Dear families,
The start to our school year has been a really smooth and beautiful one. The children are settled into the routines of the day and our learning and teaching programs are a buzz with questions, curiosity and challenge.
In the coming weeks we will enter the season of Lent, a time when we remember the love of God that is poured out through His son Christ Jesus. It is a time for self reflection and to seek forgiveness for the wrongs we have done.
“Heavenly Father, I’m truly sorry for the moments today where I missed the mark. I ask for your forgiveness and the strength to better follow Your call tomorrow. Amen.”
The past weeks have seen us gather together at our Welcoming Mass. This was a beautiful celebration of our growing community. It was a special time to gather in prayer and acknowledge that it takes many parts to make a school successful and we are all contributors to that success. The children’s reverence and prayerful approach to Mass was beautiful to witness.
Today’s newsletter has a section on the importance of Cyber safety. Please ensure, as parents, you are monitoring your children’s online behavior including what they are watching. Viewing anything over PG is not recommended or primary aged children. We are currently actively stopping games on the yard related to Squid Games and the like – this is inappropriate for 5-12 year olds.
Our school photos will take place on Thursday 13th March. This date is on the school calendar and information was shared with you earlier this week in relation to ordering. Please note that if your child is absent on the day of school photos we cannot reschedule under any circumstances. Please direct any questions about our school photos directly to Advanced Life Photography.
https://www.advancedlife.com.au/
Lunch order began last week. We are so lucky to have Lunch Mums deliver us a variety of healthy options and treats on a Thursday for our Lunch Order Day. Please ensure you download the My School Connect App so that you can order your child’s lunch each Thursday.
Our school assembly takes place every third Friday. All of the assemblies are on our community calendar. We look forward to seeing many families at our assemblies, celebrating our children’s achievements.
Please note that our staff car park is for staff only. Families and children cannot access the space for any reason. Please ensure you refrain from using the space for safety reasons. This is inline with our OH&S and Child Safety policy.
BIG Childacre is our before and after care service. This is an excellent program that attends to all of your children’s needs before and after school. Our new program manager is Seamus, be sure to say hi to Seamus at drop off or pick up. BIG Childcare collects our preps at the end of the day each day and the rest of the children gather in the library area where Seames and staff meet them and take the roll.. If you are interested in utilising the service, please visit their website https://bigchildcare.com/ to make an inquiry.
In the coming weeks our school will be closed for the Labour Day public holiday (Monday 10th March) and the following day for our staff to engage in Professional Learning (Tuesday 11th March) Big Childcare will run on Tuesday 11th March.
Our two fundraisers for term 1 will be a Pasta Drive through ‘Gnoccheria- Coburg’ followed by our Easter Raffle. Information on the Pasta Drive has been shared, and the raffle will be released shortly. We are collecting Easter Eggs and Chocolates for our Easter raffle now, please bring donations into the school office. 
Please be reminded that enrolments for 2026 open on March 1st. Siblings MUST enrol in order to be allocated a position. Please visit the office to collect an enrolment form or download from the school website.
Our school has registered for this brilliant initiative. On Friday 28th February our senior children will be engaged in a Clean Up MQH mission. They will be wearing casual clothes on the day, armed with all they need to keep themselves safe and clean. They are excited and so are we to model how important it is that we all take care of our environment and they each and everyone of us has a responsibility to be a care takers. We thank our year 3-6 students and teachers in advance for their amazing work in this space!
Last week you received a letter voa Audiri reminding us all of the importance of keeping our children safe online. Please read over the information below and discuss these with your children.
Healthy Technology Habits at Home
A reminder to keep the school updated if you move house or if your child’s health conditions change. By providing up to date information, you assist us in maintaining a safe learning environment for your child
In recent days we have had one report of headlice in the year 2 area. Families in year 2 were notified of this on the day of the report. Please ensure all long hair is tied up and you are regularly checking your children’s hair for lice. Children who have long hair down, will be sent to First Aid where we will tie their hair up using our supply of hair elastics.
Please be reminded that all uniform needs to be purchased from the Noone Uniform shop. Black school shoes or black runners are to be worn on non PE days and any runners on PE days. All children wear their PE uniform on a Friday. Please ensure your children are wearing the correct uniform at all times. Earrings are to be studs or sleepers on for safety reasons, and nail policsh is not permitted. We thank you for supporting our uniform policy.
We are excited to host our first Learning Walk for the year, an opportunity for families to engage in their child’s learning. Our first learning walk will have a wellbeing focus; where you can see firsthand how we embed wellbeing practices and explicitly teach wellbeing strategies to support learning.
