INTRODUCTION
This year’s Annual Report is accompanied by our Draft Partnerships Plan.  Due to the enormous work involved in taking the decision to enter Partnerships 21 and then developing the Partnerships Plan, we are not required to conduct the annual parent survey, nor to provide an analysis of data about the progress of our students this year.  Our report provides a picture of what has been a very full year at our school.  The Draft Partnerships Plan describes our values, vision and strategic directions for the next 3 years.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
We would like to share with you the many exciting and special things that we have achieved this year.  Because of the dedication of many people, we have had another very successful year.

• Quality communication between teachers and parents through Acquaintance Night, Parent Teacher Interviews and class newsletters.

• Our new reporting system, which gives more specific information about student progress.

• Music and performance activities and experiences for students through instrumental music teaching, music nights, choir, band, Sirocco bands, CoOpera ‘La Boheme’ and Performance Day.

• Focus on identifying and supporting students with high intellectual potential.

• Continued implementation of a whole school Thinking Skills curriculum with a focus on caring thinking.

• A very active School Council, which has helped guide us into Partnerships 21.

• Implementation of our Sun Smart status which includes wearing sun safe hats all year round and an emphasis on being safe outdoors all year round.

• More high capacity computers and related equipment, a more efficient and extensive network, an IT Trainee to provide greater support for the maintenance of our network. Upgrade of the Resource Centre computer network.

• Greater integration of Learning Technologies into our classroom programs, supported by the Discovery Schools project and the intensive involvement of Year 7 students in the internationally acclaimed on-line Jason XI Project.

• Upgrading of our Outside School Hours Care area and the connected room, T13.

• Inclusion in our school program of many special activities including Pedal Prix and the Tournament of Minds group, which this year achieved Tournament Honours.

• A complete audit of the Occupational Health and Safety standards of our school.

• A very active Parent Club, which has supported school programs and raised money for many projects.

• Strong involvement of Kookaburra Council in the welfare of students and in the development of the whole school.

• High quality food and service from our Kookaburra Café throughout the year.

• The continued development and success of our senior choir and band.  And the successful establishment of the Year 3-5 choir.

• Development of a plan to rationalise parking and access on our school boundaries.

• Focus on the needs and opportunities for boys in our school through our Boys and Education priority.

• High level of involvement of students in sports competition and skill building and in school and district SAPSASA teams.

• Highly successful Gala Day planned by our dedicated Fundraising Committee and supported by the whole school community and featuring student enterprises.

• Well-developed, well-supported Parent Education program, which included Thinking Skills, Computer Internet and Parents as Tutors workshops.

• Mr Marshall and Miss Williams’ study tour of China and the sharing in our school community, which followed.

• Celebration of Science Week, which included a visit from the Investigator Science Centre.

• Mr Marshall and Miss Williams’ study tour of China and the sharing in our school community, which followed.

• The ongoing science programs in R-2 classes

• A huge range of Olympic Games activities including our own torch relay.

• The continued academic success of our students in Science, English, Maths competitions, together with results of BSTs and the National Writing Assessment Project.  These all demonstrate that our students are able to achieve well above the state averages.

• School involvement with the Onkaparinga City Council and the Onkaparinga Catchment Water Management Board in developing the Panalatinga Environmental Reserve and the Environmental Trail.  The establishment of the “Friends of Panalatinga Environmental Reserve”.

• Continuing Focus on Maths and Numeracy in classrooms and through the maths puzzle room

• Development of our grounds, buildings, furniture and the reserve, through Working Bees

PRIORITIES 2000
Each year we focus staff training and development on key areas, which we have identified through our planning and review processes.  These priorities often require more than one year’s focus.  This year we continued to focus on Learning Technologies and Thinking Skills.  The focus of the Mathematics priority changed from the previous year and we introduced the Boys and Education priority as a new focus area.

Learning Technologies
Significant school funds have again been poured into this priority area.  Twenty four new computers were purchased and staff were regularly involved in training.  A Trainee was employed to help support the huge task of managing the large network we possess.  The Year 7 classes were involved in the Jason XI Project, which proved to be an outstanding success, and an excellent example of how the use of LT can be embedded into the learning program.  The staff core computer group all took part in a 3 day Discovery Schools training course.  This experience has impacted greatly on our thinking about the next steps required to use our Learning Technologies in a smarter way.  The staff have become familiar with Inspiration; a piece of software which allows users to develop mind maps.  This type of software has already had a strong impact on students and teachers.

Future Actions:
We are ready to look more closely at the types of tasks we set in order to develop students’ higher level thinking through the use of LT.  Electronic folders, which store selected work from each year at HVS, will be developed for each student.  Staff will be trained in the use of Front Page, to enable all classes to create web pages on our Intranet.  The core computer group will take on more of a support role, with each member assigned to support a small group of staff members.  To support the LT Coordinator, a Trainee will be employed again next year.

