Newsletter, week 8, term 1, No 3

Principal's Report

Welcome to this fortnight’s newsletter! As always the school has been a busy place over the last two weeks. 

Swimming lessons have been moving along nicely thanks to Kieran Mays and Ebony Dickie’s hard work and dedication. We are very much looking forward to our annual Swimming  Carnival which is scheduled for next Thursday 26th March. Please keep an eye out for the notes coming home soon with details about the Carnival and return the sections that need to come back to school as soon as you can. As you know the Swimming Carnival was cancelled last year (along with most of our other whole school events) so it is very exciting to be able to gather again as a whole community. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

This week we have been lucky enough to have some AFL players?/representatives? come to St Mary’s to run footy clinics with our students. It has been great to see the level of participation and enjoyment that our students have gained from this experience. Who knows, there may be a future ALF star amongst our ranks!

This week I met with architects to begin the process of planning for our building works. This is an exciting time for our school and as the project moves ahead I’ll look forward to keeping you up to date with our plans. With a bit of luck, by this time next year our school will look very  different!

This Friday we are celebrating Harmony Day for the first time at St Mary’s. Harmony Day is     celebrated in Australia on the 21st March and is intended to promote inclusion and cultural diversity. As we all know, there are many cultures represented in our school and each has a rich and valuable tradition to share. We are privileged to have such a diverse community which can only enhance our school and the learning experiences we can offer. We plan to celebrate our diversity and promote everyone’s sense of belonging by participating in many Harmony Day activities at school. We are all encouraged to wear a splash of orange on Friday in recognition of this important event. 

At last week’s assembly I spoke to all students about being respectful and kind towards each other and their teachers. I explained that kindness and respect are the basis for our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support system and that we expect that all students display these qualities at all times. It would be appreciated if you could take some time to speak to your children about how they might go about being kind and respectful towards others both at home and at school. Supporting each other in this way will undoubtedly go a long way  towards creating a harmonious and supportive school community.

Kind regards,

Andrea Welsh

Religious Education

St Mary’s School was asked by the World Day of Prayer committee if we would like to make a banner for this event. This year St Mary’s Parish was hosting the prayer service. Students in year 3/4 Mrs C and Miss Mitchell’s class helped to decorate the banner for the occasion. 

Over the next few weeks students will be encouraged to support the various Project Compassion fundraising ideas that each team will be hosting. These events range from guessing the lollies in the jar, paper/scissor/ rock challenge, ball in the bin, handball competitions, water bucket challenge and designing a badge. These fundraising ideas cost between $1-2 to participate.

Please continue to support project Compassion by bringing in coins to make a whole school money line, next Tuesday March 22nd. 

All Caritas Boxes are to be returned back to school by Thursday March 25th. Once again thankyou for your support and monetary giving over this Lent period. 

Wellbeing

SWPBS - Our SWPBS focus for next week will be respecting others in the yard.  These means that we treat other students with respect and kindness.

Congratulations to following students who  received our SWPBS awards for week 6 & 7

Week 6

We are RESPECTFUL       Hayley Camera

We are SAFE                       Giordano Gallace

We are LEANERS             Preston Costantino

 Week 7

We are RESPECTFUL         Mali Walsh

We are SAFE                         Michellyn Martin Masabel

We are LEANERS                Cillian Corcoran

 Thanks to our sponsors Irribiz and Elders Insurance Robinavle for their ongoing support of our School Wide Positive Behaviour         

Primary School

Prep - Over the last two weeks in Foundation, we have learnt the letter names and sounds for ‘t’ and ‘a’. We really enjoy sorting pictures to match the letter sounds of each new friend (Tommy Tiger and Andy Ant). On Wednesday the 10th of March, we watched the ‘World Festival of Magic’ and learnt how to do some magic tricks of our own. Our favourite parts were the magician and the acrobats. This week, we enjoyed making a rainbow paper chain with a pot of gold at the end to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Next Tuesday the 23rd of March, all Foundation children will be participating in a ‘Water Challenge’ to raise money for Project Compassion, please bring a gold coin donation on the day. A note will be sent home soon to outline the details. Just a reminder about Parent Teacher Interviews next week. If either day or times do not suit you please contact your child’s teacher. We are more than happy to arrange a more suitable time with you. Next Friday the 26th of March, is our annual whole school Swimming Carnival. All Foundation children will leave school at 11:00am and walk down to the pool with their teachers. They will participate in some fun pool games and activities. If you have any worries or concerns about your child’s swimming abilities please notify their teacher ASAP. A note in regards to this will be sent home by early next week. 

