2024 St Mary's Primary School Fortnightly Newsletter Term 2 Week 9

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.

As partners in Catholic Education and open to God’s presence, we pursue the fullness of life for all.  St Mary's Catholic Primary School  is committed to the safety and well-being of all students.

Key Dates

Principal's Report

Welcome to Term 2 Week 9

You may have heard in the news in the last few days of the requirement as from 2025 for all Victorian state schools to explicity use phonics and phonemic awareness to teach reading,  a strategy which helps students break up words into individual sounds.

We are proud here at St Mary's that this is the teaching approach used at our school for over the past 10 years. Foundation teachers Louise Kemp, and also Claire Schulz are trained in delivery of the evidence-based Jolly Phonics program as it is a proven teaching method and our school results have shown over time students collectively become better readers and writers.  If you hear in the media of the need for phonics to be taught in schools, please know that this is the teaching method used succesfully at St Mary's.

We are excited to have join with us again Family Engagement Consultant, Tony Dalton, who will assist in  guiding a Learning Walk with our current and prospective families, on Wednesday June 26. This will be at 1:45pm, after kinder pick up time. A guided learning walk is much more than a school tour. It is a wonderful opportunity for families and prospective students to see the learning of our school in action and witness our point of difference.

Please pass onto your friends and colleagues, especially those with children starting school next year of this opportunity to see why St Mary's is the choice for their child's primary education. Please also ask people to contact me if they are interested in attending for our organisation for the afternoon. 

Travel safely with God's blessings,

Nerrida

Safety Blitz and School Wide Positive Behaviours 

We have been having a safety blitz to reinforce to students our School Wide Positive Behaviours (SWPB) that are always in place at St Mary's. The SWPB matrix is in every learning area of the school and referred to when a teachable moment arises to reinforce to students the importance of being a safe, respectful and responsible learner.  The matrix has also been emailed and hard copy sent home to familes. We encourage you to refer to this and have your own 'teachable moments' with your child to reinforce their understanding of our expectations.  As we do here at school, please ask your child who they feel their trusted adults are at school to reach out to if ever they feel hurt or unsafe. We want all children to always feel safe at school.

We are also having a focus on speaking respectfully. Whilst certain words and tone of voice used in a context outside of school may be tolerated, at school swearing and sarcastic tone is unacceptable. This behaviour towards others and around others can cause emotional and social harm. Please have conversations with your children as to appropriate language and behaviours to use at school and what may be acceptable out of school. We will continue to praise the use of appropriate language and friendly manner towards others and give tokens to students to help reinforce positive behaviours. 

To increase children's awareness and further understanding of the SWPB matrix, a Safety poster competition is now underway. Students can submit an A3 size poster highlighting the importance of safety at St Mary's, using our key themes of being safe, respectful and responsible. Students can also  use the statements from the Positive Behaviour Matrix to focus on

Safety Poster Competition and fundraising for SVDP - due Wednesday 26 June

To increase the children's awareness and further understanding of the SWPB matrix, a Safety poster competition is now underway. Students can submit an A3 size poster highlighting the importance of being safe, respectful and responsible at St Mary's. Students could also use some statements from the Positive Behaviour Matrix in their poster.

For fundraising for St Vincent de Paul, Charlie in Canoloa has suggested a gold coin donation is asked for each entry.  Students can enter more than one entry if they wish, with each entry with a donation.  There will be movie tickets awarded to the best overall poster, with prizes also allocated for each year level.  Classes will begin their poster at school, with students to then take home and finish off.  Posters with a gold coin donation to be submitted to Ms Holland by Wednesday 26 June with the prizes announced at the St Vincent De Paul Liturgy on Friday 28 June.

Lightning Premierships

Thank you very much parents and helpers Sarah Spicer, Mark Williams and Harry and Paul Rowe in helping out with the Lightning Premierships today. Also a big thank you to staff Clare Letts,  Bron Orvall and Meg Werner in organising and managing the teams for the day. Well done everyone, the students had a great time!

