Newsletter, Week 4, Term 1, 2023

Principal's Report

Dear Parents & Carers,

It’s hard to believe that we are approaching week 5 of Term 1, where is the time going? In saying that, it is lovely to see everyone settling into school routines and enjoying school life. 

Last week we had our first whole school assembly, while it was a little warm it was lovely to come together as a whole school community. Our Year 8 students did a wonderful job introducing themselves and our 2023 Prep students. During the assembly, we formally introduced our 2023 School Captains, Chanel Garreffa and Carla Nguyen who have already begun to demonstrate their ability to be excellent leaders. 

This week has been a busy week with Pancake Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, the Swimming Carnival and finally school photos today. Although it has been a hectic week, it is events like these that we enjoy and remember. 

On Tuesday, students and staff enjoyed eating delicious pancakes while we celebrated Pancake Tuesday. Pancake Tuesday is also known as Shrove Tuesday which is a day where Catholics traditionally use up some of the more tasty foods in the pantry before the time of fasting, almsgiving and reflection that occurs during the period of Lent. Thank you to Sandra Camera, Emily Muraca, Maria Camera and Amanda Molluso who generously donated their time to cook up lots of pancakes for everyone! 

We also celebrated the beginning of Lent with our Ash Wednesday liturgy in St Mary’s Church. Lent is the season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. Thank you to Fiona Pike for organising our liturgy and to our captains for leading us.

Yesterday we held our annual swimming carnival and it was an excellent day, again it was lovely to see our students, parents, staff and families enjoying themselves and participating in whole school events. Thank you to Des Lowry and his team of helpers for organising this event. Congratulations to Patrician (Green) House on being overall winners on the day, to each of our Age Champions and to every student who competed or participated in any way. Well done to everyone!

A friendly reminder to parents that our  school gates open at 8.20am. Staff members are on duty from this time for morning supervision however classrooms do not open until 8.35am. Students who arrive before 8.35am remain in the courtyard to be supervised by the yard duty teacher. In the afternoons, all students are dismissed at 3.10pm. Students who travel home via the buses wait in the courtyard and exit through the small gate on Nicholl’s street, while all students who are picked up or walk home are dismissed via the gate on Parke Street. 

Attached to this newsletter you will find a copy of our updated Parent & School Relationships - Code of Conduct which outlines the expectations we have of you as parents and what you can expect from us as we strive to develop and maintain a culture of mutual respect. As stated in the introduction to the Code of Conduct, at St Mary’s we are committed to nurturing respectful relationships and active partnerships with you as parents. We believe that our students’ learning journeys are enriched through positive and reciprocal home and school relationships. It is our hope that this document will support us all in this endeavour.

Last week Josie Gill, who has managed our school library for many years, let me know that she is planning to retire to enable her to spend more time with her grown children and grandchildren. Josie will complete her final day at St Mary’s on March 16th. While we will miss Josie, it would be hard to find a better reason for her to leave work and we wish her every happiness as she moves onto the next exciting chapter of her life. I’m pleased to let you know that Carly Sidorow has agreed to take on the library role. This transition has meant some minor internal changes to LSO positions but we don’t expect that this will cause any concerns at all.

Finally, it has been exciting to see more and more progress with our current building works. At this stage, we should be moving into our new administration building and opening up our new playground towards the end of March. We can’t wait! 

Kind regards,

Andrea Welsh

Religion

SWPBS

Primary

Foundation

Well done to all Foundation students on such a successful transition to starting school. It has been so nice watching their confidence grow each day. This week, we have learnt our very first two letters and letter sounds ‘m’ (Maggie Mouse munches) and ‘s’ (Sammy Seal surfing) which is exciting! In Mathematics, we have been doing lots of fun counting songs and working with numbers 1-5.

Our book borrowing days (picture storybooks only then InitiaLit readers as well from Term 2) will be on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Students are encouraged to wear their PE uniform on Mondays and Wednesdays. If you are still unsure of your child’s sport house colour please contact your child’s teacher. After the Labour Day long weekend, all Foundation students will commence school full-time (15.03.23). 

Year 1/2

What an incredible start to the term we have had. As you are aware, we have had a slight change in our team, losing Mr Brouwers to the 3/4 team, where we wish him great success. Thank you to all the families who made the effort to attend the Meet and Greets in week two. It was lovely to meet you or see you again!

Our Spelling Mastery program commenced last week as well as our Maths groups. The Yr 1s and 2s have managed the transition of class changes very well. In our literacy lessons we have been concentrating on the reading strategy of Prediction. In Writing we have been writing recounts and retelling a story.

In this week alone we have had a successful Pancake Tuesday, the Ash Wednesday Mass in the church, an exciting Swimming Carnival and school photos. All the students have shown great resilience in this very warm term maintaining their great learning attitudes. 

Reader diaries have been provided to all students and it is expected that they will exchange books daily and read at home at least four times a week. All students should have a reader bag in order to take books home, or a protective bag to ensure the books are protected in school bags. Please direct any questions to your child's classroom teacher who will be happy to assist you.

Year 3/4

We have had a great start to the year! We have returned to our regular routine after having some time getting to know each other and learning the expectations within the school and our classrooms. The 3/4 Unit are writing narratives at the moment, using their imaginations to write imaginative stories.

The whole unit have been learning about tennis in their PE lesson. It has been very enjoyable and everyone is learning the how’s and why’s of tennis, this runs until week 6.

We all enjoyed our pancakes on Tuesday - they were delicious! Thanks to the parent helpers for cooking them for us. 

