Port Augusta West Primary School Term 4 week 3
Principal's report
Welcome back to what will prove to be a very busy final term of the school year. Our yr 4-6 students participated in the SAPSASA super 8’s cricket competition at Stirling North Primary School on Monday. I was fortunate enough to be involved with coaching and supervising one of the teams and I was most impressed with our students’ efforts and positive sportsmanship on the day. All students represented PAWPS, displaying a sense of pride and our values or respect; resilience and relationships were on show.
We welcome Lachlan Luvisi who is undertaking his university teaching placement in Mr. Nicholls’ yr 5/6 class. Lachlan will be on site for 15 days, and he will be provided with valuable practical hands-on experience in the classroom, whilst applying his knowledge to develop teaching skills, and make meaningful connections with students and his mentors. I am confident that Lachlan will gain positive insight which will inspire him to follow his journey toward becoming a qualified educator.
Our yr 6 students are coming towards the end of their primary schooling, which means that there is a wonderful mix of excitement and nerves in the air. This is a special time filled with lasting memories and preparations for the big step into high school. Our yr 6’s have a busy term ahead with transition visits to their respective high schools. These visits include a science lesson transition next week, a drama performance in week 5 and two days during the last week of the term at Port Augusta Secondary School. I encourage any families whose child may be feeling highly anxious about this transition, to please come and seek support.
We also have our 2026 reception transition visits beginning in week 5 this term. These visits slowly increase in length, with the visit in week 8 being a full day. To welcome our new families, we will be hosting a PAWPS BIG BREAKFAST on their first transition visit – November 11th.
Swimming lessons are locked in for weeks 6 and 7. Consent forms will be sent out over the next two weeks. Please ensure that you return all of the required consent forms by the due dates. Our end of term splash day has also been confirmed for Monday the 1st of December. This will be a lovely way to celebrate the end of a successful year as a whole school.
2026 class placement planning is currently underway. When placing students in classes, we take a number of factors into consideration. These can include social, academic, and siblings' needs. We also use the professional judgement of the current teacher, if and when combined classes occur. Once again, this year, we will be able to share class placements with families towards the end of the term. There will be a transition lesson in week 9, where students will get to spend a lesson in their 2026 class with their teacher/s (where possible). This aims to alleviate anxieties for students and families over the extended holiday break.
All staff will be undertaking ‘Restorative Practices’ training at our next Student Free Day on Friday the 7th of November. This is also part of our site learning plan and ties in nicely with our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) initiative. Restorative Practices are a set of strategies focused on building, maintaining and repairing relationships by addressing harm and conflict through communication and dialogue.
Lastly, it was wonderful to celebrate our whole school Positive Behaviour for Learning reward today with Milkshake/Ice Cream Day. Thanks to our amazing SSO’s for making it happen!
Keep up the positive efforts! #respectresilincerelationshipsPAWPS
Sarah Bury
Every Child ~ Every Classroom ~ Every Day
Children's University Spotlight
FORMAL GRADUATION INVITATIONS WILL BE ISSUED FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31st.
Port Augusta West Primary School Graduation Ceremony will be at the:
Lea Memorial Theatre, 12 Hannagan St, Port Augusta SA 5700
On: the 8th of December (Monday Week 9, Term 4) at 5:30 pm
Last call for passports to tally up the final hours for all students. Thank you to everyone who has sent in their passports already – this is a big and complex job! If you have any questions, or need support for your child, please ask. It has been wonderful these last few days as we have been accounting for each students’ hours, to see the look of awe and excitement on the children’s faces when they realise they have reached their goal.
Thanks to all those families who have been involved this year, it has been an absolute pleasure to be part of this journey together.
Kind Regards,
Jane Mount
Classroom Chatter from 3C
Exploring Food and Change in Science.
Last term in Science, the Year 1/2 students investigated how heating and cooling can change materials, especially the foods we eat! They explored what happened when different foods are heated, melted, frozen or cooled, and discussed whether those changes could be reversed. Students enjoyed hands – on experiments such as melting chocolate, butter and cheese, freezing ice blocks, cooking pasta, popcorn and potatoes. They had fun investigating and developing their understanding of how everyday materials respond to temperature changes and recorded their observations pre and post their experiments. The best part was also tasting some of the foods and celebrating with a hot chip luncheon at the end of the unit!
