St Mary's eNews

Week 1 Term 4


Principal's Message: 11 October 2024

Dear families,
Welcome back to Term 4.
The warming weather in the latter part of the week has certainly managed to lift our spirits.
Our Middle students have returned from camp safe and sound. It looks like they had a great time. They will most definitely sleep well tonight. You’re welcome!


Thanks to the teachers for all their organisation in the background and to the teachers who nominate to go, so our students can continue to have these valuable experiences. The Middle students and staff will have Monday off as part of Time In Lieu acquittal.

Our sensory garden has been put through its paces this week with students flooding to it each break time. We thank Leigh Ryan (Harrison and Austin) from LSR Landscaping for his vision, hard work and commitment to our students for putting this together in such a short amount of time. It was a family affair with Emily coordinating the project and proving to be a Marketplace whiz, enabling us to have the most wonderful space ready for our students to enjoy this term. Harrison, Austin and their new puppy, Charlie, all chipped in too. A special mention to Nick McGuane who brought in his heavy-duty equipment to help move the boulders into their new home.

Our tram will have its official opening on Thursday 24th October, with special guests who were involved in its renovation either through labour or through the donation of grants towards its improvement, invited to attend. Parents, feel free to come along at school pick up and hop on in.

It’s wonderful to finally be able to see our hard-earned fundraising dollars to great use. I thank you all for your patience.

While we are on the topic of fundraising, we will be unveiling our upcoming Colour Fun Run fundraiser during next week’s assembly. There will be some fun (and hilarious) incentives throughout the fundraising window, which I can’t wait to share with you all very soon. Funds raised by this campaign will go towards STEM Lego kits for our students to use to enhance their technology inquiries from next year.

Our P&F are also preparing for another major raffle that will launch soon. The first prize will be next year’s school fees covered. Tickets will be sold for $10 each. The raffle will be drawn on our Carols night on 5 December. Look out for a raffle book coming home with your child in the coming weeks.

Next Friday, staff will undertake observations of our Daily Review implementation by a coach from Knowledge Society. As mentioned in previous newsletters, our current Daily Reviews take up the first 15 minutes of a Literacy block. During these reviews, teachers run quickly through various concepts taught either recently or earlier in the year. This process allows students to be exposed to learned content throughout the year, instead of once, then moving on after a unit is complete. These repeated exposures help children cement these understandings by creating strong new, neural pathways. If your child hasn’t already mentioned Daily Reviews at home, please ask them about it.

This coaching visit will help us establish how these Reviews are being implemented across our school and what we need to work on next to improve our practices around these.

On Monday 21 October, staff will attend our 3rd day of professional learning with the Western Flourishing Learners Pilot. This day will be centred around the teaching of Spelling.

Our staff are all in strong agreement about how incredibly beneficial this pilot program has proven to be for our school.

I look forward to sharing more about the day with you soon.

We have had some students coming to school and sharing information of a sensitive nature with their friends after discussions at home. We understand that parents will have the ‘birds and bees’ talk with their children at different ages, based on their maturity, questions they may ask at home as well as how comfortable we are having these conversations ourselves as parents. It is up to you to decide what you tell them and in how much detail.
I ask that as part of these important discussions, you consider mentioning that the content of such discussions should remain between yourselves at home and not with friends as it should ideally come from their friends’ parents first. Children are innately curious, rather, we all are. They will find it hard not to discuss things such as this with their friends, but I ask that you consider requesting this of them, much like we would do about other lovely mythical beings we enjoy sharing with our children when they are young (vagueness intended).

If you have any questions about addressing children’s curiosity about such topics, please reach out. Just don’t ask my husband for advice! (But that’s a story for another time)


Finally, a big thanks to Beryl for running our Book Fair which is currently underway. Classes have been to visit and students are excitedly creating their wishlists.
It's always a big success and takes a great deal of preparation. Please be sure to thank Beryl when you see her at the Fair.

Have a great weekend,





Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage



Community News

Please click on the links below to access news from around our community. There is lots of great information for this week. Williamstown Community & Education - October News!

Williamstown Tigers Netball club - Term 4 NetsetGo program for younger Students.

Emmanuel College News

Church Bulletin - Our latest Bulletin

Australian Girls Choir - The Australian Girls Choir is holding Open Days on Saturday November 9 and Sunday November 17.

Creative Music 

Camp Australia - Weekly Newsletter



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


             




Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage



Book Fair at the Tri Centre

Its everybody's favourite time of the year. The Scholastic Book Fair.
The Book Fair will be held in the Tri Centre.
Sales will be held from Thursday 10th to Wednesday 16th October.
from 8.30 - 9.00am and 3 - 4pm.
See You There.




Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage



School Closure

School Closure on Monday 21st October 2024. Staff will be attending Professional Development on this day.

If you need your child booked into Camp Australia for the day, please contact them to make a booking.

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage



Movie Night - Moana 2

Come and join us for a private screening of Moana 2 on Thursday 28th of Nov.
 

Arrival at 6.30 pm

Venue Sun Theatre. 8 Ballarat St, Yarraville.

We have the Davis Room booked.

The movie starts at 6.45 sharp.
Tickets $20 Per Person. Tickets are limited.

Children's tickets include a mini combo - drink & popcorn.
Parents must have their own tickets and stay with their child/children
during the movie.

No allocating seating.

This event is coordinated by the P&F Committee.
No School Staff will be attending this event.

Book tickets before they all are sold out.
https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1259576




Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage



Cybersafety Project Parent Webinar 4 -"My First Mobile device"


The Fourth part of the Primary relevant Parent Cybersafety Project Webinars has been released as a recording to our community to watch.
The topic is My First Mobile Device | 22 October 2024

The focus is on: 

When is the right time for your child to have a device? Our My First Mobile Device webinar will help parents and guardians determine the right time for the young people in their home to take on the responsibility of managing their first mobile phone, tablet/iPad/laptop or gaming console. We will explore how to manage settings to keep them safe online and how to establish boundaries early for a healthy relationship with technology.

  • Learn how to manage device settings to optimise safety
  • Explore device management tools
  • Understand how to create boundaries around screen time
  • Learn how to establish open conversations at home when things go wrong online

You can register for the Live Webinar at the website.

The Website link is https://cybersafetyproject.com.au/parents/ 
Register and quote St Mary's Altona as your school and you will be able to attend the webinar. You can also choose to receive updates from the Project.

Regards
Tony Freeman
ICT Leader
tfreeman@smaltona.catholic.edu.au

 


Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage



Poppy making for Remembrance Day

The Crochet club are making crochet poppies for Remembrance Day this November, not only for our school but for our local RSL. We welcome all to get involved in making poppies. Below is a simple poppy crochet pattern to have a go with. A box will be placed in the office
area for any poppies you want to pass on for our wreath. Enjoy 

Poppy Making for Remembrance Day - Attached is the Crocheted Poppy Pattern

 


Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage








Christina Hardcastle Photography

The P&F Committee are excited to share Christina Hardcastle Photography is kindly offering families of St Mary's, mini-family photoshoots this October. 
Attached is the Flyer with more information.
This was such a big hit last year so act fast to secure your booking. This would make a fantastic Christmas gift of photos to share with loved ones.

All details are outlined on the booking page https://christinahardcastle.com/st-marys


www.christinahardcastle.comhttps://www.facebook.com/christinahardcastlephoto/
https://www.instagram.com/christinahardcastlephotography



Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage