St Mary's School Robinvale eNewsletter

Principal's Report

Dear Parents & Carers,

Welcome to our first Term 2 newsletter and the very first in Schoolzine format. We hope you enjoy it, in particular the ability to use the translation option if English is not your first language!

As always many exciting things are occurring at St Mary’s this term. As I mentioned last term, two new staff members have joined us. We are delighted to have Tehan Kelleher, our Community Liaison Officer and Jacky Chhun, our EAL Coordinator working at St Mary’s. Both have spent the last couple of weeks getting to know our staff and students and we can already see the value their roles will bring to our school.

On Friday April 23rd we had a very special assembly where we honoured the memory and tradition of our ANZACs. We also paid respect to the Australian service men and women, past and present, who have worked tirelessly to ensure we have the opportunity to live freely and without the threat of major conflict. A huge thank you to Brian Handreck who generously gave his time to speak to our students about his experiences in the armed forces to help us understand the sacrifices made by these brave people. Thanks also to Chris Brouwers who organised and led our school memorial. Thank you to Jess Balcock, Kevinya DeSilva, Sam Costantino and Joe Ienco who laid a wreath on our behalf at the community service on Sunday. It was a particularly special day for Joe as he had the honour of wearing his great great grandfather’s service medals at the event.

Yesterday we had the privilege of a visit from our Mallee Member of Parliament, Dr Anne Webster. Dr Webster came to St Mary’s to look through our school, share our dreams and talk about how we intend to use the Commonwealth grant to improve our facilities and promote better learning for our students. Discussions with the architects who are overseeing the buildings are continuing. We hope to have a display depicting our vision for St Mary’s available for you to see sometime in the not too distant future.

This Friday we welcome some very important people into our school when we celebrate Mothers Day. All mums are invited to come to school for an extra special assembly beginning at 10.30am which will be followed by morning tea in the courtyard. We are looking forward to seeing many mothers and special friends at school for this exciting event!

Candidates for Confirmation will present at Parish Masses this Saturday and Sunday in readiness to begin their preparation to receive the Sacrament the week after. Our thoughts and prayers are with the candidates, their parents and those supporting them as they take this very important step in their faith journey.

Kind regards,

Andrea Welsh

Religious Education

Wednesday April 28th was International Pay It Forward Day, it is a global initiative that exists to make a difference by creating a huge ripple of kindness felt across the world.

The hope is that people pay kindness forward every day and make each day that little bit brighter. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people can literally change the world for the better. This year’s International Pay It Forward Day hopes to inspire over 10 million acts of kindness around the world. Imagine the difference that would make!

The spirit of Pay it Forward Day underpins all major religions and wisdom traditions, and is widely advocated – if not commanded:

Buddha said: ‘Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again. You will be filled with joy’.

Socrates and Plato pointed out: ‘The just person is happy’.

The Christian knows that reaching out to the other is integral to our calling:

Jesus, the one we follow, actually identifies with those in need. When we serve a sister or brother we are serving Christ. ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me’.

So how can we pay it forward? It is as simple as putting a smile on someone else’s face and feeling good about what you’ve done for someone else.

Let us pray …

Self-giving and gracious God, we are immersed in your abundance, made visible in all creation and in the life giving presence of your risen Son.

As his followers, on this Pay it Forward Day, may we be the prism through which your light and love continue to be dispersed, touching hearts with your warmth and promise, restoring joy and hope.

We ask this in the name of Christ, and through his Spirit: One God with you, forever and ever.

Amen.

Thank you to all our students, families and staff as we raised $1001.50c for Caritas - Project Compassion.

Wellbeing

School Wide Positive Behaviour

This week we will be focusing on lining up quietly and calmly. This means that we should be lined up quietly outside our classrooms when the bell rings at the end of break times or if we have specialist subjects. When moving around the school in lines we should be walking, and calmly following instructions so as not to disturb other classes.

Awards

We have a range of different awards that are given out to recognise positive behaviour at St Mary’s.