Thinking Skills and Students With High Intellectual Potential
We have had this as a focus area for the past three years.  In this time there has been a significant shift in how we develop thinking skills and in the way we support students with high intellectual potential.  With the development of our whole school Thinking Skills program we feel confident that the explicit teaching of thinking skills is valued by our staff and is being implemented across the school.  We continue to test and identify students with high intellectual potential and teachers are very aware of the need to cater for these students within the class.  This year we have involved resource people, particularly from Flinders University, to work with staff and parents particularly in the area of caring thinking.  We have continued to offer a range of challenging opportunities outside the normal classroom program, to ensure that our students are stretched to reach their potential.

Future Actions:
While this area will not be a priority next year, the development of thinking skills is core business and will remain at the forefront of teachers planning from now on.  We will see thinking skills at the forefront of the work we do in each of next year’s priorities.  There will still be a need to keep this area as a minor focus next year to develop a SHIP and Thinking Skills policy, for staff to develop Individual Education Plans for highly gifted students and for there to be regular sharing of good practice.

Mathematics
With this priority we intended to further explore Mathematics within the Department’s new curriculum framework, called the South Australian Curriculum Standards and Accountability Framework. This is a large set of documents and we didn’t get as far as we had envisaged.  However, we responded to DETE’s invitation to all teachers to give feedback on the organisation, content, language and general layout of the Mathematics area.  Randomly selected teachers also took part in the calibration of standards trial for Mathematics, Science and English.

We looked more closely at the meaning of Numeracy and its links with Mathematics during two staff meetings led by Lisa-Jane O’Connor from Elizabeth Vale PS and Marg Donald from Unley PS.

The maths puzzle room continued to be well supported by students especially during lunch times.

Future Actions:
The school has identified a focus on the SACSA Framework as a Strategic Direction for the next three years.  With the support of DETE training and school based training, we hope to be much more aware of the Framework and how to use it for planning and programming.

Boys and Education
The priority for Boys and Education became a strong focus from the beginning of Term 3 when our Coordinator, Carmel Nicholson was appointed.  Awareness raising sessions on issues relating to boys at HVS was our first staff activity.

We wanted to find out how boys were feeling about their schooling and to collect data as to the achievements of boys and girls. We then completed a survey to find out what the implications are for the students at Happy Valley School and how we can address them in the future.  The results were enlightening.

We purchased resources for staff and parents on raising boys, on boys’ issues in the schoolyard and in the classroom, and on ways that we can help boys be more successful.  These are available for parents to use too.

To encourage reluctant readers, boys from Year 4-7 chose new fiction books and then reviewed them before they were placed in the Resource Centre.  These books have the names of the boys who chose them and a label that indicates they are purchased with the Boys and Education funds.  Those boys involved with this strategy are now showing great enthusiasm for reading.  The books chosen are not restricted for boys– the girls too may read them as they have not been identified as boys’ books.

Several staff attended Boys and Education workshops and, at staff meetings, shared what they had learnt.

Future Actions:
When we recently reviewed this priority area, we realised we have a great deal more to do to ensure all students are successful; personally, socially and academically.  The staff has decided to look at implementing PROGRAM ACHIEVE as a whole school approach in 2001.  This will be part of a 3 Year Strategic Direction we’ve called  “Success for all Students”.

PROGRAM ACHIEVE is not just for boys; it’s about showing all students how to be successful achievers at school by using the Four Foundations of Achievement: CONFIDENCE, PERSISTENCE, ORGANISATION and GETTING ALONG.  It is a relatively new program that more and more schools are implementing.

FINANCE
Our school balance sheet for the year ended 31 October 2001 is included below. This statement is yet to be audited.  Click here to view.

PERSONNEL
This school has always had an excellent reputation, and once again this year we have had very positive feedback about our staff.  When selling the school to prospective parents it is always a pleasure to be able to describe our excellent teaching programs and the commitment of our staff.  We thank them for the way in which they demonstrate to us their love of learning and their willingness to put in the extra effort that does make a difference.  Our School Services Officers, too, are also a dedicated team.  Their roles range from: giving first aide to wounded students; attending to parent and student queries; managing the financial records; managing the administrative and curriculum computers; supporting teachers; and working closely with many of our students in literacy and numeracy support programs.  We thank them too.

We acknowledge and express appreciation of the other leaders on the staff.  Our Deputy, Doug MacLean, is a huge asset to the school and we thank him for not only being a great strength on the management team but for leading other important features of the school as well as teaching three days a week!

D’Arcy Jones, as coordinator in Learning Technologies during the first three terms and Darryl Draper in Term 4, are always in demand and we thank them for their leadership and the enormous time they put into this important area together with other staff on the core computer group – in particular Judy Miller and Carmel Nicholson.  Carmel Nicholson has also had a terrific influence on our thinking, through her role as Coordinator in Boys and Education.

Dana Hookins has played a key leadership role in the area of SHIP and Thinking Skills.  With the departure of Brian Davison, Dana’s input has been even more valued.  The development of our environmental trail in the Reserve was another of Brian’s projects, which Jacqui Brettig has taken over in typical energetic fashion.  Once again this year we also thank Jacqui for her tremendous work with Kookaburra Council.

