From the Deputy 

Walk Safely To School Day, Friday 20th May.

National Walk Safely to School Day (WSTSD) is on Friday 20 May 2022. Now in its 23rd year, the annual campaign encourages all primary school children, their parents and carers to walk safely and regularly to school. The event seeks to promote road safety, health, public transport and the environment. Australian children are becoming less active. One substantial contributor is the decline in walking and/or taking public transport to school. Children who are regularly physically active are healthier, perform better academically and are less likely to be obese or overweight. Sedentary behaviour can lead to long-term and costly risks of illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. Walking regularly is the best exercise because you can build it into your daily routine.

The objectives of Walk Safely To School Day are:

• To encourage parents and carers to walk regularly with their children, all or part of the way to school.
• To promote the health benefits of walking and create regular walking habits.
• To help children develop vital road crossing skills and ensure children up to the age of 10 years hold an adult's hand when crossing the road.
• To reduce car dependency and traffic congestion, especially around schools.
• To reduce the level of air pollution created by motor vehicles.

On the morning of Friday 20th, students and parents are invited to meet school staff members at 3 surrounding locations in Prahran, Windsor and St Kilda East. Together, students, parents and staff will then walk approximately 1KM to school, arriving in time for the school day. Please see the map below for meeting locations and times. Parents are advised to supervise and walk with their children. If they are unable to do so, please give verbal permission to the staff members at the meeting location Friday morning. We hope to see as many families as possible actively travelling on this day, and we hope that the meeting locations and walking routes to school start healthy habits for everyone!

Meeting at 8:00am, departing at 8:15am

Windsor Siding Playground, 118 Union Street Windsor. 1.4KM ~ 20mins

Lumley Park Playground, 21 Jessamine Ave Prahran. 1.0KM ~ 15mins

Hewison Reserve, 351 Inkerman Street St Kilda East. 1.0KM ~ 15mins

Student Of The Week Awards

It has been a delight to recognise and celebrate the positive behaviours shown by the students at St Mary’s. For the month of May, teachers are looking out for students who display exemplary efforts towards the school norm of Be Responsible. Be Responsible can manifest itself in many ways, including:

• Students who show initiative, determination, persistence, focus or attentiveness
• Students who show organisation of materials or independence in learning
• Students who show care for property
• Students who show bravery, integrity
• Students who follow expectations

Families may wish to identify similar traits and actions in the home setting, and praise children when they shown responsibility. Further in this newsletter, you will find the Week 1 awards for Be Respectful followed by Week 2 of our first Be Responsible awards.