Newsletter Address ~ Term 3, Week 5

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Friends of St Mel’s,

The Principals Reading Challenge has started with many students finishing a full reading journal already! This is inspiring stuff. The benefits of fostering positive reading habits are huge and our Principal Reading Challenge gives kids that little bit of inspiration to read more or to get into a habit reading. I often hear how the reading challenge is what gives the ‘spark’ for some kids to fall in love with reading. I hope this happens again this year. Unfortunately, this year we don’t have a book fair or dress up day, this happens biannually. Look out next year!!

The theme for BookWeek is: ‘Read, Grow, Inspire’. The entire month of August is dedicated to books – book month as opposed to book week. During August the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) will announce the winners of books of the year. Book Week is from Saturday, 19 August to Friday, 25 August 2023. A collective tally of books will be kept. Thanks, Maria, for getting everything organised ~ book folders, bookmarks, promotion etc. You are amazing!!

Last week, students from SEDA College Shepparton ran a series of soccer clinics with our students from Prep – Year 6. It was hugely successful with our kids learning and practicing new skills, and it also helped the SEDA students hone their skills through sport development and delivery of lessons. A win-win for all involved. On Friday, Sev Cortese presented a cheque for $500 to the SEDA academy on behalf of Rotary Australia ~ Shepparton Branch. This generous donation will be used to help SEDA continue their amazing work supporting young people across Shepparton. Rotary and SEDA also generously provided prizes for a raffle of which several lucky St Mel’s students were able to take home soccer balls, equipment and one lucky winner received a Melbourne Victory membership ~ congratulations Hayley Austen. We are grateful for the generosity of SEDA and Rotary Australia. Who knows we might have a few Matilda’s or Socceroo’s coming through.

Today our students had extra play at recess and an icy-pole in recognition of reaching our goal of over 200+ PBIS / Star tickets for positive behaviour at school. A great achievement worth celebrating. Our focus for the next 4 weeks will be keeping our hands to ourselves and playing fairly. Please ask your children what they can do to be successful at doing this.

On Friday 15th September will be a closure day for students. Staff will be on retreat to the Winton Wetlands to learn more about local Indigenous history and culture. Our day will focus on developing a stronger connection to land, culture, spirituality, and God. We’ve named the day; ‘Mulana Biami(Yi)’ a Yorta Yorta Indigenous phrase meaning ‘Spirit Good / God’. Michael Chisholm, Troy Firebrace, David Walker, Luise Levy from CES Ltd. and other local Indigenous Elders will be leading us through a day of reflection and spiritual development. These experiences go a long way to helping staff develop their understanding of Indigenous culture and the ties it has with our Catholic story and curriculum.

*** End of Term Change of Dates ***

14th September Term 3 Ends / Footy Colours Day (school finishes normal time 3:20pm)

15th September School Closure Day ~ No students.

Staff Retreat Day ~ Indigenous Perspectives Winton Wetlands

Enjoy a great fortnight everyone.

Do your best. Respect our school. Help others succeed.

Parish Education School Council ~ Tuesday 8th August

Last Tuesday our school council met at St Mel’s Kindergarten. Mim gave us a tour of their new facilities and shared their exciting developments for the future. School council members then had robust conversations regarding education in today’s world post-pandemic. These conversations provided good feedback and scope for supporting families who we know are struggling in our community and how we are faced with many challenges in the education sector, including staff shortages, student learning and wellbeing and teacher burnout. These are common topics for discussion in most schools and I’m grateful for the incredible support and understanding from council members representing our community.

We are always on the recruitment drive for new School Council members and would love others to join. We are planning to have a meet and greet meeting next term on Tuesday October 17th, 7pm. If joining the school council interests you please contact the school.

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden (SAKG) Updates:

See SAKG page in this newsletter

Our SAKG program for the junior classes has kicked off this term. Katie Ferrari, our SAKG specialist, is doing an amazing job running classes and small groups throughout the week, ensuring our kids are growing, harvesting, and cooking fresh produce from our garden and are experiencing the full benefits of the SAKG program. We are aiming to hold another information session regarding the program this term and will be looking for volunteers to help. If you have a current WWCC (Working with Children’s Check) and would like to volunteer your time in the garden and be part of the program, please contact the school.

About the SAKG Program

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation provides inspiration, information, professional development and support for educators to deliver pleasurable food education to children and young people in Australia.

Pleasurable food education is a fun, hands-on approach to teaching children and young people about fresh, seasonal, delicious food so they form positive food habits for life.

Delivered through a kitchen garden program, pleasurable food education has an array of health, well-being, education, and community benefits.

