St Mary’s Parish Primary School 214 Dandenong Road, St Kilda East VIC 3183 Tel: (03) 9510 7420 Fax: (03) 9510 7872

School Office Hours: 8:40am to 3:45am

NEWSLETTER Volume 2018 – Issue 1 Monday 5th February, 2018

Principal Gerard Lewis Parish Priest Fr Joe Caddy Deputy Principal Ben Fahey Education Support Erica Nastopoulos (Mon – Thurs) Office Assistance Janelle Adams (Fri)

Teachers Year FF Jacquie Fleming Year FM Kate Morgan Year 1J Lataya Ferligoj Year 1S Stephanie Schultz Year 2B Claire Butson Year 2O Brigitte O’Shea Year 3L Catherine LeHunt & Anna Side Year 3M Maureen McDonald & Jane Davy Year 4B Katie Bryan Year 4G Orla Glynn Year 5M Angelica Mavrofridis Year 5R Chelsea Roche & Ben Fahey Year 6C Clare Curtis Year 6W Cam Weston Reading Recovery Paula Incretolli Italian Carmela Vozzo Library Daniela Borgese Library Support Robbie Bartlett (Thurs) Phys Ed (Junior) Chris Kidman Phys Ed (Senior) Matt Ottobre Number Intervention Anna Side Visual Art Caroline Egan Teaching Assistant Susan Botta Teaching Assistant Kelly Fay Teaching Assistant Katherine Reade

CALENDAR OF EVENTS Friday 9th February Holt Swimming Trials Years 3 & 4 (4pm to 5:30pm) Wednesday 14th February Ash Wednesday Thursday 15th February Education School Board Meeting 6pm Friday 16th February Parents & Friends Welcome Drinks Wednesday 21st February Year 5 & 6 Camp – Phillip Island

Tuesday 22nd February Year 5 & 6 Camp – Phillip Island Friday 23rd February Year 5 & 6 Camp – Phillip Island Friday 23rd February Holt Swimming Carnival Years 3 & 4 Wednesday 28th February Parent/Teacher Exchange Meetings 3:45pm to 8pm Sunday 4th March Opening School Mass 9am Sunday 4th March St Mary’s Open Day 10:30am to 12pm Wednesday 7th March Foundation to Year 2 Parent Seminar “Friendly Behaviour” 6pm Friday 9th March Ride2School Day Monday 12th March Labour Day Public Holiday

Tuesday 13th March School Photos Friday 16th March St Patrick’s Day Mass – Year 6 Leaders Thursday 22nd March St Mary’s House Sports Thursday 29th March End of Term – Student’s breakup at 1pm

After Care is available until 6pm, booking is essential

Friday 30th March Good Friday Saturday 31st March Holy Saturday Sunday 1st April Easter Sunday Monday 2nd April Easter Monday – Public Holiday

Term 2 Monday 16th April to Friday 29th June

From the Principal’s Desk:

I hope you all had a great holiday and are rested, ready to begin an exciting 2018. We have had a good start to the year. The Foundation students and the new children have settled in very well.

New Staff A big welcome Lataya Ferligoj (Year 1), Orla Glynn (Year 4), Angelica Mavrofridis (Year 5) and Cam Weston (Year 6) who join the staff this year. We hope that their time with us is an enjoyable and rewarding one.

