13 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Hello Swan Reach,

Pleasingly, the term has begun in a positive manner. Many students are demonstrating our values; Respect, Integrity, Care, Participation and Success. Their success is highly dependent on their ability to learn and consistently apply the life-long learning skills; Organisation, Getting Along, Persistence, Confidence and Resilience. An example of success for staff, students and families was demonstrated at the Swimming Carnival last Friday.

Congratulations on this excellent community collaboration. We saw increased participation from our students who ensured all events were competed with maximum effort. Staff were pleased with the organisation and running of the carnival, and they enjoyed their roles and responsibilities. The community support was outstanding – at one stage there seemed to be more family members present than students! A wonderful and successful day, made even more so by fine catering provided by P&F – thank you ALL.

We also acknowledged our leaders; school captains, proxy captains, house captains and SRC members at the induction assembly prior to the carnival. The senior leaders certainly made a great start to their roles showing capable and supportive actions to assist their teams. We look forward to supporting them develop their leadership skills and increase student voice at SRAS. Thanks Mardi Le Brun for sharing your passion and commitment to SRAS and our community at the assembly. Also a special mention to Claire, Clint, Mardi and Matthew for their participation in the fun and entertaining staff, parent, student relay.

WELCOME

We warmly welcome Amillia, Timothy and Markus to SRAS. Amillia and Timothy join our 7/8 cohort and Markus joins our 1-3 class. We also formally welcome Mr Eric Littlehales, to the 4-6 class as he engages in his final teaching practicum. He looks forward to being with the class, SRAS and to graduating and employment on the APY Lands.

GOVERNING COUNCIL AGM

You are cordially invited to our Annual General Meeting on Monday 17th February. It is an opportunity to come along and see GC in action, without feeling the pressure to commit. Some key roles and responsibilities of the GC are:

• provide advice to the site leader to make sure the curriculum offered meets local community needs. EG a specialist program
• consult with the site’s community to assist when policies are made or reviewed
• take part in an interview to employ a principal
• work on site improvement plan
• review approve and monitor site budget
• endorse the annual report

There will be a free BBQ before the AGM for all attending the AGM. Thanks for responding to the RSVP for catering purposes by Friday 14th February. Children are able to attend and use the library area during the meeting which will be held in the computer room area of the library.

Times and locations for the AGM are:

5:00pm - Finance Meeting in staff room
5:45pm – BBQ in Home Ec Centre and outside tables
6:30pm – AGM in computer room

NOTICE OF ELECTION and CALL for NOMINATIONS

An election is to be conducted for parent members of the Swan Reach Area School Governing Council at the upcoming AGM on Monday 17th February.

Nomination forms are in this week’s school newsletter or may be obtained from the front office. Nomination forms must be lodged with the Returning Officer (the principal) by 4.00pm on Monday 17th February 2020.

The ballot will be conducted at the Annual General Meeting to be held Monday 17th February 2020 at 6:30pm.

Following the closing of nominations a list of the nominations received will be posted at the meeting. There are currently 7 vacancies for elected parent members of the Council. The term of office is for up to a two year period. The vacancies are:

• 3 x 2 year vacancies
• 4 x 1 year vacancies

If the number of nominations is less than the number of vacancies, a notice to that effect and calling for further nominations will be done at the AGM.

Any nominee wishing to appoint a scrutineer to be present at the counting of the ballot must advise the returning officer of their nominated scrutineer by no later than Friday 14th February, in writing.

NOTE WELL: Any additional information or questions in relation to this process should be directed to the principal as returning officer to address.

No campaign literature supporting candidates or groups of candidates may be distributed or posted in the school and no school resources whether human or material may be used to support particular candidates or groups of candidates.

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

The importance and benefits of attendance through schooling years is crucial to children’s best opportunity for success at school and beyond. In particular, regular attendance:

• plays a vital role in developing strong patterns of engagement and attendance with education
• helps develop routines and sets strong foundation for later learning
• builds children and young people’s social capabilities
• prepares children and young people for successful participation in learning and the broader community.

