17 September 2020

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Hello Swan Reach,

As the end of term nears, it is important our staff and students persist with quality teaching and learning. Everyday and every lesson provides opportunity to develop and importantly demonstrate academic, social and behavioural growth. As their primary educators, SRAS relies on your ongoing support. Thankyou for:

• persisting with their home learning routines
• organising them each day
• encouraging their confidence to have a go
• assisting their getting along with siblings, friends, family and staff
• building their resilience when things initially don’t work out how they wished
• your ongoing communication

Staff are most fortunate, as we facilitate your child(ren)’s learning during the best hours of the day and then get to hand them back to you. Parenting and Caring is the toughest job on Earth but is often also the most rewarding. Teaching, supporting and learning too, can be tough but also extremely rewarding. We are in this together and have similar goals for our youth – to help them be the best version of themselves as possible. We can do it!

DEPT FOR EDUCATION OPINION SURVEY OF PRESCHOOL PARENTS

Parents and Carers of SRAS are invited to participate in the survey by accessing the following online link. This link is specific to our preschool, but individual responses will not be identifiable.

All survey responses submitted by the due date of WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th will be included in our site summary report prepared by Data Reporting and Analytics. This report will be emailed back to SRAS in early November. Our report will only contain a summary of all online survey responses submitted.

Thank you for your participation in this survey to assist us in our future planning and implementation of school services.

CYBER SAFETY

The following extract, about cyber safety warning for ALL parents and carers, is copied from the full article contained on the website below:

Parents warned about shocking suicide video on TikTok that may be hidden in other content

Parents have been warned to keep children away from the platform after a shocking video was uploaded and may be hidden in innocent looking content.

Parents have been warned to keep their children off TikTok today after a shocking video purporting to show a man taking his own life was uploaded.

Cybersecurity expert and child safety advocate Susan McLean posted a warning on Facebook about the horrifying video, advising parents the clip can also be hidden in innocent looking content such as cat videos.

“Please ensure you do not allow your older teens on the app today if they have it,” Mrs Mclean wrote on Facebook. “It is apparently now on Instagram but they are at least removing accounts posting it. Check in with your kids today, they most likely will know about it.”

SRAS heeded Susan’s advice – she spoke to SRAS students back in 2016 and is highly regarded – and asked the secondary students if they had heard about the video. Most reported that they did know about it.

Mrs Mclean was in the middle of talking to a 200-plus strong cohort of year five and six students when contacted about the video. “A large number of them were really upset when I said they’re legally not allowed to be on TikTok because they’re not 13,” Mrs Mclean told news.com.au when she called back. She said some of the children said their “mum said it was fine. If you don’t have parents who are actively parenting their children you’re going to have these issues,” Mrs Mclean said.

She added the internet is really an adult world and children need to be introduced to it gradually with rules and restrictions, the same way they are to the real world. “We have to understand that these sorts of things are going to happen, we need to do more to make sure people don’t misbehave online, and we need platforms to do more.”

“They’ve made massive improvements in seeing stuff before it happens but the point of live [streaming] is you’re doing it live, so you don’t get forewarning of what it is.”

If any child or adult is distressed, directly or indirectly, from such disrespectful posts on the internet talking to a trained professional can help.

Need to talk to someone? Don't go it alone. Please reach out for help.

STUDENT FREE DAY – WE MATTER SO BE YOU

Last Thursday, staff engaged with the new WeMatter framework called Be You. It is a national initiative to promote MENTAL HEALTH and raise awareness. It also aims to de-stigmatise perceptions about mental health – too often mental health is perceived as MENTAL ILLHEALTH such as diagnosed depression. We all have mental health and ‘WeMatter so Be You’ targets embraces a preventative model to grow mentally healthy generations – young and old. Understanding the difference between mental health and mental health conditions is depicted on the continuum below.

Mental health and mental health conditions are different and exist on a continuum

At one end, Flourishing represents optimal functioning in which a child or young person feels good, functions well, relates well with others, and approaches their learning with purpose, curiosity and optimism.

Next are children and young people who are Going OK. They experience good mental health and an absence of frequent or significant feelings of distress.

