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Dear Parents, Community and Guardians,
To all the mums, grandmothers and special women in our school community. I hope you had a lovely day with your family on Sunday and that the time spent together was very special.
A Prayer for Mothers
We thank you Lord for the great gift of motherhood.
It is within our mother’s womb, that we began life.
It is in her embrace that we have known safety and comfort.
It is through her encouragement that we grow and mature.
Lord, bless our mothers.
Draw close to them and hear their prayers for their children.
Give them the grace of surrendered love
–a love that images the love of our heavenly mother, Mary.
May all mothers find daily the strength to love generously,
the patience to endure graciously,
and the grace to live their vocation of motherhood joyously.
We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ,
Amen.
Thanks you to our Parents and Friends group for their efforts with the Mother's Day breakfast and the Mother's day Stall. Your efforts were appreciated by staff and students and the rest of the community. Thanks also to our Year 4 students and staff, who led our Mother's Day Mass. On Friday this week we have a special celebration for our Grade 5 and 6 mums who may have missed out because their children were in Canberra last week.
This week we have the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy. (NAPLAN) These assessments take place in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across Australia. NAPLAN has been part of the school calendar since 2008. NAPLAN consists of tests in the four areas: Reading, Writing, Language Convention (spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. These will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. Best wishes to our Year 3 and Year 5 student who will participate in NAPLAN this week. Each student receives a report that indicates their results in Numeracy, Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar, writing and reading. Naplan is one of many assessments that schools complete on student achievement. It must be remembered that Naplan is a one off test and some students achieve better than others in test environments and may not be a true indicator of how a student is achieving. St Mary's does not teach to the tests, however we may have lessons to show students how the questions work, how to answer a multi-choice question and other things they may not be familiar with. We always focus on the whole child and know that each student has gifts and skills across a range of areas.
School Camp: Our students returned with great stories from their week in Canberra. For some it is hard to tell what was the highlight... Parliament House, the War Memorial, The Mint... or... the bus trip to and from the camp. Once again, thanks to the staff who gave up their time to make this a success for the students.
Michael Grose Parenting Seminar: Don't forget to book your ticket for the Michael Grose Parenting Seminar Ticket -$20. August 3rd 7 to 8:30. Michael is the author of several books on parenting and is very well respected.
God Bless and Stay Safe
Anthony
Dear Lord,
help me - every single morning - to find faith in the midst of the chaos. Give me the desire and ability to see You, hear You, talk to You, and give thanks to You. And as I do, I pray that I will draw nearer and nearer to You, and that my faith will multiply exponentially as I understand in new, deeper ways that You are everything I ever hoped You would be. And so much more.
Amen.
Upcoming Events
Term 2 |
|
Friday 14th May 2.40pm
In the church |
Mother’s Day Liturgy (for children who were away on camp last week)
Years 5 / 6 only Mothers and significant female relatives welcome
Please scan QR code in church on the day
Cup of tea afterwards in the Parish Centre |
Wednesday 19th May 6.30pm
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE!! |
Year 4 & 5 Combined Eucharist Parent Night in the school hall
*** Parents Only***
Covid QR code will be provided on the night |
Wednesday 26th May 9.15am |
200 Years of Catholic School Education Whole School Mass School event only - due to numbers in the church No parents please! |
Saturday 29th May, 6pm Sunday 30th May, 8.30am & 10.30am |
Year 5 First Eucharist
To attend Mass, everyone will need to register their details at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/stmarys
Numbers will be limited to 10 people per family (including the candidate)
|
Tuesday 1st June 4pm |
Year 4 First Eucharist bookings open: Log in code TBA |
Saturday 5th June 6pm |
Year 4 Family Mass
|
Saturday 19th June, 6pm Sunday 20th June, 8.30am & 10.30am |
Year 4 First Eucharist |
Sacrament Dates for Term 3
Confirmation (Year 6)
Tuesday 27th July, 6pm
Wednesday 28th July, 6pm
Thursday 29th July, 6pm
At St Mary’s we are working towards building connections within the school community. We are open to hearing any ideas (old or new) from our families and students, in the hope of further developing initiatives that will benefit students, families and the school.
