Newsletter, week 1, term 4, No 1

Principal's Report

Dear Parents & Carers,

Welcome to our first newsletter in quite a while! It is absolutely wonderful to have all of our students back onsite, at least part time, at some point over the last two weeks. The school feels almost normal again and we can’t wait for the start of week 4 when we anticipate everyone will be back onsite full time.

It would be remiss of me if I didn’t continue to acknowledge the hard work that has taken place both at home and at school over the last few weeks of term 3 and the start of this term. As I’ve said on numerous occasions I continue to consider myself privileged to be a part of such an amazing learning community. Thank you and well done everyone!

As it has been some time since I have written a report for you I do have a few things that I want to cover. To try to make it easier to read I have included them as bullet points below:

• COVID Safe Practices - As explained in the email I sent out to families earlier this week we continue to be very conscious of keeping everyone as safe as they can be at school. We have a COVID Safe Plan in place and have implemented all recommended COVID safe practices. Staff regularly discuss these and are briefed on any changes. Please be assured that we will continue to monitor our community and our school carefully. We will respond promptly to any concerns in order to keep everyone as safe as we possibly can.                                                            
• Masks - A big part of our strategy to try to keep our school community safe is mask wearing. The guidelines for mask wearing have changed significantly in recent weeks. Current school guidelines state that all secondary students and staff must wear masks at all times. Students in Year 3 to 6 should wear masks when indoors at school and all other students are encouraged to wear masks at school. It is a requirement that these guidelines are followed by all staff and students unless an exemption applies.                                                                                           
• Swimming Program - We are pleased to say that we anticipate being able to begin our term 4 swimming program when the Robinvlae pool opens in November. This term all Prep to Year 2, and some older students, will be timetabled to attend lessons once a week on Tuesdays from week 6. More information about this will be sent home in the coming weeks.                                      
• Student Free Day - Last week I sent home a survey asking what parents thought about going ahead with our student free day on November 1st. Thank you to the significant number of parents who replied. The results were extremely close but those in favour of going ahead with the student free day were in the majority. A survey of teachers had similar results. I can see benefits to both scenarios but in this instance, to be fair,  we will go with the majority vote and proceed with the student free day as planned. So, as previously advised, November 1st will be a student free day and no students are required onsite, enabling staff to participate in professional learning.                                                                                                                                                      
• Camps - Under current guidelines camps and excursions are still not permitted and it is likely to be  week 4 before this changes. As we can’t make any plans until then, and knowing it takes many weeks to put a camp together, we have had to make the difficult decision to cancel camps for all year levels for the remainder of the year. We realise that this is very disappointing news but, as you know, circumstances have worked against us all year and we have simply run out of time. We are still hopeful that we will be able to offer some fun day excursions later in the year.                                                                                                                                          
• NAPLAN - This year’s NAPLAN results have arrived. Normally we would invite parents in to collect the reports from teachers. As we can’t do this at the moment, we are going to distribute the results in a slightly different way. Next week all parents/carers of students in Year 3, 5 & 7 will receive a phone call from their child’s teacher. The teacher will go through  the results of the test and you will have an opportunity to ask any questions you may have. After this all NAPLAN tests will be mailed to you on Friday 22nd October. If we don’t have your current mailing address on file please contact the office to update it before then.                                       
• 2022 Enrollments - To help with our planning for next year, if you have a child who you wish to enrol at St Mary’s in Prep, or any other year level, in 2022 please contact the office for an enrolment pack  as soon as possible.  If you are aware that your child will not be attending St Mary’s in 2022 for any reason, and you haven’t already notified us, please contact either myself or the office to let us know as soon as you can.                                                                                       
• 2022 Staffing - At the end of term 3 & Chris Robarts (CEB Education Consultant) and I conducted interviews for 2022 Deputy Principal positions. I am pleased to announce the successful applicants were: 

Primary DP, Nicole Zappia. Congratulations Nicole! We look forward to you continuing the amazing work you are doing at St Mary's. 

Secondary DP,  Maryanne Leslie (who will also have a secondary teaching load). Maryanne will be known to many of you and comes to us with a wealth of experience as both a school leader and a secondary teacher. We have no doubt she will be a huge asset to our secondary school and to our school community in general. Welcome Maryanne, we are thrilled to have you join us! 

