Newsletter Address ~ Term 4 Week 11, 16th December 2022

Dear Parents, Friends and Families of St Mel’s

We have come to the end of another school year and we are ready to celebrate the successes that have been achieved by our children.

They have grown taller and built their learning muscles developing new understandings in music, visual arts, Japanese, physical health, dance, play, literacy, numeracy and socially, just to name a few. Celebrate these with joy and pride.

As the holiday season approaches we rejoice in the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and celebrate His coming with much excitement. In this Christmas season enjoy the fine food, the company of family and friends and think about how Jesus Christ has influenced you. How are you the face of Christ for your family, friends and the wider community?

On behalf of the Staff of St Mel’s I wish you a safe, happy and Holy holiday and thank you for trusting us with your child’s learning.

Chris

Principal’s Message

Dear Parents and Friends of St Mel’s

As this is our final newsletter for the year I would to take the time to thank the many people who work tirelessly for our wonderful school community.

What a year it has been! Thankfully we have managed to get through with few interruptions albeit a natural disaster earlier in the term preventing us to be onsite. Despite this, we have achieved great things and have learned an incredible amount. Like all learning we strive to be the best we can and we strive to make our school the best place for our students. Sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes we think ‘I wish we had done this a lot better’; but that’s learning and that’s what we try to teach our students. If you don’t get it right, keep working hard and when you succeed celebrate your success.

As I have mentioned many times before, I am grateful for the hospitality and kindness bestowed from all levels across our community, and in reflection of the year we have had, there has been much to celebrate and plenty to look forward to in 2023. We are grateful for the many acts of kindness especially the generosity shown during the floods. Countless meals, phone calls and ‘check-ins’ ensured all in our community were being cared for. This is what makes St Mel’s such an amazing place to be. To all in our wellbeing and leadership teams, office staff and generalist teaching staff; thank you. Your care and support has been appreciated by all.

Thank you especially to St Mel’s School Education Council. We have an incredible team of members who work diligently in governance and leading strategically the direction of our school. Thank you especially to Melissa Hamilton our school council chair for her wisdom, generosity, and commitment to our school. You have been an integral part of our journey and we look forward to your involvement next year. Thank you also to our current council members for your valuable input and contributions throughout the year. You have all contributed tremendously and your commitment is greatly appreciated.

Thank you especially to our teaching staff who selflessly give much of themselves when providing engaging learning experiences for all students in their care. We are very lucky to have such a hard working and diverse staff. I am forever grateful and proud of their commitment and for their gift of generosity. We have many exciting programs in place and opportunities to look forward to. I hope our staff find the time to rest and relax over Christmas ~ they truly deserve it!

To all staff leaving us at the end of the Year. Quinny, Natalie, Wendy, Brooke, Nathan and Carolyn. We thank you for your commitment, hard work and love you have shown your students and colleagues. Each one of you will be sadly missed.

Thank you to our students. They are the heart and soul of our school and are the reason we do what we do. It has been lovely to see the growth and maturity of all students across the school throughout the year. We have beautiful students and we are very proud of their achievements.

Congratulations to our year six students who graduate this week. They have been wonderful role models and their leadership and guidance for our younger students has been greatly appreciated and admired. We wish them all every success for the future.

Thank you to Danae Napier for her hard work and for the many hats she wears. Danae goes about her role always with care and always with the best interests of the kids at heart. I can’t thank her enough for what she does.

To Katie Ferrari and her social committee ‘team’, especially Leah Hawker who has kindly put her hand up to help coordinate our social events next year. Katie is an incredible staff member who goes above and beyond to make sure fun events are front and centre bringing our community together.

And finally, thank you to Fr. Peter who is always a welcomed member of our school community. Fr Peter embraces his parish duties with love and support and we are very lucky to have him as our parish priest and community. Thank you.

Merry Christmas everyone and may Christ’s message of the love and peace be with us all. See you all in 2023.

School Commences Wednesday 1st February 2023

Staffing update. It is with sadness that we farewell Cherie Malnati for our school community. Cherie has recently accepted a position in a Wellbeing role for Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd. This is a wonderful opportunity for Cherie to spend more time with her husband Rob and share her skills across the Diocese. We thank Cherie for all she has contributed to our school community for the past three years and she will be missed.

New Staff 2023 ~ We warmly welcome…

Chris Dainton ~ Senior Leader ~ Wellbeing

Jane Shattock ~ Grade 1/2 Teacher

Nanette Micalleff ~ Grade 5/6 Teacher

Joe Worrall ~ Grade 1/2 Teacher

Alison Durling ~ Sport Specialist (Wednesdays)

Returning Staff…

Elley Drummond ~ Prep

Anita Damianopoulos ~ Prep

Staffing list 2023

Leadership Group

Chris Summers ~ Principal

Danae Napier ~ Senior Leader ~ Catholic Identity / DP

Chris Dainton ~ Senior Leader ~ Wellbeing

Student support

Cherie Malanti ~ Learning Diversity / NCCD / Speech

Teaching Staff

Prep ~ Rachael Howard / Julia Barnes

Prep ~ Elley Drummond / Anita Damianopoulos

1/2 ~ Laura Emanuelli (Curriculum Leader)

