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It is hard to believe that we are now half way through November and the end of the year is rapidly approaching. I would like to commend students on the focus that they are showing towards their work and their commitment to ensuring that they get the most out of their valuable learning time.
Arts on Tour
I would like to congratulate the Arts on Tour students for the outstanding performances they gave during last week’s tour. The feedback we have received from the primary schools visited has been incredibly positive, acknowledging both the fabulous performance given and the positive attributes of the students. This feedback can be summed up by the recent Bicheno Primary School post on their school Facebook page: “Wow, just wow! We were so privileged to have St Marys District School students perform for us…Exceptional young people and great role models for our BPS students.”
My thanks goes out to Miss Hickey and Mr Wardlaw for once again working with our students to create the magic which is Arts on Tour!
End of Year Events and Celebrations
As the end of the year approaches, I know people will be looking forward to and making plans for end of year events and celebrations. These are wonderful opportunities to recognise achievement and celebrate the learning and growth of our students. I am sure that people need little reminder about the fact that we now live in a world where there are restrictions and protocols that we need to work within to ensure we remain COVID safe. Please be aware that many schools are following similar plans for their end of year assemblies and events.
- The Grade 7-9 and 11-12 Presentation Assembly is on Thursday 9 December.
- The Kinder - 6 Presentation Assembly is on Friday 10 December
- The Grade 10 Presentation Assembly is on Friday 10 December
There will be limited seating for parents of award winners at these assemblies and more details will be shared with these parents shortly. These assemblies will be live streamed.
- The Grade 10 Farewell Assembly where we farewell Grade 10 students will be held on Thursday 16 December.
There will be limited tickets for parents of Grade 10 students for this assembly. This assembly will be live streamed.
- The Grade 10 Celebration Dinner is on Monday 13 December
Restrictions around managing this event remain unchanged from 2020. Limited numbers of family/friends of each Grade 10 students will be invited to watch the arrivals in the school courtyard. Interested community members are able to watch the students arrive from Gray Road.
We are putting in place a plan to record the arrivals for the Celebration, with plans to have a host who will introduce and greet each arrival working alongside a roving camera man. We understand that live streaming the event is not quite the same as being at the event but appreciate your understanding that we are required to work within COVID safe protocols.
We will endeavour to use our social media and newsletter to ensure we have lots of details and photos to keep you up to speed so that you can join in on the celebrations, albeit from a safe distance.
Kindergarten Transition
We have been hosting our annual Kindergarten transition for students who are starting with us in 2022 and also offering parents an opportunity to get to know the school and ask questions and seek guidance in relation to making their child’s start to education as positive as possible.
As part of our transition programs, we have this year’s Kindergarten students spending some time in the primary playground. It is wonderful to see the inclusive and supportive nature of the older children, and the curiosity and excitement of the soon to be Prep students. The students are also really excited to see the work going on as the new P-2 Playground takes shape and I know they are very keen to try it out very soon!
Student Wellbeing Data
Teachers have been exploring our latest Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey Data. This annual survey of all our students is now in its third year, allowing us to see patterns within the data set. We have been working hard to support improved student wellbeing and have seen some pleasing results:
- 89% of students felt connected to adults at school
- 96% of students reported they had good relationships and support from their teachers
- 84% of students felt part of a group of friends and usually fit in with other students
We are working on a more detailed inquiry based on our survey results to explore how we might continue to positively impact on:
- Student engagement in learning
- School climate
- Cognitive engagement
Carolyn Watson
Principal
WINTER SPORTS - BEST AND FAIREST
After another successful season of Winter Sports, we held our best and fairest count in week three of Term 4. Congratulations to the following recipients of awards.
SOCCER | FOOTBALL | NETBALL - DIVISION 1 | NETBALL - DIVISION 2 | |
Best and Fairest | Zali Taylor | Jack Cropp | Ella Triffitt | Ava Howorka |
Runner-Up Best and Fairest | Rio Kiely | Max Salter | Darshini Barnes | Helayna McGiveron |
Most Improved | Sage Lye | Jimmy Freiboth & Forest Adams | Taylor Jones | Lola Be Boer |
Most Courageous | Daniel Cook | |||
Best Team Player | Lachlan Woods |
A big thank you must go to Jack Foreman whose support of our soccer team is invaluable each year, Mr Daniel Gidas and Mr Will Innis who gave up their time and juggled their workload to support the soccer and football teams respectively this season. Lastly, thank you to our wonderful secondary staff and leadership team who support the program to run each year. The positive outcomes from this program are numerous and it is fantastic to see the improvements in skills, confidence, team-work, communication and leadership that occur throughout each season.