Year 1/2 - In the Year 1/2 unit we have been busy with a number of       different special events. We had an online session with some Richmond footballers who shared their story of how they became footballers.  We then had a follow up clinic on Tuesday with some Sunraysia  footballers.  These clinics will happen again for the next two weeks.  On Tuesday we all joined together for our unit Liturgy.  We prayed about how we prepare for Easter during Lent.  Afterwards we all joined together to sig ‘Home among the gum trees’ with great enthusiasm.                                                                                                                          Our meal worms have started growing bigger, but are still waiting to change.                                            We will be learning about the Easter story over the next few weeks, and leading in to the special celebration over the first weekend of our holidays.

PE - This term in PE, we focused on building our communication and teamwork skills with some cooperative games. Over the last 3 weeks we have been learning some of the important skills in basketball, in particular the correct shooting and dribbling techniques. This week we will begin our final unit for the term - soccer! I can’t wait to see the skills the students show me. We have also been discussing the importance of warming up our bodies before playing sports. Year 1/2 students have been loving our new warm up game called “waspital”, an active game that gets our legs moving and hearts pumping!

Italian - Ciao a tutti! Foundation students have been learning about family members using the ‘papa dito’ song.                                                                                                                                                                  Students from Year 3-6 have been practicing their greetings inside the classroom and out in the playground. They have enjoyed the song and dance routines by signoia Nadia.                                             The year 5-6 students are putting together the final touches to their scripts for a role play titled ‘Let’s go to the market’. Arrivederci e grazie mille

Digi Tech -  Students in Year 1/2 have been focusing on positive habits with technology. We read a book called Swoosh and Glide and Rule number 5. The book encourages young children to ask for help when they are using digital devices, to keep them safer online                                                                The Year 3-4 students focused on pixel art design and also created a storyboard.                                      Students Year 5/6 have been learning about binary numbers based on ASCII (American    Standard Code Information Interchange)and learnt to code their name. They enjoyed doing this activity!

PE - This term in PE, we focused on building our communication and teamwork skills with some cooperative games. Over the last 3 weeks we have been learning some of the important skills of basketball, in particular the correct shooting and dribbling techniques.                                                             We have also been discussing the importance of warming up our bodies before playing sports. Year 1/2 students have been loving our new warm up game called “waspital”, an active game that gets our legs moving and hearts pumping!                                                                                                                        This week we will begin our final unit for the term - soccer! I can’t wait to see the talents of the students.

Art -  We are coming to the end of a very busy term and all the artwork is coming together and looking fabulous. Everyone is enjoying the process and are starting to really like what they see in their own artwork.                                                                                                                                                                The Year 1/2’s “Loudmouths” are nearly complete and the students have put in so much effort to make them look great.                                                                                                                                                        The Year 3/4’s William Wegman inspired artworks are close to complete as well. There are some very interesting animal/human creatures being made!                                                                                       The Year 5/6’s are moving forward understanding about the elements of art and have recently looked at examples of colour, shape and value.

Secondary School

Year 7/8 - Firstly, all of the Secondary staff and students would like to give a massive congratulations to Stephanie Baker on being accepted into The Institute of Sport in Melbourne for her golfing prowess. We all wish her the best of luck with her future academic and sporting             achievements.                                                                                                                                                                       With the start of the AFL this week, Mr. Mays has organised a footy tipping competition for the Year 7/8s.                                                                                                                                                                                          The students are reminded there is Homework club in the Library on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday at lunchtime.

English - Year 7 have been learning about the many different types of books they can read and the many different reasons they could read them such as, for enjoyment, to learn new things about the world around us or even build or construct an item.                                                                                                  Year 8 have been learning about how language has changed throughout the years, that there are words we no longer use or that might have a different meaning to what they did 100 years ago. They have also learned teenagers will have different words in their vocabulary than their parents or grandparents.

Maths - Students are continuing to develop their mathematical knowledge through the use of the Maths Pathways program. Students are expected to complete 6 modules each 2 week cycle. Some students are finding this challenging and would benefit from completing some modules at home. This learning is enhanced with a weekly Maths Mate homework sheet. Homework is given out each Monday and due back the following Monday.

Technology - Students have begun developing their Boomerang designs and will continue to practice their wood burning techniques for their keyrings. It is hoped students will begin their final assessment next week by completing their Boomerangs.

Art - The students have been completing their Aboriginal art designs and have developed an     appreciation for the time it takes to produce these intricate pieces of art.

Languages - In French, the students have been progressing with describing physical features and personality traits. Most can accurately describe the eye and hair color of themselves and    others.

Outdoor ED - During Outdoor Ed. lesson the students have been looking at basic First Aid procedures. The students have a good understanding of how to support a fracture and what to do in an emergency.

Family Contact Details                     

 Have your contact  details changed?                                     It is important that we have your up to date contact details.                                                                                              If you have changed your phone number, address or email can you please notify the school office with your updated details.

 

EASTER EGG RAFFLE                                                      Thank you to those families who have donated to our Easter Egg raffle.

 Please keep sending in those Easter Eggs. The more Easter Eggs the greater chances you  have winning.

 The Raffle will be drawn last day of term 1.

Robinvale Tennis Holiday Program