A message from Denis

Dear Parents and Carers, 

With junior footy season winding up, hopefully some of you are getting some more time back in your weekends before the summer sports start.  Our family has recently joined the weekend sport procession with Hendrix playing basketball on Saturday mornings (it's been nice bumping into families during the games and even competing against them despite the results!) and now  Zadie has started MiniRoos on Sunday mornings.

Watching the kids begin their team sport journey has been a great experience for Jess and I, an experience I know most families at St Mary's knows well.  We’ve enjoyed seeing them form new friendships, try new skills and persevere through challenges.  We don’t need/want them to be super stars, but we can see the benefits that lie ahead for them through team sports.  This makes the early morning weekend starts worth it, no matter how hard it is to get up on the cold winter mornings.  

We are in the last throes of winter now though, so brighter and sunnier days ahead! 

Fiesta 2024

A huge St Mary’s thank you to our wonderful sponsors who have already come on board for St Mary’s Fiesta 2024.  Without the support of these amazing local community businesses, our Fiesta would not be possible.

Platinum sponsor:  

• Nelson Alexander Flemington

Gold sponsors: 

• Ascot Vale Pharmacy

• The Happy Apple

•  Guardian Medical Showgrounds Village

We have 1 more Gold sponsor opportunity left, be quick, this opportunity will be snapped up!  See the attached sponsorship information for details to secure your opportunity or simply email: 

sponsorship@smascotvale.catholic.edu.au

Silver sponsors:  

• Twister Gymnastics, Paramount Health and Fitness, Jellis Craig Moonee Valley and Kensington, SAF Finance, Jimmy O’Neil’s Whiskey and Ale House, Global Fitness and Leisure

There are a small number of silver opportunities still available but these are filling up fast so if you or any business that you know might benefit from this opportunity please ask them to contact us ASAP.  

Fiesta 2024 sponsorship remain open!

We are well underway with Fiesta preparations and the small but dedicated team that has been laying the ground work has made some terrific progress on preparations.  We know St Mary’s Fiesta to be a huge, fun and successful biannual community event that received much support to have it continued in our consultation at the beginning of the year.  

While we have a terrific team that has already been working behind the scenes, we still need many more hands to help us make this Fiesta the best one yet.  These wonderful community events do not occur without lots of volunteer support so we are calling out for any assistance big or small.  Please contact Sarah Connoly (saconnol@hotmail.com)  or Tom Connell  (tomconnell72@gmail.com)  to put your name forward.

SRC for Semester 2

This week, we officially welcomed our SRC reps for Semester 2.  Congratulations to our newly appointed SRC.  We look forward to working with you to improve our school and ensure our students have agency over their school.

SMAV Green and Gold Day and Australian Principal Day

Last Friday we had a terrific day for students and staff with lots of fun and learning about the Olympics.  Our students engaged with Olympic inspired activities, craft and challenges to help them build their knowledge and understanding of the biggest World Event on our calendar.

Thank you to all of our School Leaders, Teachers and Parents who helped out and supported the day and made it a great success.

At the end of the day I was humbled to be acknowledged by our community and School Captains for my work as principal of St Mary’s for Australian Principal's day.  It is an honour and a privilege that I am grateful for each day.  I think I’m the luckiest principal around, being given the opportunity to lead such a dedicated and skilled staff and serve such a generous, supportive and connected community; and the icing on the cake is our students.  They are kind, polite, clever and inspiring.  A credit to you as parents.  Every day is a win for me as Principal of St Mary’s, thank you for entrusting me with the role of principal of our school.

Be Ready 

My example of Be Ready for this newsletter is our grade 5 students who I was able to visit on camp this week.  Preparing to leave siblings, stay away from parents and have busy and long days can be a daunting task.  Not to mention remembering to pack everything that might be needed for the 3 days.  Our grade 5 students managed to prepare well and be ready for the excitement of camp, ensuring they enjoyed and savoured the special time with their friends and teachers.

A special thank you to the staff who went on camp with our grade 5s.  

Pick ups and Drop offs

A reminder please do not double park near the drop off bays, this creates blockages for traffic and dangerous situations for cars and pedestrians.  If there is no space in the waiting bays for pick ups or drop offs you are encouraged to circle the block or park your car in a permitted spot in the surrounding streets and walk in for pick up/drop off.

Double parking and blocking the street remain an issue at pick up times so please play your part in helping be part of the solution.  Queuing across intersections and roundabouts is particularly problematic.  

Thank your for your support in this.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay connected,

Denis Johnstone 

Principal