Maitland Area School

Wow! Is it really two years since we performed 'Compass Rose'? Well, Musical time has crept around again and we're full steam ahead for the world premiere of 'Bonsai Samurai', the story of a Samurai-obsessed little boy who has to learn the hard way about loyalty and why friends - of all shapes and sizes - are so important in life.

Characters

Auditioning has once again proved tricky with so many talented students. Height constraints have also played a part. Our hero Hiroki has to be short and his sister Shun tall. Then there are the good ninjas (small), bad ninjas (tall), two sets of Samurais (tall), a Sumo wrestler (very tall) and five Tsukuomogami (smallish Japanese ghosts). I congratulate all students who auditioned, whether they won a part of not. It can be a quite nerve-wracking procedure, so well done to everyone who tried out.

Costumes

Di Bourne, our costumer extrordinaire has already accrued a stockpile of Japanese kimonos and accessories but is still on the look out for more. Donations only please, as we can't guarantee the safety of loaned material.

Volunteers

We'll be looking for lots of help this year, making costumes, decorating the PAC (think Japanese Theatre) and helping organise the myriad of details that a show involves. Please let myself or Deb Briggs in the front office know if you'd like to help. Performances We'll have two performances this year. They'll be a matinee performance on September 21 and an evening performance on September 22. Please mark those dates in your diary!

The JP hosted another successful Pet Week (week 8).

A big thank you to all the families that organised the animals and photos.  

We loved meeting and learning about all the different pets.  

This year we met dogs, cats, rabbits, blue tongue lizard, cockatiel, Eclectus parrot, turtles and chickens. 

Holidays are fast approaching and students will be looking forward to a well earned break. For our Year 12 students it is an opportunity to finish work and begin to prepare for the upcoming term. 

All year 12 subjects have an externally assessed component worth thirty percent of the final grade. For some these are investigations and folios, for others it is an end of year exam. Either way, Term 3 represents a busy time of the year with a lot of work due and deadlines to meet. 

To support students with exams and preparation for them, Maitland Area School are offering support for programs run during the holidays.  A package has gone home to all students with an end of year exam outlining the assistance available. 

1. Ace Your Exams

Firstly, the Ace Your Exams program is being conducted at Kadina Memorial School on the first Monday of the holidays. 

Tickets have been provided for each student by MAS. 

2. Holiday revision courses

The second is a range of holiday revision programs run by companies in Adelaide. 

These are proving increasingly popular and assist with specific subject revision and exam preparation. 

MAS is offering to refund half the cost of these sessions after completion. Please contact the school if you require further information.

Monday, March 21 was Harmony Day and we celebrated this national festival of Australia's cultural diversity by joining students from Point Pearce Aboriginal School at a special morning of inclusiveness, respect and belonging at the Maitland Lutheran School.

The Harmony Day theme is 'everyone belongs' and children were treated to story-telling, cultural handicrafts, special games, face-painting and more in our two-lesson visit.

A special treat was a didgeridoo performance to finish our activities.

Thank you to the staff at MLS who organised and ran the activities and a special 'well-done' to the MLS students who led games and handicrafts and interacted so patiently with students from all three schools.

On the March 21 our class had a group of ladies come in to the library to teach us how to knit. We had six ladies help us and lots of thanks to Mrs Koenders, Mrs Townsend, Mrs Burman, Mrs Jolly, Mrs Stock, and Mrs Crouch for coming in and sharing your time and talents. 

We were learning to knit because we are learning about wool in our Ag lessons. 

We all had different colours and our goal was to make a square each. When we've finished we're going to sew it all together to make a blanket to donate to the village or the hospital. 

Some of us found knitting easy but most of us found it hard. There were a couple of people who never want to see a pair of knitting needles again in their life, but over all we had a good afternoon.

The Easter Bunny arrived early at MAS last week with a surprise visit to the school front office. EB then hopped down to the classrooms, posing for a group photo with the Year R-2 students who thoroughly enjoyed their unexpected visitor.

EB then caught up with the local police in the front foyer but left a little disappointed when he couldn't find Mr Keleher to say hello. 

Maybe next year?

It was great to see our bus drivers getting into the Easter spirit on the Thursday with appreciative students receiving special bags of Easter goodies as they got off the bus. 

Primary class teachers also helped spread the holiday glee with Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, especially themed lessons and some spectacular artwork.

