29 October 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Hello Swan Reach,

What a delightful time staff, students and families enjoyed at last week’s Pink Stumps event. The weather held for us and the organising through to the catering was superb. Cricket definitely was the winner on the day along with all who participated in a friendly and engaging manner – all aspects of our values: Care, Respect, Integrity, Participation and Success were demonstrated. Special thanks to the Year 12 Sports Studies students for their organisation, the 7-10 Home Ec students for the amazing catering, Mr Phil Carter and Mr Gregg Griffiths for their BBQ skills and all community members who visited and joined in on the day. Well done SRAS community!

WHOLE SCHOOL TRANSITION SESSIONS

SRAS has planned three whole-school transition sessions that are outlined below:

• Thursday 12th November – lessons 1 and 2 (8:45am -11am) – Principal’s Tour @ 9am and morning tea at 10:30am
• Thursday 19th November – lessons 3 and 4 (11:00am – 1:25pm)
• Thursday 26th November – lessons 1 and 2 (8:45am -11am) – Principal’s Tour @ 9am and morning tea at 10:30am

You are invited to attend Principal’s Tours that will be conducted on the 12th and 26th November. This is an opportunity for families to visit learning spaces, view teaching and learning and ask clarifying questions about education at SRAS. We look forward to seeing you and sharing morning tea that will be hosted by our Pastoral Care Worker, Mrs Julie Maxwell.

EMERGENCY DRILL

Last week SRAS conducted an emergency drill to comply with Work Health and Safety Standards. Our fire warden, Mr Phil Carter is ‘surprising’ us with the timing of the drills to better simulate an authentic scenario. At times parents and carers may be on-site and need to know and follow school and staff directions. There are 2 emergency sirens and the full procedure is detailed below in our emergency procedure document – these are located at the exits of every building.

In summary we have an invacuation siren that is signalled by regular short bursts of the siren – any person outside MUST go immediately to the closest building and all doors and windows are locked. The evacuation siren uses long bursts and all on site MUST proceed to the oval assembly point.

BUSHFIRE PROCEDURES ON CATASTROPHIC DAYS

Whilst summer scorchers seem somewhat distant, this is a timely reminder of our bushfire procedures.

On days where a Catastrophic Fire Danger rating is forecasted:

• all school bus routes travelling through any affected Fire Ban District(s) will be cancelled
• school will still be open and lessons will run as normal

If the Fire Ban rating changes to ‘Catastrophic’ during the day:

• school buses will operate as normal, unless advised otherwise by authorised Emergency Services personnel.

If a bushfire is reported in the area during the day:

• affected bus runs will not to leave the school until the roads are declared safe by emergency services authorities

Parents will be notified and students will be supervised at school, until buses can run, or until parents are able to collect their children.

FREE COUNSELLING SERVICE

Regional Access offers free professional telephone and online counselling 24 hours a day, seven days a week for people 15 years and older living or working in regional South Australia.

If You Need To Talk To Someone

You do not require a medical referral to initiate contact. This means you can access free professional counselling anywhere, at a time that is convenient to you.

Phone and online counselling is seen by many to be a helpful alternative to traditional face-to-face counselling because of its less confronting approach. Our professionally trained counsellors have specialist skills in working with you to work through any pain and distress you may be feeling. The counsellor will help you with goal planning, ensuring your own safety, and help to link you to other services in the community. All staff managing our telephone or online counselling services are qualified professional counsellors, social workers or psychologists, trained to follow a contextual counselling and problem-solving process to listen, understand you, and help you find ways to feel better.

While you should always call 000 if it’s an emergency, we can help anyone who is affected by:

• Anger management
• Anxiety
• Financial worries
• Grief and loss
• Hopelessness
• Isolation and loneliness
• Low self-esteem
• Relationship issues and family problems
• Sadness
• Short-term depression
• Stress
• Wellbeing
• Work stress

Call and talk with a professional counsellor now on 1300 032 186 anywhere, anytime.

Online Counselling can be accessed through the following link:

Mr John Robertson
Principal

MENTAL HEALTH

The stats below emphasise the importance of mental health within our school and wider community. There are times when problems seem overwhelming. If you’re feeling like this, one of the best things you can do is talk to someone. Finding someone to support you can help you take control of your problems and feel better. At SRAS our WeMatter initiative looks to build the narrative toward Mental Health using a promotion and prevention model. Too often mental ill-health and crisis dominates the conversation and narrative, and is the 'price' of not having unashamed conversations about mental health - resilience and coping. Follow the link below to view ways in which you or your children can access a variety of supports.

When we think of health, we tend to prioritise physical well-being at the expense mental health. Instead, we should tackle mental health the same way we tackle physical health - with an eye towards preventing disease by addressing the foundational forces that cause us to be sick or unwell.

Mr Troy Cowland
Deputy Principal

EARLY LEARNING CENTRE NEWS

The Preschool/Reception class and playgroup went on an excursion to the Swan Reach Ambulance Centre because we are learning about our community. We were led by one of our fantastic local SA ambulance volunteers, Holly Cowland.

