Friday 9th August ~ Issue 23

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

Monday 12th August - Learning Showcase from 2.30pm

Friday 16th August - Book Parade - 9am

Friday 16th August - Assembly @ 2.55pm

Thursday 22nd & Friday 23rd August - School Review

Friday 30th August - Father's Day Celebration from 1.20pm - wear your footy colours! 

Friday 30th August - Assembly @ 2.55pm

Tuesday 3rd September - 3/4 Hoop Time

Friday 6th September - 5/6 Hoop Time

Friday 6th September - First Eucharist Workshop

Sunday 8th September - Sacrament of First Eucharist - 10.30 Mass @ St Mary's Church

Wednesday 11th & Thursday 12th September - Art Show - 5.30-7pm - details to come

Thursday 12th September - R U OK Day

Friday 20th September - last day of term - 2.15pm finish

From the Principal

Dear Families,

As I write, we are enjoying a wonderful celebration to honour the feast day of Saint Mary MacKillop. Our Parish is named after Saint Mary and we have close connections in our community with her family. Be sure to ask your children about the day and what they have learned about this inspiring woman.

We have greatly welcomed the feedback on our new newsletter. One of the main changes we have made has been to put the important dates back above this blurb. Hope that helps with events coming up! Please let us know if we can tweak anything else. Thanks!

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

             St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Feast Day

God, through the intercession of Mary MacKillop,
We pray that the fire of your compassion will ignite many hearts.
May Mary’s attentiveness to your dream inspire us.
May her energy to overcome injustice empower us.
May we, like her, make manifest your Presence in our troubled world.
We pray that the beacon of her holiness shine
as a blessing for the universal Church and our world.
We make this prayer in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Celebrating Saint Mary MacKillop

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 was on Wednesday 31st July, 7pm. Children's Liturgy to prepare for the sacrament began 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 

Assembly Award Winners

Last week's award winners were Nathaniel Wensley, Eleanor Hinkley, Austin Emmanuel, JImmy Hadden, Harry Onderwater, Tyler Sherlock, Zoe Kuilboer, Alice Nankivell, Lachie Rhook, Charlotte-Rose Romeo, Sadie Brewin, Bentley Jacobson, Harry San Ba, Eden Dodd, Anvika Sarvothaman, Summer Logan, Hugo Hogan and Charlie Burrowes who were all displaying the value of Do Your Best. Congratulations!

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 last 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! 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 next 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.

We are looking forward to celebrating all things books because....'Reading is Magic'!

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 have any further questions or queries. 

Sports Catch Up

Grade 5-6 AFL 9s

Teams for the Grade 5-6 AFL 9s were sent home to families yesterday. Thank you to everyone who offered their time to coach. The amount of students who have expressed an interest to play far exceeded my original estimates! This means we are able to take more staff to the event to assist with coaching roles. On the back of the note is a basic overview of AFL 9s rules. I will meet with all students involved next week to discuss this further.

Grade 3-4 and Grade 5-6 Hooptime

It feels like it has taken an eternity, but finally, I have sent home the Hooptime teams for both the Grade 3-4 and 5-6 days. Your child will have brought home a note this afternoon outlining the information for the day. Creating the teams takes plenty of time and consideration, particularly to ensure that all students are playing at a standard that best suits each child, as well as enjoyment of the event.

I am on the lookout for two scorers for our ‘Rookies’ team for the Grade 3-4 event. If you are able to assist, please get in contact with me so this can be arranged.

If you are dropping off or picking up your child from HILAC on the day, can you please return the slip at the bottom of the note. With the competition starting early in the morning, we cannot be waiting at school for students and calling families to find out where they are. Your help with this is greatly appreciated!

Melbourne Renegades Cricket Clinic

Students in Grade 3-6 have been given an opportunity to participate in a cricket clinic on Thursday 22nd August. This will be taking place at Monivae between 12:30pm - 1:30pm. All students who have registered their interest at school are able to go. On this day, students participating will need to wear their sports uniform.

Dates for your Diary

Dates for your Diary

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

Grade 3-6 Melbourne Renegades Cricket Clinic: Thursday 22nd August @ Monivae (12:30pm - 1:30pm)

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      

In today's ever changing world, and our fast paced lifestyle, our stress and anxiety levels can often be heightened. Our children can also experience higher rates of stress and anxiety at times.  This fact sheet from the Daniel Morcombe Foundation has some practical ideas for using positive coping strategies when helping our children (and ourselves!) deal with stress and anxiety. 

Tania Stevens

Bullying - No Way!  

The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence has a new name—Bullying No Way.

Bullying No Way Week, 12 to 16 August 2024, is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative and connects schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying.

The theme for 2024 is 'Everyone Belongs'.

When we all feel like we belong, bullying struggles to find a place. It's about embracing who we are, respecting everyone's differences and standing up together against unkindness.

Belonging means we all have a role in preventing bullying. We're encouraged to speak up and create a safe place where everyone feels supported and respected, and our voices are heard and valued.

At St Mary's, we focus on this every single day. We are not perfect by any means but we work very hard to be the best we can be and at all times we strive to be and do better. Working in partnership with our families is a vital part of the work we do.

Next week we will acknowledge the week at our Monday Check In and homerooms will having Bulling No Way as a focus.

Community Engagement

Father's Day Celebration (Footy Colours)

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.

School Garden

This week, some of our students, under the guidance of Lyn and Nola, worked to make paper seedling pots, in order to cultivate some seedlings for our garden.  The students also enjoyed harvesting some of our vegetables as well.

Leadership and Stewardship

Monivae Car Park

Monivae have asked to share this information about parking, which featured in their latest newsletter, with our community to ensure everyone is safe.

 Drop Off and Pick Up zones – with the increase in vehicle traffic:

• No student is to enter or exit a car near the Food Tech rooms or the bottom of the Excel Wing
• If parents are collecting students from both Monivae and St Mary’s, please use our preferred option of the Chevalier car park or there is limited space in the Monivae/St Mary’s quick pick-up zone

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!