New Families With the start of 2018 we warmly welcome thirty new families to St Mary’s. We hope that your time at St Mary’s is very enjoyable. The following children commenced at St Mary’s last week: Tara Adlam, Ignatius Badenoch, Hunter Bates, Theodore Bekkerus, Lolita Brazenall, Unnati Chawla, Ella Coffey, Hikaru Costello, Domenico De Raco, Sophia Dinnadge, Tim Doan, Stella Farrow, Lucy Farrow, Felix Frias, Leonardo Giannone, Alecsandro Giannone, Spencer Greig, Xavier Grimmer-Krpan, Isabella Grivicic, Alexandar Grivicic, Caleb Haile, Ruth Haile, Alicia Hardy, Uma Johnston, Pearl Lachowicz, Nicole Lai, Olivia Lam, Pia Lamaro Romeo, Hayden Ling, Jemima Lucas, Arlia Magee, Megha-Shyniel Malhotra, Baxter Moss, Isabella Navarrete, Darlene Nkiinzi, Mickaella Parisien, Ava Quinn, Indi Ray, Suwannasak Ronarongsanee, Remy Sammut, Samuel Scharper, Miles Smith, Anna Stephens, Anna Tsaglos, Ava Varney, Anwita Vasanth Koodalithazhathuveedu, Raphael Wilson and Chiara Yanes.

Opening School Mass The official opening Mass for the school year will be held on Sunday 4th March at the 9:00am Parish Mass. At the end of Mass this year we will be having an Open Day from 10:30am – 12:00pm. This Open Day connects closely with the Christian Brothers College (CBC) and Presentation College Windsor (PCW) Melbourne Open Days on the same afternoon.

The New School Year Last Tuesday, teachers and Leaders of the three schools within the boundaries of St Mary’s Parish, CBC, PCW Melbourne and ourselves came together to celebrate Liturgy for the commencement of the school year. After Mass the staff from the three schools celebrated morning tea at CBC . Thank you to Fr Joe Caddy for celebrating Mass with us.

Student Leadership at St Mary’s Congratulations to the following students who were appointed School Leaders at the end of last year:

School Captains Shaynne Salgado and James Lloyd Smith Vice Captains Isobel Higgins and Zaki Angel

The other Year 6 Leaders will be announced shortly.

School Behaviour Policy The St Mary’s school norms are an important component of our School Behaviour Policy. These norms will be continually highlighted throughout the year with the children. During the year you might like to discuss with your children examples of when they are respectful, responsible and safe in and outside the classroom.

At St Mary’s we work in a safe and respectful learning environment where everyone takes responsibility for their own behaviour.

Be Respectful

Be Responsible

Be Safe

School Assembly The School Assemblies will continue this year at 2:45pm on the even weeks on a Monday afternoon. The dates for assemblies this Term are 5th February, 19th February, 5th March, 19th March and Thursday 29th March (last day of Term 1 at 12:30 pm). All parents are welcome to join us at the start of each week in the Parish Hall.

Years 5 & 6 Camp All children in Years 5 & 6 will be attending Phillip Island Coastal Discovery Camp for their School Camp from Wednesday 21st – Friday 23rd February.

Parents and Friends Association (P & F) We are looking for two new people to take on the role of the Parent & Friends Management Committee. Please refer to the P & F section of this newsletter for more information on this role. We are also asking for Parent Representatives from each class to assist with greater communication channels between parents, teachers and Leadership. The key roles of Parent Rep is to support the classroom teachers with communication to the rest of the parents and to lead in the organisation of class events as highlighted by the P & F. Please contact Ben Fahey if you would like to be a parent representative this year. This role is a vital one in linking the parents within the school community.

I hope you have an enjoyable week.

Gerard Lewis Principal

PARENT & TEACHER EXCHANGE MEETING Wednesday 28 t h February

3:45pm – 8pm

CLASS REPRESENTATIVES FOR 2018 Are you interested in being involved in your child’s class and supporting both the school and your child’s teacher? Please consider nominating yourself for being a Class Rep for your child’s class. What’s involved with being a Class Representative?

• being the main point of contact for your child’s class • co-ordinating the fundraising events as outlined in the P & F calendar with the other class rep in that year • liaise with the P & F committee and other class representatives • be involved with P & F committee meetings • distribute communication to parents for the class on behalf of the classroom teacher • maintain and distribute a contact list for your class • have fun and enjoy contributing towards your child’s success at St Mary’s

We hope to have all Class Reps organised within the next two weeks. Please inform Ben Fahey, St Mary’s School Community Leader for 2018 at bfahey@smstkildaeast.catholic.edu.au if you are interested in volunteering as a Class Rep. Class Reps from last year are more than welcome to put their name forward so please make contact with Ben Fahey asap. Class Reps are able to share the role.

