2024 St Mary's Primary School Newsletter Term 4 Week 8

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

Prayer

Principal's Report

Dear Families and Friends of St Mary's Community, 

I am looking forward to seeing all families and students this evening at St Mary's Church for the Prelude to Christmas. Please be at the Church at 5:45 for a 6:00pm start. Families staying for supper afterwards please bring a plate. It will be a lovely evening to begin the Advent Season as this Sunday is the first day of Advent. 

The use of the wreath and candles during Advent are a longstanding Catholic tradition that was originally adopted by Christians in the Middle Ages as part of their spiritual preparation for Christmas.

The wreath and candles are full of symbolism tied to the Christmas season. The wreath itself, which is made of various evergreens, signifies continuous life. The circle of the wreath, which has no beginning or end, symbolizes the eternity of God, the immortality of the soul, and the everlasting life we find in Christ.

 The wreath as a whole is meant to remind us of both the immortality of our souls and God’s promise of everlasting life to us through Christ.

The candles also have their own special significance. The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent, and one candle is lit each Sunday. Three of the candles are purple because the color violet is a liturgical color that signifies a time of prayer, penance, and sacrifice

The first candle, which is purple, symbolizes hope. It is sometimes called the “Prophecy Candle” in remembrance of the prophets, especially Isaiah, who foretold the birth of Christ. It represents the expectation felt in anticipation of the coming Messiah.

Early next week our school will join together for a short Advent reflection.  As we light the first candle, the Candle of Hope, we will say: “We light this Advent Candle today as a reminder of the coming of Christ, the light of the world.  We light the candle of Hope as we continue to wait for Christ’s return.”

As we head towards the final days of the year, there is still much to be done but also activities to look forward to. Earlier this week we welcomed our new Foundation students for 2025. Next week will be the second of the transition days for our 2025 Foundation students. The following week on Tuesday 10 December will be our whole school Transition day for the morning session 9am-11am, with the 2025 Foundation students with us at school until after lunch.  Wednesday 11 December is the Graduation Dinner. It is a busy time. Again thank you to all staff for the incredible work in the organisation of these events, including Clare Letts and Bron Orval for the Year 6 celebration preparations.  Only a few weeks to go - let's keep working together and supporting each other with compassion and kindness through this busy period. 

Travel safely with God's blessings,

Nerrida

Morning arrival time and playing downball

Families, please ensure your children do not arrive at school before 8:30 am. Staff are not on duty in the yard until this time. Also, the students are very tired at this time of the year, and the down ball games in the morning are now becoming more competitive rather than socialisation and calm play before school.  As such there will be no down ball in the mornings before school for the rest of the year, so the students are not starting their day with niggles and complaints – their tolerance levels at this time are pretty low! Students only have two and a half weeks to go, and we want their year to end smoothly.  Thank you for your cooperation here.

Grandparents Day Monday 25 November

On Monday 25 November we welcomed all our grandparents and special friends to school and together we had a wonderful afternoon. And what a turnout! – we have never had so many visitors on Grandparents Day! Students and visitors ate their lunches together, and then we moved to the library for a liturgy acknowledging the special gifts our grandparents and special friends bring to their grandchildren. Then the children and grandparents with each other designed a pinwheel which was added to the garden. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and the students loved having their families and friends with them. Thank you to the staff for organising the liturgy and activities for the afternoon.  

There are lots of photos below - the best view is to click on the first photo and then scroll through the gallery. 

Grandparents and Special Friends Day

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 54

Next

Welcome to our 2025 Foundation students and buddies!

This week our 17 new students had their first transition day in readiness for 2025. There was a buzz of excitement as they met their buddies and completed activities together. Thank you to Mrs Kemp, Mrs Lang and Bec and of course our wonderful Year 4/5 Buddies. The next transition day is next Tuesday 3 December, from 9:00am to 11:45pm. Foundation students are to bring fruit snack and also for this week bring morning tea as they will eat with their buddies after recess. 

Transition Day 1 Tuesday 26 November

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 31

Next

Transition Days

Families with students beginning at St Mary's in 2025, your child will soon receive a letter inviting them to the Foundation transition days for 2025. The dates and times are in the key dates calendar at the beginning of the newsletter and also as below:

Tuesday 3 December Foundation Transition Day 2     9:00 -11:45 am (students stay for recess and end of eating time)

Tuesday 10 December statewide transition Day - whole school transition from 9-11 am, 2025 Foundation students at St Mary's until 1:45pm, for 2024 Year 6 students there are no classes at St Mary's this day, until 11:45am.  