Looking forward to another successful season next year.
On Thursday November 4, the Grade 3 students from Grade 2/3 Gray and Kelly, 3/4 Brown and Kelly and Fingal had a sleepover at school in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC). We carried all our belongings over to the PAC and then we had afternoon tea. For afternoon tea we had fruit platters and then we went for a free choice swim. At the end Rayne, Ella and Mrs Bramich played a trick on us. Rayne and Ella pretended to be naughty and not get out of the pool. Mrs Bramich jumped in with all her clothes on. It was very, very funny and shocking.
After swimming we played Chubby Bubbies. This is a game where you have to put marshmallows in your mouth and each time you put a marshmallow in you have to say the number of chubby bubbies you have in your mouth. Tyler came first with 11 marshmallows followed by Hamish with 10 and equal third was Cohen and Bentley with 9.
For tea we had pizza and chips and for supper we had hot chocolate or Milo. We then set up our beds and got changed into our pyjamas ready to watch the Lion King movie. Most of the girls did loom banding. They made loom band necklaces for all the teachers. Many of the boys chatted to each other.
After the movie we brushed our teeth and got ready for bed. Some people had to move their beds because of the bright exit lights. Then most of us went to sleep, others couldn’t.
In the morning when almost all of us had woken up, some people were trying to wake up others. We got dressed and some of us played downball before breakfast. We had a choice of cornflakes, rice bubbles, weet-bix or toast. We also had hot chocolate. Then we packed up our belongings and headed over to our classroom for a normal school day. We had a great, fabulous and exciting time.
Thank you, Ms Bramich, Mr Kelly, Ms Brown, Mrs Stanford, Miss Smith, Mrs Gray and Miss Burt for all your help and giving us a fun experience.
We began our secondary Athletics event with a dreary, overcast day, a modified program of events and four lanes of the running track underwater. Despite these challenges, our secondary students embraced the day and participated in the events on offer to win points for their house teams. Please enjoy some photos from the day.
Congratulations to Helayna McGiveron who broke the record for the Grade 7 Girls High Jump, our only new record for the day. The old record held by Emily Miles from 2008 at 1.40m was broken by Helayna who jumped 1.45m.
Congratulations to our Track and Field Champions and runner-up Champions listed below. We are looking forward to some excellent performances at the Inter-High Athletics Carnival on Thursday November 18.
GRADE | TRACK CHAMPION | RUNNER- UP TRACK CHAMPION | FIELD CHAMPION | RUNNER- UP FIELD CHAMPION |
7 GIRLS | Helayna McGiveron | Ava Howorka | Helayna McGiveron | Ava Howorka |
7 BOYS | Tysen Gamble | Daniel Cook | Mathew Englmayr | Daniel Cook |
8 GIRLS | Hallie Thomson | Sienna Patmore | Hallie Thomson | Charli Pou |
8 BOYS | Ashton Gillies | Ned Woolfe | Byron Ball | Ashton Gillies |
9 GIRLS | Zali Taylor | Montanna Reece | Mia Gillies | Zali Taylor |
9 BOYS |
Caleb Broughan |
Jack Cropp | Jimmy Freiboth | |
10 GIRLS |
Mahalia Baldwin |
Darshini Barnes |
||
10 BOYS | Sage Lye | Jakoba Tatnell | Jakobe Tatnell | Sam Jordan |
Final House Results:
DUNCAN: 138
DALMAIN: 407
BLACKWOOD: 314
On November 2, St Marys District School primary students had the privilege of seeing a show called Circ-cessful. We gathered in the PAC room and watched the show with amazement as the performers of Circ-cessful did so many challenging tricks! For example, one trick was one of the girls stood on the other girl's shoulders and nearly touched the roof, then they fell forward and tumbled!
Because the show is so outstanding and inspiring, the duo are going around Tasmania and performing to spread the message to be healthy, be safe and to make good decisions. It was incredible.
Claire Ward
Over the last five weeks, the Prep/1 class has been learning about living things. We have focussed on learning about the body parts and habitats of Darkling Beetles which have an interesting lifecycle. On Friday November 12, the Prep/1 students enjoyed working together to explore different animal and plant habitats and represented these using toys. They used their writing skills to label the plants and animals in each habitat they created. Of course, we finished off with some play! We look forward to learning about plants and their features next.
Students from across St Marys District School were inspired by Henri Matisse's "Goldfish" which was painted in 1912. They used oil pastel and watercolour to create their artworks.
