ENewsletter

From the Principal

Dear parents and caregivers,

It certainly has been an eventful and exciting past few weeks for our staff, students and broader school community who have once again organised and experienced a plethora of learning opportunities that have created fantastic memories for all to enjoy. I cannot complete this newsletter without a 'shout out' to our Community. There is no doubt in my mind why this is the number one value here at Crafers. Over the past weeks, we have had a number of events including; our Student Led Book Week Parade, Grandparents and Special Person’s open morning, P&F Book Stall, Year 5-6 KESAB excursion, Primary Schools String Orchestra performance, Room 1 and 5 Assemblies, knockout soccer and basketball competitions.

This edition of our newsletter continues to paint a fabulous visual story of our ongoing journey, with more great events to look forward to in the coming weeks including; new lunch time clubs, Year 3-4 Woodhouse excursion, School Closure Day, Father’s Day Breakfast, Festival of Music Choir Regional Camp and Adelaide performances, tennis clinics, Year 5-6 Lightning Carnival, and the Room 6 Assembly.

Thank you to everyone for your support and commitment towards providing these great learning opportunities. To quote a grandparent I spoke to during the wonderful Book Week Parade and open morning; ‘For a school our size, we certainly do provide so many exciting opportunities for our students’. Which really does speak volumes about our team and community.

I am very much looking forward to the coming weeks and celebrating another busy yet successful term together.

Kind regards

Shaun Barber

Introducing Our New Librarian: Scott Bartholomew

We are thrilled to extend a warm welcome to our new librarian, Scott Bartholomew. Having previously worked in library, Student Support Officer (SSO) and technology support specialist roles, his diverse skill set and dedication to fostering a love for reading make him a valuable addition to our team.

Scott will be available in the library on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. We are excited to see the innovative ideas and enthusiasm he will bring to our library community. Be sure to stop by and say hello!

Book Week Parade, Grandparents & Special Friends Day

Last Tuesday, our school celebrated Book Week and Grandparents & Special Friends day. To start the occasion we had our Book Week Parade, where each class took turns walking around the designated parade lap. All of the costumes were amazing! They were all very thoughtfully put together. Thank you to all the families for designing and creating them.

After the parade, grandparents and special friends were led to the classrooms and did special activities with the students planned by the teachers. Some of the activities included; drawing, creating name tags on Tinkercad with the 3D printer, word searches, painting trees, leaf rubbings, doll pegs, history surveys, making book marks and tours around the school.

Overall, the morning was a huge success and wouldn’t have been achieved without our staff, families and student leaders. Thank you for coming to our Book Week and Grandparents and Special Friends day.

Written by Pippa T

Upcoming Events

Thank You for Supporting Our Book Week Great Book Swap!

We are thrilled to share the success of our recent Book Week Great Book Swap! Thanks to your generous contributions of books and gold coins, we raised an impressive total of $338. This amount will be donated to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, helping to provide new, carefully selected books to children in remote communities across the country.

Your kindness and support play a crucial role in fostering a love of reading and learning among young readers who need it most. Together, we're making a significant impact in bridging the literacy gap and empowering children through the joy of reading.

Thank you once again for your participation and generosity!

2025 Parent survey

The annual parent survey is underway and closes midnight Sunday 7 September. For more information please visit the department’s website.

This survey aims to get your views on:

what we’re doing well
where we can improve
what’s important to you as a parent/carer.

Your answers won't identify you or your child and only collated feedback is provided to our school.

You should have already received a link to the survey via email or SMS. Reminder emails are currently being sent to you unless you have completed a survey or have unsubscribed.

Please take the time to complete the survey, this is valuable information for our school. If you cannot find the previously sent link, then please use this one: https://survey.education.sa.gov.au/sc/mTQ8RzryxTfRTxsiaqDzCg2

Year 1 Phonics Screening, PAT Testing and NAPLAN Review

Students in Years 1 to 6 will be undertaking a series of assessments in the coming weeks as part of the school’s annual data review cycle. Once results become available, our staff will meet as a team to analyse the information to provide further targeted teaching for our students.

SSO Week Celebrations

Support staff truly are the best ✨

Our students and teachers organised a special surprise Assembly acknowledging the hard work of our fabulous Support Staff team as part of Support Staff Week. Each team member was treated to some kind words, hand-made cards and messages created by our students, and a well-deserved luncheon provided by our teaching staff. On behalf of entire school community, we want to say a huge thank you to our fabulous team. We're so appreciative of all your hard work to help students thrive and for the support our teachers every day.

