Just a reminder that there are many outstanding emergency lunch payments. These need to be paid as soon as possible please. This can be done on the Qkr! App or by cash at the canteen.

We would also like to thank our volunteers. We have a small group of regular helpers who come in every week. Anyone who has a Working With Children Check and a Responding to Risks of Abuse and Neglect (RRHAN) certificate is also welcome to help us out if you have some spare time. If you want to help and need to get your clearances please see canteen staff or the front office.  We greatly appreciate your ongoing support!

Have a great week.
Anita, Ann and Kerry

Next week our Year 6 students are heading off to Canberra for their camp, where they will be staying at Alivio Tourist Park. The park has kindly offered a 10% discount to Mitcham families who book a stay using the code below.

Please see below the upcoming important dates and school events for Term 3 2023

On June 30^th, G8, N3, and N8 got to go to the Maritime Museum.

Our first activity was Encounters, where we listened to a PowerPoint about indigenous culture and how the Aboriginal people felt when they saw white men for the first time. We were then given cards with questions to answer about the first encounters around the top level of the museum.

The next activity was exploring the museum. We wandered around and explored all the different areas. We explored the basement, River Dolphin Pod, The Ketch which is a replica cargo vessel, the figure heads, artefacts from the ship and the history of the navy.

The last activity was Life on Board. We looked at different cabins from the 1840s ,1910s and 1950s. The 1950s cabin was fairly nice with soft mattresses, a telephone, and a mirror. The 1910s cabin beds were very flat and had a mirror and some drawers. Finally, the 1840s cabins were very bad, the beds were potato sacks, rats in the water buckets, and rotting bedsheets. We learned about what life was like on board a ship coming to Australia with just one suitcase.

We ate lunch at the Pt Adelaide Lighthouse and we went for a walk along the river. It was a great excursion. We had fun and learned a lot.

- Eshaal, Lenny, Leo, and Zara (G8)

Over the past two terms, STEM Extension students in Years 3 to 6 have been using Scratch and Pictoblox to program interactive computer games for a purpose. 

Year 3/4 students have been creating games to teach their younger buddies a new skill or concept, while Year 5/6 students have connected with Elderly Care Homes SA to create augmented reality games to help encourage movement in older persons. 

To help the students perfect their games, we invited parents and family members to come in and provide feedback to their children. Both the parents and the students loved the sharing process, and the parents were amazed at what their children have been able to do.

The students will now take on board the adult feedback to make changes to their games in preparation for sharing with their younger buddies, or older person in the weeks to come.

This year I'm excited to share that we have a winner in the Oliphant Science Awards! Year 4 student, Remy, entered his model of a Fluidised Airbed in the Year 3-4 Models and Inventions category.

Remy explained that "The main scientific principle is equilibrium which is a state where two forces are equal. In a fluidised airbed, the forces are buoyancy and gravity, therefore if you turn the pressure up too high with a strong compressor, the sand erupts."  Remy not only won an Oliphant Award for his category, he was also awarded the Australian Institute of Physics Sponsor Prize for the best student project with a physics theme overall. You can see a video of Remy's project here. Well done Remy! 

Term 3 is very busy in the library: with Book Week, Author Visits, the Big Read and The Great Book Swap.

On Thursday in Week 4 Perform Education will be visiting the Receptions to Year 2s to perform their musical show Way Too Cool. They will sing about a variety of the Children’s Book Council’s shortlisted books for this year.

During Week 5 we will also have two authors visiting. Katrina Germein will be visiting the receptions – year 3s on Monday and Mike Lucas will be visiting the year 4s – year 6s on Tuesday.

On Friday 25th August we will be celebrating with a Book Week parade. It would be wonderful to see students come to school dressed as their favourite book character or dress to the theme Read, Grow, Inspire. Hopefully we have lovely weather and we can welcome families to attend the parade at 9am at the basketball courts. Unfortunately, if the weather is not favourable we will need to hold the parade inside and families will not be able to join us.

We will be hosting a Great Book Swap during Book Week, week 5 of this term, with all funds raised going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. We ask that you send your child with a book/s to donate to the Great Book Swap. Books are being collected in the library now. During Book Week (week 5) children will have the opportunity to choose a book to take home in return for a $2 donation.

The Premier’s Reading Challenge closes on the 8^th of September. Please encourage your child to complete the Challenge. Forms are available in the library and more information can be found online at http://www.premiersreadingchallenge.sa.edu.au/PRC/ 

Yours in reading,

Vasi and Sunyoung

Important transition dates for Unley High

Please see below the upcoming important dates and school events for the rest of Term 2 and Term 3 2023.