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Dear Parents, Guardians and Community,
It is sadness that we share the news of the passing of Jim Sheedy, the previous Principal of St Mary's. Jim was Principal at St Mary's for 10 years before moving to St George Preca for the last few years, retiring at the end of last year. I first came across Jim over twenty years ago when he was the advisor to a school where I was working, St Paul's Coburg, coincidentally where his brother Paul, was the Principal. Jim was a devoted and passionate educator and will be sadly missed by his family, friends and the communities he has worked in. His funeral will take place on Friday the 17th of November at St Augustine's Yarraville at 11am, which many of our staff will be attending. I do make a special request that for families to keep your children home if you can on that day as we will be operating with very few staff on that day as many of us will be attending the funeral. It is not a student free day as we understand some families will still need to send their children to school. It will just allow us to manage the day easier with many staff away. Please keep Jim's family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.
We have rescheduled our Parent Learning Walk for next Thursday. We should have checked the calendar more closely, trying to organise anything in a shortened week was not a great idea. So the Parent Learning Walk next Thursday ( the 16th) at 9 will be visiting our Year Prep to Year 2 classes to look at how we teach phonics. At St Mary's we use the Little Learners Love Literacy program which would be classified as a Explicit Systematic Synthetic approach to the teaching of phonics. That is we teach very directly about it, it has a system and we teach the sounds first and then blending into words. It is a sound by sound approach.
Bike Checks. We have Bike Checks on Thursday for our Year 3/4 Students and Thursday for our 5/6 Students. With extra bikes on site we will organise a couple of extra parking spots.
God bless
Anthony
St Mary's Families Supporting Each Other
Financially: Did you know that families often financially donate to support other families. This may come in the form of offering to pay for another families school fees, camp fees or other costs. We cannot give money to another family directly, however we can use that money to supplement their school fees, camp fees etc.)To support another family in our school, use our normal bank account with a reference;
ST MARY'S FAMILY SUPPORT DONATION
Bank Account BSB 083 347 Account Number: 658206494
Second Hand Uniform Shop: Many families donate old uniforms to our second hand shop. These second hand uniforms are either resold or donated to families in our school.
Book Exchange: Did you know we have a book exchange near the entry of our school? Many families use this to donate and swap books.
St Mary's Parish School Building fund (Tax Deductable) You may also choose to support the school by making a donation to the St Mary's Parish School Building Fund. All donations to this fund are tax deductable. Funds can only be spent on a set criteria which include building maintenance, repair, replacement or a new building. BSB: 083 347 Account Number: 153900034
The Victorian Government is investing $1.5 million from the Recreational Fishing Licence Trust Fund to provide up to 95,000 Little Angler Kits to primary school aged children in Victoria.
The free kits provide a wonderful school holiday activity for children with their families and help ease the cost of living, providing a fun activity close to home.
Grade 5 students at all Victorian schools, including ours, will be offered the opportunity to receive a FREE Little Angler Kit. Grade 5 students have been selected based on the Victorian Curriculum focus, movement and motor development, and safety considerations.
The program is entirely voluntary. Schools were provided with the option to opt out of the program. Our school has opted to stay in the program so that parents can decide whether they want their child(ren) to receive a free fishing kit.
Parents of Grade 5 students can advise the school if they do not wish their child(ren) to participate for any reason whatsoever. We support parents in making decisions that align with their family values and beliefs.
The roll out of kits will occur through the second half of 2023 (16 October - 4 December) so that all participating children will have a kit in time for the summer school holidays.
The kits include a rod, reel with line, tackle tray, some tackle and information on how to use them to catch a fish. Please note that the tackle tray includes fishing hooks. The tackle tray will be wrapped in cardboard and placed inside a pocket inside the fishing kit bag, which will be sealed with a cable tie to discourage students from opening their kits until they are with a parent or carer.
Kits will be handed out to students to take home with them as soon as the school receives them. Teachers will tell students not to open the kits until they are safely at home with a parent or carer, however parents can contact the school and request to collect their kit from the school themselves if they prefer.
The Victorian Fisheries Authority will create a Little Angler hub on their website, which will be live when the kits start being distributed. It will have useful information, instructional videos and online resources about where and how to fish linking to existing resources from Fishcare and new resources to be produced just for the Little Angler Kits program.
This initiative aims to grow recreational fishing participation in Victoria by actively encouraging primary school aged children to learn how to fish, as well as learning more about marine life and the natural environment.
St Mary’s Faith News
School and Parish Connections
Gospel – Matthew 23:1-12
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues,
greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’
As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Some important dates to Remember for Term 4
Event |
Date |
Time |
Where |
Remembrance Day |
Friday 10th November |
10:45 am |
School Playground |
Advent Liturgy 1 |
Friday 24th November |
3:00 pm |
School Hall |
Prep family Mass & St Mary’s family Mass |
Sunday 26th November |
10:30 am |
Church |
Seniors Mass |
Friday 1st December |
11:30 am |
Church |
Advent Liturgy 2 |
Friday 1st December |
3:00 pm |
School Hall |
Feast of the Immaculate Conception |
Friday 8th December |
9:15 am |
Church |
Advent Liturgy 3 |
Friday 8th December |
3:00 pm |
School Hall |
End of Year Mass |
Thursday 14th December |
11:30 am |
Church |
Colour Explosion Jogathon
A huge thank you to all the students, teachers and volunteers who enthusiastically participated in our first St Mary’s Colour Explosion jogathon last Friday.
Students had a fantastic day, embracing the entire event – from the warm-up exercises, the colour and water stations to the bubbles and dance time.
Thank you to our students and families who have been busy fundraising. If you haven’t donated yet, there’s still time. Please follow the simple steps below:
- Go to australianfundraising.com.au
- Click on ‘Login’ and select ‘School Run 4 Fun’
- Search “St Mary’s School – Williamstown”
Please note, all donations must be submitted by this Friday 10 November.
A huge thanks to all the parents who helped on Friday, helping set-up, run the event, cook the BBQ, distribute icy poles or help pack-up – it was a massive team effort. Special thanks to Mrs Cooke, our wonderful PE teacher who helped bring the event to life.
Special thanks to Treehaus Williamstown who have continued to generously support this event and help make it such a brilliant day.
Congratulations to Prep L, the class who have so far raised the most amount of money. They were the lucky recipients of ‘slime time’, playing with slime after completing the jogathon.
Once the fundraising portal closes on Friday, we can turn our attention to the allocation of incentive prizes for those students who qualify. Prizes will be distributed to students at school in the coming weeks and we’ll keep you updated on timing.
St Mary's School is a Child Safe School and as such complies with all aspects and legal obligations that relate to the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (VIC)