Dear Parents,

Thank you for a great first week back and ensuring your children were ready to learn and organised for the commencement of Term 4. Please keep their home learning routine in place this term, ensuring they are reading each night and doing word work and maths tasks each week. This practise and repetition of basic skills will continue to enhance their learning growth.

We wish our year 5/6 students all the best as they travel to the city for Urban camp which is set to be a wonderful experience for all.

This year's Mission month focus is “ Hearts on Fire and Feet on the move". In our Catholic school we need to keep a significant focus on our core Catholic teachings - following in the footsteps of Jesus, respecting the dignity of every person and working for the common good.

It is so important to continue to build community and highlight and continue to strengthen our St Mary’s identity based on our Catholic Social teachings. Our big focus for Term 4 is on ensuring we are a strong community that has a high level of respect for ourselves, our community and our environment.

This is both in our physical school environment and in relation to online environments. Please monitor your child’s online behaviour. I urge parents to stay strong and set clear boundaries in regards to devices. Research has shown that children with devices in their bedrooms are at risk of being exposed to repeated online bullying affecting their identity, self esteem and ability to sleep and think. Primary school children require safe environments to flourish in. Online spaces that are not being monitored by adults are unsafe and unhealthy for children and can have long term effects on their social, emotional and academic development and are high risk environments.

Building News!

The tender process is now closed and we are in the final decision making stages. Our building is set to commence very soon and I will keep you informed every step of the way as we strive to ensure St Mary’s has the best conditions for every student to shine and flourish in.

Marketing and Promotion

August 2023 school census figures have revealed that demand for Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Melbourne continues to grow. Enrolments across 296 Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) primary and secondary schools continue to grow.

MACS Executive Director, Dr Edward Simons says it is pleasing that more families are seeking the distinctive ethos and values of Catholic schools for their children. ‘He noted that Catholic schools continue to deliver a high-quality, faith-based and affordable education option for families in communities across our state.

The best marketing tool for our school is word of mouth. We would love you to promote our wonderful school to any interested and potential families.

Please promote that we are an inclusive community where all families are welcome and we have a concessional fee policy for all health care recipients and any families suffering financial hardship.

We are having a dedicated marketing campaign where we are offering a chance to win a scholarship for any parent who successfully refers a family to our school. If you refer a family you will go in the draw to win a scholarship for your family fee for the 2024 school year.

Places are limited for 2024 so please let any prospective family know so they don’t miss out as we will be keeping our class sizes to a minimum to ensure we provide an excellent learning environment for all.

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

E-Safety