Term 2, Week 7 Friday 16th June 2023

St Margaret Mary’s Preschool
We love having a Preschool as a part of our community and Preschool plays an important role in children’s early learning and wellbeing development.  Our Preschool recently was involved in an Assessment and Rating process.  This process involves our preschool educators to reflect and plan with the 7 Quality Areas.  Each year we develop a Quality Improvement Plan that reflects the National Quality Framework.

Quality Area 1:            Educational Program and Practice

Quality Area 2:            Children’s Health and Safety

Quality Area 3:            Physical Environment

Quality Area 4:            Staffing Arrangements

Quality Area 5:            Relationships with Children

Quality Area 6:            Collaborative Partnerships with Families and Communities

Quality Area 7:            Governance and Leadership

We are very proud that St Margaret Mary’s Preschool have been recognised as meeting every one of these standards in our recent Assessment and Rating process. 

Congratulations to our Preschool team for their continued hard work and recent success: Maria Iovino, Julia Pollifrone, Chloe Van Mourik, Julie Bottger, Vicky Manalo and Carly Antiuschka. Thank you to Alicia Boylan who also has contributed to our Preschool and Early Years team over many years.

Enrolments
Although it is only term 2, we have already started to look at our 2024 enrolments.  If you have any friends or families that may be interested in finding out more about St Margaret Mary’s School or Preschool learning and wellbeing program, please ask them to contact Angela in the office.  Our next Principal’s tours are on 22^nd August (9.15am and 5pm).  We have some limited places available in various year levels.

Playground Update
The children have been loving using the new playground over the past 2 weeks.  The swing should be ready for use soon – we are just waiting on some additional soft fall so students can easily see a safe space for use.

The oval is currently being resurfaced and we are really hoping this will be completed by the end of week 9, we do need to have 3 days of good weather (no rain!) for the new surface to be installed. 

We are all looking forward to having all our play space completed.

Thank you for your continuing support,
Kelly Campbell

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend with family and friends. On Friday 16 June, our community prayer celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our prayer focused on Jesus’ mission to share God’s love with others. His teachings encourage us to grow as hope-filled people whose hearts are also full of love; reflecting God's hospitable heart when we welcome others, God's concerned heart in our generosity and God's comforting heart when we care for those in need.

Liturgies and Masses
Over the past few weeks our Year 1 and Year 2 students have gathered to celebrate their respective Liturgies of the Word in St Margaret Mary’s Church.  The theme of the Year 1 Liturgy was ‘Mary our Mother’ and for Year 2 the focus was on the theme of ‘Forgiveness.’ Both celebrations were connected to the learning in the classroom and were lead by our students who actively participated in the singing and actioning of songs and read with clear and confident voices. We are always grateful for these opportunities to come together in liturgy and are thankful of the support from our families and teachers for helping to prepare the students.

From next week, we will join with parishioners for upcoming Masses and extend a warm invitation for families who are able to join us for our Primary Years celebrations:

• Year 3/4 Mass – Thursday 22 June at 9:15am in St Margaret Mary’s Church
• Year 5/6 Mass – Thursday 29 June at 9:15am in St Margaret Mary’s Church

Refugee Week
Sunday 18 June to Saturday 24 June is Refugee Week. Refugee Week promotes greater awareness of refugees, the issues faced and the contributions refugees make to Australian society. This year the theme is, ‘Finding Freedom.’ Refugee Week is a unique opportunity for us all to reflect on the diversity that enriches our community and culture and to stand in solidarity with refugees in Australia and throughout the world. For more information about Refugee Week, please visit https://www.refugeeweek.org.au/

Moore Street Soup Run
By the end of the Term, our Early Years and Primary Years Student Representative Teams will have produced approximately 20 litres of pumpkin and sweet potato soup as well as 20 litres of potato and leek soup. These soups are delivered to Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons to support evening soup vans in Hurtle Square and Whitmore Square. Whilst preparing the soups we always share in conversations about how our action can impact on others and how making soup can help people in our community. A huge thank you for the generosity of our families, we have been incredibly humbled by the support of fresh produce donations such as pumpkins, potatoes and sweet potatoes to create our soups.

Sacramental Program
Early next term, we will hold a First Holy Communion Parent Information Night on Wednesday 2 August from 7:00pm in the Mary MacKillop Centre at Whitefriars School. Then on Friday 4 August all our SMMS candidates preparing for Confirmation and First Holy Communion will travel by bus to St Patricks School for a student workshop from 9:15 – 2:45pm.

If you have any questions please send an email  matthew.harrison@smms.catholic.edu.au or contact the parish office on 8346 0944.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Water Safety Years 3-5
Our Year 3-5 students enjoyed their 4-day water safety program at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre last week. It was great to see students developing their confidence in the water as well as safety and swimming skills, all while having fun with their classmates. Your child should have received a certificate as a record of the skills that were covered during their lessons. Thank you to the parents and carers who were able to volunteer and support our staff and students on the bus and at the pool.

Lacrosse Carnival
Over 70 of our Year 3-6 students participated in the SACPSSA Lacrosse Carnival on Friday 2nd June. The carnival was held at Woodville Lacrosse Club, Findon with our students demonstrating a high level of skill and sportsmanship on the day. Thank you to our PE teacher Celeste Brown for her organisation of teams and in giving so many of our students this amazing opportunity. Many thanks also to our staff who supported the day and the parent volunteers who coached/team managed and supported our students and staff at the carnival.

Feros Care
This coming Tuesday 20 June we will have Feros Care here at St Margaret Mary’s from 8:30am-4pm. Feros Care have partnered with Catholic Education and our school to be our NDIS Partner delivering Local Area Coordination Services. They will be on site to provide information, support and answer questions about Feros Care and the services they offer including:

• Understanding the NDIS
• Eligibility for NDIS
• NDIS plan creation
• NDIS plan management
• Community supports for people with disability.

No bookings are required, just come along at a time that suits you. If you are not able to be here on Tuesday, you can contact Feros Care on 1300 986 970 or feroslac@ndis.gov.au

Belinda Elliott
Assistant Principal

Are your kids looking for something to do during the July school holidays? Youth camps might be right for your upper-primary-aged kids. Junior Christian Life (JC Life) is a camp during the first week of holidays (11-14 July), designed for young people in Years 4–6. It is aimed at providing a fun, safe place for young people to meet others of their own age and grow in their relationship with God. Held at beautiful Camp Kedron in Bamera, it’s 3 days full of games, food, and worship (and if transport from Adelaide is an issue, busses are provided.) For more information, click this link: JC Life - Blueprint Ministries 

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