St. Mary's eNews

Term 3 Week 2


Principal's Message ~ 24th July

Dear families,

We have all survived our first week of Remote Learning 2.0! By the looks of things, it appears that many of our students have done more than merely survive. Teachers have reported that students have come back motivated and eager to learn. 

I am sure that you have noticed some of the changes that have been implemented. We hope that these changes have helped make the transition back to remote learning a little easier for you all. 


I have enjoyed seeing the great learning that students are posting. Whilst we only have a small number of students onsite at the moment, I feel I am getting to know some of the students through their seesaw posts.


Yesterday saw our first try at Wellbeing Wednesday. From most accounts, it was very well-received. Both parents and students alike appeared to enjoy the break from the regular routine and it was great to see photos of what many of you got up to through our active Facebook page. 


Next week, Father Michael and I will commence interviewing new families for 20201 Prep enrolments.  These interviews will certainly be unlike any I have ever hosted, with masks and distancing being the order of the day. If you know any families who are interested in becoming a part of the St Mary’s community, please ask them to contact us.


If you would like to share any feedback about the remote learning process with me directly, please send your messages to principal@smaltona.catholic.edu.au. I’d also urge you to share this feedback with your child’s teacher. We are always looking for ways to improve our practices and it is also beneficial to know what is also working well for you at home.


Last week we informed you about our decision to postpone our Student/Parent/Teacher Interviews. We felt that by hosting them later during this remote learning time, we could use the time together to see how learning is going for your child and to discuss any amendments that may be of benefit in the coming weeks. 

These Interviews will now take place on Thursday 6th August and will operate in the way the initial ones were organised. We will soon be sending home information about how and when to re-book. On this day there will be no online learning for students and the day will run like any school closure day.  We will, however, still offer supervision for the students who currently attend onsite on Thursdays. This supervision will run similarly to last week’s holiday supervision.


Please remember that the wearing of a mask is also now mandatory when entering our school.


This weekend our Church celebrates the feast of Jesus’ grandparents, Mary’s parents, Sts Joachim and Anne. Today we would have celebrated Grandparents’ Day in our school community. In honour of these cape-less heroes who are missing their grandkids so much right now, here’s a clip for you to share with your children. 


St Joachim, Pray for Us.

St Anne, Pray for Us.



God bless you and continue to keep you safe,


Sonia Riccardi 



We are missing your smiling faces...

Thanks to the families who've shared some great photos this week.
We've seen birthday celebrations, cooking, bridge making, chalk drawing and lots of game playing.
  We hope everyone is travelling well.
If you would like to share photos of the kids, the family, the pets etc...just email them though to Marg M - mmasseni@smaltona.catholic.edu.au and Marg will pop them up on Facebook and/or the website.

It's a great way during this period of remote learning to keep in touch.  
It helps families to stay connected as well as putting a positive spin on life.

       

  

Education in Faith: RE in remote learning

Already this term in Religious Education so far, we have celebrated Grandparents Day linked to the Feast of Sts Anne and Joachim. The Prep & Yr 1/2 children spent time exploring how special these people are to them. Here are some examples of some of the work submitted by our Year 1/2 classes.

   

In the middle school, the Year 3/4 students have been exploring how important signs and symbols are as an expression of our Faith. Miss Barnes has provided them with some great activities linking art to Scripture and presenting a detailed Loom video so that all students saw a friendly face during remote learning.

   

Many of the classes have also been learning about St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, in the lead up to her Feast Day next weekend. The Preps did some wonderful work learning about Mary’s family and the Year 5/6 students went further to create a multigenerational family tree for Mary. Our senior students have also collected a wide array of information about the key dates and events in Mary’s life and used these to create timelines.

     

 

We are so very proud of all the work our teachers do to maintain our Faith links during this difficult time. We are also extremely appreciative of all the efforts of our students and families in sharing back many examples of the great work and beautiful experiences they have had as a part of their Education in Faith this term.

