Newsletter Term 3 Week 4

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Families,

Welcome to Charlie Farrell, who is here on work experience this week, with Miss Clark in PE. 

This marks the last week for a while for Mrs Bannam, who is finishing Friday before the arrival of her baby in September. Brooke, you are such a capable and dedicated teacher, you will be greatly missed by your class and team alike. Stepping into 2W on Brooke's departure are Mrs Dacey and Mrs Ward.

Year 5 - Radio Awareness for Kids Incursion
The RAK incursion has been a big hit with our Yr 5 students in previous years, and the kids have enjoyed the opportunity to create and produce radio ads and commercials with John. He is back again this Tuesday, and we will be running this incursion in the Teacher Work room. 

Year 4 camp
Our Year 4's had a brilliant time at Billabong Ranch in Echuca, with the highlights being archery, rock climbing, and the paddle boats.

Field trip to Kunying Primary School, Mt Eliza
We’re excited to share that our joint application with St Mary’s Sea Lake for a collaborative professional learning project has been successful! Over the next 12 months, staff from both schools will visit an exemplar school in Mt Eliza that is leading the way in combining explicit teaching with strong student agency. This is a valuable opportunity for us to deepen our understanding, strengthen our teaching practices, and bring back new ideas to benefit our students. First up our our Year 2 and Year 4 levels, who head down there next week.

Mia Hirst
Congratulations to Mia who has represented Victoria at the School Sport Australia National Championships in both AFL and Basketball in Queensland over the past fortnight.

Mia was awarded the Cameron Baird medal which is awarded to the captain of the Victorian AFL side as well as gold medals in both AFL and Basketball and also received the chain award from her AFL coach.

We are incredibly proud of Mia's achievements and admire the way she has represented her state, her community and herself.

Feast of the Assumption Liturgy Friday 15th August 9.15 am
This Friday is a special day on our school calendar as we come together to celebrate our School Feast Day with the Assumption of Mary Mass. Mary, the mother of Jesus, holds a central place in our Catholic tradition, and this feast honours her as the Mother of God.

Our celebrations will begin with a whole-school Mass in the Gym at 9.15 am. All families are warmly invited to join us. A big thank you to the Year 6 teachers and students for leading us in this special celebration.

Following the Mass, the festivities continue with community group activities (cross-age groups from Foundation to Year 6) , designed to promote connection, fun, and for the students to learn more about this special day.

Catholic Social Teachings
This week, classes are heading out to visit local kindergartens, the Adult Social Group, and Hope Aged Care as part of our commitment to Catholic Social Teaching. These visits are all about showing kindness, building community, and recognising the dignity of every person.

Book Week Parade
We’re looking forward to the magic of Book Week this year with the exciting theme “Book an Adventure!” – a perfect match for the way stories can take us anywhere. Whether it's deep into the jungle, across the stars, or through secret doorways into imaginary worlds, books open up endless possibilities for adventure. Some advance notice to celebrate Book Week, we have our very popular annual Book Week Dress Up Parade on Friday, 22nd of August at 9:10 am.

Parent Teacher Interviews
Looking ahead, our second round of Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in Weeks 6 and 8 this term. Online booking details will be shared via PAM, our school newsletter, and Facebook closer to the date.

Enjoy the week ahead.

Kate

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

Key Dates

Monday August 11th
Pioneer Settlement Excursion - Year 5
Tuesday August 12th
Nudie Tuesdie
RAK Incursion - Year 5
Thursday August 14th
Regional Girls AFL
Friday August 15th
No Assembly
St Mary's Feast Day - 9.15am
Tuesday August 19th
Regional Boys Netball
Regional Girls Netball
Regional Boys Soccer
Thursday August 21st
MacKillop Production Excursion - Year 5
Friday August 22nd
No Assembly
Book Parade
Monday September 1st
Father's & Special Friends event - more details to come

Wellbeing with Mr Doran

Child Safety Standard - Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.

RE with Mrs Davies

Assumption of Mary Feast Day - Friday 15th August
On Friday 15th August, our school community will come together to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, one of the most important feast days in the Catholic Church. This day honours Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and her special place in Heaven as the first disciple who said "yes" to God.

We will begin the day with a beautiful Feast Day Mass at 9.15am in our school gym, with our Year 6 students leading the celebration with Fr James. They have been preparing readings, prayers and reflections to help us enter deeply into the meaning of this day.

After Mass, the celebrations will continue with community group activities. Students will be grouped from Foundation to Year 6, working together in mixed-age teams to take part in fun activities that encourage teamwork, creativity and connection across the school. These activities are a wonderful way for our older students to take on leadership roles and for younger students to feel included and supported.

Families are warmly invited to join us for the Mass. We look forward to sharing this special day of prayer, joy and community spirit with you all.

PE with Miss Clark

Senior Athletics Carnival Volunteers
The Senior Athletics permission have been sent out on PAM for students in Year 3-6 to attend the day at Ken Harrison Reserve on Thursday the 28th of August. I am also after some parent volunteers to assist with helping to run the events. There are three time slots available;

9.35am to 11.40am (morning)
12.20pm to 1.35pm (afternoon)
9.35am to 1.35pm (all day)

Thank you to those parents who have already indicated that they are able to assist on the day.

Junior Athletics 
Mark in your calendars the Junior Athletics will be held on Thursday the 4th of September on our school oval! More information and a timetable of events will follow.

Regional Girls Footy 
We wish our 15 girls who are heading off to compete in Regional Footy at Ken Harrison Reserve all the best for this Thursday the 14th of August. Our girls team came first in the Division day and will verse other schools in the regional with playing 9-a-side on the footy field. Go St Mary’s!

@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

Picking your child up early? These are our announcements times....
Just a friendly reminder that if you need to pick your children up early from school, our announcement times are at 11am (Recess), 1pm (Lunch) and 3pm (End of Day). This is to avoid disruption within the classroom. Please consider this when making appointments/arrangements.

Labelling your school items
Just a reminder to clearly label any items your child brings to school, in particular jumpers. We collect a huge amount of jumpers every week, some of them brand new and they can't be returned unless they are named.

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

PAM - Adding a student absence
PAM is our preferred notification method for absences. Absences must be entered prior to 9.25am on the day your child will be absent. Absences can also be entered in advance.

On PAM, you can add an absence if:

• Your child is going to be absent for the day (All Day)
• Your child is going to be late to school (Arriving Late)
• Your child is going to be leaving early from school (Leaving Early)
• Your child will be leaving school and returning eg. for an appointment (Partial)
• Your child is going to be absent for more than one day (Multi-day max of 7 days)

To add an absence:

• Log in to your PAM account
• Select “Parent Notified Absences” listed under “Students”. This can also be accessed by selecting the 3 line menu bar on the top right hand corner of the screen and selecting “Parent Notified Absence”.
• Select “Add Absence”
• Select the child who will be absent
• Select the reason for your child’s absence
• Select the appropriate absence period
• Select the absence date
• Notes can be added if required
• You can edit or delete current and future absences, by clicking on your child and amending it if required

School Beanies
There are still plenty of cool mornings ahead. Available on CDF Pay, under "Shop" for $20.00. Remember to put your child's name on them.

News from the Canteen

Happy Birthday!

What's happening in 3F?

Community News