Principal's News

Dear SMCM Community, Wominjeka!

It was wondeful to have our SMCM community come together last Thursday evening for our end of year picnic and to celebrate the festive season with our Christmas carols. Despite the heat it was a wonderful community event. Thank you for your support!

Staffing for 2025 has now been finalised:

We welcome back Simone DeAndrade, Alana DiDomizio, Rachel Troiani, Michelle Marsh and Clare Spillane from parental leave and wish Steffi Papoulis and Dema Almanno well as they begin parental leave in 2025.

We farewell the following staff members from SMCM:

Daniel Rosano who is moving to St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School
Samantha Rajan who is moving to Carol Acutis Catholic Primary School
Monique Symms who is moving to Holy Cross Catholic Primary School
Mariegold Frago who is moving to Holy Cross Catholic Primary School
Allison Luff who is moving to St Mary’s Catholic Primary School
Claudia Palmisano who is exploring other career options in 2025
Jessica Mosca will be taking 12 months leave from SMCM

We welcome the following new staff members to SMCM:

Catherine Lennon - commenced this Term, joining us from Newton British School, Al Waab, Qatar.
Jesslyn Tian- Charles Darwin University Graduate and has joined us as a CRT this term
Emily Bray - joining us from Eimeo Road State School, Mackay QLD and joining us as a CRT this term
Lenora Deniese- joining us from Thomastown West Primary School
Tashara Burston - Charles Darwin University Graduate and LSO at Canberra Grammar School
Caterina Capogreco - joining us from St Damians in Bundoora
Georgia Clarke - ACU graduate
Michaela Biddick - joining us from Broadgreen Intermediate School, Nelson, New Zealand
Tasha Brace - joining us from Marymede Catholic Primary School in South Morang
Biljana Stavreski - joining us from Docklands Primary School and currently Sounds Write Presenter & Trainer

Homegroup teaching staff:

Foundation: Louise Maurici, Sandra Pacheco, Catherine Lennon, Tashara Burston
Year 1: Hayley Messina, Lenora Deniese (3 days)/Rachel McMurtrie (2 days), Emily Bray, Caterina Capogreco
Year 2: Natasha Solomons, Cassandra Martin, Jesslyn Tian
Year 3: Vivian Rosales, Daniella Slee, Stephanie Lo Piccolo, Chrissy Tsipras, Georgia Clarke,
Year 4: Alexandra Gryuck (4 days)/Sarah Spiteri (1 day), Rebecca Jenkins (3 days)/Ellen Gravina (2 days), Clare Spillane (2 days), Melissa Morabito, Narelle Bzdel
Year 5: David Lewis, Emily Hodgson, Michelle Marsh (3 days)/Aaron Dean (3 days)
Year 6: Melissa Leach, Tasha Brace, Michaela Biddick

Specialist Program:

Yolanda Gross - Physical Education: Year 1, 2, 3, 4 (3 days)
Lisa Palma - Physical Education: Year Prep, 1, 5, 6 (3 days)
Katie Clark - Visual Arts: Year Prep, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 (4 days)
Yumi Matsushima - Japanese Year 1-6
Mike Caruana - STEM Year 1 - 6
Elna Van As - Visual Arts Prep, Performing Arts Yr Prep, Digital Technology Year 2 (2 days, Term 1)
Rachel Troiani - Visual Arts Prep, Performing Arts Yr Prep, Digital Technology Year 2 (2 days, Term 2 onwards)
Simone DeAndrade Oral Language: Year Prep, 1, Digital Technology: Year 3 (2 days)

Intervention:

Literacy – Cate Fabri (4 days)
Maths – Kiara Misale (3 days)
Maths Coach Yr 3-6– Sawako Gannon (3 days)
Learning Enhancement – Roxene Beech (3 days)
School Counsellor – Vicki Ale
Learning Diversity Support - Alana DiDomizio (2 days, Term 2 onwards)

Learning Support: Bernadette Lancaster; Rosemarie Stella; Christine Santos; Lorraine Dawson; Charmari Hemachandra; Romani Alwis; Tonina Sirianni; Nicole Allison; Jessica French; Paul Wookey; Christina Chatterjee; Johanna Smyth; Bellinda Allison; Vicky Do; Melissa Fernandes; Linda Macri; Tammy Tsomidis; Shenelle Toshack; Shammi Jayasuriya; Saba Rahmani, Rosita Bifera, Alex Koutsambasis.

Leadership Team:

Claire Pitcher: Principal
Lisa Heath: Deputy Principal & Student Wellbeing Leader (4 days)
Jess Herrick: Deputy Principal & Learning Diversity Leader
Rafael Fernandez: Learning & Teaching & Digital Technologies Leader
Sarah Spiteri: Education in Faith Leader (3 days)
Biljana Stavreski: Literacy Leader
Kristie Hocking: Community & Family Engagement Leader (3 days)
Rachel McMurtrie: F- 2 Maths Coach & Leader (3 days)

Administration: Erwin Avila-Sandoval; Kelly Farrell; Rebecca Herft

Maintenance: Joe Gionta (4 days)

Our heartfelt condolences go to Effie, Matt and Milania (Newton Homegroup) on the sudden passing of Effie's mother last week. We will continue to keep you in our thoughts and prayers.

Congratulations to all of our SMCM students for following the FARM Code and filling our whole school raffle jar. Year 2 student, Johnny, suggested a whole school jar during the year and the challenge was set to fill it! Tomorrow we will celebrate with casual clothes and community dance parties!

This will be the final newsletter for the 2024 school year. We thank and farewell the following members of the SMCM community:

Congratulations to the Graduating Class of 2024

We look forward to celebrating the 2024 Graduating Class with our Year 6 students and their families at tomorrow evening's Graduation Mass and dinner celebration. We wish our Graduating Class well as you embark on your journey into Secondary School!

Next Tuesday we also farewell the following students who will be moving to new schools in 2024. We wish them and their families the best of luck for the future:

Angelica & Mia Cavallari
Darcy Canals
Azal & Sharbl Enaya
Irushi & Jevon Subasinghe

The following families will be leaving SMCM at the end of their primary school journey. We thank you for your contributions to our school community and look forward to hearing from you often:

Albabaessa, Alejandrino, Attard, Aurish, Borg, Britto, Cahayon, Cortese, Curry, Danzi, Dechavez, Dopierala, Faralla, Fleischmann, Grifone, Hana, Hatsisavvidis, Hemachandra, Joe, Khorani, La Torre, Malek, Mancini, Manhika, Menta, Montagnese, Neira Charari, Odontiadis, Pannella, Penalosa, Phan, Ram, Rossello, Sankar, Sidhu, Srour, Thelly, Turkuner, Vignjevic, Yaranon.

We thank and farewell the following staff from SMCM and wish them well with their future teaching careers:

Daniel Rosano, Samantha Rajan, Monique Symms, Mariegold Frago, Allison Luff and Claudia Palmisano

As the 2024 school year comes to an end I want to share my gratitude and appreciation to all members of the SMCM school community.

Thank you to the SMCM staff who work tirelessly in the best interest of your children. Thank you to our families for working in partnership with us as we nurture your children – their learning, faith and wellbeing. Thank you to our students whose inquisitive nature and tenacity bring us joy each day. I look forward to continuing to work with you all again in 2025.

Wishing all members of our SMCM Community a happy and holy Christmas and a safe and restful start to the New Year!

We praise and thank God in Jesus’ name at Christmas, for all the blessings and gifts of this school year.

Claire

Principal

claire.pitcher@smcmeppingnth.catholic.edu.au