A Warm Welcome to the 2025 School Year

Dear Families,

Welcome to the start of the 2025 school year.  A special welcome to our new students and families joining the Craigburn community for the first time—it’s wonderful to have you with us.

I trust everyone enjoyed some quality time with loved ones over the holiday break and is feeling refreshed and ready for the year ahead. As we prepare for the first day of school on Tuesday, 28th January, our teachers and support staff have been hard at work, planning learning programs and preparing their classrooms and learning spaces. They are excited to meet their new classes and families, and to begin another year together.

To help ensure a smooth start, please take a moment to review the important information below.

Wishing you all the best for a successful and enjoyable first week back.

Warm regards, Paul

Paul Luke – Principal

First Week Take Home Packs

To start the year, your child will be taking home an envelope, containing the following information:

• Student Change of Details form – only to be completed if there are any changes to family and emergency contact details, and medication requirements. Please check details thoroughly and sign before returning to school in the envelope – either in person at the front office or via your child’s class teacher.
• Materials and Services Charge with payment information and options.
• Permissions / Consent Forms – Updates

If relevant, please ensure you promptly return the Student Change of Details form as soon as possible. During the year if there are any changes to parent / carer / emergency contacts, please communicate these to the school as soon as they occur.

School Card

Low-income families are able to get financial help with school fees, materials and services charges, through the School Card scheme. All types of School Card applications are now online. You can access the online forms from any device that gets the internet,  including mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, as well as laptops and computers. 

Application details can be accessed through the Department’s School Card scheme page.

Term 2025 Dates

• Term 1        Tuesday 28th January – Friday 11th April 
• Term 2        Monday 28th April – Friday 4th July
• Term 3        Monday 21st July – Friday 26th September
• Term 4        Monday 13th October – Friday 12th December

Student Free Days 2025 – Save the dates

As shared late last year – 2 student free days are confirmed for 2025, as follows:

• Monday 17th February – Term 1 Week 4
• Monday 21st July – Term 3 Week 1

A further 2 student free days will be scheduled and communicated to families early in the new school year. A school closure day (a day of local significance) will also be scheduled, which typically aligns with the week of the Royal Adelaide Show.

School Communications 

A reminder to check in with our main communication channels below. 

News Blog – Craigburn Connections

The Craigburn Connections News Blog  http://blogs.craigburn.sa.edu.au is an important communication link between the school and families, containing information about learning activities and events within the school and the wider school community. The Weekly Wrap is published every Sunday afternoon with relevant information for the week ahead.

Please ensure you have subscribed to the news blog – so that you can receive email notifications when new posts are published. Once you have subscribed for the first time with a new email, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription.  If you have any difficulty subscribing, please contact us so that we can manually update your subscription. 

**** Please note – In coming weeks, Craigburn Connections will be integrated into our school website. We will keep you updated and informed of this change and how to maintain access to our school news.

Email, Class Connections Newsletters and Seesaw 

Email, Class Connections Newsletters and Seesaw are used by teachers and teaching teams as a means to share their students’ and class’ learning journeys as well as communicating directly with parents. Information is provided to families at the beginning of the school year.

Facebook

Craigburn has an official school Facebook Page which is used to share and promote school news as it happens. Feel free to like and follow our Page.

Website

Our school website at www.craigburn.sa.edu.au provides new and current information about the school. It also provides links to report a student absence and / or book a school tour (for new prospective families).

Lesson / Siren Times

• 8.30am – Students / families allowed on school grounds.
• 8.40am – Classrooms open
• 8.50am – Siren sounds and the school day begins. Students arriving late must sign in at the front office.
• 10.40am – Recess
• 11.10am – Lessons continue
• 12.50pm – Children eat their lunch in the classroom
• 1.00pm – Lunch play
• 1.30pm – Lessons continue
• 3.10pm – Children are dismissed.  

Please note a minor amendment to our daily timetable – Recess will now commence at 10.40am through until 11.10am.

Previously, this was 10.50am to 11.20am. The daily amount of instructional times remains the same at 320 minutes.

