Michelle Hunt Graham Dowie 1 Kongorong Primary School is situated in the Limestone Coast area of South Australia, approximately 455 km south of Adelaide, 29 km from Mount Gambier and 15 km from the coast. The school has dairy farms on two sides, the Kongorong Sportsmans’ Club along one boundary, and the Kongorong township just around the corner. Students are drawn from the township, local farms and from the coastal fishing communities of Carpenter Rocks, Pelican Point and Blackfellows Caves. Kongorong has a primary school population of 49 children and an average Child Parent Centre enrolment of 6 children. Kongorong Primary School & CPC has five teaching staff (4.4 full-time equivalents). The school runs three classes, R/1/; 2/3/4/; and 5/6/7. There are five ancillary staff, who provide in-class support, support small groups of children, and provide finance and clerical assistance. We also have an I.T. support staff member. The CPC has one teaching staff member (0.5 FTE) and negotiated ancillary staff allocation on a term-by-term basis. Kongorong is a category 6 school. There are 9% School Card students, 2% students with disabilities and no NESB students. We currently have no Aboriginal Students enrolled. Kongorong has an Index of Disadvantage of 6. At Kongorong Primary School we aim to provide a high quality education where all children in the community can achieve their goals in a safe, nurturing and intellectually creative environment. We encourage a love of learning, a strong sense of self, respect for others, and the desire to become good global citizens. We promote independence and responsibility as we guide our students towards a positive future. 2019 has been another year of celebrations and highlights. The new look Canberra Camp was held this year with 2 camps offered and splitting the schools in half due to the high number of Year 6/7 students from the other schools. We were fortunate enough to attend Canberra at the end of Term 1 with Yahl Primary School and Moorak Primary School. We were not only blessed with the weather but our students once again exceeded exemplary behaviour which is not only a credit to the students but o their parents. It was another action packed camp filled with wonderful learning opportunities visiting the Mint, Parliament House, The War Memorial, (where Bam in honour of our fallen was fortunate to lay a beautiful poppy wreath at a moving ceremony on behalf of the three schools), AIS, Questacon. A highlight was also visiting the Governor General’s House where we met Sir Peter Cosgrove and the next morning the election was called. Canberra was a- buzz with this news. Thanks to the students, Mrs Galloway, their parents, staff, and the whole school community for the tireless fundraising for our students to attend this wonderful opportunity. Our whole school participated in Move It, choreographed and taught by Jedda Glynn, taking us on a journey through the 21st century technological world, exploring “Emotions through Emojis”. I was very proud of our students and how they displayed our school values of working together, respect, striving for success, honesty and tolerance. It was great to see their faces light up on stage, their big smiles, grooving to the music and having so much fun. I would like to sincerely thank Jedda, the students, staff, bus drivers and students. The Australian Ballet also visited Kongorong Primary school, this was an unbelievable workshop and experience for our students. The students were involved in the STEAMDANCE education program. This is an innovative and creative initiative to support student’s learning in science, technology, engineering and maths through the arts. The students met two elite ballet dancers, Jasmin and Alex. The students were put through their paces with a 20 minute vigorous warm up and learnt about posture and breathing techniques to assist in all sports. They explored body language through dance and movement, facial expressions and a variety of ballet positions and choreographed small dance routines. Jacob Gordon was selected to participate in the School Sport SA interstate 12 years and under track and field team to compete in Darwin. Jacob competed in the discus and shot put. Jacob came 8th in the final discus and threw a PB and came 10th for the shot put. This is an incredible achievement for Jacob competing at such a high level to achieve these outstanding results. We are so proud of you and congratulations. Kongorong Primary School & CPC continue to broaden their connection with the community through programs such as Cows Create Careers, Future Pathways, Lions’ Mad Minute, Natural Resources, History Society. Other highlights of the year have been Kongorong Primary School & CPC Sports day, District Sports Day, excursions, especially the one to the saleyards, Book Week, and SRC events. 2 With 2019 being my 10th year on Governing Council it feels the years are going quicker as there is so much happening and its scary that to think that we are now preparing for the end of yet another school year and the impending occasions such as Christmas and the summer holidays. Something I am sure is welcomed by all. This year the Governing Council has welcomed some new faces in Alisha Angelino, Tash Vickers, Sarah Lucas and Wendy Miller. I would like to thank them along with Brett Gordon and Nicky Cordy for their time and effort. Thanks also must go to Mrs Hunt and Mrs Telford for all the preparation leading into each meeting. As always, we would welcome some more fresh faces in our Governing Council and with only 2 meetings each term isn’t a big commitment but is very rewarding in being able to get a greater understanding of how the school operates and having input into a variety of different topics. An exciting new initiative for Governing Council in 2019 was the welcome addition of guest speakers at each meeting. We got to hear regular school updates from School Captains in Bryce VonStanke-Dowie and Kyla Gordon, classroom updates and workings from Mrs Galloway, Miss Clarke, Mrs Jordan and Ms Facey. We were also lucky enough to welcome local, state and federal members for parliament into the meetings with visits from Mr Tony Pasin Federal member for Barker, Mr Troy Bell member for Mount Gambier, Mr Barry Kuhl Councillor for District Council of Grant and Adam Box Education Director. To be able to hear firsthand on different programs, developments and projects along with members of our Governing Council being able to speak candidly with them on different topics was very rewarding. I would like to thank each and everyone for taking the time to visit our school and meet with the Governing Council. 2019 saw our Year 6’s and 7’s head off to Canberra. From all reports it was an amazing trip with Mrs Hunt & Mrs Galloway singing the praises of how well our students behaved on the trip. I am sure it will not be forgotten by the students for a very long time. Once again, a huge effort by all who played a role in fundraising for the trip. Thank you to all who worked tirelessly to make this happen. Another busy year for the staffing team as they all undertook countless training and development days to ensure they are providing the best outcome for our students. I know Mrs Hunt works tirelessly to ensure the students are receiving every opportunity to achieve the best outcomes. This comes both in the classroom and extracurricular activities. This would be in sports days, farm tours, Cows Create Careers, netball carnival, tennis carnival the list is endless. The effort by the entire team doesn’t go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated by both students and families alike. Sadly, this year we will farewell a couple of families that have been at Kongorong PS & CPC for many years. This will be the last year at the school for the Bisnov’s, Smith’s with both Jaxon, Crystal off to high school next year and after a short time at the school the Cordell’s with Zac off to high school as well. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all families all the best for the future. It is also time to bid farewell to our year 7’s who are heading off to High School next year. Bryce VS-D, Crystal Smith, Jaxon Bisnov, Kyla Gordon and Zac Cordell. I would like to wish these students all the best for their future schooling. After what I know has been an overly successful year, congratulations has to go to Mrs Hunt, Mrs Galloway, Miss Clark, Mrs Jordan, Ms Facey and the entire team at Kongorong Primary & CPC for all the hard work and enjoyment they bring to the school. With the sun setting on 2019, it is once again my pleasure to wish all families a happy, safe and enjoyable Christmas, plenty of fun in the sun over summer and I look forward to welcoming all the old and new students to Kongorong in 2020. 3 Our improvement priority for 2019: "For children to demonstrate increased learning progress in literacy and numeracy." The challenge of practice is if we develop high quality intentional interactions between educator/child using playful pedagogies then we will see children demonstrate learning progress in literacy progress in literacy and numeracy. During a self review process with staff, it was evident what we achieved and improved upon throughout 2019 and this gives a brief outline. QUALITY AREA 1: EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AND PRACTICE At Kongorong Preschool we strive to deliver a high quality preschool program that supports children’s creative and critical thinking so they become powerful, resilient and connected learners.