Junior School, Term 3 Week 3 2026

Thank you to everyone who attended a very successful Grandparents Day last Friday. The weather turned on its best for us and vibe through the school was infectious. It truly was a wonderful day.

A massive thankyou to Kathleen Karagianis, Kass Woods, Matt King, Michelle Mcgill, Amber Elsdon, Narelle Stffan, Jonathon Rice and the Grounds Team for their organisation, commitment and support of the day. I’d also like to acknowledge the performers and speakers who gave their all at the assembly and of course the volunteers who ensured a very smooth morning.

Junior School Resource Centre – Book Week Information

Term 3 promises to be a very busy and exciting ten weeks in the Junior School Resource Centres. Over the course of the term students will celebrate Book Week and enjoy a selection of special events including an author visit and other literary related performances and activities. On top of all of this, students will also complete the 2026 Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Official Book Week celebrations run across Week 7 (Monday 24 August – Friday 28 August). The theme for this year’s event is Symphony of Stories. As always, we aim to highlight the importance reading plays in the lives of children, helping them to open the doors to learning, imagination, and creativity.

Book Week Parade

This year the Book Week parade will be held on Friday 28 August in the Robert Henshall Gymnasium at 8.45am and will include Reception – Year 6 classes. Parents and friends are welcome to attend, and the parade usually takes about 30 minutes. Children are asked to dress up as a favourite book character or in a costume that reflects the theme, Symphony of Stories. We ask that the children think very carefully about their costumes, they are encouraged to be truly creative. It is not expected that costumes are hired or purchased, often the best costumes are home made.

Book Week Pop-Up Book Fair

The Book Week Pop-Up Book Fair will also be held during Book Week and take on a slightly different format this year. Unlike previous years when we have had two separate shops, we will have one larger pop-up bookstore that will operate from Friday 21 August – Wednesday 26 August. The store will be open before and after school Friday and Monday 21/9 and 24/9) in the Kurrajong undercroft and Tuesday and Wednesday (25/9 and 26/9) in Year 3-6/Science undercroft space. A great range of popular titles will be available for sale along with some fun stationery items. More information about this exciting event will be made available to the community shortly through Seesaw. If you are available and able to volunteer at either a morning (8:00am – 8:45am) or afternoon (3:15pm – 4:00pm) session, please let us know by email (see name links below).

Book Week Author Visit

This Book Week we will also welcome popular children’s author Phil Cummings and enjoy a performance by Perform Education. Perform Education will present their performance, Something Special, to ELC – 3 students on Tuesday 25 August. This performance is a live interactive, engaging and educational show featuring the 2026 CBCA shortlisted books.

Phil Cummings will join our school community on Thursday 3 September and Friday 4 September. Phil will spend his two days working with each year level from Reception to Year 6 focusing on the joy of reading and writing. He is an accomplished and award winning South Australian children’s author who has written countless books. Some of our favourite titles include Anzac Biscuits, Wilbur, It’s Bedtime, Crumbs and Footprint. Children are encouraged to bring along any Phil Cummings’s books that they would like signed during their session which will be Thursday for Year 3 – 6 and Friday for Reception – 2. Phil is a repeat visitor to Pulteney, and we look forward to his visit.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Term 3 also marks the end of the Premier’s Reading Challenge. Reception – 2 students complete the challenge in class. Year 3 – 6 students complete the challenge independently and are required to have it finished by Friday 4 September. Twelve books in total need to be recorded on the reading record (8 books are chosen from the dedicated reading lists and four books are free choice).

Please come and see the Resource Centre staff if you have any questions or would like some guidance with book selection for the challenge. Spare reading records are available at the circulation desk in the Resource Centres. Students in year 3-6 are asked to hand completed forms to classroom teachers or to post them directly to the activity set up on Seesaw.

If you have any questions regarding the exciting events of term three, please call in and ask our friendly Resource Centre staff. We all look forward to working with you and your children throughout this busy and exciting term.

Happy reading!

Yours Sincerely,

Georgie Buenfeld
Georgie.Buenfeld@pulteney.sa.edu.au

Erin Scheurleer
Erin.Scheurleer@pulteney.sa.edu.au

Gabie Hume
Gabie.Hume@pulteney.sa.edu.au

Junior School Resource Centres Staff

Upcoming Key Dates

Jason Fay
Head of Junior School

Performing Arts

A reminder that Year 1 Dance Troupe is cancelled this Wednesday 5 August. Parents and caregivers have already been notified via email.

Co-Curricular Updates

A reminder to please ensure you’re logging your child’s absence for Performing Arts Co-Curricular activities via the Pulteney App. Please follow the below instructions:

• Select Co-Curricular Tile
• Select Log co-curricular absence

Instrumental Music and Drama Program

Pulteney’s Performing Arts Department offers private tuition for a range of instruments as well as voice and drama lessons.

Applications for this year opened in December 2025 and have been finalised, however students from Reception right through to Year 12 can enrol at any time across the year. If an instrument, type of lesson or teacher is already fully booked, we can place your child on a waiting list until a lesson becomes available.

For more information about our program please click here. If you’re interested in enrolling your son or daughter, please complete the online application form.

Art – Collaborative Creatures

This term, our Year 3 students collaborated with the Year 10 Art students on the Collaborative Creatures project.

The Year 3 students began by imagining and illustrating their own unique creatures, including a range of features and details. The Year 10 students then used these drawings as inspiration to transform each creature into a three-dimensional artwork.

This project gave the Year 3 students the opportunity to see their original ideas brought to life, while the Year 10 students developed skills in interpreting a design and turning a two-dimensional drawing into a 3D form.

Chinese Singing Club

We will now begin preparing to participate in the upcoming Australian Voices Chinese Singing Competition.

The competition entries opened on 15 July 2026. Competition registrations will be reviewed in October 2026, and the Australian Voices Showcase will be held on Sunday, 15 November 2026, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

As part of the competition, we will record a video of the students singing, which will be submitted as our competition entry.

Students will practise every Friday during first break in the Kurrajong Chinese classroom to prepare for the competition.

If your child is interested in participating, a permission form will be sent home for you to read and sign. The form will include further details about the competition.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Minmin.Huang@pulteney.sa.edu.au

Thank you for your continued support. I look forward to seeing our students enjoy this wonderful opportunity to share their Chinese language learning through music.

Minmin Huang, Chinese Teacher

Long Lunch Class Basket Donations

• Make a monetary donation online, allowing the organising committee to curate beautiful hampers; or
• Donate an item, with collection baskets available in all ELC and Junior School classrooms.