External Review Report Received
As you are aware, the School was Externally Reviewed in Week 1 of Term 3. We received the report last week.
Please find a summary of the key points below. The full report will be uploaded to the website as soon as it
has been signed off by the Education Director and Governing Council.
During the review process, the panel focused on three
key areas from the External School Review Framework:
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Upcoming Events:
Week 8
Monday 30th November – Friday 4th December
Year 10 Australian Business Week
Year 8 Aquatic Camp
R-6 Swimming
Thursday 3rd December
Senior School Graduation
Week 9
Tuesday 8th December
9 am Year 7-12 Presentation Assembly
Wednesday 9th December
9 am R-6 Presentation Assembly
11:15 am R-6 Sing-a-long
Friday 11th December
R-11 reports sent home
2:05 pm Dismissal
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Student Learning: How well are students
achieving over time?
Effective Teaching: How effectively are students
supported in their learning?
Improvement Agenda: How effective are the
school’s self-review processes in informing and
shaping improvement?
The Review recognised the good work of the
school and the strong relationships held between
families and school staff. Commendations included
the following comments:
… the school should continue what has been started in
2014 and 2015. The school vision to ‘deliver flexible
learning to reflect individual needs in a changing world’
can drive the development of self-regulated, socially and
emotionally competent students, who feel a sense of
belonging at the school and strong connections as
powerful learners.
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The school has recently introduced a SACE
Improvement Strategy to raise student achievement
levels for all students at senior secondary level. Daily
supervised study lessons had been introduced this
year, along with mid-term reporting, use of SMART
goals, and the regular analysis of data to predict
results and trends.
Parents were very supportive of the school. They
reported that their children were happy and that this
is important.
Parents identified phonics in Reception to Year 1 and
the spelling program in Year 3, as examples of
approaches they knew about and thought were
working well.
Parents thought that project-based learning, concept
lessons and enterprise projects extended students in
the middle school.
The directions issued are as follows:
1. Improve student engagement and raise achievement
by strengthening the resolve and professional practice
of staff to support all students to be successful
learners, and work closely with families from
Reception to Year 12 to ensure shared responsibility
exists for this outcome to be fully realised.
2. Increase the proportion of students demonstrating
higher levels of learning, and the number of students
achieving and retaining scores in the higher two
bands, by regularly tracking and monitoring student
progress and by using this evidence to inform learning
design and targeted teaching.
3. Increase the number of students successfully
completing the South Australian Certificate of
Education (SACE) by engaging Year 10 to 12 students,
staff and parents in the design and consistent
implementation of the school’s SACE Improvement
Strategies.
4. Challenge students to aspire and achieve by
increasing opportunities for all students to personalise
and influence their learning and be involved in
authentic decision-making to support higher levels of
learning.
5. Use self-review processes to monitor the impact in
each sub-school of the implementation of assessment
and teaching policies and agreements at each year
level, and the effectiveness of differentiated teaching
strategies on student learning outcomes at the cohort
level.
6. Support all teachers to raise student achievement by
using the Australian Professional Standards for
Teachers (APST) as a benchmark for improving
practice, and use school agreements and targets to
prioritise the use of structured time for collaborative
teamwork and professional learning.
Based on the school’s current performance, Moonta
Area School will be externally reviewed again in 2019.
This is the longest possible period of time between
reviews, indicating that DECD are pleased with the
improvement cycle at Moonta Area School and
satisfied that our self-review processes are informing
and shaping improvement in a continuous and
effective way.
Pupil Free Day Friday 20th November
As always, it is a privilege to have a whole day
devoted to collaborative learning. Last Friday was an
extremely productive day where we analysed different
data sets to form our plans for 2016. The first session
was spent entirely on reading the External Review
and working through ideas to achieve the Directions
given by DECD. The second session teachers used to
analyse individual student data while SSOs worked on
breaking down job specifications. The third session
was an opportunity to discuss the new behaviour
systems implemented this year and suggest small
improvements in this system.
All of this discussion and data will be used to form the
Site Improvement Plan from 2016-2018.
Over the next few weeks I will collect and analyse
other data sets that tell our 2015 story. I hope many
of you will then read the annual report published
early in 2016, as it will be a summary of our many
successes and plans to build on these into the future.
