Newsletter Term 2, Week 4 2023
Monday 12 June- Kings Birthday Public Holiday
Monday 10th July- Student Free Day
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for reading the school newsletter. It has been another fortnight of exciting and engaging learning for all with student rich activities.
The children and school community have enjoyed the benefits of another fortnight of building positive home – school connections.
Mother’s Day Stall
Thank you to Larissa Cairns for taking the initiative and running the first Mother’s Day stall for many years. I heard from mums and children on Monday morning about the delight they felt from the loving moments they shared when giving and receiving gifts, handmade by our community and selected by our children. I wish to acknowledge and thank the suppliers and creators of the gifts: Claire Fidalgo, Janice Cairns, Rachael Collier, Glenda Montgomery, Happy Apple Seddon and to Siobhan Summerville for supplying the gorgeous pink balloon garland. We are also grateful for the helpers on the day; Janice Cairns, Nicole Bryson, Chris Crowe, Rachael Collier, Aarti Vincent and Kate Tyugay.
Mother’s Day Breakfast
Our welcoming and inclusive community is growing and thriving as seen with more than 90 mums and special women of SMM joining us last Friday for the Mother’s Day breakfast. Sharing food, beverages, smiles and conversation was a heartwarming occasion for all involved and listening to the children’s choir was a moving highlight. Thank you to Ms Flynn and the children for dedicating their time to preparing and delivering their excellent performance. The children were so excited to be part of the morning and seeing their mums. Thank you to Fiona Boyer, Michelle Ridley and Jodie Miller who brought this special occasion together.
Enhancing St. Margaret Mary’s
Slowly and steadily we are enhancing the student facilities at St. Margaret Mary’s. Next time you visit; you may notice a new fence installed across the water tank near the hall. This was organised to prevent children accessing the isolated space behind the hall near the fence and thus keeping them safe. This space previously used for bike storage, will be closed and the area behind the new fence will be used to safely store bikes and scooters in clear line of sight from the yard. You may have also noticed; the removal of some potentially harmful plants from around the BBQ, the repair of the watering system, resetting of garden stone blocks and wooden sleepers, and the trimming of hedges and trees to enhance our administration, garden beds and beautiful natural play areas in the children’s yard. If you are a parent or carer of SMM, who is keen to help tidy and stock take our library books, please contact me via principal@smmspotswood.catholic.edu.au. I am facilitating the allocation and training of a staff member to manage the library. We have plans for adding to our range of student books which I will finalise in consultation with the FSG at our next meeting at the Spotswood Hotel 6pm Tuesday May 30th.
Please note school fees are due. Thank you to those that have paid. See the payment table below. Please contact the office to tailor your payments to suit your family. It is essential for the running of our thriving learning community that fees are paid please. Please reach out if you are experiencing challenges in meeting this financial commitment. Thank you.
Empowering our students to be positive leaders
We have launched our student driven but teacher supervised lunch clubs. Ms Laurie and Mr Devlin have consulted with children to facilitate the organisation of the following Lunch time clubs:
STEM: Led by and introducing Ross and Tristan (Two of our number of new and fabulous students to our school!)
Dance Club: Led by Ellie, Zoe, Isabel and Karli
Soccer club run by Sports captains Noah and Karli
Chill Out Club led by our Wellbeing and Liturgy captains Isabel, Jacinta, Charlotte and Julian.
Confirmation
Congratulations to all of the Confirmation candidates and sponsors for the reverent and meaningful celebration of this important sacrament last night. Thank you to Mrs Hodza for preparing the children so well and to Ms Brown for organising the beautiful mass. We were blessed to have Bishop Ashe along with Fr Binh to say mass and confirm the students. Thank you to our dedicated staff, family and friends who attended last night. To all year 6 children who showed great maturity, may you always draw on the enduring positivity of hope and the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit as you continue to grow and learn the ways of Jesus throughout life. Thank you to the wonderful choir and musicians led by Larissa Cairns. It was a lovely addition to a beautiful evening.
