Dear Families,

In front of a capacity audience of over 800, on Wednesday and Thursday evening, our school community was treated to the incredible Little Mermaid Jnr. production, showcasing the incredible talents of our students. I dare say there were quite a few professional performers in the making on stage both nights. Congratulations to all our students, the incredible Mrs Veronica Del Castillo and Mrs. Daliah McLoughney and all the dedicated staff and parent volunteers responsible for bringing this production to the stage.

New Staff 2023

Three new staff members will be joining us in 2023. Ms Sam Sullivan, known already in our community as Sam Templeton, having worked in our school as a Casual Replacement Teacher and through her involvement in community sports, will be joining St Mary's as a classroom teacher. Sam has been teaching this year at St. Joseph’s Black Rock. Miss Ewelina Podgorska will also be joining our staff in 2023, as one of our Prep teachers in 2023. Ewelina has previously taught at St Columba's in Elwood and St Joan of Arc in Brighton. I am also pleased to announce that in 2023 we will have a Mandarin Language specialist teacher, replacing the online Chinese (Mandarin) language program. Mrs Yang Song will be joining us from St Columba's in Elwood in the new year. The full staffing for 2023 will be finalised and announced towards the end of term.

Prep Orientation

The first of our four orientation sessions for Prep 2023 takes place next Wednesday at 9am in the Prep rooms. We are very excited to be welcoming the new children to our community and will also be holding a welcome morning tea in the hall for their families. Our Prep teachers for 2023, Miss Annie Walker and Miss Ewelina Podgorska will be spending the morning with the children for each of the four sessions. There will also be an Information Night for Prep 2023 parents in the hall on the evening of Tuesday 29th November at 7pm.

2023 Classes

Over Term Four, St Mary’s staff work together to form class groupings for 2023, based on on-balance judgements and taking many factors into account: social, emotional, academic and physical. We aim to provide each child with the best possible opportunities to be an active member of the class to enable maximum learning to occur.

Part of children’s Social Emotional Learning is understanding that working with different and diverse people is a natural part of life and that they will be able to manage and thrive. As adults, we all play a vital role in modelling this mindset to the children.

We do not separate children because of previous conflicts, as we want children to learn the important life skill of restoring relationships, developing social skills, forgiveness and resilience. Avoidance only reinforces anxiety about previous issues or conflict and creates a false sense of how the world works. As adults we all need to deal with people from time to time who frustrate or annoy us and it is important for children to learn to manage these feeling from a young age, with adult support and encouragement.

We want to ensure children have a range of people to mix with at St. Mary's as a natural part of life and social emotional learning. The everyday interactions that the children have are all important learning opportunities. I have utmost faith in the staff of St Mary’s that they can manage and support students in the classroom environment. The teachers are able to make judgements about class groupings that will best maximise learning opportunity for all students.

If parents have a concern regarding the placement of their child for next year, they must be put in writing no later than Friday 18th November. Parents may also be required to meet with myself and Nathan Eddy to discuss for it to be considered. Concerns must relate to the learning needs of your child and not personal likes and dislikes. There is no need for parents to request friendship matching, as the teachers have a process they work through with the children to empower them in the process. We encourage parents to step back and trust the children to work with their teachers in this.

Parent concerns will be taken into consideration, in balance, along with the many other factors that come into play when organising classes. Whilst concerns may be taken into consideration, the school reserves the right to make the final decision on placements, given the complexity and wide range of considerations that are taken into account. Very often, parent concerns are already in line with what the teachers believe to be the best option for placement. Please note; it is school policy not to consider personal requests for a teacher. I ask that parents trust the teachers' judgement in these matters.

Parents and Friends Committee Meeting

There will be a PnF Meeting at 2pm on Friday 18th November to develop the 2023 calendar of events for the committee. Thank you to the parents who have already nominated for positions on the PnF for 2023 on Operoo. Please contact Malina Curry at pnf@smhampton.catholic.edu.au if you are able to attend and participate in the meeting.

Matthew Sweeney

Principal

principal@smhampton.catholic.edu.au

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