Dear families,

Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to experience time away with my Western Region Principal colleagues in Tasmania, exploring Aboriginal spirituality. 

It was a profoundly emotional and transformative experience and one I look forward to continue learning from for some time to come. Spending time with Elders in their Country got me thinking about my own ancestors and on a broader scale still, the importance of our community’s own history and respecting our own rich culture that comes from many generations at St Mary’s.

This week, many of our students participated in the Global Academic Challenge in the areas of Reading, Maths and Science. Our students rose to the ‘challenge’ and we have already seen some amazing results.  Matt will share more with us in coming articles. 

Parents and Friends

On Wednesday our Parents and Friends held its annual Information Night/ Pizza Dinner and AGM. It was wonderful to welcome 3 new members and nominate our new position members for the coming 12 months, If you were unable to attend but are interested in joining us, please contact me.

We are also looking at filling a Grants Officer position. The role of this person is to seek out various grants open to schools and make submissions on our behalf to help with our fundraising endeavours. If you are interested in this role, please let me know. 

Whilst on the topic of the P&F, I’d like to thank the team for their organsiation of our Mother's Day stall. It took all of my control not to buy out the presents myself as there were so many lovely items available for purchase.

School Lunches

I am excited to announce that after much research by our School Advisory Council, we have secured a trial with a local company for online ordering of lunches. KingWill, who service half a dozen schools in our local area will soon commence a trial with us on Wednesdays.  We will have more inforamtion for you in next week’s newsletter, but after Marg and I met with the owners, we are excited by the prospect of working with this group. There are so many options to choose from, we will be working with groups of students in the coming weeks to select the menu we will be offering. This service will be completely online, with deliveries made just in time for lunch.  Selections will include gluten-free, dairy free and vegetarian options.  If there is enough interest, we will look at expanding to Tuesdays and Thursdays at a later date, continuing with our regular offerings on Mondays and Fridays.  

Uniform

We have recently had a number of inquiries regarding a long sleeve option for our new uniform. Whilst we have the white long-sleeved polo exclusively for use under our new winter tunic, I am interested to see how many families would prefer a long-sleeved navy polo for everyday use.

Please let us know your thoughts here.

Unfortunately, I missed our Mother’s Day celebrations today as I am home with COVID, but I know that many of our mothers and grandmothers attended St Mary’s themselves and we are blessed to be able to continue to share our school with these amazing keepers of our own history.

A very big thank you to our curriculum leadership team, in particular, for purchasing and arranging morning tea, and to everyone else who pitched in to make today possible. 

Finally, I ask God’s blessing on the mother figures in our lives, every day, but especially this coming weekend.

Whatever this weekend looks like for you, I wish you a peaceful, joyful one. 

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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What a wonderful day we had today celebrating our mothers and grandmothers and other signifcant women in the lives of our children. It was great to see so many families at mass and visiting the classrooms. The children certainly had some amazing activities to share with their visitors.
Thank you to many visitors who thanked us for our efforts and spoke about how welcoming we are as a community.  While we don't do these things for the acolades, it is certainly lovely to be recognised for the work that we do put in. 

So you can catch up on the events of the day, we have made a gallery page of photos for you to look through.  There are just a few at this stage and more photos will be shared on Facebook next week.  The Google Slide presentation used as a reflection at mass will also be shared so you can peruse it at your leisure over a cuppa.

We would like to wish all of our mothers, whichever kind you are, a very Happy Mother's Day.  We hope you get spoilt not only on Sunday but every day of the week.

Regards
Marg Masseni

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Check out this weeks Community News!
AusKick

Netball Program

Water Polo

Tutor Wanted

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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Beginning next Wednesday, St Marys students will start celebrating their Sacrament of Reconciliation. Formerly known as Penance, St Mary's celebrates Reconciliation with only small numbers of children and families gathering in the church at a time so as to maintain the sanctity of the Sacrament.
Reconciliation is a sacrament of the New Law instituted by Christ in which forgiveness of sins committed after baptism is granted through the priest's absolution to those who with true sorrow confess their sins and promise to satisfy for the same. It is called a "sacrament" not simply a function or ceremony, because it is an outward sign instituted by Christ to impart grace to the soul. As an outward sign it comprises the actions of the penitent in presenting themselves to the priest and accusing themselves of sins, and the actions of the priest in pronouncing absolution and imposing satisfaction.

