School News & Events

Christmas Celebration 

Monday 26th November, was a wonderful Pilgrim Christmas Celebration night. We were entertained with the Foundations and their alphabet Nativity play. The Year 2s enjoyed learning and playing the angklungs with Silent Night.

Our Year 3 and 4 students shared Merry Christmas from languages across the world and the Year 1s enjoyed singing a classic Colin Buchanan song On That Very First Christmas.

Some families enjoyed pizza for tea and the night finished with the choir singing

The Blessing over the school and all our families.

Have a blessed Christmas,

Lisa Newbury

Early Years Coordinator

Thank You to Our Volunteers

One of the things we love about Pilgrim School is our school community of students, staff and families. We greatly appreciate the contribution of our different volunteers, as we know that when we are all working together, our students benefit greatly.

Thank you to those who have contributed to the life of the school in any way over 2024, for those who have assisted in classrooms, on excursions or camps; for those who have helped with P&F events and fundraisers, cooking sausages, serving at the New Families' Dinner, running or helping at Mother's and Father's Day stalls, creating beautiful settings and special memoies for Graduation; for those who have washed linen, covered books or helped in other practical ways. Pilgrim School is richer for all of your time and support!

Staff News

We thank Mrs Elizabeth Sarre for her longterm commitment to Pilgrim School. Bess was a student at Pilgrim, part of the parent community while her daughters were stuents here and has been part of our staff team over the last 11 years. We wish her all the best as she takes up a position at St Peter's Woodland Grammar School next year. Bess was farewelled at our assembly last week and we also acknowledged Mrs Mel Carpenter who will be farewelled at the final assembly next Tuesday.

We are pleased to let you know that Mr Jordan Wheatcroft will be continuing at Pilgrim School in 2025, working alongside Mr Andrew Harris in one of our Year 3/4 classes. 

Our Teaching Team for 2025

After school today, families will receive an email informing them of their child/ren's class. This will enable you to let your child know before their step-up session on Monday 9th December when students will spend some time in their 2025 class with their teachers for next year.

In 2025, Mrs Julie Wicks will be working with our Year 6 students for Mathematics and spending the remainder of her 4 days in her role as Deputy Principal, supporting students and staff across all year levels. Mrs Lisa Newbury will continue with her role coordinating both the Early Years and our Belong and Blossom playgroup when she is not in a classroom teaching role. Yiota Chesterfield will be continue to head up our Inclusive Education Team.

Here is our teaching team for 2025:

Pilgrim School Board

We offer our heartfelt thanks to the Pilgrim School Board for their commitment, support and guidance this year. In particular, we thank Mrs Margy Pillar for the time she has given to the school through her role on the Board. Margy is finishing her involvement at the end of this year.

There are two new Board Members joining our Board from next year. We welcome Mrs Belinda Brumby who will commence the role of Treasurer and Mr Jake Cefai who will also be joining our Board. Belinda has a finance background. She has two sons who recently graduated from Pilgrim School and attend Emmaus Christian College.

Jake is a primary teacher. He is married to a past Pilgrim Graduate and has a daughter enrolled to start at Pilgrim School in the future.

We look forward to Belinda and Jake's contribution and expertise on our Board.

Opening of new Outdoor Learning Spaces

We are thrilled to announce the opening of two fantastic new outdoor learning spaces for our students.

The first is a purpose-built outdoor learning area just outside the Year 3/4 classrooms, designed to inspire creativity and engagement in the fresh air. The second is a stunning arbor and outdoor learning space nestled in our Friendship Garden, offering a serene setting for exploration and collaboration.

Both spaces were crafted by Climbing Tree Creations, the talented team behind our much-loved nature play space at the front of the main building. These projects were made possible with support from the Minister for Education and the Government of South Australia through the State Government Independent Non-Government School Capital Grant Funding program – we acknowledge and thank them for the financial assistance provided for these projects.

These new spaces open up exciting opportunities for our students to learn, connect, and thrive in the great outdoors. We can't wait to see the innovative lessons and activities that will take place in these beautiful settings.

Be sure to take a look at these lovely new spaces next time you are on site.

Michael Denholm

Business Manager

Some comments from our students about this new space:

From Alexis in Year 3:

With the new Nature Play outside the Year 3 and 4 class it is as fun to play on as the other one outside Foundation. It was great to come up with ideas for the area and see how they could be used. Thank you Mr Edmondson and Mr Denholm for blessing us with this space. It is very fun to play on and everyone is allowed to play on it together. It's not just an empty space anymore. When it’s lunch or recess the Year 3s and 4’ play on it. All of the Campus can play on the Nature Play. It's very nice and I love that the group that built it are called Climbing Tree. I am so thankful that they created this beautiful space for everyone to play on and enjoy, and people can play The Floor is Lava and lots of other games. Because even though it's a small space it’s very fun to play in and it brings us together. Parents and their children can also enjoy it and it makes this area very nice to be in. Thank you. 

From Joshua in Year 4:

Today we have gathered for the dedication of this brand new nature play.

Everyone is allowed to play on it even though it is right outside the Year 3/4 classrooms.

You can eat your recess and lunch on the rocks and logs here and play with your friends. But school rules still apply. We want to make sure that the Nature Play can be clean, so if you drop rubbish on the floor be sure to clean it up.

