Newsletter - 24th April 2024

Upcoming Events

25th April:  ANZAC Day Public Holiday

29th April & 20th May:  Years 3-6 Golf Clinic, 2:25pm-3:10pm

6th May:  Little Feet, Big Footprints Session at St Patrick's Gordon for Year 6 students

9th May:  Athletics Carnival at Llanberris Reserve

10th May:  Mother's Day Liturgy and Afternoon Tea at 2pm

12th May:  Mother's Day

15th May:  Football Carnival

26th May:  National Sorry Day

29th May:  Catholic Education Week commences

31st May:  Netball Carnival

7th June:  School Closure Day - ReLate Wellbeing PD for Staff

10th June:  King's Birthday Holiday

13th June:  School Photos

19th June:  Inform and Empower Parent Session at Ballan

28th June:  Last Day of Term 2

Principal's Message

Dear Families,

As we approach ANZAC Day this Thursday, it is important for us, as a Catholic school community, to reflect on the significance of this day. The children have been learning about this in class over the past 2 weeks and I hope they have been sharing their learnings with you. 

ANZAC Day is a time for remembrance, honoring the brave men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country. We also remember their families who endured the pain of separation and loss and those who continue to serve in our defense forces, protecting our freedoms and way of life.

May we use this day as an opportunity to instill in our students the importance of gratitude, respect, and service to others. Through learning about the ANZACs and their legacy, may our students be inspired to live out the values of peace, justice, and reconciliation in their own lives.

I am delighted that many of us will join together at the Bungaree Recreation Reserve Memorial on ANZAC Day in prayer for peace, for our nation, and for all those who have served and continue to serve. We also look forward to the tradition of ‘walking the hill’ this morning to visit the lone pine which was planted more than 15 years ago and reflecting on the service of our ANZACs.

Lest we forget.

Clare

A Prayer for ANZAC Day

Dear Lord,

On this ANZAC Day, we come together as a school community to remember and honor the brave men and women who served our country with courage and sacrifice. We remember those who gave their lives so that we may live in peace and freedom.

We pray for all the soldiers who fought on distant shores, enduring hardship and danger for the sake of others. May their bravery inspire us to always stand up for what is right and just.

We also remember the families of the servicemen and women, who waited and worried, and who felt the pain of loss deeply. Grant them comfort and strength, and may their sacrifices never be forgotten.

Help us to learn from the lessons of history, so that we may strive for peace and understanding in our world today. Give us the wisdom to work towards a future where conflict is replaced with harmony, and where all people can live in dignity and security.

As we gather to pay our respects, we ask for your blessing upon our nation and all those who serve it. May we never forget the spirit of ANZAC, and may we always strive to uphold the values of courage, mateship, and sacrifice.  Amen.

ANZAC Day Ceremony - Bungaree

Welcome

We are delighted to welcome Fr Justin Driscoll to our school and parish community. Fr Justin is now the Parish Priest for the Ministry District: Ballarat East, Bungaree and Gordon Parishes. We also welcome Assistant Priest, Fr Matthew Restall to our community.  Fr Justin and Fr Matthew look forward to meeting students, staff and our whole school community soon.  Fr Justin will be celebrating Mass at Clarkes Hill on Saturday evening at 6.30pm. If you are present at the mass, please introduce yourselves and your children when you can.

Mother's Day Celebration

The St Mary's Mother's Day Celebration will take place on Friday, 10th May at 2:00pm.  All mothers, friends and community members are welcome to come along and help celebrate the wonderful mothers in our lives.  Please let the School Office know if you are able to attend to assist with catering numbers.  We look forward to seeing you then!

Auslan

Auslan (Australian Sign Language) commenced in our classrooms this term from Foundation - Year 6, through an approach called Teachers as Co-Learners (TCL).  TCL empowers classroom teachers to lead short, language-focused sessions daily.  Children and teachers are co-learners of the language.  The teacher is not expected to be the expert and is supported by our expert language assistant Chantelle Stacey.  Chantelle joined us on Monday morning and will join us for a session in each classroom every Monday morning for the rest of the year.

Auslan in the West founders Briana and Darren Beath also support our program and feature in videos outlining the learning each day.  Please encourage your children to share with you what they have learnt in Auslan each day, you might even see them using the signs at home. 