Variety Easter party

Some of our Rocket Room students were lucky enough to go to the Variety Easter Party at the zoo. Here's what Mitchell wrote:

On March 22 the Ladies of variety invited us to the Easter party at the zoo. We saw pelicans, lions, meerkats and pandas. We were lucky to have food supplied and face painting and a really big playground with trampolines. We had a really good day with lots of food and fun. When we left the zoo we were given a goody-bag with a biscuit, bunny and a teddy.

What a magnificent spectacle our school put on for the 2016 Sportsday! Congratulations to the winners, the Spencer Sharks, who narrowly edged out the Vincent Eagles in a hard fought contest.

Students are to be congratulated for their efforts and attitude towards Sports Day. It was great to see so many students trying their hardest in both the individual and team events, supporting and cheering on their team, encouraging individuals and filling in wherever they could. What quality students we have!

Thank you

A huge thank you to Chelsea Koch, Andrew Mills and the members of the Sports Committee for all they did to bring about sports day. The day ran very smoothly, and this is of course due to all the quality planning and preparation before the event.

Thank you to all the staff of Maitland Area School for all the hard work they put in prior to and on the day. Every single staff member had specific roles on the days and I publicly thank them for their efforts. I would also like to publicly acknowledge Little Athletics who provided the shed for our canteen, equipment and expertise.

House captains

A special mention to our House Captains, who showed our true R-12ness with their active encouragement of team spirit. Congratulations must go to the Sharks who won the inaugural Ali Adams cup. It was great to see and I had many positive comments from parents on the day.

To Fiona Hill (who opened the day), our parents, and the wider school community, a huge thank you for your support and encouragement; it's the best I’ve seen on the Yorke Peninsula. Our parents vest a lot of time and interest in our school and it reflects the strength of our school community. I am truly grateful to our parent body for their efforts to make our school the best it can be.

So, congratulations to all. Bring on the Interschools, which this year will be held at Kadina Memorial on Wednesday 30th March (secondary) and Minlaton on Thursday the 31st (primary). We are the defending champions of the Secondary Athletics shield on the Yorke Peninsula and I look forward to our students doing their best and winning again.

Feedback

As part of our school journey to continually improve I am looking for feedback on how we can make our sports day better. I have set up a 'survey monkey' (online questionnaire)  and would appreciate a couple minutes of your time to let me know what is good about sports day and how we can make it better. To share your thoughts and opinions can you please visit the following website and share your thoughts.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/massportsday

eading to Children

Reading is one of our main improvement priorities for Maitland Area School, it is also probably the most important skill our students need and one that can make the most difference to all our children’s lives. At MAS we are working in many areas that are designed to improve the reading ability of our students.

As a parent myself I can’t impress upon you the critical importance of reading every day with your child (note I didn’t simply say ‘listen to your child”). This can involve –

• Predicting or telling the story based on pictures
• Reading in one voice (theatre reading)
• Using post it notes to hide certain words to encourage prediction
• Critically re-read the same text and develop fluency, expression
• Its ok for all ages for the parent to skim read and summarise the text (for less able readers, this provides a rough map of the text)
• It’s ok to introduce some challenging words you have found in the book and ‘teach’ them beforehand
• Summarise the book – who were the characters, where was it set? What other books/movies did it remind you of.

Have fun sharing books with your children, if they haven’t seen you read a book, you have already impressed upon them a powerful lesson (but maybe not the one you intended).

There’s been a lot of talk lately about resilience (bouncing back from adversity) and grit (persevering through challenges), including the skills associated with these processes and their importance for student well-being and academic success.

If a person doesn’t believe he or she has the ability to succeed—or if repeated failures diminish that belief—then that person will begin, consciously or not, to engage in practices or make excuses in order to preserve their self-worth both their own eyes and in the eyes of others. 

natural resilience

Some kids are resilient by nature – their temperament helps them to be mentally and psychologically tough. They get straight back up after a setback or disappointment. Rejection in the playground, sporting field or at home doesn’t faze them. Unfortunately, not every child has such natural resilience.

The good news is that most of the research shows that resilience can be nurtured and developed, particularly when parents themselves are resilient and they actively foster it in their kids. 

skill sets

Resilient kids share four basic skill sets- independence, problem-solving, optimism and social connection.  

Splash Carnival & Sports Day

On Feb 23 I experienced my first splash carnival and needless to say it was brilliant. I was proud of the way our students conducted themselves and the way they represented our school values. The community support was fantastic and many laughs were had during the day. I hope that our Sports Day has the same atmosphere and support. We anticipate a fantastic and enjoyable day and I thank all the members of the Sport Committee for their excellent organisation and preparation they have done. 

