Crafers Primary School

Dear Parents/Caregivers and Community Members,

As the term comes to an end, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for making me feel so welcome and to celebrate all of the wonderful things we were able to achieve together in this wonderful school community;

Seeing first-hand how our students interact with one another, make new people feel included and welcome through their genuine sense of warmth, compassion and care towards one another.

Our students demonstrating their commitment and courage towards ‘having a go’ and ‘giving their best effort’ on a daily basis, as well as engaging in student led learning alongside their teachers.

Continued staff professionalism, work ethic, support and collaboration in delivering our students a highly engaging and ‘hands on’ curriculum.

Ready to Learn Bell: Well received by our students and staff. Working well to have everyone ready to learn after lunch.

Respect Value Focus: A fantastic process to bring our values to life. Celebrating those students who have gone above and beyond to demonstrate respect in a variety of ways including; how we greet one another both physically and verbally, our roles and responsibilities as a bystander, showing respect to our school yard environment, as we welcome others to join in to break time play.

Student led School Tours: High praise from prospective families for their confidence, knowledge and passion for the school when they visited.

Assemblies: A terrific showcase of public speaking, instrumental music, and quality learning opportunities.

Festival of Music: Our School Choir who have worked hard to receive a B+ grading as part of their external assessment. Our Concert Band who play regularly at Assemblies and have auditioned recently for a Guest Artist position in the Festival of Music.

Music Ensemble Evenings: A wonderful series of evenings that has showcased the musical talents of our students and broader school community.

R-5 Swimming: A highly successful and efficient program. Our students loved the opportunity to learn new skills.

Volunteers: Thank you for generously donating their time and expertise in providing wonderful experiences for our school community to enjoy, including listening to our students read.

Parents and Friends: For working hard to promote and prepare our Mother’s Day Breakfast, Walk Safely to School, and highly successful Quiz Night event.

Pedal Prix Parent Team: For training and practising with our students each Tuesday and Thursday morning. Some great results at the Victoria Park Race meet - Comet (1st), Edge (4th), Snappin’ Pappin’ (26th).

Uniform Shop: For keeping our stock up to date and keeping our students looking sharp.

Facilities: Supporting the upgrades to both our playground and water fountains. Thank you to Tara and Hannah for driving our successful Working Bee.

Mid-Year Reception Transition Visits: A lovely group of students and families who are looking forward to starting next term.

Vacation Care: A wonderfully engaging program to look forward to.

Special Activities: Dance with Tamika, soccer clinics, Maths Club, Reconciliation Week, and ANZAC Day: Thank you to Heidi Jagger, from The Yellow Flower Cart in Piccadilly for donating our wreath and to those families and student leaders who represented our school at the Stirling Service.

Happy Holidays: Please take the time to enjoy the upcoming break; try something new, read a book, play outside in the puddles and most of all enjoy each other's company.

See you all in Term 3!

Kind regards
Shaun Barber

Mid-Year Reception Class

An exciting announcement is that we will begin next term with a new Mid-Year Reception Class due to an unexpected increase of enrolments in recent weeks. This decision has been made to benefit all learners, meaning that our current classes will not be at capacity and the mid-year students can have the best opportunity to settle into school life in readiness for a full year in 2026.

We are starting the new class with 16 receptions that will reside in Room 13. Katie Hesketh-Smith will teach Monday-Tuesday, and Kathy Smith the remainder of the week. Caitlyn Ogilvie will be taking over in Room 2 on Fridays for Kathy beginning next term.

The following staffing changes will also occur.

• Mid-Year Reception Class: Katie Hesketh-Smith Monday-Tuesday, Kathy Smith Wednesday-Friday 
• Room 2 Reception:  Caitlyn Ogilvie - Friday 
• Room 6 Year 1: Jonathan Belton - Friday 
• Room 3 Year 3/4: Phil Richardson - Thursday 
• Rec-Year 2 Specialist Health: Merrilee Wallis - Friday 
• Year 3-6 Specialist Health: Shaun Barber - Friday 
• Room 12 Year 5/6: John Nielsen Monday-Tuesday, Lyndal Chittleborough Wednesday-Friday 
• SAPSASA Specialist: Katie Hesketh-Smith - Friday 

What a night! The 2025 Quiz Night was a fantastic evening of fun, laughter, friendly rivalry — and some very impressive trivia knowledge! Thanks to the amazing support of our school community, we’re thrilled to announce that the event raised $13,431. These funds will go directly towards upgrading the school’s play equipment, with the Facilities Sub-Committee now taking the lead on what those improvements will look like and when they’ll roll out. We can’t wait to see the benefits for our students.

This event was generously supported by local sponsors, whose contributions helped elevate the night and drive our fundraising total. We’d especially like to thank our Platinum Sponsor, Stirling Family Dental who not only supported us financially but also joined in the quiz on the night with a table of guests and presented the end of quiz prizes.

