Dear Families,

We had a wonderful celebration of our 50th Anniversary on Wednesday 24th April. The children and staff went to lots of effort to dress up in costumes from 1974 and our wonderful PA volunteers cooked yummy sausages for us all as a special treat and distributed them along with a Zooperdooper to everyone! Children undertook some fun "50" activities in their classes and we ended the day with a special 50th Anniversary Mass with Father Joseph and members of our St Mark's community - both past and present. The staff ended the day with afternoon tea with the staff from St Joseph's Springvale and many of our past staff, along with Sr Mary - a representative of the Brigidine order who founded our school. There was a lovely atmosphere in the air and it was great to find out about some of the history and amazing stories of our school in the past. We are fortunate to have such a wonderful school community and we are very appreciative of all those who have contributed to St Mark's School over its 50 year history to make it the thriving community that it is today. A special thanks goes to all who contributed to the organisation of the day - especially Andrew and the 50th Anniversary committee, Frank and the PA volunteers and our wonderful LSOs who did lots of setting up and packing up on the day. We will include some photos in our next newsletter.

ST MARK'S CHURCH 25th ANNIVERSARY MASS AND SUPPER:

Please remember that everyone is warmly invited to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of St Mark's Church this weekend at the 6.00 p.m. Mass on Saturday night followed by supper in the hall. I look forward to seeing you all there if you can make it.

CRAZY SOCK DAY:

Once a year St Mark's raises money for the Dingley "Make a Difference" Charity. Every year we ask the children to wear "Crazy socks" one day and bring a gold coin donation. That day is Tuesday 30th April!

So we ask all children to come in their normal school uniform but wear some crazy, fun, colourful socks and bring a gold coin donation. At 10.00a.m. we will have a short assembly with the Mayor of Kingston who supports the great work of the Make a Difference charity.

UNIFORM SHOP CHANGE OF HOURS:

Our onsite uniform shop run by our very generous volunteer, Kim, has changed its hours of operation. Starting in Term 2, the uniform shop will be open on Friday mornings between 8.45 a.m.- 9.15 a.m. Enormous thanks to Kim for providing this service to our families.

CONGRATUATIONS:

Congratulations to Mrs Deanna Johnson and her husband Jem on the safe arrival of Elliott (Nelly) Pippa Johnson on 3rd April 2024. Deanna, Jem and Nelly are all doing well and we look forward to a visit sometime in the not too distant future.

CHILD SAFETY:

Dear parents and carers,

Could I please remind all parents and carers, that if you need to visit the school during the hours of 8.50 a.m. and 3.20 p.m. that you always report to the office please. Please do not go directly to classrooms during the hours of 8.50 a.m. and 3.20 p.m. as teachers are engaged in teaching/supervising children during these hours and cannot be interrupted. If you need to drop something off for your child during the day, please come to the school office and we will arrange to get it to your child. The same applies for students who are late to school. If your child arrives after 8.50a.m. please do not accompany him/her into the classroom as it becomes very disruptive to the students learning. Allow your child to enter the classroom independently at this time please.

I also need to ask that when families are picking up their children at the end of the day that they drive at a slow pace in and around the school and only park in legal parking places. Do not block our neighbours driveways or park to close to them and please never park on the grass area outside our school gates in Dimar Court. This is where many children gather to wait for their parents and it is very unsafe and illegal to have cars parked in this area. I understand at times that the car park is full and parking places are hard to find, especially when we have school functions in progress. On these occasions I ask that common sense prevails and we all put the safety of ALL our children at the forefront of our actions. It may mean that you have to park a little further away from the school than usual and walk in to collect your children - however this is a much safer option for everyone.

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL:

Our next School Advisory Council meeting has been postponed to Tuesday 7th May 2024 at 7.30 p.m. in the staffroom.

This meeting will be our AGM where we will recap the 2023 school year and look ahead to our main aims for the coming 12 months.