Staffing Update

We welcome the following teachers to Craigburn for 2025 and wish them a successful start to the year.

• Katherine Hagias. Katherine is excited to be teaching Receptions, having taught in the early years at Seymour College over the past 4 years.
• Bec Drozdoff. Bec has extensive teaching experience in the early and primary years of schooling, and is looking forward to teaching Year 1s this year.
• Natalie Shearer. Nat joins us as an experienced primary years teacher who will be working in tandem with Pearl Somerset teaching Year 5s. Nat previously taught at Craigburn in 2020.
• Lisa Sporn. Lisa rejoins us at Craigburn having taken leave for the past 18 months. Lisa is looking forward to teaching STEM to our early year (R-2) classes this year.

Staff List 

• Our full staff list for 2025 can be accessed further below.

To Note:

• Congratulations to Genna Dow who married her partner Jake late last  year. 
• Pip Tonkin will provide teaching support for the first 2 weeks of term before taking maternity leave. 
• Veronica Khalaf and Brooke Hamden continue in their curriculum coordinator / instructional reading coach roles throughout 2025, providing leadership support in our learning improvement goals. They will be released from classroom duties each Wednesday to undertake this important role. Chantelle McMahon will be teaching on Wednesdays in Veronica’s class – the same arrangement as last year. 
• Janine Mckay continues as student wellbeing leader, working in this role on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Term 1 Planner

We are in the process of finalising our Term 1 and Yearly Planner. In the interim, please save the dates for the following events:

• Acquaintance Night – Tuesday 11th February
• Student Free Day – Monday 17th February
• Annual General Meeting – Tuesday 18th February
• Adelaide Cup Public Holiday – Monday 10th March
• NAPLAN starts – Years 3 and 5 – Wednesday 12th March
• Year 3-5 Swimming – from Monday 24th – Friday 28th March
• Year 6 Aquatics – Wednesday 26th March
• Sports Day – Friday 4th April
• Reception – Year 2 Swimming – Monday 28th April – Friday 2nd May

More dates to follow as they are confirmed.

Attendance

School is open for students from 8.30am. For safety and duty of care reasons, we ask that students not come onto school grounds unless supervised by their parent/s. A reminder that our OSHC service provides before school care from 7.00am

OSHC enrolment forms can be found on our website, or through OSHC directly. 

Teachers will begin opening classrooms with lessons commencing at 8.50am. Students are expected to wait outside their classrooms upon arrival. The first few minutes of the school day are very important as this is when daily notices and reminders about events are given, notes are collected, communication books are checked and a range of other organisational matters are managed. 

Students who arrive even a few minutes late, often miss this valuable information and disadvantage themselves. Students who arrive after the 8.50am school bell, must report directly to the front office and sign in as a late arrival.

Dismissal is at 3.10pm with school staff on Front Gate, School Crossing and Heath Lane duties.

Safety, Traffic and Parking

A friendly reminder to families to please follow local council parking rules, especially when using the ‘drop-off and pick-up’ zones on Murrays Hill Rd and Heath Lane. Please, also be considerate of local residents when parking close to the school for any length of time. Please note:

• Local Council Rangers often attend school’s unexpectedly to monitor these areas and will issue infringement notices as they deem appropriate. 
• Vehicles entering the drop off / pick up zone off Murrays Hill must continue through the zone if a temporary parking space is unavailable – this prevents traffic building up on Murrays Hill Rd.
• The staff car park is not to be used for the drop off and pick up of children as doing so is dangerous and causes congestion – unless using the disability access park and displaying a permit.
• We ask parents to refrain from parking in the staff car park after 7.30am in the morning and before 5.00pm in the afternoon. If accessing OSHC please temporarily park in the drop off / pick up zone.
• Please contact the front office for emergency access.

Facilities Upgrades

This year, our school will undergo two significant maintenance upgrades that will temporarily impact our early years R-1 classroom spaces, library, and gymnasium.

