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Thank you to all our dads who attended our Father's Day celebration last week. We hope you enjoyed your special morning.
Thank you also to Keith & Carly Geisler (Sant' Andrea Expressso Cart) for the wonderful coffee & hot chocolates.
Dear Parents and Carers
We have finally come to the end of a very busy and successful term. I am sure we are all excited to have time to recover from Winter and enjoy the sunshine and warmth that Spring is bringing to our days.
I take this opportunity to thank our wonderful families for their support in so many ways this term. Your attendance at our Parent Teacher Student Learning meetings enables us to work together to provide the supportive environment in which children shine – we truly believe that it takes a village to raise a child! Your presence and support at the disco, the sausage sizzle for Footy Day, the Father’s Day celebrations and the range of other activities we have celebrated this term, have enabled us to join as a community to enjoy fun times with the kids and to raise much needed funds to purchase resources for the school. We appreciate all you do and value the community that we have at St Mary’s.
Today is the final day for families to put forward considerations for their child for the 2024 school year. I have had the opportunity to speak with many families who value the decisions made by the teachers with regard to class structures for next year. We work very hard to ensure our classes meet the needs of every child and, despite this being challenging at times, we know that our teachers know your child well and have a depth of understanding about who your child works well with and who will support your child’s learning and wellbeing. I thank you for the feedback I have received and our team will spend the next several weeks creating the class structures, allocating staff to classes and assigning students to their classes for next year.
Last week was Child Safety Week and, as always, our focus continues to be on the ways we can provide a safe and inclusive environment for all children. One initiative we have at our school is our Mini Oblate Leadership Team. This team are responsible for providing support to all children in our school on a daily basis.
Mini Oblate Playground Support
The school has a Mini Oblate initiative (named after the order of priests who support the school and parish) which comprises of most of the Year 6 students who are responsible for leading social justice in the school. As part of the initiative, we have two of the Mini Oblates rostered on each recess and lunchtime to be a support to students in the playground, ensuring that the children feel safe and supported. They wear hi vis vests and their Mini Oblate medals and walk around the playground looking for ways that they can support the children. The teachers support this initiative by creating a rolling roster for the children to follow. The medals and hi vis vests are provided so that the children are easily identified.
The initiative was well scaffolded by the teachers in each class who explained to the children what the Mini Oblates were all about and what their role would be in the playground. The teachers also support the initiative in the playground by encouraging the children to reach out to the Mini Oblates if they need help, especially those children looking for someone to play with.
Outcomes
The presence of the Mini Oblates and their dedication to the safety and wellbeing of the children, has made a significant difference to the children in the school, as they feel comfortable approaching the Mini Oblates to seek support. The teachers feel supported as they have the Mini Oblates to help them with the children on the playground. Throughout the term, the children have been learning skills from the Mini Oblates such as: how to make friends and what to say when initiating joining a game or activity. As the term has progressed, the Mini Oblates have become aware of the ability for the children to take what they have learned and initiate joining games and creating friendships themselves. We have 25 Mini Oblates who are part of the initiative and continue to show great enthusiasm and commitment to supporting children across all levels of the school. We will continue to provide this opportunity and support our Mini Oblates to engage with this initiative as the success in one term is beyond what we could have planned or hoped for. If other schools feel that this is an initiative that they would like to take on, the advice would be to make it voluntary as the students need to have a strong desire and commitment to helping others and be prepared to miss out on their own play time to enable this initiative to succeed.
I wish you all a wonderful holiday and look forward to another exciting term ahead.
Kind regards
Lisa
Last week our year 3 to 6 students participated in the Latrobe Valley Eisteddfod Prepared Reading section. We are very proud of how everyone prepared themselves leading up to the event and how beautifully they read on the day.
