Newsletter Term 3, Week 5 2024
School Closure - Friday 16 August
Book Week Parade- Monday 19 August
Dear St Margaret Mary’s Community,
It’s hard to believe we’re already in the thick of Term 3, and what a great term it has been so far!
In week 4, our school grounds were buzzing as our Mini Olympics took centre stage. I’m pleased to report that the event was a huge success, thanks to our senior students, who not only designed the events but also took the lead in running them under the expert guidance of Mrs. Magill. Thank you to Mrs Magill. It was a wonderful example of leadership and teamwork in action.
This week, our school staff and students have been actively participating in the "Bullying: No Way!" National Week of Action. Each day, we've focused on different activities and discussions to promote kindness, respect, and the importance of standing up against bullying. These activities have been a great way for our students to learn how to support each other and contribute to a safer, more inclusive school environment. Thank you to Mrs Novak and our staff for their preparation for this week and for their ongoing work in the prevention and empowerment of our children.
Yesterday morning, our school community came together to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a special Mass led by Fr. Samuel. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to gather as one, alongside parishioners, to honour Mary our mother, the blessed mother of God. Our students did a fantastic job participating in the Mass through readings, singing, prayers, choir, and the offertory procession. Thank you to Mr. Devlin for his preparation of this mass and the organisation of our children’s participation.
Today, our entire staff participated in the Flourishing Learners Professional Development Day at Caroline Chisholm Secondary. We joined 700 other educators from schools across the Western region to deepen our understanding of the Science of Learning. The day was led by curriculum experts from MACS and the Knowledge Society, who are collaborating closely with us to further enhance our already strong teaching and learning programs at St Margaret Mary's.
The agenda included sessions on structured literacy, covering topics such as phonics, morphology, and spelling; building oral language skills; integrating daily literacy and vocabulary; and fostering literacy within a knowledge-rich curriculum.
The children and staff are looking forward to a jam-packed Book Week full of fun, magic and celebration. Please remember we have the whole school Book Week costume parade on Monday morning. The staff are very excited and busy creating their Magical costumes. As well as daily activities to celebrate Book Week, (thank you to all teachers and especially Ms. Parnell) we are thrilled to welcome Anna Fienberg, the talented author behind the captivating Tashi series, who will be visiting our school Friday morning. Anna’s stories have enchanted children for years, and we are incredibly fortunate to have her share her passion for storytelling with our students. A huge thank you to Ms Tilly for organising this special opportunity for both our children and staff.
We are also looking forward to a special performance organized by Mr. Devlin this coming Thursday. The brilliant Michael Mangan will be sharing his well-known contemporary hymns with us in what promises to be an uplifting concert.
In some very exciting news, I am delighted to again announce that our school has been awarded a $3.6 million state government grant! This much-needed funding will allow us to expand our facilities in a measured way and accommodate our growing school community. Special thanks to Simon for sharing this wonderful news with you all in our last newsletter. We’ll be providing more details soon and will be engaging our community as we move forward with these plans. Our ongoing building project is progressing smoothly, remaining on time and within budget. We are eager to see the completed results that will benefit our entire school community.
Looking ahead, Father’s Day is just around the corner and our SMM celebration will be held on Friday, 30th August. Please be sure to join us for this special day, with more details provided below.
A quick reminder about the upcoming 2024 MACSIS Survey, which will be sent out soon. Your participation is crucial as it gives us valuable insights into what’s working well and where we can improve. It’s an opportunity for parents, students, and staff to give insight into the positives that should continue and ideas to be considered.
Finally, I want to express my heartfelt thanks for the overwhelming support and care we have all received as we navigate the recent loss of our colleague and my personal friend of 39 years, Paul Hogan. One of our four core school values is compassion, and it has truly come to life within our community, especially over the past seven weeks.
I want to acknowledge the exemplary dedication of our staff, led by Simon and Paul, alongside Anne and Kath, in ensuring that our children and school have continued to thrive—academically, emotionally, and spiritually. The difference between good and great leaders is humility and the community of St. Margaret Mary’s is truly blessed by the commitment, humility and compassion of our staff. We are also blessed with our children and our parents. This has never been more apparent than in these recent challenging times.
As we move forward, I want to embrace our faith, positivity and hope for the future. The weeks ahead will bring lots of fun and celebration at St. Margaret Mary’s. On both a personal and professional level, I simply want to say, with all my heart, thank you. Together, we will continue to honour Paul’s memory by looking ahead with optimism and embracing the exciting times to come.
With gratitude and warm regards,
Colleen McCambridge
Principal
St Margaret Mary's Primary School
Congratulations Cruz and Chris!
Well done Cruz and Chris for qualifying for the Division Athletics. Both Chris and Cruz qualified for the 100m sprint! We wish them all the best.
Follow our socials for the latest learning posts from the classroom
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:
Week 4
Week 5
Around the Rooms - Sports Edition
AFL Incursion
SMM Mini Olympics
Maths Puzzles
We thought it would be fun to put some family maths games and puzzles into our newsletter for you to have a go at. Anne Ablinger our Mathematics Leader has selected a few games and activities to discuss and enjoy as a family. The answers are at the end of the newsletter!
