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Dear Parents, Guardians and Community,
It is great to be back at school this week with the change in restrictions. I try to visit classrooms most days and it was great to see classes settled and back to work. The teachers concentrated on well being last Friday, whereas this week has been back to a normal routine.
Professional Learning. Last week our teachers had a great session with Paul Swan. Paul's work this time was about developing reasoning skills in our students. A student with good reasoning skills is able to think through and solve problems better. Paul's work focused on giving students the time to think through problems and look at different strategies for how to solve a problem. On Tuesday, a team of us worked with Bradley Geise from California. This is part of a system wide project called, "Data Literacy for Continuous School Improvement. We have a number of sessions with Bradley throughout the year. Bradley's work is around looking at different types of data; student data, perception data, demographic data and schools systems and processes. We then use this data to plan for our school improvement.
School Review Update: I have been spending much of my time planning for the School Review. There are two parts to the review. Part one, is on July 16 and involves the official Registration of the school. The School must meet certain criteria to be registered. This ranges from particular wording on the enrolment form to a Bush-fire Management Plan. Part two is the review of what is actually happening in the school. The school is reviewed across the five spheres of Religious Dimension, Learning and Teaching, Leadership and Management, Student Well Being and School Community. Michael Rowland, our reviewer will spend two days at the school, July 29 and 30, looking at documentation, interviewing and observing. A report is then produced that leads to the four year school improvement plan.
Parent Teacher Interviews: Next week school reports go home and the plan is go ahead with our Parent Teacher Interviews. It looks most likely that it will be online, however we are still hoping that they may be able to take place face to face. We have set up the booking sheets and a message will be sent about booking your time, however, please be aware it will most likely be an online meeting. The expectation is that students attend the interviews whether that be online or face to face.
Stay Safe and God Bless
Anthony
Upcoming Events
TERM 3 |
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Tuesday 13th July, 4pm |
Year 6 Confirmation when bookings open: Please log into : https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/
Code: TBA
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Year 6 Confirmation Liturgies
Tuesday 27th July, 6pm Wednesday 28th July, 6pm Thursday 29th July, 6pm |
To attend a liturgy, everyone will need to register their details at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/stmarys
*** numbers for this event will be announced closer to the date****
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Saturday 4th September 6pm
Sunday 5th September 8.30 & 10.30am
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Year 5 First Eucharist
Bookings will be transferred from the original date and time to the new date and times |
TERM 4 |
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Saturday 16th October 6pm
Sunday 17th October 8.30 & 10.30am
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Year 4 First Eucharist
Bookings will be transferred from the original date and time to the new date and times
If these new dates create any problems, then please feel free to contact Father Greg directly |
Here is a link that provides information for families to assist by supporting your child’s wellbeing by exploring concepts such as:
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Understanding emotions
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Personal strengths
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Positive coping
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Problem solving
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Stress management
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Help seeking
These concepts are sourced from the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships program which St Mary’s School use a
resource when teaching Wellbeing and Social Emotional Learning to students.
In continuation of supporting families with guiding students in the online world, please find the following resources to support your family through navigating the world of technology safely with your family.
Please click the link to find a handout with some useful ideas for families on Getting started with parental controls on devices and accounts.
A reminder that there are the following interactive webinars are being offered online by the Australian Government’s e-safety Commissioner to help parents and carers to set up devices and apps to help keep young people safe online.
- Wednesday, the 16th of June at 7:30 – 8:30
Click here to register your attendance: https://register.gotowebinar.com/rt/9188680659348918543
We have moved Jogathon Prizes to Term 3, given the restrictions on visitors in the school. On Friday 23rd July, 2C and 1K children are to wear their sports uniform for a Kelly Sports activity and 1K will be provided with a hot lunch for being the first class to bring back all their jogathon donations as well as raising the highest amount in the school.
Chocolate Drive
Chocolate Boxes are back!! Our annual Cadbury Chocolate Box fundraising drive is on again in 2021 with the money raised helping us to improve the facilities and resources at our school, we appreciate your continued support. On the last day of term, 24th June, each family will be receiving a box of assorted chocolates.
For each fully paid box, your family will receive an entry into the golden raffle to win a $150 voucher to Santorini's.
Due to COVID-19 and the need to reduce cash handling, payment for the boxes will be via the CDF platform. No cash payments.
Should your family not wish to receive a box please contact the office.
Thanks to Craig and the team at Santorini's for their support.
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 endeavour to organise someone to take your shift. Roster listed below provided restrictions are lifted.
- Monday 21st June – Michelle O’Mahoney
- Tuesday 22nd June – Maria Butterfield
- Wednesday 23rd June – Hannah Hage
- Thursday 24th June – Rose Beilby
- Friday 25th June– NO SCHOOL
Term 3 Maclean Reserve Roster
You should have received a term 3 roster volunteer sheet just before lockdown, can we ask that if you are able to volunteer that you email volunteers@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au with your availability between Monday and Friday, contact details and name and grade of eldest child. Alternatively we will use term 2 availability as a guide for term 3, if your availability has changed please email volunteers@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au
Jemima Bowen
P&F President (president@smwiliamstown.catholic.edu.au)
Participate in the survey to help provide information for Metro Trains
There will be upcoming disruptions on the Williamstown Line from August as part of the Ferguson Street Level Crossing Removal Project.
To better understand how this will affect your family, we’ve created a survey asking questions about travel habits and other information.
To access the survey, scan the QR code using your phone’s camera or visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WilliamstownLineSchoolSurvey
Your answers will help us to support your families better during this disruption on the Williamstown Line.
Disruptions on the Williamstown Line
North Williamstown Station will close from Monday 2 August. A shuttle bus service will be in place to take passengers to neighbouring stations during this time. Williamstown Line trains will not stop at North Williamstown Station.
Buses replace trains between Newport and Williamstown from 8.30pm Friday 20 August to last service Friday 12 November, while works take place.
For further details and to plan your journey, visit ptv.vic.gov.au or call 1800 800 007.