St. Mary's eNews

Term 4 Week 10


Principal's Message ~ 11th December

Dear families,

Can you believe we find ourselves at the end of the year? What a year it has been. Despite the difficulties, I cannot help but consider this year to have been blessed as it has seen me transition into the principalship of such an amazing school and community.

 

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank those of you I have been fortunate to meet. I have felt so welcomed and I cannot wait to be able to meet you all in the new year.


Now that restrictions have begun to ease, we are planning to open the school gates in the afternoons from 2:50pm (2.30pm on Monday) so that parents can choose to enter and wait for their children on the netball court. Please remember that you will need to wear a mask if you can not safely distance. Please let your child know where you plan to meet them so they will know where to find you. It will be lovely to see you all back. 


You should have received an Operoo (Caremonkey) notification letting you know which date and time your child/children will be required on the first week of Term 1. If this day/time doesn’t suit, please contact Marg to arrange a swap via email (
mmaseni@smaltona.catholic.edu.au). 


Staff have been busily preparing for 2021 over the past few weeks.  As you can understand there are numerous considerations taken into account when determining student placement. Children will spend some time in their classrooms with their 2021 teachers this coming Tuesday.


On Tuesday night we will be celebrating our Grade 6 Graduation. As there can only be a limited number of adults onsite, you can watch the ceremony
here.


On Wednesday at 10am, we will be having our end of year assembly.  During this assembly we will announce our school leaders for 2021. We will again be live streaming this event from our hall as parents are unfortunately unable to attend. 
Here is the live stream link.


As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, Melbourne’s Cathlic Schools will be changing governance in the new year. Please find a letter attached
here from our Archbishop, further explaining these changes.

All the best,

Sonia



Uniform Shop ~ Open 27th January

Our uniform shop will be open on Wednesday 27th January from 9 - 11.30am for any last minute purchases.  Please check in with the office before heading to the uniform shop as there may still be restrictions on how many people we can have in there at one time. Please ensure that all uniform is clearly labelled with your child's name as we often have many items in Lost Property which cannot be returned.

Pollution Solutions Competition Winner

Recently Lila Boyd won the Hobsons Bay City Council's Pollution Solution competition in the Year 4 - 6 category.  Lila did a wonderful presentation explaining how she and her family help the environment by reducing waste and reusing and recycling many items. She also offered an interesting idea to the council about Voting with your Butts ~ an initiative to stop cigarette butts being dropped on the ground.

Lila has won a workshop/course at Ceres Environment Park in Brunswick.

Pollution Solution entries were independently assessed using the following criteria from the Hobsons Bay 2030 Community Vision:

Innovation, either in the representation of the submission or in the application of entrants’ recycling practises

Inspiration, their ability to stimulate others in the community to act to address climate change and greenhouse gas emissions

Collaboration, showing how individuals worked together to produce a Pollution Solution entry (particularly relevant in the Group entry category).


Check out Lila's entry here

Education In Faith: Advent Week 4

In the final week of Advent, churches will light two candles. The fourth and fifth Advent candles are the candle of love and the Christ candle. During the fourth week of Advent, we focus on Mary’s open heart as she prepares to receive the gift of Emmanuel ~ God-with-us. 

We light the fourth candle as a sign of our faith in God’s redeeming love. God’s promised Messiah is coming. He brings good news for the poor and oppressed. He will bind up broken hearts. He will proclaim release to those who are held captive. .

Love plays a vital role in the Christmas story. Because of Joseph’s love for Mary, he didn’t stone her when he found out she was pregnant with what he thought was a child out of wedlock with another man (Matthew 1:18-19). Mary has a natural motherly love for Jesus, and ultimately, we see God’s love for everyone by sending his son for us (John 3:16). 

Also, Jesus focused on preaching love throughout his ministry. Two of his greatest commands involve love: Love God, love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40).  We often say that love is the greatest of all the virtues on the Advent wreath and encompasses Jesus’ entire purpose for being on earth (1 Corinthians 13:13).

We cannot walk with Christ without love, and we cannot have the Christmas story without love either. As Linus states in A Charlie Brown Christmas, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”  

This week, we leave you with this Advent prayer:

 

Loving God, we thank you for your gift of love - shown to us perfectly in Jesus Christ our Lord. Help us prepare our hearts to receive Him. Bless us in our prayer. Help us to hear and do your word. We ask it in the name of the one born in Bethlehem, Jesus our Lord. Amen 

 

Yours in Faith

Matthew Taylor

Religious Education Leader

 



Learning Diversity: Farewell & Welcome

This year we have been so fortunate to have had speech pathologist Violetta Bassovitch  work with us at St Mary’s.

