Newsletter - 22nd May 2024

Upcoming Events

24th May:  Parrwang Lifts the Sky Excursion, Ballarat Civic Hall

26th May:  National Sorry Day

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

15th July:  Term 3 commences

Principal's Message

Dear Families,

Can you believe we are already halfway through Term 2? We have had a busy 2 weeks since the last newsletter.  What a blessing it was to be with so many mothers, grandmothers, aunties and wonderful women who have loved and mothered the children in our community last Monday. It was wonderful to see such a great turn out to our liturgy and afternoon tea and the chatter afterwards was uplifting. I received a letter this week from a community member thanking us for the invitation.  I am in the process of getting a list together of community members to invite to school events so if you know of anyone that would like to be on the list, please let me know.

Thank you to the parents who attended the meeting on Thursday with Acting Director of DOBCEL, Matt Byrne and Jo-Anne Bond, Education Consultant.  It was heartwarming to listen to Matt and Jo-Anne talk about the future of St Mary’s and to hear the conversations. I am delighted to announce we have secured 2 enrolments for Foundation next year.  Thank you for the work you are doing in promoting our school and don’t forget to comment, like and share our social media posts.

Take care,

Clare

National Simultaneous Storytime

Today the students participated in the National Simultaneous Storytime. This year the book is by an Australian author and illustrator, Aura Parker and is called Bowerbird Blues. Students read the book at the same time as other students across Australia. 

$400 School Saving Bonus

The Allan Labor Government has announced a $400 School Saving Bonus for all school students in government school regardless of income, but only for families that hold a Health Care Card in Catholic schools. We feel that this is unfair. We strongly believe that the payment should be means tested for all students or apply to all students. This decision punishes families for choosing to send their children to a Catholic school. St Mary’s School, DOBCEL and the Victorian Catholic Education Authority are working hard to change this decision and we are asking for your help.

Please find attached an email template that can be used, and we ask that you please consider contacting a local Member of Parliament to express your concerns. Our local member for parliament is Michaela Settle and she can be contacted on 5331 7722 or Michaela.Settle@parliament.vic.gov.au 

Sovereign Division Netball

Next Friday, 31st May Alexis, Evie and Maeve will be combining with students from St Brigid’s Ballan and St Patrick’s Gordon to participate in the Goldfields Netball Carnival at Selkirk Stadium.  We wish Alexis, Evie and Maeve well as they represent our school.

Loreto Production - Mary Poppins

What a wonderful experience to see the very talented students at Loreto perform Mary Poppins on Tuesday.  Some students were on the edge of their seats as they watched and listened to the incredible performers.  It will be time now for us to start thinking about our concert and who knows, maybe a class from Loreto will come and watch our dress rehearsal!

Skyler  - It was a really good show and I loved the one where the lady with the red hair was singing and dancing. My favourite actor was Bert and all the chimney sweepers.

Genevieve - I liked when the disco light shined all the dots everywhere.  I think I got a dot on me.  I liked the end when Mary Poppins flew off and I could see her going around the room.

Adelaide - I liked everything about the show.  Mary Poppins was my favourite and I loved her outfit. It was funny when she went upside down. 

Ellie - I loved the start of Mary Poppins and I wanted it to go back to the start so I could watch it all over again. I liked Mary Poppins the best because it looked like she was in the sky. 

Discount Deal for Family Tickets to Mary Poppins

Loreto College have written to us, thanking us for our unwavering support and enthusiasm during yesterday’s dress rehearsal of "Mary Poppins." They said it was truly heartening to see our school community present, and your encouragement meant a great deal to everyone involved in the production.

As a token of Loreto's appreciation for our support, they are offering a special discount of 30% off ticket sales to all members of our school community for our upcoming performances of "Mary Poppins."

Tickets can be purchased via try booking using the link below.  Please use the discount code: PRIMARYMP24

Our community's support is much appreciated by Loreto College and they look forward to welcoming our families to their upcoming performances.

North Room News

Last week was Family Week and on Monday we had a special guest from CatholicCare. Her name was Kalma and she shared stories with us and we talked about Human Dignity which is one of the Catholic Social Teachings. Monday was a lovely day because we also got to celebrate our mums and the special women in our lives at the Mothers' Day Liturgy and present our guests with gifts and share afternoon tea with them.

We have had a busy time in the North Room since our last newsletter. We have been investigating Biological Science focusing on living creatures and we are about to begin exploring  Australian native animals.  

We have been enjoying golf sessions with Tony Collier as part of our Physical Education program.  We continue to enjoy welcoming the playgroup children to our school and sometimes our classroom. 

Each Thursday afternoon we have been involved in the Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships with a current focus on emotions. We have also begun to learn about our 8th sense, Interoception.  Interoception is the sense that allows us to know how we are feeling at any moment in time. What signals are your body sending you? How are you feeling? 

