Welcome back to Term 4,

It is nice to be back and school and into the swing of things after my leave. Thank you to all the people who have passed on their congratulations on the arrival of our third child Cameron, everyone at home is doing well and we are managing to get plenty of sleep.

It has been a great start to Term 4, staff have a focus on "catching the students being good". We really want to focus on celebrating the students for doing a great job. Teachers have been handing out regular leaves for our Kindness Tree, and celebrating students who are filling each others buckets with kindness and respect. On Monday at our assembly, I gave students a goal, that if we could fill our Kindness tree by the end of October I would organise a whole school fun day excursion/incursion. I will keep updating on the progress as we go.

We do have a crazy term with lots of events and I will try my best to make sure communication is clear so everyone is able to be across everything. The best way to make sure you are up to date is to read the newsletter each fortnight and read School Stream messages as they come through. Please see the important dates tab later in the newsletter for a break down of events (more will be added as the term goes).

Next week is Anti-Poverty week, we will have a focus on highlighting the importance of raising awareness of poverty (particularly in children) and how we as individuals can do more.

Please see the following resource for more information:

https://antipovertyweek.org.au/

Thank you!

Just wanted to say a big thank you to Matt Anderton (and Donna) for the work they did over the weekend upgrading our disabled toilet upstairs. Your work is appreciated and although most wont see it, it does mean a lot.

Also wanted to thank our maintenance worker Vaughn, he does all the odd jobs around the school as uses his many talents to improve and upgrade our school. It is all of those things that we don't notice.

Parent Teacher Interviews/Parent Support Group Meetings:

On Monday we sent out a booking form for the upcoming parent teacher interviews. Families who do not need to book in for interviews as they already have Parent Support Group meetings were notified last Thursday via an email from Donna. If you did not receive an email from Donna please book in an interview with your child's teacher.

Just an additional note, all parents are more than welcome to contact their child's teacher to arrange an after school meeting at any time. Parents do not need to wait for formal interview time or PSG meeting. Please email your child's teacher to arrange a meeting if desired.

Production Premier:

We are so excited to announce that the Premier of our Production "The Reluctant Dragon" will take place on Friday, December 1 at Cameo Cinema. Jeanette Wicks and Donna Anderton have been working hard to edit and produce the movie. More information around timing and ticketing will be provided shortly. This year we have come to the decision that students will NOT be charged attendance. More info to come!

Here are some "behind the scenes" photos to start wetting your appetite (Thanks to Jacinta Benne for the photos)

Upcoming Parents and Friends events:

Referendum BBQ (14th of October)
Bunnings BBQ (15th of October)
School Disco (27th of October) - more information will follow about this.

School Advisory Council:

I am seeking expressions of interest for some new members to join our School Advisory Council (SAC) for 2024. The SAC is an important body, which listens, advises and provides feedback to the Principal on the running of the school. In council meetings we discuss agenda items that impact the school community. This year's members include:

Amy Gillet (Chairperson)

Emily Atkinson (Secretary)

Monica Rayner

Audrey Brook

Sharna Parker

Father Cruz

Katherine McLoughlin

Declan McDermott

Please email me with an expression of interest and I will send you some more information about the upcoming AGM in November.

Day for Daniel:

The Day for Daniel is an annual event involving schools, businesses and local communities. It sees over 1 million people each year participate in promotional events across Australia. These events help raise awareness of child safety, protection and harm prevention and complements the current broader work we are doing at St Paul’s to provide a safe and nurturing culture for all children.

The Day for Daniel is a way that we recognise our continuing commitment to child safety and the strengthening of school practices and policies in accordance with the Victorian minimum Child Safe Standards outlined in Ministerial Order No. 1359.

We encourage students to wear a "touch of red" to recognise Day for Daniel and raise awareness of child safety. The day is not a free dress day, A red t-shirt, hair ribbon or red socks are most appropriate items, however it is NOT COMPULSORY to wear something red, and students may choose to wear school uniform.

Excursion to Parliament House and Cook's Cottage:

Good afternoon parents, teachers and students.

On 2nd of October the 4s, 5s, and 6s went to the city for a excursion and we went to the Parliament House. One interesting fact about Parliament House is that inside there is 8.3 million dollars worth of gold at its current value. Next we went to cooks cottage in Fitzroy gardens and had a nice tour around the place including the beautiful gardens outside. After that we went to the old treasury building with so many fascinating things to learn about. Thank you for listening.

Grace and Jasper.

Pianos Recycled:

How cool is our new Piano?

Fully tuned and ready for the students to enjoy!

Bunnings BBQ:

Who doesn't love a Bunnings BBQ! The STM P&F are hosting a Bunnings BBQ on Sunday the 15th of October at the Scoresby store and are looking for volunteers. We will need a team captain to run the day and the BBQ from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. There are four time slots that require 3 volunteers to support the team captain, and you can sign up by completing the Operoo notice.

Time slots for the BBQ roster are;

8:30 am to 10:45 am
10:30 am to 12:45 pm
12:30pm to 2:45pm
2:30 pm to 4:30pm

Please see an updated timetable for the day:

For those of you who are unable to come along, but would like to offer support, we would appreciate any donations of:

Tomato or BBQ sauce
Paper towel
Garbage bags
Rubber gloves

These donations can be left at the front office.

Our P&F are very generous in their support of our students and school, and I encourage you to support them by volunteering if you are able to on the day.

School Disco:

We are so excited that our School Disco is going ahead on the 27th of October. Please keep this date free is your diaries. More information will be coming out later this week or earlier next week.

2024 School Fees;

Dear families,

Every year around August and September Principals work with MACS business partners to produce a budget for the following year. This year's budget is nearly complete and is shared with the community each year in the Annual Report to the School Community.

In the past two years we have managed to increase school fees by only 2% per year, which has been a welcome relief to families. Unfortunately this year it has been decided that fees will need to be increased by around 4-5%. These figures will be finalised and shared with families in Term 4.

As always we will support families with flexible payment options and plans, MACS will also continue to offer Concession fees for Health Care Card holders. Please remember if you are ever having financial difficulties please reach out to me via email or pop in the office.

More detailed information will come out in Term 4.

Kind regards

Declan

School Closure Days:

Please add the following dates to your diary.

Friday 3rd of November: Curriculum Day

Monday 6th of November: Report Writing Day

Tuesday 7th of November: Melbourne Cup

Monday 4th of December: 2024 Planning day for staff

End of School Year Dates:

End of Year dates are as follows:

Year 6 Graduation Day/Year 6 last day: Thursday 14th of December (Lunch from 12pm-3pm, Mass from 6:30pm-8:30pm)

Prep/Year 5 last day: Friday 15th of December at 3:10pm

Commitment to Child Safety:

Please see attached the CECV's (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria) commitment to Child Safety in schools. Each school must have a range of measures in place to meet the 11 Child Safety Standards.

Thank you and God bless

Declan

Term 4 Assembly Celebrations