This term, our Student Representative Council (SRC) will meet fortnightly on a Tuesday. Last week, we had our first meeting and discussed our focus for Term 2. We brainstormed some dress-up themes for our next casual day to raise money for our school’s World Vision Sponsor child, Aster. These ideas will be taken back to classes for voting on before a final decision being made in our next meeting.
In week 4, we will work together to make some signage to display around the school, to promote Reconciliation Week (May 27th- June 3rd).
Moving forward, our Year 3-6 Reps will work in collaboration with Miss Scriven to continue the work our 2023 SRC started around changing our school sports house names. Driven by the SRC, and supported by whole-school input, it was decided that we will change our current house names of Dunks, Devonshire, Mellor and Selth, to Kaurna names that are meaningful to our school community. Students are very excited to be involved in such a significant and important process for our school.
Our R-2 Reps will work together with Mrs Cookson to focus on strengthening community connections. Students will be visiting a local residential aged-care facility to spend time with the residents, sharing in music and art, to share joy and build positive relationships.
Lauren Cookson & Laura Scriven
On Wednesday 8th May, N3, N8 and G8 visited the Mitcham City Council. We all got to meet the Mayor of Mitcham, Dr Heather Holmes-Ross, who spoke to us about the three levels of Government. She then explained about the different things that our local government does for the community, as well as who the Mitcham Councillors are and their role.
We then got to have a mock election and voted in a Mayor from our class, who got to dress up in fancy robes and a special necklace. We all found it very interesting and it was a lot of fun.
I really liked pretending I was a councillor, sitting in the special chairs and learning about what the councillors did. - Grayson and Maylin
It was great to have an election and vote on who should be student Mayor of Mitcham. - Poppy and Mylah
I found it interesting to hear all about what the Mitcham City Council does. - Danny
It was good to learn all about the Mitcham City Council and how the council helps the Mitcham community. - Louis
National Simultaneous Storytime
Next Wednesday a number of our classes are participating in National Simultaneous Storytime. Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country.
This year’s book is Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker.
I am a collector. Always looking, finding ... and keeping! Bowerbird loves BLUE. Magnificent cobalt. Brilliant, vibrant blue! But something is missing. What could it be?
To help celebrate National Simultaneous Storytime, the library is holding a competition with a number of prizes to be won. To enter, students need to create their own Bowerbird nest with little blue trinkets for display in the library. Entries close Wednesday Week 5 and winners will be announced the following Monday.
Book Club Orders
Just a reminder that orders for the current Book Club close this Friday (17th May). All orders must be placed online and payment is processed through the Loop app.
Yours in reading,
Vasi and Sunyoung
Youth Environment Leadership Program (YELP)
This year, our twelve student leaders on the STEM Committee and the Citizenship Committee are also participating in the Youth Environmental Leadership Program (YELP) run by Green Adelaide. The YELP Team will lead positive environmental change within our school and community by working on an environmental project/s of the group’s design during 2024, with support from Mrs Doull.
On Tuesday in Week 2, eight members of the YELP Team participated in a full day Student Forum on the environment run by Green Adelaide. We met with eight other school groups in the main pavilion at Belair National Park, to engage in activities focused on the improvement of sustainability practices in our schools and understanding and caring for our natural environment. We had perfect weather and enjoyed participating in a number of sessions. Belair National Park was enchanting, with a variety of trees scattered around the park.
We highly enjoyed getting to brainstorm our project for this year. The kind people of Green Adelaide had set up a "growing a project" system to get us to think about the roots (group values), the trunk (our goals), the branches (what we need), the leaves (our actions), the fruit (our impact) and the sun (support and community). Using this unique method the eight of us determined that the best project for us to start investigating would be around adding more greenery to spaces around our school's grounds, using native and helpful plants. While this is not guaranteed it seems to be the most popular direction so far. Watch this space!
Another activity we enjoyed was the Sensory Walk. Usually our eyes dominate the rest of our senses but this was an activity designed to contradict this. We put blindfolds over our eyes as our partner from another school led us around the small part of the park we had to explore. Our partners could get us to feel, hear, smell or even taste the nature around us (luckily none of our partners got us to taste anything!). The main point of this activity was to appreciate the beauty and biodiversity of the park.
Craig Baulderstone from the Friends of Belair National Park group told us about the bush care activities that Friends groups undertake in the park. Belair National Park was established in 1891 as only the second National Park in the whole of Australia, and its 832 hectares protects a unique and healthy ecosystem supporting biodiversity and many rare species.
We also created a "Bird Real Estate" pitch, where we tried to "sell" an assigned an area of natural habitat by identifying the positive qualities this area provided to support life for a range of animals, including birds, insects and reptiles. The "Marvellous Minibeast Mansion" was sold brilliantly by the Mitcham YELP Team!
The day ended with some reflection in nature, with Nature Journaling. We ventured outside to find a space to sit quietly by ourselves and be creative in response to the environment. Students drew pictures, wrote poems and descriptions, and enjoyed the experience of focussing attention on the environment around us.
Thank you to Green Adelaide for this opportunity to improve our school and experience.
Esme L & Elanor J for the Year 6 YELP Team, and Mrs Doull
Science Teaching Award
Congratulations to our upper primary Science Teacher, Miriam Doull, who was awarded the Credit Union SA Outstanding Contribution to the Teaching of Science Primary Years Award 2024, given by the South Australian Science Teacher's Association (SASTA). Thank you to SASTA and Credit Union SA for recognising Miriam's achievements. This Award recognises Miriam's contributions to the education of students in science, her association with SASTA and dedication to profssional learning to improve her skills and student outcomes. The award was presented at the SASTA Annual Conference in the April school holidays.
When children need an emergency lunch, they will be provided with a cheese toastie or a vegemite sandwich. These can then be paid for using the Emergency Lunch Payment option on the Qkr! app; simply enter the amount from the slip that was sent home with your child. If your child has recently been provided with an emergency lunch order, we ask that you please make payment as soon as possible. Thank you.
We have had some new volunteers recently and we would like to thank them for helping, as well as the wonderful group that help us regularly! We really appreciate all your help.
Have a great week.
Anita, Ann and Kerry
State Swimming Championships
On Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th of April Samara C, Elijah K, Louis T, Sophie L and Thomas P competed at the State Swimming Championships. Congratulations to all for making it into this level of competition and a special congratulations to Samara, Sophie and Elijah who medalled on the day. Samara and Sophie have now been selected to the South Australian State Team to compete at the Australia 12 Years and Under Swimming Championship held on the Gold Coast in July.
Cricket
On Wednesday 10th April our Sapsasa boys side hosted their second-round match against St Francis de Sales College from Mount Barker. Batting first, the boys scored an impressive total of 3/135 with contributions from all batters. The boys then carried this form into their fielding, bowling St Francis de Sales out for a score of 10/65. Congratulations boys who now have a rest and will play their third-round game in early Term 4.
District Athletics Championships
We had 24 students compete at our District Athletics Championship on Thursday 28th March. Our students represented Mitcham proudly with many placing high in their events. We are still waiting on the results of which students succeeded in advancing to represent our City South District at State Day in late Term 3.
Netball
This year we not only took our Sapsasa Statewide Girls side to our district wide netball carnival day but were able to enter two other participation sides to compete in a separate tournament at Netball SA Stadium on Tuesday 7th May. The girls did an amazing job throughout the day playing up to six matches without many breaks in-between which were spent cheering on their fellow Mitcham teams.
District Cross Country Championships
Twenty-five students travelled to Belair National Park to compete at our District Cross Country Championships on Tuesday 14th May. For the first time in a long time, at this event, the weather was kind to us with not a single drop of rain and sunshine. Congratulations to all runners who have been working hard at trainings to improve their stamina with all runners placing the upper half of their races. Congratulations to Nate G (1st), Lucas A (1st), Leo P (2nd), Lilian D (3rd), Ashleigh W (4th) and Sonja W (5th) who have made it into our City South District Team to compete at the State Cross Country Championships in Week 6.
Clint Rowland - PE Teacher
Materials & Services Payment Now Due
Thank you to the families that have paid their Materials & Services invoices, applied for School Card or arranged Direct Debits/Payment Plans.
Materials & Services invoices were due to be paid by the end of Term 1 2024. Account statements showing outstanding balances were sent home last week. Payment can be made electronically via the QKR! app or in person at the school administration office. Any extension on this time can be arranged by setting up a Direct Debit or Payment Plan. Please email dl.0270.finance@schools.sa.edu.au for the authorisation form.
School Card
The School Card Scheme offers financial assistance with school fees (Materials & Services charges). To check your eligibility and to apply online go to the SA.GOV website via the link: www.sa.gov.au/education/schoolcard
If you are eligible for the School Card Scheme and have not yet applied, please do so as soon as possible.
Eligible families need to complete a new School Card application each school year.
If you need help completing the form lease contact the School Card section on 1800 672 758 (free call).
You will be notified by the School Card Section of the outcome of your application, please do not pay any money towards your Materials and Services charge until you know the outcome.
Unfortunately the Rag-Tag system is no longer active as the service has been discontinued by the provider. Uniform items, particularly jumpers and hats, should have your student's name clearly marked on it. The lost property cupboard is located in the Tutt building, inside the sliding door by the mural on the courtyard side. Please check this regularly if your child has lost an item.
To work or volunteer in education you must do mandatory notification training. The training is called Responding to Risks of Harm, Abuse and Neglect - Education and Care. We call it RRHAN-EC for short. The training has recently been updated so please check the expiry date on your certificate. This training includes information about child protection in education.
Parents volunteering in their own child's class or assisting on excursions do not need to complete the RRHAN-EC training. However you must have a current certificate if you wish to help out in the canteen, library, coach or manage a sporting team, attend overnight camps or volunteer on the governing council. Grandparents and other members of the community require a RRHAN-EC to volunteer in all capacities.
You must keep your RRHAN-EC training current. Please complete or update your training via the online update in plink at www.plink.sa.edu.au before 31 December 2024. Training should be completed before your certificate expires to avoid any gap. Once you have completed the training, please hand or email your certificate to the school front office. Email: dl.0270.admin@schools.sa.edu.au
City of Mitcham Council advise that with the commencement of another school term Council will continue with the monitoring of parking areas around schools, kindergartens and childcare centres.
The attached brochure informs drivers about public safety and provide for student safety around roadways at schools drop off and pick up times, any breaches of the Australian Road Rules observed by compliance officers may result in the issue of an expiation notice. Should you have any enquiries regarding parking control matters please do not hesitate to contact Joanne Salter, Senior Compliance Office on 8372 8870.