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Parent-Teacher Interviews next term

As we head towards the end of Term Two, teachers are undertaking a range of assessments to monitor student progress. Assessment is an ongoing aspect of the learning cycle at St Mary’s, and the end-of-semester assessments are just one part of that cycle. Every day, we are monitoring student progress to inform the next learning steps.

Communication between home and school is also an ongoing process at St Mary's, and twice a year, families receive a formal student report highlighting student achievement and growth. Semester One reports will be available via PAM on the SIMON Everywhere App on Wednesday 26 June.  

We will hold Parent-Teacher Interviews early next term on Tuesday July 23 and Thursday July 25. Bookings will be available to be made via PAM shortly.  The interviews will be held in person at the school. Parent-Teacher Interviews provide an important opportunity for families to discuss their child’s progress with their classroom teacher. If you are unable to attend on that date or require a phone interview, please contact your child’s teacher to arrange an alternative time. There will be further reminders in forthcoming newsletters.

School TV - Respectful Relationships

Initiating conversations about respectful relationships with children is crucial for their emotional and social development. By addressing topics like kindness, empathy, and communication, parents create a foundation for healthy interactions. These discussions promote awareness of boundaries, consent, and mutual understanding, fostering a safe environment where children can thrive. Teaching respect from an early age equips kids with essential skills to navigate friendships and romantic relationships, building a future based on empathy and equality. Open dialogues about respect empower children to recognise and value their own feelings and those of others, cultivating a positive and harmonious approach to all relationships.

Here is the link to the Respectful Relationships edition of SchoolTV

https://smwarracknabeal.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/respectful-relationships

Last Day of School 2024 Wednesday 18 December

Families for your planning please note the last day for students at school will be Wednesday 18 December, school finishing at this stage until further notice from WEP at 3:15 pm

Japanese Assembly Award Winners

Our recent assembly dedicated showcasing Japanese and was presented by the whole school. Students shared what they had been covering in Japanese over the past term and as a school saying 'Under the big chestnut tree' in Japanese. Our Canola class as always were school leaders assisting with the presentation of each year level’s content and asking questions in Japanese. Congratulations to all the students for your outstanding performance.  (Jess Boyd)

A special thank you to Jess Boyd for organising the assembly. Thank you also to Fiona Holland for videoing the assembly which uploaded to our Family Facebook page. 

In additon the Parent Club raised over $3200 from the wood raffle which was fantastic. Thank you Parent Club and all families and friends who purchased tickets to raise funds in supporting our students.

Australian Early Development Census

This census will be undertaken with our Foundation students from Monday 17 June. Information has been sent home to all Foundation student families. If you have any questions regarding the census and your child's particiaption, please contact Louise Kemp.

CEP Perfomance "The Snow Queen"

Our next CEP excursion is next term to see the live Alpha Show performance of  'The Snow Queen", on Tuesday July 30 at the Horsham Town Hall. The story looks at how our negative or positive perceptions alter our thoughts and emotions and how these can affect us reaching our own potential. This engaging and interactive storytelling experience takes the characters and the audience through steps to be all of who we are. Students will travel to and from the venue by bus. Permission forms will soon be available on PAM. 

Parent/Carer Excursion/Camp form update

DOBCEL have updated the requirements for consent for our excursions and camps.  Moving forward, permission forms for activities on PAM have now been adjusted to reflect this. These changes have been made to ensure parents are able to give informed consent to their child's participation in an excursion after considering the risks, that you have been provided with all specific information and have the opportunity to ask questions. You will only see a few slight changes from previous permission forms.  This new format will be used for the next excursion for the 'Snow Queen'. 

Child Safe Standards

School Fees

Thank you to families who have paid their student levy and arranged payments.  If you are experiencing difficulties with fees please contact Nerrida for a confidential discussion and payment plan options. 

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