We also gratefully acknowledge Gold Sponsor Ultra Tune Stirling, and our Silver Sponsors: Chat Well Allied Health, Lysaght, and SNOM Technology. We encourage our school community to support these businesses in return — their commitment to local schools like ours makes a real difference.

Heartfelt thanks also go to the many businesses and individuals who donated to the silent auction — this generosity filled the tables with amazing items and experiences, and gave guests plenty to bid for. Their support played a huge part in our fundraising success, and we hope you’ll consider supporting their businesses in the future. A full list of donors can be found below this article.

A huge round of applause to our Quiz Night Organising Committee: Aimee Thurley, Carl Bowey, Fiona Fuchs, Kelly Lawrie, Melanie Hay, Naomi Growden, Sally Barton, Tanja Barton, and Bec Quartermaine. Their energy, creativity, and many hours of behind-the-scenes work brought the entire event to life — from auction coordination and games to decorations, ticketing and everything in between.

We’d also like to give a special thank you to Quizmaster Jon, who ran an engaging and well-paced quiz that kept everyone on their toes — and their brains buzzing — right to the end. After three tightly contested quiz rounds, we had a tie for first place — and it all came down to a nail-biting tie-breaker. Team Principe emerged as the overall winners, with Table 4 taking out a very close second place. The coveted Best Dressed award went to the fabulous team No Scrubs, whose creativity and commitment to their look truly stole the show. Aimee Thurley and Tim Lundie won the individual best dressed awards for their razzle dazzle outfits.

Thanks also to Crafers Primary School old scholar Alba Murphy for kindly photographing the event. Alba’s photos captured the energy and fun of the evening beautifully, and we’re so grateful for her time and talent. Below this article, you’ll find a selection of photos from the night. You can also check out all of the fun photobooth videos from Social Highlights here.

As we look ahead to future events, if you attended the Quiz Night we’d love to hear your feedback. Whether you loved the quiz, have an idea for next time, or want to suggest improvements — we want to hear it. Click here to complete our 5 minute guest survey.

Thank you once again to everyone who helped make the night such a successful, memorable evening!

In Term 2, we played in the School Knockout Soccer competition at Hahndorf. Twelve students competed in the team. The first game was against Hahndorf. The match was intense, with the ball knocked back and forth. We were down 4–2 at half-time. We fought hard—Ethan scored, and then Ollie made it 4–4. We kept pushing, and Ethan made a great run down the wing. Sebby passed the ball out to him, and Ethan headed it into the goal to win the game 5–4.

In the second game, we were determined to win and go through to the next round. Ollie hyped us up with an enthusiastic speech. We started the game with energy and a strong desire to win. As we gained more possession, we finally scored. We kept moving the ball quickly, pushing hard, and showing great intent. We kept scoring and ended up winning 5–0. Everyone was happy. We are now through to the next round.

By Ollie and Neissen

On the 23rd of June, ten Year 5/6 girls went to a netball competition in Hahndorf. We played against two teams: St Michael’s Lutheran Primary School and Uraidla Primary School. We arrived at 9:00 am and had about an hour until our first game. During that hour, we did netball drills and warmed up.

The first game we played was against St Michael’s. It was a high-scoring game, although we lost by 10 goals. After this, we watched St Michael’s and Uraidla verse each other. St Michael’s won, which was a bit disappointing because it meant we wouldn’t progress to the next stage of the competition. Next, we versed Uraidla, but we didn’t win, which was upsetting.

In conclusion, we had a fantastic day filled with netball, teamwork, and fun.

Written by Matilda Oosterbaan and Pippa Thurley

This term, all the Year 6s at our school visited the Recycling Centre. When we got off the bus, we were all given hi-vis vests to wear. We walked over to the activity centre, where we were put into different groups to do the activities. The most interactive activity was sorting the bottles and cans into their designated bins.

After we left the activity centre, we were toured around SIMS Metal on the bus. At SIMS Metal, there were cranes picking up scrap metal and placing it on a conveyor. The guide talked to us about the process and what they do at SIMS Metal. We were then taken back to the Recycling Centre to return our vests. In conclusion, the excursion was exciting and very educational.

By Harvey Dewar

This term in Room 8, our students have explored art as a way of expressing both creativity and personal meaning. They began by learning how to paint on canvas, experimenting with brushwork, colour, and texture to bring their ideas to life.

During Reconciliation Week, we explored Indigenous art and its deep cultural significance. Students reflected on connection to Country, storytelling, and tradition, creating respectful artworks inspired by what they learned.

We also turned our focus inward, encouraging students to create pieces that express their own histories and ancestry. Through this, they developed a stronger sense of identity and shared the diverse stories that shape our classroom community.

In Health class, Room 12 students investigated the short-term and long-term effects of caffeine on the body. We engaged in discussions about the components of sports drinks and how caffeine impacts our health. The main takeaway from these lessons is that while these substances can be safe in moderation, excessive intake may lead to negative consequences. Following this, students designed posters to showcase their insights.