Principal Announcements

Newsletter Address ~ Term 3, Week  3

Principal's Message 

Dear Parents and Friends of St Mel’s,

Japanese Day ~ Huge Thanks to Demi!! 

What a great way to celebrate as a community.   Our Japanese Day was a wonderful day, loads of fun, special memories made and a chance to showcase our school language program.   Students participated in a variety of activities ranging from Sumo Wrestling (Sumo Suits), Japanese relays, cooking, eating sushi (thanks to Lockwood Rd takeaway), traditional games, arts and crafts & music.  Demi our Japanese teacher is simply amazing.  Her organisation and attention to detail ensured everything ran smoothly and efficiently.   We are truly grateful for everything Demi does.   Thanks also to everyone who helped set up, prepare activities, cooked at the BBQ, supervised kids and helped pack up.    A great team effort.   

As part of our commitment of using data to inform our teaching and learning practices and to help improve student learning, student absenteeism has been identified as a key area for improvement. Sadly, we have a high number of students who are missing a significant amount of school.   The campaign ‘Every day Counts’ was initiated in 2018 and is the reason we promote student attendance in our fortnightly newsletters and posters across the school.   

Current school attendance ~ 87.05%

Same time last year ~ 85.08%

Whilst this has slightly improved anything below 90% is a concern.   Student attendance is something we will continue to carefully monitor.    If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance, please speak to a member of our wellbeing team.  

Some interesting stats…If a student misses…

90% = 4 weeks of schooling92% = 3 weeks of schooling95% = 2 weeks of schooling97% = 1 week of schooling

Over the coming weeks, I’ll have the opportunity to meet many new families seeking enrolment for school in 2024.   School readiness can’t be measured through what is written on an enrolment form.  Face-to-face interviews with children and families, along with conversations with kinder staff, are an essential part of the process and much can be gained from the few minutes I can sit and talk to the kids and their parents. 

As school principal, I am privileged to engage with mums and dads who share their dreams for their child with me.  We all want the best educational foundation, whether it’s the Catholic environment we experienced or having good friends and a caring community, good programs and facilities all combine for a great start to a child’s education.   I am also inspired by the comments by parents related to how our learning community goes about learning particularly the focus on inquiry-based learning, sustainability learning, our veggie garden and chooks, Our Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program, our building spaces, STEM learning opportunities and our Arts program.  These indicate the promotion of what makes St Mel’s learning community different and clearly what our children and families speak about. 

I continue to be thankful to our current families for their support and promotion of our school.  We are grateful to have parents onsite and many of the new families I have met speak of the way in which current members of our school community speak so highly of our learning community within the wider community promoting the philosophy of teaching and daily learning and teaching routines. In the coming weeks I look forward continuing these conversations and meeting prospective families and children preparing for school in 2024. 

St Mel’s staff recently visited the Shepparton English Language Centre (SELC) to see their English as an Additional Language (EAL) program.  Given our diversity, proximity, and number of EAL students at St Mel’s, this was a great opportunity to see first-hand their amazing facility and programs they use to support students and families of diverse backgrounds.  Building connections and learning new strategies and skills go a long way to helping staff becoming more proficient and confident educators.    Supporting students and families of different backgrounds is something we pride ourselves at St Mel’s.   

Last term, Catherine Whitford (St Mel’s EAL teacher) worked with 13 of our Grade 5/6 students to plan, write, illustrate, record and publish bi-lingual books about festivals and celebrations from their cultures. This was part of Catherine’s research project at Monash University.  Congratulations to our students for their outstanding effort.  Publications of their stories were presented to the school community last Thursday at a special assembly.   

*** End of Term Change of Dates ***

14th September Term 3 Ends / Footy Colours Day (school finishes normal time 3:20pm)

15th September School Closure Day ~ No students. 

Staff Retreat Day ~ Indigenous Perspectives Winton Wetlands

Enjoy a great fortnight everyone.

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

Japanese Day ~ See page 7 in this newsletter

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden (SAKG) Updates:

See SAKG page in this newsletter 

Our SAKG program for the junior classes has kicked off this term.   Katie Ferrari, our SAKG specialist, is doing an amazing job running classes and small groups throughout the week, ensuring our kids are growing, harvesting, and cooking fresh produce from our garden and are experiencing the full benefits of the SAKG program.    We are aiming to hold another information session regarding the program this term and will be looking for volunteers to help.    If you have a current WWCC (Working with Children’s Check) and would like to volunteer your time in the garden and be part of the program, please contact the school.   

About the SAKG Program

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation provides inspiration, information, professional development and support for educators to deliver pleasurable food education to children and young people in Australia.

Pleasurable food education is a fun, hands-on approach to teaching children and young people about fresh, seasonal, delicious food so they form positive food habits for life.

Delivered through a kitchen garden program, pleasurable food education has an array of health, well-being, education, and community benefits.

Stephanie Alexander AO, one of Australia’s most recognised cooks, food educators and authors, established the Kitchen Garden Foundation in 2004, following the success of the first kitchen garden program piloted in 2001. The motivation for this work came from Stephanie’s awareness of the growing childhood obesity problem in Australia.

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation supports early childhood services, primary schools and secondary schools across Australia, and our community is growing.

ICAS ~ Term 3 2023

We’re delighted to inform you that we will be participating in ICAS again this year, to recognise and reward students’ academic achievement. The assessments are now fully online and sitting dates will commence in Term 3. Learn more by visiting icasassessments.com.

ICAS 2023

We are delighted to inform you that St Mel’s will be participating in the world-renowned ICAS competitions this year. 

 What is ICAS? 

