Newsletter Term 4 Week 9

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Families,

Carols Night - Monday 2nd December
This wonderful event is on tonight and we are looking forward to seeing you all at Riverside Park. The children, along with their teachers, Miss Scalora and Mrs Gerakis, have been busy practising to make sure this is a special night in the lead up to Christmas.

Order of performances: Year 3, Foundation, Year 2, Year 1, Year 5, Year 4, Year 6, Whole school performance led by the Choir! 

We look forward to seeing you all at this special School Christmas event! The evening begins at 6.00pm with the first performance beginning at 6:30 pm sharp. Finishing time is approximately 7:20 pm.

2025 Planning Day - Monday, December 9th
Just a reminder to all families that next Monday, 9th of December is a school closure day. This time is used by staff to work with their new team and begin preparation of curriculum to be taught in the 2025 year.

St Mary’s Orientation Day 2024 & Year 7 Secondary School Transition Day
Next Tuesday, December 10th we will hold our Orientation Day when our new Foundation children come to our school and all our existing students move up into their new classroom, meet their new teacher and begin to form relationships with their 2025 classmates. This day runs until 12.30 pm and provides a great opportunity for your child to familiarise themselves with their new classmates and teachers. At 12:30pm, our preschoolers go home and at 12.45pm all other children return to their 2024 classrooms for the remainder of the day. Year 6 students transitioning into Year 7 are also spending time at their respective new schools on this day. Please refer to correspondence sent out by both secondary schools for all details.

2025 Class Lists
Your child will bring home a copy of their 2025 class details including their new teacher and classmates on Friday afternoon. Foundation 2025 students will receive their class lists via email.

St Mary’s Got Talent!
The ever popular St Mary’s Got Talent is back with students and staff alike set to enjoy the singing and dancing routines being performed by many of our students throughout the week.  Set up many years ago, it has become an integral part of December lunchtimes at St Mary’s. With auditions to be completed this week, we will have fabulous acts lined up for next week which will certainly be a treat!

St Mary’s End of Year Mass 
On Tuesday, 17th December at 11.00am we will celebrate our school year with a Mass at St Mary’s Church. This Mass is our way to formally reflect upon and celebrate all we have achieved this year and to say farewell to our Year 6 students and any departing staff. We hope all families can attend this Mass as it is such a special occasion for our school community.

Year 6 Graduation - Monday, December 16th
On Monday, December 16th we will be farewelling our Year 6 students at school with a family gathering and awards ceremony. The Year 6 Graduation Night commences with a BYO picnic tea followed by an award ceremony that will commence at 7:00pm. Our Year 6 students have been a terrific group within the school and have been recognised by all the other students as responsible leaders. We wish them all the best as they head to secondary school. A special thanks to our Year 6 team for their work in organising this event.

Kate

"Never See a Need Without Doing Something About It"
Mary MacKillop - Sisters of St Joseph Foundress

Key Dates

Monday December 2nd
Carols Night - Riverside Park
Friday December 6th
Assembly 12.25pm - Foundation Green
Monday December 9th
Pupil Free Day
Tuesday December 10th
Orientation Day
Friday December 13th
No Assembly
Monday December 16th
Year 6 Graduation
Tuesday December 17th
End of Year Mass - 11am St Mary's Church
Wednesday December 18th
Break up day activities
Casual dress day
Final day for students (normal finish time)

Dates to Note

Wellbeing with Mr Prockter

Child Safe Standard Standard 8: Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.

How to resilience-proof your kids
Over a meal with a small group of successful business friends a while ago we started to share how the experiences of our early years had influenced our resilience levels. Coincidentally, almost everyone around the table had experienced hardship, feelings of inadequacy, unfair treatment or judgement by authority figures, low self-esteem and times of 'doing without' in our early years (and for some of us, me included, well into our adult lives.)

Our conclusion?
Hardships and hard times are a precious gift. They teach us. They toughen us. They give us strength - IF we approach them with the determination to overcome. Every one of us noted that if we'd not experienced those earlier tough times we'd not now be capable of doing the work we do, nor in a position to contribute to society in our various ways.

Reflect for a moment on the adults you know. Have you noticed that those who've had an easy life as youngsters do it tough when the pressure comes on? Often the brightest ones, who've not had to work hard in school or even university, struggle the most when complex tasks require solid application. Further to that, when times get tough and jobs get scarce, those same people are not well equipped to cope with the situation. Many of them find it scary, depressing and mighty uncomfortable.

