Principal's Update

A Wonderful Term at St Margaret’s: As we come to the end of Term 3 I would like tocongratulate everyone on an excellent Term 3 of learning, growth and community at St Margaret’s Primary School. I would like to congratulate and thank our students for their hard work throughout the term and acknowledge the wonderful support of our families. I would also like to recognise the incredible work of our teachers and staff who continue to provide such rich and engaging learning experiences for our students each day.

    The term has been full of so many wonderful highlights. From our Prep students celebrating their first 100 days of school, to our Year 4 students celebrating their First Holy Communion, Year 5 Camp, Italian Day and Book Week, there has been an incredible range of opportunities for our students to learn, grow and celebrate together. Our many excursions, incursions and hands-on learning experiences have also provided students with opportunities to extend their learning beyond the classroom. It has certainly been an action packed and highly successful term and there is much to celebrate across our school community.

        As the weather begins to improve, the school holidays provide a welcome opportunity for everyone to rest, recharge and enjoy some time together before we prepare for another exciting term. We look forward to welcoming everyone back for Term 4 after a well earned break.

Parent Teacher Interviews: Our Parent Teacher Interviews will take place this Thursday and will provide a valuable opportunity for families to meet with their child’s teacher to discuss their learning, progress and growth. We view these conversations as an important part of the partnership between school and home. If you find that the allocated time is not sufficient to discuss everything you would like to, please remember that you can always make another appointment with your child’s teacher at a mutually suitable time. Thank you to our teachers and families for the time and commitment they give to these important conversations.

Father’s Day Celebrations: A real highlight of the past few weeks was our Father’s Day celebration and breakfast, organised by our wonderful Parents and Friends Association. I would particularly like to thank Viv Lang, our P&F President, and all of the families who contributed to making the morning such a wonderful celebration for our dads and the important males in the lives of our children. It was fantastic to see so many members of our community come together and enjoy the opportunity to celebrate these important relationships. Events such as this are a wonderful reflection of the strong sense of community we continue to build at St Margaret’s.

Year 1 Science Expo: It was wonderful to see the amazing celebration of learning that took place in our Year 1 area last week through their Science Expo. The students proudly shared their learning about space and the solar system, and it was clear just how much they had learned throughout the unit. Just as importantly, it was wonderful to see how much enjoyment the students had throughout the learning process. A huge congratulations to our Year 1 students and teachers for creating such an engaging and memorable learning experience.

MACSSIS Surveys: The MACSSIS Surveys provide an important opportunity for our students, families and staff to provide feedback about their experiences of school. The information gathered through these surveys helps us to better understand what we are doing well and identify areas where we can continue to improve.

     Each year, all staff and students in Years 4 to 6 at St Margaret’s complete the survey and we also invite all families to participate. At present, only 26 of our 328 families have completed the survey. If you have approximately 10 minutes available, we would really appreciate you taking the time to complete it. Your feedback is valuable and helps us to ensure that the decisions we make continue to be informed by the experiences and perspectives of our community. Thank you to everyone who has already taken the time to provide their feedback.

Closure of the Church: It has now been confirmed that the final Mass at St Margaret’s Church will be held on Sunday 25 October. Our final school Mass at the Church will be held on the Friday before this.

     This will be a significant and emotional moment for our school and parish communities. The Church has played such an important role in the history of St Margaret’s and in the faith life of generations of students and families. We would love to see as many families as possible attend these final celebrations so that together we can give the Church the farewell it deserves and mark this important moment in the history of our community.

Congratulations to our Basketball Team: A huge congratulations to our Year 5 and 6 basketball team who competed in and won the Ascot Vale District Sports basketball competition last Friday. I am very pleased to report that our team were crowned undefeated champions of the AVDSS competition and have now progressed to the next round. This is a fantastic achievement and a wonderful recognition of the commitment, teamwork and effort of our students. Well done to all of our players and to everyone who supported the team.

Divisional Athletics: Congratulations to all of our students who recently represented St Margaret’s at the Divisional Athletics competition. A special congratulations to the following students who have all progressed to the next round of the competition:

Georgia C, Chloe D, Justin D, Eliza N, Flynn S, Ryan G, Evie D, Maya N and Reed C. This is a wonderful achievement and we are very proud of the way our students represented St Margaret’s. We wish them all the very best as they continue to the next stage of the competition.

Enjoy the School Holidays: As we reach the end of Term 3, I would like to once again thank our students, families and staff for their wonderful support throughout the term. There has been so much to celebrate and it has been a privilege to see our students continue to learn, grow and thrive throughout the term. I hope everyone enjoys a safe, relaxing and well deserved break. Take the opportunity to slow down, spend time with family and friends and recharge for the final term of the year. I look forward to seeing everyone back at St Margaret’s for Term 4.

God bless,

John