Term 3, Week 9 Friday 22nd September 2023

It was great to see so many parents/carers attend for our important learning conversations last week.  A strong partnership between home and school is very important in assisting your child in their learning and wellbeing development and the information that is shared is essential in supporting your child.

Sometimes children do not always share what they have been learning at school. Instead of asking, ‘how was your day?’ or ‘what did you do today?’ try these questions instead…

1. What made you laugh today?
2. What subject was your favourite today?
3. What was the best part of your day?
4. Who did you sit with when you were eating lunch today?
5. What was the most interesting thing you learned today?
6. What did you like most about school today?
7. What was the hardest thing you did today?

During school time, we are focussing on asking students about their learning…

1. What are you learning and why?
2. How are you doing?
3. How do you know?
4. How can you improve?
5. Where do you go for help?

As we are getting towards the end of the school term, can I please ask for your support for the following?

1. School uniform.  Only white socks please!
2. Toys/show bag things – please discourage your child/ren from bringing toys/show bag items from home.  They often become lost and it can cause many distractions throughout the day.  We cannot monitor items bought from home.
3. Please register your child/ren with OSHC – children are supervised until 3.20pm and then they will go to OSHC.  We cannot supervise children after 3.20pm.

Registration for OSHC is free and you are only charged when you use it.  www.campaustralia.com.au

We have been speaking with all the children about our school value of integrity. In simple terms this is about doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Our focus has been on appropriate behaviour in the toilets and moving safely around the school. 

I look forward to seeing many of you at our Mid-Autumn Festival this Friday.  Thank you to all our amazing families who have donated food, money, time and costumes for this event.

Kelly Campbell

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

The Feast Day of our school and church patron saint, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, is on Monday 16 October.  Croydon Park Parish will celebrate the Feast Day on Sunday 15 October at the 10:30am Mass, followed by the traditional multicultural lunch and cultural festivities. Families are most welcome to attend and if you are able to donate food or help on the day please contact the parish on 8346 0944 or at hello@croydonparkparish.com.au .

As a school, we will celebrate the Feast Day on Monday 16 October, with a whole school Liturgy of the Word in the church, and a Zooper Dooper style iceblock afterwards. We look forward to celebrating the Feast as a community when we return for Term 4.

Community Garden Beds
I am pleased to share that our newly planted garden beds are establishing well. The tomato, carrots, lettuce, spinach, marigolds and lavenders, planted by our Student Leadership Team, all seem quite healthy. Special thanks to Green Adelaide and Oddy Gromitsaris for the additional irrigation tubing, timer and shade cloth construction. These additions will help to protect the garden beds throughout the school holidays. Our Student Leadership Team representatives look forward to seeing how much everything has grown when we return.

Liturgies and Masses
Since our last newsletter, our Year 3/4 classes have celebrated a parish Mass for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and our Year 5/6 classes also celebrated a parish Mass for the Feast of Saint Matthew, The Apostle. Fr Charles and Fr Sam thanked our Primary Years altar servers, readers, PowerPoint operators and processors for helping to lead the celebrations for the parish. In addition, they also congratulated the children for sharing their learning during Homilys and for their active participation and joyous singing. In Term 4, we will gather for the following celebrations and as always families are most welcome to join us:

2024 Sacramental Program:
Congratulations to Rose, Anisha, Kayleen, Cameron, Jayne Louiz, Abrihet, Xavier, Rosalie, Aria and Javier, who received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion at St Margaret Mary’s Church as part of the recent Croydon Park Parish Sunday Masses. The Parish Sacramental Program will recommence in 2024. Initial information will be released in Term 4 and then further information will also be shared in Term 1. The Sacramental Program is offered to families with children in Year 3 to Year 6.

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

Have a good weekend everyone.

Matthew Harrison

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Mid-Autumn Festival
We were very excited to celebrate our Mid-Autumn Festival today - Friday 22 September. I loved my first experience of this wonderful celebration and enjoyed seeing all of our students in traditional dress and Autumn colours. I now understand why this is one of the staff and students’ favourite days in the school calendar!

The Mid-Autumn Festival provides an opportunity for all children to be involved in story, dance, performance, and artwork. It’s a celebration of our students, their learning and developing an understanding of some of the diverse cultures within our community. The celebrations also include a shared lunch with a BBQ, fried rice, spring rolls, crispy chicken and prawn crackers.

A big thank you to all the families who donated food as well as money which enabled us to buy the spring rolls, chicken wings, plates, sausages (etc).  Your generosity is much appreciated. Thank you also to the parents who volunteered at the festival. We appreciate your help and support.
Special thanks to all of our school staff, but especially our Mid-Autumn Committee who organised the event, food, decorations and prepared the students for the dances and stories. Their hard work and commitment ensured the day was a success. Many thanks to Jane Victory, Ann Lang, Michelle Leonardi, Nicky Watson, Olivia Ventura, Matt Harrison, and Kelly Campbell.

On Monday, our Group 1 Preschoolers, along with some very special guests from St Anna’s Aged Care, enjoyed a preview of the Mid-Autumn Festival dances and stories. Below are some photos from this presentation. The visitors from St Anna’s Aged Care loved their time in the Preschool and were able to stay on after the presentation to participate in some lantern craft with our preschool children. Thanks to Maria Iovino for her work in supporting this lovely collaboration between the St Margaret Mary’s Preschool and St Anna’s Aged Care.

We will share more photos of the Mid-Autumn Festival soon.

Sickness/Viruses – Please keep your child home if they are unwell
We are currently experiencing many children being sent to school with clearly visible symptoms of viruses such as coughs and runny noses. If your child is unwell, please keep them home from school until symptoms have cleared. This protects the health of other students and our staff. Please respect the health of everyone within our community.

Ice Cream Containers Please
If anybody has any 2L ice cream containers that they no longer need, please send them to school for Mrs Victory.  Thank you!

Wishing you all the best for the reminder of the term, and a wonderful school holiday break. I’ll look forward to seeing you in Term 4.

Belinda Elliott