With Term 4 well underway, we have had an action-packed fortnight in the Junior School. Last Friday, our Years 3 – 6 girls commenced their day at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre for their annual Junior School Swimming Carnival.

With well organised Year 6 House Captains, the House spirit was high throughout the day as the girls competed in a wide range of open, year level and team games events. Ably supported by the Middle School students, our younger girls had both a successful and enjoyable day in and out of the pool. Enormous thanks to Ms Deb Jarrett, Ms Ashleigh Young, Mr Derek Woodcock and Mr Kieran Jackson for their organisation of an event that truly ran like clockwork.

Thursday 10 November was our annual Junior School New Girls’ Day, where all new students joining the Junior School in 2023 joined their current year level counterparts to spend a day transitioning up to their new classrooms and teachers for next year. All new girls were assigned a buddy, who undertook careful training for their important role with Mrs Kate Brennan. The day began with a beautiful assembly presented by the Year 2 students, who shared lots of important information that our new girls needed to know about coming to Wilderness, before returning to their classrooms to undertake a range of fun getting-to-know-you activities with their new teachers. We always look forward to new friends joining us in the Junior School, and with new enrolments strong, this year was no exception.

New beginnings are very exciting and can also bring with them nerves and, at times, worry about changes to come. Speaking positively with your daughters about upcoming changes, the opportunities to make new friends and to learn from new teachers is an important way to demonstrate to them how to embrace change. Please do not hesitate to get in contact with either your daughter’s teacher or myself should you have any questions about the upcoming school year.

Rehearsals are well underway during Music lessons for our much-anticipated ELC and Junior School Christmas concerts, which are fast approaching. Information about the requirements for these respective evenings, including what the girls are asked to wear, arrival times and more, will be coming home very soon.

I wish you a wonderful week ahead.

Animal Capers

As part of our Science learning this term – about the basic needs of living things – Reception girls were visited by Jodie from ‘Animal Capers’. We had the opportunity to handle some fascinating creatures and learn how to care for them. We met Oscar, the 17-week-old puppy who is a cross between an Australian Shepherd and Border Collie. Oscar was full of energy, but he sat beautifully for us to give him treats! We also met Wriggles the snake, Bluey the blue-tongued lizard, Votarn the owl, Smiles the crocodile and Napoleon the frog. We bravely and gently held and patted these animals. Bluey even licked our noses! Two of our favourite creatures were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, the sugar gliders, who were snuggled up in a pouch together. Jodie helped us dip our fingers into honey and they happily popped their heads up to hungrily lick it off!

Melissa Foster
Reception Teacher