In maths we have been learning all about number and addition and subtraction. We have been working towards recognising the number form, written word form and quantity. We are also learning about measurement in particular length at the moment. The language that you might hear your child using words such as short, shorter, shortest,  tall, taller, tallest when they are comparing the length of items. 

Meet the Authors - North Room

Last week we read a book called I Went Walking by Sue Williams and Julie Vivas.  After reading the book we went for a walk around the school to see what we could see.  Clare took photos of us around the school and then we went back into the classroom and wrote our own story and published it in a book. After publishing the book we read them to our buddies in the South Room.  We loved making the book and even put a price on the back!

News from the South Room

It’s been another busy couple of weeks with lots of learning and other events happening.

MOTHER’S DAY

Last Monday we celebrated Mother’s Day with our mums and other special people. 

Kaezia - My favourite part of our Mother’s Day celebration was having my mum at school with me. 

Pat - The best part for me was having my mum and my two nanas there with me.

AUSLAN

We continue our daily Auslan lessons.

Kamden - I love how we don’t need to talk when signing and it is good learning Auslan because we can talk to people who can’t hear.      

Alexis - I love learning Auslan. It is fun and easy to learn and also inclusive of people who have the disability of being deaf. 

PAWPALS   

Some of us are participating in the PawPals Program

Quinn - Kath runs PawPals with Millie. Kath is the person and Millie is the dog. Kath has another dog named Buzz. Buzz is a golden retriever. I’m learning about dog expressions and facial expressions and I'm really enjoying it because we get to do a lot of fun activities while we are learning.

Vanessa - Kath brings her dog Milile in each week. We do activities with Millie and we talk about feelings.

LITTLE FEET BIG FOOTPRINTS

The Grade 6 students recently participated in their Term 2 Little Feet Big Footprints day. 

Evie - It was so fun to see everyone from St Michael’s and the kids from St Augustine's. We had started our high school groups to get more comfortable when we go to high school. I really liked meeting the different people that might be in my class next year.  We have started our year 6 projects. Maeve and I are doing Dolly’s Dream.

Emilia - When the teenagers did their performance - each captain of the high school gave a speech, Evie and I gave them pens and torches, I  felt happy to do this. I thought their speeches were great.

Maeve - LFBF  was great. I made friends and everyone was really nice. The year 6 project is really fun and I’m looking forward to doing it. The Loreto group were really nice so I'm excited to go to the next LFBF to see everyone. I really liked listening to the Loreto Captain’s speech. It was helpful for my future at Loreto. They have inspired me to join anything I can.

Leah - I enjoyed the day, there were lots of children from all different schools. I liked being at another school.

GOLF

On Monday we had our second golf clinic with Tony.

Will - I learnt how to hold onto the club properly and swing better.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to Leo who will turn 11 on Sunday, 26th May.  We hope you have a great day Leo!

Free Parent & Carer Information Session

The Ballarat East Neighbourhood House and CAFS (Children & Family Services) are hosting a FREE parent and carer information session on gaming and gambling.  

There are two sessions are taking place on Monday, 27^th May 2024 in the Ballarat East Neighbourhood House Community Room, Barkley Square – Ballarat East.

Free Parent and Carer Information Session

Morning Session: REGISTER NOW - 10.00 am - 11.30 am, Monday 27 May

Afternoon Session: REGISTER NOW - 5.30 pm - 7.00 pm, Monday 27 May

The Ballarat community lost $64.3 million on Poker Machines over the 2022-2023 financial year.

This equates to $175,000 per day. Sadly, the figures continue to rise, and our young people are increasingly targeted through advertising and gaming.

The financial loss to Victorians through gambling, was $7.41 billion in 2022/23.  Our kids are being exposed to gambling through gaming and advertising. Never before has gambling been so heavily promoted and accessible. Microtransactions, found in gaming, is a market that is expected to reach $117.95 billion by 2027.

Parents and Carers, are invited to come and learn about the key issues related to gambling and young people and how they can help their young person develop informed attitudes to gambling and healthy gaming habits. Linda and Jo from Ballarat Cafs (Children and Family Services) will present the free session, hosted by the Ballarat East Neighbourhood House.

Reconciliation Week Events

Moorabool Shire Council is hosting some events – including two flag-raising events across Bacchus Marsh and Ballan – to acknowledge National Reconciliation Week, which is coming up on 23^rd May.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

National Reconciliation Week 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. The theme this year is ‘Now More than Ever’.  Please see the flyer for more information.

Child Safety Information

During these last two terms, we have published information relating to the 11 Child Safe Standards.  Please head to our website if you would like further information regarding these.