Newsletter, W8, T3, 2024

Dear Parents & Carers,

Welcome to this week’s newsletter. We’ve had an exciting fortnight since our last report with many celebrations and events happening across our school, along with lots of learning.

Last week we held our annual whole school Athletics Day. Despite the windy conditions, it was a great day with all events being hotly contested! Congratulations to every student who participated, Patrician (Green) House on being the overall winners on the day and to our age champions whose names appear a bit later in this newsletter. A sincere thank you to the parents who helped out on the day, without you we would not be able to hold days like this, and to those who came along to spectate, your support is appreciated. A big thanks to Des Lowry who organised the day and to his many helpers on staff.

Several of our secondary students qualified to compete at the SSV Mallee Division Track & Field (Athletics) in Ouyen this week and many of those were successful, which means they progress to the Regionals in Bendigo early next term. We’ll announce the names of the team that will be competing in Bendigo when it’s finalised. By all accounts, every student who participated in Ouyen represented St Mary’s well and we are extremely proud of their efforts. Well done to all involved!

Following on from Athletics last week we celebrated Fathers Day with our traditional bacon & egg muffin breakfast and games morning. As usual, we had lots of parents and special friends come along keeping the BBQ running at full capacity. The joy on children’s faces at being able to spend this time with their fathers and other important people in their lives was priceless. Thanks to the Fathers day committee, Leanne Chirchiglia, Sindy Nel, Tehan Kelleher and Charlie Ford for their coordination of the event and to all the staff who pitched in and helped feed all our students and their guests. We hope all the dads and friends had a great time on Fathers Day!

This week our Prep students had their first taste of our camps program by travelling to Mildura to watch a performance by the ‘Listies’ at the Arts Centre. Everyone enjoyed the show and returned to school for an afternoon of activities and a shared meal before their parents and friends joined them for a round of bingo. A great time was held by all and the students all went home, tired but happy! Our camps program is a significant feature of the curriculum and it is wonderful to have the support of families with these valuable learning experiences. Thank you to Mikayla McGowan-Rickard and Cenza Brigante, along with Asela Sauaki and the other staff members who helped out making the day a huge success.

This week was Learning Support Officer (LSO) appreciation week. This is when we take a little extra time to appreciate and show our thanks to our wonderful team of LSOs at St Mary’s, without whom our school would not be the amazing place of learning that it is. Our LSOs work tirelessly in classrooms, in the office and all over the school to support teachers, ensuring that every student in our school gets the best education we can offer. In addition to this they do a myriad of other jobs, mostly behind the scenes, to make sure our school runs smoothly and everyone is happy and safe. We celebrated them by hosting a morning tea and giving each of them a small gift to show them how important they are to us!

Recently you may have heard some media coverage about the Fair Work Commission's ruling on employees' Right to Disconnect. Please be aware that this applies to all Victorian workplaces, including our school. This means that, while teachers and other staff will always respond to your messages, they are only required to do so during their work hours. This may mean that a message sent or an attempt to contact someone after hours may not be responded to until the next workday of that staff member. This, of course, does not include emergency situations, in which case I would suggest that you contact me. As mentioned above this is a fair Work Act Amendment and not something that the school has implemented so we have no choice in the matter. We appreciate your understanding and thank you in advance for your ongoing cooperation as we work in partnership to support our student’s education and wellbeing.

Kind regards, 

Andrea Welsh

SSV Mallee Division Track & Field Athletics

The SWPBS focus for this week is  to use the internet only as a learning resource. 

The SWPBS focus for next week is to be kind to one another. 

Foundation

We have all enjoyed so many events since the last newsletter! 

Last week, we enjoyed participating in various sports at our Athletics Day; Foundation students were excited to receive their ribbons and celebrate Lyla and Parker for winning Age Group Champion!

We also enjoyed celebrating Father's Day with our Dads and special friends; Foundation students enjoyed using a variety of writing prompts to make a creative craft for their Dads. We also enjoyed a delicious breakfast cooked by the staff and played various games with the special people who attended.

This week, we had Prep Tea and an excursion to Mildura. We travelled by bus to the Mildura Arts Centre and watched The Listies perform. The Listies are a comedy duo that transitioned to children's comedy during COVID lockdowns. They have just returned from touring overseas and brought their Make Some Noise tour to Mildura. Students enjoyed the performance, including joining in with funny dances and playing air guitar!

Upon our arrival back at school, we enjoyed some quiet time before we ventured outside for a snack of fruit, veggies, and pretzels. Students made bubble snakes and decorated slime, ate a delicious dinner, had dessert, and finished off with a game of Bingo with our grown-ups when they picked us up! Thank you to Zaffina Bus Lines for taking us to Mildura and The Euston Pub for catering our dinner. Finally, thank you from our students to the staff that supervised and supported our big day of fun!

