Week 2, Term 1 2024 - 30th January 2024

Week 2 Reflection

You Can Do It! (Program Achieve) is a socio-emotional learning program that teaches children positive attitudes, socio-emotional skills and character strengths which influence both wellbeing and achievement outcomes.

St Mary’s has utilised the You Can Do It program for many years. Green card tickets have been a prominent feature in our reward system. All staff search for the opportunity to “Catch them being good” – which means we reward positive behaviours in order to encourage those behaviours to continue and become innate.

We are now launching the new edition of the program which has been written by Tammy-Anne Caldwell, one of Australia’s leading educational neuroscience specialist teachers.

The graphic below shows the You Can Do It Program’s brain-based instructional methods, and it’s benefits for students (and all those they interact with).

These lessons take place each week across all classes and the YCDI methods are integral to all learning in class as well as on the playground. There is a wealth of parent information available from the website and we encourage all parents to contact the office if you would like to receive any further information.

We also encourage you to ask your child about You Can Do It and the green cards. Often a congratulatory comment when your child brings home a green card forges a stronger connection between home and school and heightens the desire in your child to continue making positive choices. We call that a Win-Win!

Terri Leotta
Deputy Principal/APRE

https://youcandoiteducation.com.au/

From our Principal - Mr Wes Rose

P&F AGM and 1^st General Meeting
St Mary’s values the strong partnership between home and school.  This partnership has a host of benefits, positively impacting outcomes for all students. The St Mary’s P&F warmly invite all parents to attend the AGM/GM tonight (Tuesday 30^th Jan) from 6pm-7pm in the staffroom.  This meeting is a chance to review 2023, set goals and plan for some great activities for the year ahead.

School Photo Day
This year’s school photos are booked Wednesday 7^th February.  Students are to wear their formal school uniform (Preps to wear their prep uniform).  Photo order packs have been sent home and need to be returned on photo day to be scanned by the photographers, even if you are not intending to order a photo pack.  The photo schedule is as follows;

Afternoon Pick Up Procedures

• All students in Prep are to be collected from their prep classroom by a parent or guardian.
• For all other students, the car park works effectively when everybody follows the procedures. 
• Please allow others to come out of car parks. Drive slowly through the car park, especially when merging in front of the parking bays. 
• Cars should drive from MacDonald St. into Morley St. and turn right into the school car park. 
• Everyone must turn right into the car park in the afternoon and turn left when exiting. (In the afternoon those that turn left into the car park are pushing in and this upsets others!)
• If everyone is considerate it will be safe and fair for all users. I encourage parents who are not Prep parents to actively use our drive through pick-up protocol. 
• We have two staff members supervising this area. Parents are asked to drive on and line up if their child is not ready.  This avoids any unnecessary delays.
• Please ensure your name is displayed on your sun visor as this will speed up the process. 
• In the afternoon please turn left when leaving MacDonald Street as this speeds up the line-up. 
• Please do not encourage children to wait outside of the school or church where they are not directly supervised.  We have had some unpleasant situations in the past when children have been told to wait outside the school by parents. It is simply not worth the risk!  

Please support us to ensure the safety of your children. For those families using the drive through for the first time, please contact the office for your laminated name card.

Tuckshop still closed
We continue to work towards opening our school tuckshop in the near future.  Once we have news of the reopening date, we will let all families know.

Student Protection – School Contacts
At St Mary’s, any concerns or reasonable suspicions about a student’s safety and wellbeing or the behaviour of a staff member or volunteer which a student considers to be inappropriate, will continue to be managed in accordance with Rockhampton Catholic Education Student Protection Processes. Our Student Protection contacts:​

Further information about Rockhampton Catholic Education's commitment to Student Protection is available here.

Use of Toilets
At St Mary’s, we are committed to the safety of all students in our care.  It is imperative that students understand the importance of using the toilet facilities at school in an appropriate manner.  Classroom teachers regularly remind students of these behaviour expectations and use the poster below (located in all school toilets) to ensure all students understand these important messages.  We ask that you discuss these expectations at home with your children, so that we are all doing our part to keep children safe at school.

We ask that parents, volunteers and contractors visiting St Mary’s do not use the student toilets.  There are two toilets designated for their use; in the First Aid room (Admin) and the disabled toilet in the early years. 

Just 1 Thing
Positive parent engagement in a child’s education is critical to achieve the very best of educational outcomes.  To assist the school and P&F to engage parents in their preferred ways, we ask that all parents complete this short, 1-minute survey. This survey will be open until Friday 16^th Feb. 

The ‘Just 1 Thing’ campaign was hugely successful last year, with over 185 families submitting a response.  It is our aim to achieve over 200 responses this year, so please make time to consider the ways to can be involved in your child’s education at St Mary’s school.  We will post a graph of entries by class next week, so let’s see which class can get the most responses!

School TV
St Mary’s is very excited to inform all parents of school TV, an initiative to help support the wellbeing of our students. After all, happy and well supported students are better equipped to learn and succeed.

We know that it can be difficult and time consuming for parents to source credible information when it comes to ongoing wellbeing support strategies for their children.   To aid with this we have partnered with SchoolTV, an online resource designed to empower parents to better deal with the challenges for raising happy, well and resilient young people.

