BACKPACKS stuffed with supplies and excited faces filled the streets this week as more than 1000 students across Millicent’s primary and secondary schools started the new school year.
More than 60 Reception students walked their way into Millicent’s three primary schools to begin their 13-year schooling adventure.
Millicent High School remains the largest school in the town, with more than 345 enrolments, including 64 new
students.
Kelsi Sharp was among 60 new Year 8 students enjoying her first week at secondary school.
“It has been good learning about new things, some of the science subjects are really fun,” she said.
“We’re transitioning subjects for the first half of the year, so we get to try everything before we pick our electives.
“I’m looking forward to doing PE, food and music.”
Millicent North Primary School has continued its strong student numbers, with 255 student enrolments across 11 classes, including 27 Reception students and 10 new enrolments.
Principal Graham Slarks said the new students had come from as far away as Western Australia, Victoria and the Riverland.
“There are families that have come back to Millicent for family and for work,” he said.
“We have a spread of enrolments across all ages and are fairly confident we will maintain that.
“We’re getting to that size where we are not far off bringing in another class.
“On Tuesday we had five new enrolments, but we’re not anticipating to have that happen again.”
Mr Slarks said a number of upgrades were planned across the school’s facilities and curriculum this year, including two new outdoor learning areas and a focus on physical education.
“We’re looking at increasing PE this year to build on the academic success we had last year,” he said.
“We’re focusing on netball this term where all the girls are doing it at lunch as an elective, but we’re also going to look at basketball, tennis and maybe gymnastics.
“Tom McLennan who is a qualified tennis coach will run a tennis program with our junior primary classes
“We’re also looking at offering a program for children who want to play tennis to get specialised training as well.”
St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School students Thomas Lowe and Max Wells were among the 25 students taking the first step in their educational journey at the school.
The Reception students said their favourite thing about their first day of school was playing with friends, drawing and learning.
Principal Amanda Parslow said the school had 208 students enrolled this year, seven of which were students transferring from other schools.
“It’s wonderful to be back and it’s very exciting to be able to use our new outdoor learning space,” she said.
“This year our school motto is “to be” and that is about being a capable and flourishing community.
“Our focus will encourage everyone to be the best person they can be and think carefully about the choices they make.”
