What an busy, amazing, exciting, wonderful term!

It has been a term full of extraordinary learning opportunities including excursions and incursions, sporting events, a whole school showcase and many whole school events.

It has been excellent to discuss the learning that students have been completed this term. The growth that we are observing in our students is fantastic.

Term Four will be another very special one with Bike Ed, Swimming and Aquatics, End of Year Concert and Graduation as well as many learning opportunities in class.

We have some staffing changes in Term Four.

Mel Scott will be continuing to teach in the Northern Territory. Kate Viney will continue to teach in the class on Monday-Thursday and we welcome Heidi Kudler, who will be teaching in the class on Friday.

We would also like to congratulate Sandra Howlett who has successfully been appointed to the Deputy Principal position at Coorara Primary and will starting there from early Term Four in an ongoing role. Emma Shillum will be teaching in the Year 1/2 class for the Term. We wish Sandra all the best in her new role, she will be dearly missed by our students, community and staff. The impact that Sandra has had on everyone will continue for many years to come. Coorara are very lucky.

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable break and that there is a lot of sunshine for us all to enjoy.

I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday, 18 October for Term Four.

On Monday, 17 October there will be a Student Free Day, so all staff can undertake professional learning.

OSHC will be open on the day.  If you would like to book your child/ren into OSHC, bookings are now open.

We are continuing with our planning for classes for next year and are trying to finalise numbers for 2023.  We ask that if you will not be returning to Pimpala in 2023 that you advise the class teacher or the Administration Office as soon as possible. 

We appreciate that some students may be on a waiting list for another school or there may be a job in the pipeline that would mean a move to a new suburb or interstate, however, we would appreciate this information so we can work on Plan A, Plan B etc.  We are looking at class configurations and need accurate numbers for each year level to plan for the best possible scenarios.

If you know someone who may be interested in enrolling at Pimpala PS next year, can you please ask them to make contact with the Administration Office as soon as possible.

Individual Principal Tours are available on request.

We are hosting a Trivia Night on Saturday, 22 October, 6:30 for a 7:00pm start, to raise funds to develop our Play Spaces and to upgrade the Audio Visual equipment in our Gymnasium.

The theme for our Trivia Night is ‘Characters from the Big Screen’. There will be prizes for the best dressed table, so make sure you think about your outfits for the night!

Tables will have a maximum of 10 people, it is $10 for each person.

If you are able to donate an item for the event please contact the Administration Office. We would really appreciate it.

Tables are selling out quickly so if you would like to book a table please contact the Administration Office on 83260900 or dl.1059.info@schools.sa.edu.au tables are selling out fast so book in quickly!

We cannot wait to see you there. It is going to be an amazing night!

Transition visits for our new Receptions for 2023 will be held during Term 4 on the following dates:

• Tuesday, 15 November, 2022 9:00am – 10:40am
• Tuesday, 22 November, 2022 9:00am – 11:30am
• Tuesday, 29 November, 2022 9:00am – 11:30am

During this term teachers have identified students who have demonstrated the school values of Responsibility, Respect and Resilience to a high standard and nominated them to receive an award - usually at the Assembly.  

Awards are only awarded when the values are observed and deserved so some weeks there may be more and some weeks less awards.

Congratulations to the students who were presented with an award on Friday, 16 September, 2022. Great work!

Reception – Tim Scott/Elira Dixon – Myra L and Logan F

R/1 -  Lauren Whitbread/Silvia Lang – Noor A and Aquilla 

1/2 -  Sandra Howlett – Lucas H and Holly M

1/2 - Lauren Stanley – Max S and Lucy Z

2/3 - Nicole Currer – TBA

2/3 - Emily Mooney-Doe/Lauren Whitbread – Alicia S and Phoebe B

3/4 -  Kate Viney – Koa B and Destiny C

4/5 - Jo Power – Kaydence N and Wyatt L

4/5 - Christine MacLean – Jorja E and Dakota B

5/6 - Chris Burns/Rose Knight – Oliver B and Ava F

5/6  - Branson – Jakob R and James B

Auslan - Rose Knight – Aisha H and Jada W

Our Reception - Year 2 Students will be participating in Swimming Lessons in Week 5, 14-18 November.

Please put these dates in your calender.

More information will be sent out early in Term Four.

Our Year 5 and 6 students will be participating in Water Safety and Aquatics on 25 November.

Please mark this date in your calendar.

More information will be sent our in Term Four.

The End of Year Celebration will be held on Thursday, 8 December.  Please put this date in your diary.

More information will follow closer to the date.

The Year 6  Graduation Ceremony will be held on Thursday, 15 December at 5:30pm at the Wirreanda Secondary School Performing Arts Centre.  Family and friends are invited to attend the ceremony to celebrate this special event, to see our Year 6 students graduate. 

Afterwards, students and staff will attend a dinner at the St Francis Winery.  Further information will be sent home later next term.

Autism Inclusion Teachers are a new, nation-leading initiative which aims to build educator understanding and knowledge around supporting autistic children and young people.

Every public primary school in South Australia will appoint an Autism Inclusion Teacher. Our Autism Inclusion Teacher will take on the role 1 day per week from Term 1 2023.

It is anticipated that Autism Inclusion Teachers will first build their own teaching expertise, knowledge and understanding of autism through engaging in formal learning offerings and participation in the Autism Inclusion Teacher networks. To improve knowledge and practice across the school, Autism Inclusion Teachers will then be encouraged to share their learnings and resources with their colleagues to utilise in teaching autistic children and young people in their own classes.

Visit the Department for Education website to find out more about improving support for autistic children and students.

As part of our Book Week celebrations students had the privilege of listening to 3 local authors associated with our school, who described how they wrote their books, their inspiration and how they have become or are working to be published.  They read their books to the classes and answered any questions from the students.  It was a great way for the students to be inspired by local people they know.