Hobart
Recently, I had the opportunity of joining fellow principals from the Western Region in an immersion experience, based in Hobart, Tasmania. This enlightening experience is called 'Sacred Land: Exploring an Australian Spirituality.” Over 5 days we were invited to share and reflect on our stories, the stories of our first nations people, the story of our land, its past, its present and optimistic future. We learnt about Fanny Cochrane Smith and Truganini, both strong Aboriginal women, who proudly shared some of their culture with each other to ensure not all was lost as a result of the settlement War that led to the near extinction of the Tasmanian Aborigines. We listened to; Elder Uncle Rodney Dillon, his daughter Bron Dillon, Luke Mabb, both proud first nations people and Dr Grant Finlay, an ally and scholar of Australia’s Indigenous people. They shared the pain and trauma their descendants had endured over the years while at the same time expressing their optimism for the positive changes possible in Australia.
My photograph shares with you cherished gifts I received from Uncle Rodney and his daughter Bron on our last day. Whilst visiting Bruny Island, we had the privilege of learning how to make a traditional drinking bowl. Bron demonstrated how to create this bowl using the same materials and technique as the 2,000-year-old bowl we saw the day before in the Hobart museum. We watched Uncle Rodney, despite his senior years, dive for abalone which was then prepared, cooked and shared with us all. The stone pictured, was a gift from Bron who pressed sacred red ochre on to Bruny island stones and presented to each of us.
Bruny Island
As a group of Catholic Principals we all returned to Melbourne transformed by this often emotional experience. We rejoin our schools with the collective goal to share our learnings and insights into the history of our country and Australia’s first nations people with our parish school communities.
Our enrolments for 2024 Foundation are healthy and I write to encourage you to put in your application if you have a sibling you wish to enrol for next year. Please pass on to family and friends that we are still taking enrolments for next year until May 31st. It is delightful meeting the lovely new families and children starting in 2024 at the small but mighty St. Margaret Mary’s!
#thankyoutaniacammarano #goodread
Stay warm, take care
Colleen McCambridge
Principal
Follow our socials for the latest learning posts from the classroom
St Margaret Mary’s students are independent life-long learners inspired by Gospel values and empowered with a sense of purpose and responsibility. They confidently engage with others and are equipped with skills to adapt to an ever changing world.
Each week, students who embody our values, apply the school mindsets to learning, work hard to improve or persevere to deliver on learning objectives are awarded a class award. The students who earned an award in the past weeks are:
Term 2, Week 4
Term 2, Week 3
Juniors Community Excursion
It was a wonderful day for our grade 1 and 2 students on Monday as they went on their local community excursion. They visited many of the shops in the local Spotswood strip, including the chemist, Mazniks and the IGA. From there, they headed down to the Spotswood train station for a short trip to Newport.
There was lots to see and do in Newport, including seeing how the Op Shop Vinnies helps in our community. After visiting Vinnies, students had a quick snack and play in the park. Students were treated to a tour of the local fruit and vegetable shop, and were able to buy a piece of fruit (or broccoli!) to eat. The students were happy to donate their change to Vinnies to help support the important work they do.
We were treated to a tour of the library and from there we headed vack to school. It was a great day to be out and the sun was shining down. A big thank you to our parent helpers Eliza, Simone, Christine and Annie for supporting us on the day.
Enjoying some fruit and veg!
Bebras Maths Challenge
Our students gave some insight into what the Bebras maths challenge was like for them. As well as being challenging, it was a lot of fun to work as a team.
Cross Country 2023
A huge congratulations to all of our students that competed in the District Cross Country on the 8th of May. Fortunately the rain held off for the day. All of our students showed excellent sportsmanship and determination and represented our school with pride. It was wonderful to see the students cheering each other on. Our school placed 6th overall.
Congratulations to the following students who qualified for Division Cross Country:
Finn W: 9th place in the 9/10 year old boys group
Chloe L: 9th place in the 11 year old girls group
Harri R: 8th place in the 12/13 year old boys group
We are very proud of the way all of the students represented our school on the day. We wish Finn, Chloe and Harri all the best at the Division Cross Country finals on the 31st of May at Brimbank Gardens.
