Friday 27th June 2025 ~ Issue 19

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 2

Friday 4th July - Last day of Term 2 - 2.15pm finish - wear your winter woollies with crazy hair!

TERM 3

Monday 21st July - First day of Term 3

Friday 25th July - Grandparents' Day - details have been sent home this week

Friday 1st August - Assembly

Sunday 31st August - Sacrament of First Eucharist

Friday 5th September - Father's Day celebration at school

Thursday 18th September - Last day of Term 3 - 3.15pm finish

PUPIL FREE DAYS IN 2025

Friday 19th September - Structured Literacy

Wednesday 17th December - Last day of the school year for students

ADVANCE NOTICE

Wednesday 17th September - St Mary's School Concert at Hamilton PAC

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Today your child's Semester One report will be coming home. Please take time to enjoy the wonderful growth the students have made, they work very hard! A huge thank you to our teachers for their incredible hard work in writing the reports. It gives me great joy to read about all the students and see how well their teachers know them.

Our students continue to do amazing things in the community. Alaska Bremner has qualified to represent Victoria in the All Schools Australian Junior Athletic Championships in August, Marcus McRae came second in the U18 9km run last weekend in Portland and Rocco Causer has continued to shine on his movie set, being updated to a cast member with lines! We love celebrating our students!

With one week to go of Term 2, it is timely to give thanks for all the opportunities that have come our way. We are so fortunate! Thanks so much to all our families for supporting us in nuturing our students. We are truly blessed. 

Have a wonderful weekend, shared with those you love,

Terrielynn

I

It is easy to think of peace as something that is needed in places far away, especially as we see the unfolding crisis this week in the Middle East. The seed of peace is in every human heart. The following prayer by the late Pope Francis, invites Christians to reflect that the creation of peace actually begins with every person and every community. Peace is not a distant concept, needed somewhere else, its possibility is in our own hands to create.

Lord God of Peace, hear our prayer!

A Prayer for Peace

God of Peace,

Help peace grow in every heart and every land.
Teach us to listen, share, and care for all people.
May leaders choose kindness over conflict.
Let Your love guide us to build a better world.
Together, may we bring hope and peace to all.

Amen.

Catholic School Culture

MASS TIMES – 2025                                                 

Hamilton: Saturday 6pm and Sunday 10.30am                                  

Dunkeld: Sunday 8.30am                  

Glenthompson:  Sunday 8.30am

Penshurst: Sunday 8.30am

Sunday's Gospel

Matthew 16:13-20

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Amelia Cameron on the arrival of her new baby sister Olivia. We can't wait to meet her and welcome her to our St Mary's family!

Condolences

Our deepest sympathies to the Lynch family on the passing of Owen and Cooper's grandfather, Pat. He was a great friend of our school and will be deeply missed at our school gatherings, particularly Grandparents' Day.

One of our students is also mourning the death of one of her dear friends. Such tragic news. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Tinnies For Vinnies

For the last week of term we will have a focus on donating tins of food for the St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal. If you are able to buy an extra tin of food in your grocery shop or have some spares at home, we'd love you to donate them. We will have tubs set up near the office. Thanks so much!

Then, on the last day of term, the children have decided that they will wear their warmest winter clothes with a crazy hair do! Each child is also invited to bring along a gold coin to donate to the winter appeal.

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 - care for the people in our school

SAFETY - keep hands and feet off others

RESPONSIBILITY - seek help when needed

First Nations Project

Under the watchful eye of our Wellbeing Leader, Bec Sherlock, we have started a First Nation's art project. This involves working with Saige Bell, a Gunditjmara artist and former St Mary's student, to produce an artistic representation of our Acknowledgement of Country. Last Friday, our students met Saige online to talk about the project and she was able to show the students what the centre piece of the art work will look like. On Tuesday, the students worked with Bec to start drafts of what they would like to contribute to the art piece.  