Daniel Balmforth

Susan Banks who writes under the pseudonym Susie K

Debbie Vatsinaris

Every one had an amazing time during Book Week with  local author visits, author workshops, lunchtime activities, Book Fair and the Art Gallery, finally culminating in the Book Week Parade.

It was fabulous to see parents at the parade this year!

Our students did a brilliant job parading in their costumes based on the theme of the Book Week book chosen by their class teacher.

There was everything from environmentalists to honey bees, walking whales to the medical professionals, nannas to underwater creatures.  What amazing costumes!

Special thanks to you, the parents for being so creative and encouraging!

We had two special guests at our Book Week Parade - Princess Fiona (from Shrek) - who organised the whole of Book Week and was an absolute standout with her green-ness! Watch out Karen, it looks like someone is trying to takeover your job!

And Professor McGonagall (from Harry Potter)  - who ran the school for the Book Week parade.  Luckily Mrs Finlay-Smith came back after the event.

This was a culmination of all of the Book Week Actitivities organised by Karen (Princess Fiona) which included:

1. Lunchtime activities each day of Book Week

2. Quizes for students and staff

3. Book Fair

4. Art Gallery

5. Book Week Parade

6. Local Author visits

7. Author workshop

What an amazing week for all of the students, and the parents!

Here are some photos of the students dressed ready for the Book Week Parade in the COLA!

Students from Mr Burns and Ms Knight, Mr Branson and Ms MacLean's classes visited the Onkaparinga Gorge on 5 September, to explore rubbish in the natural water ways as part of their STEM Showcase project.

Although it was wet outside, it was absolutely pumping inside when we had our 80s Theme Disco on Thursday, 8 September!

It was fantastic to see so many of our students dressed in 80s gear and dancing to a range of fun songs, including a few 80s numbers.

On 31 August students enjoyed Science Day with all classes participating in a number of experiments during the course of the day.  These included Lava Lamps, bubbly-mixture, hoop gliders, catapults, vortex cannons, electrical circuits and the balloon squeeze.  Everyone enjoyed taking part in the experiments and all had great learning from participation.

On Saturday, 17 September Pimpala Primary School Choir performed in the Primary Schools Festival of Music at the Entertainment Centre.  Our students along with many others perform brilliantly in the choir. Congratulations to all the students involved on their fantastic effort and a huge thank-you to Jenny Jackson, Nigel Branson and Sarah Pearce  for preparing the students and making sure they were ready to perform.

On Wednesday, 21 September five of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, Mia, Chelsea, Millie, Izaak and Nykaya travelled to the South Adelaide Football Club to participate in the Annual Southern Region Nunga Tag with Deb Hampton and Erin Douglas.  

Our students played five games during the day, joining in with Reynella South PS to form a team.  Wins and losses were not recorded -  it's all about having fun!

Although it was wet and misty, our students played like stars, and went hard at it all day.

It was a pretty wet day on 22 August when the Middle Primary unit students went on their excursion to the Zoo! They were still able to observe a range of animals, even though the rain kept many of them indoors.

Although some of the students were pretty wet by the time they returned, they still had a fabulous time!

As part of our Book Week celebrations all classes attended the Cameron Stelzer Author Workshop on 19 September.  Cameron is an award winning Australian author and illustrator from Brisbane and it was great to have him here to run these workshops.  

Cameron read the Junior Primary classes one of the Stroogle series books and then they had a quick illunstrating work shop drawing one of the characters.  They all turned our brilliantly and everyone had an excellent time!

Cameron worked with the middle primary students with fun exercises to help them come up with exciting story ideas, so they can write their own stories and books! It was heaps of fun!

Cameron also worked with the senior students to also help them to discover exciting and more complex story ideas.  Everyone had a great time!  Cameron was impressed with some of the student's writing too!

What an amazing soccer breakup on Saturday, 17 September.  Loads of fun, trophies, food, the big-ball game and the extra exciting kids vs parents match.

U7 Nigel Branson - Coach , Nina Smith - Team Manager

U9 Graham Miles - Coach

U11 Kane Butterfield - Coach, Kelly Morgan - Team Manager

U12 Sead Readett - Coach, Claire Jones Howell - Team Manager

U7 - It was the first year playing for a lot of our players, and they quickly learnt the skills required and had a very successful season. At this age we don't have a competitive ladder but they scored 121 goals and conceded 75 with 12 wins. The future is looking bright for Pimpala soccer.

U9 - This year we were able to retain most players from last year with a couple U8 players stepping us for us. They have also played amazingly well with 10 wins and 2 draws, scoring 69 goals and conceding 20. In 2 more years, they started playing competitive (leagues and cups) and their coach is really looking forward to that!

U11 - Our U11s finished 4th on the league ladder in a very competitive age group. They would have also played in The Cup Grand Final had it not been for an issue with the match cards. This team showed amazing skill, strength and character throughout the season and made us all very proud.

U12 - This was the last year for our U12s in the Pimpala Red & White strips, before they move on to high school. Many have been playing for us since they were 5 years old, and they capped off their final year by being The Cup Champions, and the runners-up in the League Championship, missing out on the top spot by just one goal. They have played brilliantly all year and it was great to see them holding the cup above their heads in their final game for us.

There are limited places in Year 7 at Reynella East College in 2023 which are available for students attending REC in 2023 for the Innovators Academy, Arts Academy: Dance and Arts Academy: Music programs.

To register an expression of interest for your child, please complete the following form: https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSelVVrK23pAZO.../viewform

We are sharing this post from our friends at Credit Union SA as a partner through the School Community Rewards program. If you would like to learn more about how this program supports our school, please reach out to them.