YAS News - Week 9, Term 4 - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A note from the Principal

I would like to thank you all for your understanding and co-operation through this second year of the pandemic. We have farewelled a number of valued staff throughout 2021, and at this time of year our contract teachers too. Babies born and soon to be born, retirements, secondments – the juggle of Life has carried on for staff as well.  

As the school year closes, I hope you all enjoy time with loved ones and celebrations.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a joyful holiday season, and a Happy 2022.

Kind regards, Sonia 

A note from our Pastoral Care Worker ...

A huge HELLO and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all our Yankalilla Area School community. 

I've been reflecting on the year that has just about come and gone. 

It has certainly been another year full of unpredictable moments. 

Masks/no masks. Sanitiser/no sanitiser. Open borders/close borders. Parents and volunteers on site/not onsite. Breakfast Club/no Breakfast Club. 

When you think about, 2021 has been a time of uncertainty and confusion. This is exactly when we need to remind ourselves and our children of the things that, despite everything, keep us anchored.

There is a saying: Life's roughest storms prove the strength of our anchors.   

Anchors like family, routines, school, trusted friends, hope, goals. 

Anchors help us not to drift or be tossed about but offer us a sense of security. Like a boat finds a safe harbour, drops anchor, and waits out the storm, we too, need to know where our safe harbour is, so when the storms come our way, we can find peace. In this world, we all have our own 'storms' to navigate. 

For me, one of my anchors each year is looking forward to Christmas. This year, I may not be able to visit my interstate siblings or have them visit me, and it is the first Christmas without my Mum. But I'm dropping anchor, holding on and looking forward.

For me, Christmas can be summed as ABC.

1. Love in ACTION(giving and sharing with others)
2. BELIEVEin the miracle (that is the Christmas story)
3. CELEBRATE with family and friends (a chance to relax a little, laugh a little and enjoy festive food)

I sincerely look forward to sharing 2022 with you - whatever it may look like or throws at us, we will navigate it together. 

(PS. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the amazing educators we have at YAS the teachers and SSOs. You will find them reading, planning lessons, typing reports, attending meetings, welding, gardening, teaching, creating resources, answering phones, balancing budgets, listening, supporting, assisting, colouring, juggling lots of hats at once, managing classrooms, brainstorming, doing PD,  sharing, cooking, cleaning, encouraging, marking, gathering resources, timetabling, emailing.... THANK YOU! WE APPRECIATE ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE THROUGHOUT 2021)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! 

Materials and Services Charges - 2022

Thank you for everyone who voted in the Material and Services Charge Poll. The results are as follows:

Years R -6       23 votes for  & 13 votes against

Years 7-12      21 votes for & 11 votes against

Therefore Governing Council have endorsed that the prescribed charge for 2022 will be:

Years R-6        $370.00

Years 7-12      $370.00 plus any subject levies

Governing Council have also requested that the school follow up on outstanding fees for 2021. Unfortunately despite reminders being sent some families have made no attempt to pay the charge or contact the school to organise a payment plan. In January the third and final letter will be sent to these families before they are referred to the Central Debt Collection Unit.

Thank you, Admin Team

Christmas Walk and Parade

On Wednesday afternoon, classes from Reception to year 4 with the help from staff and volunteers participated in a Christmas Walk and Parade organised by Ms Abbie Staples.

The theme was “wear your Christmas Outfit”.  Some of the Christmas outfits were very inventive, particularly Mrs. Symond’s dog who looked like one of “Santa’s Little Helpers”. 

First stop was the Children’s Centre and then the parade walked to the  ACH to sing to residents.  Finally the Parade made its way back to the school oval where parents were invited to enjoy a few songs too.  There were a few favourite Christmas Carols sung including “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." 

Thank you to our band of Volunteers who participated in the walk to help supervise the students

Inflatable Day

Wednesday was inflatable world day.  Classes from Reception to year 9 participated in the fun.  Thank you to SRC for working very hard all day to supervise the students.

Year 9 Graduation

Our week started with a lovely Graduation Assembly to farewell our Year 9 students and wish them well as they transition into the Senior School for 2022. The assembly was held on the oval so that families could share in the celebrations and was wonderful to have them back on site. Our student leaders, Mya M and Bailey F presented a short address to give their peers some tips for the future. I must say Bailey hit the nail on the head when he advised students to get the ‘study v social life’ balance right for next year!  Our new student leaders for 2022: Layla, Alissa and Katie, did a fine job of hosting the event. They looked very smart in their school blazers.

