Newsletter ~ Term 1, Week 6, 2026

Principal's Message:

Dear Parents, Carers, Families and Friends of St Mel’s Primary School,

The end of Week 6 is upon us with a month of school learning to come prior to our Easter vacation break. I am continually impressed with the learning engagement of our students each day, from their morning arrival, through to their daily departure each afternoon.

Our continued efforts as a Staff Team, supported by the ongoing efforts of our parents and carers to emphasise the importance of learning to our children is an ever present necessity and supports their more consistent engagement in our learning programs. This teaming of parents, carers, families and staff is critical in ensuring our children continue to develop, grow and improve each day.

Daily attendance at school across the school year is so important for our learners, including being early for school each day. Research indicates late arrival and non-attendance significantly negatively impact a students learning, development, growth, improvement and life outcomes over time.

The aim should be 100% attendance on all available days the school is open for school learning, with 95% attendance expected! Anything less is of concern, especially if repeated across years of schooling.

Of course, if children are not well, then they need be at home to recover so they are fully able to engage when they return to school after their illness. I encourage our parents and carers to monitor their child/ren's attendance percentage regularly using the SIMONeverywhere (PAM) app. Aim for 100% attendance! (Congratulations also to our 100% attendees!)

Lent & Supporting Project Compassion:

We are now well into the Catholic season of Lent, a time of prayer, fasting and alms giving. I recently visited the local Bridgestone tyre repair business in Shepparton and noted a Project Compassion donation box on the counter. So good to see wide support for CARITAS, the Catholic outreach support network who do such wonderful work locally and abroad for a range of special causes. Visit https://www.caritas.org.au/ to view many of their amazing projects made possible through the generousity of our families and families across Australia supporting this Lenten fundraising effort.

Sacramental Journey:

Please keep our children and their parents/carers in mind as they meet in family groupings as part of their preparation for the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist. Last Sunday these children were presented to our parish at the two Masses during the Rite of Commitment and met as a large group here at St Mel's last night to commence their series of family gatherings focussed on this Sacraments. Keep these children and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Greater Shepparton Women's Charter Awardee:

We congratulate our Deputy Principal, Danae Napier, on being nominated for the 2026 Greater Shepparton Women's Charter Awards!

Of 13 nominees, Danae was selected in the Top Four and invited to the annual Women's Charter Breakfast and Awards Ceremony.

We congratulate Danae's contribution to our local Greater Shepparton community through her long and outstanding service to Education, Leadership, Faith and The Arts.

Ramadan:

We also keep in mind our Muslim families who have commenced the season of Ramadan on Ash Wednesday evening this year. These two seasons often overlap and this year commence on the same date. During Ramadan, people attend the mosque, pray, seek to do noble deeds, alms give and fast during daylight hours. There is such similarity between our two religions at this special time of Ramadan and Lent.

Annual Holi Festival:

The annual local Festival of Colours (Holi), celebrated by many of our Indian families, was celebrated on Wednesday this week. The local public celebration has been postponed due to weather.

Shepparton Italian Festa:

Our local Italian community will celebrate their annual FESTA on Saturday 14 March at the Shepparton Showgrounds. This FREE family event is open to all and celebrates our rich local (& international) Italian culture. We wish our Italian community a wonderful event. St Mel's parish, primary school and kindergarten has a rich and historical connection with our local Italian community.

Albanian Harvest Festival:

On Sunday 29 March from 11:00am to 5:00pm our local Albanian community will celebrate their annual Harvest Festival at the Queens Gardens, Shepparton. This event was developed over 25 years ago to celebrate Albanian culture and help local Albanian families connect. It is a celebration of Albanian culture, rural produce and its people.

Harmony Day:

As a multicultural multifaith Catholic primary school community we look forward to celebrating the rich tapestry of cultures that make up our St Mel's parish, school and kindergarten community in a few weeks.

On Friday 20 March we will hold our annual 'Cultural Dress Day' where our children and families are encouraged to dress in traditional clothing of your country of origin and/or heritage. Whilst National Harmony Day is the following day (Saturday) we look forward to celebrating our rich cultural diversity on the Friday.

Magnify Sandhurst'

Every Student - Every Teacher - Every School - Every Day!

We commenced this week with a visit from our CESL School Improvement Leader, Libby Hamilton and Jamie McDowall, another SIL from the diocese for a termly Pulse Check.

Pulse Checks are designed to support the implementation of Magnify across the school, based on observations by our visiting School Improvement Leaders. We are grateful for the feedback from these visits as we continue to implement the elements of Magnify with fidelity and alignment across the school.

As part of the next phase of implementation we will introduce new school-wide routines, whilst continuing to embed current practice.