COCO - OUR THERAPY DOG:

We are indeed fortunate that Ms Miranda Ryan has spent a considerable amount of her own time and money doing the 'Therapy Dog Training Course" with her dog Coco. Due to the training she and Coco have undertaken, she is able to bring Coco to school as a therapy dog to support students learning and wellbeing. Coco is very good at helping children to be calm and gentle and has even started checking the children's work when asked to put her paws up on the desk to ensure children are working hard on their written tasks. We love having Coco as part of our school community. Thank-you Ms Ryan.

PARENTING WORKSHOPS AT ST MARK'S:

On Tuesday the 4th, 11th and 18th of June from 6.30 - 8.30 p.m. St Mark's will be hosting some wonderful parenting workshops to support the mental health and wellbeing of our St Mark's families, through helping to develop optimal family relationships. The Optimal Relationship Approach is an evidence based approach that the staff of St Mark's have been learning about and using in our classrooms. We have had many of our staff become fully TORA (Teacher Optimal Relationship Approach) certified and found it a very useful approach to help us to create calm, well managed classrooms. It made sense for us to share this approach with you as parents, as we are well aware that the more we can work together to support our children the better the outcomes are for our children.

Please book in on 0478 389 793 to secure your spot. The series of three workshops is FREE for St Mark's family - normally this would cost $200 per family.

Best Teacher Competition:

Do you have a favourite teacher? Nominate them today!

For the second year, News Corp is running its Australia’s Best Teachers campaign, recognising inspirational and innovative educators across the country.

The campaign will launch on Sunday 28 April, calling on the community to nominate teachers who have had an incredible impact on our students and all our lives.

A panel of expert judges will then select and announce the top 50 teachers on Sunday 30 June.

Nominate your favourite teacher today by visiting www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/australias-best-teachers-campaign-is-back-nominate-now/news-story/f7ded458c472bc3ab10862e6735415df.

Stand Up Project (SUP) - from our SUP Leaders:

This week our SUP leaders along with their teachers created lessons that they will go and deliver in the the Foundation to Year 3/4 classes. The lessons focus on teaching children to be active bystanders and shares with them the "Four D" approach to taking action if they see something that is not right. Each Foundation, 1/2 and 3/4 class will undertake their "Stand Up Project" lesson on Friday 3rd May. Please take some time to chat to your children about the "Four D" approach and support them to remember what they can do if they are in a situation that they do not feel is right.

The four Ds stand for:

DIRECT - say something when you see something is not right if you feel safe to do so. For example - Say something that addresses the poor behaviour and supports the victim but be kind and understanding and remember everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

DISTRACT - change the subject or employ some kind of distraction to diffuse a situation. Distracting is a subtle and creative way to intervene. For example - Ask a question - who wants to go to the canteen or, drop your bag or something you are holding, or ask for help with something completely unrelated.

DELAY - if you can't do something on the spot - check in with the person later to see if they are OK and offer your support.

DELEGATE: - Bring in someone else who might be able to help - this might be an older person like a parent or teacher or adult or a trusted friend who you know is good at helping solve problems and staying calm.

2025 Enrolments:

Enrolment places are filling fast for 2025. We have more enrolments than usual at this time of the year so if you have a child starting school in 2025 please make sure you have submitted your enrolment form to the office by no later than 24th May. Enrolment offers will be sent out in the first week of June.

Our final school tours for the year will be on Monday 29th April at 2.30 p.m. and Friday 3rd May at 1.30 p.m.

Second Hand Uniform:

Second hand uniform is available from the office at any time. If you are in need of some extra items of uniform please don't hesitate to come to the school office and see what we have in stock. We also welcome donations of clean second hand uniform items in good condition that perhaps your children have grown out of.

Sports Uniform Days:

Here is the timetable for the days students can wear their sports uniform and runners to school (all other days students must wear full school uniform and school shoes):

Monday - 5/6 Level

Tuesday - 3/4 Level

Wednesday - Foundation Level

Thursday - 1/2 Level