Thank you to all the parents who came along to cheer on the students and to Mr Tasca for his assistance on the day.
Kristine Messig
Inform and Empower Parent Information Session
Thank you to all our families that attended the Inform and Empower Information session. We had 45 families register for the session which is a great turnout. There was some very useful information for parents and carers about some very popular games and apps.
If you would like to watch a recording of the session, you can visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIgXSxSt9qA
It is highly recommended that all parents of school age children watch the recording as it has valuable information around helping our kids navigate the online world.
Mother’s Day Breakfast
Last week we had our annual Mothers and special person Breakfast. This was our biggest yet. There were 92 tickets sold, which was a great turn out. The Mums and special people in our students' lives enjoyed a coffee and some pastries and each other's company for the morning. The SMM choir also came and entertained our guests with songs celebrating Mums and kids. Many thanks to Fiona (Xavier F's Mum) and her team Jodie and Michelle for organising such a great brekky and turnout! We had some lovely donated gifts that we were able to use as door prizes donated by our lovely grandparents and parents. Thanks also to Ms Flynn for getting our choir ready to sing at our Brekky!!
Mothers Day Stall
This year saw the return of The Mother's Day Stall. It was so lovely to see the eagerness and joy in their faces as they made their way down to the stall. The kids were super excited, and spent so much time perusing the gifts and selecting the one they thought their Mum would love. We hope the Mums and special people in their lives loved their gifts as much as the kids did buying them.
Many thanks to Larissa (Ruby and Gilbert's Mum) for organising the stall. Janice, Nicole, Chris, Rachael, Aarti and Kate for helping on the day. Many thanks also to Claire, Janice, Rachael and Glenda Montgomery for supplying the handmade gifts. The gorgeous balloon garland was supplied by Siobhan Summerville
Walk to School Day
It was wonderful to see so many of our students get some exercise on this cold Friday morning. Walk to School Day is a great initiative to get students and families exercising and enjoying the outdoors. Remember it doesn’t have to be one day a year!
Confirmation
It was wonderful to celebrate Confirmation on Thursday evening with our students and families. It is a very special time in their lives and one that sets them on a path for their futures and faith journeys. Photos from the night will be placed in an online folder and shared with the confirmation students.
Upcoming School Masses and events
Sunday 18th June- Family Mass: Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Reports Online
This year, St Margaret Mary’s will be moving to paperless reports. This means you will log in to our reporting and attendance website. You will be able view and, or download your child’s report. Please email with all of yours and your child’s details to: office@smmspotswood.catholic.edu.au if you would still like a paper copy sent home. In the coming weeks you will receive an email from no-reply@nforma.com.au inviting you to create a password, and closer to the end of term, a notification alerting you that your child’s report is ready.
Playground
Please note that the playground is not open before or after school as there is no teacher supervising the playground at those times. If your toddler or preschool child is playing on the playground before the bell in the afternoon it would be helpful if when the bell rang, they then came off the playground so other school children aren’t tempted to play alongside them. Thanks for your support with this.
Also, as much as we love the cute dogs that come down to school to pick up their humans we ask that they don’t come into the school yard. We have some kids that are frightened of dogs and like to be with their parents before having to walk past any dogs.
Investigations
The junior classes need your help. We are after some resources to help ignite our investigations. If you are doing any clean outs over the holidays we want your clean, usable, second hand things! As always we are after natural based items, think wood, rattan, real life items etc basically NO PLASTICS.
We have listed some items on the graphic we are particularly after if you have any hanging around. If you have any small cardboard boxes (packaging from online shopping) headed for the recycling bin please keep them aside for us. If you have any questions about an item's suitability please email Simone Laurie (slaurie@smmspotswood.catholic.edu.au)
Please send any items in with the kids or drop them off at the front office. Thanks in advance, Simone and the Junior Team
Important Dates
Trying to find an important date? Check out our updated Term Dates page.
Upcoming Water Works
Over the past twelve months Melbourne Water has completed investigation works at the sewer maintenance hole near the corner of Cullen Street and Hudsons Road, Spotswood.
