This week Trent from the CyberSafety Project spoke with all students and staff about being and keeping safe online. It's a great opportunity for you to engage with your children, asking them what they learnt at their session. 

 Earlier in the term, we advertised a CyberSafety Project webinar.

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Dear families,

 

Happy St Patrick’s Day to you all.

 

I hope you managed to enjoy the long weekend. I’m sure there are many of you who feel like it was a very long time ago now!

 

This week, our sector celebrated Catholic Education week. Matt Taylor took a group of our student leaders to St Patrick’s Cathedral today to celebrate this occasion. Having been along before, it is a fantastic day for all involved.

As part of this celebration, MACS is encouraging parents to nominate exceptional teachers through NewsCorps’ “Australia’s Best Teachers campaign. Australia’s Best Teachers aims to recognise the wonderful work of those in the profession by celebrating our most inspirational and innovative educators.

The campaign calls on Australians to nominate the great teachers who have, and have had, an incredible impact on our students and all of our lives. A panel of expert judges will then select and announce the top 50 teachers on Saturday 6 May 2023.

We have some great teachers at St Mary's and I would like to encourage the entire school community to contribute nominations via this link.

We welcomed another group of families to two school tours yesterday. There are many excited families who would love to become a part of our special community.

We have one more official tour scheduled 

We have a very exciting presentation taking place at assembly next week. Even though all our assembly presentations are equally exciting, this one is especially so! We will share this special news with our wider community after Monday’s assembly.

Staff News

Yesterday, Nicole Barnes shared the exciting news that she and her husband John are expecting their first child in August. Her students were very excited for her but were also understandably sad that they won’t get to have her as their teacher for the year. We will do our best to find an equally-amazing teacher as her replacement next semester.

We look forward to sharing the Barnes’ journey and wish Nicole a safe and easy pregnancy.

With so few weeks left of the school term and still so much happening before the holidays, I wish you all a restful weekend.

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

 

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Today was the feast of St Patrick which falls during Catholic Education Week each year. "Forming lives of faith, hope and love in the light of Christ." is 2023's theme. To celebtrate, the Archdiocese of Melbourne hosts a "Mass of St Patrick for Schools" annually at St Patrick's Cathedral.
This is a mass where all the Catholic schools in the archdiocese are invited to bring a selection of their school leaders. The event was shelved for 2 years because of COVID and returned last year with severely limited numbers. This year we were able to take our School Captains, Social Justice and Wellbeing Leaders along with Mr Taylor and a parent to attend.

The mass was lead by Archbishop Peter Comensoli, assisted by regional and auxillary bishops and other clergy. State education ministers, MPs, MACS directors, staff and board members all made up the dignitaries to attend the event along with so many schools that nearly every pew in the cathedral was full.

The mass began with Irish pipers and a procession of schools celebrating anniversaries led by Mary Queen of Heaven, Melbourne's newest catholic primary school having only opened this term. The students and staff of Avila College in Mount Waverly provided the cantors and did a wonderful job of adding the music to the celebration of mass and it was truly a celebration of Catholic Education in Melbourne.

Our students were wowed by the enormity of the cathedral and struck by the pomp and ceremony of such a mass including a few who were not fans of the incense!  Following mass, we were lucky enough to get a photograph with the archbishop, having stopped to pray respect at the statue of St Mary of the Cross on the way in.



We then proceeded onto the Treasury Gardens where a concert in the park was put on for us by MACS. Catholic secondary colleges such as Thomas Carr and Caroline Chisolm provided the onstage entertainment while others hosted activites on the lawns to help the kids burn off some energy, some of our St Mary's students even made their way to the dance floor caught up in the vibe!

Our students represented themselves and their school well and we'd like to thank Leonie Duane for giving up her time to go with us.

Yours in Faith

Matthew Taylor

Religious Education Leader

mtaylor@smaltona.catholic.edu.au

 

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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The Parents & Friends committee are once again hosting their annual Easter Raffle and are kindly asking for donations such as Easter eggs/chocolate or themed items that can be included in the Easter baskets to raffle.

 You can deliver Easter donations to your child's classroom or to the office. 