We are trialling this dialogue with families and students to help create a successful, inclusive and supportive school community.
Students and parents can submit their ideas and suggestions to the box. We request that you include your name, so that we are able to get clarification needed.
The Suggestion box will be located near the automatic glass doors.
School Photos
For those of you who missed photo day, please note that there will be a catch up date on the 28th of June in Hawthorn. This is run by MSP Photography and you will need to make a booking with them on 1800 31 44 80.
We are not accepting any cash payments or late envelopes at the school. If you still need to pay for your photos, this will need to be done online - www.msp.com.au
Please contact MSP Photography beforehand for a personal shootkey code by providing the school name, student name and class. MSP Photography can also be contacted via email on melbourne@msp.com.au
Winter Uniform
All students should now be in full winter uniform, including proper school shoes.
Hair
Hair should be neat and tidy and students with long hair are expected to tie their hair back.
Happy Mother’s Day last week to all the wonderful women in our school community, we hope you all enjoyed the day and maybe a special little gift from the Mother’s Day Stall, with over 520 vouchers sold we are sure that there were lots of love shared on Sunday morning.
On Friday 7th May it was so special to host the Mother’s Day Breakfast, the first community event we could host since COVID-19 changed the way we come together. For the P&F Committee we were so pleased to have celebrated with you all and hope that you enjoyed the morning together with your kids and with one another.
A special thank you to Andrew McKellar for all his work in pulling this together and the support from Ben Zammit, David Velardo, Tim Reynolds, Joel Godde and Paul Winter. A big shout out to Lauren Dittmar and Siobain Loftus for all the work in producing a beautiful slideshow that captured lots of love between families, and not least to all the children for making the colourful rainbow of flowers to greet their mum on arrival – thank you Charlotte Lipnicki and the teaching staff in organising that as a special surprise. It takes a lot of help from a lot people to bring these activities and it is much appreciated.
Mother’s Day Coffee and Croissant – Afternoon Tea
Grade 5&6 mums, aunts, grandmothers and special women in our lives who missed out on breakfast and Mother’s Day Mass due to camp, are invited to a special Liturgy in the church at 2.40pm followed by Afternoon Tea in the Parish Centre at 3pm on Friday 14th May.
If you have not registered please make sure that you fill in the registration form prior to attending.
In keeping with sustainable practices, we ask that you bring along your keep cup, with a lid, on the day for tea and coffee service.
St Marys Disco!
Bring your comfy shoes and your best dancing moves to our school disco on Friday the 4th of June, from 6.00 – 9.00pm. There will be a junior and senior sessions scheduled, to help the little ones not feel too overwhelmed.
- Grades Prep, One & Two will start the night off from 6pm - 7:15pm.
- Grades Three, Four, Five & Six will have their turn from 7:30 - 9pm.
Boogie with your friends in the school hall and have some fun!
The cost per child is $10 and tickets will be available via CDF Pay, and students will be allocated a wristband on the night that will include their emergency contact details. A notice when ticket sales will be available will be sent via Schoolzine App so keep an eye out for that one.
As we're still living within COVID-19 normal the hall is restricted to how many people we can have at one time so there will be a limited, first in, first served, number of kids allowed per session.
Maclean Reserve
Many thanks to Nicole Bennett for coordinating this on behalf of the school community, and thanks to all those who volunteer. Roster details below, if you are unable to make your shift please endeavor to organise someone to take your shift.
- Thursday 13th May – Sheridan McCuthcheon
- Friday 14th May – Eilin Taylor
- Monday 17th May – Emma O’Brien
- Tuesday 18th May – Mariza O’Keefe
- Wednesday 19th May – Gillian Sementilli
- Thursday 20th May – Diem Hoang
- Friday 21st May – Jemima Bowen
Jemima Bowen
P&F President (president@smwiliamstown.catholic.edu.au)
Buongiorno,