Staffing

At the end of Term 2, Teagan Wishart will be taking Maternity Leave until the beginning of 2026. Leroy Perez will move into her role and we are very grateful to him for providing continuity of learning for the 5/6s. We are now in the process of appointing a part time teacher to join Chris Minney.

Sports Catch Up

Alaska’s Latest Amazing Accomplishments!

We congratulate Alaska B who competed in the Victorian All School Cross Country State Championships last Saturday 21st June in Bundoora. Alaska came 9th in her age group, Under 12s, and finished her 3km in 11 mins 50 secs. This incredible result has seen her qualify to compete at the Australian Junior Championships in August. What an absolutely amazing accomplishment!! 

Alaska will be representing Victoria on a whole country scale twice in one weekend. This is just outstanding! She will compete in the Australian Junior Cross Country Championships on Saturday 23rd August and then back it up with the Australian Junior Road Race Walking Championships on Sunday 24th August. 

Alaska, you are an absolute dynamo!! We couldn’t be prouder of you. These results are a true testament to your hard work and commitment. 

We cannot wait to follow Alaska’s journey and see what she achieves next. Congratulations Alaska!

Well done Nina!

Congratulations to Nina R for a term jam packed with sporting accomplishments! We take a moment to celebrate all things Nina, after she made it to the final selection for Team Vic Netball and she was selected as an emergency in the School Sport Victoria (SSV) Team Vic Under 12 Girls Basketball team! 

These accomplishments, along with winning the State Final of 3x3 Basketball with her team, are an incredible achievement. We are so proud of you Nina, your dedication and passion for sport is inspiring. Well done.

St Mary’s AFL Superkick Program - Postponed to Term Three

We are very pleased to offer AFL Auskick and AFL Superkick at St Mary’s in Term Three.

This will be a 5 week program aimed at 5-12 year olds. The program will run at St Mary’s on a Wednesday afternoon from 3.30pm-4.30pm. We are hopeful it will start in Term Three Week Two (Wednesday 30th July). It costs $55. No special clothing or football boots are required, the students would get changed after school (they can just wear their sports uniform if wanted) and then would need to be promptly collected at 4.30pm.

The set up and the structure of the program will depend on registration numbers and the age of students interested in the program. AFL Victoria staff will make a judgement in the first session and will happily allow younger students to participate in the Superkick program if they feel this is more suited to them.

We would need at least 12 interested students overall for the program to commence. Please see the flyer later in the newsletter, it is also on SeeSaw and a hard copy has been sent home today. Please scan the appropriate QR code to register. Please contact myself or Jono Box for further information. Jono can be contacted at jono.box@afl.com.au

Dates for your Diary

TERM THREE

July

Thursday 24th July - State Cross Country @ Melbourne

Friday 25th July - Hockey 7’s @ Hamilton 

August

Thursday 14th August (TBC) - AFL 9’s @ Hamilton 

Wednesday 20th August - District Netball @ Hamilton 

September 

Tuesday 9th September - Grade 3/4 Hooptime @ Hamilton

Thursday 11th September - WHP Table Tennis (round robin format, no progression to state)

Friday 12th September - Grade 5/6 Hooptime @ Hamilton 

TBC Primary Golf

Elise Gordon

egordon@smhamilton.catholic.edu.au

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data

Wellbeing

Child Safety ~ Child Safe Standards

The new Child Safe Standards (eleven in total) came into effect in July 2022 and are a
vital part of what we do here at St Mary’s. But, what do these standards look like in practice? Each week, we will look at a standard in closer detail.

Standard 11 - Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people

At St Mary’s we can see this standard in action in a variety of ways. We have many policies and procedures in place to meet this standard. Our child safe policies are available to read on our school website here. We also have strict guidelines that volunteers and contractors must follow and meet when they are working in our school. All adults working with our students must hold a valid Working With Children Check (WWCC) or Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registration. These are just a few examples of the many ways in which we meet this standard. We have now broken down all eleven Child Safe Standards and how they are met here at St Mary’s. If you have any questions about any of the standards, please ask, or more information about these standards can be found here: Child Safe Standards

More information can be found on the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) website - the link to this website is below.

