Newsletter Term 3 Week 7

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Families,

I hope you are relaxed and refreshed after our extra long weekend and ready to enjoy the remainder of the term. This week we welcome Jameson Holt to our school and am sure he will quickly settle into life in 1P.
We had a very affirming preliminary report from the review panel last week . They were very impressed with our family partnerships, our academic results, the collaborative and professional nature of our staff, and the extensive programs and structures we have in place to support the emotional wellbeing of our students. Of course we are not perfect, so we also spent considerable time examining our data, refining  priorities and sharing our vision for the school over the course of the next five years. Exciting times ahead! We expect to receive both an executive summary and comprehensive report from the reviewers shortly and look forward to sharing their insights with you.
While this is a short week, there are some very popular events taking place for the students to enjoy and the opportunity to learn more about your child's learning  tonight, Tuesday 23rd at our Student Led Conferences and 3 Way chats.

Student Led Conferences and 3 Way Chats
Tonight and Wednesday 31/8 have been set aside for staff to conduct our second round of  Parent/Teacher Interviews. It has been terrific to see so many  parents booking in via PAM and if you have not yet done so, it is not too late to book in today! This is a great opportunity for all parents to book a time to spend with your child’s teacher. Our Year 5 & 6 students will participate in Student Led Conferences, while our Year 1-4 students will run 3 Way Chats with both parents and their children required to attend. Foundation children will have Parent/Teacher interviews where the children are not required to attend.  Please ring the office if you have any issues with your PAM booking.

Book Parade - Thursday August 24th 
Each year, schools and libraries across Australia spend a week celebrating books and Australian authors and illustrators often culminating in a day of dressing up as favourite book characters.  St Mary's is famous for its wonderful Book Parade so a warm invitation is extended to join us in the gym at 9.05 am this Thursday where everyone from Harry Potter to Thelma the Unicorn will be on parade as children and teachers strut their stuff. We thank teachers for the great work they do behind the scenes promoting book characters to children looking for costume ideas and for ensuring that all classes have read and discussed the award winning books. A special thank you to the parents who are so supportive and creative with the costumes for their children.

Senior Athletics (Year 3 – 6)
The St Mary’s Year 3-6 Athletics carnival will be held this Friday the 26th of August at Ken Harrison Reserve. This is always a great day and we thank Miss Clark and Alisha for the enormous amount of work behind the scenes to put this day together.   Thank you to those parents who have offered to help on the day. The timetable for events is as follows :

Come and Try Mornings
With Flying Start done and dusted, another popular way many new or prospective families find out a little more about how we do things in Foundation are our Come and Try Mornings. These mornings provide opportunities for new families  to essentially 'come and try' what life and learning is like in real time in our Foundation rooms. These normally run in the second half of the year with our next session this Friday  August 26th from 9:30-11:00am.

Father’s and Special Friends Celebration
Put this on the calendar! On Friday 2nd September, we are holding a special event to celebrate all of the Dads and special male figures in the lives of our students. Come along between 10.15-11.30 to see your child in action in the classroom and hear all about what they are learning before spending some time with them on the yard at recess. Look out for a special invitation going home today.

Enjoy the week ahead and I look forward to seeing you at either the Book Parade, Athletics Day  or at our Friday assembly led by Foundation D 

Kate

Key Dates

Tuesday August 23rd 
Parent/Teacher Conversations

Thursday August 25th
Book Week Parade - 9.15am

Friday August 26th
Assembly Foundation D 12.25pm
Senior Athletics (Year 3-6)
Come & Try Morning - 9.30am-11am

Monday August 29th - Wednesday August 31st
First Aid in Schools Program

Wednesday August 31st
Parent/Teacher Conversations

Friday September 2nd
Fathers & Special Friends Event
Assembly 5 Orange 12.25pm

Tuesday September 6th
Junior Athletics (Foundation-Year 2)
Courage & Crowns Workshop 2 - Year 5/6 Girls

Wednesday September 7th
Pupil Free Day

Wellbeing with Mrs Gook

Part 2–Teaching your kids to be kind–Rachel Tomlinson
(Rachel is a registered psychologist and the author of Teaching Kids to be Kind )

Model kindness 
Show your children how you treat others kindly. Hold open doors for people, put trolleys back that are in the middle of the car park, drop a meal to a sick family member, donate old towels to an animal shelter, let someone in when traffic is heavy. They donʼt have to be grand gestures, just small and gentle ways of considering the needs of others. 

Use kind language 
Consider how you speak to your child and what you say when you speak. Ask how you speak about others (and yourself). Our kids use our behaviour as templates for how they should act. So let them see your compassion shine through for those around you. Be kind as you listen. Be kind as you talk. Say kind things

Encourage helping 
Is one child great at maths and their younger sibling isnʼt? Invite them to teach them or guide them through their homework. Ask them to show you how to play their favourite video game. If they are great at cooking, ask them to help you prepare dinner. Having them involved in prosocial ways gives them a helperʼs high. Build their emotional intelligence

Build their emotional intelligence 
Kids who struggle to regulate and manage their emotions will find it harder to treat others with compassion. An essential part of teaching kids to be kind centres on teaching them to manage challenging emotions, and giving them coping strategies to navigate their way through. 

