Friday 14th February 2025 ~ Issue 3

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

Sunday 16th February - Beginning of the Year School Mass, 10.30pm at St Mary's Church

Friday 28th February - Assembly at 2.55pm

Wednesday 5th March - Ash Wednesday - Mass at 10am

Wednesday 5th March - Family & Child Sacramental Meeting (students in Gr 3-6 are eligible) - 7pm at the Mackillop Centre *PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE*

Thursday 6th March - Athletic Sports for Gr 1-6 at Monivae

Monday 10th March - Long Weekend

Friday 14th March - Assembly at 2.55pm

Monday 17th March - St Patrick's Day - wear a touch of green with your uniform

Monday 17th March - Learning Walk for 2026 families

Wednesday 19th - Friday 21st - Gr 5/6 Camp

Thursday 27th March - Learning Conversations

Friday 28th March - Assembly at 2.55pm

Monday 31st March - Learning Conversations

Wednesday 2nd - Friday 4th April - Sacrament of Reconciliation

Friday 4th April - Last day of Term 1 - 2.15pm finish

From the Principal

Dear Families,

The staff attended a very informative professional development day in Camperdown on Tuesday, in regards to Structured Literacy.  We are all very excited to continue with more learning about this exciting new initiative and we will let you know more very soon.

Terrielynn has been enjoying a wonderful week in Brisbane with her daughter and her beautiful new granddaughter, Francesca.  We look forward to welcoming her back from leave next week. 

We are looking forward to a wonderful Opening Mass on Sunday.  Not only is it a chance to give thanks for our school community and our beautiful school, but we also honour our new Grade Six leaders who will receive their Leadership badges.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Enjoy the weekend with those you love,

Tania

Catholic School Culture

MASS TIMES – 2025                                                 

Hamilton: Saturday 6pm and Sunday 10.30am                                    

Dunkeld: Sunday 8.30am                  

Glenthompson:  Sunday 8.30am

Penshurst: Sunday 8.30am

Beginning of the Year School Mass

Our Beginning of the Year School Mass is on Sunday 16th February, at St Mary's Church, 10.30am. All families are invited to join together in celebrating our beautiful school and the new year. At this Mass we will honour our new Gr 6 student leaders too. They are -

School Captains - Alani Rook and Jack Bourke

School Councillors - Selena Brown, Hana Churchill, Tahlia Fitzsimmons, Marcus Knight, Marcus McRae, Rosie Read, Rebecca Shelly, Jayda Storan, Ryan Smith, Isabella Templeton, Sophie Uebergang, Brayden Williams, Deklan Wilmot and Lexi Withers

Sustainability Leaders - Lola Stanley, Bentley Jacobson, Jax Hollard and Jedah Brown

Art Leaders - Samantha Perkins  and Lilly Kuilboer

House Captains -   Rosaria - Meki Churchill and Rhys Jackson

                               Lourdes - Nina Roll and  Harry San Ba

                               Fatima - Johannah Winnell and  Beau Plush

                               Loreto - Charlie Moyle and Ollie Porter

Students are asked to wear their school uniform and to sit with their families. It would be greatly appreciated if a small plate of food could be brought along to share after Mass. Thanks!

Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church

This year is a Jubilee year in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has set the theme as Pilgrims of Hope, so fitting in our turbulent, and at times, unsettled world. We will have a strong focus on hope here at school, such an important way to see life, that there is always hope even in our darkest times. We can certainly do our bit here at school! We will have more details and information as the year goes on.

Sacramental Program

The parent meeting for our Sacramental Program for 2025 has had a date change.  It will now be held on Wednesday 5th March.  Please see the flyer below for further details.

RE Leaders 2025

Introducing our RE leaders for 2025.  This group of student councillors will be assisting our RE Leader, Mharni Gordon, throughout the year with Liturgies, Masses and other activities.  Congratulations Selena, Lexi, Rebecca, Tahlia, Rosie and Marcus.

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 kind words

SAFETY - Keep hands and feet off others

RESPONSIBILITY - Make the most of the learning opportunities offered

Sports Catch Up

Saturday Morning Netball

Saturday Morning Netball starts tomorrow, Saturday 15th February. We have one Grade 3-4 team and two Grade 5-6 teams. There were 5 players from Grade 5-6 at Tarrington who were looking for a team, so we were more than happy to combine with them to allow them to play this season! 

Please remember that payment, registration and consent forms are all online this year. Please reach out if you are having trouble accessing or completing any of these tasks.

Thank you to Lisa Lowin, Emily Kelson, Joshua and Caroline Donnelly, Joe McKew, Shae Outtram and Mal Fitzsimmons who have put their hands up to coach or umpire our teams. We cannot do this without you, and I am incredibly thankful for you.

Round One

8.30am 

St Mary’s Mavericks (5-6) vs Gray St Maroon Court 4 

St Mary’s Swifts (5-6) vs Dunkeld-Coleraine Court 5

9.30am

St Mary’s Magic (3-4) vs Gray St Gold Court 6

Hockey Clinic

Students in Grades 1-4 will be participating in a hockey clinic on Monday 24th February. This event will be held at school, and there is no cost to families. Students in these year levels will need to wear their sports uniform to school on that day.

Division Swimming

The Division Swimming Carnival will be held at the Aquazone facility in Warrnambool on Friday 28th February. I have begun looking at last year's Swimming Carnival times to see which children qualify for this event. I will contact families in the coming weeks to get recent swim times, as there is a minimum qualifying time for each event. If you have a swimmer in Grade 3, are a new family this year or if you know your child will meet the qualifying times please email or Seesaw me for more information. Families will be responsible for transporting and supervising their child at this event.

