Dear Families,
I would like to congratulate and welcome Belinda Bennett, who has been appointed as Acting Principal for 2025 and Gareth Molyneux, who has been appointed as Acting Head of School for 2025. I have been a colleague of Belinda’s for many years, having been neighbouring Principals when she was at Catherine McAuley School and I was at St Thomas More. I am excited for our community that Belinda will be joining us as she comes with a good deal of experience, wisdom and a real understanding of our local area. She will be a great asset to our school community. While I don’t know Gareth very well, I have had a good conversation with him after his appointment was announced and I was really encouraged by his philosophy on schools, community and having children at the centre of all that we do. I feel comfortable with my decision to retire knowing that the school will be in good hands - not just the leadership, but also the team of teachers, co-educators and other staff that we have assembled over the past few years.
Our APRIM, Melissa Musolino, will be taking leave from St Mary Magdalene’s for the 2025 school year. Melissa currently works in that role two days per week. We have appointed Amiee Tullio to that role and Sarah Storrie will share the classroom teaching with Amiee. Amiee will have a classroom commitment from Monday to Wednesday and Sarah on Thursday and Friday. Congratulations to both Amiee and Sarah on these appointments. We wish Melissa all the best for her time of leave.
At the end of each year we have new families come and enrol and we have families who leave us either because they have moved house or some other reason. If your child(ren) is not returning to St Mary Magdalene’s for 2025 please let the front office know as soon as possible as it may mean we can offer a place to a new family. Thank you to those who did return their form back in August.
This week we had the dental van visit, with the majority of our children having some time in the van to have their teeth checked. The dental van comes twice a year and provides a great service to our families.
This week our new Receptions (Term 1 2025) had their final Transition visit. Thank you to our teachers, Laura Drewett, Becky Hill and Jade Shapcott for providing a great transition program for our new young people. We look forward to these students joining us next year.
School Reports for Semester 2 will be sent home at the end of next week, providing a summary of how your child(ren) is travelling at school. I would like to acknowledge and thank our teachers for their extra work in writing these reports. On Monday of Week 9 the children will spend an hour in their new classroom as a mini transition time with their new teacher. A letter will go home on that day advising which class your child(ren) will be in.
Please note that the St Mary Magdalene’s 2024 School Resource Fees are due to be paid in full, no later than the 6 December 2024. If you have not finalised your school account and do not have an approved payment plan in place, please ensure your account is paid by the above date. Accounts without a consistent payment arrangement or those not paid may be referred to debt collection for further action. If you require a copy of your account statement, please contact the front office or email accounts@smm.catholic.edu.au.
We are pleased to inform our school families that there will, once again, not be an increase in the school Resource Fee for the 2025 school year. They will remain at $250 per child. If any family has financial concerns, we ask them to contact our Business Manager – Janelle Lieu on 08 8287 7900 or email finance@smm.catholic.edu.au to confidentially discuss additional support.
We have had to increase our OSHC Fees though. They have not changed for at least 8 years. The full price for a morning session will increase from $12 to $14, afternoon from $20 to $22 and Pupil Free Days from $50 to $55. There will also be a Casual Booking Fee of $2. These are minimal increases and the effect will be even smaller if you have CCS.
We will be having a Christmas Carols / Concert at 2pm on Friday 6 December. Our children have been practicing and preparing with our Performing Arts Teacher, Rosemarie Villano, for this day and are getting quite excited. Please mark this in your diary.
We would like to remind students and families to be wary of approaches from strangers, especially when they are unaccompanied or travelling to and from school. If they are approached, students should not respond and should not accept offers of rides or gifts. Students should seek the assistance of other nearby adults if they feel unsafe and should report any events to a trusted adult (parent or school staff member) as soon as possible. SAPOL advises that taking out a mobile phone and calling police can deter an offender and they recommend the student making a formal report to their closest police station.
Please remember that we have the following dates set aside as Pupil Free Days for the staff to undertake professional development, staff reflection, complete hand over activities, etc. Our remaining set dates are: Thursday 12 December and Friday 13 December. Please mark them in your diary and book in to OSHC if you require this service (spaces will be limited).
Kind regards
Peter Mercer
Head of School
‘Shaping our Future Together’
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