Principal's Message: 24 April 2026

Dear families,

I hope the holidays were kind to you and Easter was a blessed time with loved ones.

It has been a great and settled start to Term 2.

 

This week, we welcomed Jayde Shield, who will be teaching 1/2K for the remainder of the year, with Mrs K leaving yesterday to commence her parental leave. We wish Mel and Naume, her husband, all the best for the safe arrival of their first child.


Easter Raffle


At the end of last term, we held our huge annual easter Raffle, organised by our dynamic P&F members.  Thank you to all who donated easter eggs. During this session, the P&F also presented the school with a cheque for over $33,000 for our Ninja playground. We are fortunate to have had the playground installed at the end of last term. We will continue to pay off the playground with funds raised throughout the rest of this year as well.


Canteen 


Some parents have asked why we don’t have a canteen anymore. In the past, canteen positions were often run by parent volunteers. Things got increasingly difficult when council requirements around food handling and certification became more demanding to navigate, so some schools decided to hire canteen managers as members of staff. This meant that the cost of staffing the canteen was drawn from our whole-school staffing budget. With budgeting becoming increasingly stretched, the decision was made to reallocate staffing costs from our canteen to provide more support for classrooms.


To make up for this change, we now have KingWill who delivers lunches on Wednesdays and Subway on Mondays and Fridays. 


Our support staff and student leaders open the canteen at lunchtime for icypoles and chocolates.  We are looking to expand the choices available to students and welcome your suggestions.


Some parents have requested a sushi lunch option. This is not something the school would manage, but if this appeals to you and you have time to coordinate it, please contact me to see if we can make this happen.


P&F open meeting


Our next P&F meeting will be open to all parents. We are always looking for more members, so we are offering a pizza dinner to unashamedly try to entice new people to join.

Please consider coming along. An invitation will be shared via nForma.


Uniform


At the end of last term, a group of senior girls requested a meeting with me to discuss a petition they had recently launched among the students. This petition, it turns out, was to request the school reconsider its stance on the use of the skort only for sports days. During our meeting, they presented (with accompanying slideshow) the reasons they felt we should change this expectation.

After considering their presentation and also speaking with other girls about this, we have decided to make this change official. While the preference, from an aesthetic point of view, is for the dress, existing skirt, or shorts, we acknowledge that, from an activity standpoint, the skorts can be more comfortable and practical, particularly for use on school playground equipment.

I’d like to thank the parents who worked with the girls to understand the process before meeting with me, and who explained that petitions and preferences do not always result in change. This was such a great learning experience for the girls involved and your parental guidance and support were appreciated.


Fidget Use


I refer you to a separate article within this week’s newsletter regarding the use of fidgets. As we have seen disproportionate use of fidgets and toys in classrooms, we are asking for your cooperation in ensuring that only tools that enhance a child’s learning experience are utilised during class time. Not every student needs one. As I’m sure you can understand, there are some items that are more of a distraction than assistance and we want to ensure that the tools being utilised are actually helping students who need it, learn. 

If you would like to discuss this, please make a time to see your child’s teacher or Cathy, our learning diversity leader. 


SAC Chair


Last term, Daniela Ciciulla, our School Advisory Council chair, attended the annual SAC Chair dinner. She shares her thoughts on the experience below:

Last month, in celebration of Catholic Education Week, the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) hosted its annual School Advisory Councils (SAC) dinner. In my first year as SAC Chair at St Mary’s Altona, it was an honour to represent our school.
The Creative Arts Exhibition was the highlight of the evening, showcasing hundreds of student artworks, including paintings and sculptures from across MACS schools. It was inspiring to see the breadth and quality of student creativity on display. It would be wonderful to see a piece submitted by St Mary’s next year. I heard it is a significant process, so starting early is key!
This year’s keynote speaker was Stan Grant, former journalist and now university professor. Stan spoke about his upbringing with his parents and siblings, and the challenges of unstable housing, while being grounded by a loving family and faith. He reflected on how faith and hope helped shape his journey from an Aboriginal boy moving from school to school to becoming a leading journalist.
He also spoke about the spirituality of Aboriginal people and noted that a large proportion are Christian. In addition, he highlighted the disparities in health outcomes experienced by Indigenous Australians and the ongoing need, as a nation, to continue working towards improvement in this area.
We also heard about MACS’s ongoing focus on educational excellence and student wellbeing, and how these priorities are being strengthened as key points of difference across MACS schools.
I had the pleasure of sitting next to Francine Walsh, one of MACS’s leadership specialists, and enjoyed many conversations about student recruitment. We look forward to welcoming her as a guest speaker at an upcoming SAC meeting.

MACS Family Survey


Families within the MACS education system are encouraged to complete a survey to help inform MACS’ strategic planning, decision-making and engagement. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes and is completely anonymous.

If you’d like to participate, you can do so here.



Tomorrow, Mr Hein, our school captains and myself will join community members at the Anzac Day dawn service. Fr Michael will help celebrate, representing various religions within our community.



Have a great weekend,



Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

 

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