St. Mary's eNews

Week 1 Term 2


Principal's Message 29th April 2022

Dear families,

How exciting it is to be back and to be almost back to pre-COVID practices. It’s been lovely to see the students and families return to school. 

While we have had a few students feeling unsettled about their return to school, for the most part, they seem to be excited to be back. 

We are working closely with the children who are finding the return difficult. If you feel you need some extra support, please talk to your child’s teacher and we will devise a plan to help your child.

COVIDSafe Updates

I shared the CovidSafe update with families via Operoo earlier this week. 

The key points are:

  • Close contacts are no longer required to isolate. They will be expected to undertake RATs for 5 consecutive days after being identified as a close contact and must wear a mask at school for the week (Students under 8 and those with a medical exemption do not need to wear a mask)
  • Parents can visit the school for events without needing to show proof of vaccination

Yesterday we received an update from MACS, our governing body, that parents engaging in work with the school (eg helpers, canteen, excursions etc) are still required to be vaccinated (including booster) or have a valid exemption.  Here is the excerpt from the announcement:

Workers and Volunteers in Schools under the Pandemic (Workplace) Order 2022 (No. 8)
At Tuesday’s Webex briefing there were several questions regarding the vaccination requirements that apply to workers and volunteers in schools.
We can now clarify that education workers include volunteers that attend an education facility and that work in close proximity to children, students or staff.
This includes parent helpers, canteen or tuckshop assistants, reading helpers, excursion supervisors or classroom or working bee volunteers.
As such, any volunteer performing any work at a school is as an education worker and they must be fully vaccinated (boosted) or have an exemption.

As we have many excursions coming up in the near future, I ask that you are aware of this stipulation as you will be required to show your vaccination certificate or valid exemption to office staff prior to attending the excursion. Please note that if you have already presented this to our office staff, we will have a record of this and you will not need to do so again.

With many things returning to pre-COVID arrangements I am pleased to confirm that parents are once again welcome to attend assemblies on Monday afternoons. We ask that parents remain in the office foyer/corridor until the end of lunch time and make their way to the hall once the students begin making their way there after the second lunch bell.

We will continue to have students enter their classrooms independently as we have found them to be far more settled and ready for learning when they are preparing themselves for their day. You are asked not to enter the corridors but please speak to your child’s teacher if you need anything or if you need to arrange a meeting for another time.

Renovations

Bystanders would have thought we’d had a celebrity onsite on Tuesday morning given the amount of shrieking that was heard coming from the toilets as students explored their new surroundings!

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and I am thrilled with the final result.

I had one student come to me and admit that he will now be able to use these toilets as he had tried to avoid them for years. I only wish we had done it sooner!

We now turn our attention to developing our Sensory garden. It is my aim to contact parents of students with ASD and seek your permission to work with your child to develop the garden. If your child is interested in the project I will work with them to ensure that the garden meets their sensory preferences so that it becomes a place that not only they want to visit, but that they feel they own.

Uniform

I am currently finalising the delivery of some pieces of uniform for parents and students to see and vote on. When these arrive, I will let you know when they are ready to view. I encourage you to try and make time to see these pieces. We will have some evenings available for parents who are unavailable during work hours and we will also have photographs for those who are happy to see these online.

It is our aim to have these pieces finalised so we can move to Noone’s services by the end of this year.

Values

As mentioned in our eNews last term, we have finalised St Mary’s Values:

  • Responsibility
  • Respect
  • Resilience and 
  • Courage


Our next step is to develop a definition of each of these Values so that these can be explored with students in classes and work on how these can and will be enacted/expected throughout St Mary’s. We will also narrow down a list of possible people who can represent these values for us. Once we have shortlisted, this will be shared with students and families for a vote. We will ultimately rename our horse colours in honour of these people who epitomise our 4 Values.


Have a wonderful weekend,

Sonia



Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

 



ANZAC Day 2022

This year, we were again represented by our school captains at the Altona Dawn Service. Sophie, Jacquelyn and Daniel were on hand to present a wreath on behalf of St Mary's school community. This was made one poppy at a time by the staff and students and collated to create the wreath you see in the pictures below. Not just our school representatives, but all who attended spoke of how moving this service was and we were honoured to remember those who have served and fallen in defense of our land.

