Newsletter 18th May 2022

Upcoming Dates

19th May:  Naplan Testing concludes

19th May:  CERES, Brunswick School Excursion (bus departs 7:45am)

23rd May - 6th June:  Swimming Program continues on Mondays

23rd - 27th May:  Catholic Education Week

24th May:  School Advisory Council Meeting, 7:30pm

26th May:  Open Day, 9:00am-1:30pm

1st June:  School Closure Day - Teacher Professional Development Day:  Reading Essentials Learning

3rd June:  Year 6 Leadership Day at Creswick

6th June:  Year 5 Transition Visit to St Patrick's College & Loreto College, 9:00am-1:30pm

13th June:  Queen's Birthday Public Holiday

15th June:  Excursion to the National Gallery Victoria

24th June:  Last day of Term 2, 2:30pm finish

Principal's News

It is difficult to believe that we are already at the half way mark for this term, which is a nine week term. Despite COVID, the first four and a half weeks have progressed smoothly with almost 100% attendance by students. This has allowed our teachers to get on with consistent teaching without too many disruptions.

This week’s newsletter is a bit shorter than normal as much of the information for the week was sent via an email on Sunday afternoon so that parents could prepare for the week ahead.

Enjoy the week ahead,

Inez

COVID Guidelines

It is very important to let the school know if your child is a household contact. They can still attend school however, children above 8 years will need to wear a mask at school and test daily for 5 days. This is part of the Government guidelines. If your child tests positive, then they will need to isolate for 7 days and as always, if your child is unwell they should remain home until they are feeling better, even if their RAT is negative. Please contact the school if you require more tests.

This Week

As you are all aware, there is a lot going on this week and I sent an email to everyone on Sunday to give you the heads up for each day. By the time you receive tis newsletter we be well into the week with the majority of events having taken place. A reminder that the excursion to Melbourne tomorrow is a very early start – 7.30am for St. Brendan’s children and 7.45am for St. Mary’s. It is very important that you ring me early if your child is going to be away that day as we need to leave on time. Pick-up time will be at normal time for each school.

Winter Uniforms

All of our children should now be in their winter uniforms. We have noticed that a number of children are not wearing jumpers and are complaining of being cold. While we recognise that some children are warm inside, the children will go outside at recess times to get some fresh air, even if it is cold. Could you please ensure that all children bring a jumper to school each day? Coats and beanies outside are also encouraged.

Promo Materials

Kev Cummins from DOBCEL has completed the St. Brendan’s promo video and has begun St. Mary’s. He is currently unwell and we hope to get back to the promo next week when he is feeling better. Kev is producing videos for each school, photos, enrolment flyers and looking at ways we can improve our website and Facebook pages.

Open Days

Our Open Days for both schools are on next week. Please help spread the word and as always families are welcome to attend. St. Brendan’s has their day on Tuesday, the 24^th and St. Mary’s on Thursday, the 26^th of May. Schools will be open from 9:00am – 1:30pm. This will go on Facebook again, so I encourage you to ‘Like’ and “Share” the pages.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to our Year 3 and Year 5 children and their teachers. Today they completed their NAPLAN tests. I am not sure when the results come back however,  we will contact parents when they available for collection. It is important to remember that they are just one of many assessments that we do and that results from NAPLAN are analysed in the context of all assessments and observations that teachers do over a period of time.

Kindergarten Visits

On Tuesday we had children from the Brown Hill Kinder come to visit both schools. It was a wonderful experience and many of our own children caught up with children and staff they knew. Jacinta was saying that for some of the kinder children, it was the first time they had been on a bus. We look forward to continuing the contact with the kinder children through letters and a visit to the kinder later on in the year.

Senior Room News - Sports Day

We all enjoyed our sports day at Llanberris last week. When we returned to school we discussed the day and the benefits of having more than one sports day. Stella, Liam and Evie have shared their writing below about their thoughts regarding school sports days.

Sports Day by Liam

Firstly I strongly believe that school sports should be held each term because children can have more experience for the harder events like triple jump and javelin.  Children should have more opportunities to do sport if they aren't good at Math, reading or writing.  Also there are different types of events for different people, there are throwing events, sprinting events, jumping events and long distance events.

Secondly, children should spend more time outside even if it's hot or cold.  Being outside helps people to adapt to the weather conditions so they can always perform their best.  Also they can join an athletic club to help them perform even better and for more experience with each event.  Personally I'm part of an athletic club so I have even more experience.

Thirdly, your child can meet more people that are their age because if someone from another school joins after the first school sports, your child can meet them next term and get to know eacher.  Also the last reason is that your child wont have to countlessly ask over and over again what's your name?  It is easier because they see each other more often so they can just ask what high school they are going to.

Sports Day by Evie

Sports Day is about meeting people.  Sports Day was yesterday.  I met so many amazing people.  Everybody had a fund time especially the St Mary's children.  The 10 year old leader was Miss Baker.  I did get a ribbon, it was green.  I enjoyed discus because I was happy that I knew what it was. 

I think that we need a sports day each term so then we can get to be friends.  I was going to do the 800m run but I did not. My favourite bit was discus.

Sports Day  by Stella

In my opinion I think sports day should be once a term but currently sports day is once a year. It should be every term because it allows you to meet new people and make new friends.

Firstly, it lets people that like sports and are good at sports to show people what they are good at. The kids that struggle in classwork may be really good at sports. It is their day to shine. It makes them feel good and happy.

Secondly it can help kids who don't like sports and aren’t good at sports. In the first term they aren’t very good, then it shows them what they can improve on. By last term they are better because they have improved since the first time. They can also develop new sports skills.

Thirdly, you get to meet new people. It’s a day that you get outside and play in the fresh air. And it’s a fun day for people.

Brown Hill Kindergarten Visit

On Tuesday we were very lucky to have a group of 23 Brown Hill Kindergarten students visit us.  They came for part of the morning with their teachers. We shared a big book together, colouring pages, games and outside play. The St Mary's students welcomed them with warm smiles and spoke beautifully when introducing themselves to the group. The Brown Hill Kindergarten teachers commented on how well each student spoke and interacted with the kindergarten children.Well done St Mary's!

Adelaide (who was very excited to welcome her old kinder): My favourite part of the day was playing with the kinder kids. I was surprised to see I was taller than all of them! 

Will: I enjoyed everything about the kinder visit.

Paige & Kaezia: The kinder children came to visit school and we played with them.

Patrick: I liked making new friends with the kinder kids.

Kamden: I liked how they talked to me and we shared our names and played in the sand pit.

Quinn: Yesterday the kinder kids visited and we played games together. 

Happy Birthday

Leo will celebrate his 9th birthday on Thursday, 26th May.  Happy birthday Leo!

Gardening & Tidying Roster 2022