Three weeks ago we were delighted to host the official opening of the new facilities at our Wairoa campus, which was made possible by the assistance of the Block Grant Authority (BGA) and the Commonwealth Government. In addition to the BGA grant, our school's contributions played a vital role in funding the project, reflecting our community’s commitment to growth. The Wairoa expansion includes an extended main building and revamped spaces, providing extra classrooms, a specialist music room, teacher preparation area, meeting space, reception area, dedicated lockers and new furnishings. Wairoa staff and middle school students in Years 7 to 9 are the grateful beneficiaries of these new spaces. The construction journey navigated challenges amid pandemic disruptions, with lockdowns and remote learning affecting progress. Yet, our staff and students embraced the situation, adapting with resilience. Now complete, this extension has become the blueprint for the designs within our recently completed comprehensive Master Plan for our primary campus at Yultiwirra. As we look towards the future, we're planning future capital initiatives and aiming for more BGA-backed projects in 2025. Thank you to our MC's Blake and Lucy, and to Aunty Elaine who shared a Welcome to Country with us.
Cathy France
Principal
It was wonderful to come together as a community a few weekends ago to enjoy our annual Quiz Night. It is events such as these that build connections amongst our parent body and help unite us. Those who attended had great fun and certainly got into the spirit of the theme with their dressups!
Thank you to our school community for supporting the 2023 'Aussie Icons' Quiz Night with such enthusiasm and generosity. We raised $5394, a fantastic effort, well done to everyone who contributed or attended the evening.
Special mention to our MC Pete Monaghan whose wit and humour always makes the night. We would like to extend our appreciation to Georgia Richmond and the fundraising team for their behind-the-scenes work, sourcing prizes, catering and coordinating the event. Thank you to all the families who generously donated, as well as the sponsors who contributed to both the silent auction and pool of prizes, it made the night a huge success.
It has been a busy few weeks for the Preschool children as they celebrated Book Week by dressing up as a character from their favourite book, bringing in their favourite stories and listening to teachers and school staff reading. We also had our Big Brothers and Sisters spend time reading books and the children loved listening to them.
Another aspect the children enjoyed were the two wonderful mornings where we had Grandparents and Special people visit our preschool spending time in the classroom and playground. The children were overjoyed to show what it is they love doing in preschool, sharing their favourite Montessori materials, making necklaces and headbands before heading outside into the sunshine.
We would like to say thank you to all the grandparents and special friends who took the time to visit.
Last week, our Cycle 2 students took part in their annual overnight camp. This was a first-time experience for many, and the atmosphere was abuzz with anticipation. This year, we were hosted at the Wairoa campus, and we were accompanied by a group of Cycle 4 students who not only catered delicious meals for us but also joined us on our various excursions.
The camp started with a cultural excursion to the Art Gallery of South Australia, where the students had an opportunity to view the Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution exhibition. The visit proved to be an enriching experience, allowing the children to deepen their understanding of the art they've been studying this term. They also got to participate in a collage workshop in The Studio space, creating their dream garden scenes, inspired by local artist Alice Lindstrom. Following the gallery visit, we shifted gears and tested our courage at Adelaide Tree Climb. The children demonstrated great resilience, overcoming their nerves to navigate the obstacles at dizzying heights. This experience was undeniably a highlight for many of the Cycle 2’s.
Bright and early the next day, we headed to the Adelaide Zoo. There, we engaged in an educational workshop focused on creating a habitat for Harriet the lizard. Following the session, we explored the rest of the zoo's attractions. Our action-packed day concluded as we boarded the bus back to school, marking the end of our camp adventures.
As we reflect on camp, it's clear that it offered much more than just a break from routine. The experience enhanced a sense of community among students, giving them a chance to make new friends and strengthen old friendships. It also provided opportunities for developing teamwork, self-confidence, independence, and leadership. The students showed great resilience, particularly those who were camping overnight for the first time. Overall, the camp was a hit, and we're confident it provided memories that the children will continue to cherish.
After successfully participating in our school service project during Term 2, students are venturing out into the wider community to broaden their experience with our longstanding Community Service program. Community service is valuable component of our ongoing Virtues Program which provides students with real opportunities to develop virtuous characteristics and develop a greater moral and social awareness within a community setting while offering their service.
With a diverse array of 12 participating organisations, students had the privilege of selecting from a wide spectrum of experiences. Guided by their personal preferences for working with people, animals, or the environment, they enthusiastically submitted their top three choices. Subsequently, these students formed small teams and made contact with their designated organisations to coordinate suitable dates and times for their placements.
