Principal Announcements

Newsletter Address ~ Term 1, Week  5

Principal's Message 

It’s hard to believe we are halfway through the term and so much has happened since our last newsletter was published. 

It continues to be a settled time for our students with much enthusiasm for learning happening across the school.   Our preppies are amazing and have handled the transition to school incredibly well. Each Wednesday our foundation students have been having a well-deserved ‘rest day’ and their teachers have been conducting individual assessments which allows teachers to deliver at point of need teaching.  Foundation students begin school fulltime after the Labour Day long weekend, on Wednesday 15th March, however, if parents feel that their child is having difficulty with this adjustment and may need extra rest days, they are encouraged to discuss this with their teachers. 

We celebrated our opening school mass last Thursday.  It was the first time in 3 years since we have had an opening mass in the church and what a great celebration it was.   Live music, singing, kids reading and our community coming together, finally at the beginning of the year.    We’ve missed this and we felt connected.   During mass our year 6 students were notified of their leadership roles and received their badges.  A proud moment for our young leaders.  They are and will continue to be great leaders and role models for our school. 

On Tuesday our special events and social justice teams helped to cook and serve over 600 pancakes in celebration of Shrove Tuesday.  This has become a great tradition over the years.   Over $500 was raised to support Caritas and the Project Compassion appeal.    A wonderful community effort. 

Several students and their families attended the 15th anniversary of the National Apology breakfast held at the Queen’s gardens on Monday 13th Feb.  This is a great community event and a great opportunity for our students to witness and hear the significance of the meaning behind the apology presented to parliament 15 years ago.  Jarvis Atkinson, a local Yorta Yorta man, shared his story and what the apology means to him and his family.

Last Tuesday we launched the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden (SAKG) program, an initiative we have been lucky enough receive free membership for the next three years.  We had a small but very engaged group of parents and school council members in attendance.  Katie Thorpe who works as a Community Health liaison for the city of Greater Shepparton and is an ambassador for SAKG, was there to share her experience of SAKG and its value for primary schools.  We are very excited for this initiative and can’t wait to share more of the program through our newsletter, PAM and communications. 

For more information regarding the SAKG program please visit:

https://www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au/

We often remind students of the importance to be the best learners they can be and what it means to be a successful learner.

Our three school rules of ‘Do your best’; ‘Help others Succeed’ and ‘Respect our School’ are the cornerstones on which our expected student learning and behaviours are based.  These cornerstones determine all behaviours we want for all of our students and in everyday activities at school we envisage our students to achieve, monitor and model these behaviours, hence the reason why we actually take the time to teach children how to Do your best; help others succeed and respect our school.

Already, classrooms have co-created agreed class expectations and have these clearly displayed in their rooms. This is a recommendation affirmed from Dan Petro, a well-respected behaviour analyst, whom some of you will be familiar with.  Dan has worked with staff from St Mel’s in the past presenting his latest research regarding building Positive Behaviour Intervention Support (PBIS) in schools.  PBIS is the framework we use, as do many other schools across the Sandhurst Diocese, to help foster and teach positive relationships and behaviour expectations to students.  At the beginning of each year class teachers work hard to establish new routines, new expectations and build positive relationships with their students and, as a school, we continue to support and model these behavioral expectations.

We continually teach and model positive behaviours so they become part of our everyday practice and routine.  Eventually, hopefully, these become part of what students need to be successful learners and to be successful in life.  But it doesn’t stop at school.  We need family support.  Positive behaviours must also be modelled at home for real success to take place.  Sometimes it isn’t easy and sometimes we don’t always get it right.  Education is a partnership, a partnership forged in trust, respect and love for the children we teach and the families we care for in our community.  Let us all look forward to continuing to build these loving and trusting relationships, of which St Mel’s is so well renowned for, to give our students the best education they can.  They deserve it.

Please remember to contact the school or your child’s teacher if you need any clarity around what our expectations are for your child’s education and or/if you have any issues.

Assembly~ Our next assembly is Monday 27th Feb at 9:15am

Do your best. Respect our school. Help others succeed.

Best Wishes for the coming fortnight,

Assembly~ Our next assembly is Monday 27th Feb at 9:15 am

URGENT REMINDER ~ Get to know you ~ Parent/Teacher/Student Conversations 

Booking Via PAM ~ Monday 27th February & Tuesday 28th February 2.30 pm ~ 6pm 

These conversations will be held in your child's learning space. 

These conversations at the start of a new school year, provide a great opportunity to get to know one another, set goals and work together towards your child's learning & social well-being.  These conversations are a fantastic way to promote communication between school & home. Conferences will go for approx 10-12 minutes. We hope to see every family there, students are expected to attend with you. If you would like to talk to your child's pastoral group teacher without your child present, please let the teacher know and the last 5 mins can be used for this purpose or another meeting can be arranged.

Maths Assessment Interviews ~ Friday March 3rd and Friday March 10th (Pupil Free Days) Please bring students to the Hall at their allocated 2 hour time slot.

Math’s Assessment Interview ~ Bookings on PAM

Friday 3rd 2023 and Friday 10th March 2023 will be dedicated closure days.

All students will be expected to attend a session on one of these days. 

Please note:  Friday 3rd March  and Friday 10th March  are not extra closure days.  They are part of our allocated pupil free days we use for staff professional development.

URGENT REMINDER!!!  Medical Update ~ Asthma Plans & Anaphylaxis Plans

If your child suffers from Asthma or Anaphylaxis, please remember to send in an updated Asthma Plan or Anaphylaxis Plan.  These MUST BE arranged through your family GP.   Without an updated plan your children will not be able to participate in school functions.

NAPLAN:

Dear parents and guardians (grade 3 & 5)

Please find information regarding the online Naplan assessments this year.   Testing dates are earlier (March 15th - 24th), we are in the process of preparing students and performing administration tasks.  

If you have any questions or concerns please contact the school.

Volunteering at St Mel’s 

A school volunteer is anyone who helps at school supervise, assist student learning or attends camps / excursions.  As part of our commitment to keeping all students safe, all volunteers MUST have a current Working with Children’s Check (WWC), have signed a parent code of conduct and volunteer’s application form.  These documents can be downloaded from our school website or collected from the school office ~ as attached to this week’s newsletter.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer at St Mel’s please take the time to read our Volunteer’s Policy and complete the required documentation. 

To apply for an online WWC please visit:

www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au

Before School Drop Off ~ Students are not to be dropped off no earlier than 8:20am in the morning.  Supervision starts at 8:20am.