Deputy Principal

Mini Vinnies

Last Friday, our Student Voice leaders joined leaders from St Brendan's, St Joseph's and Padua for a Westernport Mini Vinnies meeting to learn about how we can implement strong social justice initiatives within our community. 

The meeting was led by Tayla from the St Vincent de Paul society who shared data and information about what it means to be living rough and what these people need most. The students then worked collaboratively to workshop ideas to take back to their schools. 

A very big thank you to Kiyosh, Louis, Lachy, Summer, Abby, Emily and Isabella who engaged in the session and demonstrated their leadership skills; representing St Mary's with pride.

Don't forget!! We are accepting winter coats, beanies, gloves and scarves to donate to Hastings Vinnies shop for the Winter Appeal. 

Year 3-6 Social Emotional Learning

This term our Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program is going to look a little different.

From data collected in an anonymous SEL survey, staff have identified significant needs across our middle and senior school. 

To target these needs, will be providing an 8 week program, tailored to the needs of the student cohorts.

Grade 3 students will be following the Rights and Respectful Relationships program to develop their Emotional Literacy skills based on the following topics:

1. What do emotions look like?

2. Emotions triggers

3. Emotions across the school day

They will also develop their Personal and Cultural Strengths based on the following topics:

1. How we use our personal and cultural strengths

2. Respect for people, respect for country

3. Using strengths to grow respect

4. Using our strengths in different situations

5. Respect for diversity

This program will be explicitly taught by Mrs Galvin with the support of Mrs Faoro.

Grade 4, 5 & 6 girls will be engaged in the MPower program to improve female students' mindfulness surrounding how they think, talk and act towards each other. Students are given specific skills to effectively problem-solve peer issues, to be assertive in conflict situations, reduce stereotyping and be more mindful of how their actions affect their peers. As a result, we find girls are able to forge more respectful relationships, manage conflict scenarios better, and build resilience within themselves.

This program will be explicitly taught by Mrs Polites with the support of Mrs Aldag and Miss Kirkpatrick.

Grade 4, 5 & 6 boys will engage in the Revved Up program to improve emotional regulation and anger management, focusing on self-reflection, behaviour change, and conflict resolution. Students are given specific skills to effectively manage conflict resolution, cooling down tactics and problem solving skills, and shifting aggressive reactions to constructive and assertive solutions.

This program will be explicitly taught by Mr Rowler and Mr Gibson with the support of Mrs Corfield and Marina. 

These SEL lessons will be held weekly on Fridays and are in line with the Australian Curriculum. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, or speak to one of the teachers to discuss.

We had our first session on Friday, week 3 and there was so much engagement and enjoyment from students and staff!

Bullying No Way Week 🦸🏼‍♂️ 🦸🏽‍♀️

The Bullying No Way: National Week of Action runs from August 17–21, 2026, under the theme "Small Acts. Big Impact". At St Mary's, students will be engaging in activities throughout week 6 to support their understanding of respectful relationships, friendship, social skills and conflict resolution. The key focus of the Bullying No Way campaign is to be an Upstander to nasty behaviours and not a Bystander, who is someone that watches on and does nothing about it.

We remind our students everyday to be help-seekers when they need support to problem solve. Conflict should never get to the point where our feelings are hurt or we become physically aggressive. At a young age, children need adult help to solve conflict; so we explicitly teach and model appropriate ways to solve problems. 

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data