Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you all enjoyed the extra long weekend last weekend. The staff had a fabulous Professional Development day on Tuesday learning more about managing student behaviours and how we can best set our students up in an environment that fosters great outcomes.

On Wednesday night I attended the launch of MACS' 'Vision for Engagement' at the Melbourne Immigration Musuem.

The Vision for Engagement is the companion document to Vision for Instruction, and aligns with the MACS 2030 strategic plan. It communicates MACS’ system-wide, evidence-based approach to supporting students to be actively engaged in their learning, equipping them to flourish and make meaningful contributions to the world.

Vision for Engagement is a commitment from MACS to work in partnership with students and their families to successfully navigate the issues of contemporary life. Based on evidence of how students learn and thrive, it articulates six engagement practices and two implementation strategies that, when attended to in a consistent and sustained manner, create enabling learning environments and support young people to be learners. It affirms current practices across MACS schools with a clear articulation of our expectations and solidifies the importance of engagement as a learning improvement strategy. I have included a short guide about the Vision for Engagement in the newsletter today.

It was wonderful to see so many gorgeous St Bede's faces in the materials that have been published and subsequent advertising. MACS' approach to evidence based strategies for learning and engagement has certainly gained a lot of attention and positive comment in the media this week as you may have noticed.

St Bede's School Choir

On Wednesday Mr Walsh, Mr Bode and Mr McFarlane accompanied our school choir to Glass St Kindergarten- where they sang Disney Tunes to the 4 year old group.

These students are so talented and represent our school so well at every opportunity we give them! Please read a couple of their recounts below:

On Wednesday, the 13th of March 2025, the St Bede's Choir along went to Glass Street, Kinder, to perform for four-year-old kids. The journey there was a ten-minute walk across lots of roads and shops. As we approached, this gave lots of people who attended Glass Street Kinder some memories of their past. Some comments from the students:

"Once we saw the kids, we realised there were a lot more kids than we expected. Even though there were four-year-old kids, we were still nervous! Eventually, after a lot of setting up, we were performing. We planned to perform six songs. The Circle of Life, A Million Dreams, How Far I'll Go, I Wanna Be Like You, Let It Go, and the Bluey Theme Song. Once we finished performing, we had a chance to greet the kids.

Overall, this performance was a fun, exciting, and thrilling experience that I will never forget. "

Sonny Nguyen, 4H.

"As soon as the St Bede's Choir and teachers walked through the gates of Glass Street Kindergarten, we immediately got welcomed, like we belonged there. All of the children ran outdoors to us, ready for them to get seated and for us to start singing. They were giggling and smiling with excitement, waving to us while singing songs.

After singing the first song, a little girl echoed the song, overloaded with joy. All of the children started dancing as soon as we started singing the final song, the "Bluey theme song".

In the end, we got to greet with the four-year-olds and chat for about five minutes. We didn't want to leave, but the carers invited us to come back next term. I'm sure all the choir will never forget this amazing and entertaining excursion together. "

Estelle Katsanevakis, 4F

Regional Cross Country

On Thursday Benny Curtis, Isaac Pulvirenti and Leonardo Campagna travelled to Yarra Glen Racecourse to represent our school at the Regional Cross Country Meet.

Benny's course was 2kms long and he finished 5th qualifying for the State Championships in July!

Isaac Pulvirenti and Leonardo Campagna gave it their all over their tough 3 km courses with Leonardo finishing 22nd and Isaac 72nd.

Parent -Teacher Interviews

Please note our Parent Teacher Interviews are in the last week of this term and students finish school on Thursday the 3rd of July at 3.15pm. Next week there will be a link in the newsletter for you to book your interview times.

Morning arrivals

Just a reminder that the gates open at 8.20am of a morning and children are directed out to the back playground for a play (where there is a staff member on duty) until teachers open their classroom doors at 8.30am.

Footballers visiting

Next Wednesday our students will have a visit and Q & A session with some Richmond Football Players. As part of celebrating and embracing this Footy day, students will be allowed to wear their AFL jumpers on top of their school uniform.

Running Club

As the weather gets a bit colder and wetter, we still encourage as many students to join us at our running club. It makes for a fantastic way to begin the school day. Our running club will continue on Friday mornings 8am at Myrtle Park. Please email Mr Price if you need any further details. NOTE: an email will be sent out in the event running club is cancelled due to the weather.

PREP Enrolments - the time to enrol is now!

Prep enrolments are continuing to come in and we are currently organising enrolment interviews.

If you know of someone who is yet to enrol their child please encourage them to do so ASAP.

Assemblies

We would love more parents to come along and enjoy our school assemblies with us! A reminder, they are now held on a Monday afternoon at 2.30pm in the school hall. This term the remaining assemblies will be in weeks 9 (June 16th) and 11(June 30th).

Wishing you all a restful weekend- stay warm!.

Amanda