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Dear Parents, Guardians and Community,
I hope all our Mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day. Thank you to our Parents and Friends Association who organised our Breakfast. From all accounts it was a wonderful event.
Naplan: This week Naplan begins. It is mostly online this year and has much more flexibility. The tests are now adaptive and will adjust for each students so it has a more accurate reading of their ability. Once again, it is only one of many assessments that we do so its importance should be put into that context. Assessments should always be about teaching us what a child needs to learn next.
Covid. I think we have all noticed that we have lots of cases in the school at the moment both through our students and families. We continue to follow all protocols and use our ventilators. A good reminder to us all that it still very much part of our community.
Open Classrooms. We will be having a Open Classroom Event on the morning of June 8, 8:30 to 9:15. We will have a focus on the writing that is happening across the school. We hope all families will be able to visit our classrooms.
Shade sails: Well, the scaffold is up, but we were defeated by Covid. It was meant to begin last weekend but our installers had a covid outbreak so had to delay. They plan to come in this Saturday to start.
Maclean Reserve. The latest email from Council is saying we will be allowed on it at the end of May. The students ask me on a daily basis!!
Update on my son. Some good news with my son finishing his chemo treatment last Friday, which is a big celebration. We did have a bit of hiccup right at the end with him picking up a viral infection (the common cold) which meant we had six nights in the hospital with fevers. So, he got to ring the Cancer Bell at the hospital yesterday!! Staff line up and the patient has to walk through to cheering and clapping as they walk to ring the bell. As you can imagine there were a few tears involved from the parents after a nearly two and a half year journey. Thank you for your thoughts, messages and prayers. We are hoping our lives start to return to some sort of normal now. We still have appointments for the next three years, monthly to begin and then they start to spread out to three monthly in the third year.
God Bless
Anthony
Faith News - School and Parish Connections
St Mary’s School Prayer
This prayer will be prayed at the morning assemblies on Monday and Thursday and the children say this in class every morning.
Creator God,
We, at St Mary’s School pray that we continue to live by the Gospel in our work and play.
Help us to respect and care
for each other as Jesus teaches us.
Bless everyone in our school,
parish and beyond as we go forth
and work together as followers of Christ
to reach out to those in need.
Jesus be in our thoughts.
Jesus be in our words.
Jesus be in our hearts.
Important Information for Year 4 parents
Parent Information Session
Date: Wednesday 11th May
Time: 6:30 pm.
Where: The school Hall
The Year Four children at St Mary's School and parish are underway in their preparation for receiving their first Eucharist and taking the next step in becoming fully initiated into the community of the Church/Faith community.
We have secured Fr Elio Capra to speak to Year 4 parents about the Sacrament of First Eucharist.
Fr Elio
Rev. Dr Elio Capra is a member of the Department of Systematic Theology and Department of Pastoral and General Studies at Catholic Theological College. He lectures in Liturgy and Sacramental Theology. He is a priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco (sdb).
He has taught units in sacramental theology at Australian Catholic University (ACU), as well as teaching accreditation courses for teachers at ACU. He is constantly engaged as a resource person in liturgical and sacramental theology for Catholic Education Offices and dioceses around Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands.
Support for Ukraine
In the spirit of Mary Mackillop we are asking families to help those in need, especially those in the Ukraine. The senior classes will be bringing home prayer cards and the junior classes will consider those suffering in their prayers of petition.
Those in Europe are doing so much to help, opening their homes to refugees, my parents included; providing food and clothing at borders and so much more.
We can help too!
If you are willing and able to provide financial support to those in need in Ukraine, there are flyers in the front office
2022 Young Voices Awards
This is an amazing opportunity for students in Years 5 and 6 who are passionate about making a difference in the world. Students are encouraged to voice their thoughts/opinions/ideas and share it with a wider audience through the medium of print, digital (video/podcast) or photograph.
There is a poster on the bulletin board outside the office with all necessary information. The Year 5’s and 6’s will also have a poster in their rooms. This is a wonderful opportunity for students who have something to say. Let’s hear them!
All information is on the poster!
For more information please visit: www.australiancatholics.com.au/yva
Important dates to Remember for Term 2
We look forward to welcoming parents back to school Masses and liturgies in the Church.