Results:
Section 607.1 - Yrs 4 & under Prepared Reading Solo
1st Student from another school
2nd Zarlee Graham
3rd Dustin Manning & Harrison Dwyer
HC Aidan Schembri
HC April O'Brien
HC Ellie McMurdy
HC Emily Odlum
HC Emilya Chapman
Section 607.2 - Yrs 4 & under Prepared Reading Solo
1st Evie O'Farrell
2nd Harlow Geisler & Kaliese Larkman
3rd Sienna Zimora-Moore
HC Arlo Warner
HC Gina Muller
HC Henry Webb
HC Jack Peatey
HC Sarah McMurdy
Section 607.3 - Yrs 4 & under Prepared Reading Solo
1st Olivia Booker
2nd Connor Bremner
3rd Violet Seccombe
HC Alexis Rushby
HC Cianna Clydesdale
HC Robert Gray-Christie
HC Sophie Howard
HC Stella Ridley
Section 607.4 - Yrs 4 & under Prepared Reading Solo
1st Student from another school
2nd Nafieth Nhial & Student from another school
3rd Emma Lawrence & Levi Rushby
HC Boston Nosowski
HC Logan Mobourne
Section 608.1 - Yr 5 Prepared Reading Solo
1st Imogen Richardson
2nd Zaxon Taylor
3rd Tia Chiotelis
HC Bianca Schena
HC Vince Giacobbe
Section 608.2 - Yr 5 Prepared Reading Solo
1st Kaitlyn Laidlaw
2nd Student from another school
3rd Penny Anderson
HC Gabrielle Borland
HC Jasmine Gray-Christie
HC Jasper Warner
HC Phoenix Geisler
Section 608.3 - Yr 5 Prepared Reading Solo
1st Myles Thorburn
2nd Cooper Lees
3rd Scarlette Geisler
HC Caleb Travis
HC Evie McMahon
HC Luke Scholes
HC Quote Nhial
Section 609.1 - Yr 6 Prepared Reading Solo
1st Isabelle Thorpe & Mia Aitken
2nd Grace Moroney
3rd Georgia Priddle & Harper de Dios
HC Bambi Orton
HC Georgia McMurdy
HC Jarryd Mobourne
Section 609.2 - Yr 6 Prepared Reading Solo
1st Adeleine Rees
2nd Student from another school
3rd Harvey Goodwin
HC Ava Mellon
HC Zac Chandler
Latrobe City - Moe Revitalisation Project
Newborough United Soccer Club - Soccer Clinic
Latrobe City - Sport & Recreation Expo
Wednesday 27th September 11.00am to 4.00pm
Gippsland Regional Indoors Sports Stadium, Atterick Crescent Traralgon
Thu 21 Sep 2023, 10am – 12pm $30.00 per person
Moe & District NA, Monash Road, Newborough
Ages: 7 – 10 years & 11 – 13 years, No experience necessary!
Registration link: https://registration-netball.squadi.com/userRegistration?organisationId=f5f80fd5-4705-4810-8cef-790dc47abbbc&competitionId=a4270f33-703c-4241-b060-8ab4df1306c6
Uniform Shop
To place orders online please click the link below:
Orders will be filled at the school during the week and sent home with your child. If an exchange is necessary please contact the office who will organise this on your behalf.
October
- Monday 2nd - School closure for Staff Professional Development
- Tuesday 3rd - First day term 4
- Thursday 5th/Friday 6th - F to 2 Swimming Program
- Thursday 12th - Andrew Chinn incursion
- Friday 13th - F to 2 Swimming Program
- Thursday 19th/Friday20th - F to 2 Swimming Program
- Wednesday 25th - F to 2 Swimming Program
- Thursday 26th/Friday 27th - F to 2 Swimming Program
- Tuesday 31st - School Concert Rehearsal
November
- Wednesday 1st - School Concert 4pm & 6pm (information to follow)
- Monday 6th - School closure
- Tuesday 7th - School Closure for Melbourne Cup Day
- Wednesday 8th - School closure for Staff Professional Development
- Thursday 16th - Foundation Information Night 6.00om
- Tuesday 21st - Foundation Transition
- Tuesday 28th - Foundation Transition
- Thursday 30th - Year 5/6 Water Saftey Program at Gumbuya World
December
- Tuesday 5th - Foundation Transition
- Tuesday 12th - Statewide Transition
- Wednesday 13th - Year 6 Day Out
- Thursday 14th - Year 6 Graduation Mass & Dinner
- Friday 15th - Students last day
January 2024
- Tuesday 30th - Students first day (years 1 to 6) & Foundation Testing
- Wednesday 31st - Foundation Testing
February
- Thursday 1st - Foundation students first day
- Wednesday 7th - Foundation Testing