Welcome back everyone!
I hope you managed to enjoy some downtime with your families.
It has been a wonderful, happy start to the term. Students appear to have returned excitedly and full of energy, ready for the great learning that is planned for this term.
Term overviews will be shared with you. These are a great snapshot of the learning that will be undertaken this term. As always, if you have questions about your child’s learning, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher via Seesaw or other methods. Our teachers are happy to meet with you to discuss your child's progress, but it is always best practice to contact them to arrange a time so that neither party is rushed. Teachers often have meetings to attend and classes to prepare for, but they will always be willing to arrange a time that is mutually suitable for a meeting.
I will once again be hosting small group Meet and Greet sessions. If you’d like to attend, please fill in your preferences here. Dates and times are listed below:
If none of these times suit, please use the form to list your available dates and times and I will contact you to arrange a suitable time.
Our school board is looking for new members. This year is an exciting chapter for the board as we begin to make arrangements for the transition from a Board to a School Advisory Council or SAC under the new governance model for Catholic Schools in Melbourne. The role of the board for this year will be very much centred around working through the SAC documentation and establishing roles and processes for this group moving forward.
Please stay tuned for information around how to join. In the meantime, if you are interested in becoming a new member of the SAC, please let me know via email and I will make sure you receive the details of our upcoming AGM. This information will also be shared with the school community.
Last night, the Parish held a Masterplan meeting for contributing parishioners to begin discussing plans for the parish master plan. The Masterplan in its entirety contains plans for both the parish and the school. We will be hosting parent groups over the coming months to discuss the school’s masterplan. At the end of last term the school completed a grant submission requesting funding to begin refurbishment. At this stage the plans are not and do not need to be finalised. We are simply required to submit a proposal. Finalisation will occur if we are successful in our application. I will keep you all posted. Prayers please and/or and fingers crossed that we are successful in our submission.
Have a great week,
Sonia
YEAR 1/2B:
Blake Schembri-Meli for being an enthusiastic and helpful member of our class.
YEAR 1/2G:
Thomas Cutajar for being an enthusiastic learner.
YEAR 1/2N:
Max McCall for being very helpful towards everyone in 1/2N.
YEAR 3/4A:
Miles Derham for his insightful comments and contributions to class discussions.
YEAR 3/4B:
Upin Tran for his wonderful effort in his spelling practice.
YEAR 3/4S:
Ava Schembri for all her hard work this term.
YEAR 4/5L:
Natalie Myers for her level 5 effort in tasks completed in Term one.
YEAR 5/6C:
Alison Misquitta for your excellent revised prediction for our class novel.
YEAR 5/6F:
Amelie Callejo for writing detailed and convincing persuasive essays.
YEAR 5/6KC:
Ashley Torre for being actively involved in all learning experiences.
At St Mary’s, we always aim to cater for the needs and interests of all of our students and to provide creative opportunities to work in new and exciting ways. Today, a number of our students from across Years 3-6 participated in a Tournament of Minds style challenge.
The challenge was a Maths/Engineering Challenge that required students to work in teams to separate and sort “valuables” using equipment made from given materials. Students were challenged to contemplate, collaborate, cooperate and compromise to design and present a unified solution. Teams were boosted by recognising and valuing each other’s strengths and learnt to appreciate different viewpoints and how to challenge ideas respectfully. We are incredibly proud of each and every student and the manner in which they engaged with the challenge, worked with familiar and unfamiliar peers and how each team developed a unique solution to the challenge. We aim to provide more opportunities such as this each term and cannot wait until we next work with some of St Mary’s brightest and most creative minds again soon.
Mrs Tucker & Mr Taylor
Some quotes from the kids:
It was a good way of making new friends because I interacted with kids in my group who are not in my class. - Ronan Year 3
It was a lot of thinking and very hard but lots of teamwork - Cooper Year 5
I enjoyed presenting and was nervous but it was all fine - Lorenzo Year 5
Really interesting activity and actually lots of fun - Aidan Year 6
Although John has been teaching Italian in a range of settings since 2011, he has also taught the other specialist subjects: P.E, Music and Art.
John has studied Italian here in Melbourne as well as a number of places in Italy including:
-Palazzo Malvisi, Ravenna
-A.L.C.E, Bologna
-InClasse, Verona, and
-Scuola Leonardi da Vinci, Rome
John grew up in Albury, New South Wales. In summers he swam and played water polo and in winters enjoyed the nearby ski fields and alpine towns.
These days, John still enjoys swimming as well as cycling on weekends, film, food and, of course, all things Italian!
Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge
How many books can you read before the 17th of September?
With just under 100 days to go, it's not too late to join the Premiers' Reading Challenge!
The students with the most books read in the Junior, Middle and Senior buildings will win a prize, and all students who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate.
See or contact Milly on asiebring@smaltona.catholic.edu.au to register!