Friday 8th November ~ Issue 34

Child Safety Statement

School Values

Treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Respect Our School - Hormati Sekolah Kita

Do Your Best - Lakukan Yang Terbaik

Help Others to Succeed - Bantu Teman Untuk Berhasil

Important Dates

Term 4

November

Monday 11th November  - Friday 15th November - 3/4 Swimming Program 

Tuesday 12th November - Prep 2025 Transition Day ~ 9:30am - 11am

Wednesday 13th November & Thursday 14th November - Book Fair

Monday 18th November - Wednesday 20th November - Grade 5/6 Camp

Tuesday 19th November  - Prep 2025 Transition Day ~ 9:30am - 11:30am

December

Friday 6th December - Christmas Parade @ 6pm

Tuesday 10th December - 2025 Orientation Day

Friday 13th December - Junior Athletics Carnival (Prep - 2)

Sunday 15th December - End of Year School Mass and Gr 6 Graduation @ 10.30am

Wednesday 18th December - Last day for students

ADVANCE NOTICE 

Wednesday 29th January - First day of 2025 school year for Gr 1-6

Thursday 30th January - First day of 2025 school year for Preps

From the Principal

Dear Families,

It has been so lovely to be back at school after my trip away. We had an amazing time in London but the best part was spending time with Eliza and Pat. I can't tell you how hard it was to say goodbye! A huge thank you to our outstanding team, led by Tania Stevens, who ensured continuity of learning and teaching in my absence.

As Tania wrote last week, with the tragic accident in Melbourne at school pick up, it is a timely reminder to ensure that everyone is taking their time and following our end of day pick up procedure.  If you are picking up your child from the St Mary's Stop and Go, please wait patiently in the line - the teachers on duty will ensure your child is ready to go when you are in the pick up zone. Also, please make sure that your child is able to enter your vehicle from the safety of the left hand side. If you have parked in the Monivae Car Park, you need to cross at the pedestrian crossing to collect your child - we don't want children crossing on their own.  Thank you for keeping everyone in our community safe.

As a staff, we are preparing for 2025 and looking at plans for next year. One of the changes that you will see is that homeroom teachers will now be teaching all things Library, instead of this area being looked after by a specialist. We have been very spoiled over the last two years to be able to fund five specialists to allow our teachers planning time, giving them an hour more than the award. A huge thank you to Kerry Stevens and Tania Stevens who have brought so much to this area over many years and have supported our teachers in this space too. Our four other specialist areas will continue with Hannah Black as our Art teacher, Vicki Fitzpatrick teaching Indonesian, Tania Stevens moving into the Performing Arts area and Elise Gordon returning from Maternity Leave to step into the PE role. Aren't we lucky! All the other areas will be announced in the coming weeks.

Have a wonderful weekend, shared with those you love,

 Terrielynn

Catholic School Culture

MASS TIMES – 2024                                                 

Hamilton: Saturday 6pm and Sunday 10.30am                                    

Dunkeld: Sunday 8.30am                  

Glenthompson:  Sunday 8.30am

Penshurst: Sunday 8.30am

Litany of Remembrance

God of Compassion,

In the rising of the sun and in its going down,

We remember them.

In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter,

We remember them.

In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of the summer,

We remember them.

In the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn,

We remember them.

In the beginning of the year and when it ends,

We remember them.

When we are lost and sick at heart,

We remember them.

When we have joys we yearn to share,

We remember them.

So long as we live, they too shall live.

We will remember them.

Amen

Learning and Teaching

School Wide Positive Behaviours

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support is:  A multi-tiered framework for establishing the social culture and behavioural supports needed for a school to achieve behavioural and academic outcomes for all students.

For the next two weeks at St Mary’s we are working with our students on the following:

RESPECT -  Use a respectful tone and body language when speaking

SAFETY - Keep our hands, feet and objects to ourselves

                                                  RESPONSIBILITY - Wear our school uniform correctly

Icy Poles

As we are in Term 4 and heading into the warmer weather, our Grade 6 Student Councillors will once again be selling icy poles at lunchtime on Fridays.  These will be $1 each and will be sold each Friday until the end of the term.   

Sports Catch Up

State Athletics Carnival

Charlie Moyle attended the State Athletics Carnival in Melbourne on Wednesday, competing in the 11 year old girls hurdles event.

Charlie finished 13th with a time of 15.79. 13th in the state is a huge achievement!

Congratulations on your efforts throughout the year for this event Charlie, we are all incredibly proud of you!

Grade 5-6 District Cricket

We took 37 eager students to the District Cricket event on Friday. We had 2 boys and 2 girls teams, who all played in 3 round robin games. One of our boy’s teams made it into a semi final, coming up against a strong Tarrington team.