Paw Pals

On Tuesday, 7th May we will welcome Kathleen Anderson from MacKillop Institute with her dog Millie. Kathleen runs a program called Paw Pals.   The program focuses on building student engagement and confidence through animal assisted activities working alongside a trained therapy dog and Kath, the program facilitator. Kath and Millie will work with several students in the Paw Pals Program every Tuesday for an hour session.

The Paw Pals Program aims to:

• increase social confidence and emotional intelligence
• improve self-regulation and behavioural management skills
• increase student engagement in academic based learning tasks
• deliver positive learning experiences and opportunities for student success

We look forward to welcoming Kath and Millie to school on the 7th May.

ANZAC Day

Tomorrow, our students will raise the flag and lay a wreath at the ANZAC Ceremony at the Bungaree Recreation Reserve Memorial at 8am.   We are very proud of our students for doing this and thank the parents for their support too.  Everyone is welcome to come along, students in full winter school uniforms as they proudly represent their school.

Our sincere thanks to Emma Montano from Springfield Blooms who kindly made and donated the wreath.

Student News

Term two has started really well!

We have started learning Auslan, so far we have learnt how to say hello and goodbye, please and thank you and I am feeling sick and I am feeling better. We met Chantelle who is deaf and she will be helping us by making sure we have the right hand movements. She was born deaf but they don’t know why, her parents are hearing and she has a daughter and she can hear.

We have been talking about the resurrection and how it is all about hope. Did you know that Vinnies has been running for 170 years? They bring a lot of hope to people and we are helping them celebrate their birthday by writing messages of hope. You will see more about this soon.

We have also been learning about ANZAC Day and we are looking forward to walking up to see the lone pine on Clarkes Hill. ANZAC Day came about because of the landing at Gallipoli on 25th April back in 1915. So many soldiers lost their lives that day and from that day on, every year since we remember them.
It has been good learning about ANZAC Day and we have all researched a topic that we were interested in. We will make a speech as part of our ceremony. We made ANZAC biscuits on Tuesday and we are going to eat them at the top of Clarkes Hill. Yum!

School Advisory Council

The St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School Advisory Council (SAC) meets throughout the school year.  “The SAC is the leading advisory group for the Principal, as an active forum for parent and community participation, providing support and advice in strategic planning, school improvement, educational outcomes and stewardship of resources”. (Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited - DOBCEL).

The 2024 SAC is made up of the following members: Principal: Clare Scanlon and Parent Representatives: Bryden Gage, Melinda Prendergast, Amelia Singline and Bec Slater. I would like to thank the SAC members for the fantastic work that they do in guiding and assisting our St. Mary’s school community.

School TV - Special Report: Trauma Recover

Trauma in children significantly disturbs their sense of safety and normalcy, leading to substantial emotional and behavioural changes. Such disturbances often result from exposure to traumatic events, which may be exacerbated by continuous media coverage. This exposure can trigger stress, anxiety, and trauma, with varying recovery timelines due to the unpredictable nature of trauma's impact. Observing young people grappling with these effects can be highly distressing for parents and caregivers.

It's important to establish a nurturing environment to help restore a child's sense of security to help promote resilience. Active involvement in their recovery is essential, as is recognising the unique, personalised needs of each child in responding to trauma. Depending on their age, children may present with different symptoms, such as regressive behaviours in younger ones or withdrawal and agitation in older children and teens. It is important to monitor and manage the type of information children may access to reduce their emotional distress.

The brain stores traumatic events as powerful emotional memories, influencing behaviour through mechanisms beyond a child's conscious awareness. By providing young people with support and equipping them with coping mechanisms to handle uncertainty, parents and carers can greatly enhance a child's capacity to recover and build long-term emotional resilience.

This Special Report will help you identify a child experiencing trauma and how you can support them to overcome it. Please see the link below to the special report:

Our Diocesan Community

The latest edition of Our Diocesan Community has now been published and is available by clicking on the link below:

The magazine contains good news stories of our schools, parishes and agencies across the diocese.

Past Student News

Past student Harry Browne has been having great success in the swimming pool. After winning at his school sports, then local schools' swimming competition, he continued onto the Grampians District School Swimming Competition, held recently in Horsham.

After winning at the Grampian District competition, Harry was invited to compete in the State Level Swimming Competition at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre on the 19th of April, to compete in the 50m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly.  Harry continued on his winning spree by placing third in backstroke and  walked away with a bronze medal.  Congratulations Harry!