Friday 22nd August 2025 ~ Issue 25

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 3

Thursday 28th & Friday 29th August - Gr 3/4 Camp

Friday 29th August - CatholicCare Parenting Sessions

Friday 29th August - Assembly

Sunday 31st August - Sacrament of First Eucharist

Friday 5th September - Father's Day celebration at school (and Footy Colours!)

Monday 8th September - Learning Showcase and Learning Conversations

Tuesday 9th September - Gr 3/4 Hooptime

Friday 12th September - Gr 5/6 Hooptime

Friday 12th September - Assembly

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

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

PUPIL FREE DAYS IN 2025

Friday 19th September - Structured Literacy

ADVANCE NOTICE

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

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Today was so much fun as we celebrated Book Week with a dress up day and parade! We are so appreciative of the effort families go to in getting costumes organised - you are all so creative and clever!

In the coming weeks we will be sending families a quick and simple survey to see what you think about the current structure of our student leaders. Currently we vote for a girl and a boy School Captain. Many schools are moving to having the two best candidates, much like we do with our House Captain roles. We will survey our Gr 3-6 students, staff and families to get the opinions of all stakeholders. Be sure to have your say!

Next Thursday and Friday our Gr 3/4 students and staff will head to The Outside Inn at the Wannon for this year's school camp. We are extremely grateful for the parents that will be attending as well as our amazing staff who give so generously of their time.

Have a wonderful weekend, shared with those you love,

Terrielynn

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

Sacramental Program

Today the Sacramental children headed to St Mary's Church for a First Eucharist Workshop, in readiness for the sacrament to be received on Sunday 31st August. Our students have grown so much in their learning and are so open to the Catholic faith and traditions. We are very much looking forward to this wonderful celebration.

           Pope Francis’ Prayer for Peace

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!

We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain.

Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: "Never again war!"; "With war everything is lost". Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.

Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.

Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words "division", "hatred" and "war" be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be "brother", and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!

Amen.

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 - acknowledge people when they talk to you

SAFETY - use words to sort out issues

RESPONSIBILITY - own your choices

Learning Showcase & Learning Conversations

On Monday the 8th September at 2:30pm you are invited  to attend our Learning Showcase. This was something we started last year as a way for our families to pop in and see their child in their learning space. You are welcome to come in to your child's homeroom, any time between 2:30 until the end of the day, to celebrate the learning that your child has been doing here at school.  Straight after our Learning Showcase, we will be offering optional Learning Conversations with homeroom teachers.  These will be 10 minutes long and the booking form will be available on PAM from today. A reminder that these are optional.  If you will be attending a PSG meeting later in the term, you don't need to book a Learning Conversation.  Thank you.

Concert

We are getting very excited here - it's concert term, and it is approaching fast!  All homerooms have been working hard on their items and we are very excited to see it all coming together. Homeroom teachers will be in contact with any costume requirements, etc, so keep an eye on your Seesaw messages!

Our concert will be held on Wednesday 17th September at HPAC (Hamilton Performing Arts Centre).  We will have two shows - our matinee at 11am and our evening performance at 7pm.  Tickets are on sale NOW!  Click on this link here to purchase your tickets for both the matinee and evening performances. Please remember that you do not have to buy a ticket for your child/ren if they are performing. They will remain with their homeroom teacher for the whole show. No tickets will be sold at school - they are only available via this link. Tickets will be $10 each.  If you have a child under 2, who can sit on your lap and does not require a seat, you do not have to purchase a ticket for them.

We are aware that we will have many family and friends who will want to come along and support our concert.  However, to ensure that everyone has the chance to attend the concert, we have capped the tickets at 5 per family. This is across both shows, not 5 per show!  This is to make sure that everyone can come along.  If there are unsold tickets closer to the concert, we will let you know. We thank you for your understanding with this.

Sports Catch Up

Amazing Alaska 

Alaska B continues to race ahead in her athletic achievements. This weekend she will be competing in two prestigious national events! What an astounding feat! 

Over the past few months, Alaska has excelled in Cross Country racing, earning numerous medals and accolades, including her selection for the SSV Team Vic for Cross Country. We are truly impressed by Alaska’s accomplishments and extend our best wishes for her competitions this weekend. This weekend will also be a special family affair, as Alaska’s brother, Manaia, and mum, Tamai, will be competing as well.

On Saturday, Alaska will compete in the Australian Junior Cross Country Championships, followed by the Australian Junior Road Race Walking Championships on Sunday. 

