Newsletter Term 1, Week 2 2024
Tuesday 13th February- Meet and Greets. Students finish at 1pm.
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome back to the 2024 school year at St. Margaret Mary’s!
This year holds special significance as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of our blessed school. Originally starting in the church, 2024 marks 70 years since the opening of our first school building by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1954. We cherish our strong bond with parish and religious orders, as evidenced by the card we recently received from the Sisters of St. Joseph, a letter from past student Terry McIntosh. (Letter posted below) and historic photos shared by Ron McIntosh. These photos will be showcased throughout the year via newsletters and social media to share our school in the past compared to now. More details will follow regarding the festivities planned to honor this cherished milestone throughout 2024.
I extend a heartfelt welcome to our new Foundation families and those who have joined our school community this year. It's heartening to note that we have welcomed 22 more students across year levels, compared to February last year. A warm welcome also goes out to our new educators. We are poised for a year filled with positive learning experiences and connections.
Our school year began positively with student-teacher chats and assessment meetings facilitating a smooth student-data driven start to learning. Thanks to all who supported these days through facilitating the children's participation.
Our welcome back coffee morning saw a great turnout, fostering connections among existing and new families, while the children displayed confidence and readiness to learn.
All our children from Foundation to year six celebrated a beautiful mass to mark the start of the school year and bless the school student leaders. Congratulations to all the year 6 leaders and we know they will contribute positively to our school and community.
The arrival of the GaGa pit last Wednesday, has brought joy to all, thanks to the fundraising efforts of the FSG and parents throughout 2023.
Attention parents – Please help: Our first Parents and Carers Fundraising Social Group meeting will be held on Tuesday February 20th, 7pm at the Spotswood hotel. Foundation parents, new to school parents, and those that can pop in are encouraged to come along and join existing members for a beverage and a chat. When we met at the end of last year we mapped out the key fundraising events so come along to connect, share your ideas and talents, and find out more!
Our annual school Welcome Picnic last night was a resounding success, thanks to the sunny weather, vibrant music, and the fantastic turnout from our community. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated staff who devoted their time during the school holidays to prepare for their students and also attended the welcome picnic.
Next week we prepare for the beginning of Lent by making pancakes with each class during class time. It would be great for parents to donate “shake n bake” bottles to assist in this classroom activity. We will then commence the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday mass at 11.30 in SMM church. Please join us for this mass if you can.
On behalf of the entire staff, we eagerly look forward to a year of learning, praying, and celebrating with our SMM community.
Take care,
Colleen McCambridge
Principal
Welcome Marg!
70th Year Celebrations
A letter from an past student and parishoner Terry McIntosh.
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 1
Week 2
Welcome Back!
Buddies
It was a short first week but it was great to get reacquainted with our new Prep students. Our Senior students were excited to have lunch together and have been keeping a careful eye on their buddies in the playground.
Congratulations to our new SRC
We say congratulations to our new Student Representative Council (SRC) members. Two students are selected by their peers from each class for each semester. We look forward to working with them to include our student voice in decisions around the school. SRC badges will be presented this Monday 12th February at our flag-raising ceremony at 8.45am
Welcome Picnic
It was wonderful to have our families join us for our Welcome Back picnic on Thursday. The weather was perfect and it was a great chance to meet and get to know each other. We are looking forward to a fantastic year of learning and new memories being made.
Hockey Clinics
This week our Middles and foundation students were lucky enough to be a part of a hockey clinic run by Footscray hockey club. They participated in drills that helped them improve with dribbling and passing the hockey ball correctly. They all represented the school perfectly showing whole body listening while asking appropriate questions. If any students would like to join this club and enhance their skills outside of school they can go down to a free open session on 21 & 28 Feb & 6 March.
Miss Graham
Welcome to the 2024 school year, which is already off to a positive start!
My name is Kath Novak & one of my roles is to lead student wellbeing at St. Margaret Mary’s.
Student wellbeing is about members of the school, parents & community working in positive partnership with the common goal of providing our students/children with optimal conditions to thrive & be flourishing learners.
“Wellbeing encompasses all dimensions of life within a Catholic school community. It is lived in the everyday as a reflection of the Christian faith and commitment to the Gospel. Wellbeing underpins pedagogical practice & curriculum design. It is brought to life through the actions, interactions & attitudes of all community members.”
