Newsletter Term 3 Week 5
Principal's Message
Dear Parents and Families,
We have come to the end of an era with our much loved living legend, Mrs. Gook officially retiring last week. Since starting out at St Mary’s in 1978, Miss Walker AKA Ginny has had every role imaginable in a primary school and has been instrumental in shaping many aspects of our school history over the past 45 years. She has been everything from a wonderful classroom teacher to a very wise Co-Principal and even had a stint as the PE teacher back in the day! We are all going to miss Ginny very much and wish her a very happy retirement. We know she will miss us too but is eager to spend more time with her beautiful grandchildren, her extended family, lots of trips to the Gold Coast, and more time to head to the footy to cheer on her Blue Boys. Watch out for more details in the coming weeks as we plan how we will celebrate the very significant contribution Ginny has made to our school over her long career.
P & F School Disco
The disco was a real success with almost 450 students attending. They had a fantastic time and loved the photo booths, the games (especially the limbo!) and the playlists our Year 6 students put together. Apart from having fun, the disco was a very successful fundraiser with all proceeds, $1886, going towards the new Ninja Playground. A sincere thanks to Renee and the P & F for their work in putting this together, the many staff and parent helpers who came along and got into the spirit of the night and to Ebony, who did a huge amount of work behind the scenes and on the actual night to make sure everything was organised and ran smoothly.
St. Mary of the Cross Liturgy - 8th August
On Tuesday August 8th, the Year 1 students and Fr James will lead us in celebrating our St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Liturgy at 9.15 am. Mary MacKillop is Australia's first saint and founded the Sisters of St Joseph who served our school community for almost 100 years and are a huge part of our St. Mary’s school history. Mary’s statue takes centre stage in our school grounds to remind us of her legacy. The liturgy will take place in the school gymnasium with all warmly welcome to attend.
Flying Start
Our final sessions are coming up this week on Thursday & Friday and many of the preschoolers have had their enrolment interview. We have a great little bunch of 2024 students in the making based on the preschoolers who have been in for Flying Start. Check out the fun last week!
The St. Mary’s Way - Respect Blitz
This week is the final week of our whole school ‘blitz’ on Respects. Well done to the Year levels who have already reached 50 tickets and are still keen to add to their tally.
Each morning we acknowledge some of the many students who have been noticed using their manners on the morning announcements and the spreadsheet detailing how many tickets have been awarded to each year level is updated each day
Meet some of the students at St Mary’s who have been working hard to demonstrate they do know what RESPECT looks and sounds like to our school and have being a positive role model to others; Kai, Thea and Tommy.
Parent Teacher Interviews
Wednesday 30/8 and Tuesday 5/9 have been set aside for staff to conduct our second round of Parent/Teacher Interviews. This is a great opportunity for all parents to book a time to spend with your child’s teacher. Our Year 5 & 6 students will participate in Student Led Conferences while our Year 1-4 students will run 3 Way Chats with both parents and their children required to attend. Foundation interviews remain a more traditional Parent-Teacher style interview. The dates are on our school calendar. Online bookings will be advertised via PAM, the newsletter and on our Social Media pages with bookings opening on Monday 14th August.
Book Week 21st – 25th August 2023
Book Week is celebrated each year in August. This year’s Book Week theme is “Read, Grow, Inspire.” To celebrate this we will be holding the annual school book parade on Thursday 24th August at 9.00am. On this day the children can dress as any one of their favourite book characters. Look out for more information about this event on a separate flyer going home this week.
Enjoy what the week brings and we look forward assembly prayer led by 3S on Friday,
Kate
"Never See a Need Without Doing Something About It"
Mary MacKillop - Sisters of St Joseph Foundress
Key Dates
Tuesday August 8th
Regional Netball
Regional Soccer
St Mary MacKillop Feast Day Liturgy 9.15am
Thursday August 10th & Friday August 11th
Flying Start session 4
Friday August 11th
Assembly 12.25pm - 3S
Tuesday August 15th
Assumption Mass 10am
Friday August 18th
Assembly 12.25pm - Foundation Yellow
Wellbeing with Mr Prockter
In accordance with Child Safe Standard 4 Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
St Mary's Stars
This term we have developed a new program called ‘St Mary's Stars’. It has started off very positively and ignited a new wave of kindness, respect, and positivity throughout the student body. This innovative initiative aims to recognise and celebrate the students who have gone above and beyond in demonstrating respect and consideration towards others in their everyday interactions.
The heart of the program lies in the students themselves. Peers have the power to nominate their fellow classmates if they witness acts of kindness, empathy, and respect within the school community. Whether it's helping a friend in need, being a supportive listener, talking to teachers and other students respectfully, any action that fosters a sense of respect is eligible for a St Mary's Star nomination.
Over the next few weeks the students will be making Smiley Face Biscuits with the Wellbeing team as a proactive response for Wellbeing. Positive Wellbeing is vital for everyone and it’s open to everyone! Last week the students felt very proud of themselves and this has sparked students to keep looking out for ways in which we seeing respect in our school.
Curriculum with Mrs Hall
CBCA Book Week 2023:“Read, Grow, Inspire”
Book Week presents a time to celebrate favourite characters from classics through to contemporary books. While children are engaged in a range of fun activities to celebrate Book Week, families are reminded of the ongoing benefits of early reading for future success.
Some familiar characters your child might like to consider dressing up as could be:
- Mary Poppins by Pamela Lydon Travers
- Matilda from Matilda, by Roald Dahl
- Tracy Beaker, from The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
- The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Charlotte and Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web
As well as popular other characters such as Where’s Wally, Captain Underpants, Charlie and Lola, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Speeky Magee, Fly Guy, The Babysitters Club, The BFG, I Spy, Woody & Jessy, Harry Potter, Cat in a Hat, Mr Men characters and the list goes on as long as your imagination !!
RE with Mrs Davies
Sustainability with Mrs Ward
Recycling Batteries
Batteries should never be put in your recycling or waste bin. They are made from non-renewable materials (lead, cadmium, mercury, lithium, manganese, nickel and zinc), which can be recycled an infinite number of times and have a commercial value.
Some batteries can also potentially catch fire when inside garbage trucks or in landfill.
So we are encouraging all families to safely recycle all of their batteries, by dropping them off to one of the following businesses:
- Bunnings
- Aldi
- Battery World
- Swan Hill Library
PE with Mr Smith
Regional Football
Last Thursday, the St Mary's boys and girls teams participated in the Regional Football carnivals held here in Swan Hill. Schools from the Mildura, Echuca and Bendigo areas all travelled here to Swan HIll to compete. All St Mary’s students played in the right spirit and should be proud of themselves. The results are as follows:
Boys team: Made the semi finals, however bowed out at this stage.
Girls team: Made the grand final (huge achievement) but went down by 4 points.
Thank you very much to Mr Daniels and Min for taking the boys and to Tenay for coaching the girls.
Regional Netball
This year is a little different with both St Mary’s Girls and Boys teams qualifying for the Regional Netball carnival to be held at Alan Garden Reserve, Swan Hill. This event will be held tomorrow (Tuesday 8th August) commencing at 10:45am. We will have 20 students participating on this day which is an outstanding achievement. If you are wondering what time your child is playing, please refer to the fixture that has been sent out via PAM.
Regional Soccer
In another great achievement for St Mary’s, both our boys and girls Soccer teams have qualified for the Regional Soccer Carnival to be held at Ken Harrison Reserve tomorrow (Tuesday, 8th of August) commencing at 10:45am. 29 eager up and coming Soccer stars are looking forward to showing their skills with a home ground advantage. If you are wondering what time your child is playing, please refer to the fixture that has been sent out via PAM. The Swan Hill Soccer Club has decided to open up their canteen for students to access on this day.
Seniors Athletics Volunteers via PAM
It has been such a pleasure to see so many volunteers putting their hand up to assist with our Senior Athletics Carnival to be held at Ken Harrison Reserve on Friday, August 25th. If you are wondering how you can get involved, simply refer to your PAM permission slip sent out to parents earlier this term. If you don’t have a child from Years 3-6 and would like to be involved, simply send me an email and I will get back to you in regards to the shifts available. As I have mentioned in previous pieces, many hands make light work and your help is greatly appreciated.
@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
Breakfast Club Donations
Breaky Club is kindly asking for donations of Vegemite. These can be left at 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.
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
