A Message from the Principal

Dear Parents,

Wasn’t the St Mary’s Learning Expo fantastic?  Congratulations to every student who helped to present their learning or information about one of our many programs.  Thank you to our amazing staff who coordinated the Expo and to the parents and grandparents who came along to be a part of the event.  We had over 120 attendees and are thrilled with the success of the day!

Well done to all twenty-four swimmers who represented St Mary's at the district swimming carnival last Friday. Everyone showed amazing courage to brave the icy water at lilydale pool! Congratulations and good luck to Maya, Rukiya, Annika, Bridie, Charlotte, Emelia, Lily and Isaac on progressing through to division next week Read More

How Can I Help My Child's Learning?

This week in ‘How Can I Assist My Child’s Learning?’ we place the spotlight on READING:

 

Top 6 tips to help children enjoy reading

Reading should be fun. We asked experts and authors what you can do to help turn your kids into little bookworms.

1. Make books a part of family life– Always have books around at home. That way you and your children are ready to get reading, even if it is only for ten minutes. Make reading part of your daily routine. Bedtime, waiting for siblings at sport, everywhere!
2. Join your local library/use the school library–They will be able to get their hands on hundreds of fantastic books. Let them choose what they want to read to help them develop their own interests.
3. Read about something they are interested in– Help your child find the right book for them. It doesn't matter if it's fiction, poetry, comic books or non-fiction. Reading is reading and it is all worthwhile.
4. Get comfortable!– Snuggle up together somewhere warm and cosy, whether it’s in bed, on a beanbag or on the sofa. Make sure your child has somewhere comfy to read on their own too.
5. Ask questions– To keep them interested in the story, ask your child questions as you read. Start with “What happened last time?”, “Who is your favourite character?” and “What do you think will happen next?”

Previous Articles

SCHOOL TOURS

       
2020 tour dates are as follows -

• Tuesday 3rd March at 10.00am (fully booked)
• Wednesday 11th March at 10.00am (fully booked)
• Wednesday 18th March at 10.00am (fully booked)
• Tuesday 21st April at 10.00am  (fully booked)
• Tuesday 5th May at 10.00am  (limited bookings still available)

Bookings are essential : Please contact 9736 2219 or email reception@smmountevelyn.catholic.edu.au.
Tour groups are kept to a maximum of 5 bookings only.

Working Bees

Working Bees at St Mary’s are fundamental to maintaining safe and orderly learning environments for our students. There are so many tasks to do with such a large school ground that we need all the help we can get!

To assist planning for this year we are asking each family to attend ONE Working Bee.

As an incentive this year the families that attend a Working Bee will be rebated the $100.00 working bee levy from their account.

In an effort to cater for everyone, we will hold Working Bees across a range of days and times. If these dates do not suit you please contact the office and schedule a time that will be appropriate.  If you are a tradie, we would appreciate your expertise at times, so please let us know your skills on the working bee form.

Please complete and return the form to the office (click here)

TODDLER STORYTIME

Bring your toddler along and join Mrs. Collins for
Toddler Story Time.
Starting Thursday 20th February sessions will run on Thursday’s
in the school Library, 8.45am-9.30am.
All are welcome!

Garden Club

Our first batch of blueberries was harvested and they tasted delicious. The children are enjoying being in the garden and discovering marvels of the flora and fauna.  Garden club is run on Wednesdays, from 10.45 till 11.30am.
New parents helpers are always welcome.  Please bring gloves and garden tools.
All helpers are required to have a working with children’s check.  If you would like to volunteer please complete the Garden Club Volunteer Form (click here) and email to gardenclub@smmountevelyn.catholic.edu.au. or drop off at the school admin office.

Stomp Team

Our fabulous Stomp Team earned the honour of performing at the Catholic Education Melbourne Celebration of Principalship.

Follow the link to read the article - St.Mary's Stomp Team

CATHOLIC EDUCATION TODAY MAGAZINE

 

2019 Term 4 of the Catholic Education Today Magazine (copy sent home in schoolbags), has St Mary’s featured on page 9 with an interview with none-other than our very own Principal - Angela Glennie!   If you have a moment, you may like to have a look over a cuppa! 
(Click here to view online, scroll to page 9)

CDFPAY ONLINE ORDERING PORTAL

Welcome to CDFpay Online Ordering for Tuckshop, Uniforms, Events, Fundraising, Production Tickets, Italian Day and so much more.
Please click here to place an order.
Online orders can be placed up to 3 weeks in advance, at your convenience, 24/7.
For instructions on how to create your Online Ordering Account please click here.

NOTICE BOARD

NO NUTS AT ST MARY’S

We have children attending our school with severe (life threatening) peanut allergies.
As always, we are concerned for the safety of our children, and ask everyone to avoid bringing any items that may contain peanuts to school, as the smallest amount of peanut or proteins of peanuts on benches, etc., can affect an allergic child.  Whilst we can appreciate that there may be children who just love to have their Nutella and Peanut butter sandwiches or bars alternatives must be given.

 

Fair Funding Video (click here)

School funding policy is a complicated area.  The quality of education available to your children, the breadth of learning opportunities they’ll receive, the amount of fees you’ll be expected to pay, the special services and teacher training available to your school all comes down to funding.  Right now all of this is under a cloud, thanks to the Turnbull government’s proposed education changes.  The video and pages contained in the above link will explain what’s on the table, what it means for you, where Catholic education believes it should be changed and how you and your school community can work for an outcome that will ensure the best results and opportunities for your family.

 

Ref: Catholic Education Melbourne/Funding

Skoolbag App

      IMPORTANT INFO FOR PARENTS     

‘Skoolbag’ is an app for iPhone and Android that will enhance communications with the Parent/Student community. Parents wishing to access this service will need to download and install the ‘Skoolbag’ App from either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Once installed search for our school name (St Marys Catholic Primary School Mount Evelyn). For Windows Phone, and Windows 8.1 or 10 users, search for ‘Skoolbag’ in the Windows store, install the app and find our school.

VRQA CHILD SAFE

Child Safety:

Due to new government legislation, all schools are required to raise awareness around Child Safety with the community.  Please read the attached Child Safety Policy and the Child Safety Code of Conduct.  These documents have been written in response to Ministerial Order 870. Once out of draft form, all employees and volunteers at the school will be required to sign the Code of Conduct.  We welcome any feedback you may have and ask that you direct any thoughts to aglennie@smmountevelyn.catholic.edu.au

 

All parents, relatives and caregivers attending St.Mary's Primary School to help within the classroom must hold a current Working with Children Check (available FREE online to volunteers) and must have read and signed the Code of Conduct.

 

CHILD SAFE - Code of Conduct       CHILD SAFE - Policy 2017      CHILD SAFE - Video