Community Engagement

Mother's Day Breakfast & Classroom Visits 

The chills of Thursday morning didn't dampen the excitement of our students as they showed their Mums into their classrooms and shared a moment together. Exchanges of cards and homemade gifts and lots of love and laughter was the order of the morning! A very glamorous morning tea in the hall followed and was enjoyed by our Mums. We are very grateful to Bree and Bec who created this beautiful experience for our mums. Thank you to all of their team who helped and supported this event. 

Election Day BBQ 

While the Mums were out enjoying a lunch together our Dads were running the Election Day BBQ. The delicious smelling sausages and homemade coffee was a welcome distraction for visitors to St Roch's as they queued to vote.  Huge thanks to Dave Crew and Will Cheang and their big team of helpers who were able to successfully sell 600 sausages and 110 coffees! St Roch's was the place to be on Election Day!! 

Year 5 & 6 Camp Canberra  

We are super excited to be taking our 28 senior students to Canberra this week. It should be an exciting week to be in Canberra! We will be on the look out for our Prime Minister when we visit Parliament House. Please look out the photos that will be posted on Instagram throughout the week. 

Parliament and Civics Education Rebate 

Year 5 & 6 students from St Roch's will soon be undertaking, an education tour of the national capital. Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding to our school in the amount of $45.00 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Collaborative Art Project Year 5 at Sunnyside Kinder 

Last week was our final session at Sunnyside kinder with the 4 year old kinder students. Our Year 5 students were very sad to say goodbye as they had thoroughly enjoyed working with the kinder students on their art projects. They Year 5s were patient and encouraging and we were so proud to have them represent St Roch's. The staff at Sunnyside were full of praise for our students. It was a positive experience for both groups of students and staff and one we hope to facilitate again next year. Thanks again to our Visual Art Specialist Jo Boers for the tremendous amount of planning and preparation she completed for the success of this this collaborative project.  

Walk Safely to School Day - 22 May 2025 

This year we will be promoting National Walk Safely to School Day and participating in this community initiative on Thursday 22 May. 

This national event aims to raise awareness of the health, road safety and environmental benefits that regular walking to and from school provides and the positive long term effects this has on our wellbeing.  Our Year 6 Community Leaders Maddie and Kimmy are very excited to lead this event at St Roch's. We are thrilled to have police officers from the Malvern Police Station join us again this year.

Families are invited to meet staff on the corner of Glenvale and Malvern Roads under our school banner from 8.15am. Three ‘Walking School Buses’ will leave every five minutes from 8.20am led by teachers. Walking buses will leave at 8.20am, 8.25am and 8.30am. Students and parents are welcome to join one of the walking school buses or meet us en route along Glenvale Rd. On arrival at school students will receive a sticker, designed by our Community Leaders, a temporary tattoo and a mini muffin to refuel! 

This promises to be a fun community event and a great way to start our Thursday! 

Open Days 

Open Day Tours in Term 2

Our final Open Day will be held on Friday, 23 May 2025 at 9.15am. 

Term 2 Chess Club   

We were very lucky to have the owner of Chess for Schools, Phil Hooton, run a free incursion for all interested students last Tuesday. Phil visited all the classrooms to promote chess and to encourage students to come along to the trial session. Many students took up this opportunity. Wally Bristow was the winner of a prize on the day and took home a Chess Board Game. Thanks Phil, we loved having you visit St Roch's and we look forward to your next incursion later in the term.  

Phil will run an incursion with all of the Year 1 and 2 students in their classrooms. 

Chess Club is on every Wednesday at 11.00am for all interested students. Please consider registering your child for this great lunchtime club. See details about registering in the Extra Curricula page of the newsletter. 

Gardening Club

Gardening Club is held every Wednesday at 1.50pm and is open to all students from Prep - Year 6. This is such a beautiful time for our students to increase feelings of wellbeing while learning about science as they dig in the soil and tend to the garden. 

Recently, in Gardening Club, we have been planting and tending to the beans and peas. There is also lots of parsley, nasturtium, marigolds and strawberry plants that need regular watering and weeding. We have also explored the ‘colours of Autumn’ using found nature items and some paint chips. Some children were involved in an activity to compare and contrast and make observations on the changing colours of leaves in Autumn. 

We look forward to watching the students and Mrs Meseha's  autumn vegetables growing in our veggie patches.

Dance Club

Dance Club with Maddie from Dance Fitness Victoria is held every Thursday at lunchtime. Dance Club is open for all students from Prep to Year 2. Registrations for Term 2 are now open. 

Art Club

Art Club is being run by our very own Arts Leaders Michael and Evie and our Art Specialist teacher Ms Boers. This week there will be an activity especially designed for students in Year 3 - 6 with art activities on offer for students in Prep to Year 2. There is always a lot of fun being had in the Art Room. 

Icy Pole Friday  

Icy poles will be on sale at 3.30pm on Fridays after school except no icy poles this Friday due to Camp and District Cross Country.  Thanks to our school and vice captains and to Miss Allen and Mr Pinchbeck for supporting this initiative.  

Nadine Bolton 

Deputy Principal, Learning Diversity Leader and Wellbeing Leader