From Monday 15 – Wednesday 17 November, the Grade 8 Camp took place at the Mt Cameron Field Study Centre. On the first day students engaged in teambuilding activities, carrying a stretcher holding a mannequin across a team of obstacles to reach safety. Students also had to problem solve and challenge themselves, both physically and as a group, to transport a pail of water across a ‘Nitrate River’ without spilling a drop. After a meal made by the Enterprise Cooking class of butter chicken and spaghetti bolognaise, students participated in a Reward Evening where we celebrated students demonstrating values of growth, courage, respect and aspiration. The last event of the evening of was either a ‘blind’ walk through the dark to straddle low rope or a campfire with games.
Our second morning started with bacon and egg muffins, packing our lunches and walking for 5 hours up, up and up to the Mt Cameron summit. Few groups all make it to the top, but our students worked well together and achieved this feat with smiles, quite a bit of sweat and determination. The views were magnificent from the top seeing the islands of Flinders and Cape Barron to the north, across to Musselroe Bay and Mt Barrow to our west. Our evening meal of burritos, ice cream and apricots well earned. Again, our evening involved splitting into two groups with one group reflecting on the friendships, achievements and learnings from our experiences giving each other accolades while also acknowledging person growth. Our evening finished off with the attempt of impossible riddles while sipping hot chocolates. It was pleasing over this day to see how students start to commit to being a collective Grade 8 group, helping and support each other while also completing the domestic tasks needed to house and feed 24 teenagers.
For our last day we worked well together to leave our lodgings clean and tidy before crossing a small ravine via a flying fox. Our students made us proud by all attempting this activity, taking courage to extend ourselves, shifting out of their comfort zones by stepping off a platform and zipping through the gumtrees. Our trip back to school was split up by a lunch of hot chips on the wharves and some favourite Anzac biscuits.
Thanks to Mr Sean Bradley (Head chef), Mr Will Innis (Chief nurse) and Scott Gatrell (Minister of entertainment) who worked brilliantly to ensure our students not only had a wonderful experience but were well fed, safe and happy for these three days.
'Sometimes it's the little things that mean the most. Learn what to say, what to do and what might be needed by those bereaved by suicide.'
Free workshops in Fingal Friday November 26 and St Helens Monday December 6. For more information, registration and free transport details, please view the flier below.
School Banking update from Commonwealth Bank
For 90 years, our School Banking program has helped children learn about money, reinforced the importance of regular savings and provided structure for parents to support their children to save.
Though the program continues to have strong support from schools, parents and teachers, recent decisions by some state and territory governments because of a review by the corporate regulator mean we are unable to continue providing programs in schools, and we have had to make a difficult decision to close our School Banking program for all government and non-government schools across the country.
Our School Banking program was established in 1931 at a time when having a bank account was not commonplace, and since then we have helped more than 15 million Australians take their first financial steps. This would not have been possible without the wonderful support we have received from schools like yours, including all the parents and volunteers, and for this we are deeply grateful. Thank you.
Even though this is a sad time, School Banking has taught so many young Australians, past and present, the value of money and we believe this should be celebrated. We have created a place for you to share your stories, fondest memories and lessons learnt through the program. To share your story and access our financial education resources, please visit commbank.com.au/schoolbanking
Even though the CommBank School Banking program will not be returning to your school after this year, you can continue to make deposits into your child’s Youthsaver account through online transfers or at any CommBank branch. If you need further information please phone 132 221 or visit your local CommBank branch.
The last school banking day will be on Tuesday 30th November 2021. Children who have reward coins to claim should do so as soon as possible as to guarantee delivery before school ends for the year. As a gesture of good will, every active banker will ge eligible for a final reward regardless of the amount of tokens collected.
The following items are available to order:
Emoji wallet | Water skimming bounce ball |
Icicle slapband ruler | Treetop stationery set |
Mini soccer ball | Treetop handball |
Polar pencils & Pencil toppers | Tomato seed kit |
Snakes & ladders game | Terry Denton's activity book |
These notices have been sent home to parents in the last fortnight. If you did not receive one and would like to receive a copy of the notice, please contact the school office on 63 723 900.
PRIMARY
- Grade 6 Transition Activity Day -Rostrevor Excursion - November 22, 2021
- Grade 2/3 & Grade 3/4 Queen Victoria Museum and Riverband Excursion - November 25, 2021
- Grade 6 Transition Meeting for Parents/Carers - November 24, 2021
- Kindergarten Excursion - November 24, 2021
- Grade 3-6 Swimming Carnival - November 24, 2021
SECONDARY
- Grade 10 camp - Overnight - December,14
WHOLE SCHOOL
- Pyjama Day - November 26, 2021
NOTICEBOARD