Principal's News

Dear Families,

Welcome to our final newsletter for Term 3. I hope you all enjoyed the school production over the last two nights. An enormous amount of hard work by our students and staff went into preparing for the shows and the beautiful art work. It was so lovely to see the children shine in such a joyous celebration of their creative talents. Special thanks to Mrs Bolst and Mrs Connolly, our Performing Arts teachers, who put the show together and co-ordinated all the details, whilst rehearsing with the lead roles - it was a great performance. They had some wonderful helpers in the staff of St Mark's, who always expertly pitch in and get the job done, practising their dance routines day after day and ensuring everything was ready for the night. Thanks to the children for their wonderful efforts and talents and having a go even when they found it hard. Finally thanks to you, our parents for your support and organisation, to ensure your children had what they needed and got to the performances. It truly is a community effort and another wonderful example of working together for a great outcome and opportunity for our children.

Don't forget it is Footy Day on Friday and the children are allowed to come in their team colours or team gear of their favourite sports team. There will be lots of fun activities during the day and a talk from a special guest - Abbey Caldwell - a member of the 2024 Olympic Team.

Term 3 ends on Friday 20th September at 1.30 p.m. We will have a short assembly at 1.00 p.m. I hope you all enjoy a safe and restful break and come back in Term 4 ready for a big term of learning and assessments and lots of extra curricula fun and events. 

School commences for Term 4 on Monday 7th October at 8.50 a.m. Gates open at 8.30 a.m. Please do not leave your children unattended at school prior to 8.30 a.m. 

There is a lot in this newsletter so please check out all the sections to see all that our wonderful staff and students have been up to. 

On Tuesday 10th September, 2 teams represented St Mark’s at the STEM MAD (Making a Difference) Melbourne showcase. They were selected to compete by staff from Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, after the submission of an entry video. The students have been working weekly on their projects in their lunchtimes and have achieved great results. On the day the students presented their projects to judges, teachers and students and also had the opportunity to talk on LIVE.FM radio

STC - Sea Trash Collector by Miguel and Conor

Did you know there are up to 12 million metric tons of plastic dumped into the sea each year? Our solution to this problem is the ‘The Sea Trash Collector.’ The ‘STC’ has the ability to clean up our waterways. The STC can collect mass amounts of garbage in a single trip! It will crush the rubbish to take up less space in the storage room onboard and it will go to a recycling mechanism that makes trash into new materials.

KidSafe by Ethan, Ryan and Luca

Did you know that every minute in Australia, 22 people are hacked? Hackers can gain access to your personal and private information. Children are particularly vulnerable so that’s where KIDsafe comes in. KIDsafe is a protection app that can stop hackers from accessing people’s accounts. We created this App in three ways, a slideshow simulation, Minecraft 3D environment and an App using Artificial Intelligence. It includes MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication), password storage and generator, scam warnings plus neat and easy layout.

Child Safety/eSafety:

As a follow up to our Cybersafety session with the Victoria police that was held a couple of weeks ago - we will be hosting a very important cyber safety session for all parents. Please see the notice below that was sent home via Operoo last week.

Dear Parents/ Carers, 

St. Mark's Primary School will be hosting a 'ThinkUKnow' presentation on 

October 10th, at 6:00pm in the school library 

and all parents and carers are encouraged to attend.

ThinkUKnow Australia is an evidence based education program delivered nationally, to protect children online from bullying, harassment and sexual exploitation etc.

ThinkUKnow Australia is a partnership between the Australian Federal Police, Microsoft Australia, Datacom and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 

The presentation will be delivered by a local law enforcement member and an industry volunteer. The presentation is pro-technology and addresses topics including self-generated child abuse material, online grooming, sexual extortion, and importantly encourages help seeking behaviour.

This presentation for parents follows a successful presentation by Victoria Police to the Year 5/6 students this term on the importance of online safety, including playing online multiplayer games. 

In a technology based world, this is a fantastic opportunity for you to learn more about young people and the online environment, and how you can help them to be safe and responsible users of technology.

For more information, you can visit www.thinkuknow.org.au or contact Kieran McGuinness (5/6 Teacher) at kmcguinness@smdingley.catholic.edu.au.

Once again we encourage all families to attend this presentation and strongly advise all families with a child in Years 3 - 6 to ensure at least one parent is in attendance. This is a parents only presentation - children are not permitted to attend.

In the first week of Term 4 the students in Years 3 - 6 will also have a follow up cybersafety lesson with the Dolly's Dream staff members.