We are enjoying the recent burst of sunny weather and have noticed that many families are taking the opportunity to stay after school for a play. We certainly welcome our school community, but ask that parents closely supervise their children to ensure that play is safe and that ball games are respectful of others. As we have many sports teams also practising after school, the court and play areas can become very busy. Thank you!

Our next scheduled Pupil Free Day is Monday 16^th October – Week 1, Term 4. On this day staff will be engaging in professional development in the area of Educator Wellbeing provided by Madhavi Nawana Parker.

Madhavi is a specialist in building wellbeing cultures and will provide staff with a practical framework and evidence-based strategies for fostering resilience and supporting their personal wellbeing.

We look forward to sharing more information with you after the day.

City South Soccer

Congratulations to the City South Sapsasa soccer team who made 3rd place in the recent competition.

This was the very first time the City South team had made it to top 3 which is an amazing achievement for them. Coach Alexander from Forbes school worked well with the girls and they learnt so much from him. The girls really enjoyed competing in this event

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Basketball

On Wednesday 9^th August a hardy group of athletes took to the courts to represent Mitcham Primary School in the SAPSASA basketball tournament held at Wayville. The girl's team was represented by Summer B, Giselle F, Kaitlyn B, Clarrie H, Lucy B, Emily B, Piper M and Riley G. Our goal for this was to firstly have fun and secondly try their hardest, and better our previous results by winning 2 games!! The girls did this in spades. We had such a fun day being a team and learning new skills. As the day progressed, they improved in the ball handling, game play and team effort. All the girls should be so proud of how they played and how they represented our school. Not bad for some of the group who had never really dribbled a ball, let alone against some pretty stiff competition and shooting into a basketball ring while someone is trying to grab the ball from you. Well done girls, you were awesome!! - Mrs O

The Yr 5/6 Boys' SAPSASA basketball team played amazingly against their opponents across the day. They sank a lot of baskets and managed to win 5 out of 7 of their games. They came 5th overall in the competition. Great team work and skills shown, boys! - Mr Ebert 

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!