• Teach them the words for feelings. Without the right words to share how they feel it can leave kids confused, fearful and frustrated…which only serves to make their big feelings more intense. When you see them experiencing a feeling, name it for them: “I can see that made you so mad”, “I wonder if you felt sad when your friend left you out”.
• Help them identify when they are escalating, but donʼt try and reason with them when they are in the “red zone” – we cannot reason with them at this stage as they are in the emotional part of the brain (midbrain) not the part that lets them be logical (prefrontal cortex). Discuss strategies and practice when they feel calm. Get them doing things like squeezing play dough, talking about how they feel, going for a run, switching on music that makes them feel good, drawing or writing stuff down. 

When you do this, you're being kind, teaching kindness, and helping them be kind to themselves. 

In closing
Encouraging kids to be kind is essential in helping them avoid seeking instant gratification, ego-centric solutions, or being cruel. When people are empathic and kind they are more likely to experience better overall wellbeing, this is in part due to the helperʼs high, but also because they feel fulfilled and tend to have better quality relationships. Kindness is cool!

Curriculum with Mrs Hall

CBCA Book Week 2022:'Dreaming with eyes open'
Book Week presents a time to celebrate favourite characters from classics through to contemporary books. While children are engaged in a range of fun activities to celebrate Book Week, families are reminded of the ongoing benefits of early reading for future success. 
Some familiar characters your child might like to consider dressing up as could be:

• Mary Poppins by Pamela Lydon Travers
• Matilda from Matilda, by Roald Dahl
• Tracy Beaker, from The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
• The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Charlotte and Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web

As well as popular other characters such as Where’s Wally, Captain Underpants, Charlie and Lola, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Speeky Magee, Fly Guy, The Babysitters Club, The BFG, I Spy, Woody & Jessy, Harry Potter, Cat in a Hat, Mr Men characters and the list goes on as long as your imagination !!

Congratulations to all CBCA Winning Authors, Illustrators and Publishers for 2022
https://cbca.org.au/winners-2022

PE with Miss Clark

Primary School Golf Competition
On Friday 21st of October there is a modified 9 hole Golf Competition held at Kerang Golf Course for Years 3 to 6 students.
Golfers MUST have their own set of clubs and have some skill of hitting.
The following information are some rules for the day;

1. Entry is done online through Vic Golf website https://www.golf.org.au/schoolevents 
2. They don’t need a handicap
3. Maximum no. of shots per hole is 10
4. Drop out of the sand one stroke
5. Par 3 -100m, Par 4 -200m  Par 5- 300m
6. Recommended needs one adult to attend per four golfers to help with rules, scoring etc.

If your child is interested could they please come and see Miss Clark for further information to take home.

Senior Athletics Carnival
The St Mary’s Year 3-6 Athletics carnival will be held this Friday the 26th of August at Ken Harrison Reserve. Thank you to those parents who have offered to help on the day. Further information will be sent out to those parents. 

Junior Athletics Carnival
The Foundation - Year 2 Athletics Carnival will be held on Tuesday the 6th of September on the St Mary’s school oval. Information will be sent home shortly regarding details of the event and asking for parent helpers.

Sustainability with Mrs Ward

THANKS TO ALL- Nude Food Day

What a success our whole school Nude Food Day was last Wednesday! A big thanks to our Years 3 and 4, as they coordinated the whole day. Another big shout out to all of our families for getting behind the initiative. We understand that it can take a bit more effort going ‘nude’. but the impact of reducing the amount of rubbish we produce is exponential.  Hopefully having a regular Nude Food Day is something we will see at St. Mary’s soon. A great initiative and observation from Mr Cleeland and the students in 1O, is that they have put posters up out the front of their classroom because they have noticed lots of rubbish being left near the basketball courts and oval. Since doing this, they have noticed a bit less rubbish.

@2 Murlong Before & After School Care

The Out of School Hours Care program, @ 2 Murlong, is operating out of the gym hub and provides before and after school care for school age children in the Swan Hill area. Please express your interest via the following link;

https://prodadmin.myxplor.com/enrollment/index/dHdBOThsSW9JeHUxYTEwaHNxZlMrdz0

News from the Office

School Beanies
The days are freezing...........jump on to CDF Pay and order your child a beanie
($15 each).

Rapid Antigen Test Collection - Weeks 5-8
You can collect your test kits from the office window for Weeks 5-8 (2 boxes per student) between 8.30am and 4pm. Please notify the office via email if someone else will be collecting them on your behalf.

Book Club - Issue 6
Scholastic Book Club Issue 6 has been sent home.  We will not be accepting cash payments for orders. Please order online following the instructions below.

Issue 6 orders are due by Wednesday August 31st
This is the link for LOOP, which will allow you to make an online order and payment; https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/Parent/Login.aspx

If you are not registered for LOOP, click on the link above and create a new account.  You will need to enter your details, add children and select our school (typed as is here); St. Mary's SWAN HILL
If you have any questions or are having trouble with the LOOP ordering system, please contact the office via email - office@smswanhill.catholic.edu.au

Signing in at the Office
Just a reminder to bring your Working with Children's Check with you when you visit our school and remember to sign in and out at the office.

Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club is kindly asking for donations of vegemite and jam. Donations can be dropped at the office.

News from the Canteen

Hot Roast Chicken, Cheese & Gravy Rolls are available from the Lunch Specials menu on Wednesdays!!!

Our cut off time for CDF Pay orders is 9.30am 

We require helpers in the canteen on Mondays and Tuesdays in Term 3. Please email the office office@smswanhill.catholic.edu.au if you are able to assist. 

CANTEEN ROSTER: 

Birthday Wishes

Community News

Swan Hill has a new Early Years Online Hub. It is free, local site and contains early childhood and early help services, information for families and service providers, events and community places.
https://www.earlyyearsonlinehub.org.au/home