Principals Announcments

Newsletter Address ~ Term 1 Week 1 2022

Prayer to Begin a School Year

God of wisdom and might,

we praise you for the wonder of our being,

for mind, body and spirit.

Be with our children as they begin

a new school year.

Bless them and their teachers and staff.

Give the strength and grace as their bodies grow;

wisdom and knowledge to their minds

as they search for understanding;

and peace and zeal to their hearts.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer for Students

Lord our God,

in your wisdom and love

you surround us with the mysteries of the universe.

Send your spirit upon these students

and fill them with your wisdom and blessings.

Grant that they may devote themselves to their studies

and draw ever closer to you,

the source of all knowledge.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer for Teachers

Lord God, your spirit of wisdom fills the earth

and teaches us in your ways.

Look upon these teachers.

Let them strive to share their knowledge with 

gentle patience

and endeavour always to bring the truth to eager minds.

Grant that we may follow Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life,

forever and ever.

Amen

St Mel’s Parish Prayer

God our Father,

Bless our Parish so that we may love you more. Encircle our families with your loving care.  Help parents to be good examples to their children and our youth to grow in strength as good Christians. To the sick, grant health. To the aged, bring serenity and to those in sorrow, joy.

May we grow stronger in faith and may our love for one another become

 deeper in our daily living. 

Amen

Child Safe Commitment:

All students enrolled, and any child visiting St Mel’s, have a right to feel safe and be safe. The wellbeing of children in our care will always be our first priority and we have zero tolerance to child abuse. We aim to create a child safe and child friendly environment where children feel safe and are free to enjoy life to the full without any concern for their safety.

Principal’s Message

Dear Parents and Friends of St Mel’s,

On behalf of our entire community, I warmly welcome you all to St Mel’s for the commencement of our school year for 2022. 

Whilst we were hoping 2022 would start without Covid dictating what we can and cannot do, we are still faced with many challenges, and we will do our best to ensure we continue to keep our community safe.   We will keep everyone informed of any changes as they come to hand.

I welcome our new families, in particular our new ‘Foundation’ families to our school community. Having experienced this four times with my own children, I can relate to the overwhelming feeling of letting your ‘babies’ go.  It isn’t easy no matter how many children you have had to say goodbye to at the school gates. Children at this age are amazingly resilient though, much better than adults at times. With the love and support of our incredibly talented staff, your child’s wellbeing, educational needs, and any special requirement will be well and truly catered for.  Be assured your children are in very good care. 

Welcome to all foundation students: 

Not only was it beautiful to see our new ‘preppies’ begin their educational journey on Tuesday, it was also great to see all of our students return to school refreshed, busily catching up with friends, getting to know their teachers, sharing wonderful holiday highlights and getting back into the swing of school routines. 

We welcome the following new families to our community for 2022:

Dakota Schulz

Anaahat Kaur

Avneet Kaur

Jenkins

We also welcome several new staff members to our community and wish them every success  for the year ahead.

Julia Barnes ~ foundation (job share)

Rachael Howard ~ foundation (job share)

Lilli Keck ~ Learning support Officer (traineeship)

Ayva Cirillo ~ Learning support Officer (traineeship)

Staffing list 2022

Leadership Group

Chris Summers ~ Principal

Danae Napier ~ Senior Leader ~ Catholic Identity / DP

Chris Quinn ~ Senior Leader ~ Wellbeing

Cherie Malanti ~ Senior Leader ~ Learning Diversity / Speech

Teaching Staff

Prep ~ Rachael Howard 0.6 /Julia Barnes 0.5

Prep ~ Wendy Balwin (AL)

1/2 ~ Laura Emanuelli (AL / Curriculum Leader)

1/2 - Cara Sofi

1/2 - Bridie Cooke

3/4 ~ Natalie Witchen (AL)

3/4 ~ Joseph Dwyer (term 1)

3/4 ~ Cyndilee Watson

5/6 ~ Carmel Hutchison

5/6 ~ Jodi Cox

5/6 ~ Cathy Anderson (AL)

5/6 ~ Nathan Secchi

Specialist Staff

Art ~ Robyn Banfield (0.6)

Music / Sport ~ Katie Nicholson (0.6)

Library ~ Kerry Amadei / Carolyn Brodie (Term 1) (0.6)

Japanese ~ Demi Wood (0.6)

Sport P-2 ~ Ellie Phillips (0.2)

Learning Support Staff

Cindy Lombardozzi

Cassie Waack

Luisa Cassise (0.4)

Joseph Worrall 

Matthew O'Connor

Sunny Alessi (0.5)

Katie Ferrari

Helen Ciancio ~ Canteen

Lilly Keck (Traineeship)

Ayva Cirillo (Traineeship)

Student Support / RTI 

Emma McNamara (0.6)

Catherine Whitford (0.6) EAL

ICT / RTI

Hannah Chasemore

Wellbeing Team

Elizabeth Rodrigues

Melinda Ryan

Administration

Maria Makin ~ Library Technician

Jen Amadei

Naomi Egglestone (0.4)

Maintenance / Cleaning

Dean Simpson 

Helen Ciancio (Cleaning)

I look forward to each school year with a great sense of anticipation and joy and I especially look forward to working with you all to continue to make our school a happy, vibrant, welcoming and supportive place to be; attributes St Mel’s is renowned for.   

As the children settle into their class routines, each classroom is abuzz with new learning.  I would like to thank our staff for the hours of preparation already spent before the commencement of the year.  Their passion and enthusiasm have ensured that fun and creative learning spaces have been created and that our students will achieve the best education possible.  The positive vibe around the school is very exciting.

Please visit the Upcoming Dates & Events page for updates on events and postponements.

Best Wishes for the coming week and best wishes for the year ahead,