In closing I would like to invite you to our Award
Ceremonies. As we have too many students to have
all students and their families in the gym at the same
time we will be holding 2 ceremonies. The Year 7-12
Celebration will be held on Tuesday the 8th of
December 9am and the R-6 Celebration will be held
on Wednesday the 9th of December, also starting at 9
am. I hope to see you all there to celebrate the
learning that has occurred at Moonta Area School
over the course of 2015.
On Monday 2nd November at 12pm,
students in years reception to year 6
were led by the choir in singing this
year’s Australia-wide “Music: Count Us
In” Festival song. Spangled with tinsel,
we set up on the grass slope and sang
“Gold” for the world to hear!
Thank you to all those who was
involved and to the parents who came
to watch!
Happy singing,
Mrs Swan
10 reasons to learn to play an instrument!
1. Teaches you perseverance, discipline and patience
2. Improves academic skills
3. It develops physical skills – listening, breathing & coordination
4. Increases memory capacity & concentration
5. Refines your time management & organisational skills
6. Boosts your team & social skills
7. Exposes you to cultural history
8. Fosters self-expression and relieves stress
9. Creates a sense of achievement
10. Promotes happiness in your life and those around you
Interested in taking up an instrument in 2016?
Here at Moonta we presently offer lessons during school hours for piano/keyboard, guitar, woodwind and
voice.
 Piano/Keyboard with Michele Giesecke for years R-12, at a small cost
 Guitar with Vince Ivens for years 7 and up, volunteer spaces are limited
 Woodwind (Saxophone, Clarinet, and flute) with Lynn Sheridan for years 5-7 – No cost for
lessons, Instruments can be hired per term at a cost through the school (IV4music).
 Voice with “Learning through music” at a small cost
For those interested in learning a woodwind instrument, Lynn Sheridan will be having try-outs on Thursday,
3rd December, week 8! Come and get an expression of interest form from Mrs Swan ASAP!
For more information on Keyboard lessons, contact:
Michele - M: 0409283305 E: [email protected]
Voice, Learning Through Music – E: [email protected]
On Wednesday the 28th of October the
students in years 5/6 went to El Shaddai
CYC in Wellington near Murray Bridge.
The activities included archery, canoeing,
giant swing, rock climbing, vertical
challenges,
earth
ball,
reptile
presentations, raft making and a
treasure quest. Most of the activities
were based around teamwork and some
activities required a lot of bravery. The
giant swing was a popular activity. Some
students went to the very top which was
a total of 10m. The rock climbing took a
lot of persistence when going up the
walls, especially the challenge wall,
which some students successfully
completed. During free time we all
enjoyed the Ga Ga pit, Flying Fox,
Trampolines, the Gymnasium and Tarzan
Swing. We all loved the food the staff
had prepared for us and even enjoyed a
birthday cake on the first night. On the
second night we all attended a Values
Seminar where we learnt about the
values of life. Overall the camp was
really enjoyable and we hope to return
there one day.
By Cheyanne Ostendorf
For Stage 1 Tourism, the class of 10 students,
accompanied by teacher, Tracey Peters, travelled to
Adelaide on Thursday 12th November to partake in
three tourism activities within Adelaide City. These
tours and activities included the Popeye Boat Cruise,
Captain Jolley’s Paddleboats and Adelaide Oval Tour.
These activities gave us an insight into some of the
iconic tourism attractions Adelaide offers – and for
many of us, this was our first opportunity to enjoy
these.
Prior to going, we reviewed website content of these
three tourist offerings, and can now analyze and
critique these experiences and consider how they are
promoted and presented to tourists. Namely, the
highlight of the trip was the Adelaide Oval Stadium
tour. It was a fantastic opportunity to be able to
experience and observe South Australia’s number one
tourist attraction. We were surprised to learn that
38,000 people participated in the ‘behind the scenes’
guided tour in 2014, and we would certainly
recommend that people visit . The Popeye Cruise was
certainly casual and the captain’s commentary was
informative but we found this lacked passion. Paddling
the aged and weary paddleboats, particularly into the
wind, ‘aged us’ as well. Regardless of this, paddling
the boats was certainly fun, but we all felt that the
paddleboats could certainly do with a cash injection,
to uplift its image. Particularly as its location is in
close proximity to the $40million footbridge and
outstanding magnetism of the Adelaide Oval.
