A message from Margie     

Reconciliation Week 

We had a very special Reconciliation Week this year.  Invited Aboriginal guest Jade Brooks started the week with a Kaurna Welcome to Country last Monday morning. The wild weather and loss of power during the assembly only added to the moving atmosphere of the Welcome. We were very proud of the children and the respect and interest they showed to Jade, as she shared with us stories about her culture, her family and her spirit bird, the Tiwu (yellow-tailed black cockatoo).  She taught us some other new Kaurna terms: Nakutha (see you again) and Mi:Wi (Spirit or inner essence). We thank Imagine Uraidla for sponsoring this memorable Welcome for our school community. 

All week, class teachers focussed on truth-telling to teach about Aboriginal history and culture. You can read about some of the week's teaching and learning in the Round the Classes section of this week's newsletter.  

On Friday we had our traditional Reconciliation Day of shared activities in cross-age groups, as explained by our student leaders in a special Reconciliation Day section of this newsletter. We enjoyed having Auntie Dee (Deanne Hanchant-Nichols) join us and help us with some of our Kaurna language activities. All of the staff were touched by how kindly the older students in the school supported the younger students in each group, and how beautifully they all worked together towards reconciliation. 

In the activity I ran, children wrote beautiful gratitude letters to some of our Aboriginal Elders. Their words show a growing understanding of the debt we owe to Aboriginal people for all they continue to teach us and share with us. 

Continuing our Inclusive Theme 

We all enjoyed watching a special video made by Wolfe Stevens and his mother Kira this week, to explain to us what it is like for him to live with a disability caused by a brain injury. The students are learning how to communicate with Wolfe using his PODD device and how to make him feel included at school. 

We are also teaching children about a number of other disabilities this week and next. Sometimes we need to explain to children that in order to give all students an equitable chance of success, we need to differentiate the curriculum and find ways to support students that might involve them doing different activities than the other students; for example offering breaks, projects and rewards for motivation. We find children to be very understanding of the concept of equity when explained in this way.  I always find this image a great way to explain why we can't always treat everyone the same! 

EMS and EdSmart

As of this week we will start using EdSmart and the new Education Management System (EMS) to make communication between the school and families more streamlined, safer and less stressful. EdSmart and EMS are digital systems that are used by hundreds of schools to replace paper forms and invoices. 

Instead of paper forms and invoices coming home in your child’s school bag, you will be sent an email notification with a link to click that opens a secure web page version of the form to complete and submit on your account. You can do this on your phone, tablet or computer at your convenience. You do not need to download any apps or remember extra passwords, registrations or logins. 

All the data you submit in these forms is held in a secure database only accessible to selected school staff. You can learn more about EdSmart at https://edsmart.com/parents.

This system is new for us across the school, so please be patient as we accustom ourselves to the new system. If you have any questions, please contact the front office. 

Cyber Safety Education 

School parents often tell me of their concerns about online safety, in this world of rapidly-changing technology.  We are excited to offer an opportunity to our school parents to learn about online safety, side by side with their children.  The Governing Council are sponsoring and hosting a Cyber Safety Child Parent Workshop here at school on Tuesday, July 1 at 6:30pm. 

This workshop is designed for school-aged children and their parents/guardians. There will be a small fee of $5 per family to attend this evening and tickets can be purchased through Flexi schools.  You can read more about this workshop on the flyer in the School News section of the newsletter.  We hope to see a large number of our school families attending! 

Have a wonderful fortnight everyone! 

 😊

Margie