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Dear Parents, Guardians and Community,
Feast of the Assumption
On the 15th August the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On this Feast, Catholics traditionally celebrate Mary going to heaven. The tradition is that ‘God took Mary, body and soul, to heaven after her life on earth had come to an end’.
There is little described of Mary in the Scriptures. What we do know, however, is that she was a woman of deep faith, trust and service. In the Gospel of Luke, we see Mary chosen by God to bring Christ into the world. She is with Jesus at his birth, nurtures him in childhood, is present during his ministry, witnesses his death, and stands with the early Church as it grows and proclaims the Good News. In the Gospel of Luke, Mary gives these words, which we call the Magnificat:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.” (Luke 1:46-49)
180th Birthday Celebration. Archbishop Peter Comensoli joins us next week on Tuesday to help us celebrate the 180th birthday of the school. The Archbishop will be joining us at 11:30 to celebrate Mass. We hope many families will be able to join us. A reminder that we will also have a sausage sizzle for students on the day if the students would like to have a sausage for lunch. We will endeavour to meet all dietary requirements.
School Disco. Come one, come all. This Friday the place to be seen will be the St Mary's School Hall. Thanks to everyone who has helped put this together. The students love this night.
Year 5 Sovereign Hill: This week our Year 5 students had an excursion to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. They learnt about Australian History in the Gold Rush era and took part in such activities as gold panning, gold bar pouring and confectionery making. Although, it was cold, they had a great day.
National Catholic education Commission Conference: Every four years Cathoilic Education has a National Conference. This year it is in Melbourne, September 4th to 7th. Charlotte Lipnicki and myself are attending. Our Year Six Charism Team will be attending the Mass at the Cathedral on the Tuesday and our School Captains will be involved on the Wednesday giving gifts to the keynote speakers Our School Captains will be giving to gifts to ; Dr Philippe Richard, Secretary General, International Office of Catholic Education (OIEC), Barbara Coupar, Director, Scottish Catholic Education Service and Dr Medi Ann Volpe
PhD, Assistant Professor of Theology & Ethics, Durham University, UK and Prof Donna Cross, Winthrop Professor, University of Western Australia, and Senior
Research Fellow and Strategic Advisor, Telethon Kids Institute
Our Fabulous Fair: Thank you for the generous donations from our families for our Fabulous Fair. Make sure you put your name down in some way to help us raise funds for our Landscape Plan. We are going to make our playground one of the best school playgrounds around. We had our zoom with Stephen Heppell last week with excellent feedback. His comments to our Landscape Architects was that this is a world class design and that he wished he dealt with this level of design always. He offered some more suggestions such as putting metre signs on our buildings for students to learn height and other measurements, including more science in the playground.. magnifying glasses for investigations, using pipes and mirrors for students to look up high, using international plants with signage and maps to help students learn about where plants come from, using sound, speed checks and having things where students can measure moisture levels.. he even suggested installing a slide from the second floor of the building to the playground (WOW!!)
Gifted and Talented: This week Hannah Power is attending Professional Development on supporting Gifted and/or Talented Students. This furthers our work on Abstract Thinking completed last year. The School continues to try and extend all our students so they feel challenged. One of the keys to this is formative assessment which is the testing we do at the start of a unit of work to find out what a student does or does not know. The better we do this, the more accurately we know what a student needs to learn next.
Go Girl Conference: We have a number of students this week attending the, "Go Girl Conference." This is an opportunity for our girls to be exposed to industries and technologies that are not traditionally attracting Girls and have a real gender imbalance. https://www.gogirl.org.au/ I also encourage families to let your children listen to the 'Fierce Girls,' podcast that highlights female role models.https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/fierce-girls I remember my youngest daughter used to listen to it every night when going to bed. She knew all about Cathy Freeman, Florence Nightingale, Emmeline Pankhurst, Edith Cowan, Julia Gillard, Ash Barty and many other great role models for all our students.
Maclean Reserve Volunteer Roster. A big thank you to all who help out on the Maclean Reserve roster making sure the playground is tidy, safe and clear for our students to play every day. We would love it if all families could put their names down on the roster. It only takes about 10-15 minutes to do the check. Currently families on the roster do it about twice a term. Our aim is to have enough volunteers so families only do it once a term. If you are able to assist, please fill out the form at the office.
God Bless
Anthony
St Mary's Families Supporting Each Other
Financially: Did you know that families often financially donate to support other families. This may come in the form of offering to pay for another families school fees, camp fees or other costs. We cannot give money to another family directly, however we can use that money to supplement their school fees, camp fees etc.)To support another family in our school, use our normal bank account with a reference;
ST MARY'S FAMILY SUPPORT DONATION
Bank Account BSB 083 347 Account Number: 658206494
Second Hand Uniform Shop: Many families donate old uniforms to our second hand shop. These second hand uniforms are either resold or donated to families in our school.
Book Exchange: Did you know we have a book exchange near the entry of our school? Many families use this to donate and swap books.
St Mary's Parish School Building fund (Tax Deductable) You may also choose to support the school by making a donation to the St Mary's Parish School Building Fund. All donations to this fund are tax deductable. Funds can only be spent on a set criteria which include building maintenance, repair, replacement or a new building. BSB: 083 347 Account Number: 153900034
Community is at the heart of all that we do at Emmanuel and there are some amazing things that have happened just in the last week that create that feeling. Last Saturday we held our Annual Information Morning where we had just short of 300 families attend either or both of our campuses, where they heard from the College Principal, students and parents. Families then enjoyed a tour of the amazing facilities at each campus hosted by our students. The feedback from families about the warm, friendly and caring nature of our students has been overwhelming and they are a credit to their families.
This week were are holding the Amazing Race at each campus, where our incoming Year 7 students for 2023 come along and will enjoy a sausage sizzle with their families and then compete in an Amazing Race, meet some new friends and teachers and learn a bit about their new school. Every year this is an important transition step for the students that is part of a series of experiences they complete during their Grade 6 year – there is truly no transition program that compares to it.
Students at the College have this week been celebrating Multicultural Week, there has been activities, food, reflections and games from countries all around the world. One of the most powerful celebrations are the maps in homerooms highlighting all of the countries that the students in that room have family connections with.
These events are all fantastic examples of the sense of community at Emmanuel.
Please note that 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 would love you to join our Emmanuel Community.