Crafers Primary School

Hi all

What a busy and productive term it has been!

Festival of Music

This week I had the pleasure of attending the Festival of Music concert. 2019 has been a huge year of participation for CPS as we have been proudly represented in choir, orchestra, quintet, band, choreography leaders and solo artist.

Parents, community, staff and students have been delighted by the high quality rehearsals and performances. Special congratulations to Mark Hudson and Catherine Hannaford as our instrumental group tuition leaders and the quality group of instructors who support individual students every week across multiple instruments.

Also congratulations and thank you to Pam Shepherd, Kate Price and John Nielsen for their commitment to the 2019 choir. The organisation that goes on behind the scenes is significant and has come to fruition again with high levels of success. All of their extra efforts are appreciated.

Pedal Prix

This weekend our Pedal Prix team head to Murray Bridge or the 24 hour race. From midday Saturday to midday Sunday our team of 45 will pedal with all their might. This is the event that the Pedal Prix calendar leads up to and involves a huge team of parents and volunteers. Volunteer mechanics, cooks, coaches, marshals and trainers will keep the teams going in our three cars. With several six hour events under their belts and months of training our team are ready to go. We fly as one!

Good luck team!

NAPLAN

Preliminary results are in and whilst staff are working through the finer detail I would like to inform you of some of the results.

In the 2019 NAPLAN tests, held in May, our students have performed at a very high level. Many of the results are the highest that CPS has had over the past several years and in some instances, the best on record.

Improvement is evident across Reading, Numeracy and Writing. Most pleasing has been the high rates of retention for students who performed well in the last test two years ago. This has been one of our priority areas and the results show the pleasing impact of some of the improvement work.

Teachers will work through the details of individual student progress over the coming weeks. Families are due to receive their NAPLAN Individual Student Summary reports before the end of term. If you have questions regarding your child’s results please make a time to discuss it with your child’s class teacher.

Regards

Garry

On 4 September, 16 lucky 6/7 Choir students were given the opportunity to sing at the Port Pirie Primary schools combined choir Festival of Music. Thirteen students stayed at the Port Pirie Scout Hall for the night while others stayed in accommodation around Pirie. 

With an early morning departure from school we made the 2.5 hr trip to the Keith Mitchell Theatre to attend a morning rehearsal. We joined eight other primary schools on stage to go through the music selected for the year. After a five hour rehearsal we walked to the Scout Hall to set up our bedding and eating area.

After the rehearsal we joined Miss Shephard as she showed us around Airdale Primary (this is where she had her first teaching appointment). We also met Mrs Lill to say thank you for supporting and allowing us to join the schools choir. We also met other teachers that taught with Miss Shephard. We then ventured back to the Hall to set up beds. Some students decided to go on a walk, we headed down to the Pirie foreshore. We walked around huge silos (where grain is stored), to get to the beach, which wasn’t really a beach but, all children enjoyed dipping their feet in the freezing cold water from a pontoon. Miss Shephard noted that most parents and students noticed the heat – it was warm enough for T-shirt’s and shorts – Miss Shephard assured us it wasn’t hot.

After walking back from the beach, all students started to get ready and waited hungrily for a delicious BBQ! All kids were stuffed with sausages and salad!  Thanks to our amazing cooks Mr Seabrook and Mr Lack. It was a great success. We thank Kathryn Nielsen and Charlize Morden for doing all the food shopping.

At quarter to seven everyone drove to the theatre and had an incredible night. It was an incredible performance with all the eight local schools from surrounding districts! The concert was conducted by Indra Benson and the band consisted of music teachers from different schools. There were also 16 soloists performing on the night, each singing their own song! The hosts were hilarious and had a great script.

When Crafers returned to the hall, everyone filled their tummies with a fun treat of a hot or cold milo!

It was an incredible trip and we would love to do it again. We’d also like to thank all the people that took the time out to come down and help with all the kids. Thank you as well to Mrs Lill and the other Pirie Choir teachers who invited and welcomed us to help out with the choir, we are very thankful and loved the concert! 

We would also like to thank our amazing parents for letting us make the journey with our amazing drivers who consisted of Graham Seabrook, Michelle Newton, Julie Kenyon, Felicity Pearce, Jason Lack, Tim and Lucie Mellor, Kathryn Nielsen and Mr Nielsen of course. Without our amazing drivers we would never have made it. A big shout out to Mr North for allowing us to experience the Regional concert, we hope to persuade him to let us do it again.

