14 May 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Hello Swan Reach,

Hoping the rain continues to be kind to those in need and that more will come your way soon. A number of people have commented that it’s been one of the driest periods they can remember. We empathise with the difficulty and struggle experienced by those on the land due to the dryness.

COVID-19

SRAS continues to act on the advice of SA medical experts and the Department for Education. Whilst the state has recently received some light easing of some restrictions, SRAS will continue with a cautious approach. We understand that much can change quickly, however we have a quick update for families listed below:

• Playgroup, Occasional Care and Parent Child Mother Goose remain suspended
• We ask parents and carers to remain off-site unless essential
• Volunteers are to remain off-site
• Library remains shut to community members – possibly offer a click and collect option soon
• Ongoing high personal hygiene for staff and students
• Additional cleaning remains in place
• Social distancing remains in place for staff
• All but 4 students have returned to classrooms

SRAS again, thanks parents and carers who continue to be highly supportive toward SRAS and restrictions during this time.

The following article was recently shared by a colleague through our leader’s network. I’ve made a few changes to fit the SRAS context.

One of the things that has come out of the COVID experience, has been a number of families realising that teaching is not an easy job. Parents and Carers have told us, that a week or two at home, watching their child(ren) learn, helping them with their work, checking it, and making sure they have completed it, has been a somewhat hard task.

Now multiply this by 10 -15 students, extend it to 6 and half hours every day, and do all the planning in the remaining hour of the day. Now write their student reports, keep a record of their scores, manage their behaviour when it’s not appropriate, meet a parent now and then, attend several school meetings each week, and squeeze in a couple of hours of staff training every Monday afternoon.

Report student absences by 9.30am, make sure all the students have ordered their lunches, get some new tissues for the class and turn the Smartboard on, after you’ve learnt how to use it with the new program that is being used this month. Make any reports to government agencies, respond to requests from the principal, and change the student work that’s displayed in your classroom every couple of weeks. Do yard duty outside 3 times a week, supervising all students in the yard, and remember to report everything that needs fixing up, or referring to the office for attention.

Now throw in a COVID-19 experience with sick students that come to school coughing and sneezing during winter. At the end of the day, take some student work home for marking, and then do all the housework and remember to get to sleep early, because you have another day of teaching at school tomorrow.

Thank you to all parents and carers who have realised just how complex and mentally exhausting the job of teaching really is. It’s not a question of walking in at 8.30am, waving the students goodbye at 3.10pm and walking out of school at 4.30pm. It is a job that is physically and very mentally and emotionally tiring. The staffroom is the only place in the school where they can fall into a chair with a cup of coffee for 20 minutes (if they’re lucky), before the bell goes to get up and do it all again.

Thank you to all the teachers and Educators who do this day in, day out, everyday. Working in a school has been recognised as one of the most challenging and tiring occupations that impacts on one’s home life. So why do they do it? Because it is also recognised as one of the most rewarding careers in the world. Thank you SRAS Team!

COMMUNICATION

SRAS highly values and needs your ongoing close communication. Governing Council (GC) requested that SRAS clarify the modes of communications available and their main purpose. Thank you GC for this insight to maintain strong home-school partnerships.

• SMS Alert System – this is a new mode and is primarily used for ‘ALERTS’ such as newsflashes and important reminders. It is the only electronic system that guarantees ALL families receive important information. It only allows for brief messages. It has the facility for families to advise SRAS of absences, the preferred is to call the office or text the school mobile.
• School Mobile – is probably the most reliable way to contact the school and to send home information to individual families or small groups. It is not able to send messages to ALL families like the SMS Alert
• Face Book – excellent to keep updated visually about school events. Also used as another way to communicate important reminders such as Parents and Friends Lunch, Mother’s Day stall, Student Free Days, etc
• SRAS Website – contains a lot of information and worth revisiting. It contains the site context, key policies and parent information along with newsletter and Annual Report. It is linked to the Schoolzine App where families can access the webpage and also report absences
• Email – a number of families communicate with staff and committees via email. A useful mode for longer, personalised communication
• Land line – ever reliable mode. The one restriction for families is if they wish to speak to a staff member immediately, it is better to call and arrange a mutual time or request for the staff member to return your call ASAP

MANNUM COMMUNITY COLLEGE (MCC) FREE MOVIE ACCESS

MCC has set up a ‘Screenagers’ using part of their Parents In Education grant. They are keen to spread the word far and wide so parents can access the movies across the mid-Murray.