As we were heading back to our bus, we spoke with
Hills Clothesline representatives who were establishing
a display of 70 clothes line on the banks of the River
Torrens, to celebrate 70 years of the iconic Hills Hoist
Clothesline Company. They are aiming to break a
world record and raise awareness for pancreatic
cancer. We hope they were successful in hanging out
35,000 pairs of socks on the clotheslines.
Our wonderful volunteer guide points out features of the
stunning Adelaide Oval.
All aboard The Popeye boat cruise –
the seating was an ‘attraction’ in itself.
Hoping ‘Hills’ were successful in attaining their World Record and fundraising
for ‘Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation’. 35 000 pairs of socks hung on 70
clothes lines is certainly not something that you see every day.
A beautiful day for a 30 minute paddle boat cruise – apparently these are to be
upgrading soon.
The Senior Aboriginal Students at Moonta Area
School have a passion for cooking incorporating
traditional Aboriginal foods and bush Tucker.
They came up with the idea to make and present
a Bush Tucker morning tea for staff members and
family. The students worked hard researching
recipes, ordering Bush Food ingredients and
planning weekly cooking sessions in preparation
for the morning tea. Part of the research was to
translate English words to Narungga Language
which was used as signage for recipe titles and
ingredients. Local native flowers and leaves were
used to decorate the table.
From the success of the
morning tea the students
decided they would like to
present an Elders Luncheon
where the Elders could enjoy
each other’s company. The day
was also a success with
students, Elders and staff from
both school and Yanggalagawi
staff chatting whilst enjoying
the magnificent Bush Tucker
Luncheon.
SAPSASA Knockout Netball
Congratulations to Libby Adams, Olivia Congdon,
Belle Schonfeldt-Kennedy, Lily Steele, Chloe
Durdin-Dodman, Karli Nicholas, Zarli Willshire,
Stephanie Sonntag and Cheyanne Ostendorf on
their fantastic effort and achievements in the 2015
SAPSASA Netball Knockout Tournament. The girls
made it all the way to the final of their pool, falling
only one game short of making the big grand-final
for the Small Schools division. The girls played St
Dominics Priory School in pool final. St Dominics
Priory got out to a slight lead during the 3rd term,
but in true Moonta fashion, the girls never gave up,
staging a 4th quarter comeback only to go down by
one point. The whole tournament was a fantastic
display of skill and teamwork by the girls. A big
congratulations on all your achievements.
SAPSASA Knockout Basketball
Moonta entered both a girls’ and
a boys’ side into the 2015
Knockout Basketball competition.
Jack Irlam, Tom Hancocks, Corey
Angie, Oliver Mullins, Harrison
Hatcher, Tom Cockshell and
Brayden Dunn all took part for
the boys’ side. The boys had two
games to win to qualify for the
regional basketball carnival. First
up the boys played Wallaroo
Primary
School
and
were
unfortunately outplayed to lose
by around 15 points. Their
second game was against Kadina
Memorial School; the boys were
really nervous about this game as
they knew the Kadina team has a
lot of talent in their side.
However, much to their surprise,
the boys played out of their skin,
keeping with Kadina the whole
way. In the end the boys went
down by around 20 points, but
were extremely proud of their
efforts.
The girls only had to win one game
to progress through to the regional
carnival. Karli Nicholas, Libby Adams,
Olivia Congdon, Ashleigh Groom,
Michaela Woodward and Abby Prout
all took part in the first up game
against Kadina Memorial School. We
have some immensely talented girls
in this team and they played
extremely well to win by around 20
points and progress through to the
next round. Unfortunately, Libby
Adams sprained her ankle during this
game which resulted in her being
unable to play the next round.
The next round was the regional
carnival against sides from Roxby
Downs, Maitland, Whyalla, Port Pirie
and Southern Yorke Peninsula. We
welcomed our tallest player back to
the team in Kadra Raunic, but
unfortunately, our main ball carrier in
Libby Adams was still injured, which
made the going a lot more difficult
for the girls. As a result the girls lost
every game on this day, some only
by a close margin. Nevertheless, it
was a great experience for the girls
and they had an enjoyable day.