The first award is our Positive behaviour in the yard award. If yard duty teachers witness students displaying positive behaviour in the yard as outlined on our school matrix they may give the students a positive behaviour in the yard token. These tokens are then placed in the letterbox outside room four and placed in a weekly raffle, which is drawn at assembly each Friday. Three winners are drawn out. These students receive a $2.00 canteen voucher.

At the end of each term all students who have received a positive behaviour in the yard token are placed in the draw to win Morning Tea with the Principal and school Leadership team. Eight students are drawn out. These students are then invited to a special morning tea with the school leadership team.

We also have our sponsored “We are Safe”, “We are Respectful” and “We are Learners” positive behaviour awards, which are proudly sponsored by Irribiz Robinvale and Elders Insurance Robinvale. Students are nominated each week for this award and selected by SWPBS committee based on the criteria for each award as outlined in our school matrix. They receive a $20 REBA voucher and a certificate presented at assembly on Friday each week.

Congratulations to the following students who received our SWPBS awards for week 1 and 2

We are RESPECTFUL

Jayden Murray

Dionica Matalau

WE are SAFE

Sam Costantino

Suliana Mafi

We are LEARNERS

Carla Nguyen

Chelsea Talia'uli

Primary School

Prep

Over the past two weeks, we have been busy learning the letters ‘r’ for Rosie Rabbit and ‘o’ for Ollie Otter. We have also learnt our first three Tricky Words ‘I’, ‘my’, ‘the’. Please practise reading and writing these at home as they will help us with our Reading and Writing in the classroom. In Mathematics, we have been learning about right and left. We made a red bracelet for our right hand and look to our school logo when deciding our left hand side. In RE, we are looking at what items are on our prayer table, such as a bible, coloured cloth and crucifix. We also went on a tour around the school to look for religious symbols, like the school cross and statue of Mary. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, students are required to bring their library bags to school so they can select a new book to read at home. Last week, your child received an envelope in regards to the School Nurse Program. Please fill out the booklet ASAP and return it to the school. This fantastic program is offered to all Prep students to look at their overall health, especially their eyesight and hearing.

Year 1/2

1/2 students have had a great start to Term 2. We have been busy writing some great sentences and using some amazing adjectives to make our writing more interesting. In Reading we have been exploring nonfiction texts. In Religion we have started to discuss what beliefs are and the different beliefs we have. Science will be packed full of investigations this Term, as we look at different objects and materials that bend and stretch. It is great to see take home readers and diaries being exchanged regularly and we look forward to a fabulous Term 2.

Year 3/4

Wow! What a great camp we had at Lake Cullulleraine. All the students seemed to enjoy the activities, they were engaged, enthusiastic and organised for each event. Well done to the ‘Rogues’ who scored top points for the Next Top Model catwalk T-Shirt competition. Ms RM’s group took out the overall camp activities competition. The camp ran smoothly thanks to Wild Side Outdoors, staff and students were always willing to have a go and everyone got the best out of the three days of camp.

Year 5/6

It’s great to have everyone back and the 5/6 students have settled well into the new term. We have settled back into our routines and are busily preparing ourselves for NAPLAN in week 4. In reading, we have been looking at different types of figurative language and identifying how it can make writing more interesting. In writing, we have been working on narrative and persuasive texts and are looking specifically at the structure and language features that go with both types of texts. In science we are super excited to learn more about earthquakes and look forward to conducting some experiments later on in the term.

Secondary School

Year 7/8

The students are reminded there is Homework club in the Library on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday at lunchtime.

Maths

Students have been focusing on completing specific modules over the past two weeks to help broaden their mathematics base. Year 7 students have also been learning how to use calculators effectively to assist with the upcoming NAPLAN test.

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. lessons the students have been looking at basic First Aid procedures. The students have developed a good understanding of how to support a fracture and what to do in an emergency.

Technology

This term students will be focusing on digital technologies. The students will be learning about the history and components of computers and then beginning to explore the functions of Google slides by developing an interactive house.

Issue 3 Book Club

Has gone home, due back by Wednesday 5th May.

BOOK FAIR

Tuesday 18th to Wednesday 19th May - eftpos available

PREMIER READING CHALLANGE

If any students are interested in participating, please contact the Library.