Get To Know You Interviews:

It was wonderful to have so many parents and carers in to meet with their children and teachers to discuss learning progress, development and growth last week. These are important gatherings to set goals for future learning and support students with expectations for their engagement at school and as active learning participants. Parents / carers yet to make appointments are encourages to do so by the end of term.

Staffing Update:

I am pleased to announce a new teacher joining our Staff Team from the commencement of Term Two as the Year 4 teacher for the remainder of 2026.
Mr Shane Griffin, will join our school community, bringing over 30 years experience as a teacher, school leader and principal in Catholic schools across a number of Australian states and diocesan contexts. We look forward to welcoming Shane and his wife, Jo, to our school community in the very near future. Our new parishioners are very much looking forward to joining our parish and school community.
After 13 years teaching at St Mel's PS across a number of year levels Mrs Laura Emanuelli will leave our Staff Team to take up a new appointment as a part time Physical Education teacher at our parish sister school, St Anne's College, from the start of Term Two. We thank Laura for her contributions to our school community and wish her well as she undertakes a new role in her new school community.

NAPLAN - Year 3 and Year 5 Students:

Our Year Three and Year Five students will participate in the 2026 NAPLAN assessment period from Wednesday 11 March until Friday 20 March.

We wish our students and teachers in these year levels all the very best as they undertake the annual NAPLAN assessments next week.

Enhancing Catholic School Identity SURVEYS:

A reminder to complete these important surveys in support of the ongoing development of our multicultural, multifaith Catholic school community.

ICT Changes:

This week our staff have received their new Windows based laptops which in time will replace the Apple computers traditionally used across our school. Banks of NEW Windows based computers are currently being set up that will replace the student Apple devices currently used. In solidarity with Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd we will be fully Windows based by the end of this year. As expected we have encountered some technological teething issues as the new devices are rolling out which we continue to problem solve with support from the CES Ltd IT Team.

Photo Day - Next Tuesday!

A reminder of Photo Day coming up this Tuesday. The team from Dale Wright Photography will return to take our individual, family and group photos. If you are yet to return your photo envelopes be sure to have them in early on Tuesday morning!

Fruit Break:

A review of our current Fruit Break Process is underway. Fruit break was originally introduced to provide children with a mid morning snack of fruit / veg during the peak two hour morning block to provide a burst of nutriants to support engagement.

The idea is that children have a small nutritious snack whilst they continue to engage in the learning activity / session.

In support of Fruit Break, we ask our parents and carers to ensure their children are provided with SMALL nutritious a fruit and/or veg snack, preferably in a small container, that can be quicky retrieved, consumed and put away during the fruit break time.

We are aiming to increase time on task and decrease lost learning time by ensuring Fruit Break is not a break from instruction, learning and/or engagement.

School Closure Day - Wednesday 25th March:

As per previous advice, our school will be closed for a Staff Professional Development Day and an upgrade of our school network and phone systems. Plans are being made for our Staff PL Day to be facilitated offsite. A reminder, there will be no school for students on Wednesday 25 March and the Out of School

Ga Ga Pit On The Way:

After a long wait I am pleased to report our new Ga Ga Pit is in transit bound for delivery in coming weeks. Our installer is arranged and we look forward to completion of this grounds improvement project well over a year in the planning. A keen group of Ga Ga Pit enthusiasts have been making the most of the Arts Learning Suite verandah and excited this project is much closer to realisation. Once installed, initially, we will have a schedule in place to provide students with opportunity to play Ga Ga Ball and experience this new playground resource.

St Mel's Uniting Outside School Hours Care - Vacation, Student Free Days and Before School Care:

2025 & 2026 School Vacation Program - This was a HUGE success, with many families accessing the service over the school holidays. The program of activities was exceptional!
Before School Care - has recommenced, though with LOW numbers.
The viability of continuing the Before School Care is being closely monitored.
Continued low need for this service may mean a discontinuation of Before School Care for the future.
Outside School Hours Care - has recommenced
Student Free Days - across the year!

NOTE 1: Before School Care comes with a yummy breakfast!

Check out the menu...

NOTE 2: Registering your child/children in St Mel's Uniting Outside School Hours Care can take up to a week to process, given the documentation required.

Parents and carers are recommended to register NOW if there is a possibility of using this service at any time this year. Once registered, children are booked in via the registration app.

Parents and carers seeking more information or wishing to register children for Vacation Care are directed to contact Uniting Vic Tas directly by:

Phone: 1800 183 103

Email: earlylearning@unitingvictas.org.au

School Dates:

Please check the Upcoming Dates & Events section of the newsletter regularly.

School Lunch Orders & Canteen:

Best wishes for the Labor Day long weekend and next fortnight's learning journey!

Stephen 'Steve' Hicks

Principal

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