Lunch & After School Clubs

Lunch and after school clubs are becoming very popular amongst our students. With the number of active clubs growing from 5 to 6 thanks to the wonderful return of Knitting Club ran by Tania McGregor and Cynthia Meredith for interested Year 5 and 6 students. Our students are going to learn a variety of stitching techniques that will allow them to teach it on to younger students as the club evolves.

Interest has grown with a number of families wanting to know how their children can join various clubs. All clubs are free to participate, and all bar our knitting club is for everyone to access by simply notifying each leader of your interest on the day. We are in very exciting times!

Library Monitors

Meet our new Library team of students who are volunteering their time to assist with the returns and shelving of our borrowed books. Every morning from 8:50-9:10am the girls will visit all classes to collect and assist students with returns. Millie, Matilda, Audrey, Minnie and Pippa are excited to lead this wonderful and generous initiative.

A note from Ebony

This term, Tamika Harrison and I have been running some targeted group sessions of What’s The Buzz? with some of our younger students. So far, we have looked at making friends and joining in with others. Each topic works through a relatable story about a boy, Archie, and provides activities to encourage students to practice the skill. These groups are bonding well and have been engaging well with the content. I’m seeing them begin to practice these strategies in the yard and often have students come up to me asking if it’s a What’s The Buzz? day. I look forward to seeing how the program continues to support these students!

Front Garden Care

We just wanted to send a friendly reminder about our lovely front garden. It’s full of delicate plants that are growing beautifully, and we’d love your help in keeping it that way.

If you’re waiting at the kiss n’ drop or leaving the school, please remind the little ones to be gentle around the garden. Our trees, bushes, and tree ferns are not for climbing, and we want to make sure they stay healthy and thriving.

Thank you so much for your cooperation and for helping us maintain our beautiful green space!

All Girls Cricket Clinics (Year 3-6 Girls)

Crafers has been offered a series of free All Girls Cricket Clinics during lunchtime in Term 4 (Week 2 to 5). The clinics are fully funded by Cricket Australia and run by SACA staff.

The program is designed to provide cricket as an experience and option for girls to get involved with. In the last few seasons, we a new Strikers Girls Cricket League competition has been established in the Adelaide Hills which has seen great growth and is aimed to give girls an opportunity to play in an all-girls environment.

Should your daughter be interested please complete this Registration Link: https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/f912ba

Please note that these clinics require a minimum number of participants to run, so confirmation of the clinics will be sent closer to the event.

If you have any further queries please contact me via email (Katie.HeskethSmith172@schools.sa.edu.au)

Katie Hesketh-Smith
PE Teacher

SAPSASA Soccer Championship

During the past week, Neissen, Ollie, and Seb from the Hills District team triumphed in the SAPSASA Soccer Championship for Division 1, achieving a shared Gold with Barker District.

Congratulations to the entire team and our Crafers boys!

Latest in Sport...

Soccer Boys Team - featuring our new CPS Shelter!

Basketball Girls Team

Basketball Boys Team

Raising Healthy Minds app

The Raising Healthy Minds app is a free, personalised, pocket resource to help parents and carers raise confident, resilient children. Co-designed with parents and experts and funded by the Australian Government, Raising Healthy Minds aims to support children’s social and emotional wellbeing with evidence-based information.  You’ll find information on topics like dealing with worries and making friends, as well as ideas for day-to-day life, like creating family routines, looking after yourself as a parent, and building strong relationships.  The app offers a mix of quick-read articles, videos and animations aimed at parents and carers of children aged 0-12 years. You can tailor information to the age of your child and opt-in to receive helpful tips.  Raising Healthy Minds provides simple-to-use information at your fingertips with clear actions you can start today.  Download from Google Play or the App Store or go to raisingchildren.net.au/rhm to learn more and raise a healthy mind 🧠 😊

Hills Tennis Association, Adult Mid-Week Tennis

Hills Tennis Association, Adult Mid-Week Tennis, Tuesday mornings 9.00 am start, home and away. Season dates from 14/10-9/12/2025 then 13/1-24/3/2026 (18 matches). Minimum of 4 players per team but with the ability to play 6. Form your own team, or join another Club in the Association who are always looking for players. All sets are doubles with eight sets played each Tuesday. A great social tennis opportunity for part-time workers or retirees, open to both women and men. Email Robyn Starcic on robyn@trfarm.au or contact Robby Bond-Wallner on 0421 175 621 or wallner@adam.com.au for more details or advice, nominations need to be in by 30/9/2025.

Crafers Primary School

Newsletter 29 August 2025