St Mary's Primary School Newsletter Term 3 Week 2

Acknowledgement of Country

St Mary’s Primary School respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the
Wimmera Mallee area, the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagalk
peoples, and pays respect to the ongoing living cultures of First Peoples.

New School Newsletter and Website

Welcome to our new school letter format through Schoolzine.  This will soon be embedded into our new school website to be released soon. (Note - The photo banner is temporary and I realise  requires editing to Safe, Respectful Responsible Learners! - this will be updated by the Schoolzine team with our new photos). Thank you to Kevin Cummins from CEB who came to our school last Tuesday 13th July to take some amazing photos of our school and students and learning in action.  The new website will have links to the newsletter, to PAM and the school calendar, school policies and all the information that sits in the current website.  The website is almost ready to go "live" and you will be informed when it is ready.

Principal's Report

Welcome to our new eNewsletter format! I hope everyone in our community had a wonderful mid year break and enjoyed some precious rest time.

We have had a busy start to Term 2, especially for our Chickpea and Wheat students. Be sure to check out the photos from their excursion to Sovereign Hill and their AFL activity afternoon.

Our new shade sails covering the rock seating area and turf behind the sand pit near the outside stage area are underway.  The poles have been placed, and the new sails should be up in the next three weeks.  Students were very engaged with the diggers and workers setting this up! 

If you were unable to attend a Parent Teacher interview this week, please ensure you have booked a time for next Monday.   This is a great opportunity to review your child's end of Semester 1 report with their teacher and discuss their learning.  Thank you again to everyone for your awareness and understanding whilst we navigate this challenging time through this frosty Winter with COVID and flu infections.  We have many student and staff absences, and we wish everyone well, a safe recovery and look forward to all those absent returning to school soon. 

I wish to thank the St Mary's community for the lovely messages of support following the announcement of my appointment as Principal of St Mary's from 2023 and beyond. I believe I am the lucky one, leading this community is a privilege and I am excited for our future, working in true partnership for your children.

Whilst still a work in progress, please enjoy our "new" newsletter! 

Travel safely with God's blessings

Nerrida Holland

Principal

Chickpea and Wheat Excursion to Sovereign Hill

Wheat and Chickpeas students had a fun and educational experience when we visited Sovereign Hill on Friday. We saw an industrial blacksmith purifying gold. He made a gold bar which was 99 percent pure and had a street value that day of about $250,000! We saw a confectioner making raspberry drops at Brown's Confectionery Factory. We went down a gold mine, saw a hologram of the Welcome Nugget and a video of how it was found. We also panned for gold, explored the Main Street shops and old buildings, saw the Redcoats marching down Main Street with their rifles and played on a pirate ship playground. On the way home we were looked after for dinner at the Ararat RSL.

Enrolment 2023 – Personalised or group Tours available anytime!

Enrolments for 2023 are open! We invite all prospective families to come to St Mary's school for a visit to see for themselves our great school and learning in action. New and existing families are invited to contact principal@smwarracknabeal.catholic.edu.au or phone 5398 2001 to arrange a personal or small group tour of our school and learn more about how St Mary's Primary school can be your first choice for your child’s primary education.

Our well-organized transition program working with Warracknabeal Memorial Kindergarten aims to ensure that your child starts their education at St Mary's Primary feeling confident and happy. For our Foundation children, we have many opportunities for your child to become familiar with their teachers, peers, and buddies.

Students enrolling in all year levels will be invited to attend the State-wide Transition Day which is usually held in early December.  This date will be confirmed closer to the time.

Key Dates

Staff Vacancies for 2022 and 2023

As Claire Schulz will be leaving St Mary's for family leave in Term 4 and into 2023, we have now advertised for her replacement on the DOCBEL website.  We will continue to advertise widely in the community. Please let your networks know we are seeking staff for 2022/2023 and as always casual relief teachers.

Please finalise Pie orders - due Friday 22nd

Thank you to Emma Mansfield and all those involved on the pie drive - a great fundraiser for our students!

Child Safety

Child safety and wellbeing at St Mary's Primary School: information for families and the school community

The Victorian Government has announced new  Child Safe Standards to further strengthen child safety across organisations, including schools. The new standards recognise the critical importance of families and the broader school community in maintaining and promoting child safety and wellbeing.

Our child safety policies and procedures are continually reviewed to ensure they meet the requirements of the new standards. These will be available on our new website. Further updated information will be added in due course.

We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures, and practices.

If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions, please contact Nerrida Holland via email principal@smwarracknabeal.catholic.edu.au or by phoning the school.

Curriculum News

We have been fortunate to have Education Officers Samantha Meerbach and Bernadette Luckman visit our school to support our teachers with their pedagogy and planning, with particular support for Learner Agency and Religious Education. Through staff meetings and collaborative planning time, teachers are given the opportunity to work with the expertise of the Catholic Education Ballarat team to build their professional knowledge and continue to create deeper learning experiences for our students. 

Chickpea Assembly

Thank you to Chickpeas for hosting a fabulous assembly on Tuesday.  Well done to each student.  A video of the assembly is currently uploaded to the Parent Facebook page.  It will soon be uloaded to a password protected section in our new website.  Congratulations to all of our current award winners - terrific effort everybody!

COVID information and mask wearing

We have started the term with the challenge of staff and student absences due to COVID, flu and other illness.  Please see your emails for the regular COVID updates, the request for all  those over 8 years of age to wear masks and also changes to the Chickpeas Parent Teacher Interview schedule. 

Diocesan Bulletin

Please find below the link for the July 2022 edition of “Our Diocesan Community”

https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ODC-July-2022-web.pdf.

There are hard copies available at the office if you would like to collect or have one sent home with your child. 

Saver Plus Information Session

Australian Parents Council Newsletter

Please see the link below for information for parents

NCCD Information

AFL Activity Afternoon

Thank you to Mikayla, AFL Paricipation Officer for again visiting our school for Chickpeas and Wheat to have another fun-filled AFL afternoon. (Click on the photos to enlarge)

Community News

Parish Bulletin