Crafers Primary School

Dear parents and caregivers,

The festive season is already well and truly upon us. Term 4 is a wonderful time of the year for our students and local community as it provides us with an abundance of learning experiences and celebrations throughout. The first few weeks have been nothing less than rewarding and are best illustrated in this issue of our newsletter.

Thank you once again to all of our hard-working volunteers for generously donating their time and expertise in providing wonderful experiences for our school community to enjoy.

• Parents and Friends:  for organising our Wait Mate information night, giving families some really useful insights about how to implement phones safely to children. They also have supported the Day for Daniel, which is a great reminder of the importance of child safety and awareness.

• Pedal Prix Parent Team: for organising a Parent Information evening to prepare for 2026.

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

• Facilities: Thanks to Simon Cochrane for beginning our Bin Shed. It’s looking great!

Snake Season

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.

Performing Arts Evening

This evening is just around the corner. Students and staff have been working hard on the school performance The 10 Storey Treehouse, which is shaping up to be a fun and entertaining highlight for everyone. Be sure to save Friday 21st November in your diaries, as this is going to be a must-see event.

Sports Day

Preparations are well under way for another wonderful whole school community event to be held on Friday 28th November. Be sure to save the date, come dressed in your House Colours, and cheer loudly!

2026 Reception Transition Visits

We are all very excited to welcome our new students and families to our school with a series of Thursday morning transition visits held during Weeks 7 and 8. Please keep a friendly eye out and make them all feel welcome.

The next few weeks are once again going to be filled with many other events and experiences to enjoy including Wear Red Day, Music Concert Night, Remembrance Day Assembly, a variety of sporting clinics and events, and our upcoming Pupil Free day. We welcome you all to take the time to call in, volunteer, and enjoy the many events on offer with our fabulous community.

Kind regards

Shaun Barber

World Teachers' Day at our school has been celebrated over several days to include all of our wonderful teachers. Our staff were treated to an amazing morning tea, and handmade certificate with messages of thanks from their students.

On behalf of our support staff, students and broader school community, each teacher’s dedication, positivity, and never-ending desire to create a learning environment that supports the whole child, never goes unnoticed, and is what makes our school so great!

Thank you to those families who could attend the Wait Mate parent seminar held on Wednesday 22nd November in our school library. Despite a small turnout, the conversation was rich and worthwhile around supporting our students in appropriate use of technology and the importance of delaying the introduction of smart phone technology as long as possible, allowing our children to remain so for longer.

Many thanks to Emily Harrison for taking the time to present this invaluable information.

If you would like to know more, please visit the website: https://www.waitmate.org.au/

A recording of the session will be available for the next month via this link: https://vimeo.com/1130786106

When five of our students took the stage at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre for the Public Primary Schools Festival of Music Stars on Stage, they radiated with confidence and pride.

Our school was represented by Hannah, Anakin, Harriet, Pippa T, and Matilda, who stood proudly on the grand stage, singing alongside their conductor, Miss Shephard. That’s right, I was on stage too! I must confess, this is one of my fondest memories. Conductors don’t always have the chance to experience this; being on stage singing and performing choreography was truly phenomenal—a memory I will cherish forever! I received numerous compliments from parents and Mr Barber about how easily I could be spotted.

We performed under the watchful eyes of the remarkable conductors Robyn Filmer (Director of Music) and Cathy Lange (Assistant Director), alongside 1,200 other primary students. The Festival of Music featured nostalgic songs from the 2000s, including Won’t Look Down, Flashdance, and Dance Crazy. Beyond singing, our school was proudly represented in the orchestra by Lachie, who performed at all four concerts. I also want to acknowledge Raife, Charlotte, and Summer for their dedication to the choir this year, even though they were unable to perform on the night due to illness.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Tammie Christie for her support during our big day.

I am eagerly looking forward to showcasing our talents at the music concert on 4th November at 6:30pm. Please join us! I hope the entire community will come out to witness our performance and be inspired to join us next year.

Pam Shephard
Choir Conductor

Each fortnight there is a Well-Being group that meet in the art room. This is a calm and quiet space where children can participate in mindfulness colouring or making, creating ‘feelings bots’ out of dominoes, paint friendship rocks and just chat and share any issues or concerns with the group.

All children are welcome and often each fortnight the group has different members.

Here is a picture of a recent group getting the friendship rocks and dominoes painted and ready to be put out in the school yard for others to find and keep.

Thank you,
Kim Atkinson

In their mathematical studies the students of room 2 have been investigating 'whole' and 'parts of a whole'.

Students were slightly disconcerted (some excited) when their photos were chopped into many parts, but they knew the parts made an important 'whole'. 

The challenge was to put the 'parts' back together to make their faces 'whole' once again. This task presented quite a puzzle and the students rose to the occasion with exceptional concentration.

Please enjoy the photos.

In Room 7 the children have been exploring different artists. We recently looked at Matisse's famous vase painting to create our own version. The Children have created phenomenal pieces of Art which we have hanging in our classroom. Our next Artist to explore is Picasso.

On Monday, the 27th of October, 30 students from Years 3 to 6 went to the SA Schools Orienteering Championships. At 9:00 am, we took the bus to Belair National Park, where the first races began. When the races had finished at 12:00 pm, the awards ceremony started. Many students from Crafers were awarded medals and/or certificates for placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in their categories. In the primary schools category, Crafers came 2nd overall with 25 points. In conclusion, everybody did really well and it was a super fun day.

Written by Pippa Thurley and Matilda Oosterbaan.

Families that utilise Vacation Care during the upcoming holidays, please be aware that the last day of care will be Friday 19 December, and Vacation Care will recommence on Monday 12 January.

Please mark your calendars and plan accordingly.

Stirling Districts FC is excited to explore creating a 2025 Under 12 Girls State League soccer team — and we’re looking for passionate, capable young players to join us!

To see if we can form a team, we’re running two informal taster and trial sessions:

📅 Sunday 2 & Sunday 9 November

🕚 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

📍 Bradwood Park, Bradbury

These relaxed sessions are a great chance for girls born 2014 or later to come along, meet the group, and experience football in a fun and supportive environment.

If there’s enough interest and commitment, we’ll move ahead with forming the team for 2025 — so come along and be part of it!

👉 Register your interest here 

https://form.jotform.com/252689218898883

 or message Rob on 0431179313