The Honorable Leon Bignell also attended. He presented a Sports Award to the most outstanding sports person in Year 9, Ryan Borlace. Unfortunately, Ryan was away so Alissa accepted the award on his behalf. To add a personal touch during the certificate presentations, the Year 9 students chose to introduce each other. The kind words and laughs exchanged between good friends was a testament to the strong connections that have been forged throughout Middle School.

Special thanks to Mr Shute for making the key rings that were given as a small gift to our graduating students. Thanks also to Pete Owen and Cody for livestreaming the event for families who could not attend.

And finally, to our Year 9 students, ‘Dream big and go confidently in the direction of your dreams!’ On behalf of all the staff and students in the Middle Years, we wish you continued success in your future endeavours.

Jane Joshua

YAS Colour Run

What a colourful finish to the day on Thursday with our annual Colour Run. At 2:30pm students and staff flocked to the oval, dressed in their clean white t-shirts ready for some fun. The music was pumping as students eagerly waited for their chance to start. And they were off!

Those white t-shirts didn’t stay clean for long, not after staff took to them with water pistols and coloured paints! As you can see from the photos, everyone had a ball. Special thanks to Mrs Chambers, Trudy and the SRC for organising this event for our students. It requires a lot of effort and preparation to organise a fund-raiser like this, but we certainly appreciated your efforts. It was an awesome way to finish the term (well almost) and we rock the rainbow look at YAS!

Jane Joshua, Middle Years Senior Leader      

Spelling Bee Grand Final

Monday proved to be an exciting start to the week, what with the Year 9 Graduation and the annual Spelling Bee. Year 7-9 students have been preparing for the Spelling Bee throughout term 4. To do this, students in Mrs Joshua’s Red Group and Mrs Barry’s/Ms Shute’s Green Group studied over 200 words each. First, they had to learn to read them, then find their meanings and then learn how to spell them. It took lots of practice as you can imagine, particularly when words like, ‘idiosyncrasy, diphtheria, colloquialism and acquiesce’ graced the list!!

The Spelling Bee itself, was very exciting. Words were randomly drawn and presented to each student in turn. With 30 seconds on the clock, students could use their whiteboards to write the word down first if they chose, before spelling it out loud to the teacher. The rule was simple: spell the word correctly and you stay in the competition for another round!

The competition continued until we were left with the final 2 students. The finalists then had a ’spell-off.’ After an incorrect response, the other student could only claim the title with a correct response. In the Red Group, the competition between Claire and Edward was pretty fierce with lots of toing and froing! But Claire eventually claimed the trophy and first prize. In the Green group, Kaylee and Jayden battled it out for the title of Spelling Champion for 2021. In the end, the trophy and the title went to Kaylee.  Well done to Claire and Kaylee, your names will be etched on the trophy. Congratulations to Edward and Jayden, very fine runners-up. Maybe next year a boy will claim victory!!

I would also like to congratulate everyone who participated on the day. It was great to see so many students trying their very best to prepare for the competition. I am proud of you all. Special thanks to Mrs Barry and Miss Shute for all their hard work in preparing their students too. It was a wonderful way to start the week.

Jane Joshua

Year 12 Farewell Breakfast

The year 12 students, as a final gesture to conclude 13 years of schooling, were invited to a morning breakfast before their farewell assembly.

The learning community of Yankalilla Area School wishes them all well with the hope that their dreams and aspirations come to fruition.

Branko Mikulcic, Senior Leader SACE, Senior School, VET

Thankyou, from the Library

Throughout 2021 many of our Primary students have volunteered to work in the YAS Library.  

To say 'THANK YOU' we hosted our end of year 'Library Helpers Celebration', with a Christmas craft activity.  

Check out their wonderful reindeer cookie creations....

Artwork Masterpiece!

Year 9 student Jaia F painted this beautiful artwork depicting our local Fleurieu Coast. 

Jaia has kindly donated her painting to the YAS library.

It now takes pride of place in our Senior Library area.

Thank you Jaia.

Rotation Group

Year 7/8 Home Economics Rotation Group have been trialling and baking some cakes, some with a Christmas theme! 

