From the Deputy Principal 

Swimming Program Update (Term 4)

Our annual swimming program will be underway in the first four weeks of Term 4.

Hosted at Kingswim at the Fitness First pool at 97 Alma Road St Kilda East, each student will receive 8 lessons over a fortnight period.  As it is part of the curriculum, all students are expected to participate in the swimming program.

The Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 students will be swimming in the first two weeks of Term 4, each day except Monday:

Term 4, Week 1:   Tue 8th,   Wed 9th,   Thu 10th,   Fri 11th October

Term 4, Week 2:   Tue 15th,   Wed 16th,   Thu 17th,   Fri 18th October

The Prep, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 students will be swimming in the next two weeks of Term 4, each day except Monday

Term 4, Week 3:   Tue 22nd,   Wed 23rd,   Thu 24th,   Fri 25th October

Term 4, Week 4:   Tue 29th,   Wed 30th,   Thu 31st,   Fri 1st (November)

For the swimming program, students are required to bring the following to school:

- Bathers (to be worn to school under school uniform)

- A swimming cap (swimming caps must be worn to participate in lessons)

- Underwear to change into after the lesson

- A towel

- Thongs / flip flops

- Goggles (recommended)

- A carry bag for all items, separate to school bag

Please note that students will be walking to and from Kingswim from school and that a rain coat or umbrella may be required on wet days.

An operoo permission for all students has been issued this week, as well as a paper form that the Kingswim instructors require that indicates your child current swimming ability. The form also contains some important information regarding hands-on corrections that are used in the pool. Both the Operoo form and paper skills form are due back by Friday 13th September.

We are looking for a few parent helpers to assist in the change rooms at the end of lessons for Prep and Year 1. A valid Working With Children Check must be held by the parent with a copy given to the office. If you are able to assist on some or any days with Prep and Year 1, please respond via the operoo form.

The Arts Show - Open every day from Monday 9th to Friday 13th September,

3:30pm until 4:00pm

We have our exciting Arts Show coming up, please save the dates for an afternoon visit in the week on Monday 9th to Friday13th September.  Children’s art will be on display in the Main Campus classroom building corridors which will be open until 4:00pm. There will also be some contributions from Performing Arts and Italian, as well as class art item which will be auctioned off later in the year.

There will be something happening each day and we look forward to seeing many family members there:

Marvel Monday ~ Official opening of The Arts Show at school dismissal. Families are invited to “marvel” at all of the magnificent student pieces which will be displayed in the main campus building all week.

Tinker Tuesday ~ Parents are invited to their child’s classroom to make an origami piece.

Wowing Wednesday ~ The school choir will be performing Mirror Ball by Taylor Swift and their own composition “Spicy Pizza”.

Talent Thursday ~ Students from Prep to Year 6 are invited to share their talents with the community in the annual St Mary’s Got Talent Show.

Fun Friday ~ Free Sausage Sizzle and sneak preview of the Major Fundraiser coming up on Saturday October 26th.

2024 MACSSIS Family Surveys

Next week the MACSSIS Survey will be open for completion. MACSSIS is an annual process whereby schools listen to the thoughts and feelings that students, families and staff have about how their school can improve. These surveys help inform the ongoing improvement of schools across the Archdiocese of Melbourne. 

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 is available online, can be accessed from Monday 2 September and needs to be completed by Friday 20 September 2024. This survey may only be completed once.

For families with more than one child attending our school, we ask that you focus on the eldest child attending the school when completing the survey. The school has invited all families to respond via this survey and participation is completely voluntary. There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers – all responses are completely anonymous and at no point are any of the responses from students, families or staff identifiable by the school.

Instructions and a unique family pin for accessing the survey will be issued next week.

If you have any technical questions in relation to accessing the survey, please contact ORIMA Research on 1800 654 585 or macssis@orima.com.

If you have any feedback about the survey in relation to the questions and content, please contact Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) on macssis@macs.vic.edu.au.

We thank you in advance for your participation in the MACSSIS family survey.