ST MARY’S SCHOOL APP The St Mary's Primary School - St Kilda East App has been created to keep our students, families and the broader school community connected and up to date with the latest information and news from St Mary's. If you are a new family to St Mary’s or haven’t yet downloaded the app, download it and stay up to date. App features include:

• News panel with a latest news feed direct from the school website • Notifications system allowing you to subscribe to alerts and reminders from the school • Events calendar providing a listing of upcoming events • Documents library which contains newsletters, forms and policies • Gallery which showcases school life through images and video • Contact information and website link The App is available for download in the Apple App Store and via

Google Play for Android devices.

You can access the App via the direct links below, or by searching for St Mary’s Primary School St Kilda East. Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fraynework.vcsws.smstkildaeast iTunes App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/st-marys-primary-school-st/id843005979?ls=1&mt=8 If you have any questions about the app please speak to either Mr Fahey or your child’s classroom teacher.

CAREMONKEY As you know we take the health and safety of our students very seriously. As a result we have again adopted the Care Monkey system. We will be using Care Monkey in the best interest of the children whilst also reducing the burden on parents to fill out the same information on multiple forms throughout the year. CareMonkey is a user controlled solution that automates the process of gathering medical information, emergency numbers and permission forms. All new families will receive an email prompting them to set up your child’s account. If you do not receive this email please speak to Ben Fahey or email at bfahey@smstkildaeast.catholic.edu.au . We ask all parents to attend to this as soon as is possible in order to assist us to have the system operating to its full capacity. For further information and testimonials I encourage you to access the website: www.caremonkey.com.au

S C H O O L U N I F O R M All children must wear the correct school and sports uniform. Sneakers to be worn only with sports uniforms, as they are unhealthy for children to wear every day.

SCHOOL UNIFORM SHOP is open on Fridays 8:45am to 9:00am & 3:15pm to 3:30pm(school jumper only).

Hair is to be neat and tidy and with long hair to be tied back with a navy ribbon or hair elastic. Girls wear navy socks with their uniform. For Health and Safety reasons, jewellery is to be kept to a minimum with no bangles or necklaces except for those of a religious nature. However remember that these can be lost or pulled through playing.

S U N S M A R T S C H O O L We are a sunsmart school and the policy is ‘No Hat, No Play’. Only school hats are to be worn.

LUNCH ORDERS Lunch orders are available on Mondays and Thursday. Online Order Portal – www.flexischools.com.au to register.

H E A L T H Y S C H O O L , H E A L T H Y M I N D P O L I C Y It’s impossible to promise to be an allergy free school but our healthy food policy endeavours to make this as healthy an environment as we possibly can. The teachers supervise play and lunch eating and ensure that children don’t share or swap food. No sweets or sugary drinks are allowed. We ask that children bring water only in drink bottles to sip on if needed. Birthdays will be celebrated in special ways in classes. Obesity is a childhood issue and our policy aims to teach children good food eating habits. We thank you for your co-operation.

E X C U R S I O N S Throughout the year children will be going on excursions to various places. The cost for these is covered by your Excursion Levy. Details will be sent by CareMonkey to you about each excursion and you will be asked to give permission. No child can go on an excursion without parent permission. At various times, teachers will take children on short walking excursions around the neighbourhood, please return the blue form as soon as possible.

N E W S L E T T E R S Communication is very important between the school and parents. The newsletter gives you a general idea of what’s happening in our school. The school newsletter will be emailed each fortnight on a Monday, also a copy is placed on our website. Class teachers will also have a regular class newsletter.