Year 1/2

The Year 1/2 students had so much fun at the Athletics. Students had been practicing in their sport lessons leading up to the day and it was great to see so many happy faces throughout the day. Congratulations to Dante Davoli and Evie Aikman who won the 7 year old champions and Trixie Jukes and Pearce Corcoran for winning the 8 year old champions. 

Back in the classroom students were reviewing their persuasive writing skills, by trying to convince their teachers who had the best dad or special friend or which animal was the best. The students enjoyed making cards for their fathers or special friends for Father’s and Special Friends day last week. They all enthusiastically talked about how much fun they had at the Father’s and Special Friend’s celebration last Friday. 

Students will be finishing up the term with some exciting activities to celebrate the Olympics and Paralympics with a surprise athlete playing a key role in the celebration.  

The Year 1/2 teachers would like to remind anyone who hasn’t brought in their 1/2  Sleepover note to please do so as soon as possible and for everyone to continue reading nightly. 

Year 3/4

The Year 3-4 students have been busy learning about our local area; in the lead up to the Robinvale centenary celebrations in October. On Thursday we were lucky enough to visit ‘Robinswood’ where we learned about the Cuttle family, the families who bought land in October 1924, the town of Villers-Bretonneux and were particularly interested to hear the stories about how Robinvale has, throughout history, been a place of gathering.

The children are still buzzing about Athletics Day last week; a fantastic day full of sportsmanship, encouragement and positive attitudes! We were so proud of everyone’s achievements. 

The Year 3/4 teachers would like to remind students to bring their diaries to school each day. This practice helps students develop good work habits by consistently recording important information in their diaries.

Year 5/6

The Year 5-6 students had an amazing time at camp! Even though it rained one day, we didn't let it stop us from having fun and building our team skills. Our camp leader, Luke, guided us through each day's activities, leading us in exciting games and a memorable quiz night! The camp was a great opportunity for students to develop resilience, leadership, and time management skills while facing their fears. Over the four days, the teachers noticed these qualities shining through. 

Here are some camp reflection comments…

‘My favourite activity was the giant swing. It was scary and fun!’ - Sophie

‘My overall reflection is I would go to Campaspe Downs again; it had lots of amazing activities and it was awesome staying in the rooms and the food was absolutely delicious!’ - Thansikaa

‘The challenge I faced was the fear of heights, but I pushed myself and still did the high activities’ - Hamish 

Homeroom

In Homeroom, the Year 7's have been working on their exciting assembly this Friday 6th/09/2024 and come up with the topic: News around St Mary’s. They have been assigned roles and are discussing all the wonderful events that have happened over the past week.

English

Year 7: Students have been working on using a range of punctuation in their descriptive writing and focusing on dashes, colons and commas. In addition, they have been preparing for PAT (Progressive Achievement Testing) in week 9.

Year 8: Students have finished off their Gothic Fiction: Frankenstein, and have completed a diary entry on one of the characters from the novel. They have also begun their PAT preparation (Progressive Achievement Testing) for next week (week 9).

Maths

In Year 7 & 8 Maths we have been preparing for our up and coming PAT Testing that will take place over the next two weeks.

Health

Year 7: Students have been working on their assessment task: ‘Sugar in Food/Drinks. Here, they are looking at food labels and calculating how many teaspoons are in products.

Year 8: Students have been working on their assessment task: ‘Fit For Life,’ where they are creating six 30-minute workouts that the students at St Mary’s can participate in. They need to relate it back to both Health and Skill related components.

Humanities

Year 7s have covered several aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture, gods, pyramids, mummies.

Year 8s have looked at Viking Culture, and the beginning of the Medieval Period in Europe, including Knights/Castles/The Black Plague, Feudalism

Languages

Year 7 and 8 s have covered several new topics, months, numbers, dates of births. How to ask others their age and tell them how old they are.

Steam

Visitors from La Trobe University and Bendigo Technical College came to bring project equipment and deliver an introductory lesson to both year groups. They talked about energy transfers and practical demonstrations. Students got to play with energy toys, sample equipment and build a solar panelled lamp that will be sent to a country to students that do not have power at night to do their homework.

Extra

On Wednesday students from Year 7&8 represented St Mary’s in Ouyen at the SSV Mallee Division Track & Field events. We had a number of place  winners who will be invited to go on to the next level in Bendigo, more details to come.

SCHOOL CROSSING REMINDERS

When the flags are out, all people crossing Watkin Street should be using the crossing.

Please be aware of times on the crossing signs, do not park in the crossing area in these times.

8.00am - 9.00am and 3.00pm - 4.00pm

Watkin Street is a 40 km zone at all times.