Source:Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS)
At St. Margaret Mary’s (SMM) the school year begins with an extensive focus on wellbeing. This is maintained & built on over time. All staff facilitate the following:
Developing a positive & supportive classroom learning culture
Establishing class rules, high expectations & agreements for safety & to support academic learning & positive behaviour
Getting to know each student & building a positive relationship with each student
Monitoring each student’s wellbeing in terms of emotions & behaviours
Developing & building positive & collaborative relationships (parents & teachers, students & teachers, students to students)
Teaching dedicated lessons/using strategies that focus on social emotional learning (SEL)
Setting routines to support prayer, being ready to learn & transitioning between learning tasks etc
Teaching about & reinforcing the school values of respect, integrity, compassion & excellence (RICE)
Teaching about, fostering & promoting growth/learning mindsets, especially SMM’s targeted mindsets of courage, collaboration, curiosity, persistence, resilience & independence
Building relationships with parents as first educators of their children & engaging in school activities that build partnerships with parents
Academic testing & tracking of individual student progress in learning
Planning & executing learning experiences & tasks
Here are some things that parents/caregivers can focus on to set children up for success:
Emotions
Complete regular feelings check-ins & let your child know that it is OK to feel how they are feeling & that everyone experiences a range of emotions every single day. It’s normal to feel sad, excited, tired, angry, calm or nervous on any given day. What matters most is coping strategies that are used to deal with these feelings. Often children will look to their parents as role models of how to cope.
Behaviour & Social Relationships
Getting to know other families & engaging in visits to the park together or playdates to give your child time to find common ground with others & build friendships
Engaging in school events to build relationships & a positive school community, e.g. social events, fundraising, helping with tasks in the school etc
Coaching your child in friendship skills, e.g. thinking of 3 questions you could ask someone, talking about & demonstrating positive body language, talking about the benefits of taking turns & sharing, teaching your child active listening skills etc
Having conversations to develop perspective taking skill & practising “putting ourselves in others’ shoes”
Learning about problem solving & conflict resolution (striving for a win/win situation & helping develop an awareness of passive, aggressive or assertive behaviours when dealing with others)
Thoughts
Tuning into how your child articulates their thoughts & being aware of negative & positive self talk
Using positive primers with your child, e.g. What was good about today? What are you looking forward to? What are you grateful for? What’s something you will do independently/by yourself today?
Sleep
Ensuring your child follows a sleep hygiene routine to support learning
Energy
Eating a healthy & nutritious diet
Ensuring your child has time for rest, relaxation & recreation & is not overscheduled
Routines, rhythms and rituals
Setting up routines to ensure children get to school on time. Consistently late arrival & absence can interrupt friendships & cause anxiety as students struggle to catch up on what they have missed
Learning
Setting up a space for homework
Setting up a reading time & routine where your child reads independently or is read to
Setting developmentally appropriate limits on the use of technology (monitor & filter)
Encouraging your child to be developmentally independent with tasks. If they are capable of doing an action independently, please let them! (Make yourself redundant!)
Communicating positively & respectfully with your child’s teacher, remembering that. teachers are required to advocate for all students in their care & need to cater for a wide variety of strengths, abilities & challenges & meet each child where they are at!
We look forward to a great 2024 and working in positive partnership with you!
Source: 2022 Murdoch Children’s Research institute
The Children’s Wellbeing Continuum is an evidence-based tool developed to support conversations around children’s wellbeing. The tool provides a snapshot of a child’s social & emotional wellbeing at a point in time. Stay tuned for more information at a later time…
Kath (Student Wellbeing Leader)
Welcome Back
It was wonderful to celebrate the return to school with our first whole school mass on Tuesday. Thank you to our new school leaders for reading and organising the mass. Our next whole school mass is on Wednesday to celebrate Ash Wednesday and guide us into the beginning of Lent.
Gaga Pit
Our GaGa pit has arrived and is a big hit already. We would love some parents volunteer to help assemble it each morning if you are in the school. It is unfortunately not weather proof and has to be stored indoors each night. If you are able to help some mornings, please see our sports teacher Chelsea Graham.
Easter Raffle and Donations
The FSG is Kicking off the first term with our first fun fundraiser of the year and we need your help.
We are asking our SMM families for donations including Easter Eggs, Easter items (such as books, craft activity etc.) and any bags or baskets you may have to be used in our Easter Raffle.