P A R E N T H E L P E R S W O R K S H O P If you wish to help in your child’s classroom during the Literacy Block you will need to attend an introductory workshop. You will also need to have a Working With children Check and sign our new Code of Conduct. If you have attended this workshop in the past and have had experience as a Classroom Helper you need not attend again. The workshop will be held in March for new helpers. Further information will follow.

Paula Incretolli – Literacy Leader

S A F E T Y A N D T R A F F I C For the children’s safety, do not double park or reverse out of the flats driveway to let your child out. No U-turn is allowed in front of the school crossing. Please do not toot car horns as you drive past to attract your child’s attention. The police and council officers will patrol the area.

B E F O R E & A F T E R C A R E Our After Hours School Care Program is operating again. Online Enrolment must be filled out with student’s details before they are able to use this service.

C S E F ( C a m p s , S p o r t s & E x c u r s i o n F u n d ) - F I N A N C I A L A S S I S T A N C E CSEF is provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school camps, excursions and sporting activities. If you hold a valid Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card or Health Care Card (CRN) you may be eligible for CSEF. An application form is attached, please fill it out and return to the school office by Thursday 29th March 2018.

SCHOOL ROUTINES Times: 8:40 am Gates opened 8:45 am Internal Doors open 8:53 am Music plays to assemble for start of school 8:55 am School bell rings 3:30 pm Dismissal

Work will start punctually at 8:55am because we start that time with our daily prayer. It is in their best interests that they will need to make up this work if they are late. LATE PASSES will be handed out to those who are late.

Please collect your children as close as possible to dismissal times. After 3:45pm there is no teacher on duty and all children will then be placed into aftercare.

WELLBEING NEWS

SCHOOL CODE OF NORMS At St Mary’s, we have three school norms of behaviour.

1. Be safe 2. Be Respectful 3. Be Responsible

These Norms give both the staff and students a common language which everyone understands. All teachers work with the children to learn and understand what our school norms look like at school. You may like to talk with your child about what this looks like for you at your house. Sharing common language is very empowering and beneficial for your child. RESTORATIVE PRACTICE

St Mary’s is a Restorative School. This is often referred to as Restorative Practice. Restorative Practice means restoring a relationship through discussion when hurt has occurred. At all times we encourage the students to make good choices. The students are given the opportunity to change their behaviour. A warning is given by using the words: STOP THINK DO. This gives the students the opportunity to rethink their choices.

Sometimes the students need to come together to talk about the conflict. This is done when the students are calm. This meeting will take place with all parties sitting in a Circle. Specific questions are asked. The teachers wear lanyards around their necks with the questions to support the conversation. Parents may be contacted if this happens so everyone is informed.

WHEEL OF CHOICE – SCHOOL YARD GOOD CHOICES The wheel of choice is designed to give the knowledge and decision making skills when dealing with a difficult social situation on the yard. By empowering students to deal with conflict, students are able to deal appropriately with situations that occur.

If you feel your child is having a difficult time, please notify the class teacher as soon as possible so that the issue can be addressed before it perpetuates. We need to be vigilant and work together on this issue in supporting and developing our students together.

FOUNDATION TO YEAR 2 PARENT SEMINAR I am excited to announce that St Mary’s will be hosting a parent seminar for all Foundation to Year 2 families on Wednesday 7th March. The seminar will give parents great insight, tips and perspectives about primary schooling and how to support their child while at St Mary’s. This is a compulsory event for adults to attend as the importance of the messages received at seminar are invaluable. The seminar will be run by Wellbeing for Kids, who run the seminar in many schools in the local area each year. The seminar focuses on the early years of primary schooling and supporting the parents of these children.

Date: Wednesday 7th March Time: 6pm – 7.30pm Place: St Mary’s Hall, Cnr of Westbury St & Dandenong Rd

Event Details: This event is a compulsory event for families from Foundation to Year 2 to attend. To support your attendance, St Mary’s will be hosting a video night for the children to attend while parents attend the seminar. This is a free event that is put on by the school.

