Term 3, Week 3 Friday 12th August 2022

It has been great to be back at school for Week 3, after a relaxing 2 weeks of long service leave.  A huge thank you to Alicia Boylan for taking on the responsibility of Acting Principal in my absence.

I have loved seeing all the new faces in our school and preschool this week, and I extend a warm welcome to all our new families. 

On Monday, we participated in a lovely Liturgy of the Word to celebrate the feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.  During the liturgy, we were reminded that St Mary was an inspirational person, but also a very relatable person that was very dedicated to helping others in her community.  At St Margaret Mary’s School, we are inspired to do the same.

This Friday also is a very special day for some of our students, as they celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Croydon Park Parish.  Thank you to all the families and staff, especially Mr Harrison, who have been helping the students prepare for this very special celebration.

Each year, we remind families of some important documents regarding child safety and protection.  These documents can always be found on our website.  The link is here: https://www.smms.catholic.edu.au/news-events/parent-communication

• Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy (Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide)
• Responding to Online Safety incidents in South Australian Schools: Guidelines for staff working in education setting
• Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum Information (https://www.education.sa.gov.au/parents-and-families/curriculum-and-learning/early-years/keeping-safe-child-protection-curriculum-information-parents-and-carers)

UNIFORM

All students should now be wearing our ‘new’ uniform, including blue hats.  We have jackets arriving next week, and long sleeve polo tops are available in the uniform shop, so there is no need for long sleeve tops under short sleeve shirts! 

Only uniform jackets are permitted.  The uniform is designed to be very warm, and students are warm in the classrooms and are running around outside, so do not need so many layers.

Our uniform is an important part of our identity and pride in our school community, so I thank you for supporting us in this.

Kelly Campbell
Principal

NCCD 2022 INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS
 The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) is an annual collection that counts the number of school students with disability and the level of reasonable educational adjustment they are provided with. Under the Australian Education Act, all schools are required to participate and this information is submitted during August each year.
 What is the NCCD?
Why is this data being collected?
What information will be collected?
How will this data be used?

The answers to these questions can be found here. 

NCCD Parent Fact sheet in Vietnamese can be found here.

If you have any further questions, please contact Ms Boylan.
 

Parent/Teacher Conversations
We are currently conducting parent meetings for many of our students who have a Personalised Plan for Learning. This is an important part of our reporting program and enables teachers and carers to share successes and make new goals for the students.

Parent/Teacher Conversations for the remaining families will be held in Week 8. Please keep an eye out for more information soon.

NO HATS NO PLAY!
As winter ends, we return to hats during outside play times from AUGUST 1^ST. Children will still be able to wear the school beanie only when they come to school if they are feeling cold. WIDE BRIM SCHOOL HATS ARE REQUIRED FOR ALL OUTSIDE PLAY AND FOR PE LESSONS. Please help your child to remember to bring their hat each day. Please clearly label the hat with your child’s name.

Book Week

Book Week is quickly coming! The classes have been sharing the nominated books from the Children’s Book Council, and doing some activities around this during their library lessons.

We have nominated Thursday Week 5 (August 25^th) as our ‘dress up day’.

The theme this year is “Dreaming with eyes open…”. We have some simple yet fun ideas of how we will celebrate Book Week this year, so stay tuned!

Year 5/6 Camp
On Monday our year 5 and 6 students will be attending a camp at She-Oak. The children are really excited about the three days, and they have a lot of fun activities planned. A number of teachers will be attending. Miss Vancy Truong and Mrs Centofanti will be staying behind to have fun with the Year 4 students!

We can’t wait to hear all about their few days away!

Alicia Boylan
Assistant Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

In recent weeks, we have welcomed our newest Foundation students and gathered to celebrate the Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. It has been wonderful to celebrate with our Foundation to Year 6 classes and to see the student’s leading liturgies and hear their collective voices singing once again. I was also fortunate to meet with our Semester 2 Student Leadership Team (SLT) representatives to discuss our Term 3 school-based and community-based initiatives.

 Book Sale Fundraiser

In support of our Library, the SLT representatives have offered to co-ordinate a ‘Pre-Loved Book and Game Sale’ on Wednesday 24 August and Friday 26 August at recess. The selected books and games on sale have been recently deleted from our school library system to make room for new resources. The books and games included in the sale can be purchased by students for a donation of 50c per book and $2 per game. Dymocks Children’s Charities and the Library Boost Project are happy to match any money we raise from sales and donate that same value in books and resources to some of Australia’s most disadvantaged schools.

If you have a few coins, that you are happy to donate on Wednesday 24 August or Friday 26 August, please provide a reusable supermarket bag, so that it is easy to identify any purchases from the sale when you pick them up.

Social Justice Focus

This term we will extend our support to the Moore Street Day Centre. Moore Street is a welcoming Centre for homeless persons. Those who visit the centre during the day are greeted with a smile and offered companionship. There are various activities they may choose to be involved in and a lunchtime meal to share with others. In the evening, when the Centre is closed, Moore Street send out their soup van to provide a warm meal to Adelaide’s homeless and most vulnerable. Each year, the Moore Street Centre invites the support of schools like ours to donate vegetables, so that students can prepare soups that can be served on the next evenings soup run. This term, our Year 6 and SLT students will be making potato and leek soup and also pumpkin soup in support.

If your family can spare a vegetable or two, we are welcoming donations of garlic, onion, potato, pumpkin and leek from Monday 15 August to Friday 26 August. All vegetable donations received by the front office will be used to create our soup donations in Week 5, 6 and 7.

Parish News

Sacrament of Confirmation: Friday 12 August, St Margaret Mary’s Church at 7:00pm.

Family Mass: Sunday 14 August, St Margaret Mary’s Church at 10:30am. All are welcome.

Sacrament of Confirmation: Friday 19 August, St Margaret Mary’s Church at 7:00pm.

Term 3 Liturgy Dates (St Margaret Mary’s Church):
Week 5: 1/2 Liturgy of the Word on Thursday 25 August at 11:45am (amended date)

Week 6: Year 3 Mass on Thursday 1 September at 9:15am

Week 7: Year 4/5 Mass on Thursday 8 September at 9:15am

Week 8: Year 6 Mass on Thursday 15 September at 9:15am

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

God bless,

Matthew Harrison
Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission