Newsletter 25th October 2023
Upcoming Dates
October 27; November 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; December 6: Combined Schools' Days at St Brendan's.
October 26: Junior Stayback & Year 2 Sleepover commencing at 5:00pm
October 30: Grandparents' Day
November 6: Pupil-free day
November 7: Melbourne Cup Holiday, pupil-free day
November 11: Remembrance Day
November 17: Colour Run at St Mary's
November 25: St Brendan's End of An Era Celebration, 2pm onwards
November 27: Little Feet, Big Footprints Concluding Session
November 28: Secondary School Transition Day for Year 6 students; Going Up Day
December 5: St Brendan's Graduation, 6:30pm
December 7: St Mary's End of Year Mass & Graduation, 6:00pm
December 8: Year 6 Excursion, details to come
December 13: End of Year Excursion, details to come
December 15: Last day of school for students, end of Term 4.
Principal's News
As we move further into the term, the newsletter will contain some articles that are pertinent to only one school or the other, however, I am going to continue to do one newsletter with news for both schools included.
St Brendan's Celebrations & Memorabilia
If anyone has anything that could be of interest for the ‘End of an Era’ celebrations at St. Brendan’s and you are willing to lend it for the day, we would be very appreciative. We have lots of photos, but not a lot of anything else. I had heard that there were tea towels that were produced a while ago. Does anyone have anything else? I promise we will look after it and return it to you.
The event is on Friday, November the 25th starting at 2pm. Please see the invitation for more details. All are welcome!!
Grandparents' Day
Next Monday is Grandparents' Day at both schools from 9.30m–11am. The children and staff love this day. The best part is seeing the smile on the children’s faces when they see their grandparents arrive at school. Please have the RSVPs in by Wednesday along with any dietary requirements. We are getting very excited about the day.
A reminder that if a child does not have a grandparent that can attend, another special person is very welcome to come along and join us.
Junior Stayback and Sleepover
The day is almost here – the Junior Stayback and Sleepover. Please refer to your child’s notes that are on PAM and have been sent home about drop off and pick up times for each year level along with what they will need for the night. A huge thanks to those who are staying overnight – Majella, Clare, Louise and Lyndal. Sadly, I will not be there this year as I am in Horsham at a Principals' gathering. I am sure that everyone will have a fantastic time and I look forward to hearing all about it on Monday.
A reminder that we are all at St. Brendan’s on Friday as a CSD.
New Families at St. Mary’s
Last week we welcomed the Farrell family to St. Mary’s. Alexis started in Year 4 on Thursday. Mark and Nadia (Mum and Dad) have moved from Bacchus Marsh and are now living in Pootilla. They have already started meeting some of our current families and Alexis has already settled well and met the St. Brendan’s students on Friday.
This Thursday Leah and Emilia are beginning to transition to St. Mary’s. They will be full-time in 2024. Welcome to both girls along with their mothers - Lisa (Leah’s Mum) and Tracy (Emilia’s Mum). They are very excited to be part of St. Mary’s and look forward to learning and making new friends.
Congratulations
A huge congratulations to Bec Slater who graduated from the Police Academy last Thursday. It is an amazing achievement which is the result of a lot of hard work, sacrifices, time away from family and long hours. Bec received wonderful support from family and friends as she was studying and working. How proud does this family look!!
Change of time table for St Mary's next year
The year is moving along very quickly and we are beginning to plan for 2024. Next year at St. Mary’s our timetable will change slightly. School will begin at 8.50am and finish at 3.20pm. There will be a staff member on duty from 8.40am, however children can still arrive from 8.30am onwards. Staff will also be on duty after school until 3.30pm. As mentioned in previous newsletters, the new Award for staff working in schools will be in full affect next year and this means some adjustments need to be implemented so that we are making sure all terms and conditions are adhered to. Please come and talk to me if you need any questions answered or clarification about any of this.
Monday 6th November
A reminder that Monday, the 6th of November is a pupil-free day for children of both schools. Staff are doing reporting and assessing on that day. Tuesday is the Melbourne Cup and is a holiday for everyone.
Important dates
All important dates for the rest of the year are on the school calendar. Please check it regularly through the Schoolzine app or on the school website. There is a lot coming up and we do not want anyone to miss out on anything that is happening.
Transitioning to St. Alipius
Our St. Brendan’s children have begun transition to St. Alipius in the past few weeks. The teachers from both schools have organised a number of visits for the children so that the start of 2024 goes smoothly for the children and their families. Thank you to St. Alipius for being so welcoming and supportive of the St. Brendan’s children.
