Newsletter Term 1, Week 4 2022
School Photos - Monday 28th February
Ash Wednesday - 2nd March
Dear Parents,
Next week, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Lent consists of 40 days, covering the six weeks leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Traditionally, Lent is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving and is a call to awaken ourselves anew to the reality and the mystery of God within and among us. There are a number of ways we can give of ourselves and as a family, during lent.
One way is to create a ‘Lenten Jar’. At the beginning of lent, write down 40 tasks that you can do as a family - each on a separate piece of paper and roll them up and put them in a jar. Then, each morning of Lent, pull one out and do the task written there. This is a simple way to concentrate on the disciplines of giving alms and doing good for others.
In our last newsletter, I outlined for the community the St. Margaret Mary’s staff and their roles for 2022. Due to COVID and the interruptions to the children learning over the last two years, we have made a commitment both academically and financially to prioritise classroom support and intervention for all of our children in 2022.
As you may have noticed, each year level, Prep, Juniors, Middles and Seniors have a Learning Enhancement Teacher (LET) supporting across both classes. The LET is a fully qualified very experienced teacher. Their role is to work collaboratively (co-teach) with the classroom teacher to support student learning. This allows both the classroom teacher and the LET to work with all children in the class at their ‘point of need’ each week.
For those children whose data indicates that they require that extra out of classroom support, we have two very experienced teachers who provide intervention to these children in Literacy, Mathematics and Social Skills. These programs are designed to give these children the ‘leg up’ they need so as they can realise learning growth and success.
Finally, we have also employed the services of two allied health professionals - Speech Therapist and School Counsellor (intern) to support our children who may have needs in this areas. Overseen by Mrs. Andrea Moscato as the Learning Diversity Leader and working in partnership with teachers, families and children, it is hoped that the financial commitment of $500,000 will reap benefits with the academic learning and wellbeing of our children.
Regards,
Andrea Richards
Principal
PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANT DATES THIS TERM
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St Margaret Mary’s students are independent life-long learners inspired by Gospel values and empowered with a sense of purpose and responsibility. They confidently engage with others and are equipped with skills to adapt to an ever changing world.
Each week, students who embody our values, apply the school mindsets to learning, work hard to improve or persevere to deliver on learning objectives are awarded a class award. The students who earned an award in the past weeks are:
Term 1, Week 4
Term 1, Week 5
This week we were pleased to see the arrival of our new STEM building kits. These have been provided by SciencePlayKids for us to experiment and construct buildings and communities with. The kits come with 6000 connectors for joining cardboard and have varying angles allowing for the formation of all different types of joints. The students will have the next two weeks to play and experiment before the kits are returned.
The FSG is back together for 2022 and we are excited to officially welcome our new group members: Rainer Pollard, Philippa Sherwood, Fabiola Dos Santos, Emma Fiddes, Catriona Kennedy and Simon Devlin.
I also wanted to take a moment to thank Clare Fidalgo and Kelly Sherrard who made the tough decision to hand the baton on and step down from FSG this year. Myself and the team are so thankful for their hard work and contributions over the years.
After the incredible generosity and fundraising efforts we achieved at the end of last year which enabled us to finance our long awaited playground, our fundraising this year will be much smaller and community and connection focussed. Our heart is to reconnect and build friendships within our parents and students alike after the past two years.
We have some exciting things in store including:
SMM Footy Tipping - our footy tipping is back with a vengeance this year – headed up by Mr Devlin! Entry is only $20 and not only will you win bragging rights, but some incredible prizes and cash!
Sign up today at https://www.footytips.com.au/comps/stmmfootytipping2022
Dads Night – we are excited to be putting on a fantastic night for dads and friends at Epic Arena in Newport. Get your golf swing ready, more details coming soon…
Easter Raffle – because we know that the kids (and let’s be honest the parents) live for our Easter raffle.
School Disco - sadly we have not been able to host this for 2 years due to covid, so we are excited to be re-launching our school disco for our students to enjoy a fun night out with their friends.
and much more!
Money raised this year will go toward purchasing decodable books to support the junior community as they learn to read. So sign up for the footy tipping and we will keep you updated on our other fundraising activities.
Lauren Oliver - FSG President
Click the image to join the comp!
Opening of the Playground
At the end of last year, we were lucky enough to have the new playground installed. At the beginning of this year, it was hoped that we would be able to have an official opening, recognising the hard work and support from of our community but unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, this could not go ahead. Instead, a plaque acknowledging the contribution of our parents and FSG has been installed on the playground.
Once again, thank you to our Parents for continued support of our school.
The students have all settled nicely back into school life for 2022 in Years 8 – 12 and our newest community members have made an exceptional start to Year 7. Co-curricular activities have started again and these bring an exciting extra dimension to school life.
We are very excited to be hosting our two Meet the Principal experiences in coming weeks. Bookings are essential and can be made by clicking on the Tours and Events tab on the right hand side of the College webpage, www.ecmelb.catholic.edu.au
Meet the Principal events at each campus are as follows:
St Paul’s Campus, Thursday 3 March commencing at 9.30 am
Notre Dame Campus, Thursday 10 March commencing at 9.30 am
Our first transition event for Year 7, 2023 students will also occur in coming weeks with the virtual fun and games night. Keep a look out for information about this.
Also, please check out the website for information about our Annual Alumni Business Breakfast featuring Mr Kevin Sheedy AO. This event is open to all former students of the College and again, bookings are essential.
We are looking forward to seeing you at some of our events this year
School Fees - 2022
Below is an outline of the school fees for 2022. This table shows the fees for a ‘one child family’. If you have two or more children at St. Margaret Mary’s please note that you only pay one ‘family fee’ and then levies applicable to each of your children.
Last week, Family Statement for 2022 were sent home with your eldest child. We ask that the payment of this account be made a priority and finalised by the end of Term 3. Please feel free to make regular smaller direct payments into our bank account using your child's family name as the reference, If you are having difficulties with payment please have a chat with Andrea Richards our Principal or Marie Paton in the office to make alternative arrangements.
We welcome your feedback so if you have anything to contribute to the newsletter, questions about content or general feedback, please let us know.