It was such a privilege to have this Nature Play. To think that this was once just an old out of bounds place with trees growing in it. It is so amazing that God has provided us with amazing resources to make this playground possible.

It is an awesome place to play at recess and lunch and just to sit down and chat with your friends.

And we also thank the staff, teachers, groundsman and Climbing Tree. If they weren't here,  none of this would be possible.

So now we can remember that things can change over time and that God has created awesome things that can create even more awesome things. 

Congratulations Christian 

Recently, Christian participated in Sapsasa Tennis, held at Tennis World in Millswood. He played for the Southern Heights Division 2 team. They came first overall for the day, with Christian winning every singles match he played! Well done Christian. 

Well Done Cadence! 

As part of the Full Colour: Dale Chihuly exhibition in the Adelaide Botanic Garden which our Year 3/4 classes visited this term; South Australian glass artist, Tom Moore, has been running a competition to design a creature that could be translated into glass. Each month, one design is chosen and Cadence, Year 4, had her design chosen last month. She attended a special presentation recently where her creature was made in glass and is now on display in the exhibition. At the end of the exhibition, Cadence will be able to take home her original glass artwork.

Introducing Compass in 2025

At the start of 2025 we’re launching Compass, our new school management system, which will replace Sentral. Compass will enhance the way we work with and communicate with our parent community including a more comprehensive and user-friendly mobile app and new features such as electronic excursion permissions.

We will roll out Compass progressively throughout 2025. Initially, it will be used for recording attendance and student absences, first aid visits and school communication. As the year unfolds we’ll activate additional features, including academic reports, parent-teacher interview bookings, activity permissions and payments, and more.

Compass can be accessed via your web browser here or by downloading the Compass School Manager app (which we strongly recommend) on iOS or Android.

We will email all parents their initial login details and instructions ahead of the new school year. This may be sent before Christmas or in mid January – keep an eye out for this. We appreciate your patience with this as we prepare for this exciting transition.

In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about Compass and explore instructions for using the system, visit https://www.compass.education/guide/.

You can also download the app directly from the following links:

Important Notice regarding saving academic reports from Sentral:

Student reports from 2023 onwards will be available in Compass. If you have not yet downloaded academic reports prior to 2023 and wish to do so, please ensure you do this from the Sentral for Parents phone app or the web portal here before the end of 2024 when access will cease.

Please note, all families of Year 6 students will need to download their academic reports by the end of 2024 as they will no longer have access after this year.

We’re excited to embark on this transition and look forward to sharing updates as we implement Compass throughout 2025.

Michael Denholm

Business Manager

Donations Appreciated 

Pilgrim School would appreciate donations of sewing fabrics in usable pieces (50cm to 1m or larger) and balls of wool. If you are able to donate any fabric or wool, please bring these items to the Front Office. Thank you. 

Casual Day 

This week Pilgrim students had fun dressing up for a Very Merry Christmas Casual Day. The theme to follow was Christmas colour, tinsel, decorations and joy. It was great to see the community get around the joyful time, as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. 

With the donations received, we have raised $246. The money will go towards future SRC projects.  At the beginning of this year, we used these funds to purchase the outdoor pingpong table. 

Thankyou to everyone for your support of our community. 

Seasons greetings and God bless,

Pilgrim Student Representative Council (SRC)

Graduation 

On Monday 2nd December, our Year 6 students shone on their Graduation evening. They started with a dinner where they were served by their teachers. The students enjoyed sharing a meal and taking photos. Looking beautiful all dressed up, they shared memories and laughter together. Following this was the service – a reflection of their time at Pilgrim. We heard from each student about their growth and journey, and laughed as we saw photos from Foundation to now. The class presented a dance together and we farewelled each student. It was a special evening and we wish the Year 6 class all the very best as they move to high school. Thank you for being wonderful senior students this year!

Mel Carpenter

Year 6 Class Teacher

2024 Yearbook

A reminder that our 2024 yearbook will be available early next year. This will enable us to include some of our end of year activities, such as our Christmas Celebration and Year 6 Graduation.

Pilgrim School Parent Satisfaction Survey

Please remember to take part in our parent satisfaction survey being conducted by Bright Ed. This is an opportunity for you to let us know what you love about the school and what we can be improving on to enhance your child's experience at primary school. We appreciate your support in this way and would ask you to please complete the survey by Friday 20th December.

School Shoes 

Often families buy new school shoes over the holiday period. This is a good time to remind families about the requirements for school shoes that meet the current Uniform policy. Please only purchase shoes that meet our policy. If you are unsure, you are welcome to contact us.

Black School Shoes

For boys and girls with all formal uniforms:

• black lace-up shoes
• Foundation to Year 2 students can wear black school shoes with velcro or Mary Janes
• elastic-sided boots, black sneakers, buckles, coloured stitiching and heels higher than 3cm are not permitted

Here are some samples that meet school policy:

Here are some samples that do not meet school policy:

Sandals

• may be worn with summer formal uniforms
• plain brown school sandals
• no socks

Here are some examples that do and don't meet school policy:

Sandshoes

• to be worn only with sports uniform on designated days (twice per week)
• predominantly white (no bright colours)
• white laces (or velcro if Foundation to Year 2)

Here are some examples that meet school policy: