Friday 1st November ~ Issue 33

Child Safety Statement

School Values

Treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Respect Our School - Hormati Sekolah Kita

Do Your Best - Lakukan Yang Terbaik

Help Others to Succeed - Bantu Teman Untuk Berhasil

Important Dates

Term 4

November

Monday 4th November - Report Writing Day - Student Free Day

Tuesday 5th November - Melbourne Cup Day Holiday - Student Free Day 

Monday 11th November  - Friday 15th November - 3/4 Swimming Program 

Tuesday 12th November - Prep 2025 Transition Day ~ 9:30am - 11am

Wednesday 13th November & Thursday 14th November - Book Fair

Monday 18th November - Wednesday 20th November - Grade 5/6 Camp

Tuesday 19th November  - Prep 2025 Transition Day ~ 9:30am - 11:30am

December

Friday 6th December - Christmas Parade @ 6pm

Tuesday 10th December - 2025 Orientation Day

Friday 13th December - Junior Athletics Carnival (Prep - 2)

Sunday 15th December - End of Year School Mass and Gr 6 Graduation @ 10.30am

Wednesday 18th December - Last day for students

ADVANCE NOTICE 

Wednesday 29th January - First day of 2025 school year for Gr 1-6

Thursday 30th January - First day of 2025 school year for Preps

From the Principal

Dear Families,

The children were very excited on Monday to see some photos from Mrs Groves's travels!  I have included a photo below.  London looks like it is turning on some beautiful weather!

Congratulations to our Grade 5/6 Regional Hoop Time participants on Monday. Our Grade 6 All Star Girls have qualified for the State Championship. A full report is in our Sports Catch Up below. We now have two teams that have qualified for this competition!  Well done to all involved - we are very proud of you!  

With the tragic accident in Melbourne this week at school pick up, it is a timely reminder to ensure that everyone is taking their time and following our end of day pick up procedure.  If you are picking up your child from the St Mary's Stop and Go, please ensure that you are waiting patiently in the line - the teachers on duty will ensure your child is ready to go when you are in the pick up zone.  If you have parked in the Monivae Car Park, you need to cross at the pedestrian crossing to collect your child - we don't want children crossing on their own.  Thank you for keeping everyone in our community safe.

On Monday, we have a student free day - the teachers will use this day to continue to write end of year reports. It is that time of year when end of year assessments are happening - there have been lots of happy faces and high fives - from both students and staff!  It is wonderful to celebrate all the amazing learning that is happening. Tuesday is Melbourne Cup Day, so is also student free.  Enjoy the extra long weekend!

Have a wonderful long weekend, shared with those you love,

 Tania

Catholic School Culture

MASS TIMES – 2024                                                 

Hamilton: Saturday 6pm and Sunday 10.30am                                    

Dunkeld: Sunday 8.30am                  

Glenthompson:  Sunday 8.30am

Penshurst: Sunday 8.30am

Learning and Teaching

School Wide Positive Behaviours

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support is:  A multi-tiered framework for establishing the social culture and behavioural supports needed for a school to achieve behavioural and academic outcomes for all students.

For the next two weeks at St Mary’s we are working with our students on the following:

RESPECT -  Use a respectful tone and body language when speaking

SAFETY - Keep our hands, feet and objects to ourselves

 RESPONSIBILITY - Wear our school uniform correctly

Assembly Award Winners

Award winners from our assembly last Friday were Gigi Causer, Katelyn Dickson, Harrison Gordon, Hudson Caruana, Franklin Donnelly, Charlotte Nelson, Sadie Stanley, Jed Rook, Sienna Gordon, Genevieve Toffolon, Jed Picken, Eva Outtram, Athea Wilson, Rhys Jackson, Eleanor Hinkley and Ashlyn Joseph who were all displaying the value of Help Others to Succeed. Congratulations! We are very proud of you all.

Icy Poles

As we are in Term 4 and heading into the warmer weather, our Grade 6 Student Councillors will once again be selling icy poles at lunchtime on Fridays.  These will be $1 each and will be sold each Friday until the end of the term.  When Mrs Groves returns from her leave, she will meet with the Student Councillors to discuss where we will donate the money that we raise. 

Sports Catch Up

Grade 5-6 Regional Hooptime

We had 3 teams who played in the Grade 5-6 Regional Hooptime Carnival at HILAC on Monday.

Our All Star Boys made it into a semi final, but came up against a very strong opponent. They did a fantastic job competing and playing hard throughout the day.

Our Grade 5 All Star Girls team won 1 game for the day, but had 2 very narrow losses which might have put them in contention for the final if the results went in their favour.

Our Grade 6 All Star Girls team finished the day as the victors of the competition! They played out a 6-6 draw with the other finalist in the round robin match, but took the spoils by 4 points in the final. They now progress to the State Hooptime Carnival to be held on Tuesday 3rd December at the State Basketball Centre in Melbourne.

A huge thank you to our coaches, scorers and families who went along and supported our teams. What an amazing effort from our students, we are incredibly proud of them all!

State Athletics Carnival

This Wednesday, Charlie Moyle will be participating in the State Athletics Carnival in Melbourne. She will be competing in the 11 year old girls hurdles. Good luck Charlie, and we look forward to hearing how you go on Wednesday! A huge achievement! 

Saturday Morning Netball

A reminder that there is no Saturday Morning Netball this weekend, due to the Melbourne Cup long weekend. Netball will resume next weekend.

Grade 3-4 Swimming Program

Thank you for your promptness in returning the blue note for the swimming program. Please remember that swimming begins on Monday in Week 6, so don’t forget to pack suitable swimming clothes in your child’s school bags. Students will be swimming in one of the four time slots:

• 12:00pm - 12:30pm
• 12:30pm - 1:00pm
• 1:00pm - 1:30pm
• 1:30pm - 2:00pm

Students may swap time slots after Monday, as the HILAC instructors will be assessing students abilities to ensure that they are grouped correctly. Students may wear PE uniform for the week for ease of changing.

Grade 5-6 District Cricket

We had 37 students in Grade 5-6 who attended the District Cricket Carnival at Pedrina Park today. We were able to field 2 boys teams, and 2 girls teams, which is fantastic to see! A summary of the day will be posted in next week’s newsletter.

Grade 3-6 Swimming Carnival

I have sent home a note with information about our swimming carnival, as well as an event sign up sheet. Students need to select at least two events that they would like to participate in for our swimming carnival later this term. Please take the time to talk with your children about what events they would like to participate in. I have events for the carnival that will suit all levels of swimming abilities. I also look very closely at the feedback that is provided by the trained swimming instructors during the swimming programs to ensure that students are entering events that are suited to their level.

Could you please return these notes as soon as possible. Thank you.

Junior Representative Soccer

Last weekend, Sineth Hansa and James Nankivell represented the South West Victoria Football Association at a tournament in Shepparton. Sineth played in the Under 12’s where they drew two matches and lost two matches.

James played in the Under 11’s and they qualified for the final, only to be defeated in a penalty shootout 4-3.

Congratulations Sineth and James, a huge achievement!

Dates for your Diary

Saturday Morning Netball: No netball this weekend

State Athletics Carnival: Wednesday 6th November @ Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park

Grade 3-4 Swimming Program: Monday 11th November - Friday 15th November @ HILAC

Grade 3-6 Swimming Carnival: Friday 29th November @ Monivae Pool

Grade 3-4 State Hooptime: Monday 2nd December @ State Basketball Centre, Wantirna South

Grade 5-6 State Hooptime: Tuesday 3rd December @ State Basketball Centre, Wantirna South

Junior Athletics Carnival (Prep - Grade 2): Friday 13th December @ St. Mary’s

Latham Wishart

lwishart@smhamilton.catholic.edu.au

Library News ~ Book Fair

Great news - our annual Book Fair is back for 2024! It will be held in Week 6 of this term, in the new classroom space, next to 5/6MW.  

The Book Fair will be open for browsing on the Monday and Tuesday of that week, with the buying days being Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th November, both before and after school.  It's a great chance to grab some Christmas gifts too!

Exciting news for this years Book Fair - we now have an option to pay via Tap and Go.  You can still pay online prior to the fair, as well as cash, but this adds an extra payment option.  

An invitiation to the Book Fair (with information about how to pay online) will be sent home next Wednesday.  Your children will bring home a 'Wish List' (after they have browsed the Book Fair) the following week.

If you have any questions about our upcoming Book Fair, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Tania Stevens

Parent Access Portal (PAM)

PAM will be released in the coming weeks to all our families - please keep an eye on your inboxes.  I have attached the PAM manual for you to read.

Wellbeing

Child Safety 

Online Safety Mighty Heroes - eSafety Commissioner

This series of four short video chapters is designed for children aged 5 to 8 years old. Each chapter features a Mighty Hero and their online safety superpower:

Wanda the echidna:  I am responsible – I protect my personal information.

River the sugar glider:  I show respect – I am kind and caring to others.

Dusty the frilled neck lizard:  I trust my feelings – I ask for help when something doesn’t feel right.

Billie the bilby:  I investigate – I question what I see, hear and do online. 

Watch the compilation video, which includes all four character chapters, or watch each chapter separately.

After watching one or all of the video chapters, use the conversation starters to talk with your child and encourage them to reflect on the online safety messages from each chapter.

You can access this excellent resource, and the conversation starter PDF, by clicking on the link below.

Tania Stevens

Leadership and Stewardship

Staffing News

Kerry Stevens, who has been an integral part of our St Mary's community for many, many decades, has enjoyed her year of leave so much that she has decided to resign from her position at the end of the year. We will have much more to say about Kerry's dedication and commitment to our school as the year draws to a close, but we would like to extend our thanks and best wishes to her as she begins an exciting new time in her life.

2025 Staff PD

Next year, our governing authority DOBCEL has made the suggestion that using the three days between Easter Monday and ANZAC Day for staff to collaborate with other school's through PD would be an excellent use of time! So...that means that the holiday break at the end of Term 1 will be three weeks long and we will return to school on Monday 28th of April to start Term 2.  

2025 Planning

Planning is well underway for 2025. Currently we are looking at staffing and in the coming weeks we will begin compiling our classlists. 

Community Engagement

Garden Gurus

Our Garden Gurus have been working hard with Lynn, growing some seedlings to share with the community.  As you can see from the photo below, they sold quickly yesterday and  there are only a few left today, but there are plenty more coming. Thank you so much to those who donated and bought some seedlings.  If you would like to grab a parsley seedling today, please pop in with your gold coin donation and watch this space for more seedlings from the Garden Gurus! 

St Mary's Christmas Parade

Community Events