Term 4, Week 5 2024

Dear Families,

Last week we welcomed Nicholas to Miss Shapcott’s Year One class. We hope your time with us is full of learning, friendships and fun! This week we welcomed Lisa Daniele back from her well earned leave and travels. It is great to see you back in our Front Office Lisa! Thank you to Sara Hardy and Ged Hughes for their work in covering for Lisa over the past five weeks.

Congratulations to our Athletics team who performed really well at Santos Stadium last week. Our Year 3 Boys were the Year Level Champions and two students were Age Champions - well done Angelina and Nelson! Everyone gave their best and represented our school in fine fashion. Thank you to Mr Morgado, Mrs Dickson, Mrs Haylock and Miss Dekort for their efforts in managing our team on the day. Well done to each student who competed, gave their best and had fun participating! I have heard really positive comments about how well behaved our children were at the carnival. It was heartening to hear our children openly displaying our Mercy values of Hospitality, Justice and Respect. Well done everyone!

Yesterday our new Receptions (Term 1 2025) came for their first Transition visit. They were very excited to be going to ‘Big School’. We are very happy to welcome: Abbas, Cecelia, Dante, Elvis, Lavie, Lilly, Mykah, Muna, Navi, Prisha, Zeik and Zyah. We look forward with great joy to sharing in your learning journey with you and your family.

This week or next week our students will be undertaking the Classroom Pulse Check In Survey. Our children do this survey each term and the information they provide gives us some understanding of how they are travelling, wellbeing wise. By doing this over time we can map the wellbeing of each student and hopefully provide support where it is needed. 

For the next few weeks the teachers will be extremely busy working on 2024 final School Reports and 2025 Class Lists. This is on top of their normal day to day classroom teaching. I want to acknowledge the extra work load and commitment of our staff at this time. It is greatly appreciated. 

Please note that the St Mary Magdalene’s 2024 School Resource Fees are due to be paid in full, no later than the 6 December 2024. If you have not finalised your school account and do not have an approved payment plan in place, please ensure your account is paid by the above date. Accounts without a consistent payment arrangement or those not paid may be referred to debt collection for further action. If you require a copy of your account statement, please contact the front office or email accounts@smm.catholic.edu.au. 

We are pleased to inform our school families that there will, once again, not be an increase in the school Resource Fee for the 2025 school year. They will remain at $250 per child. If any family has financial concerns, we ask them to contact our Business Manager – Janelle Lieu on 08 8287 7900 or email finance@smm.catholic.edu.au to confidentially discuss additional support.

We will be having a Christmas Carols / Concert at 2pm on Friday 6 December. Our children have been practicing and preparing with our Performing Arts Teacher, Rosemarie Villano, for this day and are getting quite excited. Please mark this in your diary.

We would like to remind students and families to be wary of approaches from strangers, especially when they are unaccompanied or travelling to and from school. If they are approached, students should not respond and should not accept offers of rides or gifts. Students should seek the assistance of other nearby adults if they feel unsafe and should report any events to a trusted adult (parent or school staff member) as soon as possible. SAPOL advises that taking out a mobile phone and calling police can deter an offender and they recommend the student making a formal report to their closest police station.

Please remember that we have the following dates set aside as Pupil Free Days for the staff to undertake professional development, staff reflection, complete hand over activities, etc. Our remaining set dates are: Thursday 12 December and Friday 13 December. Please mark them in your diary and book in to OSHC if you require this service (spaces will be limited).

Kind regards

Peter Mercer

Head of School

‘Shaping our Future Together’

It has been a joy to see so many students coming into the library borrowing books to enjoy reading and planning what book they will borrow next time they visit the library.

We have lots of new books in the library, and more to go on the shelves next year.

The last day to borrow books this year will be (week 5) Friday 15th November and all books and overdue ones to be returned to the library by (week 6) Friday 22nd November. 

Could parents/ caregivers please support and encourage your children to return them as soon as possible.

Overdue letters will be sent home with the student in week 7.  If any outstanding overdue books are not returned by week 8 for any reason of being lost or damaged the cost is now $15.00 per book .

Payment can be made at the front office.

Wishing all the St Mary Magdalene families and students a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in 2025. 

On Wednesday 6^th November St Mary Magdalene’s School participated in the Catholic Schools Athletics Carnival. The Catholic Schools Athletics Carnival competition is conducted between Catholic Schools of similar ability and size.

St Mary Magdalene’s entered a small team of 31 students in various athletics events with many students helping out their year levels.

Some of the highligts were St Mary Magdalene’s boys winning the Year 3 age group champions. Also, a big congratulations to Nelson Gideon and Angelina for using all their energy and strength to win the boys Year 3 and Year 5  individual  year level champions. Overall St Mary Magdalene's boys came 3rd in our section (out of 6) and St Mary Magdalene's girls came 5th (out of 6). Many other students should be impressed with their efforts in gaining place ribbons.

Thank you to all of the students for their efforts leading up to the carnival and for the way they represented the school displaying great sportspersonship. I would also like to thank Leah Dickson, Tara Haylock and Ebony Dekort for their help and support during the day.

Working in Partnership,

Cristian Morgado

PE Teacher/Coordinator

Hello Families,

We are so very close to the end of 2024, and I cannot believe it has gone so fast. OSHC has been a hive of activity this Term and we have certainly been busy.

So far this term we have introduced some new plants to our OSHC outdoor spaces and have also had a go planting some tomato seeds in pots inside to see if they will grow. So far we’ve had some sprouts and we have been taking care of them diligently. We hope our continued care of our new plants will see us blessed with watermelons, pumpkins, and tomatoes.

As we are in Term 4 just a general reminder that children are required to wear hats and sunscreen to engage in the outdoor environment.

Please ensure that if your child requires their own sunscreen and cannot use what is supplied by the school that you send this clearly labelled to OSHC with your child.

Additionally, if you child does not have a hat, they will be unable to play outside during OSHC time. Childrens hats for OSHC must be sun safe – this means that baseball caps are not appropriate.

IMPORTANT OSHC DATES

Please be aware that Thursday the 12^th and Friday the 13^th of December are Pupil Free Days. To access care for these days bookings are essential as spaces are limited.

To book your child into OSHC for either of these days please contact our OSHC staff via 0437 609 630 by Friday 6^th December 2024. Bookings made after this time may not be accepted.

As 2024 ends your child will come home with an enrolment and bookings package for 2025 in the coming weeks.

Please be aware that bookings DO NOT carry over into the following year therefore if you require OSHC for 2025 you will need to complete this paperwork and return it to OSHC or the front office staff promptly.

Thankyou,

Jenn Firth