Barb Williams as usual has put enormous energy and expertise into the senior choir and band.  John Pope as OHS&W representative has taken a lead role in our efforts to achieve Level 1 status by the end of this year.

The many other programs such as Phys Ed, German, Resource Centre, Special Education, SAPSASA, Middle Schooling, Tournament of Minds, Pedal Prix, Maths Puzzle Room, the Personal T&D programs run by staff outside of school hours, and others are successful because of the extra time and commitment given by staff.  We also thank those staff reps, who have been attending school council meetings, environmental, sport and education meetings, extra task groups and steering committees. and Partnerships 21 planning.

Staff Farewells

Jan Wallace after 23 years in the Department and the past twelve at this school has announced her retirement.  Jan has been a wonderful member of our SSO team, providing great support for our staff and students.  She has been on leave this year and will be given a low-key farewell on 15th December.

This year we also say goodbye to two teachers who have been real characters at our school for the past ten years; Brian Young and Ellen Miller.

Brian Young will be missed, by many. His passion for teaching and his straight down the line approach with students and parents has left tremendous impressions on those who have experienced "Mr. Young." Brian has been ill for the past three terms and unfortunately has not been able to return to work. We wish him all the best in his next appointment and we hope his fabulous web-page skills might still be able to be called on in the future.

Ellen Miller has been a much-loved teacher by both students and parents. She has contributed much to Happy Valley, in her own quiet and unassuming way. Staff representation on School Council and fund-raising committees, maintaining Science in Unit 5, Lucky Book Club and J.P. Sports Clinics are just some of the activities in which Ellen has been involved. Her warm personality and sense of humour will be greatly missed and we wish her all the best for the future.

We farewelled Brian Davison earlier in the year. During his three years here, Brian had a very positive impact on our school. He has retired from teaching and is enjoying a life of pleasure and leisure in a Queensland rain forest setting!

Rex Brown has been with us on a temporary basis this year. We thank him for his hard work and his characteristic enthusiasm for his students and wish him all the best in his next school. We thank Penny Couche for her work in what was Brian Young's class over the past three terms. It is not really a farewell to Penny as she will continue to work as a temporary relieving teacher exclusively at our school. She won't be tiling any more classroom tables for a while! Sue Dunn has been here during Term 4 while Tracy Ranaldo has been on leave. We thank Sue for the way she has successfully engaged our students in some creative German activities.

Vicki Moliere has been our finance officer for the past two terms while Heather Hargrove has been on leave. The management of school funds using the new EDSAS Accrual Accounting software has been a very challenging and daunting task for most school finance officers. We thank Vicki for her very professional commitment and support  and wish her well for next year.

Anthea Goode has been with us for two terms and has quickly ‘made her mark’ with students, staff and parents. She has successfully introduced our most recent group of five year olds into the school environment which has been challenging, given that she had 27 unique little characters. Anthea’s short-term appointment means she moves on to another school. We wish her well too.

PARENT PARTICIPATION
Parent participation continues to be very high at Happy Valley.  We recently sent out invitations for our Thank You Morning Tea to over 200 of our parents who are involved in many ways.  These are described in a latter part of our report.

We know we are in partnership with our parents in ensuring the school is a challenging, stimulating and up-to-date school where our students’ futures are being developed and moulded.  We believe the school is ‘running well’ but a large part of its success is due to the huge input and participation of parents.  We receive really good feedback from new parents who often report that they base their decision to enrol their child at Happy Valley on positive comments they hear from our current parents.

Parents willingly volunteer to be on additional working parties.  This year the Partnerships 21 steering committee has given a lot of time to continue the exploration of this important phase in the history of the school. During this last term parents have worked with staff to develop the Partnerships Plan. Their contribution to this important document has been fantastic.

Parents have used the opportunity to learn new skills through the workshops organised by the Education sub committee. Many good discussions and plans have emerged from these workshops.

Parents at this school know they have the opportunity to be involved and fortunately they take it. We believe their children ‘reap the benefits’.

We thank everyone for coming along to the many functions throughout the year and supporting all events.  We sincerely thank the many parents who help with: Pedal Prix; Fun and Games; in the classrooms; LAP; library; in the computer room; with technology; on excursions and camps; with sport; in the uniform shop; and in the canteen.  Your efforts significantly help to make this school the great place that it is.

We thank all sub committees for finding time to work for the improvements, which ultimately benefit all of our students.   We especially commend the convenors of each of the committees whose role has been to ‘drive’ another important section of the school – Wendy Lithgow for Education, Sandie Hutchings for the Parent Club, Heather Jesshope for OSHC, Judy Williams and Mary-Anne Eddy for Environmental, Daniel Logan for Sport and David Solly for Finance  We thank Helen King for the many extras hours she put into providing an excellent service to families in our Kookaburra Café.

As we approach the end of another school year and we reflect on our achievements we are entitled to feel very proud of our efforts.  What a team!

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