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- PRINCIPAL'S REPORT
- EARLY LEARNING CENTRE NEWS
- JAPANESE WITH MRS ENDERSBY
- BOOK WEEK 2024
- SPORTS REPORTS
- JULIE'S COLUMN
- MID MURRAY OUR TOWN - COMMUNITY GARDEN
- SCHOOL LUNCHES
- COMMUNITY LIBRARY NEWS
- STUDENT BELONGINGS
- PERSONAL HEALTH & HYGIENE
- CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2024
- COMMUNITY NOTICES
- NEWSLETTER INFORMATION
Hello Swan Reach,
Thank you to all who were able to join us for assembly last week. The SRC role played a touching true story about a how a boy, named Shay, with an intellectual and physical disability, was welcomed to play a BIG part in a game of baseball. The story has a number of versions and the following link, leads to the one used at assembly: https://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_shay.shtml
Shay’s story is profoundly touching and beautifully illustrates the power of kindness, empathy, and inclusion. The boys’ decision from both teams to prioritise Shay's joy and participation over winning the game highlights the essence of sportspersonship and humanity.
The story conveys powerful messages about the impact of kindness, empathy, and the importance of embracing every moment with gratitude and mindfulness.
- Gratitude: Shay's father felt immense gratitude for the kindness shown to his son, recognising how the boys' selflessness brought happiness to Shay's life. This gratitude highlights the significance of appreciating the small, compassionate gestures that can make a lasting impact.
- Empathy: The boys in the story showed deep empathy by putting themselves in Shay's shoes, understanding his desire to feel included, and allowing him to experience the joy of playing baseball. Their actions demonstrate how empathy can create meaningful and positive experiences for others.
- Mindfulness: The boys’ decision to let Shay play was an example of mindfulness—being fully present in the moment and prioritising human connection over competition. By focusing on what truly mattered, they created a special memory for Shay and everyone involved.
This story resonates well with our Resilience Project GEM learning and serves as an inspiration to always choose empathy and to recognise the incredible difference that a simple act of kindness can make in someone’s life.
Shay’s story also reflects the deep bond between a father and son, where the father’s hope for his son’s happiness and belonging is met by the kindness of others. The boys’ actions went beyond the game—they created a memory for Shay and his family that would last forever.
Happy Father’s and Significant Male Day to all men making positive differences for our next generations. Thankyou.
Kind regards,
Mr John Robertson
Principal
THE RESILIENCE PROJECT (TRP)
Snapshot 6: Gratitude 2
Some benefits of practising gratitude are:
- After 21 days, you start to scan the world for positives
- After 42 days you become:
- More optimistic, energised & focused
- Less likely to get sick
- You will sleep better
- Anxiety and depression decreases
A few quick and simple ways to practise being grateful are:
- Journaling; each night write down 3 things that went well for you that day or purchase a gratitude journal with gratitude prompts
- Write a gratitude letter to someone special, telling them why you are grateful they are in your life
- Have a family discussion on the way home from school or around the dinner table about the things that went well that day or made you smile
You can purchase 21-day, 6-month, and family journals from The Resilience Project website if that is something you’re interested in.
https://theresilienceproject.com.au/shop/
2024 Parent survey – Sample Newsletter content
The annual parent survey is underway and closes midnight Sunday 8 September. For more information please visit the department’s website.
This survey aims to get your views on:
- what we’re doing well
- where we can improve
- what’s important to you as a parent/carer.
Your answers won't identify you or your child and only collated feedback is provided to our school.
You should have already received a link to the survey via email or SMS. Reminder emails are currently being sent to you unless you have completed a survey or have unsubscribed.
Please take the time to complete the survey, this is valuable information for our school. If you cannot find the previously sent link, then please use this one:
education.ParentSurvey@sa.gov.au>
Dear Parent/ carer
We're excited to announce that the 2024 Preschool Parent Survey will be available from Monday 2 September to midnight Friday 4 October.
The Preschool Parent Survey is an annual, voluntary survey that gathers feedback from parents and carers of preschool-aged children. It aims to help preschools understand how parent’s feel about their child’s preschool experience.
This survey contains questions that are specific to aspects of your preschool. However, the survey may also be completed by parents who have a child who attends other programs and services of the preschool, including for example, occasional care, rural care, and long day care.
Your feedback is invaluable to us as we continuously strive to enhance our preschool program and ensure the best experiences for our children.
To participate in the survey, please find attached a flyer outlining the instructions on how to access the survey. Your opinions are essential in helping us understand your perspectives and needs.
Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated, and we eagerly anticipate your responses.
Kind regards
Mr John Robertson
Principal
Occasional Care
We have good news! Our Occasional Care service will be back up and running in Term 4. Occasional Care is available for children aged 2-4 years on Friday mornings, from 8.30am till 12.30pm. The service will be integrated with our preschool session, and will be co-ordinated by our SSO, Mr Roy McKenzie.