Raffle tickets will be distributed to students on the 14th March.
They are $1 per ticket or $10 for a book. 

Additional raffle books will be available at the School Office. 

The raffle will be drawn on Friday 31st March at 2.45pm.  Family members are welcome to attend. 

PLEASE return all ticket stubs, money & unsold tickets in an envelope to the school office by Wednesday, 29th March. Please write your name, class & mobile on each ticket stub. 

Funds raised go towards school upgrades.

Thank you, 
Parents & Friends Committee

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Introducing...Scholastic Books Plus!

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Our staff will be engaging in professional development at the end of Term 1. Our two day conference will include one day working with Shane Crawford (not the one of football fame) from the Corwin Australia learning more about Visible Learning and the impacts it has on our teaching practices.
On day 2 we will work with Sandhya Menon, an Educational and Behavioural Psychologist and author of The Brain Forest. 

In her work, Sandhya supports children and families in learning about their emotions and brains, and to learn to predict and work with the uncomfortable feelings that arise. She explores challenging situations, delves under the iceberg into what is causing these emotions to arise, and then works with families and schools, so environments around the child support can support their success and growth.  
We hope to learn a great deal from her. 

These two days lead into the school holidays and the Easter break.

Please also note that Monday 24th April will also be a Student Free Day.  On this day we will be working with MACS (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools) staff to prepare for our School Review which will be happening in June.  More details about that to follow. 

Regards
Marg Masseni
Deputy Principal

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Enrolments are now open for Prep 2024.  School Tours began this week and will continue in the coming weeks. Our next tour date is Tuesday 22nd March at 5.30pm.

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Wellbeing leaders Mackenzie and Ava have been especially busy this week preparing for our Kindness and Happiness Day celebrations.  They have made Shout Out Boards for each class & for the staff.  These boards will be used by the students & staff to recognise & congratulate acts of kindness. Students and staff will look out for others who do kind acts and write their names and acts of kindness on stickey notes and place them on the board. 

Please have a chat with your children about how they can be kind to others and spread some happiness around.  Ask them what they did during the day to show kindness to others and also what kindness they received. 
Perhaps you could make your own family Shout Out board.

We will celebrate on Friday 31st March when students will be asked to wear a Splash of Yellow with their uniform and to share their acts of kindness with the school comunity.  

In the words of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop "Find happiness in making others happy."

Regards
Marg Masseni
Wellbeing Leader

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Have a peek at this week's Community News. We have an offer for free dance lessons, the Emmanuel College news and the Parish Bulletin.

Free Dance Lessons offer

Recycling Day at Laverton Community Hub

Tutor Wanted

Emmanuel College News

Williamstown Community Newsletter

Parish Bulletin

Music Lessons

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


             

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Each week, we will introduce you to the teams in our school so that you can get to know them a little better.  This week the spotlight is on the Year 3/4 team.
Click here to read more about our teachers, Nicole, Lisa, Tony and Jane and our Learning Support Officers, Marg, Milly and Frances.  They make a great team!

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It's not too late to join!!!

Do your kids like running? 
 Are they unsure if they like running but would like to give it a try?
 Are they in Year 3-6?
 Are they interested in being part of the St Mary’s Cross Country Team?
 Do they like earning House Points for their team?

 Then St. Mary's Run Club might be just what they need!

We will be conducting training sessions in the school grounds on the dates listed below. The sessions will have an emphasis on improving fitness and technique as well as providing competitive running.

These sessions will run from 8.00 - 8.30am. 

Training / Trial dates as follows:
Tuesday 21st March, Thursday 23rd March
Tuesday 28th March, Thursday 30th March
Tuesday 4th April (last day of Term 1)
Wednesday 26th April (Light jog/Meeting)

Time Trials: Thursday 27th April (Week 1 of Term 2)

Sessions will last approximately half an hour. Enter the school via the Mc Bain St gate and wait on the basketball court. If you arrive after 8am, join us on the oval.

To register your child's interest, please go to the Operoo note sent on Thursday 9th March.

If you would like further information, please email Ala (asottile@smaltona.catholic.edu.au) or Marg (mmasseni@smaltona.catholic.edu.au)

Regards
Ala and Marg

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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