Beginner
Advanced
Concepts covered: Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
Equipment: Deck of cards, paper, pencils
Good questions to ask while playing: “Why did you choose to cross out ?”; “Why didn’t you make ?”; “Explain to me how you got __?”; “What would you do differently the next time you played?”
Intermediate
Expert
Student Wellbeing & Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHiPS) at SMM
Bullying No Way: National Week of Action
This year St. Margaret Mary’s has registered for the Bullying No Way: National Week of Action, 12 to 16 August 2024 to demonstrate our commitment to bullying prevention. The theme for this year's campaign is Everyone Belongs.
“Positive school climates that value diversity and inclusion can foster a sense of belonging and provide a protective factor against negative peer relationships and reduce bullying.” (Australian Education Research Organisation 2023).
Our students continuously engage in meaningful discussions and activities during Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons to build self-awareness and social awareness skills. Behaviour at SMM is underpinned by our behaviour curriculum and school values of Respect, Integrity, Compassion and Excellence (RICE).
Parents and carers are role models and play an important role in helping your child understand bullying and how to respond to it. By working collaboratively within our community, we can collectively help to prevent and reduce bullying behaviours. We encourage parents and carers to take this opportunity to have open and honest conversations with their child/ren about the impact of bullying and what they can do if they need support. You can visit the Bullying No Way website for tips to guide this discussion.
Our school’s bullying prevention policy is also available on the school website. If you have concerns about bullying, please contact our staff. If you believe the behaviour constitutes a crime, or is a serious incident of cyberbullying, please refer to the Bullying No Way website for information on how to report to other authorities and access wellbeing help.
Bullying – important conversations to have with your child
If your child tells you about things at school, or you observe something in public that involves conflict or bullying, take the opportunity to talk about what bullying is. You can learn more about the National Definition of Bullying through this first in a series of four short animations.
Questions you could ask your child(ren):
● What do you think bullying is?
● Who are trusted adults you would talk to about bullying?
● Have you or your friends left other kids out on purpose? Do you think that was bullying? Why or why not?
● What are our school values and rules? How can everyone following the school values and rules keep us safe and prevent bullying?
● Have you ever tried to help someone who is being bullied? What happened? What would you do if it happened again?
● Do you know what to do about bullying?
School Rules
1. We follow directions
2. We treat all property with care
3. We keep our hands, feet and objects to ourselves
4. We speak and behave appropriately
5. We listen to the speaker
6. We move safely at all times
Social Expectations:
We believe that we all should….
- treat others with respect.
- have the right to feel safe.
- cooperate and support each other.
- try our best in all we do.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE BEING BULLIED
bullyingnoway.gov.au. recommends the following steps:
● Remind your child that bullying is never okay and discuss how they can respond safely if they experience or witness it.
● Reinforce the message, “You have a right to feel safe and be safe”.
● Talk to someone about it. Find a trusted friend, teacher or carer who will listen to
how you feel, be supportive, and help you work out what to do.
● Talk to your friends - they can help you tell a teacher or your parents or just to feel better.
● Talk to your parents - tell them all about what's been happening.
● Talk to your teacher or another staff member - tell them all about what’s been happening. If you don't want to do this publicly, make an excuse to see the teacher about something else, e.g. your homework.
● If you can't talk to someone face-to-face go online at Kids Helpline
http://www.kidshelp.com.au/ or call a Kids Helpline counsellor on 1800 55 1800.
STRATEGIES
Try a few of the strategies that have worked for others. Only try these strategies if you are not in any immediate danger of being physically hurt and you feel confident you can do them
● Ignore the bullying - turn your back and walk away.
● Act unimpressed or pretend you don't care what they say or do to you. You could say 'okay, whatever' and walk away.
● Use strong, assertive statements, starting with the word ‘I’; tell the other person ‘I want you to stop that’ in a strong confident voice. Practice this with your friends.
● Use ‘fogging’ which means making a joking or funny comment that makes the other person think you don't care about what they say.
● Ask your friends to speak up for you. And remember to do the same for them!
● Try to stay positive. Focus on the things that you do well, the people who like you and care about you. Write down your thoughts and feelings about the bullying to help you think clearly about what you can do.
● Hang around with your friends and be with people who help you feel good about yourself. Good friends respect, encourage and support you. They care for your wellbeing and are fun to be around. You'll make new friends by respecting, encouraging and supporting others.
● Try to sort out the problem behind the bullying. If you feel safe to do so, talk with the other people involved and ask them how you might be able to sort out the problem together.
By promoting open communication, we empower children to stand up against bullying and create a safer environment where everyone can feel they belong.
For more information about Bullying No Way Week and bullying prevention, visit the Bullying No Way website.
Thanks for working in partnership with us to support your children
Kath (Student Wellbeing Leader)
First Eucharist for Year 4 Students
We extend our best wishes to our Year 4 students as they prepare to celebrate their First Communion at St Margaret Mary’s Church. The Eucharist Masses will be held on Saturday, 17th August, and Saturday, 24th August, both at 5:30 PM. This is a significant milestone in their spiritual journey, and we pray that it will be a meaningful and memorable experience for them and their families.