Term 1 rest days for Foundation Students

Starting school is very tiring both mentally and physically for our new little people. There will be scheduled rest days for the Foundation students starting Week 2 leading to full weeks at school after the Long Weekend in March.  These rest days are usually on a Wedesday. As we will have a school closure day on Thursday 13 February, this will be the rest day for Week 3.

On these days, Louise Kemp and Jess Lang will be conducting literacy and numeracy assessments of the children, so the teachers can plan for the stuidents' individulaised learning,  Families will be sent information inviting them to bring their child in for a literacy and numeracy assessment (1 hour each) over two of these days.  Please see the dates below for your planning and family organisaion for the Foundation students for Term 1 2025.

Week 1    Wednesday January 29 - All students return

Week 2    Wednesday February 5 - Foundation students absent

Week 3   Wednesday February 12 - all students present; Thursday February 12 - all students absent School Closure

Week 4  Wednesday February 19 - Foundation students absent

Week 5 Wednesday February 26 - Foundation students absent

Week 6 Wednesday March 5 - Foundations student absent, Ash Wednesday - all welcome to the liturgy

Week 7  From Tuesday March 11  - Foundation students now at school every day

Chickpeas Assembly and Announcement of School Leaders

Thank you Chickpeas and Mrs. Kemp for your wonderful assembly on Wednesday.  Please see the video on our Family Facebook page for the students’ amazing efforts and class award winners being awarded their certificates. At the end of the assembly our 2025 School Leaders were announced.  Our Gold House Captains will be Harlow, Devon, Caleb and Heidi.  Blue House Captain will be Kirby and Red House Captain will be Hudson. With a smaller Year 6 cohort next year, our 2025 Year 5 students will also have many leadership opportunities to assist their house leaders in swimming, athletics and cross country activities.

After presenting the House Leaders for 2025, we were very proud to announce Heidi Anderson and Caleb Peters as our School Captains for 2025. Congratulations Heidi and Caleb and we look forward to your leadership next year. All 6 Year 6 students did an amazing job designing their leadership speeches and are to be congratulated for their efforts. Well done everyone.

Year 6 Students with their Leadership Speeches

Work experience students Zach and Lucy

This week we welcomed past students Zach and Lucy for their work experience. It was wonderful to have them back helping in classes.  Best wishes with your furture endeavours.

St Vincent De Paul Catering Fundraiser

Thank you parents for your generous donations and the Parent Club who helped prepare and serve food for the St Vincent de Paul conference on Sunday 24th November.  This was another terrific fundraiser for the school, raising approximately $1300. A special thank you to student helpers Indi, Meika, Chloe, Laura, Heidi, Joey and Quinn for also giving up their time to help. These students were awarded a Principal's Certificate of Appreciation at the Chicpeas assembly this week. Well done everyone! 

We are a BARR school (Bushfire at Risk)

Pleae read the communication below. As a Bushfire at Risk school, on days there is a Catastrophic fire danger forcasted in our district, the school will close. Other educational providers in our area will also close, and there will be no school byses running. We need to receive notification from the Department if Education and also DOBCEL in order to close. The school will always endeavour to notify families as soon as practical. We did have two Catastrophic school closure days earlier this year. 

Please ensure you have downloaded the SIMON everywhere app to receive the first notification of a sudden school closure through PAM, as this is the official school emergency notification platform.

Then emails will be sent to families, followed by a Facebook update. 

School Closure Days for 2025

Please see previous newsletters for details and note the following dates for your planning:

Thursday 13 February

Tuesday 22 April, Wednesday 23 April, Thursday 24 April  (Note Mon 21 and Fri 25 are also public holidays - so a three week break for Term 1 holidays)

Fri 19th September (last day of Term 3)     

Final class assemby

The final assembly for the year will be hosted by Canola on Thursday 12 December 9:00am in the library. 

Year 6 jumpers for 2025 - design completed

The design has now been finalised with input from all six Year 6 leaders, and the finishing toucheds 

Thunderstorm Asthma

End of Year Celebrations

We now have all our end of year dates confirmed:

Wednesday 11 December  Year 6 Graduation Dinner at the Creekside Hotel

Thursday 12 December  Canola Assembly

Tuesday 17 December   End of Year Graduation Mass 5:30pm St Mary's Church.

Wednesday 18 December   Students' last day, End of year pool party 10am -1pm at Warracknabeal Memorial Pool; BBQ lunch suppled by parent club

Fee Statements due now.

Families, please be aware all fees should now be finalised. Camp and excursion payments should already be paid prior to this date. If you are experiencing difficulties paying your fees please contact Nerrida.  For direct debit and payment plan availability, please contact Paula at the office. 

Navigating AI Relationships

Child Safe Standards - What are they?

Community News