Dear Families,

Next Friday there will be a Memorial Service held for Sharon Keleher, mother of Grace, in St Mary's Church at 12pm, followed by a wake in the school hall.

The past weeks have been a very difficult and sad time for many in our community, notably close friends of Sharon, some of whom spent considerable time by her bedside, friends and classmates of Grace, and for staff who have taught or supported Grace over the past six years.

Parents are invited to attend the memorial service next week. Many staff will also attend and where necessary, cover will be arranged so that students are adequately supervised. Please note the school will not be taking students across to the church for the service. If parents attend, it is up to each families discretion if their child attends.

The family would like the service to be a celebration of Sharon's life and encourage attendees to dress in colour rather than black.

Among this tragedy, I would like to highlight the generosity and care of our community; families, staff and students have demonstrated their love for Sharon and Grace in many ways. The donations towards Grace's Go Fund Me page currently approaching $17, 000, numerous parents and staff have volunteered to help with memorial service and to set up the hall or prepare food for the wake. Staff have been closely involved in supporting Grace and her family and in working with Fr Dean in making memorial service arrangements.

Students have also made lovely cards for Grace and Year 5 students have planned a casual clothes days on Friday 9th December. On this day, staff and students are asked to bring a gold coin donation and encouraged to dress with a little Christmas flair. All monies donated will go to Grace's GoFund Me page.

On behalf of Grace's family and our entire community, I extend our gratitude.

Grace has also been supported to transition to a new school in Queensland and staff have been comforted to know that Grace has made a lovely start and been closely cared for by the staff at her new school.

Grace has been appointed as a Ranger, to care for lizards in their reptile house and is excited by this opportunity.

Last Thursday we had a terrific day of celebration and fun as a school community, at our Diversity Dash at Castlefield Oval, celebrating diversity, inclusion and equality. There was certainly a lot of colour at the end of the day! Personally I remained relatively dry and clean, due to having the honour of shooting the water cannon.

Funds raised from sponsorship will go towards completing the upgrade of our Imagination garden, which is well underway. The new decking has been laid and soon the mud kitchen and cubby houses will be constructed soon.

Last Tuesday night our Year Five students 'graduated' from their eight session Presentation Skills Public Speaking Course at their presentation night in front of their parents. The students left parents and staff spellbound by their skills, confidence along with a fine touch of flare! Standing up and speaking in front of a large audience is something most adults find daunting, yet these young people absolutely shone, speaking with strength, passion and conviction, leaving us in no doubt that they will make excellent school leaders in 2023! You will find a full report from Mrs Sandra De Geest from Advanced Presentation Skills further in this newsletter.

Departing and New Staff

At the end of this term we will be farewelling five staff members who have each made an incredible contribution to our school community.

Mrs Wendy Lambert, our wonderful Office Administrator, will be leaving St Mary's and heading off into the sunset to travel Australia and beyond with her husband Peter at the end of the year. Wendy has been the 'face of the school' and trusty and reliable point of contact for everyone in our school community. Her sturdy shoes will be filled next year by Mrs Renae Robinson. We wish Wendy all the best for the next chapter in her life.

Ms. Sarah Rigney will be consolidating her days at three schools to just one, shifting fully to St Joseph's Black Rock as well as continuing with her Mindful Kids Melbourne business. Sarah in her time at St Mary's has held the roles of Classroom Teacher, Maths Leader, Student Wellbeing Leader and currently as a Wellbeing Teacher and Year 1 Teacher. With an impactful contribution in so many areas of the school over many years, it is Sarah's work in the wellbeing space and supporting students with their social emotional learning that I know has her the greatest joy. We wish her well as she continues to further grow in her new ventures.

Miss Lucy Levett will be leaving St Mary's to take up a position at St Andrew's in Clayton. After starting at St Mary's as a graduate teacher in 2017, Lucy has contributed in many ways to our school community as a classroom teacher, Middle School Leader and most recently as a key member of the Production Team, where her outstanding skills contributed greatly to our Production logistics running like a well oiled machine! We wish Lucy the very best for this next exciting chapter in what I am confident will be a most fruitful teaching career.

Mrs Thomasine Cook, our IT & Sports Coordinator, has been travelling miles each day from Gippsland for several years, and will be leaving St Mary's in order to be closer to home as her eldest of three children commences school. Thomasine also commenced at St Mary's as a graduate teacher and has such high commitment and dedication in her roles at the school. We wish Thomasine the very best as she spend greater time with her family as well as saving quite a lot of money on petrol in the process!

Finally, Mrs Lisa Biffin, who stepped in as Year 5 teacher in Term Three will be finishing up her time at St Mary's at the end of the year. We have been so very fortunate to have such a high calibre teacher with us albeit for such a short time and we are very grateful for the incredible impact she has had on our Year Five students during her time with us.

It is sad to be farewelling such wonderful staff, however I am also excited that our dedicated and caring team of staff will be joined by four highly skilled staff members in 2023. As mentioned in the previous newsletter, Ewelina Podgorska is joining us as Prep teacher in 2023, already involved in our Prep Orientation Sessions. Yang Song will join us as a new Mandarin Language Specialist Teacher, reinvigorating our language program. Sam Sullivan will be joining us as a classroom teacher and we will also be welcoming back Elise Fisher from maternity leave.

The full staffing for 2023 will be published in the final newsletter for the term in a fortnight's time.

School Closure Day

A reminder that Monday 28th November is a School Closure Day for 2023 Planning. Their Care is available for out of hours care.

Prep Orientation and Information Night

Over the past three weeks we have had the joy of welcoming a wonderful group of little learners to our Prep Orientation Sessions each Wednesday. Already all the children are extremely well settled and getting to know each other - a credit to our Prep teachers Miss Annie Walker and Miss Ewelina Podgorska. Our fourth and final orientation session for our youngest and newest members of our community takes place next Wednesday 30th November, with an information night for parents on Tuesday 29th at 7pm.

Semester Two Written Reports

Semester Two reports will be available via the Nforma Portal on the afternoon of Friday 9th December. Nathan Eddy will send out information to families with information on how to access your child's report via the portal prior to the release date.

Matthew Sweeney

Principal

principal@smhampton.catholic.edu.au

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