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Dear Parent, Guardians and Community,
Congratulations to all our Preps who this week celebrated 100 days at School!! How quickly time flies. It is amazing how quickly they learn. We do know through brain research that the brain is most active from birth to around seven and eight and that if we get those foundations right a child's journey through school and life is much easier. At St Mary's we are recognised for our work in the early years, particularly our work with synthetic phonics. This week Education Services Australia (ESA) shared the footage they filmed at our school which will soon be available to all schools in Australia to support them to use synthetic phonics to teach students reading in the early years. An acknowledgement of the great work happening in the school.
Congratulations again also goes to our Confirmation Candidates. Bishop Martin was very impressed with the students and offered his thanks to the families, students and staff for their preparations. We than Charlotte Lipnicki, our Year 6 Teachers and the Parish Team for their work to make these moments special for our students.
Covid: We continue to have Covid Cases in the school on a daily basis. We have quite a few staff out at the moment but we seem to be doing okay at this stage compared to other schools. We do encourage students to wear masks.
School Uniform: A couple of reminders. Black socks are not part of our uniform. I noticed they have crept back in with a few students. Hair Cuts. This is the information in our Parent Information Pack. Hair should be neat and tidy and students with long hair are expected to tie their hair back. Students should not come with with patterns eg stripes, letters, logos, waves: cut into their hair.
Building Plans Update: With the sharing of our Landscape Plans, families are probably wondering what has happened to our Building Plans. The simple answer to that is that we are still waiting on hearing a response of whether we have been successful in our Government Grant Application. We should hear about this later in the year. The feedback we received from previous applications is that the school needs to show that it is making efforts ourselves to improve the school without relying totally on the Government Grant to do any improvements. Hence you would have noticed that we have been doing some of that work such as the repairs to the hall, re-stumping and underpinning, new carpets and now the painting. The building project is is broken into three stages. Stage one was the underpinning and re-stumping, stage two is an extension of the corridor area of upstairs and making the classrooms into more flexible spaces and stage three is the construction of two new classrooms above the administration area and a redevelopment of the existing administration area. Our current application is for Stage 2.
Whilst talking about building projects i will also update you on the problems at the front of the school where the holes have developed. We have got to the point where insurance have offered us a certain amount of money for the repairs. The delay is around the amount offered for the rectification of what caused the problem, which has still not been clearly identified. Simply, we can fix up the asphalt and cover it all over, but if we do not know what caused the problem, the same problem could happen again. So the insurance is still working through this as they do not wish to have to pay for repairs every few years. Obviously, the goal is to fix it once and for all.
Cecil Street Upgrade: Council have notified the school that the upgrade works on Cecil street and are expected to begin mid September and will take 12 to 14 weeks. Cecil st will be converted into a one way street and the pedestrian crossing will be moved. We are not too sure how that will effect drop off and pick up on Cecil Street yet, those details we will know closer to the start of the works. This is going to create a much safer environment for our school and make it easier for students to walk and ride to school. A big thank you to Hobson City Bay Council for their continued work in our local area for the traffic plan.
Next Week is the Feast of Mary MacKillop. Mary MacKillop has direct connection with the school and lived in the local area
From our website
Blessed Mary MacKillop was known to the parish and school community in these later years of the 19th Century and in 1900, the task of continuing the education of Catholic children of Williamstown was taken on by the Sisters of St Joseph.
Please join us for Mass at 9:15 am next Tuesday as we celebrate a very significant Australian.
School Disco: It is not long until the School Disco. Ticket sales are great. Make sure you book your tickets soon!
God Bless
Anthony
We are very excited about holding our Annual Information Morning this coming Saturday at our St Paul’s Campus. This is an excellent opportunity for families to come along and hear from our College Principal, students leaders and parents about life at the College, as well as enjoying a tour of the great facilities that the students enjoy. Registrations for the event are essential and can be made via the Tours & Events tab on the right hand side of the homepage of the College website, www.ecmelb.catholic.edu.au.
Information Morning
St Paul’s Campus
Date: Saturday 6 August, 2022 - Commencing at 10.30 am, closing at 12 noon
Also, the closing date for applications for enrolment for Year 7, 2024 is rapidly approaching. The closing date is Friday 19 August, 2022. A Prospectus Pack containing an application form can be requested under the Enrolment Information tab on the right hand side of the homepage of the College website, www.ecmelb.catholic.edu.au, by emailing enrolments@ecmelb.catholic.edu.au, calling the College Registrar on 8325 5119, or by visiting the friendly staff at reception of either campus.
If you have a child currently in Grade 5, please note that it is a requirement to submit an application if you wish to be considered for a place in Year 7, 2024, even if you already have an older child who attends the College.
We hope to see you at a College event soon.