Some note for parents about sports day:

All students are expected to attend, and we expect them to conduct themselves, and represent their school well on the day.

Sportsmanship and striving for personal bests, alongside of teamwork, and lots of fun will be a feature of the day. 

Participation is really important, with students being able to help supervise events and having a go at events, whether they are expert at them or not!

Taking Student Photos/Videos. With Sports day approaching it is timely to remind all school community members that we need to be mindful in what images we are taking and what we do with these. Yes you can photograph and video your children, however we ask you to be respectful to others’ opinions and wishes regarding this matter and keep all photography localised only to your children. We also respectfully suggest that images of other children should not be posted on social media without student and parental permission.

On February 18  we had a very successful Student Leader Induction Ceremony in the Performing Arts Centre. It was pleasing to see the number of students nominate for leadership positions within the school, and we sincerely value the contribution that they will make to school life during this year. 

I congratulate all of the students who took their opportunity to be involved in student leadership, whether as a member of the Maitland Area School SRC, House Captain or Bus Monitor. It is great to see you taking on a leadership role in the school, both you and the school will benefit from this.

Special mention to: Head Prefect Anna Falco, who spoke to the assembly about the goals she will be trying to achieve this year. We are very lucky to have someone of Anna’s ability leading our student body.

Thanks also to all the parents and family members who came to see the induction, it was great to see you there and I’m sure the students really appreciated your attendance. Staff and students are also to be congratulated: the students displayed excellent listen skills throughout the ceremony, showing their understanding of the importance of the occasion whilst staff coordination, flexibility and support leading up to and including the day were exemplary. 

Thanks go to our special guest, Dr Emily Klopp, for her words to the student body, as well as Ms. Helen Moloney and Ms Chelsea Koch, for all their work in facilitating the election processes, and getting all students organised for the assembly.

Primary SRC Leader elections were held on Friday February 5.

Congratulations to the nominees for their excellent speeches and the serious manner in which they conducted themselves and to the Year 4, 5 and 6 students for their excellent listening skills and mature approach to the voting.

News from the Canteen! It is with great pleasure that we welcome Terri Frizzell as our new Canteen Manager. 

Terri has had a life times experience working in catering and kitchens, and she has some exciting new ideas to add to our school menu. 

Terri would love some parents to come into the canteen to help and share in their passion for healthy eating and our school.  I encourage you all to please give at least a few hours of your time to come in and help.

Excess Fruit

If any families have trees with fruit, Apples and Oranges to spare, donations to the canteen would be greatly appreciated.

MAS Music &Music & Drama is compulsory at MAS from Reception through Year 8 and a choice subject at Year 9/10. We’ve got lots planned for 2016, with a brand new recorder programme for the 2-3 class (Black-Belt Recorder!), a new classroom singing resource for R-6 (Jam Music), a new Performing Arts course at Year 9/10, the Music Is Fun band visit in Term 2 and lots more!

Instrumental Music

We have our biggest group of instrumental students in many years – nearly forty – starting this year. 

This includes  all our year 5 students who will be part of our new primary programme. Students will borrow instruments for a semester, have instrumental lessons with Mrs Schwartz and be part of band lessons with Mr Tuck. Students may choose to continue with their instrument in Semester 2  at the usual hire fee.

The west side of the school is definitely 'building site' shaped! The huge covered outdoor learning area (COLA) framework has gone up over the secondary courtyard, the old JP rooms have been gutted with a second huge covered play area over the old primary courtyard. Interior walls have been erected in the new kindy section with the extension framework in place.

The newly refurbished 11-12 learning area is now in use and the R-2 classes have settled into their new unit. The special-needs bathroom area has been gutted, expanded and tiling is now complete. 

A very exciting set of projects that will benefit our school community for years to come! 

Welcome back to another year at Maitland Area School. This year is a year of change in many respects. We look forward to working with our new principal, Grant Keleher, and the fresh perspectives he brings with him. Welcome also to our new students. We have had many new enrolments, particularly in the senior years, and look forward to sharing your successes at Maitland Area School. 

