Dear St Mary’s College Families,

In recent years, the St Mary’s College annual social justice walkathon was the ‘culminating event’, occurring at the conclusion of a fundraising campaign that ran for the majority of Term 2. This year, we bring forward the walkathon and combine it with Edmund Rice Feast Day into one full day event (held on Monday May 5). Therefore, we no longer think of the walkathon in isolation as the purpose of our fundraising effort. The collection of walkathon funds is now adopted by the school community as the ‘Term 2 Social Justice Fundraising Campaign’, inclusive of the social justice action of walking in solidarity with those at the margins. These are the people and communities that will receive our donations. In addition, we are planning weekly activities led by the senior prefect team with each year level. This will continue throughout the remainder of Term 2.

Families are further encouraged to respond to the call for donations, with the target of $50 per student. Details of how to donate, including each student’s individual donation code has been sent to families and students. The link to donate is also copied below. Please contact me if you have any issues donating.

Social Justice Donation Page

https://st-marys-college-2025-walkathon.raiselysite.com/donate

Please find below a summary Child Safe Standard 2, which came into effect on July 1 2022, and a summary of our action plan for this standard.

Child Safe Standard 2: Leadership, Governance and Culture

Schools must ensure that a child safe culture is embedded and promoted at all levels of the organisation. This requires school leaders to actively model the culture and ensure transparent governance arrangements, including a Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy, Child Safety Code of Conduct, risk management strategies, and processes that effectively support recordkeeping and information sharing. The term ‘governance arrangements’ refers to the specific systems, processes, roles, responsibilities and organisational arrangements that each school puts in place to operationalise the child safety policies and procedures.

At St Mary’s College, we are working towards the implementation of Standard 2, by:

• Promoting our child safety policies and practices in assemblies, staff induction and training, College website, newsletters, staff, parent and student portals.
• Child Safety Code of Conduct for all staff, contractors and volunteers.
• Creation of student versions of Child Safety policies.
• Displaying our commitment to child safety around the College: student designed child safety posters.
• Communicate and demonstrate that mistreatment of students and racism are not tolerated and that students that seek support are listened to and taken seriously.
• Fortnightly meetings of the Child Safety Team: Deputy Principal, Director of Students, Student Counsellor, Learning Diversity Leader.
• Promote regular, open discussion on child safety at all meetings. This is an opportunity for staff to raise concerns but also to train teams in child safety as it relates to particular areas of the school. All child safety concerns raised are to be referred to the Child Safety Team.

Shaun Lancashire
Deputy Principal

It is hard to believe it is already Term 2 and our students and staff have settled into the routine business of school and study. The Learning Diversity Team are continuing to focus on ensuring the needs of all students are being met.

Catholic learning communities enact inclusive policies and practices to accurately identify the diverse learning needs of individuals, consider effective approaches of support, provide appropriate adjustments and monitor the progress of all learners. All students with diverse learning needs have a right to access a full and engaging education on the same basis as their peers.

By the first Friday of August each year, we are required to submit evidence showing we have met our obligations by uploading data for the NCCD census. NCCD stands for the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data for Students with Disability. To assist you with understanding this process, please refer to the Fact Sheet for Parents, Guardians and Carers attached.

In order for us to deliver the most appropriate adjustments and supports for students with learning difficulties, we need families to provide the school with information, specialists' letters, or other records to assist the school to understand the student's needs. Medical and allied health professionals may also provide diagnoses or other assessment information, with parental permission, that can help the school to accurately assess the student's inclusion in the NCCD.

It is generally considered that diagnostic assessments are relevant for approximately five years after they have been written. With changes in growth and maturity, support strategies may change. Intervention programs enacted during earlier years are likely to have had positive impacts on the student’s learning, thereby changing individual needs. If you have had any assessments updated, please send them through to me. This will assist me with reviewing and updating learning plans and informing teachers of the most recent recommendations and strategies to support your student.

All assessments are kept confidential with information being shared only with parental permission, and only with those who need to know as they work closely with the student. We understand that students are not defined by their diagnosed conditions, and diagnosed conditions should not be used as an impediment to academic growth.

Please make contact if you have any questions or concerns regarding this information.

Mrs Chris Sodaitis
Learning Diversity Leader
csodaitis@stmaryscollege.vic.edu.au

Feast Day

The St Mary's rock bands performed for the Feast Day celebrations out in the sun under the sails. Staff and students were entertained as they enjoyed rides, stalls and playing with farm animals. Well done to the year 8 band, the year 9/10 band, the year 10 band and the year 11/12 band, as well as solo sets from both Ted McMahon and Eli Mutyambizi.

Olive Cullen

The St Mary's music department is very pleased to welcome our new vocal teacher Ms Olive Cullen!

Olive is a Melbourne based musician, performing in operas, concerts, plays, musicals, pantomimes, films, cabarets, variety shows and private functions.

She studied a Bachelors of Music Performance, learning from Suzanne Johnston, and completed a diploma of Languages majoring in German.

