Term 3 has started off strong with most staff and students coming back refreshed,

rejuvenated and healthy after the break. My family enjoyed our time in Japan. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to explore a different country and culture together as a family. My favourite thing about travelling is watching the wonder of difference in my girls.

Staff participated in collaborative planning on our Student Free Day. We focused on developing our knowledge and skills around the Big 6 in reading including oral reading fluency and using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) suite to measure literacy skills.

Our attention to developing effective collaboration continued with our work in Critical and Creative Thinking and Numeracy. We reflected on, and shared our practice, supported each other with challenges we experience in these areas of our improvement plan and celebrated our successes. Teachers find this time very valuable and appreciate the dedication and focus that Student Free Days afford us.

Our SSO team worked to develop their understanding of how adjustments benefit our students and what changes can be made to maximise student learning. In addition, they worked with Alicia McInnes to further develop their understanding of our Positive Behaviour for Learning framework.

We welcome two new SSO’s to our team. Keegan Smith and Saxon Badcoe have joined us to support various classes and individual students across a number of classes.

The Department for Education is inviting parents and carers of school-aged children and young people to complete the annual parent survey.

Completing the annual parent survey will give our school feedback to help us understand:

• what we are doing well
• where we can improve
• what is really important to you as a parent

The survey takes less than 10-minutes to complete.

Be sure to have your say this year to help us to continue to improve education here at HPS and in South Australia.
Please look out for the link sent from DfE via email.

Our Indigenous Garden development has entered the next phase. Gondwana Landscaping and Consultancy has been working with us since the beginning of the project and is now ready to plant. Students have completed the signage for the garden throughout Term 2 and P&F is helping us to fabricate and install the signs. Once the garden is complete we will welcome everyone to come and have a wander through and celebrate the space together.

Our new toilet block is nearly complete and will officially open at the end of this week. Each class will be given a tour and work collaboratively to develop positive behaviours in the space. It has been a long project but we are thankful for the facilities and appreciate that we had the capacity do the upgrade.

The weather is beginning to change and the UV is consistently higher so we are back to wearing hats and following our Sun Smart Policy. For your information the policy is available on the website. Policies and Procedures – Hawthorndene Primary School (hthdeneps.sa.edu.au)
Thank you for supporting your children to wear their hats each day.

 From the Deputy

Hi families,

The third term has started well and is racing along as it always seems to do. I have had the privilege to coordinate our students’ entries into this year’s Oliphant Science Awards. Our student’s interest in the awards has grown exponentially in the 3 years that I have been coordinating. Starting from 13 entries in 2022, 31 in 2023 and an amazing 48 entries this year. We have 3 prize winners for their year level category, 1 entry that was awarded the Australian Institute of Energy sponsor prize and 2 others that were recognised as highly commended. When delivering most of our projects to the Wayville Showgrounds for judging, multiple members of other schools commented on how amazing it was that we had so many entries. This is something else that we should be proud of for our school community. All students did a fantastic job and thank you for your support and encouraging them to do their best. I hope that the interest in participating is just as high next year.

Our school’s mission is to challenge and inspire each of our students to connect and contribute to the world around them. We aim to do this through the teaching of our ‘big ideas’ where we integrate multiple learning areas of the Australian Curriculum. This allows us as educators to make meaningful connections across the curriculum for the students. As new concepts are taught, students begin to make connections of their own to the new concept or new knowledge. Student’s successes or ability to truly understand often new concepts or ideas is dependent on whether they can make a meaningful connection to the concept. This can be heavily influenced by their life experiences.

Consider asking a child to write a diary entry from the perspective of a member of the First Fleet if their knowledge of explorers is limited to Dora. Ponder expecting a child to independently arrive home on time if their knowledge and concept of time is limited to something that is managed for them. The cognitive load required to successfully navigate these scenarios without the life experience or prior knowledge is immense, making the chances of truly grasping the idea or concept an uphill battle.

From Wellbeing

In the holidays, I was lucky to attend the annual Inclusive Education Expo,

showcasing high-quality and up-to-date practice in inclusive education.

It was great to hear about different experiences and find out more information to continue to develop our understanding and support of inclusion in our school.

