Mary Queen of Heaven Newsletter – Week 7 2023

Loving God, Open our hearts and help us to find moments of stillness, that we might hear your voice. May we be eager to hear what you have to say to each of us through your written word and in the depths of our hearts. Help us to listen even when it is challenging and not what we want to hear. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen

Dear Families,

As we enter our third week of Lent we focus on what we are called to do in this season of hope.  With renewed vigor, let us focus on on the three pillars of Lent: prayer (justice toward God) fasting (justice toward self) almsgiving (justice toward neighbours).

It has been wonderful over the past weeks to share with you the developments of Mary Queen of Heaven, both physically and culturally.  Many of you have commented on the improvements to our external spaces with our street scape really coming along, ensuring our school looks appealing and is a happy and safe space to be.  The line parking for our staff car park and the netball courts is due to happen next week.

Much has been happening and developing within the walls of Mary Queen of Heaven.  Our classes are settled and now working to a routine.  Many friendships have been made and systems and processes are really taking shape.

We are waiting on the installation of a children’s crossing in the French Road and in Hillview, the council report that this is due to be installed in the school holidays.  In the meantime, PLEASE ensure you practice road safety with your children and hold their hands as they cross the roads.  The opening of the Hillview Rd gate has helped with traffic flow in the morning and afternoons, we thank all of you for using the spaces carefully and safely.

Renae

Please keep the following children in your prayers, as they prepare to make their First Reconciliation during Week 8.

Chloe

Adam

Aria

Temika

Noah

Savannah

Isabella

Our home reading program began this week, with our library borrowing beginning next week. Please ensure your child has a library bag to safely transport their library books.

Our home reading program is designed to meet the needs of your child’s reading journey, with texts at or around their reading level.

Home reading is designed for enjoyment and for habit building.  Please read to your child if you find the text is difficult for them to navigate.

Library borrowing is for pure enjoyment.  Your child will choose library book/s that appeal to them and to bring them reading joy.

This term, the children have been inquiring into ‘Our Place. Our Community’.  Here is a summary of the children’s learning so far.

Prep

The Preps have been exploring the question ‘What is land?’, particularly the Indigenous perspective of land through our Acknowledgement of Country and the text ‘Somebody’s Land’. They shared their perspective of ‘Land’ through collage. Here are some of their pieces:

1-2 

Our 1-2 children read the book ‘What we’ll build’. They paused at the page “What shall we build, you and I?” and responded to this through drawing in a collaborative piece:

3-4 

The 3-4 children have been exploring the Acknowledgement of Country. They have been unpacking the language used in the Acknowledgement and its significance for us today. They will work towards creating an Acknowledgement to be displayed in each of our learning spaces.

4-6 

The 4-6 children have been investigating what it means to be responsible and particularly, what it means to be a leader. They engaged in dialogue around what their definition of leadership is, and discussed inspiring leaders in their lives. Here is a snapshot of their thinking:



They then brainstormed possible leadership roles, that matched with our values:

Last week we celebrated  National Day Against Bullying.

It was a wonderful community day, rich in learning about ways we can ensure we all feel happy, safe and secure in our learning environments.  It was fabulous to see our community get so involved in the ‘B’ dress up initiative.

Our ‘Be Kind’ day and our Gold Coin donations raised $241.50 for Earthquake relief for Syria and Turkey.

School Photos will be held on Tuesday 28th March.

Please see below, all the information on ordering your school photos online.

Please read it carefully and follow the Advanced Life ordering process.

Could all children please bring an art smock or T-shirt to school to wear when we are doing messy work in the Art Room.

An old T-shirt is fine, it would need to be on the big side so it will cover and protect their uniform.

Could all art smocks/ T-shirts, please be labelled with your child’s name.

Thank you,

Cathy

As a school fundraiser for the first term, we are hosting an Easter raffle.

Raffle tickets will come home to families in the coming week.  We ask that you do your best to sell these to family and friends.  Please request more tickets if you are successful in selling yours.

In order to support this fundraiser, we are seeking donations of Easter Eggs, chocolates etc. that we can make up into beautiful hampers as prizes for the raffle.  Please send these along to school with your children, there is a hamper box located in the front foyer.

First prize has been donated by Rocky Road Chocolates 2/16-18 Marshall Rd, Airport West VIC 3042.  Many thanks to Sandra and Arthur for their support of our school.

On the last day of school Wednesday 5th April, we will be hosting a Passion Play to culminate our learning about Lent, Holy Week and to showcase our Religious Education learning for term 2.

All families are invited to attend this play from 9:30am in the main playground.  More information will be shared with you in time.

Please see the invitation below.

All families are invited.

Please RSVP by contacting the school office.

PRF_Collection-notice-for-parents-SFP