Measuring Mass in Maths.
This term in Maths, students have been busy exploring mass. Students have been learning how to compare and measure how heavy or light different objects. Students had fun using the balancing scales and classroom items to investigate which objects are heavier, lighter or about the same. They practised using words like heavier than, lighter than and equal to. Through hands on activities, students are developing their understanding of measurement, estimation, and comparing while having lots of fun experimenting and predicting results.
Mrs. Alex Maloney
Classroom Chatter from 3A
We've had a fantastic start in 3A! Students have been busy learning how to create and structure sentences correctly, write engaging stories, and continue expanding their knowledge of reading, writing, and oral communication through news telling.
In Mathematics, we've been focusing on reading numeral names, connecting number names to numerals and quantities, ordering numbers from 0 to 20 on both blank and partitioned number lines, and identifying numbers that come before, after, and between specific numbers. Teamwork and participation are important skills we are continuing to develop. Students have been showing great teamwork and resilience while engaging in a variety of classroom challenges.
Amber Tomney
SAPSASA Cricket
On Monday the 20th, we went out to Stirling Primary School to play Super Eights Cricket. I haven't played cricket before so wasn't sure how I would go, I really liked batting, but I found it really hard to bowl. Mrs. Bury was our coach for the day, we played six games we won two and lost four. We all had a great day. Emma
We took two boys' team to Super eights Cricket, my team Div 2 was coached by Mr. Ikiua, we won three games, then played Saint josephs from Roxby Downs. We won and finished third. Our div 1/2 side coached by Simone & Lachlan played well and played Caritas in the final. We won and everyone was excited, it was a great day. Owen
Family & Friends
Ride4Life
At the end of Term 3 we held a casual clothes day to raise money for 4 adventurous ladies who were riding their QUAD TANDEM bike from Perth to Sydney to raise funds for mental health. Louise, Anna, Sonia & Rach embarked on the 6-week journey, riding over 4,000kms. This was a world first! They stopped in for a visit at our school and spoke about their travels, and their experiences on the ride.
Four ladies have been riding their long bike across Australia; they came to our school to talk about their ride. I was picked out of the assembly, and we talked about friendship, then they gave me a friendship bracelet to put on. I got to call up my best friend and put a bracelet on her. Lilly
I and three other students helped lift up the 4-seater tandem bike we all used one hand to see how heavy the bike was. It was very light for such a big bike. Charlotte
Last term we had some ladies visit us and they talked about their 4-seater bike that came from overseas, and what they were doing. I lifted the bike with one hand; it wasn't very heavy. Zac
Cricket Blast
Our school was lucky to be involved in the SACA School Visit Program. The junior primary classes all participated in activities to help them grasp the basics of cricket; all students enjoyed the experience and found it engaging and valuable. I'm sure we will have many future cricket stars playing for Redbacks or The Strikers.
Music Workshop
Our school had the opportunity to experience the amazing performances by Nathan May, Julian Ferraretto along with Casper, who were in Port Augusta for 'The Chamber of Music Festival'. A workshop was held for our music students giving them the opportunity to see how professional musicians go about song writing and collaboration. Julian then exposed our students to other instruments hoping this would inspire them to continue with their music in some way.
It was a fun experience! We bonded over our love of music and made music altogether about the old water tower, boats and a goat. We are truly thankful for the workshop as each person played their own role while making the music. It was a delight! Samuel & Owen
We did a warmup with our instruments from high to low sounds at the start, we did this thing where we hit our chests gently, clapped our hands then opened our hands and not make any noise. We said our names in low voice, high voice. or funny voice. Everybody had to repeat it back. Emma & Lexy
It was fun! We made a song thank you for teaching us how to make songs for future things. we learnt how to make a song by picking random music notes. Lacey & Jax
It was good and had some fun! We made songs and the music also fun with everyone involved. Logan & Jasper
I thought it was fantastic, and I know Isaac and Baylie (year 6 students) really appreciated it. I thought the students, especially the ASD students in my class, were very engaged and couldn't take their eyes off the stage. Ms. Mount
Miscellaneous
