School News & Events
School Values Awards
Each week we present School Value Awards for students who have upheld or demonstrated one of our Pilgrim values: Belong, Explore, Flourish, Serve. The students are presented with their award at our weekly Worships.
Term 3, Week 9
Belong: Kaius
Explore: Lucas
Flourish: Tyler
Serve: Lucy
Term 3, Week 10
Belong: Tyler
Explore: Alex
Flourish: Levi
Serve: Sienna
Casual Day
Today we held a casual and crazy hair day and the money raised will be donated to the RSPCA, a charity selected by the Pilgrim Student Representative Council (SRC). It was great to see the creative efforts of staff, students and parents.
Save the Date
On Friday 22nd November there will be another Fathering Project 'Dads and Kids' event. Please note this in your diary. More information will be sent home closer to the date.
Staff News
Congratulations to Mel Carpenter who has won a teaching position at King's Baptist Grammar School in Mount Barker from next year. We will farewell Mel towards the end of Term 4 and are grateful for all she has contributed to the life of Pilgrim School during her time here.
Further staffing news for 2025 will be shared with families next term.
Planning for 2025
If your family has different plans for 2025 and your child will not be returning to Pilgrim School next year, please remember the school requires a term’s notice in writing. Please complete our Notice of Enrolment Withdrawal form by Friday 27th September (the end of Week 10 this term) to avoid paying a term’s fees in lieu of agreed notice.
Kristen Heath
Administration Coordinator
Operation Christmas Child
This term the Student Representative Council has chosen for our school to participate in Operation Christmas Child. We are aiming to fill 2 shoeboxes per class - 1 for a boy and 1 for a girl. This is a great blessing for the children who receive them, and helps our students look outwards and develop in Godly character.
Could you please support your child to bring in a new item to go in the shoebox? Some ideas are stationery, clothing items, small toys, soft teddies, school supplies, hair accessories and small musical instruments. For a full list of ideas, click on the following link.
Please do not include war toys, food or lollies, used items, or happy meal toys.
If you would prefer to donate money instead of an item, this will be used to cover postage of the boxes, or to purchase some extra items. Donations can be made through the Qkr! app.
The last day to donate items is Friday 19th October (Week 1).
Thank you for your willingness to support our students in serving others.
Jordan Wheatcroft
Wellbeing Team
Article by Andrew Harris
Andrew Harris, our Specialist Science Teacher, was asked to contribute to the South Australian Science Teachers Association Newsletter for their article celebrating Primary Years Science Teachers in August. Here is his contribution:
What inspired you to become a primary science teacher?
Prior to teaching, I obtained a BSc in Conservation and Park Management, and worked in a range of different habitat assesssment and monitoring jobs. Science has always been something I've been very interested in, especially rocks, minerals, beetles, butterflies and birds. At each school I've worked at, if there was already a Science Department, then I tried to engage them with my classes in as many ways possible, and if there wasn't, then I worked to promote Science in the school and events like Science Week and the Oliphant Science Awards.
At my current school, I have developed a Science display with removable drawers and displays that teachers can take back to their classes based around the Australian Curriculum units. I find children of almost all ages have a real fascination for one or more areas of Science as they move through primary and high school, and as teachers we are blessed with the amount of knowledge they come with through what they have picked up from YouTube (even if the "Science" is not 100 percent accurate, it still generates great thinking and discussion).
What advice would you give fellow primary science teachers?
Have fun! Science already comes with the expectation of "magic" happening before our eyes, so make the most of feeding that passion. I love the quote that goes something like "when you conduct an experiment, you are really asking the world a question. And the world will always provide an answer, but it may not always be the one you expect, and will usually lead you to ask another question." Be open to going in different directions with plans and enjoy the adventure.
This picture is of an accidental discovery that turned into a great experiment. We had been applying heat to gummy bears, and a student said we should put one in some water to cool it off. For a joke, we dropped it into a bottle of water which I then completely forgot about for 3 weeks! The result was a hard red gummy bear quadrupled in size and turned completely transparent without changing the colour of the water. It tasted revolting, by the way, but it certainly generated lots of discussion!
2025 Class Placement Considerations
Today, families in Foundation to Year 5 should have received an email regarding class placement considerations:
Dear Families,
Our teaching staff and Inclusive Education team have continued to gain a deeper understanding of the strengths, needs and areas for growth for all children in the Pilgrim community during 2024. Early next term, the staff team will begin the process of placing children in their respective classes for 2025. During this process, our team will discern the best placement for each child as they consider the combination of students to facilitate quality learning in each class.
You are welcome to communicate any specific social, emotional or academic needs that you believe are key to share with the staff team as they collaboratively work on class placements. Please be aware that in 2025, we will have two classes of each of Foundation, Year 1/2, Year 3/4 and Year 5/6.
If you would like to provide information, please complete this 2025 Class Placement Considerations form by Friday 18th October (end of Week 1 next term). All staff responsible for the placement of children will be able to access this information. We appreciate that families will not utilise this to communicate the requests of specific teachers.
A reminder too that families need to use this Withdrawal form to advise the school by the end of today (Friday 27th September) of any student not in Year 6 this year who will not be enrolled at Pilgrim School for 2025.
Kind regards,
Andrew Edmondson