Newsletter Term 3 Week 2

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Families,

One week down already! It was lovely to catch up with the children and hear their stories from the holidays. This week is a shorter one for families as we have a school closure day (pupil free day) on Wednesday July 19th for staff to work with James Anderson, a leading expert in the area of Student Agency.

Flying Start and 2024 Enrolments
We are really looking forward to the 2024 Flying Start program which commences on Thursday & Friday. We are lloking forward to getting to know many of our 2024 Foundation students and their families before they commence school next year. Limited places are available in some sessions so please let family and friends know there is still time to ring the office for more information and to come along and join in the fun. For any families who have a child attending Shamrock park Kinder on Thursday, we offer a pick up/drop off service to Flying Start.

St Mary’s Way-Respect Blitz
As part of our commitment to School Wide Positive Behaviour, we regularly choose a pro-social skill to focus on. Next week (Week 3) we begin our whole school ‘blitz’ on Respect and will be actively looking out for students who are displaying being respectful in the way they interact with staff, their classmates and out on the yard. Don't forget to watch out  for a short  video produced by the students that explains what Respect looks like on the St Mary’s Facebook page.

School Disco - Friday August 4th
Always huge on the calendar, the St Mary's School Disco has returned and takes place on Friday  August 4th at Jubilee Centre at St Mary MacKillop College. With Disco Joe Dorigo onboard, we are looking forward to seeing some amazing dance moves from the kids! More information is coming your way this week and if your child is attending, please return the permission form by Wednesday August 2nd.

Last year the disco was a big success and this year is looking to rival it for fun and great music. Please consider responding to the P & F message calling on parents to help organise this special event.

Start of School Day and Bus information
As shared last term the new industrial agreement for schools has implications for students who are walking, riding to school or who are being dropped off by car.

Thank you to everyone in our school community for your cooperation with before school arrangements last week. Things went very smoothly and I sincerely thank parents for quickly adapting to these new organizational changes and your support in understanding that the new industrial agreement has meant changes to long standard travel arrangements in our district and to the time we open ‘for business’ each day. 

Just a reminder about key points; 

• From Day 1 of Term 3, there will be no teacher on bus or yard duty before 8.30am and students should not be dropped at school prior to this time unless they are accessing before school care at our OSHC program. At St Mary’s, school gates will open when the first buses arrive at 8.30am with teachers on duty in the yard until classrooms open at 8.40am.
•  If students arrive before 8:30am, we ask that parents stay with them until the gates are open. 
  

Next week we are meeting with Swan Hill Bus Lines to look at what is working well and what we could streamline or improve with the town bus arrangements and will keep families updated about the outcome of these discussions. If you have any questions about the new arrangements please make contact with the  office.

Tuning Into Teens-Parent Information Session
St Mary’s together with Headspace have partnered to present a series of parent workshops that focus on understanding adolescent development and the changes that occur during this time, building emotional awareness and intelligence, and giving parents/carers the tools and opportunities to have emotion focused conversations with their young person in a range of situations.

An information night that explains how the program will be delivered and what it entails is running tonight Monday 17th of July 2023 at 5:30-6:30pm via Zoom.

Learner Agency PD Wednesday July 19th - Pupil Free Day 
In August 2022, we had our last external school review. The panel were here for 2 days and validated the school’s achievements  and also provided recommendations for future strategic direction. One key recommendation was to increase student agency (ownership) of learning, by giving students more voice and choice in what they are learning and how they will share that with others. This Wednesday July 19th we have a school closure day for staff to work with James Anderson, a leading expert in  this area. 

St Mary MacKillop College Transition Day 2
Just a reminder that the next transition day is Wednesday 26th July and is only for those children who are already enrolled at St Mary MacKillop College for 2023. On this day, the Year 6's are to wear their sports uniform and make their own way there and home. Country bus travellers are dropped off at MacKillop in the morning and shuttled to the secondary College to get their bus home. More details about the transition day have been provided to families.

It was lovely to see so many families at our assembly last Friday. Congratulations to the very confident and capable 1X class that led our prayer. This week we look forward to hearing from 6Q.

Kate

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

Key Dates

Monday July 17th
Tuning into Teens Parent Information Night (Year 5 & 6 familes)
Zoom meeting 5.30pm
Wednesday July 19th
Pupil Free Day - Staff PD
Thursday July 20th
Boys netball & Girls football competition
Thursday July 20th & Friday July 21st
Flying Start session 1
Friday July 21st
Assembly 12.25pm - 6Q
Thursday July 27th & Friday July 28th
Flying Start session 2
Friday July 28th
Assembly 12.25pm - Foundation Green

Wellbeing with Mr Prockter

In accordance with Child Safe Standard 9: Physical and online environments

Headspace and St Mary’s Information night (Year 5 & 6 parents)
St Mary's and Headspace have joined forces with great enthusiasm to extend their support to the St Mary's school community. Through a close partnership, we are working together to offer a range of programs that will be accessible both within the school premises and at Headspace Swan Hill for parents, carers and students. 