The Movies are available on the links below or refer to the MCC Facebook page where they’ve created two events with the necessary links:

• Screenagers: Growing up in the digital age

• Screenagers: The next chapter

EDUCATION AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES ACT

The Education and Children’s Services Act 2019 replaces the Education Act 1972 and the Children’s Services Act 1985. The new Act will come into operation during 2020, supporting our ambition to deliver world class education. It has new laws and actions to improve our schools. It is developed to provide stronger protection and support for all stakeholders. Some key areas addressed are:

• attendance
• student support
• informed parents
• safe learning environments
• legal support for Governing Councils

A summary of the Department’s changes is included with this newsletter outlining some key changes in the Act.

Mr John Robertson
Principal

JOE (JOURNAL OF EDUCATION)

JOE needs you!

JOE is here!

JOE is about the people.

JOE is for the people.

JOE shares insightful stories about the people.

JOE shares the things that matter to the people.

JOE is you.

JOE is us.

JOE is a concept conceived by the year 9/10 English class at Swan Reach Area School. JOE is an acronym for JOURNAL Of EDUCATION. JOE is about the students interviewing the people of our district and writing their backstories - stories of achievement, stories of pain and the plethora of emotions between the two.

JOE provides the platform for the class to write about authentic individual and group experiences and to personalising them through the power, grace and inspiration of words. Communicating with compassion, care and coherency, to share the life moments that matter to you, and capture your perspective is an important ambition of JOE.

JOE allows students to use conventional, unconventional and experimental writing techniques and genres. JOE is a learning platform for the students to develop their writing and Literacy skills. It won’t be perfect. It is a real-life application continually improving and most of all - JOE needs you!

Mr John Robertson
Principal

JOE

Here, snatch a JOE! Get a copy of JOE. Yes, it’s the journal that you and your community, everyone has have been searching for. The journal of JOE (Journal Of Education). J.O.E is full of stories about our and your community. What’s happening in the news? Joe is only about the people, by the people and for the people. Nothing else matters other than you and our community. Our stories will move and motivate you. If you’re having a bad day, the journal of education is here for you. We have the willingness to write stories from your perspective. Welcome to JOE.

The students believe that everyone’s stories matter and want to make sure everyone’s story is heard. Small communities have wonderful people with amazing stories so every story in JOE is about a person in your community who has, well, an amazing story.

Kai Williams and Alli Harris
Students

Front Office Changes

Halle and Sienna having a chat with Mrs Trena Williamson and Mrs Tracey Gierke while taking the class roll to the office. The opening of the office bench certainly makes it more user friendly for our younger students – and more open to all visitors.

JUMP ROPE FOR HEART

We’re skipping through the term!

Jump Rope for Heart is well underway and it’s great to see so many children out in the playground skipping with smiles on their faces. Swan Reach Area School has already raised $168.06.

It’s not long until our Jump Off Day on 12th June Friday so keep on practicing those tricks! And don’t forget to share your online fundraising page with friends and family to raise money for a great cause!

It’s easy just follow this link and enter your details.

Mrs Yuka Endersby
Primary PE Teacher

SAPSASA UPDATE

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you have had the chance to use some of your holidays to rest and recharge for whatever Term 2 may hold. At this point there is no definite timeline for the resumption of School Sport events and what will be manageable on the resumption. However, everyone is remaining hopeful and look to a time in the near future when we can run events and provide students with the opportunities to be involved in sport again.

Kind Regards,
Mrs Sarah Bolt (SAPSASA Co-ordinator)
Year 4-6 Teacher

Mr Bryan Wilsdon
Murray River and Mallee Region Convenor SRAS SAPSASA Coordinator
(inc Murray Mallee & Murraylands Sapsasa Districts and Upper South East Zone)
Mannum Community College t 8570 2053
Department for Education | walker Avenue, Mannum 5238
t 8569 1503 m 0439 508 475 e bryan.wilsdon907@schools.sa.edu.au

IMMUNISATION EVIDENCE REQUEST NOTICE

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 Notices

Community Library

Please note, at this stage the Community Library remains closed to community members. We are hoping that a click and collect option will be available soon.