All Saints Parish School Portland eNewsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the traditional owners, the Gunditjmara people, on whose land we learn, work and play. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their elders- past, present and emerging believing that we can walk together for a better future.

Principal's Message

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mums, grandmothers, aunties and special people for yesterday. I hope you all had an amazing day with your loved ones. I am sure the breakfast in bed or special massages or gifts that you received would have made your day.

Last Monday our staff had a wonderful day of learning with Peter Sullivan, a Maths expert from Monash University. We collaborated and discussed problem solving tasks in Maths using open ended questions with enabling and extending prompts and also multiplicative thinking. Staff were all excited about the day and came away with many ideas to try in the classrooms.

A huge thank you must go to Paula, Matt, Kristy, Leanne and Narelle and their team of volunteers who assisted with our Debutante Balls over the past two weekends. A great deal of time and effort has gone into making these nights special for the debuatntes and their partners. Well done to Willow and Nate, Liam and Tully and Evie and Noah who were flower girls and paige boys for each of our deb balls. Massive thanks to the families and staff who volunteered their time to assist with these events. The deb balls are our major fundraising activity for the year and a great community event and we could not make them happen the way that they do without the support of our school community. So if you helped out in any way I say THANK YOU and we are very grateful for your assistance.

We remember to keep Payton, Ilaria, Cassie, Ivy and Althea and their families in our prayers over the coming weeks as they prepare to celebrate the Sacrament of First Eucharist in the coming weeks.

RESPECT YOURSELF, RESPECT OTHERS & RESPECT YOUR ENVIRONMENT!

Regards

Jamie

Our flower girls and page boys for the deb balls

Catholic School Culture

A Prayer for All Mothers

Motherhood comes in many forms, each with its unique challenges, joys, and responsibilities. As we recognize and celebrate the incredible mothers in our lives, it’s essential to acknowledge the diverse roles and relationships that encompass motherhood.

In honor of these remarkable women, we offer a short prayer for each kind of mother, seeking divine guidance, love, and support in their journey.

May these heartfelt prayers serve as a reminder of the love and appreciation we hold for all mothers, no matter their circumstance.

Biological mothers: Dear Lord, bless and guide all biological mothers as they nurture and love their children. Amen.
Adoptive mothers: Father, grant wisdom and love to adoptive mothers as they create a loving home for their children. Amen.
Foster mothers: God, provide strength and compassion to foster mothers as they offer care and stability for children in need. Amen.
Stepmothers: Heavenly Father, bless stepmothers with patience and understanding as they build strong, loving relationships. Amen.
Single mothers: Lord, give single mothers the courage and support they need to raise their children with love and dedication. Amen.
Grandmothers raising grandchildren: Father, grant grandmothers raising their grandchildren the strength and wisdom to guide them through life’s journey. Amen.
Surrogate mothers: God, bless surrogate mothers with health and protection as they selflessly give the gift of life. Amen.
Mothers-in-law: Lord, nurture love and understanding between mothers-in-law and their children-in-law. Amen.
Spiritual mothers: Heavenly Father, guide spiritual mothers as they share their faith and wisdom with others. Amen.
Godmothers: God, grant godmothers the grace to be role models and provide spiritual guidance to their godchildren. Amen.
Mentor mothers: Lord, bless mentor mothers with wisdom as they support and encourage those they guide. Amen.
Expectant mothers: Father, protect and strengthen expectant mothers as they prepare to welcome new life. Amen.
Mothers of children with special needs: God, give mothers of children with special needs patience, resilience, and unwavering love. Amen.
Mothers who have experienced loss: Lord, surround grieving mothers with Your love and comfort, reminding them they are never alone. Amen.
Mothers of blended families: Heavenly Father, guide mothers of blended families in fostering unity, love, and understanding. Amen.
Working mothers: Lord, grant strength and balance to working mothers as they manage their careers and families. Amen.
Stay-at-home mothers: Father, bless stay-at-home mothers with patience and wisdom as they dedicate their lives to their families. Amen.
Mothers of multiples: God, provide extra strength and love to mothers of multiples as they care for their many blessings. Amen.
Grieving mothers: God, comfort grieving mothers with Your loving presence and grant them healing and peace in their time of sorrow. Amen.
Mothers of prodigals: God, grant mothers of prodigals strength, wisdom, and hope as they wait for their children to return home. May they trust in Your unfailing love and hold onto the promise of Your faithfulness. Amen.

Sacrament of Confirmation

Those families wishing to have their children involved in the preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation later this year are advised that the registration period has now started and will be open until the 24th of May.

Families are asked to contact Fr Greg, either on his mobile (best option) or email greg.tait@ballarat.catholic.org.au to arrange an appointment to complete the registration process. Please phone early in this time period and make your booking, rather than leaving it to the last week to avoid time pressures.

If anyone would like to contact Fr Greg regarding Sacramental preparation, or if there are any families who have a student in Year 3 who wish to be Baptised prior to Confirmation, please contact him on his mobile number 0475 512 530.

School Information

Assembly Timetable

Assemblies commence at 2:30pm every second Friday afternoon.

