Dear families,

It’s been an incredibly big week for our community.

Staff celebrated Mrs Masseni’s retirement on Wednesday, yesterday we celebrated our graduating class of 2025 with a beautiful Mass, followed by presentations and dinner and dancing at the RSL. 

This morning, our students spent time in their 2026 classrooms with their 2026 teachers. We know this can be a moment filled with big feelings, and that transition days often bring a mix of excitement and uncertainty. While there were naturally a few tears, it wasn’t long before students settled in beautifully.

We were also pleased to welcome several new teachers to our school community. They were genuinely delighted to meet their classes and were extremely impressed by the warmth, confidence, and readiness of our students. After chatting with a number of students, it seems the feeling was mutual. They were just as impressed with their new teachers.

It was wonderful to see so many positive interactions and to witness the reassurance that comes from students hearing that their teachers are feeling the same mix of nerves and excitement. It set a lovely tone for the year ahead.

Creating class groups for the new school year is a complex and very careful process. Our goal is always to set every child up for success—socially, emotionally, and academically. To do this, staff spend considerable time reviewing each student’s needs, learning styles, strengths, support requirements, and social dynamics. We take into account teacher insights, student wellbeing considerations, and the need to maintain balanced, effective learning environments.

A large part of this process is ensuring that children have familiar and supportive peers. While we cannot accommodate every request, we do guarantee that each child will have at least one friend from the list they provide. Staff use these nominations when forming groups, prioritising positive relationships that help students feel settled, confident, and ready to learn.

We also recognise that some families may feel disappointed if their child’s placement does not align with their preferred outcome. In these situations, we ask parents to work positively with their child—reassuring them, highlighting the opportunities that come with a new class group, and modelling confidence in the school’s decisions. Children take their cues from the adults around them, and a calm, encouraging response helps them approach the new year with optimism and resilience.

We appreciate parents trusting the professional judgement that goes into these decisions. Class placement is never taken lightly, and we are committed to making choices that best support all students across the school.

Last week, Tess Woodgate and Jane Kirkwood informed me they will be leaving us at the end of this year. We wish them both the best for their future pathways.

Amy, our canteen lady, will also finish up at the end of this school year. Amy has been with us since 2011 and will be missed by all, especially parents on a Friday morning when all that’s left in the pantry are the ends of a fast-getting-stale bread loaf. We are working with Subway to add Fridays to our lunch run. We will keep you posted.

Among the significant changes coming to St Mary’s in 2026, we are saddened to share that our longstanding affiliation with Catholic Care counselling and Now We’re Talking will come to an end. Due to budget reductions across multiple sectors, this has been an unavoidable and difficult decision.

Rishika and Liv, along with her amazing speech pathologists, have provided great support over the years and their absence will no doubt be felt.

That said, our commitment to supporting students with additional needs remains strong. At this stage, we will continue to allow allied health professionals to work with students onsite during school hours. We are aware that an increasing number of schools are no longer willing to accommodate this practice, and we are proud to continue to offer this support.

If you would like to arrange for your child to see a health professional onsite, please contact Cathy Sims, our learning diversity leader.

I am pleased to announce the staffing arrangements for 2026. In the midst of a very difficult staffing crisis facing the education sector, I am very proud of the team I present to our community.  

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of baby Riley to Mrs Richards and her family. Riley arrived on the 5th of December. Some of you had the pleasure of being introduced to him as Mrs Richards brought him along to Graduation last night. 

As we approach the joy of Christmas, we extend our heartfelt wishes to every member of our St Mary’s community. In this season of hope, peace, and renewal, we are reminded of God’s greatest gift to us in the birth of Jesus.

May the light of Christ fill your homes, guide your hearts, and bring comfort and joy to your families. 

We pray that this Christmas offers you moments of rest, gratitude and connection and that the blessings of Jesus accompany you into the New Year.

All the best,

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

As I step into retirement, I want to leave you with a few messages that have guided my work. 

Wellbeing is not a luxury​, it is a ​b​asic need. Looking after yourself is not selfish; it enables you to show up as your best self for others. Small, consistent acts of care make the biggest difference to your own wellbeing.

That being said, never underestimate the strength of community. Schools thrive when people look out for one another. A simple gesture​, asking if someone is okay, offering a moment of kindness, or taking time to listen​, can change the course of someone’s day.​ Spread kindness like confetti. Wellbeing is a shared responsibility. We are all at our best when we lift each other up.

