The Junior School has been a very busy place during the past fortnight, with our Year 1 girls attending their first Outdoor Education day trip for the year last Wednesday. With a focus on the Alison Lester novel, Magic Beach, the girls travelled to Kingston Park Coastal Reserve for a day of beach-themed outdoor learning.

Our Year 5 girls have also enjoyed their Outdoor Education camp this week, travelling for the first time to our Crawford campus near the Coorong. Staying in a combination of tents and dormitories, the girls have engaged in a broad range of conservation and Indigenous Education activities, including bird banding, plant identification and planting and outdoor cooking. These experiences are deeply valuable in providing our girls with diverse and practical learning opportunities outside of our traditional classroom environment.

NAPLAN - Years 3 and 5

The NAPLAN testing window will commence for Year 3 and Year 5 students next week, with information for families available on SEQTA Engage. The timetable for testing during Weeks 7 and 8 is as follows:

• Wednesday 15 March: Writing
• Thursday 16 March: Reading
• Friday 17 March: Conventions of Language
• Monday 20 March: Numeracy

All tests will be at the beginning of the day. Any catch-up testing will occur by the end of Week 8.

Last week, girls in Years 3 and 5 took part in a coordinated practice test. The public demonstration site has test examples for each year level if you are interested in looking at the format of the tests. The Year 3 Writing test is handwritten and is the only test not featured on the demonstration site.

Water Safety Classes

Our Reception and Year 1 girls will be undertaking their Water Safety Education classes next week at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre. We wish them a wonderful week of learning in this very important domain.

Harmony Day

We are looking forward to celebrating Harmony Week across our ELC and Junior School, with a special day of events on Friday 24 March. Girls are invited to wear something that is culturally significant to them or orange on this day, which will commence with an assembly run by our Citizenship Committee. The theme for Harmony Week in 2023 is ‘Everyone Belongs’ and teachers have been working hard to liaise with our broader community and prepare a broad range of activities designed to promote understanding and to celebrate cultural diversity. We will conclude the event with a picnic lunch and girls will also have the opportunity to pre-order special Harmony Day cookies through Flexischools. I look forward to sharing more with you about the success of this event in our next edition of Life in the Wilderness.

Junior School Sports Day

A reminder that our Junior School Sports Day is scheduled for Wednesday 5 April (Week 10), with a scheduled early finishing time of 1.30pm. I am delighted to share that, once again, our P&F committee have been working hard to provide the girls with the opportunity to purchase lunch boxes and a range of snacks on the day. Further information about this and how to order will be coming out soon.

Winter Uniform

With Term 2 fast approaching, a reminder that our new Junior Raincoats, available for purchase on Flexischools or at the Uniform Shop, have become a compulsory uniform item for girls in Reception to Year 2, and must be worn to and from school from the beginning of next term. Girls in Year 3 and up will require the School blazer as their outer garment from this time.

Winter Sport Nominations Close Next Friday

Winter sport seasons are currently available for nomination through Clipboard and can be changed up until the closing date. Please note that nominations for Term 2 and 3 Junior School Sport closes on Friday 17 March.