Last but not the least we would like to thank Miss Shephard and Mr Nielsen for organising the entire event, entertaining us during the day and most of all preparing us for the concert. We can’t wait to sing at our concert in week 9 at the Adelaide Festival Theatre. We are looking forward to holding our local school concert at the gym in Week 10 Tuesday 24 September. Please come and join us. You won’t regret it, we have worked very hard during the last 3 terms preparing for our concert.

Written by Clare Naglis, Annabel McGregor and Zia Fels

On Wednesday, 11 September the 21 members of the CPS band and their fearless leader packed up their instruments and headed down to the Festival Theatre. On arrival we all met at the main entrance along with parent helpers Petra Dunaiski (Reilly), Roberta Mitchell (Josie and Nina), Sally and Rory McGregor (Annabel), and Mr Neilson. We then proceeded down to our cozy dressing room in the depth of the theatre complex. Instruments were then unpacked and assembled, warmed up and tuned up. The sound was deafening in that tiny room while everyone blowing into their instruments at the same time in order to warm them up.

Finally the call came up for the CPS band to head to the stage area for sound check. We had to be extremely quiet when approaching the performance space. Once all 21 musicians and their helpers were all assembled at the side of the stage we were given our instructions and had to line up in our performance order in readiness to move onto the stage. Rhythm section stage right, brass and wind instruments stage left. Once all guitars and keyboard were plugged in and everyone was moved into their place we played through a perfect rendition of “Livin On A Prayer”.

All preparations finished we now had to wait in the dressing room for a couple of hours until we were called up to perform. Everyone amused himself or herself reading books, playing cards, some playing their instrument, and some using their electronic devices. Student behaviour was impeccable considering the amount of time they had to spend in that tiny room.

Roberta Mitchell did a fantastic job giving everyone a number and drawing up a map of where we all needed to be standing on the stage. As our allotted time drew nearer the performers were all lined up in the order they needed to be in to enter the stage. Finally after what seemed to be an eternity, we were called to the stage. I guided the rhythm section to our side of the stage and the adults helped move the rest of the band into place. Everything was dark until the curtain came up and there we were standing in silence with an audience of around 2000 waiting in anticipation for us to commence. I gave a silent count and the rhythm section fired up flowed by the rest of the band. I looked over to my left and there we all were up on a huge screen at the side of the stage.

Once we finished our performance, there was a huge applause, we all bowed and proceeded to leave the stage and head back down to our dressing room.

Finally with our performance over we had time to contemplate what a wonderful experience we had just been through. Thanks very much to the students for an excellent job on the night and heartfelt thanks to all of the adults for their help on the night.

Mark Hudson

I really enjoyed playing at the Festival of Music. I think the best part would have been when the curtains opened and there was the crowd! The theatre was humungous and I was so nervous, but I managed through the song OK.

Josie, Alto Sax, Room 9

It was really nerve-racking but also it was so much fun. I want to do it again.

Fraser, Alto Sax, Room 13

It was a great experience, but very nerve-racking to start. I loved playing in front of so many people. 

Joshua, Guitar, Room 12

When we got on stage for sound check I looked up and I saw three big layers of chairs and three small boxes on each side. Then I felt very nervous because after three hours we would be on stage with over 1000 people. It was a great experience, thanks to Mark. 

Hamish, Trumpet, Room 8

I thought the Festival of Music was awesome. I was nervous at first but when we started playing I thought it was just like at school. My favourite bit was the mist and the lights. I also though the drummers were very good.

Angus, Trumpet, Room 8

On Tuesday, 3 September, all the Year 6 and 7 students went to St Francis de Sales in Mt Barker to participate in the Lightning Carnival. The students spent the day playing football, soccer, netball or basketball against other schools from the Hills and Barker Districts. The focus of the day was not to keep score but to participate in sport, have fun with our friends and to meet new people outside of our school community. It was also a great opportunity for the school to show off our new SAPSASA tops. The day was a huge success, the weather was beautiful and the students had a wonderful day. Thank you to all the teachers that helped to make the day possible.

Victoria Gaetjens

Forty four of our year 6 and 7 students will be participating in the 24 hour Pedal Prix race at Murray Bridge this weekend. The students have been undertaking fitness training twice a week and weekend rides in the cars; and parents have been busy preparing for this final race of the year. The race starts at 12 noon Saturday, 21 September, and finishes the same time on Sunday. It’s a great opportunity for members of the school community to come and see the team in action, especially if you have a child in year 5 who’s interested in joining Pedal Prix next year. 

Hope to see you there,

Pedal Prix Committee