NEWSLETTER

Dear Families,

The hot topic of conversation last week was definitely the hailstorm on Thursday. This is a photo taken of the oval straight after the storm passed. Fortunately there was only minor leaks in the classrooms. The admin block carpet is a bit water logged, and some staff have hailstorm damage to their cars. Compared to others in the community we were very lucky.

Welcome Back

We welcomed back Rhiannon Hall at the beginning of the term, she has resumed her position in the year 2/3 class sharing with Sarah Cameron. We also welcomed Sokhan Greenwood into the position of Deputy Principal.

Class Planning 2022

As mentioned in the last newsletter we are preparing for the 2022 school year. We will soon begin allocating students to new classes so it is very important we have accurate numbers for students continuing at Angaston Primary School. If you are NOT returning to the school next year (this is not including year 6 & 7 students moving onto high school in 2022) please contact the front office ASAP. We have a number of enrolment enquiries at the moment so any additional information from current families will support us to identify exactly how many students will be returning and therefore how many classes we will need.

Teachers and leadership will begin student placements for the 2022 year based on the needs of the child. If there is anything you would like us to consider when placing your child in a class for 2022 please email me at the school on dl.0242.info@schools.sa.edu.au or phone 85642215.

Transition to NHS

Year 6 & 7 students have already participated in an online meeting with Nuriootpa High School staff this term. Transition for students accessing the unit and special class has also begun. Additional transition for mainstream students has been organised to take place as required.

Transition From Kindergarten

We hosted two Information afternoons in week 2 for parents of 2022 Reception students.  Students will begin their formal visits in week 5 with parents invited to an informal coffee morning and an opportunity to complete their WWCC and RRHAN-EC.

Pupil Free Day

Pupil Free Day will be held on Friday 5th November. Staff will be analysing whole school data trends regarding NAPLAN, PAT Reading and PAT Maths. This will support the writing of our new site improvement cycle beginning 2022 in terms of goals and challenges of practice. We will also spend some time reviewing our current site improvement priorities.  

COVID Update

Parents, volunteers and visitors are welcome in schools and preschools providing COVID safe measures are in place and followed. All parents, visitors and volunteers are required to COVID-Safe check in when entering the school grounds. Masks are not required outdoors if adults can physical distance. This is consistent with community mask use requirements. We continue to discourage parents from entering classrooms as physical distancing is a challenge. If you need to speak with the classroom teacher please send a message and arrange a time to meet. If urgent please contact the front office.

Events held within school can now go ahead provided that:

• recommended density and physical distancing requirements are able to be met by all attending adults.
• masks are available and recommended for all adults (who are not staff and not performing) when indoors.
• all attendees COVID-Safe check in.
• appropriate hygiene provisions (e.g. sanitiser stations) are in place.

Recreational Swimming

We will begin recreational swimming in the school pool week 5 of this term. Teachers will send home notes to families with scheduled swimming times and the need for volunteers. Fingers crossed we get some warm weather before week 5. Recreational swimming occurs after lunch if the temperature is 23 degrees or above. We do not swim if it is above 36 degrees. Students must wear a rash vest or t-shirt when swimming.

Communication Survey

The recent parent survey raised a number of concerns about the use of SKoolbag to distribute whole school information. Comments received from parents mentioned that the app is unreliable and surely there is something else that can be used. This was discussed at Governing Council on Tuesday evening and a survey will be sent home to each family within the next couple of weeks to gauge preferences for communication heading into 2022.

It is going to be a very busy last few weeks of term with camps, graduations, transition, excursions, sports, report writing, class placement etc.

Sometimes sitting and doing nothing is the best something you can do! Karen Salmansohn

Lynda Fitzpatrick- Brown

This isn’t my material … I found it the other day when I was going through some old papers and I wanted to share it with you. In these times of difficulty and uncertainty it is a nice reminder to be kind and to not give up on one another. 

My dad has bees.?Today I went to his house and he showed me all of the honey he had gotten from the hives. He took the lid off of a 5 gallon bucket full of honey and on top of the honey there were 3 little bees, struggling. They were covered in sticky honey and drowning. I asked him if we could help them and he said he was sure they wouldn't survive. Casualties of honey collection I suppose.

I asked him again if we could at least get them out and kill them quickly, after all he was the one who taught me to put a suffering animal (or bug) out of its misery. He finally conceded and scooped the bees out of the bucket. He put them in an empty Chobani yogurt container and put the plastic container outside.

Because he had disrupted the hive with the earlier honey ? collection, there were bees flying all over outside.

We put the 3 little bees in the container on a bench and left them to their fate. My dad called me out a little while later to show me what was happening. These three little bees were surrounded by all of their sisters (all of the bees are females) and they were cleaning the sticky nearly dead bees, helping them to get all of the honey off of their bodies. We came back a short time later and there was only one little bee left in the container. She was still being tended to by her sisters. 

When it was time for me to leave we checked one last time and all three of the bees had been cleaned off enough to fly away and the container was empty.

Those three little bees lived because they were surrounded by family and friends who would not give up on them, family and friends who refused to let them drown in their own stickiness and resolved to help until the last little bee could be set free.

I loved this and think we could all learn a thing or two from these bees. ? ? ?

Bee kind always,

Nat xx 

Nat Wood Pastoral Care Worker, Angaston Primary School

On Thursday 23rd of August, our Year 7 girls participated in the Netball finals of the School Sport SA state wide knockout netball competition. We played at Netball SA Stadium in Adelaide. The girls put in a fantastic consistent team performance. All the girls fought hard and played their role for the team and had a wonderful experience and day. Heidi Roesler coached the team with special help from Mr. Bradley and our wonderful work experience student Halle. Miss Natalie our German teacher also helped out on the day by umpiring our matches. Thankyou to all involved.

 Game 1

Crafers PS 33 defeated Angaston PS 11

  Round 2 

Angaston PS drew with Uraidla PS but unfortunately lost in extra time by a couple of goals

 Round 3

Clapham PS 30 defeated Angaston PS 22

 Angaston PS finished the day in 6th place however making the state finals is a huge achievement considering there were 60 plus schools that participated in the whole carnival. This is a huge achievement for the school and we are very proud of all the girl’s efforts. Great work girls you should all be proud of your performances. Top stuff!

Wow a truly sensational week at the first ever SAPSASA girls state footy carnival held at West Beach. Our BLGW reps from both Barossa and Light and Gawler SAPSASA districts put in absolutely outstanding efforts and should all be extremely proud of their achievements.

There were 40 teams and nearly 700 girls from across the state participating which is incredible to see so many girls playing and loving their footy.

I was very fortunate to be able to coach our amazing Barossa and Light girls. We had 5 Angaston Primary School representatives in the team including. Miyu E, Latika S, Alana L from Year 6/7 Schultz and Shayla H and Sienna W-P from Year 6/7 Darmody.

After 3 days of nonstop football action in hot and windy conditions the Barossa girls finished an incredible 3rd overall out of 10 teams in division 2 winning 7 from 9 games. The resilience, hunger, dedication, passion and love for their footy was unreal to watch. I'm so proud, honoured and privileged to have made history with you all in the very first state girls football carnival. The way that you conducted yourselves and all the hard work and effort you put in to our brand of footy was sensational to watch.

The girls were also very fortunate and super excited to have a visit from Port Adelaide ruckman Scott Lycett.

The future is very bright for female footy in our Barossa region. ?