Principal's News

Dear Families,

We had a wonderful celebration of Confirmation for our Year 6 students on Saturday with Father Huy, Father Thang and Father Madry (Episcopal Vicar). Please see the RE News page for more information.

We also had a lovely Year 1/2 Level Good Shepherd evening last week where the teachers, parents and students come together to share activities and experience the way we teach Religious Education in the Junior classes. Thank-you to our staff and all those who were able to come along. Please see the RE news page for more information.

We ran our Year 3 - 6 Human Development Education evenings this week and I would like to thank those that came along and participated in the event. It is always great to have open communication channels with our children to ensure they always feel they can come to us with questions and concerns as they experience the changes they go through when puberty comes around. I hope you found it valuable and it opened the doors of communication with your children on what can sometimes be an awkward topic of conversation.

SCHOOL CLOSURE DAY - 25th August 2026:

We have secured Tracey Ezard as our presenter for our term three professional learning day with our staff. Tracey works all over the world with organisations to help grow and develop their professional learning culture and build on collaborative practices to enhance the work of the organisation. Tracey will work with us on Tuesday 25th of August and hence we will have a school closure day that day. Team Kids will run a full day program for families who need care for their children on 25th August.

St Mark’s Maths Games Success!

On Friday 14 August, a group of St Mark’s Grade 5/6 students put their mathematical skills to the test as they competed against students from local schools in a full day of Maths Games at Keysborough Primary School.

Our students should be incredibly proud of their achievements, demonstrating fantastic mathematical thinking, problem-solving skills, teamwork and perseverance throughout the day.

A huge congratulations to G’zelle Lay, Joshua Ly, Keegan Nguyen and Ryan Le who took out 1st place overall, achieving the top score across the entire competition!

We would also like to congratulate Keegan Nguyen and Ayden Jeyakumar, who placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Mental Maths Fluency competition, competing against more than 200 students.

It was a fantastic day filled with challenging mathematical games, plenty of fun and opportunities to strengthen our students’ mathematical abilities. We are so proud of the way our students represented our school and embraced the challenge.

Well Done! 

Book Week Dress Up Parade:

Just a reminder about the book week dress up parade that will happen on Friday 28th August at 9.00 a.m. in the undercover area. All students are invited to dress up as their favourite book character.

Book Fair for Book Week:

Throughout book week there will be a book fair on in the library. The children will have the opportunity to go and look at the books throughout the day with their class teacher at their rostered time. The book fair will be open for sales for families to come in and purchases books at the following times:

Wednesday 26th August 8.30 - 9.00 a.m. and 3.20 - 4.00 p.m.

Thursday 27th August 8.30 - 9.00 a.m. and 3.20 - 4.00 p.m.

Friday 28th August 8.30 - 9.00 a.m.

A huge congratulations to our St Mark’s Aerobics team, who competed on Sunday 16th August in Rowville and achieved an amazing 3rd place!

The girls have worked incredibly hard, showing fantastic teamwork, dedication and St Mark’s spirit. 

We are so proud of everything they have achieved this season.

The excitement isn’t over yet, the team is now preparing to represent St Mark’s at the QLD Gold Coast National Championships in September! 

Congratulations girls on an outstanding result, and we wish you all the very best as you continue training for Nationals.

Go St Mark’s!

Congratulations to Chaneli - 5/6P

Chaneli in 5/6P, has been selected for the School Sport Victoria (SSV) 

Under 12 Girls State Cricket Team. She will be representing Victoria at the National Championships in Newcastle this October.

What an amazing achievement Chaneli we are so proud of you and happy for you. Well done!

Congratulations from the last newsletter that needed some correction - but no less congratulations!!

We made a bit of a mistake in the last newsletter in regards to Zoe's basketballing achievements. This is the corrected version:

Zoe has been selected into the Basketball Victoria Future Development program for 2026/27, and as part of this will participate in the 2026 Under 12 Metro Jamboree for four days in the September holidays. The top 60 boys and 60 girls from across Metro Victoria were chosen after a two stage try out process. Enormous congratulations are still in order. Well done Zoe!

FIRE CARRIER LEADERS:

We mentioned in the last newsletter that our FIRE Carrier leaders attended a special learning day about their roles. Here are some photos from that day.

IMPORTANT LETTER FROM VCEA:

CHILD SAFETY:

Just a reminder to please not leave your children unattended at the school gates prior to 8.30 a.m. Staff are not required to be onsite until 8.30 a.m. so it is not safe practice to leave children prior to this time. Thank-you for ensuring the safety of your children by following our school expectations.