Friday 26th July ~ Issue 21

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

From the Principal

Dear Families,

We have enjoyed the most wonderful day today, as we celebrated our grandparents and special friends. Our students were so excited to welcome their visitors and show them our beautiful school. A celebration of pure joy and love!

A huge thank you to our families for the delicious morning tea that was provided. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. We would also like to thank Monivae for providing us with a morning tea venue while space is a premium at our place due to the building project.

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

A Prayer for Grandparents

Dear God,

Please bless our grandparents.

For the ways they have helped me and made me strong,
I give thanks.

For the ways they love me
no matter what,
I rejoice.

For the ways they have paved the road that leads me here,
I am grateful.

Let them grow in wisdom
and joy in life.

Let them find peace
and rest from their work.

Let them be healed
of every sickness and pain.

And let them see the love
of your son, Jesus, 

in the love of their children
and grandchildren.

Bless them today and always. 

Amen.

Prayers                                                                       

Please keep members of our school community in your thoughts and prayers as they battle some serious health issues.

First Eucharist

Our family meeting to prepare for the Sacrament of First Eucharist is on Wednesday 31st July, 7pm, in the Mackillop Centre. The Parish has all the details you will need. Children's Liturgy will begin on Saturday 3rd August at the 6pm Mass. The sacrament will be celebrated on Sunday 8th September at the 10.30am Mass. 

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 - using people's names when you greet them 

SAFETY - playing safely on the playground

RESPONSIBILITY - engaging with learning 

Assembly Award Winners

Last week's award winners were Sophie Taylor, Declan Boyd, Chantz Ezard, Adhil Aneesh, Isla Taylor, Phoebe Hayes, Claire Mandiringana, Levi White, Rosie Read, Darcy Walsh, Elise Knight, Charlie Moyle, Maddy Joseph, Harlow McKenzie and the 3/4EP class, who were all displaying the value of Help Others To Succeed. Congratulations!

NAPLAN

This week families received their child's NAPLAN results. As a school we were very pleased with the childrens' achievements. We congratulate each one of them and the staff that supported them during this assessment time.

Structured Literacy

Last Monday our staff participated in professional learning focused on Structured Literacy. You may have heard about this in the media. Structured Literacy is an evidence-based approach to teaching Literacy that ensures all the necessary building blocks of reading and writing are taught through a systematic, cumulative, explicit and diagnostic course of instruction. We are looking forward to finding out more!

Student Learning Showcase!

On Monday the 12th August from 2.30pm, we invite families to attend our Learning Showcase. This is a wonderful opportunity to visit homerooms and have your child talk to you about the learning they are doing at school. Invitations  came out this week. Please send a Seesaw message to homeroom teachers if you are able to attend. We look forward to seeing you there!

Book Week

It is almost that time again....Book Week!  We love to celebrate all things reading and books and Book Week is the perfect opportunity!  The theme this year is 'Reading is Magic', so students can base their costume around this theme, or their favourite book character.  As in previous years, this is not compulsory, only if your child would like to dress up.  

Our Book Week Costume Parade will be held on Friday 16th August.  We will have our parade at 9am on this day to share all of the wonderful and creative costumes.  If you have any questions about our Book Week celebrations, please contact me.

As many of you are aware, we usually have a Book Fair around this time as well.  However, due to our building project, we have decided to postpone our Book Fair until Term 4. At this stage, the Book Fair will be held in Week 4 of Term 4 - week beginning Monday 28th October.  More information will be available closer to the time.

Tania Stevens

Sports Catch Up

Hockey 7’s

Last Friday, eight brave students headed up to a very icy Pedrina Park to take part in the annual Hockey 7s competition.  We played three games on the day, with improvements being shown every game.  Our first game, we played against Good Shepherd, and lost 4 - 1.  Our second game we played against Coleraine and lost 2 - 1.  The third game was a nail biter! We played against Tarrington and achieved a nil all draw.  There were some very close shots on goal though! Congratulations to all the students who took part and thanks to everyone who supported the day.

Hockey 7s

Grade 5-6 Netball

I have sent home a note for the Grade 5-6 netball last week outlining the teams, umpires, scorers and coaches. A huge thank you to families who are giving up their time to assist us on the day. A reminder that we will be providing transport to and from Pedrina Park, but please let me know if you are intending on taking your child directly to Pedrina Park in the morning.

Grade 5-6 AFL 9s

Thank you for your promptness in returning the slip for AFL 9s. I am currently in the process of organising the teams for the day. We will provide transport on the day. Thank you also to families who have offered to coach a team, it is greatly appreciated.

Grade 3-4 and Grade 5-6 Hooptime

I am still working on completing our Hooptime teams for later in the term. As soon as these have been confirmed, I will send a note home outlining the information for families. I will also be in contact with Grade 3-4 families who have put their hand up to score for us. Thank you for supporting us on this day.

Dates for your Diary

Grade 5-6 Netball: Wednesday 31st July @ Pedrina Park

Grade 5-6 AFL 9’s: Thursday 15th August @ Pedrina Park

Grade 3-4 Hooptime: Tuesday 3rd September @ HILAC

Grade 5-6 Hooptime: Friday 6th September @ HILAC

Latham Wishart

lwishart@smhamilton.catholic.edu.au

Parent Access Module ~ PAM

During Term 3 we will introduce you to PAM. PAM is an acronym for Parent Access Module. 

As a parent you will be able to view the following information within SIMON which is the program we use here at St Mary’s to record all student activities etc. This includes: • Daily messages and upcoming events • School links • Student information and timetable • Student attendance • Student Assessment and reporting • Parent Teacher Online/Interview Bookings • Student Medical details •Excursion permissions etc.

There is an app associated with PAM called SIMON Everywhere. 

I will send out more information in Term 3. Monivae currently uses PAM  - so a few of you will already know how it all works.

Wellbeing

 Child Safety      

The eSafety Commissioner is once again running online parent and carer webinars, designed to support parents assist their children navigate the online world.  

The topics this term are:

• An introduction to online safety and emerging technologies.
• Consent and online boundaries: How to support your
  primary-aged child.
  
• Understanding how to support your child with online gaming.

The flyer below outlines the topics and the times that these webinars are available.  There is also a link to register.

Tania Stevens      

Community Engagement

Christmas Parade!

Our annual Christmas Parade will be held on Friday 6th December. Shannon has already started the process of road closures so planning is underway!

We are on the hunt early for Christmas Parade Coordinators! If you are super enthusiastic about one of the below mentioned areas or would like to know more, please contact us at school.

Baking - Need Coordinator                      ✪ Stall Holders - Lauren Cottrill

✪ Decorating - Nat Templeton                 ✪ Parade Entrants - Shannon Smith  

✪ Advertising - Terrielynn Groves            ✪ Parade Marshalling - Tendai Mhasho  

 ✪ Raffle - Siana Causer                             ✪ BBQ & Cold Drinks - Katrina Turnbull & Teeghan Brown

Leadership and Stewardship

School Fees

All accounts for 2024 are due and payable by 30th June 2024 unless you have a regular payment plan in place or if you have recently spoken to Helen.  The collection process for unpaid fees will begin in early Term 3.  Thank you.

Uniform

Please make sure your child is in the correct winter school uniform. Also be mindful of hair accessories and the jewelry being worn. We will remind the students at our next Monday Check In.

Change of Pick Up

If you are needing to change the arrangement of how your child is getting home, please ensure this is done by 1:30pm. We cannot guarantee being able to pass messages on close to the end of the day, due to the influx of phone calls and messages.

Building Update!