30 April 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Hello Swan Reach,

Welcome to term 2. With the disruption to routines due to COVID-19, SRAS is keen to re-engage with face-to-face teaching models in classes ASAP. Attendance rates this week are high enough - 70% on Tuesday and increasing each day - for us to resume ‘normal’ lesson, starting next week. Parents and Carers choosing to keep children at home will be supported through individualised learning packages. SRAS is highly appreciative of the understanding, support and encouragement received from the community throughout this ongoing and challenging time.

The department’s stance is clear, “Schools and preschools will remain open. The Department for Education will continue to follow the advice from SA Health and Australia’s expert health body, AHPPC. The current advice is that schools and preschools should remain open. With low rates of infection in South Australia, parents are encouraged to send their children to school in term 2… From the beginning of term 2, students are encouraged to return to school.”

“Students who are unwell must remain at home. Parents or carers of children at school who are unwell will be contacted and asked to collect them as soon as possible. Students should not return to school until they are well and symptom free.”

We look forward to returning to successful teaching and learning cycles with a continued focus on ‘growth for every child in every classroom.’ Our teamwork with you and our students is critical in ensuring this ideal goal becomes a reality for our children. The Independent Learning Plans (ILP) we collaborated on last term are a vital cog in this joint endeavour.

The preschool will be operational on Thursdays and Fridays this term. The following services remain closed until further notice from the department:

• Occasional Care
• Playgroup
• Parent Child Mother Goose

NAPLAN 2020

This year’s NAPLAN testing is cancelled due to COVID-19.

RERTURNING TO SCHOOL ROUTINES

Returning to routines after holidays can be challenging, however many students are returning to class after an extended and necessary break making this need even more important. The following tips are a condensed copy from the website below:

1. Encourage kids to set goals and take responsibility

Encouraging children to set goals and take responsibility for the upcoming school year is a great way to get in them in the right frame of mind. Research shows that kids who participate in setting learning goals are consistently more motivated and take learning more seriously.

2. Engage with their curriculum

If you want to help your child set appropriate learning goals, it’s important to engage with their curriculum and be aware of what they will be learning and are expected to be proficient in. Most kids deal with some level of stress or anxiety about school. One survey found that 53 per cent of parents cite homework and schoolwork as the greatest driver of stress in their kids. But when parents are aware of what their kids will be learning, they’re better able to provide support and manage stress before school starts again.

3. Ease into the routine

During the holidays, schedules are usually more relaxed and kids get used to going to bed and waking up later, which is one of the things that can make the first few days of school difficult. Kids are very sensitive to routines. If getting to sleep on time is a problem after too many late nights, you can try enforcing a No Electronics rule an hour before bedtime so everyone can wind down. Older kids can also use an alarm clock to take responsibility for their own mornings and evenings.

4. Get organised

The more organised you are the easier your first back-to-school mornings will be, so take the time to plan your morning routine in advance. This may include figuring out what time you need to get up, what you’ll prepare for breakfast and laying out some outfits the night before.

5. Have fun with it

School days may not be as exciting as holidays, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a sombre or boring time. Look for ways to keep things fun, whether it’s upholding family traditions, such as family breakfast and reading or watching a TV series together, or looking for extracurricular activities the kids will enjoy, such as swimming, football or music and art.

STUDENT HEALTH

With winter approaching and known increases in flu cases and other infectious conditions, it is timely to share information to keep our entire community as healthy as possible. The spread of certain infectious diseases can be reduced by excluding a person, known to be infectious, from contact with others who are at risk of catching the infection.

The following are some of the recommended minimum periods of exclusion from school, preschool and childcare centres for cases of, and contact with, infectious diseases, based on guidelines issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council (opens in a new window) in December 2005 and the online Australian Immunisation Handbook (opens in a new window). For the full list visit the following URL address.

Mr John Robertson
Principal

JUMP ROPE FOR HEART

Mrs Yuka Endersby

PARENTS & FRIENDS NEWS

Welcome back everyone. What a crazy time we have had. It feels like it has been months since we were all together at the Sports Day. This term will be quiet for Parents and Friends. We are aiming to have a virtual meeting in the near future, which will give us a chance to catch up and hopefully find a way to support the school during this unusual time. Stay safe and reach out if you need a hand with anything.

Mardi Le Brun
Secretary Parents and Friends.

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 polices. Please visit the link below:

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

Due Date for the next Newsletter is 10:00am, Tuesday, May 12, 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

Playgroup has been suspended until further notice.

P-CMG/Playgroup

Parent Mother Goose and Playgroup sessions have been suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Coming Events 2020

Community Notice Board

To date, South Australia has recorded its fifth consecutive day without any reported cases of Covid-19. Please continue to observe restriction and sanitisation practices. We will get there.