It was great to hear what other schools are working on with the Positive Behaviours for Learning framework, how Autism Inclusion teachers are supporting students and staff, and how to increase an understanding around ADHD and the different strategies to support the differing needs of students.

As I work alongside teachers, this understanding of inclusive practice and strategies to support learners, will help to strengthen inclusion across our school and in classroom supports.

Thank you to everyone who came to the parent workshops on Tuesday night. It is always great to spend time with the community and find out ways to work together to support our students, at home and at school, with consistent approaches.

Bill has a lovely way of sharing his understanding and knowledge to support parents and teachers in their interactions with students. He is open to questions and enjoys discussing challenges that come with parenting and teaching.

We have his book “Raising beaut kids” if you would like to borrow it and find out more strategies to support parenting. You can also download this for $10 and have it to refer back to whenever needed.

Bill Hansberry’s website is another resource for those looking for tips and tricks. https://www.hansberryec.com.au/

Have you ever heard…“I don’t want to go to school” or “I am sick.”

Have you ever had a tough morning getting your child to school?

Have you ever had trouble getting them into or out of the car?

Have you had to do this after school holidays or weekends?

The reasons children struggle to attend school can be complex. School reluctance is normal and often melts away once they step into the classroom.

We see a rise in not wanting to come to school after holidays, being away sick, changes to teachers, starting a new school year and when friendship struggles arise.

 

It can present in a number of ways, and not limited to:

• Reluctance to get up on school mornings
• Tantrums or outbursts
• Repeated pleas to go home
• Frequent lateness or staying home
• Frequent requests to go to the office feeling sick

All of these can be a source of frustration or pull on our heart strings.

 

Some strategies to support parents with this include:

 

Using the language to show support but also be firm in expectations

“I have noticed that you appear upset and worried in the morning and you often ask to stay home.”

“We all feel upset and worried sometimes and it can feel uncomfortable.”

“Going to school is very important. What are some things that we can do to help you to get there?”

“I understand that going to school feels difficult.”

“We can work through your concerns together, but you do need to attend school, because every day at school counts.”

It can help to set up a consistent and structured morning routine. This may look like:

• waking the child at the same time each day with enough time to get ready for school
• giving clear messages about school attendance such as “I know you don’t want to go but we cannot allow you to remain at home”
• encouraging a step-by-step approach to the morning if the child becomes distressed – let’s focus on breakfast first. let’s get your school bag sorted, let’s brush your teeth…
• remember today isn’t a day to sleep, watch TV, play video games because it is a school day

Finally, if you need support speak to your child’s teacher about the challenges your child is having. Together we can develop a plan for school drop-offs, as well as helping to address and tackle any other social or learning issues.

 Basketball News

On Monday 5^th August we competed in the School Sport SA Statewide Schools Basketball Competition. The carnival was held at Wayville and the boys were placed with 3 other schools for the group rounds.

We were tested in our first game but worked well as a team to come away with a comfortable victory, whilst our 2^nd game proved to be a tad harder. We got out to an early lead and were able to hold it, to secure a victory. Once we won our third game, we had qualified top of our group and went on to the Semi Finals.

The semifinal was a step up again, but once again we worked as a team and in the second half, we were able to pull away and secure a narrow win. This led us to the grand final.

 We went up against another undefeated team in Clapham and to their credit they built a lead of 8 points, early in the second half. We held our heads high and got it down to 2 points, before they narrowly held on to defeat us.

It was a great day and well done to the Geckos and a big thank you to all the parents for their help and support.

 BOOK WEEK

Book week is term 3, week 5 and we will be celebrating books and Australian Children’s authors and illustrators. It is also when the winners of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) will be announced.  The shortlisted books are on display in the library for families to share before or after school. We also have magic-themed books on display to fit the theme, Reading Is Magic! You can see the shortlist via the following link.

Shortlist 2024 – The Children’s Book Council of Australia (cbca.org.au)

All classes will be involved in a session in the library surrounding the shortlisted books and in the next newsletter we will share the artwork students have created. You are welcome to come and see what they have done on Friday, Week 5 10:00am -10:30am in the library.

We will have our Book Week parade on Friday of week 5 and a visit from local author, Phil Cummings on Monday!

Students also can enter the Book Week Competition

Week 5 is set to be a magical week! We can’t wait to see all the costumes and celebrate everything books.