Mary Queen of Heaven Newsletter – Term 3 – Week 1

Prayer for Pilgrims at World Youth Day

Heavenly Father, 

You called Mary Queen of Heaven and opened her heart to say ‘YES’ to the mission you asked of her. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she rose and set out in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth to share the Good News.

Help Pauline, our pilgrim, and all pilgrims as they go on pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Lisbon.

Be their companion and strength them on their journey,

Open their hearts to the prompting of your Spirit,

And lead them to a deep and abiding encounter with your Son.

Like Mary, may Pauline and all pilgrims return from World Youth Day, filled with your Spirit and ready proclaim the Good News.

 

Dear Families,

Welcome back to term 3, the year is simply flying by!  Over the school holidays we opened up two large playing fields for the children, giving them more space for active ball games.  Basketball rings and backboards were erected in the basketball court area, this came from feedback from the children themselves.  We have ordered and expect to have installed some lovely seating options for the yard by the end of term 3.

 

CONFIRMATION

This term promises to be an exciting term with lots to look forward to.  The sacrament of Confirmation for our year 6 students will be celebrated at Good Shepherd parish on Saturday 19th August at 12 noon.  All families are invited to attend and share in this celebration.

 

100 DAYS OF MQH!!

We will be celebrating 100 days of Mary Queen of Heaven on Friday 21st July.  This will be a fun day for all, dressing up as 100 year olds (Preps) and 100 days of shining brightly (year 1-6.)  We will mark the day with lots of engaging activities reflecting on 100 days together.  Our day will culminate in gathering for prayer and burying a time capsule that marks the first 6 months of our existence as a school.  We plan to open the time capsule at the 10 year anniversary of MQH in 2033!  Please start thinking about your child’s costume for the day, they get so excited about special days like this.

Staffing

Earlier this year Rachel Giuffrida (Year 4-6 educator) married her husband Thomas.  In the coming weeks, Rachel and Thomas will be taking leave to celebrate their Honeymoon in Europe.  We congratulate Rachel and Thomas and wish them well for their trip away.  Felicity Valetini will replace Rachel in her absence, Felicity knows the students well and has a great relationship with them.

 

In recent weeks we were notified that our Prep Educator Pauline Boyle was successful in her application to attend World Youth Day in Lisbon Portugal with 500 pilgrims from the Melbourne Archdiocese. We congratulate Pauline on this one in a lifetime opportunity and thank her for helping put Mary Queen of Heaven on the World map through her attendance.  Pauline will be away for three weeks from week three, traveling through Rome and Portugal with WYD.  This enriching experience will no doubt strengthen Pauline’s faith life, opening up so many opportunities for reflection and faith formation.  We wish Pauline God’s Blessings as she journeys through this pilgrimage.  Gabbi Stickland will replace Pauline in her absence.  Gabi has worked with the juniors at MQH and knows our community.

 

Online Safety

In recent weeks the news has reflected the growing issues among our youth and Cyberbullying and online issues.  At school we remind the children constantly about being safe online and making safe choices.  We strongly recommend that you as a family discuss your child’s online use and refer to the following link for further information and support. 

All Social Media apps have a child age limit of 13 years of age.  We should not see or hear about any children at Mary Queen of Heaven having Facebook, Instagram, TikTok etc as none of our students are old enough for an account.  If your child/ren does have one of these accounts, we strongly recommend you close the account and explain the dangers of these platforms to your children.  

https://www.esafety.gov.au/kids

Please also refer to the PDF attached on screen time for Primary school aged children.

EC-ESP-screen-time-tips-flyer_0 (1)

 

School Uniform

We have worked very closely with Noone School Wear to design and manufacture a beautiful and durable school uniform.  It has been designed to meet the needs of our learners with a great deal of choice and comfort. 

Please be reminded that we ask that ONLY uniform purchased from the uniform shop be worn to school and sport uniform is ONLY to be worn on Fridays.

From this week, educators will be reminding children about their uniform.  You may be contacted by your child’s educators if your child is out of uniform.  We thank you for your cooperation with this.

Big Childcare

BIG Childcare is an excellent service that is offered to our families for before and after school care.  They are a third party provider and we cannot assist in enrolling children to this service.  Please call BIG Childcare directly for any inquiries on 1300 273 162.

Absence

If your child is going to be absent for any reason, please let the school know through the Audiri App as soon as possible as marking the roll is a mandatory obligation for all schools   This is also crucial for us to accurately mark the roll and ensure that we are accurately fulfilling the school’s obligation of recording student attendance.  If the absence is for an extended period of time, please indicate the dates and be specific with the reason, preferably before the extended absence.  It is also recommended that you advise your child’s classroom teacher when your child will be absent for an extended period of time.