Nikki Warmington and I (Bryce Ingham) were both
granted the privilege of being invited to the SANFL Key
Volunteers dinner. The dinner is held annually in
recognition of the AFL Auskick Coordinators and School
Ambassadors that go above-and-beyond in promoting
and teaching the game of AFL to today’s youth. The
dinner was held at the Hill of Grace restaurant at the
beautiful Adelaide Oval. It was truly an amazing venue
and the meal lived up to all expectations.
Nikki was presented the award for the NAB AFL Auskick
Coordinator Zone Award. Nikki’s contributions in the
Woodville West Torrens country zone both excelled and
stood-out within the local and wider community and as a
result of all her contributions she was justifiably and
deservedly recognised.
I (Bryce Ingham) was lucky to be announced the state
winner of the Best First Year School Ambassador. The
AFL tries to have an ambassador in each school in order
to provide resources and training to teachers and to
encourage AFL being taught during school Physical
Education units. My award was based on the AFL unit
plan that I have designed to teach to my students
ranging from years Reception to 6. It was a great honour
to be recognised for the work and effort I put into my
craft.
Parents, caregivers, grandparents and
community members are invited to
join the
R-6 Students for a Christmas Sing
Along.
Wednesday 9th December,
11:15 am in the
Moonta Area School Gym
Tuesday 8th December,
9 am in the school gym
Wednesday 9th December,
9 am in the school gym
SNAKES!
There have been a few sightings
of snakes around the school yard
in recent weeks. Please read the
snake safety guide on the right,
or go through this together with
children.
Below is an example of what a
baby brown snake looks like.
Here is the contact details of a
snake catcher, in case you come
across a snake at home:
Jon - Snake Catcher: 0478358046
MOONTA AREA SCHOOL
VALUES LOGOS
Thank you to those students and
staff who have already entered in
the
School
Values
Logo
Competition.
Closing date is
Week 8 Monday. Entry forms are
available in the library. Winning
designer wins a $50.00 iTunes
voucher kindly donated by Moonta
Area School Student Voice.
00
KADINA BASKETBALL CLUB
BBQ FUNDRAISER
MONDAY—30th November
FRONT PAVED AREA NEAR REC CENTRE
ENTRANCE
ALL CLUBS, PLAYERS AND SPECTATORS
WELCOME
FOOD AVAILABLE FROM 5:30PM
SA Water VACSWIM is a program to waterproof the
confidence in young South Australians, in and
around the water. It is a South Australian
Government supported initiative to provide children
aged 5 to 13 years with opportunities to develop a
range of skills and positive experiences in the areas
of water safety, confidence and competence in the
water, personal survival activities and basic aquatic
emergency procedures.
These skills are delivered at over 130 pools, beaches
and lakes throughout South Australia by one of
three primary program providers – Royal Life Saving
Society, Surf Life Saving and YMCA – who engage
qualified instructors to teach the children of South
Australia.
The majority of programs take place from Monday
4th to Tuesday 12th January 2016; they run for 45
minutes a day for 7 days
For this project students started off looking at the
continents around the world and having a very
general look at the type of art that originates from
these regions. They were asked to dig a little
deeper and think about the types of resources and
cultural values a region's art reflected. We looked
at origami as one form of art and each small group
focused on one famous display that has
used origami in a non-traditional way. Artists and
companies have utilised this ancient art form in
advertising, museums and fashion design
with notable success. We used origami designs to
inspire us to create unique mobiles to gift to
someone we cared about, also with notable
success!
- Miss P
Road Crossing Monitors
Term 4, Week 8
Connor W, Alex S, Danny H
Thursday 3rd December
Senior School Graduation
Week 9
Tuesday 8th December
9 am Year 7-12 Presentation Assembly
Wednesday 9th December
9am R-6 Presentation Assembly
11:15am R-6 Sing-a-long
Friday 11th December
R-11 reports sent home
2:05 pm Dismissal
or
Scan the QR
code to go to
Moonta Area
School’s
website.
Monday 30th November – Friday 4th December
Year 10 Australian Business Week
Year 8 Aquatic Camp
R-6 Swimming
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Week 8
If your child/ren are away for any reason, please
contact the school by phoning or sending a SMS. This
year we do have a new SMS Number
0427861937