Year 5/6

Welcome back! Staff and students are excited and ready for the new school year. 

The 5/6 students have been focussing on behaviour expectations in and out of the classroom. Students have also participated in a variety of activities to develop team and classroom spirit.

Just a friendly reminder that reading diaries and homework have been handed out. All students are expected to read four times a week. Homework is due each Friday. 

Thank you for taking the time to make an appointment with your child’s teacher for the Meet and Greet sessions. If you have any questions/concerns at any time, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher.

Art

We have had a wonderful start to the year in Primary Art.

During Term 1 our focus so far has been on drawing and using various lines in our artwork. All year levels have focused on the theme of Valentine's Day over the last few weeks. 

Year 1/2 have been working on creating an artwork by drawing lines that change in size, shape and thickness, as well as using lines to represent emotions and feelings. 

Year 3/4 have been creating abstract Valentine’s drawings using various types of lines, patterns, shapes and colours. 

Year 5/6 are working on creating a ‘chocolate box’ by using a variety of oil pastel techniques in their artwork such as blending, scratching and layering. They have also been focussing on colour and texture. 

Keep a look out for the wonderful artwork displayed in the classrooms. 

Physical Education

The last three weeks the Year 3-6 students have been participating in lessons learning the skills of tennis. These lessons have been led by Tennis Australia Coach, Lisa Hill. The students have enjoyed learning the skills and the game, and who knows the next Ash Barty may be unearthed, or Nick Kyrios. The four week program culminates with games at the Robinvale Lawn Tennis Club next week. Year 5&6 students will attend on Tuesday (28th February) and Year 3&4 Wednesday (1st March) from 11.30am -1.30pm.

Secondary

Year 7 / 8 Homeroom

Welcome Year 7 and 8 students and families to Term 1 2023. Thank you to all families who attended our secondary students' parent information evening. After listening to student feedback we have made a few adjustments to our timetable and all students are settling into the new routine.

English

In English, the Year 7’s have been exploring persuasive texts. They have been learning the structure and language of an exposition and have written one of their own using the skills they have learnt. The Year 8’s are engaged in a unit of work around the topic of ‘The Future’. Students are viewing and responding to a range of different texts regarding advancements in technology. They are currently exploring the future of travel, such as electric and driverless cars and discussing the positives and negatives about them. Both the Year 7 and 8’s have been engaged in their independent reading and are encouraged to read their books at home.

Maths

In mathematics students have had a week of inspirational maths and have started their first topic on Integers. The Maths Mate Homework  program has started and Year 7 Maths Mates are due on Thursdays and Year 8’s are  due on Wednesday’s. Each student has their own Maths Mate folder.

Students will continue their work on the Maths Pathways program, this is new for Year 7’s which Mrs Pike has introduced. Year 7 students have completed their first diagnostic test using Maths Pathways and are nearing the end of their first cycle. A Maths Pathways cycle occurs every 2 weeks. Students aim to complete 6 modules within the Maths Pathways program and are assessed on their knowledge of those modules at the end of the two week cycle.

Science

In Science the Year 7’s have started to use the Scientific Method for planning investigations. Their first investigation included testing how high certain sports balls bounced on various surfaces compared to others. 

The Year 8’s have been revisiting the Scientific Method and choosing what investigations they will be undertaking this term. Investigation topics include what paper plane design works best and which glue is stronger for sticking pieces of timber together.

Religion

In Religion the Year 7&8’s have been learning about Caritas and project compassion.

PE

Both Year 7’s and 8’s have tried some new sports and activities this term. A hybrid game called Speedball was introduced to start the year off. Speedball is played with a soccer ball and combines both Aussie Rules and Soccer (similar to Gaelic Football). We’ve also had some Year 7 v Year 8 games in Sport and Electives.

Health

The Year 7’s have started to learn how important it is to prepare the body for exercise. They have also started to think about identity and where they fit in both at school and in the world as they grow and develop. 

The Year 8’s are learning about healthy relationships and healthy choices. Manners, respect and good sportsmanship are also discussed during our Health and PE lessons. Being honest has been a big topic throughout our lessons.

Humanities

The Year 7’s have been learning about The Constitution, State and Federal Parliaments and Water Management. Water Management relates to everyone in our community and most students understand this. 

The Year 8’s have concentrated on democracy at the start of this term. They’ve also had a chance to put this into practice when voting on things within class. They have been given an opportunity to vote on what sports they'd like to play in PE, what type of materials they would like to use in Art and what experiments they can do in Science.

Outdoor Ed

Outdoor Ed activities have been limited so far this term due to some extremely hot weather. Leadership skills, teamwork and research have been worked on in between some indoor games in the gym. Day trips to Lake Benanee and Mungo National Park are planned for over the coming months. Students have been planning already what to bring in their backpacks for these trips. 

Food Technology

Year 7 students are excited to be studying Food technology this term. Last week we covered the safety and hygiene requirements of cooking. Last week students begun to develop their skills in the kitchen by making chocolate coconut balls and cookies and cream cheesecake slice. This week students will begin looking at raising agents and will make a variety of dishes using a range of different raising agents. Students will need to bring an empty container from home each Friday to bring home their cooking.

Last week students began their elective units; Outdoor Recreation, Golf, Cake Decorating and Arts and Crafts. Our elective program is designed to engage students in their learning and focus on Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical, Intercultural and Personal and Social Capabilities.

In cake decorating students will be developing a range of skills before designing and decorating their own cake.