Dear families,

I write to you from my home this week as I nurse my son through our family’s first experience with COVID. He seems to be over the worst of it, but it has also been an anxious wait to see if my elderly parents begin presenting symptoms after spending last weekend with us.

 

I am a huge advocate of finding the positive in difficult situations. I am counting my son lucky that his symptoms began when they did, for if they’d presented even 12 hours later, he would have been on a bus with his whole Year 9 cohort going off to camp. Yes, it meant he missed out which is a great shame, but the flip side means that he didn’t infect numerous others and potentially their families.

This weekend marks the beginning of Catholic Education Week. 

It is an honour and privilege to serve as a principal in a Catholic school. I thank each of you for your commitment to providing your children with the best education we can give them. Fuelled with Jesus as our great guide, I am humbled to follow in the footsteps of the ultimate Teacher.

Road safety

We have recently seen more unsafe driving around our school, particularly around the McBain Street gate. Please follow the road signs and street markings and do not park in front of the driveway. Some parents are double-parking and there has been more than one near-miss. In my opinion, one near-miss is one too many. Please make the choice to drive around the block if there is nowhere to park on your arrival or park a little further from the school and walk or have your child walk the short distance.

Values

Thank you to the families who took the time to fill out their Value preferences. Staff met on Tuesday and we can confirm 3 out of our final 4 values:

Our fourth contender is currently the subject of rigorous discussion!

I am hoping to be ready to announce it in our next newsletter.

COVID Update

We received a large shipment of RATs this week. So many, in fact, that I am predicting that this recommendation will extend well into next term. 

On Tuesday, we will issue enough RATs for each child to see out the rest of this term and into the first week of Term 2. 

We have also been instructed of the following:

If a student or staff member tests positive through a rapid antigen test, but does not have symptoms or has not been in contact with anyone who has COVID-19, it is recommended that they get a PCR test within 48 hours and stay isolated until they receive their result. If the PCR test is negative, the student or staff member can return to school.

We have been informed of a few cases within our community that tested positive with a RAT but then received a negative PCR.

That said, the opposite has also appeared to be true, in that a person with symptoms can produce many negative RAT results, but test positive with a PCR.

I would advise to follow up a positive RAT or negative RAT with symptoms with a PCR for a more accurate result.  

ECSI

Thank you to those who have already completed the survey. Our status report indicates that we still require 32 parents to complete it in order to receive a sample size that can be viewed as statistically representative of our parent population’s opinions.

7 families have started the survey but not yet completed it. I understand it takes time to complete, but the information we receive from it is valuable and I urge you to take the time to complete it.

If you need help accessing or completing the survey, please email me and I will send you instructions or talk you through the process.

Fee statements

Fee statements have been distributed to the eldest in the family. If you have not yet received yours and you have checked your child’s bag, please contact the office to have another re-issued.

We also ask that you let us know your intended payment method here if you have not already done so. We will send you the relevant documentation based on the method of payment you have chosen.

Under a new Concessional Fee Policy, parents with a current Health Care Card in their name, qualify for a reduction in fees. Please use the link above to let us know you qualify and I will be in touch to arrange the reduction and commence a payment plan.

Wishing you a blissful long weekend,

Sonia

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Calling all 2023 Preps...school tours are happening over the coming weeks and enrolments are being accepted now.  

Head to the Enrol tab on our homepage for further information.

Please contact the office if you would like an enrolment pack sent home.

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Each year, our school supports Caritas Australia in raising money throughout Lent via their annual Project Compassion appeal. Each classroom has a Project Compassion giving box on their prayer table and there is a box outside our school office also. Students, parents and families are encouraged to donate what they can to support the work of Caritas in places like India, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo and even Australia and the Soloman Islands.  

On the Project Compassion website they tell us:

Your generous support can help to change the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Join us this Lent to raise much-needed funds for people living in poverty.

Together, we can make a difference now, and For All Future Generations.

This year, Caritas is very aware of the war developing in the Ukraine and is determined to assist. Caritas Australia is working directly with Caritas Ukraine at the moment. They are one of the few NGOs in Australia with a direct partner on the ground in Ukraine, and therefore are doing all they can to contribute to the urgent needs of people in Ukraine.

As a school, we are directing half of all funds received during Lent to the regular Project Compassion projects and half directly to their Ukraine Crisis Appeal. You can contribute too as Caritas are accepting funds through their  Ukraine Crisis Appeal, to provide support and learn more, visit https://www.caritas.org.au/donate/emergency-appeals/ukraine/

Later in the term, our Social Justice Leaders along with our JSC are aiming to hold an event to raise extra funds for this appeal so keep an eye out in upcoming newlsetters.

Yours in Faith
Matthew Taylor
Religious Education Leader

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On Thursday morning our students in 5/6 were very excited to have paralympian Sam Bramhan O.A.M. visit us as a guest speaker. Sam, who is a right leg amputee, competed for Australia in the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Paralympics in swimming events, breaking the world record for the 100m butterfly. 

 

The students particularly enjoyed hearing about all the pranks he has pulled with his prosthetic leg, the fun he had with ‘Puff Puff’ at the Athens Paralympics, and how he never lets his disability bring him down. 

Sam shared with us his successes and failures, and how he used his failures to motivate him to set and achieve his next goals. He spoke about the importance of SMART goals and ensuring they are relevant and achievable. To achieve a goal, it can take a lot of hard work so thinking about the goal as you practice, is an important way to stay motivated.

