Our concert band numbers have continued to remain strong and we have also been blessed with the support of Miss Joanne Shephard, Miss Kelly Whittaker and Mrs Dianne Morgan. We have also welcomed Deanne Parsons – a flute student from Minlaton District School. The students and staff have been working productively every Wednesday from 3.15 – 4.30pm in the Music Room and were able to perform a half hour program to an appreciative crowd at the Maitland Show. Congratulations to our ‘Rookies’ on their first performance in the MAS concert band – Bill Edwards, Jackson Moloney, Anna Falco  and Brianna Schwartz .

The band is looking forward to performing our Michael Jackson Medley ‘King of Pop’ to the school community at this week’s assembly and is continuing rehearsals for the Anzac Dawn Service (April 25th)  early term two. A reminder to band parents that students need to arrive at the Maitland War Memorial in our Black and Red band uniform by 6.15am.
Once again thank you to the following Staff – Tim Tuck, Sarah Townsend, Star Derrington, Vanessa Secomb and  Belinda Wundersitz for your continued support and many thanks to all the students for their time and involvement in the concert band program.

On the 17th of March our school participated in the Maitland Show.  The R-6 students thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the back of the truck for the parade through the main street, holding up signs displaying our school values and cheering and waving to the crowd.  

A big thankyou must go to Tim Davey for the use of his truck and for driving us.  The combined Junior and Festival school choirs (over 60 children), sang Advance Australia Fair for the official opening then separately presented a song each for the crowd’s enjoyment.  The band entertained everyone during the afternoon, with a variety of songs including those from well known movies and a Michael Jackson medley.  Well done to all performers for sharing their talents, and congratulations to all students who participated in the parade with such enthusiasm.

Congratulations also to the Year 10s; their lambs won 2nd prize in the Trade Lamb competition.

On Friday, March 26th our Certificate 1 in Rural Operations class visited Ben Wundersitz’ farm to learn about cropping techniques. The morning started with a lesson about ‘converting rain to grain’ and a discussion about modern farming practices. The students were then able to ride in (and drive!) the huge caterpillar tractor and boomspray—a big change from the small tractor and disc they have been using at school! A big thank you to Ben Wundersitz and Marco Luciani for their time and expertise. The class look forward to further visits later in the year to learn about spraying and seeding techniques.

On the 26th of March 2010, with a few team changes, we travelled once again, this time to Adelaide, to compete at the Mile End SASSSA Athletics Carnival.  We were competing against a wide variety of schools from all over the state.  We were in store for another warm day and the competition looked impressive. Within the first half hour of the day our placings began to roll in 1st , 2nd  and  3rd.  I went to make a record of what students had achieved, but I could not find any spare paper. I decided that I would put the few we had on the back of my hand so that I would not forget them for later, but that soon became a problem in itself.  As the list began to grow bigger, I had the records up to my elbow before the day was out.   With a feeling of success, and having had a very early morning start for most, the bus ride home was quiet.

I would like to say a big thank you to all of those who helped to make these events so successful.  Thank you to the competitors who gave their all and made the experience so enjoyable. I can’t wait for next year!  Thank you to those parents who came and supported, particularly to Mrs Edwards who helped officiate at Mile End.

Thank you to Mrs Hastings, Mrs McLean, Ms Godfrey, Mr Bone, Mrs Derington, Kelly Whittaker, and Joel Southwood.  I do not know what I would have done without you!

After a brilliant Twilight Sports Carnival I had the pleasure of selecting and announcing a team of talented and enthusiastic competitors from years 8-12, who would go on to represent Maitland Area School in the coming athletics competitions.

These competitions went on to be one of the most successful that I have been involved in here at Maitland Area School. On the 16th of March 2010, Kadina Memorial High School would be the first school to host what is now known as the YP Interschool Athletics Carnival. This was the first time that all schools on the Yorke Peninsula had met together in a combined effort to organise and compete, with each school in charge of running a particular area of the day.   With beautiful weather forecast and with butterflies in our bellies, knowing that the competition was going to be hard, our young team made the trip to Kadina. It was a memorable, enjoyable and successful day, not because we came home with a swag of ribbons (there were a few of those), not because the burgers for lunch were great, but it was great to see so many competitors who came out to participate and give it their best.

I could not have been prouder of what I will refer to as our ‘young guns’ who showed courage, good sportsmanship and undying energy. We were recognised on the day because of these young people. These few were mostly the youngest in our team, but stepped up higher than I ever expected.  These few put their hand up and volunteered to compete in events, for age groups above their own and ran back to back races with only seconds between one age group finishing and the next starting, not because they thought that they might be able to compete against the older age group or that they would have the energy, but because they wanted to be able to get the most amount of points for our School Tally board, and just entering in the race would guarantee the team the entrance points.  Very impressive!

I would like to congratulate the 31 students who represented our school on March 18th at Minlaton for this event. It was the first time we have participated and I can not speak highly enough of our student’s behaviour and sporting abilities. Thank you so much to the wonderful parents who took on roles as officials and for the support shown by parents and grandparents to cheer our team on. Special mention must go to Montana Briggs, Ezra Glazbrook, Jarrad Powell and Colin Sansbury who won individual events on the day.

On Monday March 15th the Year 9 Agriculture class spent an enjoyable day visiting two Yorke Peninsula alternative agricultural enterprises; Mark Short’s alpaca farm at Minlaton and Lyn and Tony Hayles’ ostrich farm near Curramulka. The students had the opportunity to learn about the animals, pat the alpacas and even feed the ostriches (if they were game enough!) A special thank you to Clive Whitehead who drove the bus and a special ‘well done’ to the students for their superb behaviour and enthusiasm.