– Four sessions available for booking
– Open to existing families at Mary Queen of Heaven
– Book your spot: https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/8cvpn
We look forward to sharing how wellbeing and learning go hand in hand at Mary Queen of Heaven!
Calling All Green Thumbs!
We’re starting a Gardening Club to help beautify our outdoor spaces, and we need your help!
If you can commit 30 minutes to an hour a week during school hours, we’d love to have you on board. Tasks will not be labour intensive, and will include weeding, mulching, watering, and more!
Join us for an initial meeting to chat about our vision and get started (Date TBC)
Interested? Email Dani ddeluca@mqhgreenvale.catholic.edu.au
Let’s make our school grounds bloom!
THANK YOU to the 6 families who have joined our gardening club. You may see them watering, feeding, pruning or weeding to help keep our spaces beautiful. Your volunteering in this space is very much needed and very much appreciated. It’s not too late… if you’d like to join please send Dani and email!
Working on our emotional literacy gives us opportunities to develop our ability to understand and express different emotions. When we improve our emotional literacy, we can work towards recognising our own feelings and our ability to manage them. This allows us to cope with different life situations such as managing conflict, making friends, coping in difficult situations and being resilient when dealing with change. The Zones of Regulation help the students recognise when they are in the different Zones as well as learn how to use strategies to change or stay in the Zone they are in.
Ideas for home:
This is Part 5 in the series of explanations of the standards
Child Safe Standards are guidelines designed to protect children from harm and ensure their well-being in various environments, particularly in organisations and institutions that engage with children. In Victoria, there are 11 Child Safe Standards.
Standard 5:
Schools must ensure that equity is upheld, and diverse needs respected in policy and practice
At MQH we:
An overview of all standards can be found at: https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/child-safe-standards/the-11-child-safe-standards/
At MQH we are very fortunate to have Sevda as our crossing guard. We see her at the French Rd crossing every morning and afternoon keeping students safe.
Sevda says that she really likes her job and seeing the kids. She loves seeing their smiling eyes. It makes her happy. Sevda says she likes the school and enjoys interacting with the families each day.
So when crossing the road at French Rd please be sure to say “Hi” to Sevda, a valued member of the Mary Queen of Heaven Community.
Home readers (Prep-2)
Take-Home Readers – Supporting Your Child’s Reading Journey
At Mary Queen of Heaven, we are committed to supporting children in developing strong reading skills through a structured and engaging approach. Take-home readers are an important part of this journey, and you may notice that they are not assigned based on levels. Instead, children will receive one of two types of texts, depending on their learning needs:
🔹 Decodable Texts – These books help children practice the sounds they have been explicitly taught. They encourage children to segment (break down) and blend (put together) sounds to read words with increasing confidence.
🔹 Interest-Based Texts – These books are chosen to foster a love of reading and expose children to rich language and ideas. While they may contain words that are not fully decodable, they provide opportunities for discussion, comprehension, and engagement with texts that spark curiosity.
We encourage families to enjoy these books together—celebrating progress, talking about the stories, and making reading an enjoyable experience at home. If you have any questions about supporting your child’s reading, please reach out to your child’s teacher.
Why do we need to do reading at home?
Children need a lot of practice to become fluent and accurate
readers. Listening to your child read provides opportunities
for demonstration, correction and discussion in a supportive
environment. The more your child reads, the better your child’s
reading will become.
How long should my child spend reading to me?
Reading at home should be a successful and positive
experience for your child. Ten to fifteen minutes of daily
reading at home with a supportive adult can make all the
difference. It is best to have your reading session when your
child is not tired or hungry! If it is turning into a very stressful
time, please do consult your child’s class teacher for advice.
What kind of readers will my child bring home and why?
If your child is a confident and independent reader, any age-
and content-appropriate book, chosen by your child, can be
read. Books will be sent home from school or borrowed from
the library. If your child requires more reading support
and is not yet reading independently, the teacher will provide
suitable reading books based on the needs of your child. This
should be a book that has controlled vocabulary to provide
more targeted reading practice.
How should I support my child when reading at home?
Before reading, set the scene by asking your child to predict what the book may be about and link the book to any prior knowledge. Encourage your child to
read carefully and with expression. If a word is read incorrectly
or your child gets stuck use the following steps:
correct or work out the unfamiliar word. Don’t jump in straightaway.
independently, guide his or her attention back to the
word. Don’t ask your child to guess the word from
context or by looking at the picture. Rather, encourage
him/her to look carefully at the word and provide a
prompt related to the letters and the sounds they make,
e.g., point to the letters ‘ai’ in ‘rain’ and say, “The letters
‘a’ and ‘i’ together say /ay/. Can you read the word
now?” Very unusual or irregular words should simply be
provided.
prompting, simply tell him or her the word and move on
to maintain comprehension and enjoyment of the story.
