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Dear Parents and Community,
It is hard to believe that school finishes in a couple of weeks. The last couple of weeks I have been doing my teacher reflections. Teachers get released for an hour, half of which they write a reflection based on the Teaching Standards and then we meet together to discuss and set some goals or future direction. It is a great opportunity to have a conversation with teachers and I look forward to doing this every Semester.
Confirmation: In week ten, we have managed to fit in Confirmation. It will look very different and Father Greg will be replacing a Bishop and the staff have to stand in as proxy sponsors, but we will be glad that we can celebrate this this year. Thanks to Michelle Ebinger who has managed to organise this in a short space of time.
Staffing News: Helen Miller, our Psychologist, has informed me she is not returning to the school in 2021. Helen has been an a very important member of staff and will be missed. We are currently advertising for this position and already have a number of applicants.
Speech Pathology 2021: In 2021 we will begin to use, "Speech Pathology for Schools" two days per week. Speech Pathology for schools is a major supplier of Speech Pathology in schools and the owner of the business used to work for Catholic Education, so she knows our system well. What impressed us the most was their holistic approach to service and we are excited to be working with them. https://www.speech.edu.au/
Building Project: Our builders have now removed most of their equipment and should be leaving us soon. We are looking forward to getting our footpath back in front of the school.
Going away for the weekend. Can I ask if any family is going away for a weekend and needs to collect their children early, would it be possible to send an email to the office. That way we can be a organised and have the children waiting, rather than office staff having to stop what they are doing and go searching for students. It will just make things a bit easier for us.
God Bless
Anthony
Loving God,
I sense that all is your creation
and everything, and all of us,
are being drawn back toward your loving heart.
Help me to be a person of peace,
To speak about it in an uneasy world,
And to live it among the people
you have put into my life every day.
Light in me a desire to prepare for your coming
to stand in the darkness, waiting, eager and filled with joy.
Year 6 Parents / Guardians
Please ensure that if your child is receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation, that you book a ceremony time and date by logging into:
www.schoolinterviews.com.au and enter the event code 74h3m.
Upcoming Liturgies
As we are still unable to gather as a whole school group in the church, we will continue to provide liturgies of important feast dates and occasions over the loudspeaker.
We are pleased to announce that The Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, has given permission for Father Greg (and any other Parish Priests within the Melbourne archdiocese) to be the main celebrant of Confirmations in place of the Bishop due to general Covid postponements of the Sacrament.
Celebration |
Date |
Year Level |
1st Week of Advent |
Friday 27th November |
Year 1 |
2nd Week of Advent |
Thursday 3rd December |
Year4 |
Feast of the Immaculate Conception liturgy |
Tuesday 8th December |
Year 1 |
Confirmation Ceremony |
Tuesday 8th December 6pm |
Year 6 |
Confirmation Ceremony |
Tuesday 8th December 7.15pm |
Year 6 |
Confirmation Ceremony |
Thursday 10th December 6pm |
Year 6 |
3rd Week of Advent |
Friday 11th December |
Prep |
End of year liturgy |
Wednesday 16th December |
Classroom teachers |
**** Please be aware that Father Greg is on annual leave from Sunday 1st November until Saturday 28th November ****
The Return of Mass
How to Save Your Seat When Mass Returns from 28th November/29th November
As there is a maximum on the number of Mass attendees of 100, please ensure that you register to book your (free) ticket to Mass. This can be done via our website: stmaryswilliamstown.org.au under the heading:
SIGN UP TO ATTEND MASS or by accessing the link:
https://signupgenius.com/go/stmarys
If anyone is unable to access a computer, please phone
Monique Julian (0450 789 951) or Heidi Zahra (0418 456 266) in order for us to book you in.
Thank you for all the families that submitted orders for Christmas cards, the students have done a beautiful job on their artwork. We had a total of 237 orders submitted and we cannot wait for them to arrive. They are due to arrive and orders distributed the week of 30th November.
Volunteers for 2021
We are introducing a new online volunteer form for 2021. There are lots of opportunities to help and support various activities, events or fundraising throughout the year. You may be able to help a little or a lot, all help is appreciated.
To help you having to fill in multiple forms have created an online form that we are asking you to complete by Friday 11th December. For those of you that have already completed the green forms for Maclean Reserve and Icy Poles you don’t need to complete those fields on this form add this to your online form https://forms.gle/4amHWsxmMZNpE1wq8
Don’t forget your raffle tickets! Tickets for our Epic Christmas Raffle are available now!!
Purchase through CDF Pay (https://smwilliamstown.cdfpay.org.au/) until 11.30pm Thursday 10th December.
You can purchase 11 tickets for $20 or 5 tickets for $10.
We have stacks of fabulous prizes to give away including gourmet food and wine baskets, pamper hampers, gift cards, dozens of kids' toy bundles, plus loads of chocolate runner-up prizes. Winners will be drawn on Friday 11th December and prizes distributed the final week of school.
This year ticket numbers will be allocated electronically, so there’ll be no more hunting around for lost tickets in the bottom of your bag or the stationery draw.
So what are you waiting for? Jump on to CDF Pay and get your tickets now.
All money raised will go straight to St Mary's P & F which funds school projects, ancillary costs and community engagement activities.
Lunch Orders
A quick reminder that lunch orders need to be submitted via your CDF Pay account
https://smwilliamstown.cdfpay.org.au/
All orders must be in by 9.30am on Tuesday or Thursday, and to help with planning you can order a couple of weeks ahead.
Please don’t contact the lunch order supplier as they are unable to process any orders after the cut-off which is 9.30am.
If you experience any issues with CDF Pay please contact David Velardo
treasurer@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au
Showbags
Thanks to everyone that ordered a showbag, we raised $370 through the initiative. Many thanks to Lyndall Burgess for coordinating.
If you have any questions or queries for the P & f Committee please submit via email
vicepresident@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au
Many thanks
Jemima Bowen
Vice-President