Athletics Carnival

Our School Athletics Carnival is on Thursday 6th March at Monivae. Students will come to school in their sports uniform and be walked up to Monivae for a 9:30am start. More information about the day including a helper slip will be sent out on Monday. We cannot run this event without the support of our St. Mary’s community. 

District Tennis

Students in Grades 3-6 are invited to participate in the Southern Grampians District Tennis event to be held on Thursday 27th of March in Hamilton. Please either email or Seesaw me if your child wishes to play before the end of February. SSV have decided that the Hotshots format (8 students per side) will be the progression from District through to State. Due to a tight timeframe and many other sporting events in Term One, the HDSA have decided we will play a singles format tournament this year, similar to what we have played in the past. However, there will not be progression from this event. Please note that families will be responsible for transporting and supervising their child for the day, as we do not send staff to this event. Students must be competent tennis players and be able to keep score themselves to enter this event. 

Team Vic

Throughout the year, there are many opportunities for students to compete in sports at the state level. Usually, these events require families to transport their children to trials (generally in Ballarat or Melbourne), and can be quite time consuming for families. If you would like to consider your child for an event throughout the year, you must get in contact with me before the closing dates for specific events. Information (Registration, Key Dates and the Principal Endorsement process) can be found on the link below: https://www.ssv.vic.edu.au/team-vic 

Dates for your Diary

February

Saturday 15th February - Saturday Morning Netball commences @ Pedrina Park

Monday 24th February - Hockey Clinic (Grades 1-4) @ St. Mary’s

Friday 28th February - Division Swimming @ Aquazone, Warrnambool

March

Thursday 6th March - School Athletics Carnival @ Monivae

Thursday 20th March - District Athletics @ Mitchell Park

Wednesday 26th March - Regional Swimming @ Horsham

Thursday 27th March - Southern Grampians District Tennis event @ Hamilton

Friday 28th March - School Cross Country @ St Mary’s 

Elise Gordon

egordon@smhamilton.catholic.edu.au 

Wellbeing

Child Safety

This week was Safer Internet Day. It was marked on Tuesday 11 February 2025 and is a global day of action dedicated to raising awareness of online safety. 

Our Grade 3-6 students have all taken part in online safety activities and discussions this week. It is an ongoing topic and it is important that everyone (school/home/community) keeps this conversation going.

The resource below is a UK one, but it has some very relevant topics, such as how to keep children safe on a range of devices, from tablets and phones to smart speakers and gaming consoles.  We also recommend the eSafety Comissioner website - they run excellent, informative parent webinars, on a regular basis, covering many different topics.  The flyer with dates and themes for this term is also below.

  Tania Stevens

Standing Tall Mentoring Program

Again this year, we are delighted to be a part of the Standing Tall Mentoring Program. This program matches students with a mentor and they spend time together at school on a weekly basis. This program allows students to form a special relationship with their mentor, someone who they can chat to, play board games with or spend time with in the garden. Please contact school if you think this is something that might assist your child.

Leadership and Stewardship

School drop off and pick up

At the end of last year, we made a video to introduce our Prep families to how our St Mary's Pick Up Zone works at the end of the day.  We thought it would be timely to share with everyone, as it can get very busy at the end of the day. The link to the video is below.

We have also been informed that some families are allowing their children to exit their car on the drivers side of the vehicle at the Monivae Stop and Go, straight into oncoming traffic.  This is very dangerous and has led to some near misses, as cars are constantly driving through there and may not see a little person getting out of the car.  If your family is using the Monivae Stop and Go (or the St Mary's one) it is essential that your child exits out of the passenger side of the vehicle. Thank you so much for your understanding in this.

Student Attendance

It is a legal requirement for schools to contact families if students are absent from school without an explanation. As a result, our office staff are required to contact you from 9.30am if your child is absent from school and you have not let us know. Please phone or email. Thanks!

A Few Reminders

School Fees
School Fees for 2025 were sent home last week. Direct Debit forms are available from the office or if you would prefer to set up your own Direct Debit, the account details are located on the top right hand side of your fee statement. All accounts are due by 30th June, 2025 unless you are on a regular payment plan.
The Family Fee Assistance scheme will be available again in 2025. Families who qualify for the scheme (if you hold a Health Care Card or Pension card) will pay $520 per annum for primary school tuition fees. The discounted fee covers tuition
and capital fees only. It does not cover additional charges such as camps, student fees, and excursions. Please note that students who are holders of Health Care Cards are not eligible. An application form needs to be completed unless you have previously filled it out and you have no changes to your family situation i.e. a new prep student starting. These forms are available at the office. The forms, plus a copy of your current Centrelink card, must be received by Monday 24th February, 2025. The Camps, Sports & Excursions Fund (CSEF) is provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities. Please see below for eligibility or please contact the office. Forms are available at the office and must be completed no later than Monday 24th February, 2025.
If during the year your circumstances change and you become eligible for Centrelink, please come and discuss this with Helen. If you have any queries concerning your account, please contact me at the office or via email helen@smhamilton.catholic.edu.au  Thank you, Helen

Community Engagement

Assembly

Our next assembly will be on Friday 28th February at 2.55pm.

Icy Poles

This term we are selling icy poles every Friday for $1.00 each. We will meet with our Students Leaders to determine what organisation we will be raising money for and let you know. 

Town bus cost

 There has been a price rise for tickets, the new prices and term pass prices are listed below.

• Student Single $1.50
• Student Return $3.00
• Student Weekly $14.00
• Term 1 Pass $131.60
• Term 2 Pass $142.80
• Term 3 Pass $123.20
• Term4 Pass $148.40

Town bus routes are availiable at the front office

Garden Gurus

Community Events