Here at St Mary's as a part of the Sacrament, children sit down with the Fr Michael to discuss their choices, those that bring them closer to God and those that don't, and are offered a chance to reflect on the impact of their choices before receiving absolution and doing some penance.

During the lead up to this Sacrament, the students learn about the rite of Reconcilaition and associated Scripture, such as the story of the Lost Sheep or Zaccheus, in class.

During the next month, we ask you to keep these students in your prayers.

Yours in Faith

Matthew Taylor

Religious Education Leader

mtaylor@smaltona.catholic.edu.au

 

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On Tuesday afternoon the staff completed their CPR training with AB First Aid Training.  It is a requirement that all staff have this qualification but is a skill that we hope we never have to use.
What is CPR?

CPR (short for cardiopulmonary resuscitation) is a first aid technique that can be used if someone is not breathing properly or if their heart has stopped.

• CPR is a skill that everyone can learn — you don’t need to be a health professional to do it.
• Try to stay calm if you need to do CPR.
• Performing CPR may save a person’s life.
• If you know CPR, you might save the life of a family member or friend.

CPR involves chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth (rescue breaths) that help circulate blood and oxygen in the body. This can help keep the brain and vital organs alive.

You should start CPR if a person:

• is unconscious
• is not responding to you
• is not breathing, or is breathing abnormally

Here's a short video that may help you should you be in a situation where someone needs help.

Did you know that we have a defibrillator in our First Aid room should one be needed in the school grounds or by the community?

Check out this article if you would like to know more about CPR and how to perform it.

If you would like any further information about anything to do with First Aid at our school please contact me (mmasseni@smaltona.catholic.edu.au)

Regards
Marg Masseni
Deputy Principal / Wellbeing Leader

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Congratulations to our April Aussie of the Month winners, Alice, Roman and Rebekah.  Click here to see their smiling faces and to see why they are so wonderful.

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Feeling part of something bigger is great for our wellbeing. So this month let's focus on the things that really matter and make life more meaningful. 

The Meaningful May calendar is full of great ideas to bring more fulfilment to daily life. Please share it with others too
Here are some links from Action for Happiness that you might like to look at.

Mindful Moment
Here's a short practice called Connecting To Something Bigger which you can try right now to discover a greater sense of meaning.

Compassion Course
We are delighted to be part of the Global Compassion Coalition. This May you can join their new Heart of Compassion course with Gabor Mate and others.

Action tips
Check out Vanessa's top tips for May.

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Friday 19th May is Walk Safely to School Day.  We are going to coincide this with another Walk/Ride 2 School day. We are proud to say that we have been promoting active transport for many years now and are always greatly encouraged when we see the number of children who not only participate in our Walk/Ride to School Days but also those who come to school in an active way on a regular basis. 

National Walk Safely to School Day is now in it's 24th year. It's a campaign that encourages all primary school children, their parents and carers to walk safely and regularly to school.   The event seeks to promote better health, road safety, public transport and the environment.

Statistics show that Australian children are becoming less active and that one substantial contributor is the decline in walking and/or taking public tranpost to school. Walking regularly is the best exercise for your health because you can build it into your daily routine.

We ask families to support our House Captains in their efforts to promote active transport and come to school in an active way as often as possible but most especially on these two days this month.

Regards
Marg Masseni and the House Captains (Thomas, Krystal, Silas, Charlie, MinhPhi, Michael, Eva and Adam)

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On Wednesday 17th May we will be having a Nude Food Day as a reminder to be mindful of the rubbish we create each day. Students who participate will earn house points! At assembly on Monday, and again today, students were reminded about how they could successfully participate in this challenge.
This is a day for us to focus on reducing our carbon footprint and going wastefree but, at St Mary's, students are encouraged to bring rubbish free lunches every day to keep our school and community clean.

Thanks for your support
Isobel & Leila
Environmental Leaders

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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