Growing up, Sam was bullied but, with the support of his friends, he used the negativity to prove to people who doubted him, that he could achieve great things. He took risks by trying all types of sports to find what works for him; and taught us that we should “Take a risk because you never know when the opportunity will come back around.” 

Some quotes that we found inspiring from his talk:

“Stay focused and soak up the atmosphere.” - Cathy Freeman

“The biggest disability you can have is a bad attitude.” - A child Sam met at DSR 

“Be kind to everyone and support each other.” - Sam

“Its not about the award, it’s the about the journey.” - Sam

Our Integrated Studies topic for this term is Personal Strengths and Success and Sam sure taught us about both.  We are looking forward to using his advice to inspire us to focus on our own strengths and have the courage to take risks in our lives and in our learning.

Your 5/6 team
Brenda Lycke, Tony Freeman, Tim Creak, Corina Kapusta & Carol Hicks

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Join the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence on Friday 18th March 2022. This year, we celebrate 12 years of action for Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative, with the theme, Kindness Culture.
The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence is an important day in our school calendar to join schools across Australia to say ‘Bullying. No Way!’

Together we can make a change. Everyone has a role to play for bullying prevention. The NDA promotes school, parent and community partnerships to build safe and supportive learning environments.

The NDA is an opportunity for schools to deliver the powerful message that bullying is never ok. At our school we encourage students to join the conversation to find positive solutions for bullying prevention.

Kindness Culture promotes inclusiveness, respect and community belonging. Our 2022 theme offers an opportunity to learn about kindness, and demonstrate kind behaviour. Kindness plays an important role in
bullying prevention.

How can you participate?

We ask all students to wear a splash of Orange with their uniform to show their support for this important day. Classes will discuss the nature of bullying and what we can do to prevent it.  Each child will come up with a Kindness message that will be displayed around the school.  

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Recently Cathy Sims our Learning Diversity Leader and Matt Taylor our Learning & Teaching and RE Leader attended a professional learning session on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The session was faciltated by Peninsula Speech Plus and hosted by Loren Swancutt. Loren is a highly experienced inclusive educator and school leader who is committed to advancing the realisation of inclusive education within the Australian context. She has 15 years experience working with diverse students in a range of capacities across primary and secondary schools. 

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimise teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. At St Mary's we are learning to use UDL to audit and improve our inclusive instructional strategies, and curriculum adjustments. It informs our understanding of how to best support students with complex learning profiles to engage with grade-level, academic curriculum and regular classroom experiences.

To find out more about UDL you can visit:
https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl

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This March, Year 4 and 6 students from St Mary's will be involved in the Global Academic Challenge. The challenges are run by ACER and in the same vein as the Australian Mathematics Competition students were involved in last year. Students have been nominated by their teachers and selected according to their established achievements on such assessments as NAPLAN, Essential Assessments and Reading Comprehension assessments.  It was necessary to use evidencer based assessments to select styudents as ACER says of the challenge :

The Global Academic Challenge is designed for an Australian classroom context, with special emphasis on how to stretch your high-achieving students appropriately. The Global Academic Challenge provides reliable international benchmarks to help you see how your students’ results compare to students around the world.

We can provide this valuable comparative data because the challenge draws upon ACER’s decades of international assessment experience as well as the widely-respected International Schools’ Assessment (ISA) program, undertaken by 90,000 students each year. This program is based on the frameworks of OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and focuses on assessing complex, higher-order thinking skills.

The challenges will be held over 3 days March 21 (Reading), 22 (Maths) & 23 (Science) so next week, these high achieving students will be notified and once the challenges are completed, each student's achievement in the Challenge will be recognised with a hard-copy certificate. Top performers will also receive a personalised medallion. 

We look forward to seeing how far our students can fly!

Yours in Education
Matthew Taylor
Leader of Learning & Teaching

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Each week we update the CLASSES tab on the home page.  Click on each class level tab to see what's happening around the school.
Prep 
Year 1/2
Year 3/4
Year 5/6

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Unfortunately, with the current restrictions still in place it means that our Book Fair will not be open before and after school. However, children will still have a walk-through tour with their class, where they can write a Wish List.
An additional Wish List will also be sent home or you can click here to view and print the Wish List.

To purchase books, please send your child's Wish List back to school with either cash or a printed receipt (if paid online). 

The Book Fair will be "open" for orders from Tuesday 8th March till Wednesday 16th March.   

Thanking you for your ongoing support,
Beryl (Book Club) and Milly (Library)

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Take a look at this weeks Community News. We have our Church Bulletin, Emmanuel College news, Foster Carer information, and information if you'd wish to donate to the Caritas Australia Ukraine Crisis Appeal.
Church Bulletin

Emmanuel College News

Ukraine Appeal

Netball Program

Music Lessons

Foster Caring

FOSTER CARERS NEEDED

If you have thought about foster care, please get in touch and

ask the questions you have always wanted to.

Ring: Key Assets 1800 932 237 or 1800 WE CARE

Email: info@keyassets.com.au

Web: canifoster.com.au or keyassets.org.au

What will happen: Interested families would receive a brochure, information and no pressure! 

We would also like to thank Mancini Real Estate for their continuous support to St Mary's Altona


                                                                              

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