Next year we will have quite a few changes in staff with staff moving on to new adventures. As a leader one of the joys I have is seeing people grow and feel brave enough to take on new challenges.  

While we are always sad to say farewell to anyone, we also know that once you are part of Felixstow you are always part of Felixstow. It is also always great to see people spread a little ‘Felixstow’ in other sites!

Staffing changes for 2024 are as follows:

We will sadly be farewelling…

 Jenny Doherty – Jenny will be moving to a permanent role at a school where she will be in a classroom support as well as running and managing the Kitchen Garden program. We know this is such a strength of Jenny’s and that she will establish a fabulous program that will benefit all the students that will get to work with her.

Lauren Almond – Lauren has accepted a role as a pre-school teacher. Pre-school teaching is something that Lauren has wanted to pursue and she is nervous, excited and ready to take on this new challenge in her career.

Nicole Jones – Nicole has accepted a position as a year 3 teacher and taken on the next challenge of working in a larger site with varied opportunities and we know she will spread a little Felixstow in her new role.

I want to take the opportunity to thank Jenny, Lauren and Nicole for all that they have contributed to Felixstow in the time they have been with us and wish them all the best for their new ventures. We will miss them all immensly and hope that they will take everything they have learnt at Felixstow about themselves, teaching and learning to their new sites.

Our 2024 teaching team: 

Laura Batchford will be continuing as a permanent member of our staff and will continue in the Primary program. 

Steve Partridge – Steve has accepted a full time 12 month contract continuing in the Primary program with Laura.

Camille Jenkinson – As of 2024 Camille will become a permanent member of Felixstow in the 2 day Art role. In 2024 she will also work 1 day per week in the Junior Primary program. 

Emma Willacy – Emma has accepted a full time Junior Primary position with us and will step out of the PE program. She will continue to support and oversee the School sports teams.

We welcome to our team …

 Juniper van den Ende – Juniper will be working in our Reception to Year 2 group 4 days per week, with Emma, and brings with her a wealth of creative and arts experiences.

Leigh Hodges – Leigh has been a regular reliever at Felixstow over this year and we are excited to welcome him to the team taking the 2 day per week PE & Health role

We know it is always hard to say farewell but also with change comes exciting new opportunity for everyone. 

• Reception to Year 5  Swimming,  All week, 4th Dec - 8th December, Norwood Pool,  $20 cost  - volunteers will be needed.
• Year 6 Aquatics Day at West Lakes, Tuesday 5th December,  All Day,  $10 cost.
• Whole school excursion to The Adelaide Zoo,  Thursday 14th December,  no cost  - volunteers will be needed.

Both clubs are continuing in term 4 on the following days:

Coding Club is on Mondays at first break

Environment  Club is on Thursdays at second break

Last week, the P1 class had an adventure where we went off to a local tennis court to play in a tennis clinic with a number of other schools. The day started off as a bit of an adventure as we all met in a local park away from school. After a fun time in the playground we set off for the short walk to the tennis ground.

It was a little intimidating at first, as there a lot of other schools there, and a few that clearly knew their way around a tennis court! However, after the initial briefing where our worries were eased we were divided into two teams to play some tennis. And, boy, did we play some tennis! It was non stop all day, with just a short break for lunch and recess.

The tennis was fun and we all learnt lots of new skills. The end of the day came very quickly, and we had to hustle, we very nearly missed the bus! A great day was had, with lots of tired but happy kids with stories to tell at the end of the day. 

This term we are learning how to write procedural texts. We have explored sequencing activities about ‘how to make toast’ and ‘how to brush your teeth’ to learn the importance of order. We then put our sequencing to the test where we as a class wrote a procedural text on ‘how to make fairy bread’. We were super excited to make the fairy bread and eat it! For some of us, it was the first time trying fairy bread and our taste buds weren’t too sure what to think.

 We are now working on writing a class piece about ‘how to make a sandcastle’. We have spent some time in the sandpit exploring different ways with a range of materials to find the best way to make the sand castle. So far we have discovered that you don’t have to use a bucket and the size of the bucket doesn’t matter because you can collect the sand and compact it to build it up with just your hands, but you must have water and sand. We discussed the importance of the water when making a sandcastle and some students made connections to our Inquiry ‘What’s the go with H20’

This term in maths we have been learning to recognise and add up Australian money. We worked collaboratively to add up the amount of money Nicole gave us, and talked about the easiest way to do this. We also learnt how to work out how to give change. We shared currency form other countries too, such as pounds and rupiah.

Year 5/6 students have been lucky enough to the opportunity to work with First Nations artist, Stuart Alison (from Carclew ), on our 'Stobie Pole Art project' after Camille was able to secure a community grant earlier this year through the City of Nowood, Payneham and St Peters Council. When finished these will be fixed to the stobie poles on Briar Rd to add a little colour at the front of the school.  

Health and PE

Over the past 3 weeks, students have been learning about the fundamentals of cricket including batting, bowling and fielding. They have been engaging in modified cricket games to develop their skills.

 Basketball

Congratulations to our year 3/4/5 Basketball team who have made it into the Semi Final winning their last game of the season on Wednesday night against Marryatville Hoops 12-8. We wish them all the best next Wednesday afternoon when they come up against SFA Thunder in the Semi Final at the ARC at 4pm. The team hopes to get lots of support as they head into finals.

 Cricket

Our cricket team has been doing really well winning their last few games. Their next game is tomorrow at 8:30am at Devitt Oval against Trinity Gardens Primary School.

On Thursday 2nd November, 20 students from P1 and P2 participated in a volleyball competition at Gelnelg, organised by Volleyball SA. Students were organised into 3 teams and played 4-5 games each. On display were excellent teamwork and technical skills by our students. A great day was had by all.