Some of the experiences include assisting with stocking the Food Pantry at The Hut Community Centre, engaging and socialising with adults with disabilities during their art sessions at Broughton Arts as well as organising a collection drive for Shoe Boxes of Love and helping to sort and pack care packages for emergency service workers. Other experiences include lending a hand to maintain a heritage trust garden at Stangate House, sorting and displaying stock at The Stirling Community Op Shop and working on a local farm maintaining native vegetation and assisting with farm maintenance.
This program will culminate with our students delivering presentations, sharing their experiences, and imparting the valuable lessons they have gained from their service placements.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated support staff, volunteer parents, and the organisations that have generously collaborated with us, all of whom have helped to make this program possible.
Bursting with ideas and energy, our Wairoa campus is in full production mode. Students have been busy producing soaps, cutting boards, macrame, beeswax wraps and bath bombs; as well as mastering new recipes for the cafe and washing cars as part of their enterprise learning. Our latest cafe included the launch of the Crafter and Young pop-up shop, where the students marketed their wares. The car wash was in full swing and the cafe was scrumptious, quick and efficient. Next, the students will be calculating their profits…
We have also connected with our community through a fundraiser for Period Poverty. A small group of students has organised this in the form of a massive clothes swap. They generated ideas, planned, advertised and then organised the whole event. This fundraiser not only helps the Women’s Community Centre in Mount Barker, but raises awareness of clothes waste.
Yet another group has been busy preparing our campus for the Cycle 2’s camp! They planned and prepared the delicious food as well as helping with their excursions and making them feel welcome.
We will continue our busy term preparing for our Cultural Studies Expo!
It has been all about table tennis this term. The Preschoolers through to Cycle 4 have been developing their table tennis skills. We have learnt how to hold the racket, the different types of shots, how to serve correctly, and played many games against our peers. Table tennis has helped students further their hand-eye coordination. Focusing on a small fast-moving ball is challenging. We have developed our skills by seeing how long we can balance the ball on our racket, and how many times we can keep the ball in the air using forehand and backhand shots.
The Cycles 1 and 2 students had a cricket clinic run by SACA. Students participated in batting, bowling, and fielding activities run by two SACA cricket coaches.
Cycles 1, 2, and 3 have been learning how to skip in our fitness sessions. We have been developing our individual skills and learning about the physical benefit of skipping. We have also enjoyed working together with long rope activities.
The Cycle 4 students have participated in learning the art of map reading and navigation through the sport of orienteering. Each week students set out on different courses around the Wairoa property. The second half of the term has seen students participating in netball using the facilities at Aldgate Netball Club.
The Nature Festival is happening in the school holidays from 1 - 15 October with myriad family friendly events. This is the perfect opportunity to foster a deeper connection with the natural world, especially in these challenging times of climate change, bushfires, and global pandemics. Not only is this relationship with nature critical to our personal well-being, but it's also foundational to our collective efforts in nature conservation and stewardship. Plus, being in nature feels good. We know it intuitively, Aboriginal culture values it explicitly, and modern science has more recently begun to quantify the wellbeing benefits of nature. Have a look at the program via this link: https://www.naturefestival.org.au/events
An event celebrated on the 6th of September was Indigenous Literacy Day.
This year three books were written by the children, elders, educators and parents of local communities around Australia and published.
Shordi Krik- from the Barunga community school children which is around an hour from Katherine in the NT and showcases the joy a group of students experienced at Shordi Krik, exploring the water, the rocks, trees, breeze, catching crayfish and the playful activities that ensue. It shares a special place in the children’s lives. With the help of Justine Clark this story was turned into a song in 2022 and now a book in 2023.
Country Tells Us When… is a story from the Yawuru Community in Rubibi (Broome) that explores the seasonal changes of the Kimberley. The story was created by educators from Cable Beach Primary School because they felt that there weren’t enough story and language resources like this for their children and Community.
We Look, We Find: Being on Country with Elders From Napranum in Cape York, Queensland, We Look, We Find showcases what it means to be on Country with Elders. The book teaches children the importance of learning about Country and shares words in Thaynakwith language. This book is the first time that Thaynakwith language has been commercially published in a children’s book. The bright and joyful story was created by women and children from the Napranum Early Childhood Centre.
For more information visit
Listen to the Song - Shordi Krik https://open.spotify.com/album/7GZ4XmjnJBtAvHbYNdD4eY?si=eGskYjVhSW2DyAQSKCUedw&nd=1
The class canvases from this year's Festival of Arts have been made into beautiful greeting cards and are now available for purchase from the Office.
Great for any occasion, the cards are blank inside and come with an envelope (see the attached for card designs).
$20 for pack of 10 cards or $3 each
Get in quick before they sell out!