Event |
Date |
Time |
Where |
Year 4 Eucharist Information session |
11th May |
6:30 pm |
School Hall |
Year 4 Family Mass |
14th May |
6:00pm |
Church |
Year 4 Eucharist |
21st May |
6:00pm |
Church |
Year 4 Eucharist |
22nd May |
8:30am |
Church |
Year 4 Eucharist |
22nd May |
10:30 am |
Church |
Year 2 Family Mass |
12th June |
10:30 am |
Church |
Year 1 Family Mass |
19th June |
10:30 am |
Church |
Confirmation - Year 6 Term 3
Tuesday 26th July, 6pm
Wednesday 27th July, 6pm
Thursday 28th July, 6pm
P&F Association Meeting
The P&F Association meeting was held via Zoom on Monday 9th May, and was well attended. The main outcomes from the meeting are:
- We have decided to postpone the Chocolate Drive for 2022 because of feedback from the school community which showed lack of enthusiasm for the Chocolate Drive during a Fair year. This decision will be reviewed in 2023.
- There is general positive feedback for the lunch-order supplier KingWilliam, and we will continue with this service. KingWilliam are looking to employ more staff and hope to expand the number of days they deliver the service once they have more staff.
- The School Disco date will need to change, and parents will be informed of the new date once it has been confirmed. At this stage there are no restrictions on the number of children who can attend.
- There is still no clear winning class for the Jogathon, so the donations portal will remain open for those who have not donated. It should be noted that a donation of $1 may be enough to seal-the-deal for 1 class. If you are having issues with registering your child on the CDFpay portal, please contact treasurer@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au
The expression of Interest forms have been circulated and can be returned to the school. Returned forms will be contacted directly by the St Mary’s Pantry coordinator.
Mother’s Day Breakfast
There was a huge turnout for the Mother’s Day Breakfast and mass last Friday. A huge thankyou to Andrew and Monika McKellar for organising such a lovely event. A special thanks also to the very busy fathers who volunteered to serve coffee and pastries to our mums, namely Andrew McKellar, David Velardo, Will McCann, Ron Dias, David Crowe, Scott Paton, Ben Zammit, Rui Lopes, Felix Spitteri and Paul Winter; your time is appreciated.
The 2nd hand uniform shop will be back next term on Wednesday 25th May, from 8:30-9:30am in the hall, and fortnightly after that. In addition, uniforms can still be ordered at any time by emailing Sherrine and Meagan at uniformspf@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au
Maclean Reserve forms for Term 2 and 3 have been sent home today with the eldest child. At this stage we do not know when the children will have access, so the roster will be planned for both terms at this stage. Please see Nicole Bennett if you have any questions.
St Mary's Fabulous Fair
What’s happening in the 2nd Term?
This is just a snapshot of what the P&F Association has planned for the second term
Date |
What’s happening |
Monday 17th May |
Fair Working Group (Parish Centre) |
Wednesday 25th May (8.30am - 9.30am) |
Second-hand uniform sales in the Hall |
Friday TBA (Subject to change) |
School Disco (School Hall) |
We hope that all of the mums and other significant women in children’s lives felt appreciated on Sunday. It was a wonderful opportunity to thank those people in our lives that do so much for us. It was brilliant to welcome those amazing women onto both of our campuses on Friday last week to celebrate Mass together and enjoy a delicious breakfast. The excitement and enthusiasm in the air from the students at having their mums and others at their school was another little reminder of moving forward after a tough couple of years.
As school rolls on, our students are feverishly rehearsing for the annual production – Broadway Bonanza. The show will go live in a couple of weeks’ time at the end of May. Tickets can be obtained via the College Facebook page.
Our next major event is the College Open Day. Details are as follows and registrations can be made under the Tours & Events tab on the right hand side of the College website www.ecmelb.catholic.edu.au home page. It is essential that you register to attend these events.
St Paul’s Campus - Sunday 22 May, 2022 - Between 10.30 am & 1.30 pm
Notre Dame Campus - Sunday 22 May, 2022 - Between 11.00 am & 2.00 pm
Also, applications are now being accepted for students commencing Year 7 in 2024. Please note that applications for this year level close on Friday 19 August, 2022. A Prospectus Pack containing an application form can be requested from the Enrolment Information tab on the home page of the College website; by emailing enrolments@ecmelb.catholic.edu.au; calling the College Registrar on 8325 5119 or visiting the friendly staff at reception of either of our campuses.
We would love to see you at our school events.
Williamstown Literary Festival
Did you know our Year 6 students will be part of the Williamstown Literary Festival?