Go Team Bremner!

Netball Victoria School Championships

The weather was perfect for the Netball Victoria School Championships held at Pedrina Park on Wednesday. We were thrilled to see a fantastic turnout from numerous schools across our district, showcasing a true celebration of netball enthusiasm in one location.

Both teams from St Mary's had an incredible day filled with fun and impressive victories. The girls represented St Mary's with remarkable sporting spirit. Coach Roxanne praised her players for their beautiful, positive attitudes and expressed the sheer enjoyment she got from the day. Such feedback is truly heartwarming!

A special thank you goes to Mrs. Sherlock and Casey R for their dedication as umpires, as well as to Mrs. Whyte, Roxanne H, and Jess H for their support in coaching and scoring. Your commitment and time made it possible for our students to participate in this wonderful event and pursue their passion for sport.

We are thrilled to report that St. Mary's Blue delivered a stellar performance throughout the day, finishing undefeated and securing the top position on the ladder. This is an impressive achievement! We have now been invited to participate in the Netball Victoria School Championships Finals. These will be held on Tuesday 9 September at the State Netball Centre, Parkville.

Results

St Mary’s Blue (Primary Pool One)

Game One: St Mary’s 5 defeated HNPS 0

Game Two: St Mary’s 11 defeated GSC 1

Game Three: St Mary’s 10 defeated TLS 1

Game Four: St Mary’s 13 defeated Dunkeld 2

Ladder Position 1st 

St Mary’s White (Primary Pool Two)

Game One: THAAC 8 defeated St Mary’s 7

Game Two: St Mary’s 24 defeated GSC 0

Game Three: Gray St A 13 defeated St Mary’s 4

Game Four: St Mary’s 12 defeated Gray St B 3

Ladder Position 3rd

Our St Mary's Netballers

St Mary’s AFL Auskick / Superkick Program

The AFL Auskick and AFL Superkick program had a perfect afternoon for footy this week. The kids are enjoying practising and refining their AFL skills. Please remember that this is an external program being offered by AFL Victoria, it is not staffed by St Mary’s. However, Mrs Gordon will walk the kids up and then ensure everyone is collected. 

HoopTime

The Hamilton District Hooptime will take place in Week Eight. The Grade 3/4s will take the courts on Tuesday 9th September and the Grade 5/6s on Friday 12th September. We have 47 students interested from each department, which will see us have 6 teams ranging from All Stars, Future Stars and Rookies. All teams will be coached by a member of staff. However, we will need some families to assist with scoring. If you are interested in scoring at HoopTime please let me know via Seesaw or email. 

Dates for your Diary

TERM THREE

August

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

Book Week

Wow! What a fabulous book parade we had today - so many wonderful characters and costumes. Some students even became authors and wrote their own book, so that their characters could join the parade!  Thank you so much for all your assistance with helping to prepare your children for today.  It was lovely to welcome so many of you along for our parade today too.  We have a few pictures below of all the fun!

Tania Stevens

Book Week Fun

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Wellbeing

 Child Safety - Webinar with Michael Carr-Gregg and Susan McLean

On Wednesday 3rd September, thanks to SchoolTV, our families have the opportunity to attend a free webinar with two of Australia's leading experts in the area of online safety, Michael Carr-Gregg and Susan McLean. This session will provide invaluable insights into the new social media regulations, digital footprint and reputation, screen time and brain development and parental controls.  Please scan the QR code on the flyer below or click the link here to register.

Tania Stevens

CatholicCare Parenting Session

As per a Seesaw message last Thursday, CatholicCare are offering individual parenting sessions for families here at school. A great opportunity! 

Leadership and Stewardship

Kitchen Garden

Today in the Kitchen Garden, Lyn and Judy helped us celebrate Book Week as well with a book inspired cooking session. The children began by making 'Gruffalo Muffins' and then some book inspired fruit art.  Amazing!

Catherine Egan

Kitchen Garden Term 3 Week 5

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Community Engagement

St Mary's Christmas Parade

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

We have been thinking of what we can do for our raffle - perhaps something big?

We are also looking for lolly donations to make lolly bags to sell at the parade. If you are able to donate, can they please be pre wrapped like chuppa chupps, or lollies in little bags.

If you have any ideas please let us know.

Later in the year we will ask for helpers to assist the coordinators in the above roles 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 29th August at 2.55pm.