In addition to this we are introducing a new position; Faith, Mission & Well-being DP. Fiona Pike will take on this role, along with a secondary teaching load. We are very excited about this new role and what it can do for our school. Fiona’s experience in wellbeing and in leadership within a faith community will hold her in good stead to take it on. Well done Fiona!

I’m also extremely happy to let you know  that, at this stage, all other current staff have indicated that they would like to continue working at St Mary’s in 2022. If this changes at any point I will let you know.

• Class list requests - In previous years I have asked for parents to email me if they have any particular requests for their children’s classes the following year. This year I am changing my approach slightly. As we have had a stable staff for a few years now I think it's reasonable to assume that our staff know our students well and vice versa.  As trusted professionals, I have every confidence in the teachers ability to place your child in the class that they feel will best support their learning. With this in mind, this year I am not going to ask for parental requests. If you have significant concerns that you wish to share with me you are welcome to contact me directly by phone to discuss this but please be aware that, for the reasons I have stated above, requests for individual teachers will not be considered unless there are exceptional circumstances that I am not already aware of.  

Kind regards,

Andrea Welsh

Religious Education

All Catholic Schools in the Ballarat Diocese plan their Religious Education lessons from the Awakenings Curriculum. This curriculum incorporates 5 key learning stands. These are:

Scripture, Israel & Jesus

Christian Ethics- Personal & Social

God, Religion & Society

Prayer, Liturgy & Sacraments 

Church & Tradition

This curriculum recognised the search for meaning within the complex world in which our students encounter. Effective religious learning occurs in a supportive setting that recognises and celebrates difference through respectful listening and dialogue with others. In this setting, Catholic beliefs and teachings are presented as viable opinions. This  influences a student’s identity formation and quest for fullness of life.

Year level Teachers plan units of work together with the support and guidance of the Religious Education Leader. 

As parents you can support, encourage and take an interest in your child’s faith journey by:

Make time for a conversation with your child about their learning in RE. 

Make connections between your child’s RE learning and family, community and global issues. 

Recognise opportunities for prayer, stillness and reflection. 

Participate in school Masses and class liturgies when opportunities arise.

Dear Jesus

Help us now and always to follow the 

Values given to us by the Mercy sisters, the first teachers at St Mary’s.

Guide and encourage us to be of service to all, to respect everyone and treat them with hospitality, justice and compassion. 

Give us the courage to always stand up for what is right and to follow your ways.

Patron Saint of our School,

Mary Help of Christians, 

Pray for Us, 

Amen.

Wellbeing

This week the SWPBS focus is ‘being organised and ready to learn’. This is important to focus on after holidays and lockdown. Being organised and ready to learn covers many areas - what do I need to do or prepare at home? How can I be organised before class or after breaks? What does ready to learn look like in different settings? 

The SWPBS focus next week will be ‘greeting people and speaking respectfully’. This will be important to focus on as we have more students onsite and begin to communicate face to face again.

Primary School

Prep

Welcome back to Term 4!! We are all very excited to get back into the classroom to do some great learning. In English, we are looking at the digraph sounds ‘wh, th (like as in ‘thunder’), oo (like as in ‘spoon’)’. In Writing, we enjoy using stimulus pictures to create interesting sentences and finish off our writing piece with a matching picture. This week, we are beginning to use dotted third lines in our handwriting/writing lessons to prepare the students for Year 1. In Maths, students are looking at a variety of different topics, such as teen numbers, one more/one less than a number below 20, describing the order of events and sequencing the days of the week. 

This term in the other learning areas, the Foundation students are looking forward to learning about the Human Body (Growing and Changing) in Health and caring for others (love, kindness and devotion) in RE.

Please remember that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, students are required to bring their library bags to school so they can select a new reader and picture story book to read at home. Also, please pack a piece of brain food (fruit or vegetables) in your child’s lunch box each day that they will eat at brain food time. If your child does bring an orange or apple for brain food please make sure it is cut up into smaller pieces for them to easily eat.

