Uraidla Primary School newsletter

A message from Margie   

Uraidla Show Stars 

We all had a wonderful day of enjoying our community at the Uraidla Show last weekend. I was so proud of our students who performed. They were very brave and they engaged so well with the audience. I had some lovely comments from visitors outside of the region who came to the Show about our performances too, which is always rewarding to hear! 

 

I loved seeing the students' creative artwork displayed in the gym. Congratulations to all students on their efforts, and especially to the prize winners. Did you know that Sallie's class won the overall best exhibit in the entire Show? See the Around the Classes section for photo and details.

 

Thank you to Di and Chris Badenoch for the huge effort to display the artwork, the teachers who came along to help with the performances, and all of the parents who helped out at the school candle-dipping stall! We couldn't do it without you!  

Challenge-seeking at the Show

Last newsletter I shared the Learning Pit concept with you, and we continue to work with

 the students on understanding that setbacks and failure can be an important part of learning and growth.  I experienced this myself in the Uraidla Show with my pumpkin pie entry. Last year I was challenged by a family member to enter a pumpkin pie into the Show, since he knew this was a family favourite of mine growing up in Canada. I did my best to copy my Mum's famous recipe, but my pie was rejected because the pastry wasn't cooked enough. What a shock! Some of my initial thoughts were, 'They don't know what they're talking about', 'Who cares about a silly competition?' and even 'It must be my oven's fault'! When I had a moment to reflect, luckily I ended up being able to laugh at myself. I work with students all the time on accepting setbacks and taking on feedback to improve, and here I was struggling to take my own advice! Leading up to this year's Show my goal was to enter again and hopefully improve; this time doing some research, practising and getting feedback from my own children (all 3 pumpkin pie fans, fortunately). The result was a second prize, so I was pretty happy with that! But next year, I'm going for first! 😉

 

How are your children's personal goals going? Are they experiencing setbacks?  Or have they achieved their goal and need to set a new challenge? We would love you to check in with them and to encourage them to persist. Stephen found a great 1-minute art performance that nicely represents the journey through challenge, to resilience and success. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Yoann Bourgeois a performing artist represents life and resilience in this amazing piece. - YouTube

Donations and prizes

Last newsletter I wrote about how grateful we were to receive the new planter boxes donated by the Red Shed.  We have been fortunate to receive a number of generous donations this year: 

  • We would sincerely like to thank Olivia’s grandfather Grant Hofmeyer for his
  •  generous $1000 financial donation to the school. These funds will go towards projects to benefit the students in their yard playing spaces
  • The Kiwanis Club has been a generous donor of $2000 to support students requiring extra help with their learning at school.
  • The Summertown church has donated $350 towards our garden and cooking program. 
  • Congratulations to Elodie Price for winning the Harris Real Estate colouring in competition, raising $1000 for our school and winning a Nintendo Switch Lite for herself.  We hope to sue this to purchase trees and flowers for the new planter boxes. 

 

Bushfire information

With the warmer weather arriving, here is a reminder about our school's detailed plans in place to keep your child safe in the event of a bushfire: 

  • On catastrophic fire danger days in the Mount Lofty Ranges fire ban district our school will be closed and no one is permitted on site. Whilst our school’s bushfire risk rating is R3 (medium to low risk), we are in close proximity to a nearby R2 (very high risk) school.
  • If a catastrophic fire danger day is forecast, we will inform you of a closure after 4pm the day before.
  • If the CFS upgrade the fire danger rating to catastrophic on the day, our school will remain open for the remainder of that day. This is in line with the Department’s processes and allows us to more easily manage communication with parents and caregivers in the event that a closure of the school is recommended by the department. 
  • We practise Bushfire drills with the students every Term 1 and 4 so that students are prepared in case of an emergency. Our Bushfire Shelter is in the school Hall (OSHC room) in the main building. 
  • We also practise communication with families through text messaging system in case we need to contact the whole school community in case of an emergency, and in case we have no Internet to send a SeeSaw message. It is very important for this reason that we have the most up to date mobile phone number for your family at all times. You can expect a trial text message in the coming week with the text: This is a test message from Uraidla Primary. Please do not reply.  

We encourage you to read the Department’s Bushfire and your child’s school or preschool brochure for more information on school closures and how we will act if threatened by a bushfire. Search ‘bushfire information’ at www.education.sa.gov.au.

 

Remembrance Day 

We held a Remembrance Day ceremony today at the Uraidla District Soldiers Memorial Park adjacent the school, led by our Year 6 students. We were very proud of all of our students who each wore a poppy they had made, and who paid such respectful attention during the ceremony, including during the 2 minutes of silence. Thank you to the Year 6 leaders for being such great role models for the younger students to follow. 

Sports Day 

We are really looking forward to Sports Day next Friday! This year we are learning to be flexible. First of all we needed to postpone the event scheduled in Term 1 due to Covid, and now we are changing venue due to all the wet weather we have had! Our oval is not in great shape, so we are grateful that we have been offered the use of the Uraidla Oval adjacent the school for our sporting activities. 

 

BRING A PICNIC OR PACKED LUNCH

Please note that this year we will not be offering lunch food for sale on the day. Please back students a lunchbox as normal, or if you plan be there, pack a picnic lunch for your family, and your children will be able to meet you on the school grounds. We will return to our schoolyard for both recess and lunch breaks, and although our oval is not yet suitable for sports, it's perfect for picnic rugs! 🌞

 

The Parents and Friends will be selling tea, coffee, limited sweets and icy poles from the gym galley at recess and lunch. 

 

We hope to see you there! 

Margie