It is difficult to believe that we have nearly come to the end of another term together in our Junior School. Having truly entered winter, the last few weeks in our Junior School have been enriched with a broad variety of learning opportunities.

Our Junior Dreamers choir, made up of Year 5 and 6 students, achieved outstanding success in the Adelaide Choral Eisteddfod last week, winning first place in the Primary to Grade 8 Choir section. We are very proud of not only the girls’ achievements, but also the hard work they undertook, under the careful supervision of their conductor Mrs Anna Lenartowicz, that led them there.

Our Year 2 Strings and Year 4 Band Concerts were held on Tuesday in Hender Hall, a culmination of a semester of learning for each year level. Each girl in Year 2 was tutored on a stringed instrument to form an orchestra and each girl in Year 4 learned to play a brass or woodwind instrument, forming a Year 4 band. The girls shared their learning in a beautiful performance for their families and Music teachers and they were lucky enough to have some of our older student musicians join them on the evening. Congratulations to our wonderful Music Department for once again providing such a quality experience for our little girls and for inspiring a continuing love of music among them.

Co-Curricular Achievements

Congratulations to the following students who competed at and achieved outstanding results in the SAPSASA State competition on Thursday 4 May.

• Grace Tully (12-year-old category, Year 6) – Open 100m Freestyle (10th place), 50m Backstroke (11th place) and Relay (8th Place)
• Ivy Dowd (11-year-old category, Year 6) – 50m Backstroke (10th place), 50m Breaststroke (3rd place)
• Ariana Ng (11-year-old category, Year 6) – Relay (3rd place)
• Emilia Varricchio (11-year-old category, Year 5) – 50m Freestyle (4th place), 50m Butterfly (6th place) and Relay (3rd place)
• Alana Munt (10-year-old category, Year 5) – Relay (2nd place).

Congratulations also to Ivy Dowd, who represented Wilderness at the Interschool Gymkhana at Trinity College on Friday 12 May. Ivy had a successful day, receiving four blue ribbons across a range of events.

We once again were well represented at the IPSHA (Independent Primary School Heads of Australia) Poetry Competition this year, with students Evie Carter (Year 4), Cedra Sawad (Year 5) and Siena Parker (Year 6) attending the competition at St Peter’s College on Wednesday 7 June. With students reciting poems from nearly 20 other schools, so many students worked incredibly hard to ensure a high-quality competition. Congratulations to Evie, who placed first overall for the Year 4 category.

Year 6 Market Day

Our Year 6 girls undertook a unit on financial literacy this term, with a focus on learning about the considerations of starting a small business. Learning about forecasting profits and losses, budgeting and considering their planned consumers, the girls’ learning culminated in a Market Day on Friday 16 June. Held in Hender Hall, each small business collaborated to present a market stall, selling items they had researched and made themselves to their counterparts from Years 2 to 6. After an enormously successful day and unit of learning, we look forward to the girls’ learning in this area continuing as they progress into more complex units within Artemis in future years.

After School Programs

Our first co-curricular Robotics Club has been an enormous success this term. Offered on Thursdays throughout Term 2, with a new enrolment group commencing in Term 3 for Years 1 and 2, the girls collaborated with robotics coaches using Lego WeDo kits to solve a range of provocations provided to them each week.

22Too Gymnastics have also commenced an excellent after school program on Monday and Wednesday afternoons for girls in Reception and Year 1 in the Cub Space. We look forward to offering this across different year levels as the year progresses and continuing to diversify the after-school offerings available to our Junior School girls in the future.

You will be receiving your daughter’s Semester 1 report in the first week of the school holidays. Teachers are now finalising these carefully considered documents that provide information on your daughter’s learning and achievement thus far. Please do not hesitate to make contact with the relevant class or specialist teacher upon the commencement of Term 3 should you wish to discuss any aspect of your daughter’s report.

Road Safety on Hawkers Road

I would like to take this opportunity to remind families about the importance of safe driving practices at school drop-off and pick-up. Increasingly, supervising staff and parents are reporting dangerous and illegal driving in this area, including drivers undertaking U-turns in the pick-up zone, students being beckoned to enter vehicles while they are still in the middle of the road and cars double parking. I also remind you that school entrances along this roadway are not parking zones and ask that you do not drive into these gates to wait for your daughters at any time. I really do understand that there are always frustrations at home time when everyone is trying to collect their children and often have other places to get to, however, the safety issues are increasingly concerning and significant for our students and community members. To prevent the likelihood of a tragic situation, I ask for your support in ensuring that our school pick-up zones are as safe as possible.

Wishing you a wonderful winter school break with your families. I look forward to seeing the girls upon their return in Term 3.

Bedtime Stories

One of our most precious Wildy events is Bedtime Stories, an opportunity to don our cosiest pyjamas, snuggle up with a soft toy friend and share reading magic with teachers and special guests in our wonderful Library. Twinkly clouds and friendly Junior Library Committee girls (assisted by our Middle and Senior Library Representatives) welcomed Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 girls and their parents—many wearing their night attire too. This treasured event is made extra special by the obvious delight our story readers show by carefully selecting stories which are part of their own reading adventures, past and present. It reminds us that we can share and enjoy stories at any age.

Once again, our delicious take home treats were baked by one of our student entrepreneurs, Demi Moutos (Year 11). Her brand ‘Deliciously Simple’ certainly lived up to its reputation!

On behalf of the girls, we thank readers Mrs Belinda Arnfield, Ms Liz McCarthy, Mrs Kate Snell, Mrs Brenna Bence, Ms Celine Zammit, Miss Jane Grace, Miss Danielle Moir, Mrs Wendy Menzies, Miss Lauren Trennery, Mrs Jess Foster, pre-service teacher Ms Georgia Benvenuto and Ms Mig Collier for their generosity and joy, and also our special helpers Mrs Ruth Lim and Ms Teagan Lane as well as all the people behind the scenes for a memorable night.

Katie Silva
Teacher Librarian