Holly showed us inside the Ambulance Station, and told us about how she has to do training to learn how to help people when they are hurt. We saw Jeff, the dummy that they practise CPR on, a skeleton and another body that showed organs like the heart and lungs. Holly showed us how she bandages people’s legs and arms if they are bleeding or have a snake bite and we practised on each other. We also used a stethoscope, to listen to a friend’s heart beating.

Then we went to the shed to see the ambulance. Everyone wore a special ambulance hat and went in the back where the patient lies. Holly got the stretcher out and we all had a turn sitting on it to see what it would be like if we ever had to be a patient. We hope we don’t need it, but if we do, now we know that it isn’t that scary. The noise of the ambulance siren sure is loud though!

Back at the ELC, Holly gave us all a package with an ambulance colouring book, cardboard ambulance to make, some posters, stickers, a pencil and a balloon. Thank you so much Holly for showing us all about the Ambulance and the Ambulance Station, and for helping our community.

Mrs Trish Horstmann, Mrs Dorothee Moellers and the P/R Class

ELC Ambulance Visit

Julie’s Column

Hi everyone, here is another article that I’ve taken from the “parent notes” in one of my books titled “When I’m Feeling Lonely” by Trace Moroney. The article is written by psychologists Bill Hallam and Dr Craig Olsson.

Feeling Lonely

Healthy self-esteem allows your child to handle feelings of loneliness when they happen. You can help your children cope with lonely feelings by telling them that nobody can feel good all the time and that uncomfortable feelings pass. When children trust themselves to handle negative feelings, they can turn loneliness into being alone and OK. You can also help your child feel less lonely by teaching him or her how to love and value who they are. When children value themselves from the inside it matters less whether they are with people or on their own.

If your child is lonely and would like to talk with someone about it, I am available on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Feel free to call me at school or let your child know that they can come and ask me for a chat.

If you would like to know more about my role as a Pastoral Care Worker at school, I have a brochure that is produced by SMG (Schools Ministry Group – my employer). You can pick one up from the front office. Also, I will share snippets of it in my newsletter articles. Here is the first snippet –

Pastoral Care Workers Provide Pastoral and Practical support to:

STUDENTS by listening, taking an interest in them, being involved with their daily lives, facilitating activities and seminars and being a positive role model.

FAMILIES by being a person of contact, listening, caring, providing support in times of crisis as well as being a referral to support services.

COMMUNITY by being a link between churches, the wider community and the school community.

Mrs Julie Maxwell
Pastoral Care Worker

BOOK WEEK ACTIVITIES

The primary classes were involved in class activities to celebrate book week this year. The students were organised into three groups based on the shortlisted books, Tilly, Hello Lighthouse and When Billy was a Dog. Students painted lighthouses and the ocean in watercolours, created birdhouse collages to highlight their special things and painted pet portraits.

BOOK WEEK 2020

PINK STUMPS DAY

Hi SRAS community, the year 12 class thank you so much for celebrating the great game of cricket and ‘Pinking Up’ to support families experiencing breast cancer. I know the past year hasn’t quite been what we expected! A lot of people have been (and still going) through some tough times. I hope you enjoyed being part of Pink Stumps Day and it has helped to bring us closer together. We really appreciate you getting out there and raising a total of $500 to continue to fund McGrath Breast Care Nurses. Together we are making a difference!

Pink Stumps Day

Mr Troy Cowland
Deputy Principal

DARK SKY RESERVE

On Tuesday, 27th October, Mr Chris Tugwell visited the school to talk to the students about the Dark Sky Reserve.

Chris kindly volunteered his time to talk about his experiences and input to the Dark Sky Reserve, which currently covers approximately 3,000m2 of our council region (an area roughly the size of Adelaide). Chris founded the idea to create a Dark Sky Reserve here in Swan Reach, after years of consultation with scientists, astronomers and the local Mid Murray Council. For years, he has been amazed at our incredible view of the stars and our galaxy from his home at Big Bend. Recently, he was lucky enough to have a $10,000 telescope donated to him – he is proud to be able to share this incredible telescope with schools and aspiring scientists/astronomers. Students from the 4-6 class and the 7-10 students were lucky enough to have a short glimpse of what the telescope is capable of. Unfortunately, as it was during the day, we were unable to see the stars; however, Chris shared several incredible photos taken with the telescope from the Swan Reach Conservation Park across the river. The telescope has the capability to automatically locate any star or planet within our galaxy at the click of a button (quite mind blowing!). Chris aspires to build a planetarium and observatory within the Dark Sky Reserve. We look forward to working with Chris again in the future and we kindly thank him for giving up his time to share his knowledge of our incredible region. Also, a big thank you to Mrs Sarah Bolt for liaising with Chris to organise this visit. Below, you’ll find some of the feedback and comments from the 4-6 class.