Remember to praise your child when he or she tries to work
out a word, whether or not they are successful.
After each couple of paragraphs or pages, ask questions to
check that your child has understood what has been read.
Children can practise their reading fluency and expression by
rereading a section of text.
At the end of the session, ask your child to summarise the story
and discuss any themes arising from the book.
Should I still read to my child?
Yes! Reading quality storybooks, chapter books or information
books to your child is a valuable way to build vocabulary and
comprehension, and to enrich their understanding of the
world. It is also a great opportunity to expose your child to
literature that they may not be ready to read on their own.
How can I encourage my child to read independently?
Some children will naturally find time to read to themselves,
while others need a little more encouragement. Setting aside
10 minutes to read independently at bedtime is one way of
encouraging your child to read. Children are more likely to
be motivated to read if the book is about something that they
are interested in. Your local library or bookshop will be a good
source of ideas for suitable reading material.
How should I use the Reading Diary?
Each year, your child will be given a new Home
Reading Diary. Each Home Reading Diary contains helpful
information about reading with your child and a few little
reading and spelling games at the back of the book. The
instructions will help you to engage your child with the book.
Keep a record of the books your child has read aloud to you
and record any books that you have read to your child or that
they have read independently. Provide plenty of praise when a
book is completed!
What else can I do to support my child at home?
Literacy and oral language are strongly connected. It is highly
recommended that you use informal opportunities to develop
your child’s general language skills at home. Talk to your child,
using interesting vocabulary. Explain new words. Record these
new words in the back of the Home Reading Diary so that you
can revisit them on different occasions. Tell your child stories or
ask them to tell you about their day. This work can be done, and
is just as beneficial, in English or in your home language. You
can also support your child’s reading and spelling by playing
word games, e.g., I-Spy, hangman, and by practising the tricky
words they have learnt. Most importantly, keep anything you do
with your child light and playful but purposeful.
Children will soon be bringing home books from our school library. These books are selected based on their interests and enjoyment. There is no expectation that your child will be able to read the book independently. We encourage you to read with them, talk about the story, or simply let them explore the pictures. This helps foster a love of reading and builds important early literacy skills. Happy reading!
Please refer to correspondence from your child’s educator regarding when books need to be returned.
How Oral Language supports emotional wellbeing
Welcome to the first SPS Speech Box for 2025. This Speech Box discusses how oral language skills and support a student’s emotional wellbeing. Feel free to include it in your next school newsletter.
How Oral Language supports emotional wellbeing
Research shows that children with stronger language skills in Year 1 are more likely to develop better emotional regulation by Year 6. This means that building your child’s language skills from an early age can help them manage their emotions, navigate challenges, and develop resilience.
Talking about past experiences, future events, and emotions helps children develop
vocabulary and thinking skills needed to understand their feelings and the feelings of others.
These conversations also help children make sense of the world, reflect on their experiences, and build resilience by learning how to express and process emotions.
Self-talk—the internal dialogue we all have—also plays an important role in emotional regulation. Children with strong language skills are better equipped to use self-talk to calm themselves, think through challenges, and problem-solve when faced with difficult situations.
You can help strengthen your child’s language and emotional skills through simple, everyday interactions:
Explain how and why things happen – e.g., “We need to leave now because your brother isn’t feeling well.”
Make connections to past experiences – e.g., “We’re flying to visit Aunt Kate. Remember when we took a plane to Sydney last year?”
Encourage your child to predict what might happen – e.g., “I wonder what games they’ll play at the birthday party?”
Brainstorm solutions to problems together – e.g., “Oh no, we ran out of bread. What else could we use for a sandwich?”
Talk about emotions—yours and theirs – e.g., “I’m feeling a little sad today because I miss Grandad.”
Help your child understand other people’s feelings – e.g., “I think that boy is upset because someone took his toy.”
———–
If you would like further information, please contact the SPS Speech Pathologist at your school.
Telling the Time at Home
Here are some helpful tips you can try with your child. Learning to tell the time can be challenging, especially since most clocks at home are digital. It’s really important to have an analogue clock visible, and regularly pointing out the hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour marks will help students in Year 1/2 get the hang of these times. Once they’re comfortable with this, you can move on to the 5-minute increments, and then eventually work with the minute marks.
Teaching Time
he current hour.
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