Assemblies for Term 2

Week 6 - May 24 - 1/2YW

Week 8 - June 7 - 1/2MR

Week 10 - June 21 - 5/6BS

If your child is unwell...

As our weather at the moment is very inconsistent there seems to be some sickness in the community. We currently have a large number of students and staff away due to various illnesses and we hope they are all feeling better soon. We have also sent quite a number of students home from school who are presenting to sick bay throughout the day.

We are asking families to assist us in making sure our school community stays safe and well by keeping your children at home if they are unwell, especially if they have cold and flu or Covid symptoms.

Student Free Days- Term 3

Monday August 5, Tuesday August 6 & Tuesday August 20

Please add these dates to your calendars as there will be no school for students on these days. Staff will be undertaking professional development in different areas on these days.

Monday August 5- School Wide Positive Behaviour Support.

Tuesday August 6- Religious Education and Faith Formation.

Tuesday August 20- Structured Literacy

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS)

All staff will be working with advisors from Catholic Education Ballarat on a the initial stages of School Wide Positive Behaviour Supports which is a framework for school communities from Foundation to Year 12 that helps schools in improving social, emotional, behavioural and academic outcomes for their students.

SWPBS provides evidence-based, positive, and proactive practices that support and respond to students’ social, emotional, and behavioural needs.

SWPBS uses a tiered intervention framework along with robust data-based decision making to provide primary prevention for all staff and students, secondary prevention for students with at-risk behaviour and tertiary prevention for students with high-risk behaviour.

More information about SWPBS will be shared with families in future newsletters.

Important Dates

TERM 2

Week 5

Monday May 13- Friday May 17- PSG Meetings

Thursday May 16 & Friday May 17- First Aid in Schools for all students

Friday May 17- Division Cross Country in Warrnambool

Week 6

Tuesday May 21- Family Maths Night for Years 3-6 students and families

Wednesday May 22- National Simultaneous Storytime

Friday May 24- Yr 6 Science Games Day @ Heywood & District Secondary College

Week 7

Monday May 27-Thursday May 30- FOOTSTEPS Dance Incursion

Friday May 31- District Winter Series

Saturday June 1- Sacrament of First Eucharist

Learning and Teaching

The Physical Education and Sport Report.

Wow!! What a busy term it has been for our All Saints Sporting Students!!!

Physical Education

Currently we have been completing throwing and catching within our junior cohort and stick/lever activities within out middle to senior students. Many of our students are demonstrating amazing progression through these units. If you are at home throwing and catching with your child, discuss such aspects as which foot to step with when throwing, using “bunny ears” and pointing, for small balls when throwing overhead, and using your hands to slow the ball down when catching. Get in touch if you would like any tips!

Winter Series Sport – Soccer, Tee ball, Netball and Aussie Rules Football – Grade 5/6

Currently we are giving students a taste of these sports. Students will soon be selecting a sport to participate in for our Portland and Heywood District Winter Carnival to be held on Friday the 31^st of May at venues across Portland. More information to follow, however the venues include Portland Soccer Club, Henty Park (Tee ball) and Flinders Park (Netball and Football).

Cross-Country.

Congratulations to our cross-country runners who participated in the PHDSSA Cross-Country Carnival at Yarraman Park last week. We wish our top 8 place getters Illaria Toohey 2nd, Tyler Leishman 1st, Indie O’Dea, Bonnie Shipard 1st, Peyton Marshall, Charles Dainty 2^nd and Ayden Marra 5^th all the best at the Division Cross-Country Championships this Friday at Reid Oval/Albert Park Warrnambool this Friday. Go All Saints!!

Athletics

Recently our Athletics Team participated in the Division Athletics Carnival at Brauerander Park Warrnambool. We had some amazing results:

Hurdles 2^nd Banjo Mewburn All Saints PS 15.41

High Jump 4^th Tyler Leishman All Saints PS 1.15m

Discus 4^th Laurens Vosloo All Saints PS 16.67m

800m 6^th Tyler Leishman All Saints PS 2:48.38

800m 8^th Bonnie Shipard All Saints PS 3:15.58

800m 11^th Illaria Toohey All Saints PS 3:05.74

Shot Put 1^st Lexie Elford All Saints PS 7.76m

Triple Jump 2^nd Tyler Leishman All Saints PS 7.48m

200m 8^th Peyton Marshall All Saints PS 37.41

200m 14^th Zarlee Loft All Saints PS 36.62

100m 15^th Zarlee Loft All Saints PS 17.43

100m 3^rd Savarnna Loft All Saints PS 15.17

Shot Put 4^th Peyton Marshall All Saints PS 5.65m

Boys 9-10 4X100m Relay 5^th All Saints PS 1:07.82

Girls 9-10 4X100m Relay 5^th All Saints PS 1:10.90

Girls 11 4X100m Relay 5^th All Saints PS 1:08.04

Girls 12-13 4X100m Relay 4^th All Saints PS 1:05.42

1500m 10^th Bonnie Shipard All Saints PS 6:59.60

Congratulations to Lexie Elford, Savarnna Loft, Tyler Leishman and Banjo Mewburn, who have now qualified for the Regional Athletics Carnival to be held at Llanberris Reserve Ballarat, Friday October 11. These students qualified events have been highlighted in purple.

