Our Purpose – Our Why

Our purpose at Annesley is ’to empower capable and creative young people to become confident and connected learners, who take meaningful action in our world.

Strategic Focus Area – Learning Environment

One of our three Strategic Focus Areas in our Strategic Framework is – Learning Environment.

Immersive, authentic and creative learning environments that foster learner engagement and student agency’

The Great Annesley Bake Off

Through the learning environment we designed and create at Annesley, we enjoyed another ‘AJS first’ this week, with the Great Annesley Bake Off – a Year 4 Enterprise initiative of three students – Florence, Oscar and Henry.

Scaffolded by their Year 4 Enterprise Unit of Inquiry this semester, and with support from the Year 4 teaching, specialist and leadership team, these students were given the opportunity to envision, enact and create impact in our community this week, aligning their focus with another AJS Strategic Focus Area – Belonging.

From the judges

A note from our judges, who wanted to remind everyone that all participants were winners, because of their effort, new learning and impact made, just through participation.

Congratulations to everyone who entered a cake in today’s competition, with special congratulations going to those who won a place in each category!

We were very impressed by both the quantity and quality of the cakes! It is clear that you all put a lot of effort into baking and decorating them.

We hope that you enjoyed doing so, but also learned some new skills!

We found it really hard to decide which cakes deserved first, second and third places. There were so many excellent entries – which means that there are many wonderful cakes that did not win a prize.

You can all be very proud! We hope that you will love eating the cake tomorrow and will raise lots of money for Backpacks for Kids!

Lastly, congratulations to Florence, Henry, Oscar and David for creating such an exciting enterprise – and thank you very much for inviting us to be judges!

Great Annesley Bake Off Results

Oscar, Florence and Henry from Year 4 would like to thank everyone who took part in our first ever Great Annesley Bake Off.

We had more than 50 entries, and the standard of cakes was truly outstanding in both the taste and decoration categories.

Our expert judges Ritchie and Marcia, deliberated long and hard to ensure each cake was carefully considered before deciding on our winners.

Congratulations to our winning bakers!

R-2 Best Tasting

1^st Place
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Winnie Bridges and Brooke 

2nd Place
Chocolate Cherry Marshmallow Cake
Kate and Gemma Jordan

3^rd Place
Ella’s Choc Custard Cloud Cake
Ella Croughton & Grace Vincent

R-2 Best Looking

1st Place
Watermelon Cake
Victor and Nicki Ramone

2nd Place
Kirby Cake
Arthur Lees and Nicki

3rd Place
Ella’s Choc Custard Cloud Cake
Ella Croughton & Grace Vincent

3-6 Best Tasting

1st Place
Raspberry Choc Delight
Charlie Gold and Georgie White

2nd Place
Audrey’s cinnamon tea cake
Audrey and Kylie Hyde

3rd Place
Family Banana Cake
Mico, Alesandra, Daniel and Nonna Santa Lopresti

3-6 Best Looking

1st Place
Parks Now and Then
Florence Bell & Neill and Nicole

2nd Place
Sweet Piano
Mabel and Kristen Medhurst 

3rd Place
Ravenclaw Scarf
Harriet, Christian and Gaby O’Dwyer

Teachers

Best Tasting – The Berry Zest Cake
Cherie Gemert

Best Looking – Tim Tam Temptation
Michelle and Imogen Hicks

Year 5 Performance 

Term 2 has been full of exciting learning experiences and opportunities for our students to connect with the wider community in our outdoor classroom experiences.

Our Year 2 students have been developing their bike riding skills, and we are thrilled to celebrate that nine of our friends have now mastered riding without trainer wheels!. This means that every Year 2 student is now a confident bike rider and all students were taught key safety bike skills. This is an important step in their Quest Journey as we continue to build riding skills in later years.

The Year 6 students have been learning about social responsibility through visits to Baptist Care, where they gained a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by people experiencing homelessness. They also continued their valuable partnership with Forktree, planting seedlings that they had carefully propagated and grown back at school.

Our Reception students have begun their intergenerational program with Resthaven, building meaningful connections with older members of our community through shared activities and conversations.

Meanwhile, our Year 3 students have enjoyed their first camp experience with a one night stay at Nunyara, where they enjoyed new experiences including team activities, tree climbing and billy carts.

It has been wonderful to see students learning, growing, and making a positive impact in the community.

Over the past six weeks, our Year 2s have spent every Friday transforming into confident, skilled, and safe cyclists! We are thrilled to announce that they have officially completed their school cycling program.