Jayden Coleman
Secondary Science Teacher

Dark Sky Information Session

Year 4-6 Comments

“I loved all the colours of the galaxies.” Jade

“Swan Reach is very dark but it’s not the darkest place in the world. That is amazing. The telescope is amazing because it can tell all the details. I loved the look of the galaxies.” Maliyah

“The Emu in the sky and the stars and the sun blows up in the future was amazing. It was good.” Ben

“It was absolutely amazing and I loved it. I thought the telescope was amazing because I could see so much detail on things when I looked through it. I couldn’t believe that some places in the world could only see a few stars and some places couldn’t even see the moon.“ Cora

“I learnt that taur means bull. It was cool learning about space, astronomy and the telescope. I liked the galaxies and stars. Mr Tugwell explained it very well and he was very nice.“ Jackson

“I learnt that the sun will eat us in billion years. It was interesting.“ Penny

“I really liked it a lot seeing the different galaxies.“ Koby

“I learnt that Australia is so dark. I was amazed how dark it is around our area.“ Bailey

Mrs Yuka Endersby
Primary Science Teacher

PARENTS & FRIENDS NEWS

It was fantastic to be on site last week for Pink Stumps Day! Well done to everyone involved in the organisation and running of the afternoon. As parents it is great to see the whole school involved, to be included and to get a feel for the school atmosphere. Parents and Friends have one final fundraiser for the year on Friday 20th November 2020.

The Nildottie Progress have given us the opportunity to host the annual dinner at the Nildottie Hall which will help us reach our fundraising targets for the year and set us up for a great start in 2021. Numbers are restricted due to COVID so please book in early by contacting Dot Haby, 0427 715 818 (Phone or text).

Our AGM is coming up fast on the 6th November at 10am in Silver Vale. We say it every year that everyone is welcome but very rarely see a change of faces. Parents and Friends offers an easy way to make a connection with the school and other parents. Baking skills and a full time commitment are not required so please drop in if you want to see what it’s all about and build a stronger connection with our school. We are nearly at the end of this crazy year, so hang in there! Cheers,

Mardi Le Brun
Secretary P&F

SCHOOL/COMMUNITY LIBRARY NEWS

BOOK FAIR

This year’s book fair will be held in the Silver Vale ‘Pop up Shop’ beginning Monday 26th October to 3rd November, 2020. This is a great opportunity to stock up for Christmas. Students will be able to purchase books during lunch time, 1:00pm-1:25pm, parents and carers are welcome during the day just swing by the library to arrange a visit.

PLAYGROUP INFORMATION

SWAN REACH PLAYGROUP TIMETABLE

Term 4 - 2020

* Playgroup carers and children are welcome to join the ELC excursions; we will need to make our own arrangements to and from the destination – thank you for letting me know if you plan to join us on the day.

* ELC Excursions; thank you for meeting at the ELC by 10:30, leaving at 10:45, return by 12/12:15.

Every Tuesday this term the Preschool children will be attending the Early Learning Centre so there are plenty of activities and children to play with!

Activities always available…

Crafts; colouring, cutting, gluing

Outdoor play; bikes, balls, slides, building bricks, toddler / baby toys, books

Indoor play; toddler / baby toys, building blocks, books

For upcoming School Events please see our School Newsletter available via…

The SZApp; Apple devices (App store) or Android devices (Play Store)
School; Swan Reach Area School, Region; Asia Pacific

SCHOOL LUNCH ORDERS

We thank the Swan Reach General Store for supplying lunch orders for the school. The menu and ordering details are below. Please note there are no lunch orders available on Wednesdays.

SRAS WEBSITE

The Swan Reach Area School website is where you can find all the school information including the newsletter, forms and policies. Please visit the website below.

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

Due date for the next Newsletter is 10:00am, Tuesday 27th October, 2020. The newsletter is distributed via the SZApp and school website. Printed copies are still available upon request.

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 library/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. We now have approximately 80% of families accessing the newsletter via the app or the website and are hoping for 100% strike rate as we head into Term 4.

PLAYGROUP

Swan Reach Playgroup at SRAS Early Learning Centre. Every Tuesday during term time 10am-12pm. All children birth to school age are welcome for indoor and outdoor play. Please wear sun-smart clothing, bring a hat, water bottle and fruit/veg to share for healthy snack time. $2 per session, per family.

For more information contact the school on 8570 2053.

P-CMG/Playgroup

Parent Mother Goose sessions have returned to Swan Reach in the Early Learning Centre. These are being held fortnightly on odd weeks of term, Wednesdays at 10 am. PCMG is a chance to get out of the house for babies and toddlers and carers. Bond with your children and have fun using the power of songs, rhymes and stories. Trained facilitators lead a relaxed session for parents and children with a play and coffee and chat after. Sessions are free and there is no booking involved!

Sessions will begin in Week 2, 21st October, 2020.

Coming Events 2020

Community Notices

School\Community Library

Opening Hours

Recess time- 10:40-11.00am
Lunch time-12:40-1:25pm
Phone 8570 2298

Kid’s Club

FRIDAY 30th October 2020
3:15 to 4:30 pm
At the Swan Reach Lutheran Hall
For Reception to Year 7
Cost $1
Enquiries Phone Taryn 0427702377 or Kristy 0438857721

CWA Inaugural Branch Meeting

LIGHT THE NIGHT