Results of these investigations indicate that the internal fittings, including the drop pipe need to be upgraded.
The drop pipe located inside the maintenance hole plays an important role in transferring sewage from Spotswood on to Melbourne Water's Western Treatment Plant.
Works will involve:
• Removing the old drop pipe, ladder and landing pad
• Cleaning and re-lining the internal surface of the maintenance hole
• Installing a new drop pipe, ladders and landing pad
These works will ensure that the sewer maintenance hole and drop pipe continue to operate safely for generations to come.
Timing
Works will start in mid-May and will take around 3 months to complete, weather permitting. Working hours are between 7am and 5pm Monday to Friday. Aqua Metro Services will complete this project on behalf of Melbourne Water.
All parents and carers welcome!
Please join Colleen and the FSG members at the Spotswood Hotel - 6pm - Tuesday May 30th.
At the first FSG meeting some potential fundraising targets were discussed. One thing everyone agreed on was a new audio visual system for the hall was a must. Colleen will update the parents who come along with a positive update on this target and to open discussions on some more ideas to enhance the learning and social environment for the children of St. Margaret Mary’s.
Footy Tipping
With only 2 tips separating the top 5, it is anyones game. The Miller boys have made their way to 3rd place using their Joker in the last round.
There’s a few tricky games this weekend. Melbourne and PA in Adelaide, and WB and Adelaide could be hard to pick.
Please pay now if you haven’t already done so!
$25 to join and prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd to be announced soon.
Payments made via school FSG bank account. Please have entry payments made by round 3, using your footy tipping alias as a reference.
Account SMM FSG
BSB: 083 347
Acc: 365426557
You can also send in $25 in an envelope, labelled with your alias and titled "2023 footy tipping"
Join the competition below: https://www.footytips.com.au/comps/SMM_2023_AFL_Footy_Tipping_Competition?p=stmm3015
Best of Luck!
Emmanuel College News
We welcome you to come along this Sunday 21 May 2023 at Open Day where you will see the fantastic facilities here at Emmanuel, hear from our College Principal Dr Janine Biggin and Campus Leaders, meet students and join us on a campus tour. Times for each campus are below; and registration is available through the College website https://www.ecmelb.catholic.edu.au and here:
Open Day and Tour registration
Open Day – Sunday 21 May 2023
St Paul’s Campus Between 10:30am and 1:30pm
Notre Dame Campus Between 11:00am and 2:00pm
Year 7 2025 – applications closing on Friday 18 August 2023.
If your child is currently in Grade 5, enrolment applications are now being accepted and will close on 18 August. Even if your older child is already attending or joining us in 2024, it is a requirement for an application to be submitted for 2025.
A Prospectus Pack containing an application form can be obtained:
At Open Day this Sunday 21 May
By following this link to the College website: Request a Prospectus here
Sending an email: enrolments@ecmelb.catholic.edu.au
Calling our College Registrar, Ms Donna Grech on 8325 5119
Come into either Campus Office between 8am and 4:15pm on weekdays. I hope to see you on Sunday.
Yours sincerely
Jenny Hendricks
Community Engagement Officer
Mount St. Joseph Girls’ College
Mount St. Joseph Girls’ College Altona invites you to explore our faith and learning community at one of our Open Events in 2023
OPEN MORNINGS
Open Mornings provide an opportunity for families to witness learning in action on a regular school day. Our Year 9 student ambassadors will give you a personal tour of the College. Visiting families will have the unique opportunity to ask questions of our ambassadors and gain an honest insight into our programs and what it is like to be a student at Mount St. Joseph Girls' College.
Register to attend by visiting our website HERE.
Thursday 8 June - 9:15am – 10:30am
Thursday 20 July - 9:15am – 10:30am
Thursday 3 August - 9:15am – 10:30am
Thursday 7 Sept - 9:15am – 10:30am
ENROLMENT APPLICATIONS
A reminder that enrolment applications for Year 7 in 2025 close on 18 August 2023. Apply online HERE or contact the College Registrar, Mrs Sherri Collins for further information.
Contact details: registrar@msj.vic.edu.au or phone 8398 2007.