The growth we have witnessed over the road every Friday has been phenomenal. The instructors,  Leanne and Michelle, worked patiently with each child, guiding them through the fundamental skills of balance, steering, and braking. Thanks to this professional guidance, many of our Year 2s proudly transitioned from training wheels to independent riding on two wheels.

Beyond just the mechanics of pedalling, the program focused heavily on building confidence. Some of the Year 2s who started the first week feeling anxious or hesitant finished their final session on Friday with massive smiles, proudly cheering along with their peers. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch their self-esteem grow alongside their cycling skills.

Now that our Year 2s have built up these fantastic skills, we encourage them to keep active by practising on weekends and safely riding to school whenever they can! We look forward to seeing plenty of bikes filling up our racks over the coming weeks.

Conferences in Term 3
Our Term 3 Three Way Conferences and Learning Walks are a key part of our reporting cycle, following on from the Semester 1 written report that will be shared with you in Week 10 of this term. 

3-Way Conferences – Reception to Year 6
Our 3-Way Three Way Conferences take place in Weeks 2 and 3 of Term 3 and involve the student, parent, and class teacher. During these conferences, students will share and reflect on their learning, receive and engage with feedback from parents and class teachers, and work together to identify and co-construct next steps.

Parents will receive an invitation via School Stream on Monday (Day 1 of Term 3) to book a time slot, either before or after school, in Weeks 2 and 3.

Our new Mid-Year Reception class of 2026 will hold Settling-In Parent/Teacher meetings in Week 2.

Specialist Student-Led Learning Walks – Reception to Year 6
During the Specialist Student-Led Learning Walks, students guide parents through their favourite specialist learning areas. They take responsibility for sharing their learning, reflecting on their progress, and identifying next steps.

Learning Walks will take place on the following dates and times:

Week 4

• Year 2 – Wednesday 12 August, Before School (8:15am–8:45am)
• Year 3 – Wednesday 12 August, After School (3:45pm–4:15pm)

Week 6

• Year 4 – Wednesday 26 August, Before School (8:15am–8:45am)
• Years 5–6 – Wednesday 26 August, After School (3:45pm–4:15pm)

Week 8

• Reception – Wednesday 9 September, After School (3:45pm–4:15pm)
• Year 1 – Thursday 10 September, Before School (8:15am–8:45am)

Assessment-Capable Learners

Both our 3-Way Conferences and Specialist Student-Led Learning Walks place students at the centre of the assessment and reporting process, helping them to become reflective, self-regulated learners.

Our school’s Assessment Policy outlines the role of teachers, students, and parents within an assessment-capable community.

Assessment Capable Community

At Annesley we work to nurture an environment that is based on respect and trust and enables students to be reflective and assessment capable. In an assessment capable community all members students, teachers, and parents have a shared understanding of assessment and use that information to promote ongoing learning and improvement.

At Annesley, assessment capable teachers:

• Support learners to acquire disciplinary knowledge, subject specific skills and related concepts, transdisciplinary conceptual understandings and transdisciplinary skills (Approaches to Learning)
• Work to actively create an environment to grow assessment capable and reflective learners each day through metacognitive skills and reflective practice
• Use data and evidence to inform planning and teaching strategies
• Understand the purpose of assessment and skilfully select authentic tools and strategies for each task and learner
• Collaborate to design and moderate assessments, analyse results and plan next steps
• Give timely and effective feedback to students to impact learning growth
• Communicate learning progress by sharing evidence and data with students, parents and collaborative teaching team
• Reflect on evidence and data to measure impact of their teaching and improve own practice accordingly
• Remove barriers to learning In a responsive and personalised manner to ensure all students have the opportunity to experience success
• Support student reflection through modelling and regular opportunities to reflect
• Work to maintain a balance of self, peer and teacher assessment

At Annesley, assessment capable learners:

• Know their current level of understanding, knowledge and skill
• Draw on feedback and multiple strategies of self, peer and teacher assessment to adjust their learning, identify where and when to make improvements
• Develop the metacognitive skills to plan goals, monitor goals and reflect on and adjust their learning goals collaboratively with teachers/mentors and parents
• Partner with teachers/mentors to design their learning intensions and success criteria
• Recognise that errors are opportunities to learn
• Display confidence to take on new challenges
• Identify and utilize learning tools to guide their learning
• Select evidence such as samples of their learning, that best demonstrate the intended learning goals
• Utilise their strengths in learning to provide peer feedback and teach others

Parents/caregivers at Annesley:

• Receive and engage with frequent and timely information about their child’s goals and learning growth
• Understand that their child’s learning goals are personalised and are not designed to be compared with other learners
• Are encouraged to engage with and extend their child’s understanding and development of skills, relative to their learning goals when they support learning at home
• Support the schools learning philosophy that focuses on strengths, learning from mistakes and self-directed learning
• Understand that approaches to learning and learner mindset are of critical importance for student success and so growth in these areas are considered as essential as academic standards and outcomes

David Taylor
PYP Coordinator & Highly Able Teacher

In our leadership role this year, we have planned to support Busking in the Bouncing Bean Cafe on Wednesday mornings before school. Young musicians can sign up at the Cafe.