Annual General Meetings
We have had our Annual General Meetings for each school. Thank you to those that were able to attend. It is a time to reflect on the year that has been and plan forward for the next year.
Uniforms
It is lovely to see the children in their summer uniforms. A reminder to check the policy for each school about what the requirements are. If there are concerns around any of this, please see your child’s teacher or myself.
Take care everyone.
Inez
Senior Room News
The Senior students have been very busy during the last fortnight. Here's what the students have been up to:
Chloe and Pat: Last week the Year 6 students went to St Michael's, Daylesford, for the Term 4 Little Feet, Big Footprints session. The St Mary’s Year 6s presented their Coat Drive project and it went well. Over the weeks, the Dunnstown Year 6s and us gathered together to make our presentations; we took turns in saying what we did to raise coats and what we raised.
Six different schools created multiple presentations about something their school did for a cause they chose. The presentation included information on what their cause was and why they were doing it, why they chose to do their chosen cause and how it went. We were impressed when we heard one group had raised $300 and most raised over $100.
William: In Math we have been learning counting and number patterns. To find the rule you work out the difference between each number.
Leo: In reading we learnt about ellipses. An ellipsis is three dots that can be at the start or end of a sentence. These dots represent information that you are leaving out. An ellipses looks like this …
For example: …holding his breath while submerged in a murky water trough, and riding a cranky ram like a rodeo cowboy.
Sull: In Religion we have been learning about a reading from the book of Matthew. 'For I was hungry and you gave me food…’ can also mean: hungry for shelter, for kindness, for friends and for company.
Alexis, Evie and Maeve: St Mary's has been invited to participate in the Kingston Show’s Children's Events. We are excited about this!
There are awards for the winners of the creative events. Could all children ask their parents if they can be there on the day for the group activities? Our fabulous, amazing, extremely beautiful Years 5 and 6s are competing in the contest which includes questions about farm equipment, identifying farm animals, a team based problem solving class; and last but not least, a timed obstacle course or a series of team challenges. Please let Sue know if you are able to go. We will also need a parent to be there on the day with us if possible.
The activities that we are competing in are: 3D articles of natural and/or recycled materials; arrangement of flowers in a jam jar; Christmas cards; Painted Rocks; Photography - the theme is "Where I Live"; Painting (any subject); and Drawing (any subject). The children will get a chance to pick two categories each to compete in. We will make some of these at school and we can make as many as we like at home as well.
The ribbon prize will be awarded to first, second and third places and some points will be awarded to the school: 5 points for first place, 4 points for second and three points for third, as well as 1 point for every entry your students submit. The school with the most points in the show will be awarded $100.
We would like to say a big thanks to the teachers for all the opportunities that St Mary's students are given to participate in these kinds of events.
Junior Joy
We have been investigating what JOY means to each of us and what fills us with joy.
Adelaide: Joy means being really happy about something. Spending time with people in my family brings me joy.
Quinn: Joy means being happy. Spending time with my Mum is when I feel joy.
Paige: I feel joy when I am with my family because I am really really happy when I am with them.
Kaezia: Seeing my Dad and spending time with my family brings me joy. Going to school with friends brings me joy too. Joy is being very very very happy.
Jeremiah: Staying with my family at home. Joy is happy.
Patrick: Joy means that you are really really happy. Playing with my friends and riding my motorbike fill me with joy.
Vanessa: Playing with Smudge makes me feel joy. Joy is when you are very happy.
In Maths we have also been working on our Addition and Subtraction strategies.
Patrick: I like to use repeated addition which is multiplication when I can.
Kaezia: I have been working on my doubles and near doubles facts.
Vanessa: Doubles.
During Literacy class we have been working with short and long vowel phonemes.
Adelaide: My name starts with a short vowel phoneme /a/ as in ant.
Quinn: My name has the short vowel phoneme /i/ as in tin.
Paige: My name has the long vowel phoneme /ai/ as in snail.
Jeremiah: My name has 2 short vowels in in it.
We are busily preparing for Grandparents and Special Persons day. We are looking forward to having our visitors here next Monday, showing them our school and what we have been learning as well as spending time with them.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthday to Quinn Slater who turned 8 years old on Saturday, 21st October. Congratulations Quinn, we all hope you had a wonderful day!
Child Safety Information – all on website
As is stated on our Vision and Mission, our schools ‘…are committed to the safety, wellbeing and inclusion of all children and young people.’ Our procedures and policies are now in line with the 11 Child Safe Standards and can be found on the St Mary's website under the tab – Child Safety.
Beleza School Uniforms
Please see below for updated information from Beleza School Uniforms. The Office has copies of the Uniform pricelist available for families.