Dear families,

What a wonderfully busy Term Three we have had at STM. From the filming of the school production, The Reluctant Dragon, swimming week, Book Week, an author visit, STEAM Night, Japanese Fun Day and an artist visit. I can understand why we have all felt a little tired this week.

On Saturday 2nd September, many of our teaching team attended the Primary Maths Conference where we spent the day hearing from presenters and educators on implementing evidence-informed practices and the Science of Learning for the maths classroom. The Science of Learning draws on a body of research from a vast array of fields including cognitive psychology, behavioural science, neuroscience and education to give teachers an understanding of how learning happens in mathematics. It was a highly informative day for our teaching team who had the opportunity to dive deeper into maths instruction in the early years, developing abstract mathematical ideas through concrete materials and pictures, daily reviews for developing number fact fluency and strategies for unpacking and attacking word problems in maths.

We are very fortunate to have a passionate teaching team who have an ongoing commitment to professional learning and growth. It is an honour and privilege to work with each of them, and I can not wait to see this knowledge come to life in our classrooms.

Last week, our school received a personal invitation from MACS Western Region to join their Knowledge Society Project which will focus on developing a school improvement network focused on evidence-informed teaching practices. Knowledge Society hosted the Science of Learning conference I attended earlier this year, and was a key supporter in the development of Catalyst. A project which saw the system-wide change to evidence-based practices through each Catholic school within the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. This is an amazing opportunity and recognises our school's three-year journey and ongoing commitment to the Science of Learning and Science of Reading.

Please watch the video below if you wish to know more about Catalyst.

A Report from our School Captains with Grace & Jasper - Kidsview Excursion

On Monday 7th of August the Year Sixes went to St Luke's Primary School in Wantirna to be part of the Kidsview Excursion. There were four workshops that involved learning about health, work or employment, education and housing. In the employment workshop each student was given a person with different skills and health issues and we had to get a job to feed our family. In the health workshop we played a board game and the aim was to live as long as possible. For the housing workshop students were given a fake house which was based on what class you were in. In the education workshop each person got some money and they had to spend it on classroom stuff for a fake test.

District Athletics:

Congratulations to all the students who represented our school at the Sherbrooke District Athletics against students from six other schools from our local area. While the weather was a little chilly, the students competed fairly and gave their absolute best efforts in all their events. Well done!

We had three students who qualified to move to the next stage of the competition - Wills Pierce - triple jump; Luke English - shotput and discus; and Grace Elkin - 200m sprint.

All three competed in the Dandenong Ranges Division Athletics Carnival on Wednesday and managed to pull off a hat trick with all three placing in their event/s. Congratulations to Grace for coming 3rd in the 200m sprint, Wills for coming 1st in triple jump and Luke for coming 3rd in shotput and 4th in discus. What a tremendous effort from all three of you!

Japanese Fun Day;

There was a buzz of excitement throughout STM yesterday as students participated in our very first Japanese Fun Day. It was a huge success and I thank Bawden Sensei for organising and hosting the day for our school community. We are very blessed to have a language teacher who is committed to immersing our students (and staff) in the language, customs and culture of Japan. Arigatou (ありがとう) Bawden Sensei.

Please click on the Japanese tab to see some reports and photos from the day.

Bunnings BBQ:

Who doesn't love a Bunnings BBQ! The STM P&F are hosting a Bunnings BBQ on Sunday the 15th of October at the Scoresby store and are looking for volunteers. We will need a team captain to run the day and the BBQ from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. There are four time slots that require 3 volunteers to support the team captain, and you can sign up by completing the Operoo notice.

Time slots for the BBQ roster are;

8:30 am to 10:45 am
10:30 am to 12:45 pm
12:30pm to 2:45pm
2:30 pm to 4:30pm

For those of you who are unable to come along, but would like to offer support, we would appreciate any donations of:

Tomato or BBQ sauce
Paper towel
Garbage bags
Rubber gloves

These donations can be left at the front office.

Our P&F are very generous in their support of our students and school, and I encourage you to support them by volunteering if you are able to on the day.

2024 School Fees;

Dear families,

Every year around August and September Principals work with MACS business partners to produce a budget for the following year. This year's budget is nearly complete and is shared with the community each year in the Annual Report to the School Community.

In the past two years we have managed to increase school fees by only 2% per year, which has been a welcome relief to families. Unfortunately this year it has been decided that fees will need to be increased by around 4-5%. These figures will be finalised and shared with families in Term 4.

As always we will support families with flexible payment options and plans, MACS will also continue to offer Concession fees for Health Care Card holders. Please remember if you are ever having financial difficulties please reach out to me via email or pop in the office.

More detailed information will come out in Term 4.

Kind regards

Declan

Parent & Carer Code of Conduct:

Thank you to the families who took the time to read through and sign the Parent and Carer Code of Conduct. This was sent out via Operoo and all families are encouraged to read this document and respond online. Please pop in to the office if you are having difficulties with Operoo and we can help you.

MACSSIS survey:

The MACSSIS surveys provide the opportunity for schools to listen to the thoughts and feelings of students, families and staff about their school. Some of our STM families have been randomly selected to participate in the survey, and we appreciate and value your thoughts, views and ideas. Thank you to the families that have taken the time to complete the survey. If you still have one to complete it's not too late, MACSSIS Surveys are open until today Friday 15 September.

School Closure Days:

Please add the following dates to your diary.

Friday 3rd of November: Curriculum Day

Monday 6th of November: Report Writing Day

Tuesday 7th of November: Melbourne Cup

Monday 4th of December: 2024 Planning day for staff

End of School Year Dates:

End of Year dates are as follows:

Year 6 Graduation Day/Year 6 last day: Thursday 14th of December (Lunch from 12pm-3pm, Mass from 6:30pm-8:30pm)

Prep/Year 5 last day: Friday 15th of December at 3:10pm

Commitment to Child Safety:

Please see attached the CECV's (Catholic Education Commission of Victoria) commitment to Child Safety in schools. Each school must have a range of measures in place to meet the 11 Child Safety Standards.

The first day of Term 4 is Monday 2nd October. If your child is in Year 4, 5 or 6, they will need to be at school at 8:00 am for their Parliament House excursion. Staff will be here to greet them.

I wish you all a relaxing and peaceful break over the school holidays, and hope you find time to enjoy a slower pace at home.

In partnership,

Danielle

Respectful Relationships