Late arrivals

We have noticed that more and more children are coming into school late.  A late arrival is disruptive  to the child coming in late and can be quite anxiety inducing.  It is equally disrupting for the classroom.  We understand that every now and then things happen, however please make a concerted effort to be at school on time.  Children are expected to be in their classrooms by 8:45 am ready to commence the day.  Please note that children coming in late to school need to be escorted by a parent/guardian so that the late arrival can be recorded at the office by the person bringing the child to school.

Collecting Children from School

On occasions, children need to be collected early from school for appointments etc.  Please let the office know if you are collecting your child early, especially if they are being collected by another adult.  We cannot allow children to go with another adult if we don’t have permission from the family.

2023 SCHOOL FEES
Any outstanding 2023 School Fees are now overdue. All fees were due on 11/7/2023, unless you
have previously entered into a payment arrangement with the school, in which case please ignore
this message. Statements will be forwarded to families with outstanding fees this week or early next
week, some of which may have already received a copy. Please ensure you are up to date with your
payments and contact the school office as soon as possible if you are unable to meet this
commitment.
Your cooperation will be greatly appreciated.

 

Father’s Day

On Friday 1st September we will celebrate Fathers Day with a morning tea in the Sacred Space at 9am, followed by an opportunity for all of our dads to visit children in the classrooms.  Please add this date to your diaries, the children really love these special days. ALL dads and father figures are welcome.  

We will be hosting a Father’s Day raffle in the coming weeks, with a beautiful hamper as first prize.  Raffle tickets will be sent home shortly, please do your best to support this initiative by selling the raffle tickets issued to your families.   The raffle will be in place of a Fathers Day stall.

 

Please contact the office if you would like to contribute to our Father’s Day hampers.  Items such as: Boxed Chocolates, Red Wine, Movie Vouchers, Bunnings Vouchers, small quality gift items.

 

Learning and Teaching

 

Discovery

This week our children have experienced our new Inquiry model, which educators have been immersing themselves in through professional development and dialogue.  Our new model, Discovery, is an evidence-based and developmentally appropriate approach to inquiry.  We have been supported by Gemma Goodyear, the Director of Traces of Learning.  Some of the benefits of this new model include:

– supporting children to build autonomy (the capacity to make informed decisions), 

– providing real life contexts for them to practice skills learned in the classroom (for example, learning about money by running where they have to negotiate using money)   

– providing opportunities for children to build dispositions that will support them to be successful, responsible and empathetic community members, such as: collaboration, persistence, resilience, problem solving

– engaging children in hands on learning 

– providing a range of ‘languages’ for children to use to express themselves beyond just orally e.g. express their thinking / feelings through painting or collage

 

Educators worked tirelessly to set up spaces for children in P-2 to Discovery.  These spaces include:

• Home corner
• Artistry 
• Mark making / book making
• Small world
• Construction 

 

From the outside, it may appear as though children are ‘just playing’, however, research shows that children up until the age of 8 learn best through a pedagogy of play.  Educators strategically design these spaces to ensure they connect to learning, real life contexts, children’s interests and include links to the curriculum.  Throughout a Discovery session, educators rove and in an Influencing role where they act as researchers; observing, documenting children’s thinking and provoking deeper discovery through questions. 

 

A word from our School Leaders!

Mission and Faith 

 

Salvation Army Winter Appeal

Thank you to those who have donated towards our Salvation Army Winter Appeal.  We are still collecting non-perishable food items.  These will be presented to Colin from the Salvation Army in Craigieburn at an upcoming assembly to support people in our community in need.

 

 

 

Get your colour on

Mary Queen of Heaven Catholic Primary School is hosting a Colour Explosion School Fun Run fundraiser!

The Colour Explosion School Fun Run will be on Friday 18 August 2023 from 12pm to 2pm.

Not only are we hosting an awesome explosion event, students can win up to 15 awesome automated incentive prizes by fundraising via online sponsorship donations.

Students have received a sponsorship book with instructions on setting up their cybersafe, online fundraising profile at www.australianfundraising.com.au. This is an entirely online fundraiser; all cash donations must be converted to online donations to redeem your prizes.

Extra Incentives to Fundraise!

• Online Golden Coins – complete fun online tasks to redeem an extra $75 towards your prize credit.
• Monty the Monstar’s Bonus Prizes – achieve milestones to unlock Monty’s bonus prizes.
• $10,000 JB HI FI Spending Spree for one organisation’s highest fundraising student – it could be you!
• Our school will win an extra $5,000 if we have the highest average fundraised amount per student in 2023.
• A Play Station 5 Gaming Bundle – see your child’s sponsorship booklet for more!

For more information, please contact Felicity Valetini at fvaletini@mqhgreenvale.catholic.edu.au or Steven Avis at savis@mqhgreenvale.catholic.edu.au.

Happy fundraising!