Community Sport

If any parents have any community sport news/achievements they would like to pass on, please send them to pwhite@asportland.catholic.edu.au

Mr Paul White, PE-Sport Coordinator

Photo: 2024 PHDSSA Cross Country Team

Students of the Week

Term 2 Week 4 Assembly- Students of the Week

FCL: Teliah Leishman & Sunnie Chow

1/2YW: Robby Rowe & Lucy Crimmins

1/2DW: David Staples & Sienna Ozzimo

1/2ID: Winnie Foster & Zion Nuku-Ryan

1/2MR: Sophie Powell & Axel O’Dea

3/4DL: Nash Neave & Zaiden Oswald

3/4MS: Phoebe Boersma & Briellah Logan

3/4JS: Torben Kotze & Edward Eichler

3/4MN: Ciarah Logan & Varia Green

5/6AD: Dylan Holt & Indi McRae

5/6BS: Georgia Hatten & Archie McCallum

5/6RV: Ellie Rethus & Ebony Hawker

5/6DC: Tilly Friend & Jaxon Hann

Digi Tech: Amelia Burns & Zane Oliver

Physical Education: Bonnie Shipard & Easton Cracknell

Art: Izobel Oliver

Principal Award: Harriet Howman

Congratulations to these students on the wonderful work and effort that you have been applying. Keep up the great work.

Australian Early Development Census

During the month of May all schools are required to complete the Australian Early Development Census for children in their first year of full-time schooling. This census assists in building a complete picture of early childhood development in Australia, so that the government can better understand and respond to the needs of children and their families. If any parents/carers do not consent to the collection of their child's information please contact the school.

Parent Letter 2024

Fact sheet 2024

NCCD Information Flyer

Please click on the link below for more information on NCCD

NCCD Parent Fact Sheet

Leadership & Stewardship

School Advisory Council Vacancies

We have a number of vacancies on our School Advisory Council (SAC) for 2024. If you are interested please read the following information which is taken from the DOBCEL School Advisory Council Terms of reference.

Currently the All Saints Parish School SAC meets once per term with the option to hold a second meeting if neccessary to discuss any pressing matters.

If you wish to join our SAC or would like more information plaese contact the school office.

Community Engagement

Thanks to everyone who came to join us for our Mother's Day breakfast at school last Friday. It was great to see so many special people in our school celbrating the mums and special people in our lives.

Child Safety & Wellbeing

Webinars for parents and carers

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars

Join one of our free webinars for parents and carers.

These live webinars give parents and carers the knowledge, skills and tools to support their children to have safe online experiences.

On this page:

Download the schedule

2024 parent and carer webinar schedule (PDF, 99.3KB)Download

Download

SchoolTV - Wellbeing Platform

All Saints Parish School’s ‘School TV’ can be accessed using the following link: https://asportland.catholic.schooltv.me

In this edition of SchoolTV - MANAGING SCREEN TIME

As a result of the global pandemic, there has been a noticeable shift in the amount of time people spend on screen-based devices. Families are transitioning back to pre-COVID routines but many are still struggling to re-establish the boundaries and rules around screen use. Some continue to deal with digital conflict and tech-tantrums on a daily basis. The latest research found that 77% of teenagers spend more than five hours on screens per day, but it is important to note that not all screen time is considered equal.

Parents play a crucial role in modelling a positive and healthy approach to using screens and assisting children to navigate the content they watch. It is better to model and mentor screen use, rather than monitor it. Children tend to do more of what they see us do, and less of what we tell them to do. However, it is still important to outline the risks and highlight the benefits of screen use to ensure you keep a balanced attitude. Encourage discussions around the issues that people experience in monitoring their screen time and be honest about your own difficulties.

Parents need to remain firm in their approach to managing screen time. Excessive screen time can be detrimental to a child’s overall wellbeing. Ensuring the correct privacy settings are in place is vital to prevent children from being inadvertently exposed to inappropriate content or online predators. Parents need to also be mindful of the potential impact screen time can have on a child’s social, emotional, educational, behavioural, and even physical domains.

In this edition of SchoolTV, care-givers will be provided with a range of guidelines and strategies to help manage screen time at home.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

There was also a very informative and interesting episode of Spotlight on channel 7 on Sunday evening. Click the link to view it on 7+. https://7plus.com.au/7news-spotlight

Here is the link to the Managing Screen Time edition of SchoolTV
https://asportland.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/managing-screen-time

Happy Birthday

MAY BIRTHDAYS

STUDENTS: Maya D, Hunter J, Verah B, Eloise R, Nelly F, Izobel O, Isla S, Cooper A, Erin, H-C, Ally C, Blake T, Ellie R, Oliver P, Darcy W, Allana T, Manny S, Olive B, Amelia F, Letiyah H

STAFF: Janette, Kelly, Ms Arnott