From the Principal...

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Please note that the SCHOOL SPORTS DAY is scheduled for May 28 (not May 08 as entered on the Newsletter Calendar).

Ride2School Day 

Ride2School Day a Wonderful Success! 🚴‍♀️

Our recent Ride2School Day created a fabulous buzz in the school yard, with a great sense of excitement and energy from the moment students arrived. It was a truly wonderful community event, and it was fantastic to see so many children riding, scooting, and walking to school.  I'd like to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to Ms Tania for her organisation of the event and the coordination of all of our special guests and activities.

It was wonderful to welcome  our local Member of Parliament, Kat Theophanous, our Mayor, Emily Dimitriadis, Councillors Ruth Jelley and Alexandra Sangster, Bart from Dr Cranky’s Bike hospital and staff from the Bicycle Network Victoria who joined us in recognising the importance of supporting healthy, active lifestyles for our students.

Ride2School is a nationwide program delivered by Bicycle Network, designed to support schools in encouraging, empowering, and enabling more students to get physically active on their journey to school. 

A big thank you to Darebin City Council for providing the bike-powered “Bike ’n Blend” smoothie maker—an exciting and engaging addition that brought extra energy and fun to the day! Students (and I!!) loved powering the blender themselves and enjoyed the delicious rewards.

It was wonderful to see our students so engaged, supportive, and proud to be part of such a fantastic school community. Events like this remind us of the power of coming together to promote health, wellbeing, and connection.

Thank you to the P&F who provided fruit for our students and for setting up and managing the "Bike and Blend" bike.

We look forward to building on this success and continuing to encourage active travel in our school community!

Here's how the Darebin Council showcased their visit on their social media...

As part of Darebin City Council’s promotion of Ride2School, we’re delighted to share that our school has been selected as one of just two schools to take part in this year’s Octopus Schools Programme.

This initiative will see the introduction of “Legs the Octopus” footpath decals throughout the surrounding neighbourhood, helping to encourage active and safe travel to school.

These decals will be on local footpaths around Thornbury, showing the distance and approximate walking or riding time to St Mary's, helping families plan safe and active journeys (and promoting St Mary's in the local neighbourhood).

Kat Theophanous' office also promoted her visit to St Mary's on her office's social media platforms:   https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWIA6QUAR4u/

Thank You P&F... 🙏

Thank you to our P&F for helping us celebrate Harmony Day by providing orange-themed ice creams for the children. The thoughtful gesture brought great joy to students and added a fun, vibrant touch to the day.

Harmony Day is a meaningful opportunity to recognise and celebrate the rich cultural diversity within our community. It reminds us of the importance of inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging for everyone. We are proud to be part of such a diverse and welcoming school community.

THANK YOU to our P&F, who also provided the children with delicious hot cross buns and drinks!

 It was a wonderful treat and a lovely way to celebrate that Easter is just around the corner.

From the Staff: Thank You! ☕A heartfelt thank you to P&F for providing the special coffee treat—it was greatly appreciated by all of the staff!

Toys at School

To support a safe and focused learning environment, we ask that students do not bring toys (including plush toys) or sports equipment to school.  Fidget tools/toys should only be brought to school if they are included as part of a student’s Personal Learning Plan or have been recommended by an allied health professional. Students who meet these criteria may use these items in the classroom as appropriate; however, they are not to be taken into the yard during recess or lunchtime.

This guideline helps us maintain a safe, focused and inclusive school environment. Toys and sports equipment can cause accidental injuries in busy playground areas and may interrupt valuable learning time during class time. This term, each year level has been provided with a crate of equipment for use during recess and lunchtime. With plenty of play equipment available at school, students do not need balls or equipment from home.

Personal items brought to school can sometimes lead to disagreements or exclusion between students, and the school cannot take responsibility for items that are lost or damaged.  Additionally, not all students have access to the same toys or equipment, and limiting these items helps promote fairness and inclusion for everyone.

Exceptions

Students may bring an item for:

• Show and Tell
• If on a Personal Learning Plan that stipulates the use of a 'comfort toy' or a fidget toy 

We appreciate your support in helping us maintain a safe, inclusive and focused learning environment for all students.

NAPLAN Success

Over the past weeks, our Year 3 and Year 5 students have approached NAPLAN with focus, determination and a wonderfully positive attitude. We are incredibly proud of the way they embraced this important assessment period.

NAPLAN provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning in Literacy and Numeracy, but more importantly, it highlights the growth, resilience and effort they show every day in the classroom. Our students approached each test with maturity and confidence, giving their very best—and that is all we could ask for.

We acknowledge that assessments like NAPLAN can feel challenging at times, and we commend our students for the calm and capable manner in which they navigated the experience.

A heartfelt thank you to our staff for their thoughtful preparation and care, and to our families for your ongoing encouragement and support.

⭐ Well done to all of our Year 3 and Year 5 students—we are so proud of you! ⭐

🎉 End of Term Market – This Wednesday! 🌸🐰

Our senior students are excited to host an End of Term Easter Market this Wednesday, 1 April. With an Easter theme, the market will feature festive goodies for everyone to enjoy.

We warmly invite everyone to come along and support the event. If you are a parent of a senior student and are available to assist on the day, your help would be greatly appreciated... You can help by:

• Providing baked food/snacks for sale. The more Easter-themed the better!
• Assisting with sales at the stall/pre-loved uniforms;
• Cooking and/or serving the BBQ sausage sizzle

Our pre-loved uniforms will be available - this is a great time to prepare ahead for Term 2!

Our End of Term Markets are a fun and engaging way to celebrate the end of term and come together as a community. We look forward to seeing you there!

EARTHCARE NEWS...a message from the Parish