Izzy and Blair
School Leaders – Base 6

This November marks a truly special milestone for our Annesley community, as our much-loved Gillingham Hall celebrates its 100th anniversary.

For a century, the Hall has been at the heart of countless memories, bringing together generations of scholars, families, and community members for learning, celebration, and connection. As we reflect on its rich history, we are excited to also look ahead and celebrate everything it continues to represent.

We warmly invite all past scholars and members of the community to be part of this significant occasion. Please save the 7th November 2026 and join us in honouring 100 years of Gillingham Hall.

Further details about the celebration will be shared soon.

At Annesley, there are designated toilets for student use and other toilets available for adults to use while onsite.

The designated and clearly labelled adult toilet facilities are located:

• In the Gym
• Courtyard
• Opposite the Front Office.

Annesley staff are always happy to assist if you need directions.

This expectation supports our commitment to maintaining a safe, child‑focused environment for all students and visitors.

A reminder to families

If you have younger children for whom you have not yet submitted an application form, applications can be submitted via the following link: Enrolment

An application must be submitted for a child to be considered for a place. Places are subject to availability and are not automatically guaranteed for siblings, so early application is strongly recommended.

If you are unsure whether you have already submitted an application and would like to check, or if you have any other questions, please contact Laura in the Student Enrolments Office on 8422 2211 or email enrolments@annesley.sa.edu.au.

Through recent engagement with the Unley Council, they have confirmed guidelines for our community to follow when using the Kiss & Drop zone. Drivers must remain within 3 metres of their car in this zone and can only remain stopped for 2 minutes. If a driver moves further than 3 metres away, the 2-minute period no longer applies. We have had regular inspections from Unley Council of this zone recently. We ask our community members to adhere to these guidelines to avoid getting fined, and to keep our Kiss & Drop zone functioning effectively.

A reminder to Primary families that supervision for our students is provided from 8.30am on school grounds. Prior to this time, students are not to be left onsite without an adult family member. Our Before School OSHC Service is available to families requiring early supervision from 7.30am to 8.30am. Similarly, staff supervision is provided after school until 3.45pm. OSHC is available to families needing care after school until 6pm.

From 4.30pm each day, OSHC requires exclusive access to the eastern playspace (including the soccer field and Adventure playground). After this time, families are asked to move to the western end, utilising the Court and Daphne Gum playground.

Calling all families to donate gently used Annesley uniforms to Unify, our student-led pop-up shop for second-hand uniforms. Your contribution not only promotes sustainability but also helps support many of the school’s initiatives. Your ongoing participation is greatly appreciated and contributes to the continued success of our school community. Donations can be left in the Unify tub located in the Front Office.

Our Bouncing Bean Café and Unify Second-Hand store are open at the following times each week:

Before School: 8.15am – 9am, Everyday
Morning Break: 11.05am – 11.45am, Everyday
Tuesday & Wednesday Afternoons: 3pm – 4pm

We have a busy and exciting Term ahead at Annesley, with a range of learning experiences, excursions, and community celebrations planned for our students. Please see the key dates below and add them to your calendar.

June

• Wednesday 24th June – Reception Intergeneration Program
• Wednesday 24th June – ELC Orientation
• Friday 26th June – ELC Yoga Incursion
• Friday 26th June – End of Term 2

July

• Monday 20th July – Start Term 3
• Monday 20th July – Chapel 10:30
• Wednesday 22nd July – Rec Intergeneration Program
• Thursday 23rd July – SAPSASA Soccer Carnival
• Monday 27th July – Primary 3 Way Conferences commence
• Wednesday 29th July – Assembly 9am
• Wednesday 29th July – Rec Intergeneration Program
• Wednesday 29th July – Maths Explorer and Maths Olympiad
• Thursday 30th July – Year 3 – Monarto Zoo
• Friday 31st July – Year 5 Quest – Criagburn Farm

If you require further information about upcoming events at Annesley, please contact enquiries@annesley.sa.edu.au

Our website now has a volunteering page under the Community Tab that outlines clearly the process we require our family members to follow to volunteer at Annesley. This process meets legislative requirements in order to keep our children and volunteers safe at Annesley. See more here.