My name is Belinda Finlay-Smith and I am incredibly honoured to be appointed as the Principal for the remainder of the 2021 year.

I have been lucky enough to be the Deputy Principal at Pimpala Primary School since 2017 and in this time have formed strong relationships with students, families and staff.

I highly respect the connection between home and school and strongly encourage families to make an appointment with the classroom teacher, myself or another member of leadership if there is a conversation you wish to have.

Although there has been a few changes at the school recently we will ensure that the transition is smooth and seamless. This will provide an opportunity for our staff, students and school community to develop their resilence and capacity to adjust to challenges.

I welcome Judy Beal to the Deputy Principal position who comes to our school with a wealth of knowledge and experience to complement our leadership team. Judy has embraced our community and spent her first day begining to form connections with our students, families and staff.

Last week our 3-5 classes and this week our 5-7 classes have attended camp at Mylor Adventure Camp. The students have been amazing on camp, we have received positive feedback from the staff at Mylor who have been impressed with the maturity and respect of all of our students.

They have completed a range of activites and challenges on camp and pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones. 

Christine MacLean and myself visited camp last week and will be visiting this week. It was a very exciting experience and I will treasure the memories made, as I am sure the students and staff will also.

I look forward to supporting the children and families of Pimpala Primary School as we complete the 2021 school year together and into the future.

My name is Judy and I am the new Deputy. I feel honoured to have been offered the privilege of working with the Pimpala community and leading with the team and staff. I have certainly been welcomed by the students who have been kind and friendly. I have just transferred from Braeview School at Happy Valley where I was leading in STEM and Quality Teaching and Learning – I am thrilled to see the fantastic resourcing here at Pimpala for STEM learning and pedagogy and excited by the future and how bright it is for all of the learners here. 

While much of my leadership history is in Digital Learning and the IT space I have been a Deputy in schools recently at Willunga and previously at Warradale and Thiele. I believe strongly in collaboration, celebration and the voice of the learner. I have experience in working with stretch and challenge for high achieving students.  

I see myself as a continuing learner and am still researching and studying and spend much of my time listening to the students and staff to learn from them. I look forward to listening to parents and community members as they share with us their hopes for their wonderful children as they become the future of our amazing world and problem solvers and designers of solutions to as yet unknown problems. I have already seen fantastic collaboration, deep thinking and incredible learning design in action – and that’s in one full day and an afternoon visit. Pimpala’s possibilities are powerful and the potential is palpable!  

Again – thanks for the warm welcome and the continuing support.  

Aussie of the Month recognises personal endeavour, achievement and contribution to the community and reflects some of the values we share as Australians, such as fair go, mateship, respect and inclusion.

It is a primary school recognition program, that's been running for more than 20 years and is delivered by the same network that presents the Australian of the Year Awards.

Aussie of the Month reflects school values and encourages:

• an appreciation of the diversity and depth of personal contribution
• achievement possible within your school
• concern and consideration for all members of the school community

Each month, staff nominate students as candidates Aussie of the Month and then a student is elected to receive this special award to celebrate their commitment to the values we embrace at our school. The student to receive this award for the month of August is Nathan from 6/7 MacLean/Martinsen.

Nathan received our Aussie of the Month award for: always doing the right thing. He volunteers to help out using his own initiative and encourages others to model school values. He is an excellent mentor; showing endless patience.

Planning is continuing for 2022 and beyond.  We are looking at class configurations and need accurate numbers for each year level to plan the best possible scenarios.  Consequently we would like to know if you are planning to leave the school. 

 We will seek your feedback early in Term 4 regarding your child’s placement.  If there are any issues you would like considered, please email the leadership team so that this information can be referred to when class placements are made later in the year.  If there are any matters requiring more urgent attention, please speak to the teacher in the first instance.   

We also want to make sure we have all siblings listed.  If you have had a child recently, or if you are not sure whether you have lodged an enrolment form or registration of interest for any siblings, please check with the Administration Office.  We don’t want to miss anyone!

We have scheduled a number of extra dates and times to cater for the different time constraints which famiilies face when trying to attend school tours, including a tour on a Saturday morning at 10:00am. 

We have also included tours at 9:30am while students are at school.

