Newsletter 4th May 2022
Upcoming Dates
Swimming 16th, 23 rd, 30th May & 6th June
Mothers Day Liturgy 12.00 6 th May
Athletic Carnival @ Llanberris Reserve Parents to drop off and pick up students venue arrival 8.45 am pickup 3.00 PM 9th May
School Closure Staff PD ReLATE 13th May
NAPLAN over two weeks 10th - 20th May
Brown Hill kinder visiting school 17th May
Golf program with Tony Collier
Year 6 Leardership day @ Major League with other schools 18th May
Catholic Education Week 23rd May - 27th May
School Closure Staff PD Reading Essential Learnings 1st June
Year 5 visit to St Patricks College and Loreto College 9.00 - 1.30 6th June
Queens birthday public holiday 13th June
Last day of term 2 2.30 finish 24th June
Principal News
Welcome back
Welcome to Week 2 of Term 2! It has been a calm, smooth start to the term and I am thankful that the isolation rules have changed. Some of our families and children that would have had to isolate previously can now continue attending school and go about life in a reasonably normal way. It is important that you keep us informed if your child is as close contact so that we can make sure that the appropriate measures are in place at school.
It is a busy term with swimming, sports day, Mother’s Day liturgies, golf clinics, NAPLAN, Open Days and kinder visits to name a few of the things that are happening. It is exciting that we can have all of these important events taking place and having families and the wider community coming into the schools.
All of these important events are on the school calendar which you can access through the Schoolzine App and website, the newsletter and teachers will send messages through See Saw. If you are unsure about something, please contact the to clarify details.
With so many things going on this term, we ask that you keep an eye out for all notifications that come through PAM, the Schoolzine App and See Saw so that noted can be signed off promptly and you are aware of the various activities that are occurring each week.
Thank you all for your continued support. Remember, our parents and families are our greatest advocates for our schools. Keep liking, commenting and sharing our Facebook posts and spreading the word about our schools.
Take care,
Inez
NAPLAN
Over the next 2 weeks, our Year 3 and 5 children will be involved in completing their NAPLAN assessments. These are mandated and this year both schools will conduct the assessments online, excluding the Year 3 writing task which will still be handwritten.
What are the benefits of NAPLAN Online?
- NAPLAN Online will provide better assessment, more precise results and faster turnaround of information.
- Most students find online assessment more engaging.
- NAPLAN Online uses tailored testing, which gives students questions better suited to their ability, resulting in more detailed individual assessment.
- Online assessment will reduce the time it takes to mark and provide feedback to schools and teachers.
- The precision and improved timing of the results will help teachers streamline their teaching more specifically to student needs.
- By 2022, online assessments will significantly reduce the time it takes for student results to be returned to parents and carers.
Please see your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns regarding NAPLAN
Mother’s Day Liturgies and Celebrations
We are thrilled to be able to invite all of our mothers and special women to our Mother’s Day liturgies on Friday. Please make sure you have let the school know how many people will be attending so that we can organise the catering.
It always a highlight of the year and such a special part of the traditional events we hold each year. The children and staff have been busy preparing and are looking forward to sharing this time with you all.
It is a government requirement that all adults that come into our schools must be vaccinated.
Promotional videos
Kev Cummins from DOBCEL is currently doing some filming and taking photos to promote our schools. It is timely that we update our old photos and video. Kev is spending quite a few hours in each school so that he can capture a whole range of things that we do. The completed works will be available in a few weeks and I look forward to sharing them with you.
Open days and kinder visits
We are having our Open Days and kinder visits from the Brown Hill kinder in the next few weeks. I invite all families to join us for one or both of these events as current parents that can share your experiences of having children at our schools. The times and days are in the dates of this newsletter and in the calendar.
Happy Birthday
Preston will be 6 on the 13th May
Swimming and Sports Day
On Monday we began our 5 week swimming program. Swimming was originally planned for first term but needed to be rescheduled due to COVID restrictions. The two schools will combine for the program to allow children to reconnect with old friends and maybe make new ones. The children are at the pool form 12.30 – 1.15 each Monday with the exception on Monday the 9th which will be our sports day at Llanberris. Parents are welcome to join us for any of these occasions.
Trish Lannen
Many of you will remember Trish who was part of our staff for a number of years. Trish is now an Art Therapist and a specialised Art teacher in some of our neighbouring schools. I contacted Trish last term, inquiring as to her availability to work in our schools to support teachers in preparing for the Art Show in Term 3. She has one timeslot available on Friday afternoons. Trish began at St. Mary’s last week and will alternate each Friday between our two schools. We are very grateful to Trish for making time in her busy schedule to work with our children and staff. The Art Shows will be later on in term 3.
Closure days
There are two closure days this term, both of which are professional learning days for staff.
The first is Friday the 13th of May. The staff will be engaging with the MacKillop Institute to do their second ReLATE day. The first day was very informative and engaging and we are looking forward to learning more about how we can improve wellbeing for everyone in our school.
The second closure day is Wednesday the 1st of June during which staff will work on getting our Reading Essential Learnings started. We will be working with Felicity Lane from DOBCEL on this process.
Year 6 – leadership
Year 6 parents should have received a note about an initiative for our students called
Little Feet Big Footprints: A Young Leaders Initiative. Year 6 students from St Mary’s Clarkes Hill, St Brendan’s Dunnstown, St Michael’s Daylesford, St Patrick’s Gordon, St Brigid’s Ballan and St Augustine’s Creswick will come together and spend time both face to face and virtually, throughout the year, to build networks for them and to give them leadership opportunities their individual schools may not be able to offer. The program will include excursions, guest speakers and school visits, as well as providing opportunities for them to take meaningful action in their communities in a variety of ways, including areas such as social justice initiatives.
The purpose of this initiative is to:
Give our senior students, our young leaders, the opportunity to know themselves, and each other, in community; to create and connect. This initiative aims to engage these students in ways beyond the limitations of geography and any one individual school’s capacity to meet certain needs.
The first of these days will be a ‘getting to know each other day’ on Wednesday the 18th of May at Major League in Ballarat, playing sports and games in a fun environment to begin to build relationships.
The second day will be at Creswick on Friday the 3rd of June. Part of the day will involve the College Captains and Vice Captains from St Pat’s, Damascus and Loreto speaking to our Year 6s about their own experiences of leadership.
Coming to school on time
We ask that all parents make every effort to have their children at school before 8.55 each day. I am aware that at times something happens and the morning routine can be disrupted by the smallest of things however, when children arrive late they do miss the time to get organised for the day, miss some time to catch up with friends and often are not part of Prayer. Coming late can mean that they are on the ‘back foot’ all day and evn if it is 10 minutes, that equates to almost an hour a week.
Children that come late to school will need to go via the Office to receive a Late Pass which they need to give to their teacher. If you are having difficulties getting your child to school on time, it would be important to speak to the teacher to see if there is an underlying issue or if strategies need to be put in place so that getting ready in the morning is easier and a smoother process.
Uniform
As we approach the end of week two, the children should be transitioning into their winter uniforms with all children wearing their full winter uniform by week 3. This includes the boys wearing long pants. The girls may wear their winter tunics or appropriate long pants as set out in the uniform policy. Our uniforms can be purchased through Beleza.
We thank you for your support in ensuring that our children wear their uniform correctly and with pride.
Gardening and Tidying Roster 2022
Lenaghan Family
2nd May - 15th May
Dash Family
16th May - 26th May