In the Struggling range are children and young people who may come to the attention of educators due to more noticeable but generally time-limited periods of distress which have a mild impact on their behaviour, learning and relationships.

These experiences may either be a) an expected part of development and growing up, b) an expected emotional reaction to challenging life circumstances, or c) the early signs of an emerging mental health condition.

Finally, children and young people at the far right-hand-side of the continuum have thoughts, feelings and behaviours that are distressing and have a severe impact on everyday activities.

Children and young people shift back and forth along the continuum

Mental health changes over time in response to different stresses and experiences. There are many factors, both internal and external, that affect where someone generally sits on the continuum, and also where they sit at any given point in time.

Most children and young people sit at the positive mental health end of the continuum, most of the time

END OF TERM ASSEMBLY & EARLY DISMISSAL

SRAS invites parents and carers to our end of term assembly at the outdoor learning area, at 1:30pm on Friday 25th September. This will be followed by an early dismissal at 2:10pm. Buses will depart at 2:15pm.

Mr John Robertson
Principal

9-a-side Football

On Thursday, 3rd of September, 13 year 7-10 students from SRAS participated in the annual 9-a-side football competition at Karoonda. Students from SRAS combined with students from Karoonda to help fill our girls’ team, and students from both Karoonda and Mannum to fill our boys’ team. The competition kicked off at 10:00am, with a round-robin tournament against: Tintinara, Coomandook, Lameroo, Mannum and Karoonda. For many of our students, this was their first time competing in this tournament – only one of our students currently plays football on weekends. This proved a great opportunity for our students to experience a competitive sport, and ride the highs and lows of a team game. Overall, our students positively represented SRAS, displaying great teamwork and sportsmanship. Although we didn’t come out of the day on top as winners, our students certainly deserve praise for their admirable effort. Congratulations to both Kai and Naomi, who were adjudged the Most Valuable Players for their respective teams. Likewise, congratulations to both Jacob and Ella, who were adjudged the Most Courageous players for their respective teams. Students are already looking forward to holding more training sessions for next year’s tournament. Lastly, a big thank you to Mr Phil Carter for safely transporting us to and from the event.

Mr Jayden Coleman
Sports Coordinator

9-side Football

SCHOOL SNAPSHOTS

There are always lots of exciting things happening around the school that contribute to positive learning and student well-being. Check out the photos taken by Miss Griffiths and Mrs O’Shaughnessy.

SRAS Snapshots

INDUSTRY VISITS

On Wednesday, 2nd September the Year 11/12 Tech class visited Bowhill Engineering as part of their Stage1 and Stage 2 design, technology and engineering studies. Bowhill Engineering is a local family business that is run professionally with a collaborative commitment and renowned for innovation. The company fosters a positive culture and values all staff, recognising their skills, knowledge and experience. Samantha Krollig, HR Coordinator, took the students on a workshop tour which consisted of a showroom presentation, visual presentation and workshop walk. It was a great chance for the students to observe an engineering workshop that can offer future employment opportunities.

On Wednesday 9th September students visited Willow Produce at Walker Flat and had the opportunity to experience practical on-farm training. This included preventative maintenance of forklifts, safety and operating procedures and safe handling techniques. These skills are assessable against the modules of Certificate II and Certificate III in Horticulture. We are very fortunate to be able to access local industry and businesses that give our students real-life and hands-on experiences as they work toward gaining skills and qualifications for future careers. Many thanks to Samantha Krollig and Jeremy Hawkes at Bowhill Engineering, and Clinton and Hayley Griffiths of Willow Produce for giving our students these opportunities.

Mr Greg Griffiths
Design, Technology and Engineering teacher
Horticulture teacher

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 link below.

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

Due Date for the next Newsletter is 10:00am, Tuesday 13th Octoberber, 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!

Coming Events 2020

Community Notices

School\Community Library Hours

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

Kid’s Club

FRIDAY 18th September 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

BOWHILL ENGINEERING

MID MURRAY COUNCIL

FULL MOON PERFORMANCES

LITTLE ATHLETICS