Indigenous Cultural Excursion

On Tuesday 30th November, Phil Noel our ACEO and I took 6 of our ATSI students on an excursion to Victor Harbor to learn more about our Ngarrindjeri/Ramindjeri culture. We started our cultural tour at Kings Beach where we learnt about the natural fishing traps which can be seen at low tide. We went to The Bluff and Whalers Well, then onto Kent Reserve which was the last known camping ground of the Ramindjeri clan. A quick stop to get ice-cream, a perfect condiment on a hot day, then onto Kleinig's Hill Lookout, to view the mosaic sculpture which tells the story of Kondoli/The Whale. This beautiful sculpture was created by the Ngarrindjeri, Pitjantjatjara people and local community as a part of the reconciliation process. It also has a great lookout of Granite Island and our amazing coastline. 

A short drive along the coast to Middleton Beach where we had a go at cockling. With squeals of delight as the waves washed against our legs, we twisted our feet in the sand and all managed to collect handfuls of cockles. Unfortunately, the cockles were too small to bring home, much to my husband's disappointment, but we certainly had a lot of fun digging for them and watching them submerging themselves back in the sand. A quick brush down before getting back into the school bus, where we finished our tour with fish and chips at Horseshoe Bay from the Flying Fish Kiosk. 

It was a wonderful way to learn about our local Indigenous culture and to celebrate another year of successful learning for all our ATSI students. Thanks Phil for sharing your wealth of local Indigenous knowledge and driving the bus. 

On behalf of Phil and myself we wish everyone a very happy Christmas and relaxing holiday. 

Regards Bu Taylor

Nature Play Incursion

Skate Park Excursion

The Grinch that Stole Normanville's Christmas - Rotation Drama

On Monday 28th November, the Grinch stole Normanville's Christmas! All the R-5 classes were invited to the Performing Arts to watch the events unfold.

After practicing all term, the group finally got into their costumes and Grinch make up and entertained the classes with a rocking story of how the Grinch stole Christmas.

From the opening song, "our gifts are sealed" to " Can't stop the feeling", the audience was taken on a musical journey through Christmas.  With Abby Kirkbride grinching it up through the audience and singing she was "Bad to the bone", to the Rock band telling them all to "Come on, feel the noize",  and thirsty Cindy Lou with her pretzel being asked "Does your mother know that you are up?", audience participation was high.

Katie Jones kept us all on track as narrator and told some awful Grinch jokes to make sure the Christmas vibe continued during scene changes.

The Drama group can be really proud of how far they came from the early beginnings of learning lines, making up dance moves, getting props on and off stage and learning to lip sync songs from the 70s and 80s, they had their work cut out!  However, they did a fantastic job on the day. Congratulations.

Thank you to Phil and Wendy for their singing, Pete for laser cutting some props, Dan and Phil for helping set up mics and Bu Taylor for helping when it was getting tough!

Here is what some of the audience said:

"I liked it when they danced around the presents and the Christmas tree - it was amazing" 

"The food looked real- I wanted to eat it" 

"They spoke clearly and I liked their bright costumes"

Thank you Mrs Putland's class for your lovely feedback.

Bu Ellin, The Arts - Drama

2/3B Christimas Craft in the Library

More Christmas Craft ...

The Year 7/8B class have been enjoying some Christmas craft with Mrs Putland’s Year 2/3 Class.

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism presentation on Friday 3rd December with Year 5-6 students. 

Tennis State Carnival

Congratulations to the Southern Fleurieu Tennis team who were undefeated and finished 1st at the State Tennis Carnival held at Seacliff from Monday 8th - Thursday 11th November. Out of 5 divisions, Southern Fleurieu competed in the division 3 comp against some strong competition. Teams included Hills, Barker, Central Eyre Peninsula, Upper South East, Barossa and Light, Southern Yorke Peninsula and Riverland.

The team was made up of 6 boys and 6 girls who played a total of 7 singles and 7 doubles as well as a fun mixed fast 4 competition at the end of the carnival.

The team played some excellent tennis displaying a high level of skill, game sense and attitude with a number of managers and parents commenting on the sportsmanship of the team which was fantastic.

The team started off strong and continued their momentum against some quality opposition. It was great to see all the kids which come from a variety of Schools in the district supporting and encouraging each other and building a sense of team spirit.

Well done to all members of the team who performed outstanding tennis and improved each day. Their respect on and off the court was something to be proud of and their team cohesion. A great bunch of kids! A big thank you to all the supportive and encouraging parents who got the kids to trials, trainings and the carnival everyday. Well done!