Friday 2nd August ~ Issue 22
PARISH PRIEST: Fr Patrick Mugavin PRINCIPAL: Mrs Terrielynn Groves
SAC CHAIRPERSON: Mrs Joyce Nedziwe CHILD SAFETY OFFICER: Ms Tania Stevens
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,
What beautiful weather we have enjoyed this week! It has been wonderful to see the students outside playing happily.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to work with our governing authority board on a ten year Diocesan Strategy, which will inform the work we do in our Catholic schools until 2035. I look forward to sharing more of that excellent work with you in the coming months.
Speaking of excellence, we hope to see many of you at our Learning Showcase on Monday 12th August from 2.30pm. We invite families to come into school and share in your child's learning. An informal gathering but a very important one. Please let homeroom teachers know via Seesaw if you are able to attend.
On the 22nd and 23rd of August we will be participating in our School Validation and Review. This process is led by an external reviewer and celebrates the hard work of the last five years, identifies our challenges and sets goals for the next five years.
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
Sunday's Gospel
Jesus answered:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven,
it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven,
the true bread;
for the bread of God
is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.’
‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’
Jesus answered:
‘I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never be hungry: he who believes in me will never thirst.’
Prayers
Please keep members of our school community in your thoughts and prayers as they battle some serious health issues.
Congratulations!
We are delighted to welcome Sullivan James O'Brien to our St Mary's family! Sullivan is a new baby for Maddy and Jarrod O'Brien and a brother for Quinn (Prep) and Freddy. Nana Helen is very excited too!
First Eucharist
Our family meeting to prepare for the Sacrament of First Eucharist was on Wednesday 31st July, 7pm. Children's Liturgy to prepare for the sacrament will begin on Saturday 3rd August at the 6pm Mass. The First Eucharist 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 - be mindful of your body language
SAFETY - make good choices that keep everyone safe
RESPONSIBILITY - look after our school resources
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
Sport Participation
We have greatly appreciated the queries about how we organise sporting teams when we enter local competitions. You may remember us sharing with you the process we use in previous newsletters. As our school Vision states that we pursue 'fullness of life for all', as a school we decided that we would open up competitions to all and allow as many students to participate as possible, rather then just sending the best team. Please contact us if you ahve any further questions or queries.
Sports Catch Up
Grade 5-6 Netball
What a glorious day it was this past Wednesday for the State Netball Championships at Pedrina Park. 24 students from Grade 5-6 took part in the event, and they all represented our school and our values so magnificently throughout the day. We couldn't be any prouder of their efforts!
A huge thank you to all of our coaches, scorers and umpires who volunteered their day to support this event and our students. We can't offer these opportunities without your support. Thank you to Mary Knight, Emily Kelson, Dallas Moyle, Lisa Cleaver, Jess Roll, Vanessa Brown, Ann Hayes, Tanika Thomas, Bec Sherlock and Casey Rook for your work throughout the day. Thank you also to families who attended to show their support throughout the day as well.
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.
50 laps | Quinn O'Brien, Harlow McKenzie, Isla Richardson, Savannah Saunders, Stephanie Dean, Elliott Rovers, Shiivani Austin, Adhil Aneesh, Harper Colliton, Peyton Crupi, Genevieve Toffolon, Kaelyn Burrowes, Claire Cotton, Chloe Donnelly, Lucy Outtram, Mya Lowin, Naithan Joemon, Evie Osborn, Mia Foster, Lexi Withers, Mischa Thomas, Eden Dodd and Olivia Toffolon. |
100 laps | Janin Roll, Ezrah Elson, Andy Larkins, Hudson Uebergang, George Richards, Jimmy Hadden, Franklin Donnelly, Mayon Jayasinghe and Darrell Mhasho. |
Dates for your Diary
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
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
Grandparents' Day!
What a wonderful day we had last week for Grandparents' Day! It was such a beautiful celebration and we were so blessed to have visitors from near and far. Here are some photos of the day.
Father's Day Celebration
On Friday 30th August at 1.20pm, we will be inviting our Dad's and special friends to Father's Day celebration at school. Pop the date in your diary! More details to follow.
Leadership and Stewardship
School Fees
Statements have been sent out today. All accounts for 2024 were 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 early this Term. 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.
2023 Annual Report to the School Community
Our 2023 Annual Report to the School Community is available on our website or drop into school to receive a hard copy. It is a great read, celebrating all the joys of 2023!
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!