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Dear Parents, Guardians and Community,
This week we celebrate the 180th Birthday of the school. St Mary's School was established in 1842 and has been continuously operating. By 1833 we know there were about 10 Catholic school operating across the colony, however they were run by lay people and not system established. So in a sense, St Mary's was the first real school that was established. The next two schools that were opened in 1849 were schools in Portland and Port Fairy. More history about Catholic Education can be found at https://200years.catholic.edu.au/timeline/ 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia was celebrated in 2021.
School Disco. What a night was had by all as the walls of St Mary's Hall shook. The students had a terrific night and for some it will be the highlight of the year. (unfortunately it is not always the lesson on fractions that is the highlight.) A big thank you to and P and F, parent volunteers and the students for their behaviour on the night. A great community night.
Student voice: Next week we have our Year 5 and 6 students working with Hobson City Bay Council youth team around the topic of student voice, agency and participation. Hobson City Bay Council youth team be celebrating International Youth Day and the young people in our community, by asking them what would make Hobsons Bay better for young people to grow, learn, work and live. Michelle Ristovski will then work with our senior students to further develop their skills in this area. Student Voice, Participation and Agency is one of our core School Improvement Plan goals. You may have already noticed we are trying to let students take more and more responsibility with students now running assembly and other activities.
The other School Improvement Goals (2022 -2025) Update. We are making progress with our other core goals as the year progresses. Intervention framework: Staff will soon complete another module where we will look at our assessment practices and processes across the school. Data Literacy: Training has continued with Bradley Geise from California with Zoom Professional Development once a term. At the end of Term 2 we had a whole school day on his work. The basic premise is that if we look at a wider range of data, we can have more successful pathways for students through our school. For example when a child enters our school, we should know more about their demographics, the processes they will need to support them, how the student, families and staff perceive their needs and their academic results. Data Literacy breaks data intro four groups; Student Data, Perception Data, Demographic Data and Perception Data. It is about using all that data to have a successful student. Instructional Coaching: We continue to be in the training phase in 2022. We are beginning to explore our practices and testing the waters. Teachers are setting their professional goals based on the four areas of improvement: Teaching Practice, Content Knowledge, Classroom Culture and Formative Assessment with the idea that they will use the Instructional Coach to support them and give feedback on their practice.
Hoop Time: Good luck to the many many students participating in Hoop Time this week. Thanks to the parent volunteers and especially Mr Lovett who has put a lot of effort getting this organised. We have the largest representation of any school.
Book week dress up: Well, it is that time of year again, book week. Students get to dress up as a character in a book. We are doing lots of other activities this week to promote books and encourage a love of reading.
St Mary's Families supporting each other. After meeting with our business manager we worked out a simple process for families if they would like to financially support another family in the school. We cannot give the family the money directly, but we can use the funds to cover the costs of school fees, camp and excursion fees, uniform. What ever funds we receive will directly go to supporting families. All our accounts are audited to ensure that funds are used correctly and ethically. It does not have to be a huge donation to make a difference. 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
Please Note: We wil have no assembly this Thursday. Awards and Birthdays will be done after the Book Parade on Friday
God Bless
Anthony
FAMILY SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT SURVEY
In 2022, our school is participating in Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS).
One of the main goals of the family survey is to identify the strengths and areas for improvement in our school. MACSSIS data benefits everyone within our school and provides valuable community insights on areas that each school can focus on. Our School believes it is important to encourage families to have a voice and contribute to shaping the ongoing improvement of the school.
The survey will be available online and can be accessed from Monday 29 August and needs to be completed by Friday 16 September 2022. This survey will be emailed 70 families selected randomly and may only be completed once.
- Bar
- BBQ
- Buy-a-Bottle
- Christmas Craft Stall
- Choc Toss
- Coffee/cold drinks/pies
- Community sport area
- Crazy Hair and Tattoos
- Devonshire Tea and Cake Stall
- Face Painting
- Fairy Floss/Popcorn
- Games Arcade
- Hot food - Santorini
- Hot food - Sebastiens
- Lucky Dip
- P&F and Raffle
- Rides
- Showbags
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
We always talk about Emmanuel College being a place for everyone, no matter where your talents lay. The next two weeks are a perfect example of that. This week at both campuses we are holding the Year 8 Science Fair, which provides the students with a chance to show off their learning and understanding of scientific concepts as well as demonstrating how to apply their knowledge. This is a very exciting time for the students and staff who have all worked hard towards this event.
We are celebrating different talents next week with the annual ‘Showcase’. This event involves families coming along and viewing their children’s artwork in a gallery format before moving to our auditorium and watching a wonderful showcase of music, singing and dramatic performances. There are always different and exciting ways for students to find their passion and engage with things they love at school here at Emmanuel.
Please note that applications for enrolment for Year 7, 2024 closed last Friday, 19 August, 2022. If you have a child in Grade 5 and wish to be considered for a place at the College for your child in 2024, but have not yet applied, it is essential that you contact the College Registrar by emailing enrolments@ecmelb.catholic.edu.au or calling on 8325 5119 as a matter of urgency.
We hope to see you at one of our tours or our next experience event in November.
St Mary's School is a Child Safe School and as such complies with all aspects and legal obligations that relate to the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (VIC)