Term 1, Week 5 Friday 3rd March 2023

Student Free Day and Vacation Care

We are very excited that our new playground work will finally be commencing!  The hard play area will be removed and re-laid during the April holidays.  As this will be major ground works that will impact access to outdoor play space, we have needed to make some changes to Vacation Care.  All this information is outlined in the letter sent home this week in hard copy and on SeeSaw.

We also need an additional Student Free Day (Friday 14^th April, final day of the term) to allow materials to be delivered.

I thank you for your understanding.  Our new play space will be amazing and the only way we can do this major work in a safe and timely matter is to make these changes.

Parent Partnerships

At St Margaret Mary’s School, we understand the vital role parents/carers play as the first educators of children.  We aim to always work in partnership for your child’s learning and wellbeing.  SeeSaw is our primary tool for communication.  If you are having trouble accessing this, please come and see Angela in the office.

Other important events to put in your diary:

Parent/Teacher Conversations – 20-24^th March at various times.  Booking information will come soon.  We aim for 100% attendance at these very important meetings to discuss your child.

R- 2 Literacy – How to build your child’s literacy. 9am or 6pm on Wednesday 5^th April.  This session will outline our Early Years Literacy Program and how we can support parent/carers in developing literacy at home.

Gifted and Talented – Parents of students who are participating in the first intake of our Gifted and Talented program will be invited to a parent session in the coming weeks.

St Margaret Mary’s School and Preschool have a Positive Resolution Procedure that outlines the path of communication, if you have any concerns regarding St Margaret Mary’s School or Preschool.  We always encourage parents/carers to contact us early so we can resolve any concerns in a timely manner.

The full procedure can be found above.

I am very proud to be able to share news of some of our past students who recently completed Year 12.

Congratulations to Sunny Ly, who graduated from St Margaret Mary’s School in 2017. Sonny received an ATAR of 99.05 and was Christian Brothers College’s Vice-Captain of Excellence and College proxime accessit for 2022.

Cyril Vincent also attended Christian Brothers College after SMMS. He received an ATAR of 97.9.  Christian Brothers College is very proud of their achievements and so are we!

Please take the time to have a look at the latest Mount Carmel College newsletter. We are very proud to note that Jessica Ho was DUX of the college and received an ATAR of 94.9. Other past students who were amongst the Highest Achievers for 2022 included Aimy Lieu and Ryan Le. Please let us know if you spot any other of our past students amongst Mount Carmel College’s highest achievers!

We also had the very lovely opportunity to have two of our past students here as relief teachers! Vy Ly and Joseph Fuda returned to take different classes across the school this week. Joseph will also be taking 5/6GG in a few weeks while Mr Graham is on leave. We look forward to seeing more of them both throughout the year!

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

At our first class assembly for 2023, we acknowledged our Semester 1 Student Leadership Team (SLT) with a round of applause. Congratulations to the following ‘leaders of service:’

Primary Years Team:                                      Early Years Team:

5/6GG              Mai-Ly and Nam                     2KB                  Victoria and Jaikrish

5/6LC               Markus and John                     2NW                Mia and Yoni

5/6LO              Jessie and Ky                           1AV                  Niviya and Cloud

3/4CM             Rosalie and Thomas                1OV                 Ivy and Titus   

3/4JM              Alessandra and Kenzi              RML                 Valeria and Fikadu                 

3/4KR              Jayne Louiz and Arin               RRB                 Finley and George

Sacrament of Reconciliation Workshop
All St Margaret Mary’s School, students currently preparing for their First Reconciliation will attend a student workshop on Thursday 9 March, from 9:00am to 11:00am in the Parish Hall.

We encourage all students to bring along their Reconciliation activity booklets. Following the recess break the students will return to their respective classrooms to continue their school day.

As this is within school hours and onsite in our Parish Hall, there is no electronic permission slip required for students to participate.  If you have any questions regarding the student workshop please feel free to send an email matthew.harrison@smms.catholic.edu.au

First Reconciliation Dates
The Sacrament of First Reconciliation ceremonies will be held at St Margaret Mary’s Church on, Saturday 18 March and Saturday 25 March from 11:00am to 12:00pm.

Project Compassion
The theme of Project Compassion in 2023 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good we do today extends to impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues. 

Over the coming weeks, our students will be learning how they can join together in solidarity with schools all over Australia to show ‘compassion in action’ this Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving in support of Project Compassion.

Last week we provided a Project Compassion (PC) donation box to the eldest student in each family. As a family, we ask you to hold onto the PC Box until the end of term. As a family, you may like to visit the www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion site.

Later in the term we will advertise a ‘special day’ inviting students to bring in a gold coin donation or their Project Compassion donation box as we raise awareness of how St Margaret Mary’s collective fundraising assists Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion to empower change, ‘For all future generations.’

Have a good weekend everyone.

Mrs Brown has organised 3 teams for St Margaret Mary's School in the St Clair baskeball competition after school.  Thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers who coach and team manage our teams.

https://websites.mygameday.app/assoc_page.cgi?c=0-12630-0-0-0&a=COMP

We are so happy to announce that Mrs Pennie Blazely has been granted Australian Citizenship this year.  Here she is at her Citizenship Ceremony in January.

Please keep us updated with any changes to visa or citizenship status of our students as we need to keep our files up to date.