On the other hand, if you've already been at the bottom of the pile, if you've already survived on the smell of an oily rag, if you've been unemployed or part of a group that the 'popular' crowd don't want to be bothered with, you know you can deal with tough times - because you've done it before.

It starts at childhood, so let's consider our child-raising techniques. I speak from the perspective of having raised six children, five of them boys, and now as a grandmother of seventeen.

I profoundly believe that if we make our children's lives soft and easy, if we take away risk and challenge, if we always seek to protect our children from adversity, we weaken, damage and distort the precious young lives we're entrusted with. Of course we protect them from danger when they're little, but - danger and adversity are not the same thing. Real danger is life-threatening; adversity is just a situation that we have choices on - choices of attitude, choices of action.

Although many people know this intellectually, how often do you hear successful people - who have experienced tough beginnings - say, 'I don't want my kids to have to go through the hardships I did.' And so - they bend over backwards, spend vast amounts of money, do everything they can - to smooth the path for their children, to make life easy for them. Very faulty thinking. There is a DIRECT relationship between kids who have life too easy or have been over-protected and adults who lack resilience. Often they are also selfish and self-centred to the point of narcissism. Sadly, these people rarely rise to their potential.

And in the school environment, look at the trend towards not making any kid feel like a failure. This is not preparing them for the real world - no boss is going to say 'Never mind the stuff-up you made, or the major customer your mistake just cost us.' From an early age, let them feel the consequences of their actions, or lack of action. It won't damage their psyche to be told they've stuffed up and these are the consequences, as long as it's fair and done with love and firmness.

Many people with wonderful easy childhoods, with every advantage and everything they want lavished on them, end up living adult lives of boredom, emptiness and quiet desperation. Softness makes us weak and ineffective.

So how do we develop resilient young people?
It's too big a topic for this one article, but here are four of my basic rules.

• Don't mollycoddle them. Very young children, starting at age two, can make a contribution to their family with chores and can be pushed to take responsibility.

• From an early age let them feel the consequences of their actions. Let the punishment fit the crime.

• Don't give them everything they want. Make them earn and save for their rewards and treats.

• Link pocket money to tasks. It's not a right.

I'm glad we've had a tough economic time recently. We needed it. To be an effective nation and effective people we must become resilient again. Resourceful and resilient people and companies thrive. They're prepared - with the right attitude. They know how to rise above immediate circumstances, they have the long view and they have determination.

Pamper your children and you weaken them.

Article by Robyn Pearce for the NZ Herald
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news
Published 2 December, 2015

Curriculum with Mrs Hall

Music 
The amazing music program at St. Mary’s Primary School continues to flourish, offering students a rich and dynamic learning experience. Through active listening and creation, students refine their understanding of essential music elements such as rhythm, pitch, dynamics, expression, structure, and texture. They develop their vocal and instrumental skills with a focus on safety and effective technique. The program encourages students to explore the purpose and use of music across diverse settings, delving into cultural, historical, and global perspectives. Additionally, students are guided to reflect on their musical preferences, engaging in thoughtful discussions about the styles and pieces they enjoy, fostering both personal expression and a deeper appreciation of music.

Last week students in Year 2 were embracing using boomwhackers to perform simple tunes as a class.

PE with Miss Clark

St Mary’s tops
Any student still hanging on to a St Mary’s top they borrowed for a sporting event to please return it to their classroom note basket or the PE office asap!

@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

Working with Children Check
A reminder to bring your Working with Children Check with you if you are coming on to the school grounds for volunteer purposes. If you would like to apply for a Working with Children's Check, please follow the link below;

https://service.vic.gov.au/find-services/work-and-volunteering/working-with-children-check

Country Bus Travel
Country Buses are to be used for registered travellers only. If Country Bus travel is required in an emergency, please contact the office so that the appropriate paperwork can be completed. 

Coming in 2025 - Changes to CDFpay
Information will be provided to families prior to the end of the year in regards to changes to CDFpay.

News from the Canteen

Volunteers Needed:
We are always on the lookout for volunteers in our school canteen. You just need your VIC WWCC. Volunteer hours at 11.30am-1.30pm. Please email office@smswanhill.catholic.edu.au if you are able assist

Ordering from the canteen:
Recess and lunch orders are placed online only via CDF Pay. The orders close at 9.30am each day, so it is recommended you place your order the night before. Our canteen is a very busy, so late orders will be offered limited options. Please contact the office if you need help with CDF Pay.

https://smswanhill.cdfpay.org.au

Canteen Roster

Just a reminder to sign in at the office when you are on canteen duty

Happy Birthday!

What's happening in Art?

Community News