NEWSLETTER

Issue 7 Friday 19 September 2025

We acknowledge the Original Custodians of the land on which we work and learn, the Ngadjuri Nation, and recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay respect to elders past, present and emerging.

Term Dates 2025


TERM 1Tuesday 28 January  -  Friday 11 April
TERM 2

Monday 28 April  -  Friday 4 July  

TERM 3Monday 21 July  -  Friday 26 September
TERM 4Monday 13 October  -  Friday 12 December


Please see the Term 4 Calendar in this newsletter for important dates

From The Principal

VISIT FROM COMMONWEALTH GAMES CYCLIST

On 6th August, we all enjoyed the visit to our school from Breanna Hargrave. Brea was very inspirational and talked to the students about never giving up on your dreams. Brea had always wanted to represent Australia as a sprinter after seeing Cathy Freeman run in the 2000 Olympics. When her aspirations as a sprinter didn’t come to fruition, she began training as a cyclist. In this sport, she was able to shine, winning two bronze medals with Brandie O’Connor in the tandem events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

She is also:

·         5-time Australian Champion

·         20-time National Championship Medallist and

·         6-time Oceania Championship Medallist

At the ‘old’ age of 39, Brea staged a comeback by breaking the Australian record for the 500-metre time trial at the Adelaide SuperDrome. As a result, she went on to represent Australia at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Brea talked to the students about setting goals for themselves and developing a plan to work towards them. She talked to them about being flexible and making adjustments to their plans and about never giving up. This fits perfectly with our school focus on Resilience and Persistence.

Two of our Year 6 students bravely took up Brea’s offer to try out her training bike and see how much power they could generate in a short, intense sprint. Mr Gliese also gave it a crack!

·         Indy – 470 watts

·         Thomas – 530 watts

·         Mr Gliese – 710 watts


BOOK WEEK – book an adventure

During Week 5, we celebrated Book Week. The highlight of the week was, of course, our Book Week parade. As usual, the students and staff all turned up in fantastic costumes, representing a wide range of characters from books. We were excited to see all the parents and family members who came along to cheer us along on our parade. 

CFS VISIT

On Tuesday, we had a visit from the CFS. We learnt a lot about the role of the CFS from all the volunteers who came to our school and how they keep us all safe. It was great fun to use the hoses, try on the firefighting gear and climb on board the fire trucks. We are very grateful to all the CFS crew for all the work they do. (Thank you, Mr Claridge, for organising it.)

TALK LIKE A PIRATE

Shiver me timbers, 19th September is international ‘talk like a pirate’ day! The scallywags from Mrs Sitters’ class worked with their little mateys in Mr Claridge’s and Ms Moffett’s classes to make pirate hats and eye patches. Arrrrr, me hearties, they look grand!

BUSY TERM!

It sure has been a busy term! Apart from all the fun events mentioned here, we’ve also had school camp to Roonka, which was attended by most of our students from Years 1 to 6. (Make sure you order a Year Book, when they are advertised next term, to get all the photos of the kids enjoying themselves.)

We also enjoyed the Festival of Music performance on Wednesday night at the Entertainment Centre. Mrs Sitters deserves as huge ‘THANK YOU’ for all her time and patience in preparing the students and supporting them in learning the songs and performing at assemblies. (See below for her write-up and photos.)

Next week, is Swimming Week. This is always an enjoyable time, but also very tiring. Make sure your little swimmers get plenty of sleep next week, and that they eat well. You may need to pack more in their lunch boxes!

Next term doesn’t look like being any quieter. We have big whole school events: Sports Day and School Concert. Plus, lots of ‘rite of passage’ events for our Year 6 students: Transition visits to high school, Aquatics Day and Graduation Night.

With just one week to go until school holidays, I’ll take this opportunity to thank all of the staff for all their work this term. The teachers work hard to plan and prepare all the learning activities for children, making them engaging and suitable for their learning needs, while also caring for them and supporting them emotionally. The SSOs work alongside them in the classroom to support students and help them all be successful. And our Admin staff work tirelessly to ensure that the school runs smoothly. They’ll soon all be able to enjoy 2-weeks of well-deserved rest and relaxation … ready to do it all again in Term 4!

Gail Holland

Festival of Music 2025

Our Choir sessions for the year have now come to an end. Our Year 5 and 6 students had the incredible opportunity of performing at The Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Wednesday 17th September. With 1300 children on stage and a packed audience it was an experience of a lifetime!

Our students were focussed, brave and energetic throughout the afternoon rehearsal and then the evening performance.

Indy won a soloist role by auditioning in Adelaide this year. She finished the entire evening singing her solo in You’re The Voice! She absolutely shone on stage, and showed incredible courage and poise throughout.  Special mention to Jusinta who also auditioned. Despite not winning a soloist role, she stepped up and became an inspiring leader within our Choir.

