Newsletter 8th June 2022

Upcoming Dates

13th June:  Queen's Birthday Public Holiday

15th June:  Excursion to the National Gallery Victoria

23rd June, 2:00pm-4:00pm:  Junior Parent/Teacher/Child Conversations 

24th June:  Assembly at 12:30pm; last day of Term 2, 2:30pm finish

11th July:  Term 3 commences

13th July, 2:00pm-5:00pm:  Senior Parent/Teacher/Child Conversations

Principal's News

Reconciliation Week

Last week was National Reconciliation Week. The children at both schools were involved in a number of activities around the theme for this year – Be Brave, Make Change.

National Reconciliation Week: May 27 – June 3

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

More information is available at the National Reconciliation Week website.

As part of the week, school staffs from the Ballarat Diocese were invited to share in a conversation with Miriam Rose. What an amazing, insightful and inspirational lady!

Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann AM is an Aboriginal activist, educator and artist of the Ngan’gityemerri language group. Ungunmerr-Baumann is the first Indigenous teacher to work in the Northern Territory. She is the founder of the Merrepen Arts Centre, and the owner of Rak Malfiyin Homeland.

The Miriam Rose Foundation is a charity dedicated to improving lives and creating opportunities for a brighter future for Indigenous children and youth.

She was the 2021 Senior Australian of the Year.

She spoke about ‘dadirri,’ the deep inner spring inside of us all and the importance of deep listening.

If you have 4 minutes, take the time to have a look at this video. It gives a beautiful explanation of what dadirri is and the  place it could have in your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tow2tR_ezL8

Reports and PTC Conversations

Reports this semester will be available via PAM. This is bringing us into line with other schools. If you need a paper copy, please let the school know and we can print one of for you.

As is usual with the mid year reports, they are followed up with a Parent Teacher Child conversation (PTC). These will be held at different times for each class as a number of staff will be on leave at the end of term and early next term.

At St. Mary’s the Junior class will conduct their conversations on Thursday, 23^rd of June, from 2:00pm–4:00pm and the Senior class will hold their conversations on Wednesday, 13^th of July, from 2:00pm–5:00pm.

These times and dates are in the public calendar. You will be sent a notification when they are ready to make a booking and we ask that you have read your child’s report before attending the conversation, as the main focus of these sessions will be your child's progress to date and setting goals for Term 3.

As always, if these times cannot work for you, please see your child’s teacher to arrange a suitable time.

Swimming

We have now completed our 2022 Swimming Program. The children and staff have done a great job each week, especially as it has become so cold. It is always amazing to see the progress the children make in five weeks, not just with their swimming skills, but in building independent skills of getting organised and social skills of getting together with both schools and reconnecting with friends.

Excursion

Next Wednesday we are going on an excursion to the National Art Gallery in Melbourne. This is a free excursion through the Positive Start 2022 Program. It is an initiative intended to provide additional camps and programs for students in 2022.

The purpose of this trip is to view various kinds of art and is part of our Visual Arts Inquiry next term. The culmination of the Inquiry Unit will be our Art Shows in weeks 8 and 9 in Term 3. Please ensure that your permission notes are signed. We will be leaving from St. Brendan’s and we ask that all children arrive at school by 8.45. The children will be returned to their own schools for normal pick up. Please contact the school if you need any support with any of these arrangements.

If you would like more information, please click on the link below:

Sacramental Program

At the last Parish meeting, it was decided that the Sacramental Program would take place every second year. This happened initially because of COVID but was decided that we would continue to move forward this way in the future. The reasons are the transition from a school-based program to Parish/Family-based program, as well as the numbers that are making the Sacraments. We need to work together to find an appropriate program that will suit our needs and plan to move to a Parish program. If anyone is interested in co-ordinating this, I would love to hear from you. Louise, our RE Leader, and myself are keen to begin the process so that we can move to the new model in 2023.

Cold Weather - Coats & Beanies

I do not need to tell everyone how cold it is at the moment and winter has just begun. There are still children coming to school without coats or even jumpers from time to time. The children will be playing outside if it is not raining as we find that they need the fresh air during the day to help their learning. Please make sure that you child comes to school prepared to be outside even if it is cold.

Child Safe Standards

On 1^st of July, there are a number of new Child Safe Standards that will be implemented in all schools and organisations.

Below is some background information to help understand the new standards:

The Child Safe Standards (the Standards) commenced in Victoria in January 2016. After five years, we have seen how the Standards improve safety for children and young people.

Changes are being made to make our Standards even stronger. Organisations covered by the current Standards will need to comply with updated Standards from 1 July 2022. Until then, the current Standards apply.

The new Standards have been updated from 7 to 11 Standards and include new requirements such as:

• involving families and communities in organisations’ efforts to keep children and young people safe
• a greater focus on safety for Aboriginal children and young people
• managing the risk of child abuse in online environments.

This means that there will be some new policies and procedures put in place. You will be informed of these as they occur.

If you would like more information, please refer to the website below:

Attendance At School and Absences

We have been very fortunate to have good student attendance at school despite the many germs getting around. It is the school’s duty of care to account for each child each day.

Please remember to always let the school know if your child is away or you are planning to be away for some time. The preferred way is via PAM, however a phone call can also be made to the Office.  The admin ladies or a staff member will contact parents at 9.30am in the morning if your child is not at school and we have not been contacted.

Assemblies

Assemblies at each school are scheduled for 12.30 on Friday, 24^th of June, which is the last day of Term 2 for staff and children. We would love to have as many families as possible join us to celebrate and share our Term 2 learning.

I hope all families enjoy the Public Holiday long weekend.

Stay warm,

Inez

CERES Report by the Juniors

On Thursday, 19^th of May, all of the children from St Mary’s and St Brendan’s got to school really early to get on the bus to go to Ceres in Melbourne.

At Ceres we learnt about rubbish and what to do with it.  Kate and Alice showed us different colored bins which were called Eco Bins and they taught us how to sort our rubbish into the proper bins so it can be recycled.

Since our excursion, all of the classrooms have now got Eco bins and we are all trying really hard to sort our rubbish properly.

Pat Prendergast – On Thursday we went to Ceres in a bus and Ceres is in Melbourne.  It was fun because I got to play on the playground made of recycled materials.

Quinn Slater – On Thursday I went to Ceres in Melbourne.  I learnt how to recycle rubbish.  It was fun because I had to get up early!

William Gage – At Ceres I liked going on the playground and going in the giant centipede.  We went to the Merri Merri River where I learnt not to throw rubbish into the water because the rubbish can kill the animals that live in the water.

Kamden Singline – Yesterday I went to Ceres in Melbourne.  I went in Kyle’s bus.  When I got off the bus, I had lunch.  After lunch we did activities like a scavenger hunt, rubbish collection and composting.  I had fun at Ceres.  Kyle picked us up and I was very tired after Ceres.  My favorite activity was rubbish collecting and sorting it into the Eco Bins.

Adelaide Gage – At Ceres I had fun on the playground.  I learnt that the playground was made from 99% recycled materials.  The nails and the screws were the only things that weren’t recycled.

Waste Warriors

Happy Birthday

Two of our senior students will celebrate birthdays on Thursday, 16th June.  Happy birthday to Maeve who turns 10 and Chloe who turns 11!

Patrick Prendergast will celebrate his 7th birthday on Friday, 17th June.  Enjoy your special day Patrick!

Gardening & Tidying Roster 2022

Message from Beleza School Uniforms

Please be advised that all Beleza locations will be closed on Monday, 13th of June for the Queen's Birthday public holiday.  We will return to our regular trading hours on Tuesday, 14th June.

We'd like to apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause and would like to wish everyone in the school community a safe and enjoyable long weekend!