The DfE attendance policy states:

The Act and the Regulations impose statutory responsibilities in relation to attendance at school. The Act requires that children must be enrolled in a school or approved learning program from the age of 6 years until they turn 17 years of age.

The Act also requires that a child must:

• attend the school at which they are enrolled on every day the school is open and at all school activities the school requires the child to attend, or
• participate in the approved learning program in which they are enrolled.

Parents have a responsibility under the Act to ensure their children attend school regularly. If a child or young person does not attend, without a ‘prescribed reason’ for their non-attendance or an approved exemption, their parents may be guilty of an offence.

SRAS endeavours to communicate with families about attendance matters and work with families to ensure maximum attendance for every child. SRAS is committed to strategies that are purposeful and directed by the 6 core functions of attendance improvement:

1. Promote the importance of education from the earliest years of life and throughout the schooling years as a school community priority of the highest value.
2. Assess patterns of non-attendance and circumstances to inform the development of appropriate targeted, intensive and coordinated interventions.
3. Actively engage and include all children, young people and their families in education and interventions which support attendance.
4. Provide support to address the barriers to attendance, learning and wellbeing and ensuring inclusive support for children and young people so they can be physically present and engaged in education.
5. Monitor attendance to ensure that risks are identified, supports are in place, and progress is monitored.
6. Evaluate the need for further or ongoing interventions, referrals for external support and mandatory notifications.

Where a student’s absence is unexplained, SRAS will contact families via text message to seek clarification about the reason for absence. Where there may be ongoing unexplained absences for 3 days, the home group teacher will call to seek clarification. For unexplained absences of more than 3 days, a member of the leadership team will call to seek clarification. In Chronic cases of unexplained absences, SRAS will refer the family to Social Services (Truancy).

In 2019 SRAS had an overall attendance rate of 90.9% which is below the DfE target of 95%. An overview of attendance rates for all year levels will be available on our Annual Report, and will be posted on our website after the Governing Council AGM.

__________________________________________________________________

GC AGM RSVP will be sent home with students: Thanks for returning the slips or contacting the office by Friday 15th February 2020

I_____________________ ___________ (name) will be attending the BBQ and AGM on Monday 17th February 2020.

I will be bringing ____ family members.

Mr John Robertson
Principal

EARLY CHILDHOOD IMMUNISATION REQUIREMENTS

From January 2020, early childhood services are required to keep immunisation records for children. Parents and guardians with children enrolled in a government early childhood service (eg Preschool, rural care, occasional care, family day care or respite care service) will be asked to provide approved immunisation records for their child. Please contact the school if you have questions or concerns.

Meningococcal Vaccination

Important information for parents and students re Meningococcal Vaccination

The free Meningococcal B catch-up program has been extended until 29th February 2020 for young adults, who were aged 17 to less than 21 years when the program started on 1 February 2019.

The Meningococcal ACWY is offered through the school program to 14 -16 year olds in year 10 however students aged 15 to less than 20 years of age who have not received the vaccine are able to access this vaccine through an ongoing GP and council clinic program.

The Meningococcal ACWY and Meningococcal B vaccines are available from GPs or your local council immunisation service for students who missed the opportunity at school to access these free vaccines.

From January to November 2019 there were 26 cases of invasive meningococcal disease reported in South Australia, compared to 30 cases recorded at the same time last year. Of the 26 cases in 2019, 18 have been serogroup B, four serogroup Y, and four serogroup W.

Ref; SA Health Media release 21 November 219

Help put a stop to this devastating disease.

Students or parents may phone HAIMS 8152 0363 if they have any questions relating to this notice.