Principal Tours have been scheduled for the following dates and times:  

• 23 August, 2021 at 4:30pm
• 30 August, 2021 at 9:30am
• Saturday, 11 September at 10:00am
• 13 September, 2021 at 9:30am and at 4:30pm
• 18 October, 2021 at 9:30am and at 4:30pm

Please book in with the Administration Office if you plan to attend by phoning 8326 0900.

Please wear a mask at all times.

Please note: as will all school events, the Principal Tours are subject to change/cancellation due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Nikki Gerrad from The Smith Family will be at Pimpala Primary School to support families with Learning for Life Scholarship related queries, document return, concerns, community referrals and food assistance or just for a chat.  Nikki is our Family Partnership Co-ordinator.

If you would like to meet with Nikki for a coffee/tea,  she will be in the OSHC Dining room, from 2.15-3.10pm starting Monday, May 3 ongoing until end of term 3.

Nikki will be available in the courtyard area for 10-15 minutes at school pick up to support any parent/caregiver queries.

The School Closure Day scheduled for Friday, 10 September, 2021 to celebrate the Royal Adelaide Show will still go ahead as planned. Unfortunately, the Royal Adelaide Show has been cancelled again this year.  

As this has been a long time in the planning and many of our families have made plans for this day, the school closure will still go ahead.  

There is also the possibility that there will be some alternate activities planned by others in the community which could give a show-like experience.  We will support any initiative regarding the show.

OSHC will be closed on the School Closure Day to provide an opportunity for staff to complete professional development.

Pimpala Primary School's Sun Smart Policy states that hats must be worn throughout the school year except for Winter months, 1 June to 31 August. The end of winter is coming quite quickly.  

Students will require hats at school from Thursday, 1 September. Hats are for sale from the Uniform Shop and also Qkr! and cost $15.00.

We will be celebrating Science Day on Friday, 27 August when classes are able to participate in a whole day of Science experiments and activities in recognition of Science Week.

Don’t forget, Father’s Day is on Sunday 5 September.

We will have some wonderful gifts for sale at the Father’s Day Stall. Gifts will be avaliable to be purchased from Friday, 27 August to Tuesday, 31 August, 12:00am. Gifts will start from $1 and go up to $10. 

Gift vouchers can also be purchased on QKR! for students to select gifts without the need to bring in cash. The gift voucher amounts are $2, $5 and $10.

Children will have the opportunity to buy gifts at the Father’s Day Stall on Thursday, 2 September with their class during the day.

Families can also buy gifts from the stall after school on Thursday, 2 September. 

We welcome donations of new items for the stall. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Which book character will your children dress up as on Friday, 3 September as part of our Book Week celebrations? Who is their favourite?  Now that is a hard decision - there are just so may fantastic books to read and characters to consider.

This year's Book Week theme is Old Worlds, New Words, Other Worlds.

During Week 7 we will celebrate Book Week by having an Art Gallery in the Hall.  Students will create art work based on a 2021 Children's Book Week nominated book, read by their class.

Families will have the opportunity to see the Art Gallery before school from 8:30am to 9:00am and after school from 3:10 to 3:45pm during Book Week. Entry numbers will be limited at the door to ensure we are following COVID regulations. 

The Junior Primary classes will be taking part in an educational learning experience at Adelaide Zoo this Term. This excursion complements the curriculum along with providing students a valuable opportunity to interact in a social capacity with their peers.

On Monday, 13 September Ms Lang, Ms Currer and Ms Abbott's classes and on Tuesday, 14 September, Ms Howlett, Ms Pullman and Ms Whitbread's classes will travel by bus to the Adelaide Zoo.

The total cost will be $21 per student, which includes their entry fee to the zoo, an educator led session and transport costs. If you have any queries regarding payment, or need to organise a payment plan, please see Helen in the Finance Office.  Payment is due by Wednesday, 8 September at the latest.

Payment can be made on the Qkr! App.  The consent form can also be filled out electronically too.  

Information and invoices were sent home last week.

Transition visits have been scheduled for the following Tuesdays:

2 November      9:00am - 10:40am

9 November      9:00am - 11:30am

16 November    9:00am - 12:00noon 

Prior to the transition visits, the transition students and families will be invited to a "Get to Know You" sausage sizzle on Tuesday, 19th October, 2021 from 4:30 to 5:30pm.

More information will be sent home soon.