Violetta has worked mainly in our junior school. 

One of her main areas of focus was assessing the Phonological Awareness of our Prep and One children and then targeting any needs that she identified in that area. 

Violetta also worked with our LSOs as well as our teachers to deepen their skills. She was also responsible for our WOW word each week.

Unfortunately, Violetta will not be returning to St Mary’s in 2021. 

We are so grateful for the time that she spent with us and we wish her all the best in 2021.


In 2021, we will again have Rishika Sangeeta, our school counsellor working with us. Next year, Rishika will be with us two days per week. Rishika also has been a great asset to our community. She has worked with some of our students in the area of anxiety, emotion regulation and grief.

If any parents feel that their child would benefit from seeing Rishika on a regular basis in 2021, please contact Marg Masseni for the necessary paperwork.

In 2021, we will be welcoming Olivia O’Hare. Olivia is a speech pathologist and she will be working two days per week. Stay tuned in 2021 to hear about the great work that she will be involved in.



School Reports

A reminder that a link to School Reports was sent via email on Wednesday morning.
If you didn't receive that email, please contact the school office.

Wellbeing: Digital Mental Health Resources

Digital Mental Health (e-mental health) is services, programs or applications, delivered via online, mobile or phone based platforms, that may be self-driven or involve real time or delayed interaction with a clinician or other support person.
Digital Mental Health services and programs allow Australians to access mental health information and support at any time and from any place.

Check out what is on offer in this brochure.

We are nearly there!!!

Term 4 will end for students on Wednesday 16th December.  The school day will finish at the usual dismissal times (3pm for Preps & siblings, 3.10pm for Yr 1/2s & siblings and 3.20pm for all other students).

Parents are now allowed onsite every day afterschool. We are planning to open the school gates in the afternoons from 2:50pm (2.30pm on Monday) so that parents can choose to enter and wait for their children on the netball court.

Please remember that you will need to wear a mask if you can not safely distance.

Please let your child know where you plan to meet them so they will know where to find you. It will be lovely to see you all back.

Community News

News from around the community...Parish, Secondary schools, Hobsons Bay council and Camp Australia.
    Take a peek...there might be something for you.

There's new information about the Hobsons Bay Music Academy who are running music lessons for children from a young age.

Church Bulletin 13th December
Williamstown Magic Basketball
Camp Australia - Summer Holiday Club
Hobsons Bay Music Academy
Hobsons Bay Netball Club
Creative Music for Schools


St Mary's College - Enrolments
Dear Family and Friends of St Mary’s College
Our final newsletter for 2020 is now available:

https://newsletters.naavi.com/i/kNVOjyJ
Just a reminder – to continue to receive our newsletters after this year, please subscribe:
https://newsletters.naavi.com/p/O5gLrNE/subscribe

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas!
Warmest regards  Jenny Knox ~ Director of Innovation & College Develpment

 

Mount St. Joseph Girls' College Community
The latest edition of the Synergy newsletter is now available to view or download. Dear Members of the Mount St. Joseph Girls' College Community,

Please Click here to read

We hope you enjoy this updated edition and we thank all staff and students for their contributions.

Mount St. Joseph Girls' College
133 Maidstone Street
Altona, Victoria  3018


Camp Australia

Camp Australia brings to you The BIG Art & Expression Competition – where your child can display their creative talents and win BIG prizes. The competition is open to all registered Camp Australia families and, if you’re not registered, registration is free! Register free at http://pp.campaustralia.com.au/ and find out more about the competition at https://campaustralia.com.au/bigartcomp

There will also be 3 prizes for the top 3 schools; 1st prize $3,000 art grant, 2nd prize $2,000 art grant, 3rd prize $1,000 art grant. 

 



Action for Happiness: Do Good December

Action for Happiness has launched their December calendar ~ Do Good December. 

2020 has been a difficult year in so many ways. We have suffered with uncertainty, anxiety, isolation and challenges with our financial situation, health or relationships. 

One thing that can hold us together and help us get through is kindness.

Although we can't change our situation, we can choose to respond to others (and ourselves) with kindness. And when we're kind, everything goes better. We help others, we help ourselves and we encourage others to be kinder too.

Click here to access the calendar

Click here to sign up to receive their calendar each month via email