LEADERSHIP INDUCTION

The Student Representative Council, House Captains and School Captain induction ceremony was held on Friday, February 7th. Mardi Le Brun spoke to the students about leadership and the opportunity for all representatives to encourage their class mates and be positive role models. Mardi’s talk was inspirational and conveyed her passion and pride for the Swan Reach Area School. Inductees included: School Captains- Michael Trezise Donald & Kailem Dahmes. House Captains: Murray Eagles – Dalton Gribble & Olivia Hayford; Mallee Kangaroos- Michael Trezise Donald and Kailem Dahmes. SRC – Michael Trezise Donald (President), Dalton Gribble, Whyatte Stewart, Ryan Wiebrecht, Harley Page, Kai Williams, Jacob Hodge, Iesha Honeyman, Ella Johnson, Teija Barber, Cora O’Shaughnessy, Olivia Griffiths, Charlee Bolt, Koby Bolt, Maliyah Haby and Lily Durant.

SRAS SWIMMING CARNIVAL

SRAS Swimming Carnival

Last Friday we held our annual SRAS Swimming Carnival in our newly refurbished pool. The day began with a brilliant induction of our school leaders in the gymnasium from Mardi Le Brun. As a previous SRC member, house captain and school captain, Mardi highlighted the importance of these roles for our school, as well as the many life-long skills gained from such responsibilities. Further, as a previous record holder of many events at our swimming carnival, Mardi was able to set the tone for a great day of success, fun, participation and competition for all involved.

There were some amazing individual and team efforts witnessed throughout our carnival. A particular highlight came in the second event, where we saw two junior students, Olivia Griffiths and Cora O’Shaughnessy, compete in the 100 metres freestyle. This is the first time a junior aged student has competed in this event! It was also great to see the success of events such as the ‘big bomb’, ‘diving competition’ and the yabby races – these events provide opportunities for all students to be involved and participate. As usual, the mini sub junior events were full of fun and excitement, especially for our preschoolers’ who were able to participate for the first time ever. Well done to the house captains on your involvement in these events; it was brilliant to see our oldest and most senior students supporting our youngest students.

Scores between the Murray Eagles and Mallee Kangaroos were highly competitive throughout the carnival. Scores were level for the first part of the day and continued to seesaw right until the end, where the Murray Eagles came out slightly on top. Congratulations and thank you to all students who willingly participated. Good luck to those students who have been selected to compete in the Upper South East swimming carnival at Coonalpyn next Tuesday.

Many thanks must go to everyone involved in the organization and running of our swimming carnival. A special thank you to all of the staff for your support – everyone had a key role to play in the running of the event. Also, thank you to Ben O’Shaughnessy for having the pool ready and in great condition.

Our rejuvenated Parents and Friends team were again amazing in feeding all of the students, staff, parents and supporters with a delicious sausage sizzle for lunch. A HUGE thank you to Boyd Marks from Cactus Bore for donating all of the sausages to P&F for the carnival. Lastly, a big thank you to all of the parents, carers and grandparents for coming out and supporting your child/ren. This makes for a great atmosphere and family event. Better luck next year parents in the staff vs parents vs students race! Staff were just a little too good for you again…

Well done to the following people on winning individual trophies, medals and certificates:

Mr Jayden Coleman
Sports Coordinator

LUNCH ORDERS

We thank the Swan Reach General Store for supplying lunch orders for the school. The menu and ordering details are below.

SRAS WEBSITE

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

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

Due Date for the next Newsletter is 10:00am, Tuesday 25th February, 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.

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.

Contact Katie at the school on 8570 2053.

P-CMG

Parent Mother Goose sessions will return to Swan Reach in the Early Learning Centre on Tuesday Week 4, 18th February 2020; 10:30 – 11:30, then odd school weeks thereafter. PCMG is a chance to get out of the house for babies and toddlers and their 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 n chat after. Sessions are free and there is no booking involved!

CAFHS VISIT

Child and Family Health Service will visit the Early Learning Centre on Tuesday 10th March during the Playgroup and Parent Mother Goose sessions.

Coming Events 2020

Community Notice Board

Kids Club

3:15pm-4:30pm FRIDAY 21st February, 2020, at the Swan Reach Lutheran Hall. For Reception to Year 6 students. Cost $1. Enquiries Phone Taryn 0427 702 377 or Kristy 0438 857 721.

Easter Fair