Newsletter Term 2 Week 9
Principal's Message
Dear Parents and Families,
There have been plenty of reports of plate spinning and juggling going on at home after the children participated in 2 days of workshops last week! Clinton was terrific and it was heartening to see students of all ages prepared to get outside their comfort zone and have a go at learning new tricks and skills.
The term has flown and it is hard to believe we are now officially halfway through the school year. This week you will receive your child’s mid-year reports through the mail. They have been a delight to read and I wish to acknowledge the efforts of our wonderful teaching team who put in so much effort writing detailed and descriptive reports about your children. We are sure you will enjoy taking some time to reflect on and to acknowledge the great things your children have achieved this semester. This week we say goodbye to Emily Bun who is heading to Sydney to live and to Saly and Minh Nguyen who are moving to Wodonga over the holidays. We will miss Minh, Saly and Emily and wish them all the very best in their new schools.
Flying Start and 2023 Enrolments
With our ads on the radio and flyers on Facebook and in the local newspaper, we have had considerable interest in Flying Start and in families wishing to enrol in Foundation in 2023 which has been terrific. We know our parent community is one of our best forms of advertising so please let your friends and family know about the great teaching and learning programs and wonderful pastoral support that exists at St Mary's, when they are considering 2023 school options for their children.
Flying Start runs in Term 3 on Thursday and Friday mornings from (1) 9:00 to 10:30 and (2) 11:30 – 1:00 for all interested families. Ring the office for more information and don't forget to watch our series of videos that showcase our school in action on the St Mary’s Facebook page.
St Vinnies Winter Appeal
Lots of donations of non-perishable food items have started to stockpile in classrooms with families being very generous in their support of the St Vinnies Winter Appeal. Items can be sent through all week with hamper bags being organised and distributed to those in need in our community on Friday. As a finale to the appeal, we are holding our ‘Winter Pyjamas’ casual dress day on Friday 24th June (last day of term). Due to all the fantastic items already donated, we will not be having a gold coin donation for this day.
Staffing Update
Both Mrs Gook and Mrs Caruso have packed the bags and have headed north on some well deserved long service leave for the remainder of the term. Beth's class has been covered by Miss Polinelli while in Ginny’s absence any wellbeing matters can be directed to cprockter@smswanhill.catholic.edu.au or please phone via the school office. Mrs Hanns is also away for the week with her class being covered by Mrs Nalder and Mrs Holyoak.
We are also excited to welcome Philippa Randle to our LSO team and to congratulate Chaz, his partner Kasey and big sister Arna on the safe arrival of Briggs last week.
Parent Helpers Workshop
It was terrific to welcome a dozen parents to the first of our parent helper workshop on Thursday. Mrs Hall ran through different strategies to assist with reading at home or in the classroom and all who came along spoke very positively about the session. We will run a repeat of this workshop on a different day of the week in early Term 3 to cater for those who were unable to make it last week.
Winter Sports & Transition Days
Tomorrow - June 21st, our Year 5 & 6 students are participating in the Regional Sports while on Wednesday, many of our Year 6 students are heading to Swan Hill Secondary College for a transition day. Details about both events have been shared with families on PAM.
New Junior Hub Update
We are on track to commence building our new junior hub in the second half of the year. The tender closes in the next few days and I hope to have some news to share with you about our appointed builder early in Term 3.
Early finish for last day of Term
A reminder that school finishes one hour earlier than normal for the last day of Term this Friday. This also means buses arrive home one hour earlier than normal.
Bell times:
2.15 - Town Bus travellers and students walking or riding home
2.20 - Country Bus travellers
2.25 - Students being picked up by family or friends
I hope you all enjoy the last few days of term and have a great week and enjoy a safe and happy holiday with your children.
Kate
Key Dates
Monday June 20th
Parent Information Meeting
Year 5 & 6 Personal Development Program
7pm
Tuesday June 21st
Year 5 & 6 Winter Sports
Wednesday June 22nd
Swan Hill College Transition Day
Friday June 24th
Casual Dress Day
Theme: Pyjamas
Donations of non perishable food items
Foundation E Assembly 12.25pm
End of Term 2
Monday July 11th
Start of Term 3
Wellbeing with Mrs Gook
With a number of our LSO staff on their teacher practicum placments this term, we are in need of some casual Learning Support Officers (LSO’s). If you have a passion for working with children, are team oriented, love to celebrate a child’s learning success and have a good sense of humour this could be the job for you!
If you wish to be considered for this role please send an expression of interest and a short resume to
office@smswanhill.catholic.edu.au or ring our offic and ask to speak to Kate.
Physical Education with Miss Clark
Year 5 and 6 Division Winter Sport
Goodluck to our Year 5 and 6 students who have the Division Winter Sports competition this Tuesday the 21st of June. A big thank you once again to the St Mary MacKillop College students who helped prepare our students for the day.
Active After Schools Program
The students have had their last Netball session this Monday for the Active After Schools Program. We would like to thank Sophia and Amalie from Mackillop College who provided our students with five great sessions of fun Netball games. The Active After School Program will run again in Term 3 with the option of Gymnastics. Stay tuned for more information in the next term's Newsletter.
Sustainability with Mrs Ward
It is very exciting that St. Mary’s will now offer some advice and tips about sustainability practices you and your family can be doing at home. We will also bring you regular updates on the amazing work the children are doing at school to help look after the world in which God created for us and the many generations to come.
Food Waste
Our Sustainability Leaders have been busy getting our new system of dealing with all of the food waste at St. Mary’s. Every class has a ‘food scraps’ bin that we use to put our fruit stop scraps and any other scraps from our recess or lunch in.
These scraps are now either going to our ‘happy hens’ or some local ‘porky pigs’.
We have these routines in place at St. Mary’s because food scraps are otherwise buried in the ground with all of our other rubbish. It can take up to 40 years for these food scraps to break down. Whilst they are buried in the ground, food scraps produce a harmful chemical called methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas, which makes the world that God created for us to enjoy, to become warmer and it changes our beautiful environment- like ice caps in Antarctica melting, floods, bush fires, coral bleaching and lots more.
@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 - Week 9
You can collect your test kits from the office window for Week 9 (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.
Second Hand Jumpers
We have plenty of second hand school jumpers available for a gold coin donation. Please call in to the office if you would like to have a look in the second hand cupboard.
News from the Canteen
Our new look menu has been provided to families with the addition of a meal deal option.
Rivett's Bakery Pies are available through the 'Daily Specials" menu every Tuesday and Thursday.
Our cut off time for CDF Pay orders is 9.30am
If you are able to assit in the canteen in Term 3, please email your availability to office@smswanhill.catholic.edu.au
CANTEEN ROSTER:
