, studies have shown that many teenagers are not getting enough sleep, which can have a negative impact on their physical and mental health, as well as their academic performance.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 should aim to get between 8 and 10 hours of sleep per night. However, many teenagers are only getting 6 or 7 hours of sleep on school nights, which can lead to a range of health issues, including depression and anxiety.

Sleep is also crucial for academic performance. Studies have shown that students who get enough sleep are more alert, focused, and able to retain information better than those who are sleep-deprived. In fact, lack of sleep can have a similar effect on cognitive performance as being under the influence of alcohol.

As a school community, it's important that we prioritise the importance of sleep for our teenagers. Here are some tips to help students get a good night's sleep:

• Encourage children to establish a regular sleep schedule, going to bed and waking up at the same time each day.
• Discourage the use of electronic devices, such as smartphones and laptops, in the bedroom. The blue light emitted by these devices can disrupt sleep patterns.
• Promote relaxation techniques, such as meditation, yoga, or reading, before bedtime.
• Encourage students to avoid caffeine and sugary foods in the evening, as they can interfere with sleep.

By prioritising the importance of sleep for our teenagers, we can help them to achieve their full potential academically, physically, and mentally.

Mr Troy Cowland – Deputy Principal

ELC Mother’s Day afternoon

On Friday of week 2, the preschool children invited all the ‘Special Ladies' in their lives to come to the Early Learning Centre for an afternoon of fun, togetherness and pampering. At the nail polish station, the children gave their guests a beautiful manicure, with some children even getting one in return. Many enjoyed reading together on our comfy couch. Another activity shared was to decorate the biscuits that had been made the day before. The children definitely loved posing for photos at the photo booth, choosing different props for their guests to hold. The children also made a beautiful necklace or bracelet for their loved one. I wonder how many remembered to wear them out to lunch on Mother’s Day? 

Lastly we set up a relaxing massage room with calming music, where the children spoilt mums with massage rollers on their backs, a head massage or a back scratch. 

Thank you to all the mums, grandmothers, aunties, big sisters and little sisters who were able to come along. We had such a wonderful afternoon. 

Mrs Trish Horstmann 

9-a-side football

On Friday 12^th May, SRAS had six students travel to Karoonda Town Oval to compete in the annual zone 9-a-side football tournament. As the day clashed with the career expo event, our year 10 students were unable to participate. Fortunately, we were able to combine with Karoonda Area School to form a 7/8 boys team and 7-9 girls team. These events provide an exciting opportunity for our students to interact and meet students from other schools. Furthermore, all six students from SRAS have never been a part of playing football outside of our school PE lessons.

Across their 3 matches for the day, our boys team had a really competitive day out, narrowly losing by 2 points to Tintinara, beating Lameroo by 2 goals and then narrowly going down to Keith by 3 goals. Our girls side fought valiantly all day, with everyone given the chance to play in a new position each half of the game. In their final match, there were a few glimmering moments of brilliance, as the girls almost snatched their first victory for the day. Unfortunately, a few close misses at goal left the girls 5 points short of a win. In the end, everyone left with smiles and enjoyed this new experience. We look forward to participating in this event again next year. Currently, the 7-10’s are preparing for our mixed netball tournament, held towards the end of this term.

9/10 Knockout Footy

Congratulations to Jacob Hodge who was selected in the 9/10 boys knockout football team for the River Mallee District (RMD). Jake played 2 games on Wednesday, 10^th May at Keith Town Oval. Unfortunately, the RMD side went down in both games, therefore they will not advance through to the next knockout stage. Nevertheless, it is brilliant that we have some SRAS representation in these knockout competitions, often competing against high-quality schools/districts from other regions.

Mixed Social Netball & NetSetGo

It’s been great to see so many students, staff, parents and community members involved with the first two weeks of the Mixed Social Netball Tournament and the NetSetGo program. The event kicked off on Tuesday 16^th May and is a weekly affair for the remainder of Term 2, held in the Swan Reach Gymnasium.

NetSetGo is for children between 5-10 years old, commencing at 5pm. PLUS, this is completely free, thanks to the support of Mid Murray Our Town! It’s not too late to get your child/ren involved, so bring them along to join in next week.

The Mixed Social Netball Tournament has 4 teams competing each week, with the first game at 6pm, followed by the second game at 7pm. Everyone is welcome to come along and watch or join in for any team looking for some extra players. No netball experience required.

These nights have been organised through the Blanchetown Swan Reach Football Netball Club, aiming to bring our community together for a fun, social night out with friends and family. Thanks to the support of the Blanchetown Shell, a FREE BBQ is available for everyone each week.

Check out a few photo glimpses of the first two weeks’ action below. I hope to see everyone out again for Round 3 on Tuesday 30^th May.

Mr Jayden Coleman

Sports Coordinator

Hi SRAS school community,

Last week I was at the SMG Conference.  SMG stands for Schools Ministry Group and they are the organisation who employ me to work as a Pastoral Care Worker at Swan Reach Area School.  I have a lot of support and encouragement from them and also from the local church groups.  When I say local, I mean anywhere from Mannum to Swan Reach.  I use a lot of this support in my work at school.  The support includes financial - for resources for me to use at school, physical - in terms of supplying physical needs such as food hampers, clothes and books, etc and wellbeing – in terms of encouragement and moral support for me and the staff.

Over my next few newsletter articles, I will let you know of some of the updates that SMG will be unveiling over the coming months.  SMG are all about equipping Pastoral Care Workers with wellbeing strategies that we can assist the school community with.  We are not counsellors but more mentors and role models with a listening ear.  We walk alongside students and families who are going through difficult times and support the school and surrounding community to thrive.

At the conference, we had a speaker who is a Community Project Officer in Adelaide.  She spoke about what it means to have a thriving community and her message confirmed to me that Swan Reach and surrounds are doing a great job with this.  She said that “Community is best served when people support what they create” and from what I have observed, the school and local community are really good at supporting different groups and clubs.  I can think of the Parents and Friends group at school, the CWA, the op shop, the footy and netball club to name a few.  The Mid Murray Our Town group also does a fantastic job of supporting our community as does the school itself.

So, I just wanted to congratulate you all on a job well done.  However, I know that some people slip through the cracks and may feel that they go unnoticed.  If you are one of them, I encourage you to reach out to me at school or to one of the Mid Murray Our Town group members.

All the best,

Mrs Julie Maxwell,

PCW

SCHOOL OPENING HOURS

The library has a mobile phone for communication.  Please let me know if you would like to be included on the message list to receive notifications, holiday and opening hours etc.

The number is:   0460 366 067

LIBRARY MOBILE APP

Due date for articles in the next Newsletter is 10:00am, Wednesday 7 June 2023.  The newsletter is distributed via the SZApp and school website.  

Articles can be emailed to dl.0423.info@schools.sa.edu.au  clearly marked in the subject box as Newsletter, faxed to 8570 2325 or delivered to the front office. Due to the way the Newsletter is now being set up, not all photos are included in the print copy, however there are several photo galleries included online and via the SZApp. Apple devices: open the App store and search and download SZapp, on Android devices open the Play store and search and download SZappa; select the Asia Pacific region and search for Swan Reach Area School.  Follow the prompts to register using an email address and create a password to access the online newsletter. Contact the school should you require any assistance.