Year 1/2

Our Year 1 and 2 children have settled back into school really well, and are showing great enthusiasm and behaviour. We are looking forward to lots of different learning early this term. We have started looking at landscapes in our area and how they change or stay the same. We have been having lots of fun changing stories, in particular Fairy Tales. We are changing the characters, setting or plot, or a combination of these. We have some very interesting new versions! In reading we are learning how to make inferences, by using facts and what we already know, to look beyond the text. 

Tomorrow we will be making some craft for our grandparents, and celebrating everything we love about them.

Year 3/4

Our start to Term 4 was unexpectedly delayed with the staggering of students return to school. This week and next week, years 3 and 4 will learn onsite at school on Tuesdays and Wednesday, whilst continuing remote learning Monday, Thursday and Friday. The teachers in the 3/4 team would like to express their appreciation for the continued support from parents and would like to congratulate the students' engagement in their learning remains high overall. We ask that students be mindful of the items they will require, and bring in all school related items to enable the flow of lessons. 

This term we have just started a science unit on Heat Energy which will be extremely interesting. Also we are exploring Indigenous history in humanities. In literacy we are concentrating on the reading strategy of finding the Main Idea in text and we are having great discussions around this learning point. We are also applying focus on how to edit and recognise minor mistakes in our work to improve our written text. 

It's so wonderful to be face to face with students once again! It is expected this will be a fabulous term.

Year 5/6

During the first two weeks of Term 4, the Year 5/6 have been looking at the use of persuasive techniques used in protest songs, such as ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ and ‘Beds Are Burning’. Students enjoyed listening to and learning about the historical background of these well-known songs and identifying the power and purpose of music to bring about change. 

In Writing, students were able to identify the difference between formal and informal letters and demonstrated an understanding of how to write both a formal and informal letter. They also were learning about the appropriate structure used for writing emails. 

In Maths, the Year 5 students have been learning to read and write eight and nine digit numbers and locating large numbers on a number line. The Year 6 students have been working with fractions of money and learning to find fractions of an amount. 

The SWPBS focus at school this week is being organised and ready to learn. This is a timely lesson for students in preparation for returning to the classroom. The 5/6 students discussed what they need to do to ensure they’re ready to return to school. The 5/6 teachers are very excited about the return of Year 5/6 students this Thursday and Friday and seeing everyone back in the classrooms.

Secondary School

Excitement was evident this week with students returning to the classroom, even if only part-time.

English

Year 7 have combined their English and Arts lessons to work on their parodies. They are using their skills to write lyrics to a song and will be demonstrating drama, dance and/or singing in their presentations.

Year 8 are identifying either a national or international issue, they will research the topic and plan and present an audio or audio/visual presentation.

Maths

Year 7 and 8 students are focusing on Linear Equations.

Year 7’s have been looking at flowcharts and backtracking methods to help solve simple linear equations.

Year 8 students have been using the flowchart, backtracking and balancing scales methods to solve more complex linear equations.

These have been supported by completing Maths Pathways modules to support this learning.

Technology

This week students were excited to be back at school and in the kitchen. Students have made some delicious Yo Yo biscuits.

Religious

In Religion the students are learning about the “Biblical Covenants” in the bible and are having plenty of discussions around the meaning behind the stories. They are also looking at how to compare the Old Testament to the New Testament and understand the authors who wrote these parts.

PE

In PE students will be learning about the basics of Tee-Ball & Base-Ball, focusing on throwing, catching, hitting, and fielding. They are playing mini versions of the game before playing a full game with the class.

Humanities

In Humanities, all students are learning about the basics of Business and Economics. We are starting to learn how businesses determine prices of items along with how different financial markets work.

Health

In Health both Year 7 & 8 students are learning about adolescence, the changes and challenges that they will face going through this time in their lives. There have been plenty of interesting discussions and great questions asked from the students to better understand adolescence.

Library

Book Club, Issue 7 went out this week.  Orders are due back on Wednesday 20th Ocotber.  This is the 2nd last book club for 2021.

If anyone would like to order Christmas items please let Josie Gill or Lisa Zappia know and items will be kept separate.

SCHOOL CROSSING

A reminder for Everyone who uses the School crossing before and after School - please stand behind the yellow line and wait for the 2 whistles before starting to cross.