SACE Congratulations

Congratulations to Thomas Smart as our highest achiever in 2015. There were also a number of impressive individual subject efforts, with a number of A grades achieved. All but one of our eligible students achieved their SACE last year, continuing our run of successful results over the last three years. We wish the class of 2015 well as they step out into the "real world", whatever that may look like, and look forward to hearing of their adventures.

A big MAS welcome to all our new students and their families this year, and especially to our five reception students making a brand new beginning in Miss Atkins R/1 class. It was wonderful to see how quickly the young children settled in, even if a few teary parents made good use of the 'comfort package' thoughtfully provided by Sarah. Hopefully it included sufficient tissues!

Primary Assemblies

Assemblies are changing in frequency this year. Primary assemblies will now be held every two weeks (odd numbered weeks) and SRC assemblies at the end of each term. 

Keep an eye on the calendar for dates and times.

Year 5 ensemble

Last year we announced the trial of a new Year 5 instrumental program. Year 5 students in 4/5 SD and 5/6 KD will be loaned a band instrument for the first semester and have small group lessons with IMS teacher Deb Schwartz and band lessons with myself. Band lessons will be held on alternate weeks to assemblies. 

I hope that everybody has had a relaxing break and are ready to tackle 2016 with energy and enthusiasm. I would particularly like to welcome new families and their children to Maitland Area School. We are a school that focuses on developing positive relationships with our families and the community and I know together we can strive to provide opportunities for our children to succeed in their studies.

I have been teaching on the peninsula and mid north now for 15 years and have spent the past five years as Assistant Principal at Kadina Memorial High School. I have a wife Adele and two kids, Charlotte, who is six and Jack, who is three. Adele is the Deputy Principal at Moonta Area School.  

My main aim is to work with the community to ensure Maitland Area School is a place where young people can develop the necessary skills, attitudes and competencies that allows them to become positive, productive members of our community. At Maitland Area School we will strive to work with our families to provide a quality education for our young people and have it as a place that they are proud to call their own.

The weather was certainly kind to us on our first day back for 2016, even if it took a turn for the worse the following day with torrential rain!

Students were excited to see their friends and all the changes in the school but still listened carefully to new principal Mr Keleher in the morning assembly.

Then it was off to meet home-class teachers and settle into new classrooms. 

The biggest changes were probably for our R-2 classes who have a new furbished double unit with new carpets, paint, furnishings, whiteboards and location!

A gallery of student costumes from our Halloween Danceathon.

Our combined Halloween dress-up-day and Danceathon was a huge success on Friday October 29.

Students arrived in costumes on-masse int he morning with some cute costumes such as minions and fairy-tale characters among the more horror-themed ideas.

Preparations for the danceathon had started at the beginning of the term, with students learning a dance routine to a Halloween-themed song.

The R/ 1 class learned 'Monster Mash' with Tim Tuck, the Year 2 class danced 'Thriller' with Emma Atkins, Letitia Linke gave the Year 3 (I'm a Monster) and Year 4 (Bad Blood) classes a great grounding for their songs with teachers Andrew Mills and Tim Tuck rehearsing after. Betina Davies choreographed This Is Halloween for the Year 5/6 class and the Year 7/8 class choreographed their own version of Silento - Whip Nae Nae.

Decorations

The PAC was decorated with giant pumpkins, tiny pumpkins and lots and lots of lights! Year 9 students made creepy plastic tape arms and feet, pumpkin posters and gravestones. The Year 3-4 pumpkin pictures hung across the stage and the pumpkin pinata - a lolly-filled pumpkin for the best dance - took place front and centre.

Over sixty parents joined in the fun as we danced to favourites such as Ghost-busters and Everything Is Awesome and watched each class in turn perform their dance routine.

As extra entertainment the Year 5/6 class performed a special graveyard version of Danse Macabre with giant skeletons that somehow turned into the hokey pokey.

The Festival Choir also performed, singing a brand new song about Japanese ghosts from next year's musical.

The best dance was judged by the class SRC reps with the Year 3's taking first palce just ahead of the Year 7/8's.

Congratulations to all the students, staff and parents who contributed, with special thanks to Emma Atkins, Sarah Atkins and Beth hector for their help with setting up.

The P & F combined Garden Party & Open Day on Wednesday October 28 was a huge success, with more than eighty parents, friends and community members enjoying the warm weather, open classrooms and magnificent morning tea.

Visitors were greeted at the school entrances by SRC members with programmes and directions to events and classrooms.

Special lesson times were organised across the morning to showcase classroom activities, with the JP unit and secondary art room being favourites. Parents also commented on the tech display, garden designs in the library and the primary art-room artwork.

