From the Acting Principal 

Mother’s and Special Friends Breakfast Morning & Mass

We hope all families celebrated in style on Sunday 14th May for Mother’s Day, our Friday breakfast was certainly well attended and well received. Thank you to our P&F and all of the volunteers for making this event so successful, from organising tickets, to providing the breakfast and for organising our special gifts from our students. Thank you also to our community for generously dropping donations into the office to contribute towards our raffle hampers.

Breakfast was followed by Mass and a highlight was certainly the students saying the ‘Hail Mary’ prayer in Italian, and a bouquet of flowers brought to Mary’s Chapel by Boyd and Paige. The month of May has always been one of the months devoted to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The colour white symbolises purity, joy, light and glory (these are virtues Mary was blessed with).

Walk2School Day

Last Friday we had another special Friday morning with National Walk Safely To School Day. We were immensely proud of the way our community “turned up” to our meeting locations with such enthusiasm and also the way in which our students spoke so confidently to the media at Windsor. Active travel to school is a wonderful opportunity to improve physical and mental health as part of the morning routine and we highly encourage families to try and incorporate this into their routines. I already hear of many families in the morning who arrive at school who have already taken the dog with their children, kicked the ball in the park, or walked to a cafe. 

Thank you to our P&F for our breakfast and our Year 6 Community, Wellbeing and Sport Leaders who lead our morning aerobics with much confidence, gusto and enthusiasm.

Inform & Empower Raising Kids in a Digital World webinar replay

A modest contingent of our community registered for our Inform & Impower Webinar on the 11th May, and I have no doubt in my mind that the families who watched live or followed up with the replay would have found the content extremely useful, engaging and provoking. I urge all parents to take the time to review the replay and some of the content provided by the excellent presenters Marty and Carley.

All adults have a vital role to play with guiding, modelling and supporting the safe and responsible use of technologies that are so common with young people today. Ignoring the risks and potential pitfalls of technologies like online gaming and social media is akin to the analogy of leaving your child unattended at a surf beach with no swimming skills.

The replay will be available until the end of the month and can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIgXSxSt9qA

And the parent toolkit can be accessed here:

https://www.informandempower.com.au/parents

We would love to know what thoughts parents have after watching the webinar, and we would be happy to discuss any further questions or concerns that you may have.

First Eucharist

Thank you to our families and children who are making our First Eucharist this year and attended our Family Faith night last Thursday, and our staff Jes Earle, Aoife McGuinnes, Maureen McDonald and Fr Jerome for supporting the faith development. I personally enjoyed running the Kahoot quiz and the opportunity to discuss some of the truths and misconceptions about the First Eucharist and the Sacraments in general. A reminder that our First Eucharist preparation mass will be this Sunday at 5:30pm at St Mary’s Church.

Collingwood football club visit with Year 5 and Year 6 about Leadership

We were delighted this week to be visited by our Jack’s cousin Anthony, who works as a coaching analyst for the Collingwood Football club. Anthony not only shared fascinating insight into the way that the club uses and analyses data to improve their team and game, but also how he and his colleagues all contribute to the leadership structure at the club. Anthony gave examples of how the club leadership enables the players to rally around each other, lead by example, and work together to achieve a common goal.

Below are some insights from our our Year 5 students who wrote letters to Anthony:

“I like how your club shows really good leadership, like congratulating a team member when they do well, and how they talk to each other at the start and during the game. I now feel motivated to watch my brother do his sports and be there to motivate and support him” - Olivia

“It was really cool when you showed us all the ways that the Collingwood team work together and how they help and care for each other” - Chiara

“Being a leader is about looking out for your mates, lifting their spirits though tough times, helping each other, cheering each other through winning and losing” - Nesmah

“I really liked how you said that leadership can be shown even with just one small head pay” - Huy

I learnt how I should always pick my teammates up if they are down and I should always celebrate a team effort” - Iggy

We firmly believe that each child at St Mary’s can and should develop their confidence and ability to lead by example, and we were delighted that Anthony could take the time to visit and inspire our students.

Repairs to the Prep and Year 1 Classrooms

We are pleased that the works to the Prep and Year 1 classrooms have been finalised, and that the students and teachers completed their first day back in. The staircase has been re-opened, the concrete repaired and a new outdoor rebound surface has been installed. Inside the classrooms new flooring and carpets were laid and the lift was also repaired.

Thank you to everyone’s patience during this time, we acknowledge that it has had an impact with moving around the school. Congratulations to the staff and students for getting on with “learning as usual” despite the setback.

Students at morning school drop off can now assemble via the office side gate as per usual as the top gate on Dandenong Road will remain closed. Both gates will be opened in the afternoon for pick up.

Congratulations Charlotta!

Congratulations Lotty in Year 5 who competed at the Australian Gymanstics Championship in Gold Coast last week. Charlotta took silver medal in the team event. Lotty is currently travelling to Singapore and Philippines for an international event and we look forward to hearing all about it.

Winter Uniform, please check names

A reminder that full Winter uniform is to be worn from now. Please also check that uniform items are named correctly, especially if they are second hand. We have already accumulated many items in our lost property with unknown owners.

Future Event - Lug & Carrie electric cargo bike test rides, Tuesday 30th May from 3:15 to 4:15pm

As announced at Ride2School Day, we want to allow more families the opportunity to try out alternative school commute options. City of Port Phillip Council will be offering 12 families a free, four week trial of an e-cargo bike as part of Council’s Subsidised Riding program. Electric bikes are able to get you further distances faster, and the bikes can carry up to two children safely & securely. Through your 4 week trial, you can travel to school, work, the park and back home again quickly, safely and sustainably.

We’ll be offering pop up test rides at the school on Tuesday 30th May from 3:15 - 4:15pm on the main campus courts. This is a great opportunity for you to come and try the bikes and get more information. To register please go to https://lug-carrie.com/port-phillip/ and see the attachment below.

Future Event - Student Disco Thursday 15th June 5:30pm

And finally, we have our Student Disco coming up in a few weeks time. Bookings open tonight via https://trybooking.com/CIQjG and close Monday 12th June. Thank you to our P&F for organising this event!

A photo from Cathy…

We welcome Cathy back next week from her Principal Conference in the Northern Territory. We are sure that many sights have been taken in and we look forward to hearing all about it!