1/2 ~ Joe Worrall

1/2 ~ Jane Shattock

3/4 ~ Hannah Chasemore (ICT coordinator)

3/4 ~ Cathy Anderson

3/4 ~ Tanya Brand

5/6 ~ Carmel Hutchison

5/6 ~ Jodi Cox

5/6 ~ Nanette Micallef

5/6 ~ Cyndilee Watson

Specialist Staff

Art ~ Robyn Banfield (0.6)

Music / Sport ~ Katie Nicholson (0.6)

STEM ~ Emma McNamara (0.6)

Japanese ~ Demi Wood (0.6)

Sport P-2 ~ Alison Durling (0.2)

Learning Support Staff

Cindy Lombardozzi

Cassie Waack

Luisa Cassise

Sunny Alessi

Katie Ferrari

Lilly Keck

Ayva Cirillo

Tammy Alexander

Mary-Jo DeRose

Student Support / RTI

Cara Sofi

English as Additional Language

Catherine Whitford ~ EAL

Wellbeing / Chaplain

Elizabeth Rodrigues

Administration

Maria Makin ~ Library Technician & Office Support

Jen Amadei

Karen Myers

Maintenance / Cleaning

Dean Simpson

Congratulations Arya Banning ~ Student Initiative success ~ Charity Fundraiser

Congratualtions Arya for following in Mary MacKillop’s shoes and for seeing a need and doing something about it. Arya sold fresh lemonade and made over $150 for St Vincent de Paul. This money will go a long way to helping some people have a brighter Christmas this year. Well done Arya.

Grade 3/4 Missions Fair ~ Charity Fundraiser for Shepparton Foodshare

Congratulations to the 3/4 Learning Suite for raising over $3000 for Shepparton FoodShare. This was an incredible achievement of ‘giving back’ to an incredible local charity who give so generously to many in our community. Well done kids.

A student quote from Dakora Graham 'Missions Fair for Foodshare was amazing. The Mystery Jars were a big hit, so were the other stalls.'

The who, what, why, how, when…

When: The 28th of November.

Who/What: The 3/4 students were learning about Reaching and Serving Others,

Why: We decided to take our learning deeper and raise money for our community. Foodshare supports out school so we thought it would be great to support them in return as a way of thank you.

How: Through ticket purchases and raffle donations we were able to raise $3,404.25.

It was wonderful to see the students step up as leaders and independently run all of their stalls.

Stork Talk

Congratulations Chelsea & Andrew Renato on the safe arrival of Poppy, born Monday 6th December. Poppy is the youngest sister of Maisie. This is wonderful news.

VCE Success.

It is with great pleasure to announce that one of our past students, Layne Lay, has recorded an ATAR score in the top 10% at Notre Dame College in 2022. We are super proud of Layne’s achievements. Layne was always a hardworking and diligent student who deserves every amount of success.

2023 enrolments

We are currently taking enrolments for 2023. We ask anyone considering St Mel’s next year to submit an application for enrolment as soon as possible. Enrolment forms are available from the office or can be downloaded from the school website: https://www.smshepparton.com/

Calendar Advertising 2023

It’s that time of year again… We are preparing for the publication of our Parent School Calendar for the 2023 school year.

We are looking for new and existing advertisers.

Please contact the school if you are interested in advertising your business for 2023.

Thank you for your continual support of our school.

Happy Birthday to everyone who is celebrating his or her birthday during the month of December.

Happy Birthday December Babies:

Sunny Alessi, Jack Anthony, Lance Agustin, Eli Nfundiko, Tully Young, Iesha Harrowfield, Savreen Kaur, Ava Hamilton, James Alwer, Aryan Patel, Morgan Brand, Anaahat Kaur, Aviraj Singh, Charlie McMurtrie,Raizel Animay, Jenish Patel, Evie Ciancio, Ashmeet Panesar, Seeret Dhaliwal & Joshua Sparkes

Important Dates for 2023

Please see Upcoming Dates & Events Page

Star Focus Term 4 STAR Focus for Term 4:

Helping Others Succeed

What does this mean? How can you help?

Congratulations to all of students who were students of the week. Thank you for doing your best, respecting our school and helping others succeed and finishing the year off with smiles and achievement.

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School Calendar for 2023

UPDATE - Please visit the 'Upcoming Dates & Events' page to keep informed about what's coming up and any date changes to events.

School Fees Update - December Statements

Statements will be sent out on Monday 19th December.

Thank you to the families who have contacted the school office or who have responded positively when our office has called to discuss payment of fees or organise payment plans.

Fee statements will continue to be sent out Monthly by email ensuring that all families are aware of the balances of outstanding school fees. If you have not received any correspondence by email then please contact the school office to confirm we have the correct email address.

Please check your statements. Should you be experiencing financal hardship we strongly urge you to contact the school office to discuss your situation and a possible payment plan.

Social Club News

COMMUNITY PIZZA NIGHT