Dear Parents, Guardians and Community, 

Heavenly Father,

Thank you that you are a generous God and that you give us so many good things.

We are sorry that we are not always generous with others.

Please help us this week to be kind, to do our very best,

and to be generous when we are helping others.

The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. The purpose of NAPLAN is to provide a snapshot of students' literacy and numeracy skills, which can be used to identify areas where they may need additional support. The results of NAPLAN are used by schools, governments, and education researchers to monitor student progress and inform policy decisions. NAPLAN is not a pass or fail test, but rather a diagnostic tool to improve educational outcomes for all students. We wish all our students all the best for their efforts.

Teeth on Wheels: On Thursday, we have Teeth On Wheels on site for those students who have booked a dentist visit. It is one of the partnerships we have to support the families of our school.

Harmony Day: Friday March 24. We will be celebrating Harmony Day next Friday. Harmony Day is a day we acknowledge diversity and inclusivity in our community. Students will be participating in activities throughout the day.

Science Week: August 12 to 20.  We are looking for some Parent Volunteers to run some science activities during Science Week. We have a number of parents who work in the science industries and it would be wonderful if they could share some of their world with our students. It would require you to do a lesson perhaps 30 to 60 minutes. Normally we try to match you with the class of your child. I did do this with my last school in Darwin and we had many parents come in and run activities including a shark being cut up, students looking inside their ears on the big screen, geologists surveying the school with students to students doing medical science looking at broken bones. If you think you would like to be involved send me an email principal@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au or speak to me while I do morning duty.

2024 Enrolments. Enrolment tours are keeping me very busy at the moment. I am averaging about two a day which I really enjoy doing showcasing our school. When I tour the school it is a 'warts and all' tour, so there is no warning to students and staff. It is our biggest seller as I know when I go to classes they are settled, under control and good teaching is happening. It is nice to get through that covid bump that affected, not only us, but most schools as we return to a sense of normal.

God Bless

Anthony

Reading with your child and reading to your child

In the early years of schooling your child will be bringing books home.  The reading practice they get by reading schoolbooks every night is invaluable to reading progress.  When reading the books with your child, also take the time to talk about the book.  Discuss the cover, talk about the pictures and predict with your child what might happen next.

Along with reading with your child, it is also good practice to read to your child. Bedtime stories where a book or part of a book is read each night is a way to encourage children to engage with books and build vocabulary and language skills. Talking about the stories also develops meaningful interactions between parent and child.

 References

Studies have shown that the types of interactions between parent and child can result in a more than 30 million words gap between children by the time they are three years old.  (Hart & Risely 2016)

Kind regards,

Mala Ferdinando

Speech Pathology for Schools

www.speech.edu.au

St Mary’s Faith News

School and Parish Connections

Gospel – Sunday 12th March 2023

John 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42

 

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?”

Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;

but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.

God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.”

Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.”

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him.

When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.

Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

 

Project Compassion

 

‘Working together for justice and dignity. Walking together in hope. Building together a thriving future for all.’

 

This week the Charism team visited each class and using the Project Compassion poster asked each class how much money they hoped we would raise as a school and what they hoped we could do with the money raised.

The senior year levels hoped we could raise an amazing $5,000.

Interestingly the junior year levels hoped that each class could raise $50.00.

What is evident is the children want to help, so now they need to start filling the Project Compassion boxes.

There are some Year 4 students who have started an industrious fundraiser in support of Project compassion. Other such fundraising ideas initiated by the children are welcome - children just need to seek approval from Mr Anthony.

 

Other ways the children can contribute are:

1. Put some of their pocket money into the box.
2. Choose to donate icy pole money.
3. If the children have given up a treat - try and donate the cost, so the children can see their abstaining is benefiting someone else.

Lenten Liturgies

There will be a Lenten Liturgy held every Friday afternoon in the school hall at 3:00pm.

The Liturgy will be followed by the school assembly, where Student of the week and birthdays will be celebrated.

 

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing as many of you at the next few Liturgies/assemblies.

 

Some important Dates to Remember for Term 1

There has been a change in date

March 17th is St Patrick’s day and then we have a clash with Naplan!

Event	Date	Time	Where
Feast of St Joseph - led by Yr 4	22nd March	9:15	Church

 

 

Sacramental Program 2023

All dates and times for the Sacrament Masses are outlined in the table below. Year 4 and Year 6 students will be making their Eucharist and Confirmation as a class this year. Early in Term 2 we will open the ‘booking online’ for parents in Year 3 to make a time for their child to make their Reconciliation.

 

Sacrament	Term	Date	Where	Notes
Reconciliation	2	Tuesday 20th, Wednesday 21st, Friday 23rd June Time: 4:00-6:00 and Saturday 24th June Time: 10:00-12:00 am	Church	Will need to book a time early in Term 2
Eucharist - Year 4RM	2	Sunday 28th May 10:30 am	Church	No booking required
Eucharist - Year 4H	2	Sunday 4th June 10:30 am	Church	No booking required
Confirmation - 6D	3	Tuesday 22nd August - 6:00pm	Church	No booking required
Confirmation - 6B	3	Wednesday 23rd August - 6:00pm	Church	No booking required

 

 

 

Information Sessions for the Sacramental Program

 

Sacrament	Date and Time	Location	Presenter
Reconciliation - Students and parents	Wednesday 24th May 7:00 pm	School Hall	Maria Forde
Eucharist - students and parents	Wednesday 10th May 7:00 pm	School Hall	Denise Arnel
Confirmation	Thursday 20th July 6:30 pm	School Hall	Fr Elio Capra

 

Altar Servers

Any student in Years 3, 4, 5 or 6 who would like to train as an Altar server, please contact with Fr Greg at greg.trythall@cam.org.au or Mrs Lipnicki at clipnicki@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au.

Training will be organised by Fr Greg. Fr Greg will also put together a roster which he will share with families.

 

 

 

Harmony Week 20th-26th March

What is Harmony Week?

Harmony Week is a time to celebrate Australian multiculturalism, and the successful integration of migrants into our community. Australia is one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world and we should celebrate this and work to maintain it. The message of Harmony Week is everyone belongs. It is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values. Did you know? 

• Nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was.

• We identify with over 300 ancestries.

• Since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia.

• 85 per cent of Australians agree multiculturalism has been good for Australia.

• Apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi.

• More than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.

 These facts are taken from ABS 2016 Census Data. Check out the Australian Bureau of Statistics website. 

On the 3rd of March, the students and teachers of St Mary’s went around our local area and picked up rubbish to do our part in Clean Up Australia Day.

We wanted to participate in Clean up Australia Day because we wanted to reduce our carbon footprint, beautify our space and protect our local flora and fauna. Different year levels had their own spaces to look after.

What can you do to continue to help?

We ask that you continue to help our environment by not littering and putting your waste in the bin! This means putting your rubbish in the bin, especially food packets and icy-pole wrappers either in your pocket to take home or in the rubbish bin.

By: The Sustainability Team