I Am Mindful Program

We are so excited to announce that we have been successful in getting a grant for the I AM MINDFUL wellbeing program, which will be delivered to our Gr 5/6s in Term 3. A huge thank you to Michelle Winnell from Brophy Youth and Family Services, who secured the funding for us. Our staff will participate in a training session and and online session will also be offered to the families of our Gr 5/6 families on Thursday 24th July from 7.30-8.30pm. We will have more details to forward to you shortly.

Tania Stevens
tstevens@smhamilton.catholic.edu.au

Leadership and Stewardship

Kitchen Garden 

We are so excited here - our Kitchen Garden program continued today! 

Under the watchful eyes of Lyn and Judy, ten Grade 5/6 students harvested produce from our garden and then cooked a delicious pumpkin soup, focaccia and a fresh asian slaw salad. We have included the recipes that the students used, so that you are able to cook these delicious recipes at home too.

There is much education that goes with a program like this, both for leaders and students. So, when it is your child’s turn to cook, make sure you ask them all about it! We will have another group of Grade 5/6 students in the kitchen next Friday, the last for the term.  We will also have some 'Celebrity Chefs' in next week.  Stay tuned to see who it might be!

Catherine Egan

Kitchen Garden Week 2

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School Beanies

We have navy blue school beanies the students are allowed to wear (they have our school name on them) here for sale at the office for $15 each.  If you would like to purchase one for your child, please come to the front office. You can pay cash or card.

Community Engagement

St Mary's Christmas Parade

This year our annual Christmas Parade will be held on Friday 5th December.

Here are our amazing 2025 coordinators:

Tendai Mhasho - Parade Marshall coordinator

Katrina Turnbull/Tegan Brown - BBQ coordinators

Shae Outtram – Gourmet Gifts/Baking

Lauren Cottrill - Stalls @ the PAC and will create our Parade advertising posters

Siana Causer - Raffle coordinator

All we need now is a Decorations coordinator.

The Decoration coordinator  will choose decorations we will use in front of the PAC from our storage shed here at school. In the past we have used our Christmas trees and boxes wrapped up like presents. They  will also have volunteers helping load/ unload and put up the decorations at the PAC.

Later in the year we will ask for helpers to assist the coordinators in the above rolls and keen bakers to make gourmet gifts to sell (Christmas cakes, biscuits, rum balls etc) at our Gourmet gift stall.

If you have any questions regarding the Christmas Parade please contact Shannon at school.🎄

Assembly

Our next assembly will be on Friday 1st August at 2.55pm.

Vacation Care OSHC

VAC bookings are open on Monday 16^th of June, please book in ASAP if you require care as we have limited places available. VAC Bookings must be booked through your Xplor app, contact the service if you have any difficulty. I have attached the flyer for your information.*If your child is attending on an excursion day please ensure you complete the correct permission form for your booking to be accepted. ThanksReminders:

• We are a Nut Free & Seafood Free service, please do not pack sushi, fish fingers, fried rice, peanut butter or Nutella in your child's lunchbox.
• Strictly no unhealthy foods, these will be required to stay in your child's bag until collection, we as a service provider are required to meet healthy eating guidelines.
• Please ensure you pack enough food for fruit, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, if your child does not have enough healthy food you will be called to collect them as we are unable provide food over VAC care.
• Ensure children have a bag that is large enough for their belongings, bring a full change of clothes, and bring a jumper for outside play.
• Please DO NOT send your child in thongs and crocs.
• All children MUST bring a drink bottle, those who do not have a drink bottle will not be able to stay for excursions.
• Our VAC fee is $95 per day before CCS reductions (regardless of what hours your child attends).
• Please note we close earlier during VAC Care and our service hours are 8:30am-6pm.
• Once bookings are accepted we CANNOT accept cancellations, if your booking is confirmed and you no longer require care your child will be marked absent and you will be charged an absence fee.