Maitland Area School

On Monday and Tuesday of week 3, a group of Year 10 students attended an Aquatics Camp at Port Vincent. The weather was perfect for the two days although this did mean that we couldn’t do the activities that needed wind. This left the group to have several goes at snorkelling along the reef, the marina rock wall and along the spit. The boys were particularly good at catching crabs while others preferred to look at the variety of sea life. Other events attempted were kayaking around the bay and knee boarding. We stayed at the Tuckerway Hostel on Monday night where we had a barbecue for tea and the boys cooked the scallops and crabs they had caught.
We arrived back at Maitland around 5:30pm Tuesday, very tired, but having enjoyed the two days on camp.

 

Congratulations to Spencer on their win last week.  The competition was close all afternoon.  There were plenty of smiling faces to be seen enjoying the fun events organised by Val McLean and her Committee.

Last week Ian Burman and myself attended the Yorke and Mid North Regional Leaders meeting at Wallaroo. This gave us the opportunity to catch up with many leaders and regional office staff. It is certainly evident that there are a number of changes and opportunities that will face schools this year.
The introduction of a National Curriculum, Mentoring projects, flexible options for students and the continuing roll out of the New SACE will occur in 2010. By far the clearest message to come out of the conference was the importance of Literacy in terms of students being able to achieve success in life. Without the skills to be able to communicate clearly, understand written and oral language, a child is greatly disadvantaged. As a school we will need to ensure that we continue to make literacy a priority.

Our new Certificate 1 in Rural Operations course has started and six Year 10 and two Year 11 Agriculture Students are enrolled this year.

This is a nationally accredited course and a great stepping stone to employment in the Agriculture sector.

Guest instructor Max Smart visited last Friday to start tractor driving lessons and he was impressed with the skills and enthusiasm of our students.

By now all families should have received a letter regarding Maitland Area School’s Bushfire Action Plan. As this is a new policy for the school I am sure that as part of the reviews that we conduct throughout the year we will make improvements to different components. The major points of the plan at this stage are that;

1. Maitland Area School is in the Yorke Peninsula Fire Ban District
2. On Code Red Days in the Yorke Peninsula Fire Ban District Maitland Area School will remain open.
3. On Code Red Days in the Yorke Peninsula Fire Ban District DECS buses will not run.

If you have any further questions regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Our new school Christian Pastoral Support Worker - Kelly Whittaker - was officially commissioned in a special service held at the Maitland Uniting Church on Wednesday night.

The service was led by Uniting Church minister Phil Webber, with addresses given by Peter Skurray (Chaplaincy in State Schools), Paul Schulz (The YP Inter-church Council) and Andrew Gravestocks (MAS Principal).

Kelly is an MAS old Scholar and is looking forward to the challenges of working in her new role.

Left to Right: Andrew Gravestocks, Kelly Whittaker, Paul Schulz and Peter Skurray

 

What a wonderful day of fun in the sun with the water a welcome relief and a place of good sporting behaviour. I was particularly proud of our house captains who were a great support to staff and encouraging to the younger students.

Congratulations to Spencer house who won the day with a score of 28 ½ points followed by Vincent on 24 points and Yorke on 19 ½ points.  Mrs Julie Adams, whom the cup is named after was on hand for the presentation and a great addition to our event this year was the participation of Point Pearce Aboriginal School. Thankyou to all who contributed to such a successful and enjoyable day.