Yours in Faith

 

Matthew Taylor

Religious Education Leader



STUDENT/PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES

As you would know our Parent / Teacher interviews were held yesterday. Thank you to our staff and parents for engaging in such great conversation to help with the children's learning. As doing these interviews using the Whereby platform was new to us, we would value your feedback.

Please email Marg mmasseni@smaltona.catholic.edu.au with your thoughts.



COMMUNITY NEWS

Click on the links to access a range of information & activities across our community, including news & information from the parish and local secondary schools as well as, this week, information about Creative Music and Workshops for parents re teens.
NEW this week...
Church Bulletin 21st October
Emmanuel College Update 21st October
Hobsons Bay Children's Week
Creative Music - Sign up for Term 4

Tuning in to Teens is heading into its Term 4 sessions so we’re getting the word out to parents who may want to join in. This 7-week program is designed to support parents in raising emotionally intelligent teens to improve relationships, communication skills and overall wellbeing.

Two Tuning in to Teens courses will be running in term 4:

  • Wednesday 6 to 8pm from 14th October to 25th November.
  • Wednesday 6.30 to 8.30pm from 28th October to 9th December.

Registrations essential. Learn more over on our webpagewww.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/teens

 
Archive...
Emmanuel College Update - 16th October
Camp Australia
Joseph's Corner newsletter
Camp Australia

2021 Prep Enrolments

ENROLMENTS FOR PREP 2021 ARE NOW OPEN.
  Due to current Victorian Government restrictions, tours are unable to take place.
  FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT THE SCHOOL OFFICE ON 9398 4842.
  Enrolment Forms can be accessed from our website or be collected from the school office. We look forward to welcoming you into our Caring Catholic Community in Education.

AUSSIE of the MONTH - JUNE

Congratulations to our June Aussie of the Month students - Xavier, Andy & Alyssa.  Click here to find out why they are so wonderful!



WORD OF THE WEEK

Rarely - it means that something doesn’t happen often

Adverb

Synonyms: seldom, infrequently, hardly

In the desert, we rarely saw any live plants.

My brother and I rarely played Monopoly together.

What are WOWs?

WOWS, or Words of the Week, are words that will appear every week both in the newsletter and in the display cabinets around the Prep/1 building as a way to help the students at St Mary’s Primary School build their vocabulary.


What we know from research about the importance of a large vocabulary is as follows:

  1. Having a large vocabulary helps children think and learn about the world around them.

 

  1. Vocabulary implications for literacy, in particular comprehension of written word essential for being able to answer questions about and successfully predict things from text.

 

  1. A child’s vocabulary growth is directly linked to his or her overall school achievement.

 

What can we do with the Word of the Week?

It is important to talk about the words of the week with your child. Initially, discuss what the word means and put it in a sentence. Use the word frequently throughout the week – at set times like in the car after school or at the dinner table but also incidentally throughout general conversation where appropriate. When the child has a solid understanding of the word, you can think about other ways to build upon this knowledge and further increase vocabulary by thinking about other words that mean the same thing (synonyms) and words that mean the opposite (antonyms) to the WOW. 



SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

Catholic Care will begin providing counselling services to support the wellbeing of the children attending St. Mary’s Primary School, Altona. Our new counsellor is Rishika Sangeeta. Rishika will be available on Thursday each week, from next Thursday 30th July.

Rishika has been working with schools for the last two years to offering counselling services for children. As the school counsellor, Rishika’s role will involve working with children to support their learning, formation of healthy social relationships, emotional development and self-regulation, as well as offering strategies to reduce challenging behaviours within the classroom, school and home environment. She will work to support the teaching team and liaise with parents, when necessary, to meet the needs of individual children.

If you are interested in availing yourself of the counselling services for you child, please contact Marg Masseni via email (mmasseni@smaltona.catholic.edu.au) or the school office.

Marg will provide consent forms that will need to be completed and returned to her. Once the forms are returned to the school, counselling services will commence at the earliest opportunity.