Yours in Faith
Matthew Taylor
Leader of Religious Education






Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage



Premier's Reading Challenge

Premier's Reading Challenge Updates

Congratulations and well done to all of you who have registered into this year's Premier's Reading Challenge!

If you expressed your child's interest via Operoo, you should have received an email with your child's login information over the holidays.
If you didn't, and your child would like to participate, please email Milly on library@smaltona.catholic.edu.au

Happy reading!


Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage


Community News

In this weeks Community News we have our Church bulletin, news from Emmanuel College, Music Lesson sign up, and Mount St. Josephs Open day info and upcoming events via Williamstown Community News.
Church Bulletin

Emmanuel College News

Creative Music

MSJ Open Day

Williamstown Community News and Upcoming Events


VISIT US
"Mount St. Joseph Girls' College invites you to attend our Open Day on Sunday 1st May from 10am-2pm. 
 
If you are unable to attend Open Day, please book to attend one of our Open Mornings. We also have an updated Virtual Tour where you can view our newly landscaped areas and our new student cafe.




Playgroup

Hobsons Bay City Council runs Supported Playgroup on Thursdays 10-12 at Altona Early Years Hub during the school term.  Supported Playgroups allow parents to enjoy quality time with their child while encouraging their learning and development. With the support of a trained facilitator, parents are able to connect with other families in the community who are going through similar experiences and find out more about local services. Spots are currently available for eligible families.  For further information please contact Kristina Strangis on 0418909314 or email playgroups@hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au 
More info here



UNIFORM SHOP - WINTER UNIFORM ORDERS
 
Just a friendly reminder with term one almost over it’s time to  get ready for winter uniform in term 2.
 
Orders can be placed via email, left at the office or on person at the uniform shop. (Tuesdays and Tridays 2:30 - 3:00)

When your order is complete it will be given to your child to be taken home.
Current order forms are below and there is also blank forms at the office. 

Click here to access the Uniform Order forms 

The uniform shop accepts cash or direct deposit payments. Please note payment must be received before uniforms are sent home. 



Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage


Mother's Day 2022

Calling all you mums, grandmas, nonnas, aunties and special women of St Mary's school community. We will be holding our Mother's Day event on Friday the 6th of May beginning with Mass in the Church at 9:30am. Following Mass you will have the opportunity to visit classrooms.

At 10:50am morning tea will be held in the Tri Centre. All welcome. 

Our Mother's Day Stall will be held in the Hall from 11:30 till 1:30pm.
Children will attend the stall with their class teachers.

Gifts will range between $1 and $5. 

If possible please send along a carry bag for your child to place their gifts in.

Yours in Faith
Matthew Taylor
Leader of Religious Education


Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage



Class News

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



Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage



Visible Learning

On Tuesday, staff began the term one day earlier than students. The day was faciliated the publisher Corwin and was focussed on Visible Learning. Known as our Foundation Day, this was the beginning of what will be a 3 year journey together and follows a school capabilities visit late last term. Visible Learning means an enhanced role for teachers as they become evaluators of their own teaching. According to John Hattie, Visible Learning and Teaching occurs when teachers see learning through the eyes of students and help them become their own teachers.

This approach, to what is essentially a shift in mindset and an adaption of what works best to facilitate student learning, is based on a lifetime of research by professor John Hattie (a meta-analysis of some 1900 studies worldwide).

John Hattie, now of the University of Melbourne Australia, has long researched performance indicators and evaluation in education. The result is Visible Learning: a mindset shift and a movement.

We are extremely excited and uplifted to be embarking on this journey and the fact that this approach means that we are not throwing out what has and does work to make St Mary's what it is. Instead of this, we are focussing on understanding and then refining our practices to spend our time and efforts on what will make the biggest effect for our students to make St Mary's even better.

Yours in Education
Matthew Taylor
Leader of Learning & Teaching



Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage