Student Wellbeing

It is hard to believe that we are quickly approaching the end of the school year. One only has to see all of the Christmas decorations that are around to know that holidays are around the corner, but between now and then we still have so much to do. This includes…

Parent Afternoon tea with our Burmese and Sudanese families

On Wednesday 15 November, we held an afternoon tea with our Burmese and Sudanese families to gather together and discuss any concerns that they may have and to show them how to connect to the SEQTA learning management system. This tool is important because it enables all of our families to be able to check attendance, to look at how their child is performing in terms of her learning and see End of Semester reports that will be available at the beginning of December.

We also discussed our plans of creating a mural of the stories of our families and their journey to both Australia and Marian. We hope to have access to an artist in residence to support this plan.

We had over 25 families attend and they indicated that this timeslot of just after school is a better time for the gatherings that our usual option of 7.00 pm.

We thank – Ngunsang and Manyiel, our Family Liaison Officers, for facilitating the evening and to Adrian Bratovic for his organisation of the event.

Leadership Process at Years 7 – 11.

Over the last couple of weeks, our students from Years 7 to 11 have engaged in the process of nominating themselves for a Leadership position for 2024.

These have included:

Student Representative Council and House Captains at each year level.

Many students involved themselves in the process by putting their hand up for a role and then writing a speech as to why they would be a good candidate for the role in 2024.

We are in the process of finalising who has been elected for each role at each year level and look forward in the next edition of the Marian News of acknowledging our leaders for 2024.

Leadership Retreat for our Senior Leadership Team

On 16 and 17 November students who have been elected into a Leadership position for 2024 attended the annual Leadership Retreat.

The Leadership positions for 2024 are:

• Lamp Bearer
• Student Representative Council
• Student Participation Group
• House Captains
• Social Justice Leaders – Liturgy, Justice and Democracy Forum and Marian Leo’s.

Over the course of the two days, the leaders worked on a number of different areas for 2024. These included:

• Goals and priorities for the Student Leadership Team
• Revision and development of role descriptions for leadership positions
• Ways in which the Leadership team can be structured in 2024 to ensure that appropriate communication occurs to support the work of all of the teams.
• How the Social Justice groups can be incorporated into the planning and work of the other teams

We look forward in the next edition of the Marian of highlighting these goals for our Student Leadership team in 2024.

Uniform Update

A reminder to all of our Year 10 students now entering the senior part of the school that they are required to purchase a red jumper for 2024.  This replaces their blue jumper from Years 7 – 10.

These jumpers can be purchased from our uniform shop which is open on Wednesday and Friday from recess to 1.30pm (during lunch time).

Big Day Out is coming 

On Monday 4 December, to finish off the school year we will take our Years 7-9 students to Funfields in Whittlesea for the day.

We hope the weather is kind to us, not too hot or cold, and the students can have a fun day on the rides, in the water or simply relaxing with their friends to celebrate the 2023 school year.

Students for the Monday and Tuesday (final day) will return to their old homerooms and levels having returned from their Step Up Classes.

Permissions slips for Operoo will be sent over the next couple of weeks.

How quickly the year has moved and we now nearer to the season of ADVENT when we anticipate the birth of a small child that would forever change the world. Until then we still have lots to finish off in a positive way this year.

Kerrie Williams

Assistant to the Principal – Student Wellbeing