​Life moves along way too quickly, so​ take​ the time to be mindful and encourage your child down this path too. ​Being switched on to technology all the time is not good. Put those screens away and take time to enjoy each other's or your own company.

Thank you for trusting me​ with your children, ​it has been an honour and a priviledge to have met them and to engage with them all. I hope that you continue my work in Wellbeing by helping St. Mary's to live up to it's wonderful reputation of being a ​Caring Catholic Community.

​I hope everyone has a very happy and holy Christmas and a peaceful and relaxing New Year.  I'll look foward to seeing you around Altona and having a chat.

Regards

Marg

Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

Social Media Age Restriction Video Series: a short, voice-led resource designed to help you understand what’s changing, why it matters, and how to support your family through it. 

This four-topic series covers: 

• A delay, not a ban: What the changes mean for your child’s access to social media 
• Why delay social media accounts? Hear directly from a young person on the benefits of waiting 
• How will the age restrictions be implemented? What to expect and how it will work 
• Support, resources and tips to prepare: Practical advice to help your family adjust 

Whether you're watching at home or listening on the go, this flexible format makes it easy to stay informed and confident in your digital parenting journey. 

You can even watch it with your child to start the conversation together! 

Regards
Marg Masseni
Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

As we approach the end of the school year, it’s time to think about avoiding the ‘summer reading slide’. 

Like many skills we acquire in our lives, if we don’t use them on a regular basis, we lose them. This holds true with reading, including important skills in decoding, comprehension, visualisation, thinking and language ability. 

Over the summer, it’s important to keep up a reading routine with your children that is easy to manage and enjoyable. Here are some tips to instil the love of reading and literature into your family routines:

• Read together and discuss the information you’ve read 
• Set an example - during downtime, pick up a book yourself
• Let your children read what they want for enjoyment - tap into their interests, which could include cookbooks and graphic novels as well 
• Read signs and packaging in shops, traffic signs, signs posted on hiking trails, etc
• Create a summer scrapbook to record events and fun outings (also helpful for those with ‘Holiday Recount Writer’s Block’ at the start of the school year)
• Celebrate finishing a book - draw the character, make cookies or treats around the theme of the book, act out a favourite scene or create it with Lego
• Write letters - have your child write letters to family or friends
• Schedule a daily reading time
• Subscribe to magazines 
• Make your own book about a family trip, or an event in your daily life 
• Visit the library

You can also make use of the following programs:

• Reading Eggs: Reading Eggs is a literacy-based app/website that focuses on reading curriculum, phonics and sight words using skills and strategies essential for sustained reading success. There are lots of different reading games in the app and lots of books to read. All students at St Mary’s have an account this year, please contact your child’s teacher for their login information if you don’t have it already.
• SPELD Phonics book series: This complements the teaching of reading and writing using a structured synthetic phonics approach. There are online decodable readers able to be accessed online via the following link. SPELD SA Phonic Books – SPELDSA

• Once again this year, Hobsons Bay Libraries are running a BIG SUMMER READ Challenge. Children can sign up to track their reading over the Summer and are entered into a draw to win prizes! Find out more here: BIG Summer Read - Hobsons Bay 

Happy reading!

Brenda Lycke

Literacy Leader

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

Dear Families,

As outlined in previous communications, we have now transferred over to nForma Parent Portal. This requires parents to ensure that they have access to the nForma parent Portal.

There are several items that parents will need to attend to

• Ensure that you have access to the nForma platform (downloaded the App on your phone or accessed it on a computer)
• Update the Medical information for your children in the nForma portal

In order to provide families with as much information as possible in the one platform, nForma will now be used for 

• Event Permission 
• Notices (replacing Operoo and UpdatEd), 
• Student Medical Information, 
• Absentee notification and 
• First Aid. 

We are also able to embed our community event calendar into the nForma Calendar.

As staff use nForma for marking attendance, parents will be able to mark their child absent using the app, which will feed directly into classroom attendance rolls. Therefore, the absentee form on the website will be decommissioned on the 5th December, replaced with a link to the nForma Parent Portal.

We are aware that there may be other teething problems and are able to offer assistance as required. 

Please see Kristy Talty or Tony Freeman if you require assistance accessing nForma.

Regards

Sonia Riccardi

Principal

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage