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Newsletter Term 1 Week 8

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Families,

This week is the last for a little while for Olivia Scarce, as she and her partner Jarrod await the birth of a beautiful baby in early May. We are all going to miss Olivia's positive presence and her professional and caring approach to her work and hope that while she loves being a Mum, she doesn't stay away from St Mary’s too long! In other exciting news, we wish Mr Arren Smith and his fiancee Ebonee all the very best as they celebrate their wedding this Friday.

Our Year 6 campers returned, albeit a little weary on Friday, after what was an action packed few days at Ovens. Not for the faint hearted, the camp focussed on many adventurous outdoor activities. Highlights included the Dual Flying Fox, Leap of Faith, Zip Lining and damper making. Thak you to our Year 6 team and parent helpers for ensuring a great time was had by all.

St Pat's Races
There was a terrific atmosphere at the St Pat's Race Club meet yesterday with many staff and families coming along to enjoy a day out. The kids loved the many sporting activities organised by Kelly’s Sport and a highlight was the children'stug of war and the footraces! This was a fundraising event for the school and we will advertise the final figure after consultation with the Parents & Friends Committee. The luck of the Irish was extended beyond the horses with the following winning the raffle: Dakota Piechatschek

All proceeds from the day will be added to the P&F efforts to raise funds to rebuild the Ninja Playground.

Parent/Teacher Interviews
Tuesday 21st March& Tuesday 28th March 2023
Our Parent Teacher Interviews commence tomorrow for most classrooms. These meetings are an opportunity to share and celebrate your child’s learning so far and to focus on the goals ahead and we strongly encourage all families to book in and take up this opportunity. Our Year 5-6 children take the reins conducting Student Led conferences while our Year 1-4 levels run 3 Way Interviews where your child is asked to be present and involved in the interview.

Mardi Hall has provided a great explanation of what to expect at our Student Led Conferences in the Curriculum section of this week's newsletter.

Parent / Teacher Interviews will be held at:

3. 35 pm – 7.20 pm on Tuesday 21st March 2023
3.35 pm – 6.05 pm on Tuesday 28th March 2023

The web address for booking is http://www.schoolinterviews.com.au and the logon code is : 4hsg4

If you have any difficulties logging in or making an appointment please contact the office.

Open Day 1
We really enjoyed the opportunity to show many prospective families around at our first Open Day on Wednesday evening and those that attended were very impressed with our teaching programs, beautiful grounds and facilities and commented on the welcoming and hospitable atmosphere they felt whilst at the school. We have another Open day organised for early next term.

Italian Day - Wednesday 29th March
Every two years we hold a whole school Italian Day to celebrate the Italian language and culture. Students are invited to come to school dressed in an Italian themed costume or the colours of the flag.

The day will begin with a whole school parade at 9am in the outside assembly area. All families are welcome to come along and see all the wonderful costumes and the sea of green, white and red. This will be followed by a fun filled day of Italian themed activities as well as yummy food available to purchase from the canteen. Gelato and cannoli will be available at recess and lunch for $1 and there will be Italian food available to order for lunch.

Parent Webinar Thursday March 23rd
At St Mary's we have been working with The Resilience Project since 2021. We are excited to offer parents the opportunity to hear Martin Heppell, a familiar face to any who have engaged with TRP before speaking on the topic of Authentic Connection. Martin is a very engaging speaker and will share his experiences and combine them with practical strategies that can be implemented every day to improve our overall wellbeing and to help support you as parents and/or carers. To register to join the evening please follow this link;

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkfuipqD8qE9W3e5ySVSZgpLSwgmocjYTi

Upon registration, registrants will receive a link to attend the webinar, along with a reminder the day prior.

Community Groups
At St Mary’s we have many opportunities for children to mix and get to know each other and other teachers. Community Groups is one of these. We run Community Groups once a term with children being vertically grouped with family members and the same teacher for the year. This is a great way for children to meet other children and teachers and to build positive relationships with others. Our first Community Group session for the term will run Monday April 3rd from 9:55-10:55 and focus on completing an Easter activity together.

Have a great week and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Kate

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

Key Dates

Tuesday March 21st
Parent Teacher Interviews
Friday March 24th
Assembly 12.25pm - 4N
Monday March 27th & Tuesday March 28th
Year 4 Reconciliation
Tuesday March 28th
Parent Teacher Interviews
Wednesday March 29th
Italian Day
Friday March 31st
Assembly 12.25pm - 1Y
Year 5/6 Summer Sports
Thursday April 5th
Holy Week Liturgy 9.15am
Thursday April 6th
End of Term 1

Currently there are a couple of wonderful opportunities for parents to join committees within the Ballarat Catholic Education office, or wider on the Catholic Schools Australia board. I am sharing below information in regard to these available opportunities:

The DOBCEL Board provides opportunities for members of the diocesan education community, and others with relevant expertise, to participate in the mission of DOBCEL, to assist its governance and decision making and to inform faithful stewardship of the mission through DOBCEL Consultative Committees.

A range of vacancies exists across the DOBCEL Consultative Committees. These committees are an invaluable opportunity to ensure that the work of the Board and CEB reflects the needs of DOBCEL school communities right across the Diocese. Typically, the committees meet once each term for a duration of 90-120 Minutes. The opportunity exists to attend face-to-face or virtually. For volunteers to the organisation, compensation for expenses is available.

Opportunities exist for parents/guardians/carers with a child/children enrolled in a DOBCEL School to join one of the following;

Catholic Faith Community & Culture Consultative Committee
Children & Young People Safeguarding & Wellbeing Consultative Committee
Family and Community Engagement Consultative Committee
Learning and Teaching Consultative Committee

In the event of multiple nominations, the Board will invite Consultative Committee members on the basis of the general balance of the committee, taking into account factors such as gender, diversity, skill mix, location, school size, etc.

For more information please contact Jo Mckee jmckee@dobcel.catholic.edu.au or speak with your school principal. Expressions of interest are open until Wednesday, 26th April

Wellbeing with Mr Prockter

The Resilience Project - Parent & Carer Presentation, Thursday March 23rd 6.30pm
What you can expect...
Through emotionally engaging stories and practical strategies, this session will help parents and carers understand the benefits of letting go of shame, perfection, ego and control. It will combine powerful research with candid storytelling, along with a few laughs to help support what is arguably the toughest job in the world... being a parent or carer!

Why a Parent & Carer presentation?
When building positive mental health in schools, we know the best impact happens when we work together.

The ‘Authentic Connection’ presentation helps do just that by sharing those same evidence-based strategies being taught in the classroom, so they can be also practised at home and beyond. Attendees will also be reminded of the importance of their own wellbeing - we bring the best versions of ourselves to our family and community, when we make time to look after ourselves.

ABOUT THE RESILIENCE PROJECT (Click the link): About - The Resilience Project

Parents and Carer will need to register for the webinar using the following link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkfuipqD8qE9W3e5ySVSZgpLSwgmocjYTi

Curriculum with Mrs Hall

Student Led Conferences are meetings run by the student for his or her parents, with the support of the classroom teacher.

Learning Conversations are an opportunity for our students, parents and teachers to come together and reassess student academic, social and emotional learning, as well as to set new goals.

The purpose of student led learning conversations are to:

Celebrate growth in your child's learning and achievements.
An opportunity for your child to articulate their learning and learning goals.
A chance for parents to engage in their child's learning.

The structure of the conference is as follows:

The conference will run for 10 minutes.
The student, parent/s and teacher will be present at the conference.
Students with guidance from their classroom teacher will discuss their progress towards achieving their Literacy and Numeracy learning goals, show evidence of achievement and share future learning goals.
Parents will be encouraged to provide feedback to their child on their progress.

The positive benefits of student-led conferences are:

Students are given the chance to ‘showcase’ learning as well as being actively involved in their learning process.
Students accept personal responsibility for their academic performance; both strengths and challenges..
Parents, teachers, and students engage in an open and honest dialogue.
Students learn the process of self-evaluation.
Students develop organisational and oral communication skills.

