Dear Families,

It was wonderful sharing our Welcome Drinks on Friday 17th February. Now that we have our lovely spaces, it is great seeing them being used. Thank you to those who helped set up, prepare, cook and heat food and pack up on Saturday. This is the first time that we have done this onsite and after the success of the evening, it will become a fixture on the calendar. A warm summer’s night, good company, music and delicious food and drinks were the order of the evening.

Meet the Teacher Meeting

Meet the teacher is an important opportunity for parents and carers to meet with their teacher(s) to share valuable information about the best learning environment that we can work in partnership to create between home and school. If you were not able to attend please email your teacher to organise a meeting. Our partnership with parents and carers enables us to give our students the best learning experience and opportunities that we can.

St Mary's Swim Team

Congratulations to our swimmers last Tuesday, a great day was had by all and everyone did their best. The St Mary's Swim Team had a wonderful day at the Holt District Swimming Carnival on Tuesday 21st of February. All swimmers represented St Mary’s with enthusiasm, in and out of the pool. Our swimming team consisted of 16 swimmers from Years 3 to 6: Lachlan, Zelie, Olivia T, Anna T, Olive, Poppy D, Tara, Ava Q, Huy, Alec, Wilson, Amelia, Anthony and Poppy M. Two of our swimmers broke Holt District records in Butterfly - Ava Q and Breaststroke - Tara A, a fabulous effort! The next stage of competition is the Beachside Division Carnival to be held on Friday the 10th of March. We wish Wilson, Huy, Tara, Olive, Ava and Alec all the very best as they compete under the Holt District banner. Thanks to Mrs Mason, Mr Buttigieg and Mr Addicoat for supporting our team.

School Advisory Council Meeting

Last Thursday evening we had our first School Advisory Council meeting. The SAC, as it is referred to, is an advisory body supporting the strategic direction and oversight of the operation and management of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic School (MACS), including St Mary’s Primary School St Kilda East. The SAC provides a crucial point of connection between the wider school community and community Leaders. On behalf of our community, we thank our SAC members for their partnership this year.

Cathy Ferrari - Principal

Anthony Speranza - Deputy Principal

Father Jerome Santamaria - Parish Priest

Claude Lam - Chair

Ben Merlin - member

Hywell Sebastian - member

Ruth Trevaks - member

Opening Morning

Yesterday we had our first Open Morning in preparation for 2024. Thank you to Ms Denise Santamaria and our Year 6 Leaders for the manner in which they conducted these tours. The feedback from our prospective families was so positive about how articulate and confident the students were and that their love for the school was evident. Please help to spread the work about our upcoming Open Mornings, but in reality we are open everyday for a tour, all families need to do is email or call.

Inter-house Athletics Carnival

We are very proud to be offering all of our students todays athletics carnival at GR Bricker Reserve Moorabbin. We ran two carnivals at the track with the senior carnival running all day and the junior classes joining us for their carnival in the morning. It was great having the whole school together for our acknowledgement, prayer and welcome by our Sports Leaders. Our students have each had the opportunity to experience the track events of 70ms, 100ms, 2000ms, 400ms, hurdles and many field events. The results will go towards the selection of our Years 3 to 6 HOLT Athletics Team in Term 3. We welcome everyone to our assembly tomorrow where we will announce the house with the best spirit and the house that has earned the most points. Both shields will be presented at assembly. Regardless of the outcome for each student to have participated, tried their best and experienced team sport is a win for everyone. Thank you to the many helpers today and we will thank you properly in the next newsletter, without your support the day would not have been possible.

Thank you to our amazing staff for their support of their students for this day. Our Physical Education Teachers Simon Addicoat and Chris Kidman have put a great deal of work into today and we thank them. Our sports co-ordinator Angela Mason was also an integral part of the organising team. I would also like to acknowledge and thank our starter, my brother-in-law Brendan Ferrari. Brendan is an official Victorian Amateur Athletic Association starter. Brendan has started for the commonwealth games amongst other significant track meets. His encouragement of the children and help with the carnival, in his volunteering capacity helped make today, the day the success it was. To see the excitement of the students arriving at the track this morning made my day!

Principalship requires a great deal of desk work and meetings. On Tuesday we had a Wet

Day lunch and we all had our assigned duties. I had the pleasure of my time being split between Year 5 & 6 and Year 2. In Year 2 we played memory and 'Mrs Ferrari says', it was loads of fun. In Year 5 I discovered that my snap opponent had very quick reflexes. I look forward to another snap challenge at camp!

Year 11 Social Justice Students from St Mary's College

On Tuesday we started a new initiative with some Year 11 Social Justice students from St Mary's College. These students read with some of our Year 3 students and we hope to continue this partnership. We thank Charlotte, Cleopatra, Grace, Ciena and Dana for their support. Two of the students attended our school in their primary years and could not believe how good the school looked and how clean and tidy it was!

NAPLAN

This year NAPLAN has moved from May to March. Our Year 5 students will have completed their assessments before heading off to enjoy camp Rumbug. All of our Year 3 and Year 5 students will have the opportunity to sit these assessments. Early next week these year levels will receive information regarding the days of the assessments and the catch up days. Our students are well prepared and the data gathered gives us informative whole school data and trends in the areas of Reading, Writing, Language Conventions and Mathematics. Please be mindful that NAPLAN for individual students is one data set and whilst important is used alongside all of our other assessments to give a full picture as to each student's strengths and areas for future learning.

NAPLAN is an annual assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It tests the types of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. The tests cover skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. The assessments are undertaken every year. From 2023, the NAPLAN test window will move to mid-March (ACARA).

Take care and wishing God's blessings and peace upon each of you.

Mrs Cathy Ferrari

TheirCare Program