Firstly, the Reception, Library, and Year 1 learning spaces will have their ceilings completely replaced, with work scheduled to begin midway through the year. To accommodate this, rooms in the Year 2 building have been set aside for a temporary relocation of these classes.

Secondly, the gymnasium floor will be replaced due to defects in the flooring that was installed several years ago. During this time, our OSHC service will also temporarily relocate to ensure continuity of care and activities.

We will keep you informed with further updates as we receive more details in the coming months. Thank you for your understanding and support as we undertake these necessary upgrades to improve our school facilities.

Canteen

Sue and the canteen were grateful for the  support they received throughout 2025. The canteen will again be inviting parents to help with volunteering. Keep an eye out for an update.

iPads in Learning

We are excited to share that all primary years students will now have access to a school-managed iPad as part of their learning. This change means personal or family-owned iPads will no longer need to be brought to school. We are currently updating our devices and procedures to ensure a smooth rollout for the year ahead. For our early years students, iPads will be available as part of a shared class bank, providing opportunities to enhance their learning in a collaborative and engaging way.

Lost and Found Library Books

If you happen to have come across any library books over the holidays we would appreciate you returning them to school so that they can be made available for others to borrow. Please return all books even if they are damaged so we can repair or replace them.

More information to come soon

• School Sport – nominations for summer and winter seasons of school sport.
• Volunteering
• School Uniform Update

Staff List – 2025

Class Teachers – including class structures and locations

• Reception – D20 – Brooke Hamden 0.6 (MTF) Jess Watton 0.4 (WTh)
• Reception – D21 – Katherine Hagias
• Reception – D22 – Genna Dow
• Early Years Support – Pip Tonkin – first 2 weeks WThF
• Year 1 – E23 – Bec Drozdoff
• Year 1 – E24 – Crystal Thanawathik
• Year 1 – E25 – Chloe Bremner
• Year 2 – A1 – Tahlia Woolford
• Year 2 – A3 – Anita Wright 0.6 (MTF) Emma Bower 0.4 (WTh)
• Year 3/4 – C14 – Veronica Khalaf 0.8 (MTThF) Chantelle McMahon 0.2 (W)
• Year 3/4 – C15 – Renae Humphrys 0.8 (MTWF) Chantelle McMahon 0.2 (Th)
• Year 3/4 – C16 – Rebecca Hepworth 0.8 (MTThF) Chantelle McMahon 0.2 (F)
• Year 3/4 – C17 – Sophie McDonald
• Year 3/4 – B13 – Steven Webster
• Year 5 – Pearl Somerset 0.6 (MTW) Nat Shearer 0.4 (ThF)
• Year 5/6 – B12 – Tristan Fergusson
• Year 5/6 – B8 – Andrea Grant
• Year 5/6 – B9 – Mark Lemmey

Specialist Teachers – locations

• German – D18 – Carly Smith 0.8 (TWThF)
• PE – Karen Pettman 0.6 (T,Th,F) – Gym / Courts / Oval
• Performing Arts – F26/27 – Jimmy Marin 0.8 (MTThF)
• STEM R-2 – A7 – Lisa Sporn 0.6
• STEM 3-6 – Library – Jodie Fischer 0.8
• PE 3/4 – Paul Suthers 0.2

SSOs

• Clare Aikens – Business Manager
• Bron Fabrici – Front Office admin
• Hayley Beard – Front Office admin
• Julianne Lehmann – Learning Support
• Krysten Pattison – Library
• Chelsea Johnson – Learning Support
• Gemma Liberali – Learning Support
• Travis Nuske – ICT Tech
• Tom Aikens – Grounds
• Emily Gray – School Garden / Library
• Sam Walton – Learning Support
• Tyson Donovan – Learning Support
• Hannah Hosking – Learning Support
• Linda Groen – Learning Support

Leadership

• Veronica Khalaf and Brooke Hamden – Curriculum Coordinators (Wednesday release)
• Janine McKay – Student Wellbeing Leader 0.8 (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday)
• Nicky Taylor – Deputy Principal
• Paul Luke – Principal

We look forward to an exciting and successful 2025 school year.