From Our Principal

 Newsletter  ~ Term 2, Week 2, 2026

Principal's Message:

Dear Parents, Carers, Families and Friends of St Mel’s Primary School,

We are well and truly back into school learning as we bring our first fortnight to a close today. At Monday's Assembly I commended our students on the high levels of engagement demonstrated across all Pastoral Groups and specialist classes since we have returned from the holidays.

Whilst Easter Sunday (and more recently 'Greek' Easter was celebrated in the school holidays, it was very important to gather as a school community to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, 'Our Light', in the first week of this new term.

Our Year 1/2 students called us to reflect on how we too can be Christ-like within our families, school and broader community.

This week we focussed on the sacrifice of Australian and New Zealand service men and women with a special Year 6 Leader led Anzac Day prayer reflection at Assembly.

On Anzac Day Lola and Toby from our Year 6 Pastoral Group joined me at the Shepparton Cenotaph to represent our school community at our local Anzac Day remembrance ceremony. Lest we forget!

Best wishes to each and every member of our school community for the weeks of school learning ahead. 

Sacramental Journey:

Please continue to keep our parish's children currently engaged in their Sacramental journey in your thoughts and prayers as they continue to learn more of these Sacraments and journey ever closer to the celebration of Confirmation and Eucharist to occur on Pentecost Sunday (24 May) in Christ the King (St Mel's) church. This special celebration of the Eucharist will commence at 11:30am.

Catholic Education Week:

Together with schools and colleges across the Sandhurst Diocese we look forward to celebrating Catholic Education especially next week with our second Open Day.  

Celebrating Our Mothers:        (And those who nurture us!)

Our annual Mothers' Day Breakfast will be held on Friday 8th. May in the St Mel's Hall.

We look forward to welcoming our mums, grans, ma's, grannies, nonna's, nans, nannas, etc... and spoiling them a little next Friday.

Our annual Mothers' Day Stall will be conducted on Thursday 7th. May from the Meeting Room. Children will be able to bring along some money to purchase a special gift for that special nurturer in their lives. 

Magnify Sandhurst' 

Every Student - Every Teacher - Every School - Every Day!

Our teachers, Learning Support Officers and leaders have been busy implementing our learning from the 'Amitiously Sandhurst' professional learning day held on the first day of term.

Thid whole of diocese professional learning day covered: 

• The research behind student engagement, motivation and mindset
• Learning through whole class instruction  
• Student led reflection and local school planning
• Knowledge rich and Direct Instruction

We look forward to continuing to embed our learning as we continually enhance the learning opportunities for our students.

Accepting 2027 Enrolment Applications:

Our Foundation enrolment period is underway with families already enrolling their children for next year. With interest in our school as a learning environment growing current school families with children to commence Foundation (Prep) next year are urged to complete the ONLINE APPLICATION FORM now!

Open Days:

REGISTRATION for our final Open Day is now open.

Spread the word to your family and friends of the opportunities to tour our wonderful school:

• Wednesday 6 May - 9:15am, 12:00pm & 4:30pm

We look forward to bringing prospective families through our lovely school community on these occasions. Individual family tours are also available by contacting our School Administration Office: 5821 3163

Enrolment Interviews in support of our enrolment process will commence in coming weeks.

Spread the word.

Specialist Day Swap:

In support of the Year 5/6 Cross Country and Open Day on Wednesday we have swapped the Specialist Days for the following Year levels next week:

• Tuesday - Foundation and Year 5/6
• Wednesday - Year 1/2

Please ensure youyr child wears correct school sports uniform on the day they have Specialists next week.

Staffing Update:

• We welcome Alicia Niglia who is completing her teaching practicum in Year One for the first few weeks of Term Two. 

• With a recent run of staff illness we are ever grateful for the support of our list of quality Classroom Relief Teachers who provide short and longer term support to ensure we are able to continue our learning programs with few disruptions. The availability of these valued staff has avoided splitting Pastoral Groups across the school.

   

School Lunches, Lunch Boxes, Rubbish Free, Lollies & Eat What You Bring:   [REPEAT]

St Mel's Primary School has a long history or being involved in the 'Rubbish Free Lunch' approach, which in recent times has lost its focus and has been on our School Improvement Agenda. Thank you to our parents and carers who have continued to support this approach.

From the start of Term Two this year, parents and carers are requested to support (and/or continue to support) our renewed emphasis on healthy, portioned and rubbish free lunches.

This approach promotes healthy eating habits in children, is mindful of students with dietary allergies, reduced rubbish to landfill and reinforces waste-wise approaches in support of sustainable approaches to support our environment.

We are ramping up our approach to REDUCE - RE USE and RECYCLE from Term Two on!

How.....?

• Provide healthy lunches and snacks in re-usable lunch box & snack containers
• Purchase BULK snacks and send smaller portions to school in re-usable lunch box & snack containers
• Remove packaging at home and dispose of thoughtfully - foods to school in re-usable lunch box & snack containers
• Refrain from sending lollies to school - keep these for 'sometimes treats' at home

• Remind your children to bring any wrappers / plastics and/or gladwrap home

  (From Term Two on this will be the school-wide expectation!)

• Remind children not to share their food with other students
• Lollies and chewing gum is not to be brought from home

Follow this link for more information in regard Healthy School Lunches.

Fruit Break: [REPEAT]

A review of our current Fruit Break Process is underway. Fruit break was originally introduced to provide children with a mid morning snack of fruit / veg during the peak two hour morning block to provide a burst of nutriants to support engagement.

The idea is that children have a small nutritious snack whilst they continue to engage in the learning activity / session.

In support of Fruit Break, we ask our parents and carers to ensure their children are provided with SMALL nutritious a fruit and/or veg snack, preferably in a small container, that can be quicky retrieved, consumed and put away during the fruit break time.

We are aiming to increase time on task and decrease lost learning time by ensuring Fruit Break is not a break from instruction, learning and/or engagement.

St Mel's Uniting Outside School Hours Care - Vacation, Student Free Days and Before School Care: 

• 2026 School Vacation Program - Operating over the school holiday breaks!

• Before School Care - has ceased due to LOW numbers. 

     We will continue to be open to recommencing this service if minimum numbers are met in future.

• Outside School Hours Care - has recommenced

• Student Free Days - across the year!

   

NOTE: Registering your child/children in St Mel's Uniting Outside School Hours Care can take up to a week to process, given the documentation required.

Parents and carers are recommended to register NOW if there is a possibility of using this service at any time this year. Once registered, children are booked in via the registration app.

Parents and carers seeking more information or wishing to register children for Vacation Care are directed to contact Uniting Vic Tas directly by:

             Phone: 1800 183 103

             Email: earlylearning@unitingvictas.org.au

St Mel's Uniting Outside School Hours Care - OSHC Staff Professional Learning Day:

To ensure our staff remains at the forefront of early childhood education practices and to continuously improve our services, we have scheduled our annual professional development day for our statewide team. 

Please be advised...

...that all OSHC services will be closed for the day on Friday 31st July 2026.

We understand that a closure may cause some inconvenience, and we apologies for any disruption this may cause to your routine. However, we firmly believe that investing in our team’s professional growth directly benefits your children's development and learning experiences. 

If you have any questions of concerns, please feel free to reach out to your service Director. 

Thank you for your continued support. 

Early Learning Team - Uniting VIC TAS

School Dates:

Please check the Upcoming Dates & Events section of the newsletter regularly.

Did you know? ~