Stephanie Alexander AO, one of Australia’s most recognised cooks, food educators and authors, established the Kitchen Garden Foundation in 2004, following the success of the first kitchen garden program piloted in 2001. The motivation for this work came from Stephanie’s awareness of the growing childhood obesity problem in Australia.

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation supports early childhood services, primary schools and secondary schools across Australia, and our community is growing.

NCCD ~ National Consistency Collection of Data

Staff have been busy preparing documentation and conducting parent support group meetings to ensure everything will be in place to apply for funding for students with disabilities in 2024. Thank you to Chris Dainton who has been coordinating PSG meetings and our work for NCCD.

For families who are new to the school or unfamiliar with the process,

the NCCD Portal is a comprehensive online resource to support principals, teachers, school support staff and parents understand and complete the NCCD, with free and practical resources such as e-learning modules, videos, case studies and templates.

The Portal also includes information for parents, guardians and carers.

For more information on the NCCD, visit www.nccd.edu.au.

School Uniform

It’s time to transition to our Winter Uniform. Correct uniform including footwear, hair ties, no jewellery, hair colour etc continue to be of importance and students will be warned and parents notified if this is not attended to.

GIRLS' WINTER UNIFORM

Winter Tartan Skirt (Grey/Green pinstripe) with bottle green tights.

Tartan slacks (Grey/Green pinstripe) with plain white socks or

Gold skivvy or Green/gold polo shirt, long or short-sleeved, with embroidered school logo.

School jumper or bomber jacket

GIRLS' SPORTS UNIFORM

Black sports skirt or black shorts/black tracksuit pants (Winter)

Green and Gold polo top [with the embroidered logo]

Plain white socks (micro socks not permitted)

BOYS' WINTER UNIFORM

Grey trousers or cords

Gold skivvy or green/gold long-sleeved polo top [with the embroidered logo]

School jumper or bomber jackets with embroidered school logo.

Plain grey socks (micro-short socks are not permitted).

BOYS' SPORTS UNIFORM

Plain black shorts/black tracksuit pants (Winter)

Green and Gold polo top [with the embroidered logo]

Plain white socks (micro socks are not permitted)

SCHOOL SHOES

Both boys and girls are to wear plain black shoes only

While plain, black leather runners are acceptable; ALL other sports shoes are acceptable only for sporting activities. Socks must be worn with shoes. "Blundstone" type work boots are not permitted.

WEARING OF HATS

During Terms 1 and 4 all children must wear a school hat. Hats are optional for Terms 2 & 3.

St Mel’s School Open Day ~ Wednesday, May 24th

Tour Times: 12:30 pm and 4:30 pm

Community Group Expressions of Interest to Join

Each year it is expected our school will commit to raising additional funds. All Catholic Schools have an obligation to raise additional funds to meet the capacity to contribute factor.

These funds will be put towards improving the educational needs of our students through hardware or programs and/or improving school grounds or facilities.

Please Note: Our Parents and Friends group are on the recruitment drive. If you know of anyone especially new parents who might want to be involved please encourage them to do so by contacting the school.

As a school, we are extremely grateful for the hard work and time our community members put into making our school the best it can be. We are especially grateful for contributions and donations made when we hold school fundraisers or campaigns to help maintain and beautify St Mel’s.

Committee Recruitment

St Mel's relies on the support of our parents to make sure we can offer the best learning opportunities for our children. We are grateful for the commitment of those who are already on our Parish School Education Council and Social Committee and ask anyone who would like to be involved to please contact the school. All new or existing parents are welcome!

Attendance Requirements

If your child is sick or absent, you are required to notify the school as soon as possible on the day of absence, by phoning or emailing the school.

Notifying the school of your child’s absence either prior to, or on the day that they will be away, helps ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and will fulfil your legal responsibility.

All Victorian schools are required to contact parents/carers as soon as practicable on the same day of an unexplained student absence. If your child is absent on a particular day and you have not contacted the school to explain why, the absence will be marked as unexplained.

This system also promotes daily school attendance. Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education, they learn new things every day – missing school puts them behind.

URGENT REMINDER!!! Medical Update ~ Asthma Plans & Anaphylaxis Plans

If your child suffers from Asthma or Anaphylaxis, please remember to send in an updated Asthma Plan or Anaphylaxis Plan. These MUST BE arranged through your family GP. Without an updated plan your children will not be able to participate in school functions

SA Kitchen Garden

Come & visit our garden to see the improvements we have made. Our students & staff have been working so hard.

Our SA Garden and Gardeners Need Your Help!