With the help of our Choir teacher, Sandy Bowen, our students learned their lyrics well, and were able to gain useful insights into reading music and understanding musical terminology. 


Our Year 4 choir students were with us throughout all of our school sessions and they have shown great dedication and enthusiasm throughout the year. We are hoping that they will continue with Choir in 2026, along with our Year 5’s who’ve participated this year.

Dana Sitters

Swimming Lessons at The REX: Important Information for Parents

The REX would like to remind parents of the following important rules:

*   The pool must be accessed through the main entrance to the Barossa Aquatic Centre - The Rex only

*   Strictly no glass is allowed in the pool area.  This includes face mask goggles, drink bottles, coffee cups and containers

*   There is no photography in the Barossa Aquatic Centre - teachers are the only exemption to this rule, if they are wearing the high visibility vests.  Strictly no videography.  There are no exceptions to this

*   Students who have been sick with gastro or diarrhoea need to be excluded from the water

*   At no time should parents/caregivers interact with instructors or interfere with lessons


Student Requirements for Swimming Lessons

  • No T-shirts or cotton board shorts allowed in water
  • Plastic bag for wet bathers
  • Towel
  • Long hair is to be tied back
  • Children encouraged to bring own goggles (labelled) – not glass/

”tempered”/letter ‘T’ on the glass

  • Current healthcare plan, medication & medication authority to be provided to the school
  • Please label all belongings


** Students with a recorded health condition should make sure their Healthcare Plans, Medication Agreement forms (both to be completed by your healthcare professional) and medication is up to date. The class teacher will ensure it is taken to the pool**

 Please refer to your Swimming Information Notice for more information.

School Procedures

Change in Family Circumstances

Please complete the 'Change of Details' form on the Audiri App to update any of the following changes to your circumstances:

*  home address (residential and/or postal)

*  contact phone number

* employment &/or place of employment

* email address

* emergency contacts

* student's medical condition

* *shared living arrangements

** custody information

**Contact the Front Office by phone, email or in person to provide further details

PCW News

Hello,

Spring is definitely in the air — the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and the sniffles have arrived! We live in such a beautiful part of the world. I never tire of the scenery on my drive from Lyndoch. The vineyards are looking tidy, the grass is green, and the blossoms are out — it’s just stunning.

Mr. Gliese and I have just completed the Seasons of Growth program with our Year 5/6 students. This program focuses on change: how it affects us and provides strategies to help us manage the changes in our lives. We talk about how some changes are within our control, while others are not.

As we journey through the program’s seasons — Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer — we draw parallels between the seasons of nature and the seasons we experience in our own lives. When reflecting on Spring we see it as a time of new beginnings and growth. It brings freshness and hope, although there can still be remnants of Winter. During this time, we remember special memories, and recognise how these can bring us strength during difficult times, helping to heal our hearts and minds. 

We’ve explored feelings and talked about healthy ways to care for our difficult emotions, including the power of forgiveness. We’ve also thought deeply about the choices we make and discovered that every choice has a consequence, even the good ones! We identified our character strengths and discussed how they can support us when we face challenges or tough times. We ended the program with Summer, exploring the sense of freedom it brings, the support networks we rely on, and how to set personal goals to help us keep moving forward.

It has been a pleasure to be part of this journey with our students. Every single one of them has participated positively and engaged thoughtfully with the program. I know each student now carries a few more tools in their toolbox to help build resilience and face the inevitable changes and challenges of their own seasonal lives.

I encourage you to reflect on the seasons in your own lives, and to open conversations at home about change, emotions, and how you navigate life’s big moments. Our role modelling as parents and carers is incredibly powerful, our children learn so much from watching how we move through our own seasons.

Over the past year, I have had a number of parents come to me for advice and help with parenting. Unfortunately our young cherubs don’t come with a users manual and every child is different. As there seems to be more questions,  I have asked the Dept of Human Services to come and run a FREE parent workshop next term here at our school. This workshop is run over 2 nights and there will be a creche and light tea available (see the flier in the parent noticeboard on this newsletter for details). I would encourage all of you, whether you have young or older children to attend this workshop. I have participated in a number of these workshops and as a parent of young adults, I am still learning! The workshops are run in a  relaxed format, they are informative, helpful and a great way to network and share the parenting journey with others. If you would like to know more, then please let me know.

Enjoy the final week of term, and may you all have a safe, restful, and family focused holiday.

See you soon,

Cheers,

Jo

Parent Noticeboard

Greenock Primary School Calendar - Term 4 2025

Greenock PS Governing Council

Contact details:

Greenock Primary School

Principal:   Gail Holland