“Tuning into Teens (TINT) is a free 6-week program (2 hour sessions) that is focused on understanding adolescent development and the changes that occur during this time, building emotional awareness and intelligence, and giving parents/carers the tools and opportunities to have emotion focused conversations with their young person in a range of situations. Feedback from prior programs we have run is that parents appreciate having a shared, safe space with others who are experiencing the same things, learning about emotions and how to have conversations with young people,” Kirsty Jacobs.

Headspace Swan Hill has been running TINT since 2018 and has a team of Psychologists, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists and Youth Workers who give young people the tools and strategies to support their strength and resilience. A big part of the work at headspace is to support parents and carers to support and empower the young people in their world.

We look forward to seeing parents and carers attending this fantastic opportunity to look at how we can support you and your child. 

We will be running an information night tonight, Monday 17th of July 2023 at 5:30-6:30pm via Zoom This will be a chance to ask questions about the program and to ask how we can support you more moving forward. Can you please call the front office and put your name down if you’re interested in attending the information night. We would really like to see some more parents jump on board this as there are only a few people listed as interested in attending the information night night. 

Kind Regards,
Chris Prockter (Learning Diversity and Wellbeing) & Kirsty Jacobs (Headspace Manager)

Sustainability with Mrs Ward

Plastic Free July
Take up the challenge of the Plastic Free July global movement by choosing to refuse single-use plastics!
Plastic Free July provides resources and ideas to help you reduce single-use plastic waste everyday at home, work, school, and even at your local café.

Some unique ideas to help you reduce your single use plastic:

Laundry Choices
-Buy clothes made of natural fibres such as wool, hemp, silk and linen, rather than those made with synthetic fibres (microplastics), as these end up in our waterways. 
- Make your own stain remover with bicarbonate of soda mixed with vinegar AND swap commercial detergents for soap nuts.
- Swap breakable plastic pegs for durable metal clothing pegs.

Body Soap 
Swap liquid soap for bar soaps and avoid single-use plastic.

PE with Mr Smith

State Cross Country
Last Thursday Ollie S and Evie K competed in the State Cross Country Championships in Melbourne.  To qualify, they had to make it through the School, Division and Regional competitions.  To make it this far is a great achievement.  They achieved great results in the 3km events with Ollie running a time of 13 mins 27 secs and Evie 16mins 26 secs. They should be extremely proud of their efforts. Many thanks to the families, who transported the children to Melbourne and for their great support.

Division Girls Football
With the popularity of Women's football taking off, St Mary’s will have 41 students participating in the Division Girls Football carnival on Thursday, July 20th at the Swan Hill and Tyntynder ovals.  The girls have been split up into three teams and are really looking forward to participating against other schools in the area.  Best of luck girls and we hope you have a great day. 

Division Boys Netball
In a first for St Mary’s, 10 Year 6 students will be competing in the Division Boys Netball competition on Thursday, July 20th at Allan Garden Reserve.  The boys have been working extremely hard behind the scenes to adapt to the style and rules of the game, and have come a long way since the beginning of training.  We wish the boys all the best of luck on getting out of their comfort zones and embracing something new.

SSV Primary Golf Event
The SSV Primary School Golf Event will be held at the Bendigo Golf Club on Monday, August 7th 2023.  This event is aimed to encourage students of any ability, both beginner and experienced, to get out on the course and have a go at golf. The event and course is modified to suit the primary aged student with all holes shortened and equipment available to borrow. To be eligible to play students must be enrolled in grades 3, 4, 5 or 6 at a School Sport Victoria member school. The event consists of three stages: division events, second round finals and the state final.  Entries for this event close on Thursday, August 3rd 2023.  For more information please click the link below;

https://www.golf.org.au/events#/competition/3678843/info

SSV Track and Field Team
For children wanting to try out for the State Track and Field team this year they will need to register through the SSV website to compete in the Team Vic Track and Field Selection Trial. The team will not be selected from this year’s State Track and Field event.  This event is held outside of the St Mary’s carnival.

For more information head onto the SSV homepage by clicking the following link;

https://www.ssv.vic.edu.au/sport/Track-field

Athletics Sports Carnival Volunteers
To run a successful event, it always takes great volunteers. Over the coming weeks, I will be sending out expressions of interest to assist with the St Mary’s Primary School Athletics Carnivals.  The dates are as follows;
Senior Athletics (Years 3-6) at Ken Harrison Reserve - Friday, August 25th 2023
Junior Athletics (Foundation-Year 2) at St Mary’s Primary School oval - Thursday, September 7th 2023.
If you are willing to help out at either of these, please save the dates. More details to follow.

@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 mornings are freezing so now is a great time to purchase a school beanie! Available on CDF Pay for $15.00.

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. 

Parent Teacher Interviews
Advance notice to all families, our second round of Parent Teacher Interviews will be conducted in Weeks 8 & 9 of this term. Online bookings will be advertised via PAM,  the newsletter and on our Facebook page closer to the date.

Book Club Issue 5 - Due Monday July 31st
Scholastic Book Club Issue 5 has been sent home.  We will not be accepting cash payments for orders. Please order online following the instructions below. 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

News from the Canteen

Ordering from our canteen for recess or lunch is online via CDF Pay
https://smswanhill.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

We need your help to fill the Term 3 roster!!!

Birthday Wishes

Student of the Week

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