Because parenting doesn't come with instructions, the SchoolTV resource has now been implemented at our school to assist parents and caregivers in navigating the challenges of modern-day parenting. This outstanding resource delivers credible information with practical strategies featuring video interviews with leading specialists, supported by a host of resources from key wellbeing organisations.

SchoolTV offers parents a fresh approach to the issues and pressures faced by children and young people in our communities throughout Australia.

Some topics featured include:

• Youth Anxiety
• Raising Girls
• School Refusal
• Positive Parenting
• Digital Reputation
• Managing Screen Time
• Cyberbullying

We encourage you to visit our SchoolTV site and view the content but more importantly use this resource if and when needed to support your child and family through particular needs as they may arise. At a time when the wellbeing of our youth has never been more challenged, we are pleased to be able to offer this accessible, credible and empowering resource to our families.

Many thanks again to the support provided by Catholic Education Rockhampton Northern Region to get this up and running across all schools in the region.

Uniform Guidelines
A reminder to all families of our uniform guidelines.  Some important areas to note include;

• Fingernails. No coloured nail polish or acrylic nails.
• Boys earrings. Boys are asked to take out their earring, or alternatively wear a clear ‘invisible’ stud to school.
• Boys Hair. Be neat in appearance and not falling into eyes. Hair past the collar must be tied back.  Hair may not be dyed or worn in a style that is extreme or inappropriate for school (i.e. no tracks, rat’s tails, mo-hawks, mullets or undercuts that have a large variance between length).
• Girls Hair. Be neat in appearance and not falling into eyes. Girls with shoulder or longer length hair must have it tied back. Hair may not be dyed or worn in a style that is extreme or inappropriate for school. Hair accessories should be minimal and must be in colours of navy, blue or white.
• Footwear. A reminder that plain black shoes/joggers are required each day. Please see graphic below for more information. 

Our students demonstrate pride in St Mary’s school by the way they wear their uniform correctly.  An infringement letter will be sent home to notify parents of any areas that need to be addressed.   If you have any queries about this, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

Peanut Policy
The start of the school year is a timely opportunity to remind all families that we are strictly ‘peanut free’ at St Mary’s school.  We have a number of students who are highly allergic to peanuts and for their safety, we ask that you are vigilant with ensuring your child packs a peanut free lunchbox.  It is also best practice to discuss with your child the importance of not sharing their lunch with other students.

Quote of the Week

From the Office-Important Reminders

Personal Details
Do we have your correct personal and address details?

Please ensure all residential addresses and other personal details held by the school are up to date and correct. 

The easiest way for families to check this information is by logging into their Parent Lounge account by using the 'Parent Lounge' tile on the St Mary's App or on our St Mary's School website smmrok.catholic.edu.au  to review what is recorded.

1. Click on the Parent Lounge icon
2. a) Enter your Username (Parent code located on school fees statements-6 digit number) and
    Password
    If you do not know or have misplaced your password,  click on 'Forgot Password?'
    b) Click 'Login'

Once logged in - Click “Parent Details” then “View Address Details”.

• If address details are correct, no further action is required.
• If the address is incorrect, change it via “Update Address Details” then “Update Address” in Parent Lounge.  Once saved the address will be updated.

Office Hours
Monday to Friday
8am to 3:30pm

Students who arrive late to school, are to sign in at the School Office. If you collect your child early before 3pm you must also notify the school office before leaving school, so the school roll can be updated.

Student Absences
Student absences from school can be advised through our St Mary's Schoolzine App by clicking on the 'Absentee' tile and completing your student's details. Parents can also use our designated phone number 4994 8271 or email SMM_Absences@rok.catholic.edu.au  to inform the school if your student is to be absent.

Details on how to download the St Mary's App can be found by clicking here. 

Once downloaded, please complete your registration, using our school passcode 4142. 

If you have any queries or difficulties downloading the app please contact the school office.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Next week, parents are invited to talk to their child’s classroom teacher about their child.  This will allow teachers to be fully informed about each child’s needs and strengths.  There will be 10 minute time intervals.  If more time is needed, this can be arranged during the interview. Classes will have their interviews after school on Monday 5^th to Friday 9^th February.  Please log into Parent Lounge to book an appointment. If you have difficulty logging in, please do not hesitate to contact the office for assistance.

Welcome Mass Invitation

Please join us for our Welcome Mass

Tuesday 6th February in the School Hall. 

St Mary's Wellbeing Day

Autism Workshop

Thank you for the warm welcome to St Mary’s.  I have enjoyed the first week getting to know students and procedures.  For those who don’t know me, my name is Lisa Sorbello.  I have worked in education for the past 23 years.  More recently, I have been working within the learning support area.  I am looking forward to meeting more families as the year progresses.  Please feel free to come and say hello and introduce yourself.

There is a fabulous opportunity for parents to attend a workshop on Autism which is being sponsored by Catholic Education – Diocese of Rockhampton.  The two-day workshop for parents is being presented by the Autism Centre of Excellence over the 25^th and 26^th of February.  It is not compulsory to attend both days so I encourage you to read the brochure to see which day or days would best suit your needs.  Topics covered include, mental health, friendship and autism identify, collaboration with the school and understanding behaviour just to name a few.  Places are limited so please register as soon as possible.

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