The highlight of the day was our teams playing against each other at the end of the day. Plenty of bragging rights were had between the teams and students! Thank you to all families and staff who attended the day with your support and encouragement.

Saturday Morning Netball

Saturday Morning Netball resumes this Saturday. Grade 5-6’s are playing at 9:30am, and our Grade 3-4’s are on the court at 10:30am.

Grade 3-4 Swimming Program

Thank you for your promptness in returning the blue note for the swimming program for next week. Please remember that swimming begins on Monday, so don’t forget to pack suitable swimming clothes in your child’s school bags. Students may wear sports uniform for the week, for ease of changing.  Students will be swimming in one of the four time slots:

• 12:00pm - 12:30pm
• 12:30pm - 1:00pm
• 1:00pm - 1:30pm
• 1:30pm - 2:00pm

Students may swap time slots after Monday, as the HILAC instructors will be assessing students abilities to ensure that they are grouped correctly.

Grade 3-6 Swimming Carnival

I have sent home a note with information about our swimming carnival, as well as an event sign up sheet. Students need to select at least two events that they would like to participate in for our swimming carnival later this term. Please take the time to talk with your children about what events that they would like to participate in. I have events for the carnival that will suit all levels of swimming abilities. I also look very closely at the feedback that is provided by the trained swimming instructors during the swimming programs to ensure that students are entering events that are suited to their level.

Could you please return these notes as soon as possible. Thank you.

Dates for your Diary

Saturday Morning Netball: Continues this Saturday @ Pedrina Park

Grade 3-4 Swimming Program: Monday 11th November - Friday 15th November @ HILAC

Grade 3-6 Swimming Carnival: Friday 29th November @ Monivae Pool

Grade 3-4 State Hooptime: Monday 2nd December @ State Basketball Centre, Wantirna South

Grade 5-6 State Hooptime: Tuesday 3rd December @ State Basketball Centre, Wantirna South

Junior Athletics Carnival (Prep - Grade 2): Friday 13th December @ St. Mary’s

Latham Wishart

lwishart@smhamilton.catholic.edu.au

Library News ~ Book Fair Next Week!

Great news - our annual Book Fair is back next week!! It will be held in the new classroom space, next to 5/6MW.  

The Book Fair will be open for browsing on the Monday and Tuesday, with the buying days being Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th November, both before and after school.  It's a great chance to grab some Christmas gifts too - plenty of stocking stuffers!

Exciting news for this years Book Fair - we now have an option to pay via Tap and Go.  You can still pay online prior to the fair, as well as cash, but this adds an extra payment option. Please note - this payment choice does attract a 1% surcharge. 

An invitiation to the Book Fair (with information about how to pay online) was sent home this week.  Your children will bring home a 'Wish List' (after they have browsed the Book Fair) either on Monday or Tuesday.

If you have any questions about our upcoming Book Fair, please don't hesitate to contact me.  Look forward to seeing you there!

Tania Stevens

Parent Access Portal (PAM)

PAM will be released in the coming weeks to all our families - please keep an eye on your inboxes.  I have attached the PAM manual for you to read.

Wellbeing

Child Safety - SchoolTV Special Report

“There is no such thing as a perfect parent. However, research shows that one of the most important protective factors in the lives of young people, is a close relationship with a supportive adult.”

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

The mental health of today’s young people is at an all-time low. Depression, anxiety and self-harm are sadly on the rise. Unfortunately, there are more risk factors than protective factors, facing young people growing up. To parent effectively, it is simply not enough to avoid the obvious dangers like abuse, neglect and overindulgence. Parents therefore, need to arm themselves with practical skills, knowledge and strategies when it comes to raising children. Numerous studies suggest that the best-adjusted children are reared by parents who find a way to combine warmth and sensitivity with clear behavioural expectations.  (Taken from SchoolTV).

This edition of SchoolTV is packed with excellent resources and articles to help us navigate the ever changing parenting landscape.  The link to the full edition is below, as well as some other interesting articles that link into this topic.

Tania Stevens

Leadership and Stewardship

Staffing News

Kerry Stevens, who has been an integral part of our St Mary's community for many, many decades, has enjoyed her year of leave so much that she has decided to resign from her position at the end of the year. We will have much more to say about Kerry's dedication and commitment to our school as the year draws to a close, but we would like to extend our thanks and best wishes to her as she begins an exciting new time in her life.

2025 Staff PD

Next year, our governing authority DOBCEL has made the suggestion that using the three days between Easter Monday and ANZAC Day for staff to collaborate with other school's through PD would be an excellent use of time! So...that means that the holiday break at the end of Term 1 will be three weeks long and we will return to school on Monday 28th of April to start Term 2.  

2025 Planning

Planning is well underway for 2025. Currently we are looking at staffing and in the coming weeks we will begin compiling our classlists. 

Community Engagement

St Mary's Christmas Parade

Community Events