St. Mary's eNews

Term3 Week 9


Principal's Message 18th June 2021

Dear families,

It’s been wonderful to see everyone back to a (semi) regular school week, albeit a short one.

Thank you to you all for adhering to the current requirements around distancing and mask-wearing. 

It’s been wonderful to see everyone back to a (semi) regular school week, albeit a short one.

Thank you to you all for adhering to the current requirements around distancing and mask-wearing. For the remainder of this term, we ask that you don’t enter class buildings and continue to distance from other adults. The use of masks outdoors, however, is no longer a requirement.

From Monday we will also be introducing the Victorian Government QR code sign in. We will require all parents who enter any of our buildings, including the office, and when attending assemblies etc, to sign in using the QR code. This procedure will be in place for at least all of Term 3.

This week we offer condolences to the Cassar family. Patrice’s father, Isabelle’s (5/6KC ) grandfather passed away on Sunday. Please keep the Casssars in your thoughts and prayers.

I shared a form with families last week, asking for feedback about this term’s Remote Learning. If you have not yet done so, you are encouraged to offer your thoughts as we will use these to continue to refine and improve these processes each time we move into periods of lockdown.

We continue to explore the option of outsourcing our uniform shop. At this stage, we are also considering the possibility of using this time to re-think our uniform design. Next term, we will run  student and parent forums regarding preferences for various pieces. In the meantime, I would love to begin getting to know your thoughts around the current uniform and any changes you would be interested in. Please take some time to complete this survey or alternatively, feel free to share your thoughts via email. 

Reports were published yesterday afternoon. Thank you for your patience as we rectified a few issues with access. If you are still having difficulty opening your child’s report, please contact Ronnie at vtucker@smaltona.catholic.edu.au

Parent/Teacher/Student conferences will take place on Monday. Please contact Marg on mmasseni@smaltona.catholic.edu.au if you need to change your time. 

The term concludes for the students this Wednesday at 3:20pm. Staff will be attending an offsite conference for the last 2 days of term.

As this will be the last eNews for the term, I wish all our students a wonderful break and well-deserved rest. 

As I draw close to my 1st anniversary with St Mary's, I offer a heart full of gratitude for the way you have all so quickly made me feel a part of this beautiful school. Here’s to many more!

Blessings,

Sonia



Reminders for Week 10 and Term 3

Parent/Student/Teacher conferences will take place on: 
  • Monday 21st June,
  • Tuesday 22nd June
  • Wednesday 23rd June

School will finish at 1pm on Monday 21st June and at the usual time on Tues and Wed. 

All conferences will now be online using the Whereby link you were emailed at the time of booking


As mentioned in previous communications,
Thursday 24th and Friday 25th June have been marked as School Closure days as we have organised a Professional Development Conference for all staff.

Staff will work with Philip Holmes - Smith, Director of the School Research, Evaluation and Measurement Services, on Thursday and with Elio Capra, a lecturer at Catholic Theological College on Friday.


Term 3

School resumes for Term 3 on Monday 12th July at 8.45am. 

PSG meetings will be held in Week 1 Term 3 on the 14th and 16th July.  An Operoo note with information about booking will be sent early next week.

As the Prep HT assembly was cancelled during the last lockdown, Prep HT and Prep S will now run an assembly together on Monday 26th July. 



Bunnings BBQ

On Sunday 13th June St. Mary’s hosted the Bunnings BBQ at the Altona store.  This was the first BBQ Bunnings had held post lockdown, so there were a lot of additional protocols in place in order to comply with Covid regulations.


We put the call out for families to donate a lot of the items for this years’ BBQ, and the response was overwhelming.  We also had a huge response to those volunteering to help out on the day, which again was great to see given the fact that the BBQ was held on a long weekend.

 

Sunday was a beautiful winters’ day, and the Bunnings precinct was very busy for the bulk of the day.  As such there was a steady stream of customers throughout the day, and we got through all bar a handful of the 60kg’s of sausages we had prepared. 

 

All in all, we made a net profit of $2,228.05, which will provide valuable resources for the school, particularly at a time when fundraising has been very difficult due to the ongoing pandemic.

 

A huge thank you must go out to all those families who generously donated (or offered to donate) goods, and those who donated their time to assist on the day – without you this years’ Bunnings BBQ wouldn’t have been the roaring success that it was, so thank you to one & all.  Well done everyone!

 



Buddy Day

Today we celebrated Buddy (Purple) Day and the school was a sea of purple. 
Jack and Zali, our Wellbeing leaders, organised some wonderful events to help us celebrate.  At recess we had a photo booth.  Loads of children came along and had their photo taken with their buddies.  Check out Facebook! All classes made posters about "What it means to be a good buddy".  These were presented at an assembly before lunch.  Our Wellbeing wall is now covered in those great posters along with more photos.
 
        

Thanks everyone for participating.

Introducing ~ Matt Taylor RE and Learning & Teaching

I have been very lucky to have been in Catholic education for over 20 years now and have worked across a number of schools, in fact, this is the second St Mary’s I have worked at and my fourth Josephite school. 

I have taught across all levels of the school with the exception of Prep and have held a range of school and level leadership roles which I have really enjoyed.

I have really enjoyed my time at St Mary’s since joining the staff in 2019 and am very grateful to David, Marg and Fr Michael for giving me the opportunity to take on the role of Religious Education Leader over this period. I have certainly deepened my understanding of our faith during this time and have enjoyed seeing so many of our children actively participating in masses and liturgies as we look to strengthen our parish-school connections.


My life outside of St Mary’s often very much mirrors my work at St Mary’s as my wife Katrina, is a Prep teacher and team leader and I have three children of my own, Xavier and Angus who are in secondary school and Matilda who is in kindergarten. The kids and I are all North Melbourne members though we have yet to convert Katrina who is a Bomber at heart. We have been down to Tassie to watch the footy a few times and are a family who likes to travel and explore. On weekends when kids' sport does not dictate our time, we often like to head out and explore, taking in the sights and gastronomic delights Victoria has to offer.



Community News

Click on the various links below to see news from around our community. Church Bulletin 20th June

Monash University Family Fiesta holiday program's

Dear Members of the Mount St. Joseph Girls' College Community,

The latest edition of the Synergy newsletter is now available to view or download. 

Please Click here to read

Emmanuel College News
We are all very excited to have the students back again as we are in the run into the next school holidays. The students are all very happy to be back on site to see their friends and their teachers in person.

 Our next College event is the Information Morning held on Saturday 7 August, details are below and registrations can be made via the tours and events tab on the right hand side of the homepage of the College website, www.ecmelb.catholic.edu.au

Notre Dame Campus – Commencing at 9. 00 am
St Paul’s Campus – Commencing at 10.30 am

Also, applications for Year 7, 2023 are now being accepted. A Prospectus Pack containing an application form can be requested at the enrolment information tab of the College website, www.ecmelb.catholic.edu.au, by emailing enrolments@ecmelb.catholic.edu.au, calling the College Registrar on 8325 5119 or coming into reception at either of our campuses. Please note that applications for this year level close on Friday 20 August, 2021.