It will be really appreciated if items are dropped into the office by Monday 18th March.
Raffle books and info will be sent out with children in the coming weeks.
Prizes are drawn after the AMAZING Easter Bonnet Parade on
Monday 25th March
If you have any questions or have time to help, please reach out to me Claire 0424389167
Thanks in advance for your support – SMM FSG
Footy Tipping is Back!
Join the SMM Footy Tipping competition for 2024. $25 entry fee with prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
Click the link below:
https://www.footytips.com.au/comps/2024_SMM_Footy_Tipping?p=stmm3015
COME AND TRY HOCKEY
Who: 5-12 year olds NEW to the game of hockey
Where: Footscray Hockey Club, Fogarty Ave Yarraville (Down by the Westgate Freeway)
Time: U6 & U8: 5.15 – 6.00pm, U10 & U12 and above: 6.00 – 6.45pm
Dates: Wed 21, 28 Feb, 6 Mar
Cost: FREE ! Welcome to just turn up!
Equipment: Hockey sticks and shin guards are available to borrow by new players. Please arrive 10-15 minutes early to have a hockey stick fitted.
Enquiries: Contact Come and Try Coordinator Nicole Virtuoso 0424 132 715 come-and-try@footscrayhockey.com.au www.footscrayhockey.com.au Facebook: @footscrayhockey
Meet and Greets
Next Tuesday the 13th and Thursday the 15th are our Meet and Greet interviews. Parents have a chance to meet their child’s new classroom teacher and have a chat about your child. You may wish to ask any questions you have, see how they have settled in, or just introduce yourself. These short introduction meetings are designed to put a face to the name and build a good foundation of communication between families.
If you haven’t booked yet, click the link below:
Chromebooks in 2024
Our year 3 students are now able to bring their Chromebooks into school each day. Get ready for some amazing learning!
Soccer
We are delighted to provide a 5% exclusive discount for the students of St Margaret Mary’s Catholic Primary School.
The classes will be held in Williamstown Primary School. Classes will start from February 11th 2024.
Please use the code “SMMC241” to avail the 5% discount as part of the registration.
Emmanuel College News
Last Friday we welcomed 470 Year 7 students to their first day of secondary school here at Emmanuel. It was lovely to see new friendships being made and everyone getting to know their new school and staff. We also welcomed 60 new students who commenced in Years 8 to 12, as well as all of our returning students and look forward to another wonderful year together.
There is always something happening at Emmanuel and Term 1 is filled with lots of events for students and families. We look forward to celebrating Opening Mass together this Friday 9 February at Notre Dame Campus; Year 7s will be heading off on camp over the next few weeks which is a great way for students to get to know each other, their teachers and to participate in lots of fun activities.
For those that are interested in cricket and soccer, we are excited to share details about the Cricket Star Academy and Liverpool International Academy programs for 2024:
Cricket Star Academy:
For those interested in cricket, we are close to launching our new location in Point Cook. Come along and join us for a free session on:
Sunday 18 February, 9am to 12pm - Emmanuel College - Notre Dame Campus
2 Foxwood Drive, Point Cook.
Registration is essential by following the links below:
For 5- 7 year olds rsvp here: https://bit.ly/CSA_PC57
For 8- 12 year olds rsvp here: https://bit.ly/CSA_PC812
For 13 - 16 year olds rsvp here: https://bit.ly/CSA_PC1216
Liverpool International Academy Australia:
Introducing the Liverpool IAA program for 2024 - a unique worldwide program that offers the same methodology and philosophy as they do in England, which is training and coaching ‘The Liverpool Way’. Registration is essential – to secure your spot please follow this link:
Our first College experiences are coming up, with ‘Meet the Principal’ being held at each campus. This is an opportunity for you to meet College Principal, Dr Janine Biggin and join us on a College tour hosted by our students. Details for each campus are below:
St Paul’s Campus · Meet the Principal - Thursday 29 February at 9:15am
Notre Dame Campus · Meet the Principal - Thursday 7 March at 9:15am
Registrations are essential and can be made by clicking on the Tours and Events tab on the right-hand side of the homepage of the College website, www.ecmelb.catholic.edu.au
We look forward to seeing you at the College soon.
Yours sincerely
Jenny Hendricks
Community Engagement