The seminar will cover the areas below: Practical strategies to support your child to build healthy friendships Effective parenting styles that support social awareness and intelligence in children Normal developmental stages of friendships Age appropriate social behaviours The fundamental life skills that all children need to build healthy friendships How to support children in conflict and bullying situations How to teach your child to solve problems independently and effectively What to expect in the primary school years

As it is expected that all families attend, we ask you cooperation and support in attending this event.

SEASONS PROGRAM This program is offered every year. It is a ten-week program that runs once a week for about one hour. It is for students who have experienced loss or grief through a death or divorce. It suits students who are over the initial stage of grief and are wanting to talk and have a support group around them. If you feel your child would benefit from this program talk to your class teacher or Ben Fahey.

PEACEFUL KIDS CLUB This program is for students who suffer from anxiety. It is an eight-week program. It helps students through structured meditations and developing a list of strategies to deal with times when they feel most stressed. The program helps to develop skills to cope. Each week the student is introduced to a new meditation. They can access these meditations at home and practice the skills taught. The students are given a journal to write their thoughts and keep track of their feelings. If you feel your child would benefit from this program, please talk to your child’s teacher or Ben Fahey. Ben Fahey- Wellbeing Leader

MATHEMATICS NEWS Dear Parents, my name is Anna Side and this year I am the Mathematics Leader at St Mary’s.

At St Mary’s we follow the Victorian Mathematics Curriculum at every year level. This means students are involved in learning opportunities in the following areas - Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, Statistics and Probability. We also offer the Number Intervention program for students who need additional support in the learning of Number. This program is for students from Years 1-4.

This year we have purchased subscriptions for Mathletics for all students in Years 2, 3 and 4. Mathletics is a computer based program based on the Victorian Curriculum. We have used Mathletics for the past two years and found it to be very beneficial in supporting and revising mathematics work taught in the classroom. Parents should talk to classroom teachers or myself if they need more clarification about the program and the following link has some great information for parents: au.mathletics.com/home/help

This Term, as a staff we will be working on updating the Mathematics section of our school reports. Our aim is to make our Mathematics reporting clearer for parents and caregivers to read and understand.

Mathematics at Home We all use mathematics daily in what we do. One way to assist your child in developing greater mathematical understandings is to involve them in using numbers to solve real life problems and make those everyday decisions with you. For example:

“Do we have enough plates and utensils for all the guests coming for the birthday party?” “Let’s count the house numbers on this side of the street. Now let’s count the numbers on the other side.

Can you see a pattern?” “We are doubling this recipe. How much of all the ingredients will we need?” “We are fertilizing the lawn. The fertilizer bag covers three square meters. How many will we need?” “This store is selling the game you want for 20% off of $27.00. That store is selling the same game for

$19.99. Where should we shop?” Anna Side – Mathematics Leader

Parent & Friends Committee Update

P & F Mission Statement Encouraging and strengthening the school community and coordinating social and fund raising events for additional educational resources for our children.

On behalf of the Parents & Friends Committee, we extend a warm welcome to all of our new families at St Mary’s and welcome back the school community. We are looking forward to a busy calendar of events run by the P&F in 2018! Welcome drinks for new parents – Friday 16th February Grosvenor Hotel, 10 Brighton Road, Balaclava St Mary's Parents & Friends invites you to our 2018 Welcome Drinks at the Grosvenor Hotel, 7-11pm on Friday 16th February 2018. This annual drinks evening is always a great night out and a chance to catch up after the holiday break as well as welcome new parents to the school community.