Visitors then assembled with students and staff in the Agricultural Studies garden area and enjoyed morning tea, an Ag Block tour led by Ag teacher Sarah Townsend.

SSO Ali Adams talked about the Garden to Plate programme then principal Andrew Gravestocks took the group on a tour of the school, finishing at the Performing Arts Centre.

The festival Choir, conducted by Deb Schwartz entertained the audience with selections from the Festival of Music concert.

The day finished with the judging of the best 'Garden Hat' 

Lots of thanks to the P & F for organising and promoting the day and to the staff and students who helped in so many ways.

The YP Combined Schools Concert Band travelled to Ardrossan on October 27 for the Ardrossan Area School Music Concert.

The band played several numbers as the audience entered then officially opened the concert with the 'Abba On Broadway' medley, 'Hawaii Five-o' and 'How to Train Your Dragon'.

The MAS Festival Choir then joined the Ardrossan Festival Choir to present a combined repertoire. 

Thanks as always to the dedicated staff, community members and concert band students.

The JP have eagerly embarked on the yearly transition process with a fun packed trip to the Maitland Children's Centre on Tuesday the 20th of October.  

The students enjoyed visiting their past teachers, the playground and accessing the kindy's loose parts, which saw the students using the parts to solve problems and creating new play equipment.

Then on Wednesday the 21st of October, we headed to Point Pearce School on the bus (thanks Mr Allen) and joined the JP class in creative crafts and playground fun. 

It was great to see all students interacting together as they began to learn each others names in the lead up to 2016.

 The transition process continues this week with both the Kindy and Point Pearce students visiting MAS and the JP classes.

The main theme of the Week 1 assembly was 'wear a hat in the sun'! 

Term 4 is always a 'hat' term and there were reminders about wearing a hat if we wanted to play in the sun, and having to play in the shade if we didn't have a hat.

Mr Tuck and Miss Koch also presented a special video showing how UV rays affect the skin and how sun-cream looks black under a UV light. 

The Year 7/8 students received this letter from the Maitland Hospital after the completion of their cultural wall hanging for the Chappell Wing.

Dear Mr Gravestocks,

Thank you to the Maitland Area School students and Val Mclean who visited us over a four week period to create a beautiful cultural wall hanging for Chappell Wing.

The residents have certainly enjoyed watching the students’ artistic talents and social interaction.

The painting has been hung up in CW for all to see with lots of positive feedback comments received from staff, family and visitors to CW.

Regards,

Andrea Tucker

Lifestyle Coordinator- 

Maitland Hospital. 

Work has begun on converting two of the Primary Corridor classrooms into a flexible learning area for the R-2 classes.

Part of the dividing wall is being removed to accommodate a sliding door ahead of new carpeting, painting and furniture upgrades.

Very exciting!

The P & F met early on Friday October 16 to complete the planned upgrade to the school's old rose garden.

The old roses had been removed previously and the are cultivated.

New plants were sourced locally and groundsman Trevor Allen was commandeered to dig the larger holes for the trees with the post-hole digger.

With lots of helpers (both younger and old) the new plants were in with threatening rain turning into an instant garden-soaking.

Well done to all involved - the area looks a million dollars!

We finished up Term 3 with a choc-full SRC assembly in the PAC. Miss Townsend presented special certificates to all the students involved in the Royal Adelaide Show. She showed the many ribbons our animals won, both on the hoof and on the hook.

Our school chaplain Kelly had a special guest, Eldon who donated two Bibles to the school library. These were received by our prefects.

Mr Tuck told us about old-scholar Nikki Bell and her fight with the cruel disease that is Dystonia. We joined in with thousands of other people around the world to help raise awareness and all 'jumped for Dystonia'.

Mr Tuck also announced the house competition results for term 3: the Vincent Eagles by a close margin!

Mr Gravestocks closed the assembly by presenting attendance certificates and wishing us all a very safe holiday.

The Concert Band is once again performing at the 'Curramulka Lights Up' fair on the first Saturday evening in December.

Lights Up is a fun family night commencing with a street parade which concludes at the community oval where there are then food and drink facilities, twilight markets, photos with Father Christmas, live music (including the band!), face painting, and lots more

Once the sun goes down it's 'lights up' with the town Christmas light display officially being switched on. The lights are on until the New Year. 

Come along and support the school band and have a great time too!