A reminder to all families that a table with student lost property will be available in the courtyard for parents/caregivers to collect on Thursday 26^th and Friday 27^th September at pick up time.

Please see attached flyer regarding a 2 Day Autism Workshop for Parents and Carers at Mawson Lakes, SA.

Please see below the upcoming important dates and school events for Term 3 and 4.

We have had such an exciting time celebrating Book Week this year! Children were busy hearing from visiting authors and illustrators, completing challenges in the library and participating in the Great Book Swap.

The winners of our Book Week competitions are: Charlotte (M2), Isobel (T2), Luca (T3), Oscar (G8), Annabel (N3), Zoe (N2), Mabel (N4). Thank you to all students who participated!

We’d like to thank everyone who brought along a book and a gold coin to swap, as a school we were able to raise $685 dollars for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. If you would still like to donate directly to our school’s fundraiser you can do that via this link https://edu.greatbookswap.org.au/mitchamprimarysgreatbookswap.

This year we were lucky enough to have some visitors to our school! The year R-2s heard from Author and Illustrator Mandy Foot about how she makes the images for her books and how they help her tell a story. The year 3s-6s heard from Author Adam Cece about how he uses the weird experiences in his life to make interesting books. We are so grateful to have been able to have so many special visitors this book week and hope all the students loved to hear from someone new.

Mitcham’s Big Read was held on Wednesday of book week. All students visited another class to read a story and participate in an activity related to that book. The children and teachers enjoyed a variety of activities – from participating in a talent show to making their own picnic plates.

Finally, we ended Book Week with our parade on Friday. We were amazed by how many staff and students dressed up. It was so great to see everyone getting into the spirit of Book Week and it made our week! We would like to thank all the parents that came out to support our students, we loved having you there.

Just a friendly reminder that the Premier’s Reading Challenge forms need to be returned to the library by Friday the 6^th of September.

Yours in reading,

Vasi and Sunyoung

Olympics fever hit the Year 5 classes earlier this term, with the Potato Olympics being held across classes N1, N2 and N4. Groups each selected a country and brought in an athlete (potato). After researching some facts about our countries we designed a costume/uniform for our athletes and got them ready to compete. 

Some athletes even had coaches and cheer squads! On the big day, athletes competed in 4 events: Distance (rolling down a ramp), Gymnastics (balance beam on skewers), Dance (spinning on a table), and High Diving (dropping into a bucket of water from 1m). We had to measure carefully to work out places and add up points for each country. Overall Gold, Silver and Bronze medals were awarded for each class. The athletes needed a good rest after the events but all were proud of doing their best for their country. 

Miriam Doull, Mike Fidge, Anthony Bryce and Tash Lawson-Forbes

Today, our Year 6 choir students had the wonderful opportunity to perform a selection of their Festival of Music songs at our local Calvary Kingswood Residential Aged Care home. The highlight of the performance was a lively rendition of ABBA’s Waterloo, which quickly became a crowd favorite. The residents were absolutely delighted by the students' performances and, in return, gifted them with handmade birdseed cakes as a token of their appreciation.

This visit was not only a valuable chance for our students to practice their songs in preparation for the festival, but also a meaningful way to connect with our local community. In addition to the music, we were proud to present the residents with beautiful cards created by our Year 2 students in G1, along with vibrant paper hyacinths made by Year 6 students from N6. This experience really brought joy to both the residents and our students, showing just how important community connections are and how music can bring people together.

A big thank you to Josh Fielder and Sue O'Shaughnessy for making this special visit happen. It was a great chance for our students to share their music and connect with the residents in such a meaningful way.

Year 5 STEM Extension students were invited to DigiDo 2024 at Scotch College on Tuesday the 27^th of August. DigiDo is a STEM conference for students where students get the opportunity lead workshops for other students, as well as attend workshops, participate in student discussion panels, and engage with industry experts to learn about new technology and future career paths.

Our student ran three workshops on developing simple augmented reality games using software called Pictoblox. The students had a lot of fun and did an amazing job, with some students from other schools even coming back for a second try at our workshop!

Anneke and Alec spoke with great authority on stage about the topics of digital citizenship and digital footprints, and Annabel won herself a prize with her Just Dance performance in the day’s side competition.

Mitcham Primary School is holding its annual Quiz Night on Saturday, 19^th October. This year’s theme is ‘Welcome to the Jungle’. With the support of our local community, the Quiz Night is always a very successful evening and is well attended by the Mitcham Primary School community.

This year, funds raised from the Quiz Night will be added to last year’s total to provide additions to our school playground and outdoor seating areas.

We are asking our generous school community for support in the form of donations of goods and vouchers that can be used for auction items or prizes!

Last term, our classes participated in the STEM Premier’s Reading Challenge, a statewide competition where students read a STEM-themed book and complete an activity using the book as inspiration.

This year we produced 414 entries for the competition and two of our fabulous students were among the prize winners from the state. Congratulations to Aliza D from M1 and Alexander W from G1 who won runner-up prizes in their age group. Thank you to Program Coordinator, Mr Mark Williams, who came to our assembly to present them with their prize. Their work will soon be featured in a book that will be given to libraries and schools around South Australia. Well done and also a well done to all of our students who entered the challenge!