From the Principal 

Dear St Mary Families,

Much has been happening around the school and behind the scenes as we navigate our current times and develop community partnerships within these constructs. I would like to congratulate the children as they practise our School Norms; Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Responsible. We continue to focus on respecting each other's personal space with Keep Hands, Feet and Objects to Yourselves, including keeping hats on our own heads. I am pleased to see many acts of kindness and respectfulness around the school, as we action our Norms.  Please see  our Student Behaviour Policy attached.

We are thrilled to be offering a hybrid model for Meet the Teacher in our new learning areas or online if preferred, next Tuesday 22nd February  and Thursday 24th February. Read more about this on Mr Speranza’s Deputy page. 

Our new furniture looks amazing and suits our decor, see our Instagram posts if you haven’t seen them yet.  The students are finding them very comfortable, easy to use and better for their learning. Thank you to the team below for our furniture removal a fortnight ago. 

These are our hard workers having a break waiting for the truck drivers (Mr Speranza and Mr Ferrari) to arrive with the newer furniture. 

Many staff also helped and a few students. More furniture had to be moved last Thursday and we would like to thank the Hendrix family, and Emilio Spina (again) and many of our staff members for assisting us. We hope to be able to offer many more opportunities for our community to catch up, meet and reconnect, without moving furniture! 

The teachers are working hard with their assessments and gathering data to inform their planning and targeted teaching. Mrs Catherine Le Hunt (Maths Leader) and Mrs Anna Heta (Literacy Leader) in their leadership roles support the teachers with these assessments and are in the process of organising additional support for students to ensure that each child is supported or extended in their learning. Mrs Le Hunt is also our Learning Diversity Leader and has outlined her role below: 

Dear families of St Mary’s, my name is Catherine LeHunt and not only am I new to the Numeracy Leadership role this year, I am also working as the Learning Diversity Leader too. The following quote underpins all of what we at St Mary’s see as vital and most important in our jobs.

As Catholic Educators, our school seeks ‘to meet the needs of all learners, in all ways, always.’ This encompasses ‘welcoming, valuing, acknowledging, and actively engaging all learners across all cultural, academic, behavioural, social/emotional, and physical attributes.’ A guide to supporting all learners, in all ways, always has been developed by Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) 2021.

St Mary’s uses a multi-tiered approach to assisting all learners. Collaboration with students and their families, classroom teachers, learning support officers, MACS consultants, external practitioners, and therapists to name but a few is continuous and monitored regularly to ensure we meet the needs of all learners.  Meeting each child’s individual needs often will look different from one child to another, or the same child’s needs may be met differently over time as elements and adjustments are made.  If you have any concerns or questions please contact us at school.  We look forward to working with you and your child this year and welcome you to 2022.

Catherine LeHunt - Learning Diversity Leader 

We wish our Swimming Team all the best as they represent St Mary’s at the HOLT Interschool Swimming Carnival, Oakleigh Recreation Pool tomorrow. We thank the parents/carers for their understanding and support in not being able to be spectators at the carnival, as directed by the MACS HOLT Sporting COVID Safety Plan.

Our Preps are looking very comfortable at school in the classroom and playground. We look forward to them joining us full time starting the week of Monday 28th February. 

After having to postpone our Year 5 & 6 camp this week, we are delighted to announce that after much searching of venues and camp availability, we are taking our Year 5 and 6 students to camp on Monday 28th February, Tuesday 1st March and Wednesday 2nd March. The students will be going to the Don Bosco Camp, 52/62 Dromana Parade, Safety Beach Victoria.  Our Year 5 and 6 families will receive further information in the coming days. Mrs Angela Mason; our camp co-ordinator ably supported by Mr Ian Scott and Miss Paula are in the process of organising the activities, documentation and COVID safety plans. 

Everyone is warmly invited to our weekly Friday morning outdoor assemblies 10:30-11:00am, seated in front of the sand pit area. Our Year 6 students take it in turn to be Master of Ceremonies at our assemblies and lead our community. In the coming weeks classes will return to our tradition of sharing their learning, work they are proud of, and/or share a song. 

In addition to assemblies on Friday, classes take it in turn to share the Eucharist with our St Mary parishioners at the 9:15am Mass. Family members are very welcome and encouraged to join us. 

Please keep next Sunday 27th Feb 5:30pm free and join us at the St Mary’s Church for a School/Parish Mass and then for a picnic at Alma Park afterwards. We look forward to hearing some of our students read, take up the offertory and serve at this Mass. 

We thank each of you for continuing to do your Rapid Antigen Testing to keep our community safe. We look forward to seeing many of you in the next few weeks as we begin to safely open our school up.

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

Mrs Cathy Ferrari