RE with Mrs Davies

On Sunday 19th March we celebrated the feast of St Joseph. This day commemorates Joseph, the husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus. We acknowledge this feast day at St Mary’s because we are a Josephite school, and the Sister of St Joseph are integral to our school history. St Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods started the holy order, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, as well as many Catholic schools across Australia and New Zealand.

PE with Miss Clark

Regional Swimming
We had a great afternoon down at the pool for Regional Swimming on Tuesday the 14th of March. There were 18 students who made it to this level and they all swam their very best and did our school proud.

We had several students receive medals;
Indigo P: 2nd in Freestyle
Wilhem F: 2nd in Freestyle
Jai P: 3rd in Backstroke
Bo B: 3rd in Backstroke
Ivy P: 2nd in Breaststroke
Molly D: 2nd in Butterfly
Ivy P, Isabel F, Mia H and Heidi H: 2nd in the Freestyle Relay
Molly D, Sienna A, Indigo P and Noa Bella W: 2nd in the Freestyle Relay

A special congratulations to the following students who came FIRST in their event and have qualified for STATES in MELBOURNE!

Bo B: 1st in Breaststroke
Molly D, Noa Bella W, Indigo P and Bo B: 1st in the Medley

I absolutely love watching our students compete. It is such a great atmosphere seeing them all try their very best and all encourage each other. Congratulations once again to all students for making it to the regional level!

Summer Sports
The last practice session of Year 5/6 Summer Sports will be this Friday the 24th in preparation for the Division Summer Sports. Many thanks to the Year 5/6 teachers and the Mackillop College students for their work in getting the children ready for the day.

The Summer Sports will be held on Friday 31st of March and is an opportunity for the Year 5/6 students to represent our school in their chosen sport. The sports will take place at the following venues with these supervising teachers;

Basketball- Swan Hill Stadium (Miss Clark, Mrs Jobling and Mrs Davies)
Cricket- Swan Hill Showgrounds (Mrs Patney and Mr Cruickshank)
Tennis- Swan Hill Lawn Tennis Club (Mrs Martin and Mr Smith)
Softball- Ken Harrison Reserve (Mr Daniels and Mrs Dacey)

We wish all students the best of luck for the day.

Sustainability with Mrs Ward

Plastic bottle lids and bread tags
A friendly reminder that at St. Mary’s, we support our families to do their bit by collecting their plastic bottle lids and plastic bread tags from home. These will be collected via the note basket.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Plastic Bottle Lids: Help rescue these lids from landfill and recycle them to protect our environment for future generations and wildlife.

Plastic Bread Tags: The tags are recycled locally, raising funds to buy wheelchairs for disadvantaged people.

@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

PAM - How to make your bus changes on PAM

We encourage you to make bus changes via your PAM account. This includes bus passes, not on bus, change of bus etc.

Log in to your PAM account.
From the three line menu in the top right hand corner, select “Transport Passes”.
Ensure the date is correct, displayed above the student schedule table.
Click on the “Edit” button of the child you wish to add/remove from a bus.
“Select New Route” will allow you to add your child to a bus, add your child to a different bus or select “No transport needed” if your child is not to travel on the bus on that particular day.

Scheduled Transport - this is for children who are on a regular bus schedule. It is the bus that your child would usually catch on that day.

Actual Transport - the bus that your child is catching on that particular day eg. if a change has been made.

Bus changes via PAM must be made by 2.30pm. For last minute changes, contact the office on 50332541. You can action bus changes up to 7 days in advance. If your child requires a permanent schedule change, please contact the office. Need assistance? Please contact the office 50332541.

Rapid Antigen Tests
We have excess supply of Rapid Antigen Tests available for families. You can collect test kits from the office between 8.30am and 4pm.

News from the Canteen

Ordering from our canteen for recess or lunch is online via CDF Pay
www.swswanhill.cdfpay.org.au
Orders are to be placed by 9.30am. We recommend ordering the night before.

If you are able to help in the canteen on any of the dates in yellow, please contact the office on 50332541 or email office@smswanhill.catholic.edu.au