Children’s Liturgies
Just a reminder that every Sunday at Sacred Heart, there are children’s liturgies held during the 10 am mass. It would be great to see our students coming along.
Father’s Day Breakfast
Father’s Day Sock Sale!
School Disco
Families who did not purchase tickets for the last disco and would like to attend, please send $20 in an envelope to the school office with your Name and Pizza order (margarita or Hawaiian / dietary requirements) by Friday 13th September.
For families unable to attend who had previously purchased a ticket and would like money refunded, please send Jodie Millar an email (jodie.millar40@gmail.com<mailto:jodie.millar40@gmail.com>) with your bank account details and it will be arranged.
Thanks,
FSG
Footy Tipping
With just two rounds left in our school footy tipping competition, Reed St is looking strong at the top with a commanding 6-point lead at 140 points. It seems like Reed St is well on their way to claiming the top spot, but the real excitement lies in the battle for second and third place!
Bomber Love is currently in second with 134 points, closely followed by Don't Think. DO! with 133 points. With such tight competition for the runner-up positions, every tip in these final rounds will be crucial. StaceyPM and devdoggies, both sitting at 129 points, are also still in the hunt and could make a late surge.
Who will take the podium spots alongside Reed St? It’s all to play for, so make sure you get your tips in and stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion!
We were very lucky to have connected with Bunnings Altona and Bunnings West Footscray who have generously donated some vouchers for us. The prizes have now been finalised for the competition and we know what we are playing for.
1st Prize: $200 Bunnings Voucher
2nd Prize: $100 Bunnings Voucher
3rd Prize: $50 Bunnings Voucher
We currently have 23 of our members paid up with a profit of $575! If the remaining 12 members pay their entry fee, will have raised $800. We can do it!
Payments made via school FSG bank account, are asked to use your footy tipping alias as a reference. Account SMM FSG BSB: 083 347 Acc: 365426557 You can also send in $25 in an envelope to the office, labelled with your alias and titled "2024 footy tipping"
Click the link below:
https://www.footytips.com.au/comps/2024_SMM_Footy_Tipping?p=stmm3015
🌟✨ Reading is Magic! ✨🌟
The theme for Book Week this year is “Reading is Magic!”. To celebrate, our annual Book Week parade will take place on Monday, 19th August at 9 AM. Everyone is invited to come along and join in the fun!
Throughout the week, students will be participating in fun activities and we will have a visit from author Anna Fienberg, best known for her Tashi series of books.
Foundation Drop-in Dates
Just a reminder about our 2025 Foundation Drop-in dates! If you have a child starting in 2025, come along for a chance to meet other parents and familiarise yourself and your child with the school. We look forward to seeing you there!
First Day Free
Emmanuel College News
The recent Senior Programs and Careers Expo was a fantastic opportunity for students and families to find out more about the many learning areas we have in Year 10 to 12, talk to TAFE providers and Universities about post-secondary training and education, and speak with Victoria Police, Paramedics, and the Australian Defence Forces about career options with them.
Semester 2 sees our Year 7 cohort starting to learn Italian or Japanese; others will be learning a musical instrument, some for the first time, and performing for their families near the end of the year. Other students across both campuses are competing in various events such as debating, soccer, basketball, and hockey, and that’s just naming a few.
Year 7 2026 Applications
If your child is in Year 5, please note that applications for Year 7 2026 will close on Friday, 16 August 2024. Even if you have a child already attending or that may be joining us in Year 7 2025, it is a requirement for an application to be submitted for Year 7 2026.
Applications are now submitted online via the College website: Emmanuel College Enrolment Applications
For more information on enrolments or if you have any other questions, please contact our College Registrar, Ms Donna Grech, on 8325 5100 or send an email to: enrolments@ecmelb.catholic.edu.au
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Hendricks
Community Engagement Officer
Mount St. Joseph’s Girls College
APPLY NOW
As we approach the enrolment deadline for Year 7 in 2026 at Mount St. Joseph Girls' College, we want to ensure that you have all the information you need to secure your child's place in our vibrant learning and faith community.
Students wishing to attend Mount St. Joseph Girls’ College for Year 7 in 2026 should apply in Grade 5 of their primary school education.
Apply online via the College website.
The closing date for applications is Friday 16 August 2024.
Why Choose Mount St. Joseph Girls' College?
· Academic Excellence: Our curriculum is designed to challenge and inspire students to achieve their full potential.
· Faith-Based Learning: We aim to develop informed and compassionate women of faith who will strive to make a difference in the world.
· Community Spirit: We are a supportive community where every student is valued, encouraged, and celebrated for their unique talents.
· Modern Facilities: Our contemporary and dynamic facilities enhance the learning experience, providing students with the resources they need to thrive.
We understand that choosing the right school for your child is an important decision, and we are here to support you every step of the way. Should you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to reach out to our College Registrar:
Sherri Collins: registrar@msj.vic.edu.au
133 Maidstone Street, Altona
(03) 8398 2000
Thank you for considering Mount St. Joseph Girls' College. We look forward to welcoming your family into our community.