Tickets are $20 per person which includes a drink on arrival (beer, wine, sparkling wine or soft drink) as well as a tasty variety of canapés. Tickets can be purchased through Trybooking only. See link below (there is a 30 cents per ticket booking charge). Numbers are limited so get in early to avoid missing out. https://www.trybooking.com/TXTT . We look forward to seeing you there! Questions? Please contact the P&F Management Committee at: smp.parentsandfriends@gmail.com

Extend OSHC at St Mary’s - Primary School

Our Recap Welcome back to Term 1 2018 from Extend! We hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday time and their first week back was stress-free.

Our holiday program was full of fun and exciting activities. We had a tour at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and the Queen Victoria Garden, where children learned about art and be inspired for their charcoal drawing session at the Garden afterwards. On the other day, we went to the ‘Clip & Climb’ centre, where children showcased their climbing skills and conquered their fear of height! One of the highlights was definitely the Splashtatic incursion. Children had a blast playing water games, splashing and squirting water on each other on a scorching day, which helped cooled them down. We’ll be looking forward to some fun-packed activities in the coming week doing some crafts! A variety of sports, board & card games, and art and crafts resources will also be available for the children to enjoy their time at Extend! Sincerely Juels and Rebecca, Service Coordinators HAVE YOU SECURED YOUR TERM 1 BOOKINGS? We are delighted to announce the launch of a brand new and exciting platform for families. The Parent Portal has ceased to operate at the conclusion of Term 4 2017 Before and After School Care and been replaced with a reliable, flexible, and user-friendly platform named LookedAfter. All families requiring bookings for 2018 Before School Care and After School Care (existing and new families) MUST create a new account with LookedAfter. https://www.lookedafter.com/ We look forward to seeing you in Term 1 2018!

Our Extend Superstars are….. Sophie Rotstein: for always having a big smile on her face at anytime that cheers everyone up!

Coming Up In The Program: Monday 5th Feb: Origami Tuesday 6th Feb: Bull Rush Wednesday 7th Feb: 3D Hand Art Thursday 8th Feb: Extend Family Tree Poster Friday 9th Feb: Poison Ball

PARENT PORTAL: extend.com.au ONLINE BOOKINGS: extend.com.au CALL OUR OFFICE: 1300 366 437

GUITAR LESSONS AT ST MARYS PRIMARY SCHOOL

ST MARYS Primary School in association with Metro Music School is now

offering GUITAR Lessons to students who are interested in learning an

instrument at school every week. Lessons are held during school hours at

suitable times. (Prep to Gr 6) Enquiries are welcome on 9460 4818

(Metro Music School).

Discount Hiring and Purchase also available. Contact us for

details or visit our online store at www.metromusic.net.au

ENROLMENT forms can be obtained from the school office or

contact Metro Music School direct. You can also enrol online

at the above website address.

DROP OFF AND PARKING DIRECTIONS FOR ST MARY’S SCHOOL

Please keep the ROUND-ABOUT near the presbytery CLEAR AT ALL TIMES there is to be no parking or dropping off or picking up from this area.

We ask that you observe the 5KM limit at all times while in the driveway.

The drive way is ONE WAY ONLY.

The painted ARROWS indicate the direction of the traffic flow.

ENTER ONLY from Westbury Street.

EXIT ONLY onto Dandenong Road.

The PAINTED CROSSING is the point at which you stop. Your child is then able to cross safely in front of your stopped car on the crossing or alight from the right hand side of the car straight in the drop off section. (Marked on the map)

Cars are asked not to stop after the CROSSING. There is to be NO dropping children off after the painted crossing.

If you need to spend any time at your car unloading bags, hugging etc please PARK on the basketball courts in front of the Community Centre and walk over to the school using the crossing and the garden path.

The GARDEN area is the only passage for pedestrians. The drive way is no longer accessible for walkers.

Please keep to the paths at all times.

PLEASE DO NOT WALK ON THE GRASS AT ANY TIME. FOR THE SAFETY OF YOUR CHILD AND GENERAL EFFICIENCY OF TRAFFIC FLOW WE ASK THAT YOU

FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS