Maitland Area School

Both the Festival Choir and YP Schools Concert Band started rehearsals this week with lots of new faces amongst the regulars. The choir is now at lunch, with students missing only a small part of the preceding lesson. The Concert Band still meets on Wednesdays after school, with students travelling from Kadina, Ardrossan, Minlaton and Yorketown to rehearse with us.

We've had perfect weather for our first few days of swimming. The students have been enjoying the warm tempeartures and expert guidance from our two instructors Gabrielle and Jodie.

Thank you also to Mrs Miller in the bookroom for finding our instructors; it's been a difficult process with competing demands from all across the Yorke Peninsula.

Under the guidnace of SSOs Julie Bagshaw and Ali Adams, the 2014 Year 4/5 class grew a bountiful crop of vegetables which made for a mouth watering harvest in 2015, seen here on display with this year's Year 4s.

The Year 4s then worked in the Home Economics room cooking up delicious meals from their garden produce. 

A big thank you to everyone involved in the project which continues in expanded form in 2015.

There was a great turn out for our Meet the Teacher Night. Thank you to all the families who attended and to the teachers for their presentations.

Class information sheets and booklets were distributed on the night. If you were unable to attend and your child has not brought his or her sheet home, please contact your teacher.

As always the start to the school year has been busy. It has been fantastic to welcome back some familiar faces and some new ones to the school. As a result our enrolment numbers are above what was predicted for 2015. From my observation the year has started well for the staff and students. Students are highly engaged and working well in vibrant classrooms. Thank you to all families for their efforts in ensuring that their students are in uniform and ready for learning from the beginning of the year.

School Leaders

Election processes have been completed for the student leadership for 2015. Congratulations to all students who have been elected to represent their peers in the SRC, Sporting events or as a bus monitor. In our next newsletter we will officially recognise our student leaders after they have been inducted this week.

2015 Japanese Exchange

This year Maitland Area School is due to undertake our biannual exchange to Mimasaka City in Japan. The exchange is open to all students from year 8 to 11. As in 2013 our aim is to travel to Japan in the last week of term 3 and return in the second week of the school holidays. Decisions regarding which staff will accompany the students have not been made at this stage. For the first time we will be inviting students from Ardrossan Area School to take part in the exchange. If families are interesting in their children being part of this exchange or would like further information please contact the school so that we can gauge interest and begin planning if required.

A big MAS welcome to all our new students especially our brand new receptions.

Welcome back to the 2015 school year! On behalf of our school community I would like to extend a warm welcome to families who are new to our school. It was great to see the excitement on the faces of students this morning as they begun their new school year. For me, now beginning my sixth year at the school, I was impressed by the number of students wearing uniform and the way that they presented themselves today.

Challenges

This year is going to be challenging and exciting for us a school as we will take some big steps forward in a number of projects we have been working on for a number of years. The Children's Centre construction is due to begin this term and I am hoping that we are not too far off with our wetland project. Our staff is working through how these projects will potentially effect learning programmes and are putting plans in place to minimise disruptions.

Strengthening ties

We are continuing our work with Point Pearce Aboriginal School and the Children's Centre on plans to strengthen and develop links between the sites and how this could work operationally. The MAS Governing Council will be taking a lead role in this throughout year and we will work together on processes to ensure that strong consultation takes place within our community regarding this initiative.

Meet the teacher

Next Tuesday is our annual "Meet The Teacher" Evening. I would like to encourage all parents to attend if possible and if not possible to make contact with your students teacher to make a time to do so. At this evening teachers will be outlining how the class will operate, activities planned for the year and expectations regarding homework and communication with home.

We've had beautiful weather for the start of our summer swimming program. We welcome back instructors Nikki Watson and Gabriella Herd who will work with our students over the two weeks. Students will receive six swimming sessions, making up for missed sessions from the start of the year.

Please ensure students have sunscreen for the sessions; that sun is quite hot!

Photo Gallery of our Circus

Our Mini-Circus on November 18 was a huge success. We had 100 students showcasing their circus skills in the PAC Circus Ring under the 'Big Top'. It was wonderful to see so many parents in the audience, thank you for adding extra excitement to our show!

Pride of place in the audience were the Maitland Preschool children. A big thank you to Trevor Allen for being our bus driver and thank you to our two Year 6/7 clowns who accompanied the children to the school.

There were lots of stand out acts but special mention must go to Annabelle and Ivy for their 'Stretchy Legs' doctor act, to Darnell, Harrison and Anthany for their 'Human Cannonball Act', to Jayden, Mitchell and Oscar for their 'World's Strongest Man Act' and to Elijah, Lachlan and Tyson for their marvellous Parkour act that closed the show. 

Thanks go to Kyle  who kept the crowd entertained with his magic acts, April  for running the music and to Sylvia and Lynarrha for running the ticket office and helping with changing the equipment.

The Premier's Reading Challenge is a literacy engagement program that was introduced by the Premier in 2004 to encourage students to read more books and enjoy reading and to improve literacy levels.

The Challenge requires students to read 12 books between the beginning of the school year and early September.

MAS joined the Premiers Reading Challenge in the inaugural year of 2004 and this year some of our students received the Reader for Life - Gold Award.  What a wonderful achievement - 11 years of meeting the challenge! 

MAS has been regularly recognised as a school with outstanding achievement and I congratulate the 133 students who received awards for 2014.

It was with great pride that I was able to accompany our SRC to the Maitland War Memorial on Remembrance Day this year. The students all dressed in our formal uniform and from the discussions that I had going to and returning from the Memorial it was clear that all understood the importance of the day. 

Thankyou to the community members who have taken the time to provide positive comments to not only me but the students involved as I think too often we concentrate on what isn’t working or on how we could improve and don’t take time to reflect on some of the positive things that do occur in our personal and professional lives. 

Well done too to the remainder of the school population who took part in a service in our PAC. From all accounts the most respectful and successful service we have conducted in recent years.