Dear families,

We are so thrilled to have the children back onsite. I know there are a few who preferred the sleep ins, but the majority of children told me they couldn’t wait to get back to school.

Thank you for your ongoing flexibility regarding changes to restriction guidelines. I understand the frustration these changes cause and we unfortunately find ourselves having to make many last minute changes as we are instructed to do so.

When the Victorian Government announce changes such as the lifting of restrictions announced on Tuesday this week, Catholic schools must then wait to receive our direct instructions from MACS (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools), our governing body.  At the time we sent out information about the return to school, we presumed things would return to pre-lockdown status. When we received the latest instructions, it clearly outlined that no parents are permitted on school grounds and therefore we needed to change our processes accordingly.

This week we offer our condolences to the Brazenor family on the passing of Emily’s grandfather (Richard’s father), this week. We pray that he is finally at peace with our loving Father.

We congratulate Livinia and Phoebe L on receiving their Baptism this week. We pray that you both continue to feel God’s presence in your lives. We also congratulate Lochlain who received his Baptism last month.

We are currently in discussions with Noone’s who supply many of the uniforms for school in our area and beyond. We have looked at the great feedback we received from families and have begun to look at possible options for uniform pieces.

It is our intention to host a few parent sessions where we would present a few options for each of the uniform pieces before making our final selections. We would also offer these selections for feedback online for families unable to attend onsite sessions. As it will be some time before we are once again allowed to have groups of parents onsite, we will hold off on making these important decisions until we are able to host these sessions face-to-face. It is imperative that you get the opportunity to feel fabrics and see items in the flesh to help determine preferences.

Over the past 9 months, I offered some Meet and Greet sessions to get a sense of what parent opinions are about various aspects of St Mary’s school. During these sessions, I introduced the possibility of exploring another LOTE (Language other than English) in the school. For years, I have held the dream of one day introducing Auslan as a LOTE. For those of you unfamiliar with the language, it is Australian sign language. I have for a long time felt the notion of learning one language/one culture over several others that are represented in a school/wider  community to be quite limiting/divisive. Most of the parents I spoke to in these sessions appeared quite excited by the prospect. Many liked the idea of learning Auslan as it teaches empathy and inclusivity. From a St Mary’s perspective, students were exposed to sign language across many years when a deaf student attended the school. I continue to hear from staff how engaged students were and how many of them, some of whom have left the school, still speak so fondly of the time they learned to sign. 

There are many other reasons for this preference:

• There is a great deal of research that shows a strong correlation between learning a sign language and the speed at which children learn to read, write and spell in their spoken language, particularly in the early years of schooling.
• Sign language is easier to integrate into the classroom program as simple words/phrases can be learnt by classroom teachers to immerse the learning from beyond the singular weekly session, without having to rely on the classroom teachers having to be proficient in another spoken LOTE.
• Learning sign language promotes greater empathy towards the deaf in the community but also an understanding and greater appreciation and acceptance of differences amongst people.

I will be actively exploring the implementation of AUSLAN over the coming months.

Tomorrow, our Year 6s from 2020 finally get to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. What a long wait it has been! We wish you all the best and send you our love and prayers. May the spiritual journey you commenced at Baptism be strengthened and renewed and may the Holy Spirit continue to be your joy and guide throughout your lives.

Stay well, stay safe.

Sonia

• Dressing up in colours representing a certain country
• Dressing up in the uniform of a particular sport eg football, basketball
• Dressing up as a sports person
• Wearing their sports uniform

When I arrived in Melbourne the following year, I taught forty-four Grade 4 students!

I have taught across three states and in both the Government and Catholic sectors. I have taught in three Catholic school in Melbourne at all year levels (Yes - even Prep!) and have had various roles, including Class teacher, Language Support teacher (ESL), Italian teacher and in Leadership as REL. I have taught under 10 principals!

My husband Mario and I have two children, Laura and Mark (both who attended St. Mary’s). My qualifications include; Diploma in Teaching, Graduate Diploma in Inter-Ethnic Studies and Education, Post Graduate Certificate in Education & Masters of Religious Education.

In my spare time I enjoy playing golf, reading – especially Murder-Mystery books, crosswords, sudoku, walking the dog and hopefully very soon travelling. I have followed the Bulldogs since I arrived in Melbourne (well it was either the Dogs or the Dog house!!) and still consider the 2016 final series a fairy tale come true!! (Even though I was overseas!) 

In reflection, I’ve seen many changes in the school and classroom environment, especially in accountability, professionalism of staff and the biggest change – technology, which is constantly reinventing the teaching profession. But I must say I don’t miss chalk! I loved the friends I made along the way and the faith I’ve instilled (hopefully) in my students. As a veteran teacher, I still see the need to seek opportunities for personal growth as teaching and learning continues to change.