As numbers are restricted, families wishing to utilise this service, will need to register their interest by phoning the front office on 85702053. This includes both previously enrolled children and new children. New enrolments also need to fill in an enrolment form and provide birth and immunisation certificates. Roy will then be in contact with confirmation of your booking and further information.
Mrs Trish Horstmann
Every year, selected students from PS participate in the Hiragana competition, held in the Barossa. This competition challenges students’ Hiragana symbol knowledge in a fun way by competing with 9 other primary schools in Barossa. There is also an art division for this competition. This year the topic for this competition was to design a flag that represents the school and Japanese. During Japanese lessons, students brain stormed symbols, colours and words to design the flag for our Japanese team. Here are some photos of the students’ work. The winner will be announced at the end of the term assembly.
Mrs Yuka Endersby
Japanese Teacher
SAPSASA District Athletics
On Tuesday, 22nd August, selected year 4/5/6 students participated in the SAPSASA District Athletic Competition that was held at Unity College in Murray Bridge. It was very windy day but students put in 100% effort to compete admirably in all their events. Students who participated were Shawn, Ahna, Charlee, Sebastian, James, Wesley, Skylar, Braydon Halle and Rylee. Special thanks to Mrs Trena Williamson for coming with us and driving the bus for us.
Mrs Yuka Endersby
SAPSASA Coordinator
Primary Footsteps Lessons
This term, as a part of the HPE curriculum, students are participating in online Footstep dance lessons. The programs are separated in P-3 and 4-6, with each having 8 dances to various types of music. We are using the big screen in the gymnasium so that our students have enough space to move around.
Mrs Yuka Endersby
Health/Pe Teacher
My article today, from the Big Life Journal, talks about ‘mentally strong kids’. We also know ‘mentally strong kids’ as resilient, persistent and confident young people and successful thinkers. Does that all sound familiar? Our school values, vision and wellbeing program, The Resilience Project, use these words often. We, here at SRAS, know these values are very important in developing successful, healthy life skills and habits.
So, I encourage our SRAS parents and carers to refuse to do these 5 things for the children in your care in order to build up ‘mentally strong kids’ and by doing so, show how much you love and care for them.
Mrs Julie Maxwell
The school lunch menu and prices are supplied by the Swan Reach General Store. We thank them for this service to the school. School lunches are available for order on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. They are not available on Wednesday.
SCHOOL TERM TIME OPENING HOURS - Monday, 8.30am-4:00pm Tuesday, 8.30am-5:00pm Wednesday,8.30am-5:00pm Thursday,8.30am-4:00pm Friday, 8.30am-4:00pm. 'Call and Collect' will still be available for your convenience.
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
REMINDER TO PARENTS/CARERS: Thank you for making sure that ALL your children's belongings (clothes, lunch boxes, drink bottles, etc.) are CLEARLY LABELLED with your child's name. Labelled property can be easily returned to its owner.
At the start of this term a stack of clothing was collected from various places around the school which have not been labelled with any names. This includes:
School Embroidered Hoodies
1 x Size 10
1 x Size 12
1 x Small
1 x Size 10 Anko Kids zip up jacket
1 x Size 10 Anko Kids Hoodie
1 x Size 7 Anko leggings
2 x Size 8 Anko trackpants (brand new)
If any of these items belong to your child/children, thanks for contacting the school and we can send them home.
Also we are looking for a school embroidered hoodie, size 10 with Axle named on the inside tag. It is possible it may have been picked up accidently by another student, return would be appreciated, no questions asked.
We would also like to advise that we can also offer an embroidery service if anyone wants to have their child/children's names embroidered on their school clothing for a small fee of $5.00 per garment. If you are interested in this service contact the school.
Mrs Leanne Griffiths
Good health habits and personal hygiene are essential life skills. Children need to learn life skills that are necessary in order to become healthy, confident and responsible adults. In people with poor personal hygiene, the body provides an ideal environment for germs to grow, leaving it vulnerable to infection. On a social level, people may avoid a person with poor personal hygiene, which may result in isolation and loneliness.
- Showering or bathing every day.
- Washing hands with soap and water often.
- Washing hair regularly.
- Brushing hair every day and getting haircuts when needed.
- Brushing teeth twice a day.
- Changing underwear daily and wearing clean clothes.
- Using personal hygiene products such as deodorant.
| 6th September | School Closure |
| 9th September | Student Free Day |
| 21-22 September | 24 Hour Pedal Prix - Murray Bridge |
| 27th September | End of Term 3 - Assembly 1.30pm, Early Dismissal 2.10pm |
| 14th October | Beginning of Term 4 |
| 4th November | Student Free Day |
| 13th December | End of Term 4 - Early Dismissal 2.10pm |
Due date for articles in the next Newsletter is 10:00am, 11th September, 2024. 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.