ICAS is an online academic competition that is designed to assess students’ higher

order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing,

Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies. Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student who participates will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals. 

We encourage you to consider entering your child into ICAS this year.  

 Learn more about ICAS here. (https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas) 

How to participate in ICAS?

If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please: 

1. Read about ICAS subjects and prices here: (https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas) 

2. go to Parent Portal here: (https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps) 

3. enter our school’s access code – RUF412

4. enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment. 

Please note that the ICAS tests shown for selection are at the school’s discretion.  

After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email, please keep this for your records. 

  We will notify you of the date(s) that we run ICAS at the school and when your child’s ICAS results are ready. You and your child can access the results once released via the Reports Portal using the TAP ID and pin found on the back of the ICAS certificate. 

 The following information is a privacy notification about how your child’s data is kept private and secure. 

 Privacy Collection Statement 

Janison is aware of our responsibility to protect the identity of, and all information relating to, children, and students in general, from disclosure and consequently Janison does not: 

• collect any personal information or data of children other than as required for the purposes of completion of the assessment, test or exam; 
• transfer any personal information or data obtained during the delivery of assessments, tests or exams conducted in Australia to any jurisdiction outside of Australia other than with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian; 
• transfer any personal information or data obtained during the delivery of assessments, tests or exams conducted in other international regions out of the child’s jurisdiction other than with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian; 
• share any personal information or data relating to children or students with any third parties (other than a third party whose services are necessary for servicing our products, e.g. print/distribution companies, medal engraving, etc.) except with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian; 
• use any personal information or data relating to children or students for marketing purposes. 
• Janison may retain personal information and data relevant to a child for their future purposes or for research purposes by Janison for the duration of the school life cycle of the child. However, if you or your child at any time wish to have their personal information or data removed from our systems, they or you may opt out by simply contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy@janison.com. 

 We are proud to offer ICAS and look forward to some fantastic results later in the year. 

Please do not hesitate to contact the school office if you have any questions. 

NCCD ~ National Consistency Collection of Data

Staff have been busy preparing documentation and conducting parent support group meetings to ensure everything will be in place to apply for funding for students with disabilities in 2024.    Thank you to Chris Dainton who has been coordinating PSG meetings and our work for NCCD. 

For families who are new to the school or unfamiliar with the process,

the NCCD Portal is a comprehensive online resource to support principals, teachers, school support staff and parents understand and complete the NCCD, with free and practical resources such as e-learning modules, videos, case studies and templates. 

The Portal also includes information for parents, guardians and carers. 

For more information on the NCCD, visit www.nccd.edu.au.

School Uniform

It’s time to transition to our Winter Uniform.  Correct uniform including footwear, hair ties, no jewellery, hair colour etc continue to be of importance and students will be warned and parents notified if this is not attended to. 

GIRLS' WINTER UNIFORM

Winter Tartan Skirt (Grey/Green pinstripe) with bottle green tights.

Tartan slacks (Grey/Green pinstripe) with plain white socks or 

Gold skivvy or Green/gold polo shirt, long or short-sleeved, with embroidered school logo.

School jumper or bomber jacket

GIRLS' SPORTS UNIFORM

Black sports skirt or black shorts/black tracksuit pants (Winter)

Green and Gold polo top [with the embroidered logo]

Plain white socks (micro socks not permitted)

BOYS' WINTER UNIFORM

Grey trousers or cords

Gold skivvy or green/gold long-sleeved polo top [with the embroidered logo]

School jumper or bomber jackets with embroidered school logo.

Plain grey socks (micro-short socks are not permitted).

BOYS' SPORTS UNIFORM

Plain black shorts/black tracksuit pants (Winter)

Green and Gold polo top [with the embroidered logo]

Plain white socks (micro socks are not permitted)

SCHOOL SHOES

Both boys and girls are to wear plain black shoes only

While plain, black leather runners are acceptable; ALL other sports shoes are acceptable only for sporting activities. Socks must be worn with shoes. "Blundstone" type work boots are not permitted.

WEARING OF HATS

During Terms 1 and 4 all children must wear a school hat. Hats are optional for Terms 2 & 3.

St Mel’s School Open Day ~ Wednesday, May 24th

Tour Times: 12:30 pm and 4:30 pm

Community Group Expressions of Interest to Join

Each year it is expected our school will commit to raising additional funds. All Catholic Schools have an obligation to raise additional funds to meet the capacity to contribute factor.

These funds will be put towards improving the educational needs of our students through hardware or programs and/or improving school grounds or facilities. 

Please Note: Our Parents and Friends group are on the recruitment drive.  If you know of anyone especially new parents who might want to be involved please encourage them to do so by contacting the school.  

As a school, we are extremely grateful for the hard work and time our community members put into making our school the best it can be.  We are especially grateful for contributions and donations made when we hold school fundraisers or campaigns to help maintain and beautify St Mel’s.

Committee Recruitment

St Mel's relies on the support of our parents to make sure we can offer the best learning opportunities for our children.  We are grateful for the commitment of those who are already on our Parish School Education Council and Social Committee and ask anyone who would like to be involved to please contact the school.   All new or existing parents are welcome!

Attendance Requirements

If your child is sick or absent, you are required to notify the school as soon as possible on the day of absence, by phoning or emailing the school.

Notifying the school of your child’s absence either prior to, or on the day that they will be away, helps ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and will fulfil your legal responsibility.

All Victorian schools are required to contact parents/carers as soon as practicable on the same day of an unexplained student absence. If your child is absent on a particular day and you have not contacted the school to explain why, the absence will be marked as unexplained.

This system also promotes daily school attendance. Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education, they learn new things every day – missing school puts them behind.

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