Crafers Primary School

Welcome back to what promises to be a very exciting year! I hope families enjoyed a restful and enjoyable summer break doing all the things on your festive lists whilst also having some precious time with family and/or friends. This year is going to be another wonderful opportunity for our community to really come together and be a regular part of what makes our school such a great place to live, grow and learn through a variety of parent workshops, open classroom sessions, volunteering opportunities, community events and programs allowing us all the chance to connect on a regular basis.

The first week has been extremely positive, engaging and welcoming for all despite some rather warm weather. It’s been a joy getting around to each classroom and seeing firsthand how our students have been quick to settle and begin their learning journeys in a safe and supportive manner under the guidance of our wonderfully talented and dedicated staff. They have impressed me by the way they interact with each other, make new people feel included and welcome through their genuine sense of warmth, compassion and care towards one another.

During the first weeks, our staff and students will spend time getting to know one another through a variety of activities designed with an intentional focus on building positive relationships, developing class routines and expectations in order to set up for a successful year of learning and working together. As part of this process, our teachers will provide a series of hands on and engaging activities designed for students to identify and regulate their readiness to learn, target their interests, strengths and areas of growth, and begin to set goals for themselves.

The School Value we are initially focusing on is ‘Community’. Our plan is for our teachers and students to once again work collaboratively on unpacking ‘Community’ in order to create a deeper, shared understanding. We will consider the ways in which this value is embedded in our approach to learning and in our interactions with each other, in classrooms and the wider school community. Our journey will be shared through the creation of our next social story and visual poster.

Regular communication between school and home is important. As part of our ongoing commitment towards keeping our families up to date with school news we use a series of methods, with Audiri being our school wide communication tool for messages, newsletters and important information. Teachers will use Seesaw to communicate with families regularly, post incidental information and provide regular updates about what's happening in classrooms. For more information, please see the image display in this newsletter.

The start of a new school year is exciting for all, especially for our new Receptions and their families starting out in Rooms 1 and 2. We are sure that you all will love learning and making new friends.

I personally look forward to meeting you all, whether that be through an informal chat in the yard or at one of our upcoming events such as next Wednesday night’s Acquaintance Night.

Kind regards

Shaun Barber

At the end of last year and during our first week back together, staff spent time refining our shared vision and engaging with our 2026 Site Learning Plan (SLP).

Our Site Learning Plan (SLP) is a flexible document which is able to change, direct and reflect the progress being made. The overview document below will guide our work across the school this year, with clear priorities in Indigenous Perspectives, Numeracy, and Wellbeing for Learning.

Across all areas, there is a focus on metacognition. Helping students understand what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how they learn best. This approach supports learner agency and helps students become reflective, resilient and confident learners.

Our vision captures the heart of our school community, and is informed by feedback from staff, parents and students around why Crafers is such a great place to live, grow and learn.

At Crafers Primary School, our vision is to establish an environment of personal growth, achievement and social awareness, where every child is encouraged and supported to make continuous improvement, whilst developing their wellbeing, mindsets and dispositions for learning in a safe and supportive learning community.

Please welcome both Cassandra Preece and Tiarna Pattinson to our school in Term 1.

Cassandra has joined our Front Office Administration team to backfill Carol’s very big shoes whilst she is on a well-deserved holiday. Cassandra is highly skilled and has played a major role in producing both our ‘First Day of School’ and ‘Welcome’ videos.

Tiarna has returned to us as the Specialist Performing Arts teacher for two days a week. Tiarna brings a wealth of specialist and classroom experience and is excited to be a part of our Crafers community once again.

Congratulations to our Year 6 Student Leaders for 2026. Our leaders have been sworn in during our first week welcome assembly alongside our lovely new receptions. Our student undertook a rigorous process at the end of last year which involved writing their own speeches for election within their house groups around why they are to be considered as leaders, what impact they will have on our community and how they will best role model our school values.

Congratulations to the following students who have been elected:

Anakin Watkins    Baxter Jones   Ethan John   
Finn Petiet   Iris Webb   Kai Richardson
Lucy Morgan   Poppy Townsend   Rosie Smith

As the weather finally provides us with some warmth and sunshine, we are not the only ones who begin to enjoy it. Snakes also love the warm weather. Please be careful and make sure that you keep an eye out for our reptile friends. If you sight a snake on site, please report it to a staff member.

As so often happens, carpark safety has again raised by a community member. The carpark is used by the Crafers community for our children; it is therefore the responsibility of everybody using it - using the carpark as directed keeps our children and community members safe so please

• Drive at walking pace 
• Use the paths provided - walking through the staff carpark is not permitted
• Drop off and pick up are the in the kiss 'n' drop zone only - increasingly people are stopping at the U bend of the carpark, please continue down to the designated area
• Children must be accompanied by an adult to walk in the carpark; they cannot cross to the middle on their own
• Continue to loop if your child/ren cannot be seen; there should be no waiting in the kiss 'n' drop zone - if you need additional time please park and walk in

If you have family members who regularly collect children from school, please share this information with them. As the person on duty, it is not possible to direct everyone in the moment as attention must be on the children.