She has been a Scholar with Opera Scholars Australia since 2022 and is a regular performer with Opera in the Country. Olive is passionate about promoting the value of singing and music in communities, as a result winning the Union House Theatre’s 2021 Community Engagement Award for her work on the UMMTA Chorus

St Mary's Choir

As well as teaching our wonderful singing students, Ms Cullen is also the new Director of the St Mary's choir, which rehearses Wednesday mornings. We have a number of vocal events coming up including music camp, the music production and more ACC rehearsals in preparation for our ACCent On Music Concert in Hamer Hall in September.

Adam Yee guest speaker

On Monday the year 11 and 12 music students met with and listened to Adam Yee, Director of Music at King David School and one of the VCE study design writers. The students gained valuable insight into the workings of the VCE music unit and gained perspective from the writer himself. It was an inspirational talk, finished off with a bit of singing! Thank you, Adam.

Year 7 performances

The year 7's had their first performances in front of the class this week, playing pieces with their instrumental families. Congratulations everyone who performed, you have all come so far and will continue to improve throughout the semester!

Katie Thomas
Director of Music

Message from the Year 8 Pastoral Care Leader

This week, our Year 8 cohort came together during Pastoral Care to acknowledge and reflect on IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia). It was a meaningful opportunity to spend time as a group, discussing the importance of recognising and celebrating the amazing diversity within our school community. At St Mary’s College, we are committed to fostering an environment where every student feels safe, supported, and valued for who they are.

We also took the time to formally congratulate our 2025 Year 8 Class Captains, Olivia Koutroulis (8 Edmund) and Alex Piva (8 Mary). Both students have already shown great leadership and positivity within the cohort, and we’re pleased to share a message from them below.

In other news, it has been pleasing to see students embracing the winter uniform with pride. A reminder that ties must be worn as part of the winter uniform, and blazers are required to and from the College each day. Please also note that black leather sneakers (such as Nike Air Forces) do not meet the school’s uniform policy for formal school shoes. Students wearing incorrect footwear will be asked to rectify this.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to ensure a strong and respectful learning environment for all students.

Annie Drive
Year 8 Pastoral Care Leader

Our incredible cast, crew, and band are deep in rehearsals, bringing energy, passion, and serious commitment as we work to bring the 2025 whole-College production of Mamma Mia! to life! This dedicated team has been rehearsing every Sunday and twice a week after school, under the guidance of our amazing creative staff: Music Director Miss Katie Thomas, Assistant Director Miss Amber Hemmes, and Director Mr. Brendan Tollit. Our wonderful stage manager, Molly Andrews-Dodds has also created our poster that you will see attached to this newsletter

It has been incredible to watch the show take shape, and there is a real buzz not just within the cast and crew, but across the entire College community. As one of this year’s Drama Captains and the Producer of the show, I have had the opportunity to speak with families during Talk and Tours, as well as with visitors and friends, and one question keeps coming up: When can we buy tickets? The excitement is definitely building.

We are also looking ahead to a major milestone: Music Camp, coming up in less than a week. This will be a huge time for the production. Not only will the cast be attending, but so will members of Symphonic Band, Big Band, and various other ensembles and rock bands from across the College. While many of these musicians are attending for their ensemble work, a handful will also be joining our show band to bring the Mamma Mia! soundtrack to life. It is going to be an intense few days of singing, playing, blocking, dancing, and bonding, and we cannot wait to see how it all comes together.

Stay tuned. Mamma Mia! is shaping up to be a show you will not want to miss - and trust me, by the final curtain, you’ll be saying Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! More.

Thomas Lauder
Producer

Winter is just around the corner and at times this season can cause some people:

• to be less motivated and lose interest in activities
• have low energy, feel fatigued or drowsy and want to stay in bed,
• have a low mood,
• want to eat carbs and sweets,
• miss the sunlight

But don’t let the Winter Blues get to you!

Here are simple ways to keep on top of the winter blues:

• Grab a dose of sunshine when you can – when the sun is shining, seize the day and get outside, even have a walk.
• Do your best to avoid too many carbs or sugary foods; instead go for the complex carbs and protein or omega 3 rich foods
• Exercise and move: It’s been well documented that exercise helps our mood and our overall wellbeing.
• Make plans and challenge yourself – think of doing something that motivates you.
• You can also work on changing the way you think and moving from the negative to the positive: ask yourself –
  • is there another way to think about this?
  • which thought would be accurate and which thought would be more helpful?

And REMEMBER

Winter will pass, just as it did last year (and the year before that). You have been through a winter before and you can get through it again.

Trish Maguire
School Counsellor

We ventured out to Salesian for round 1 and we met with a rowdy lunchtime crowd and a much bigger and stronger opposition. Our boys were a little overwhelmed early, however we began to find our feet and our speed at ground level was becoming a threat. We lifted our intensity and pressure in the third quarter in response to coach Harper’s pleas to lift and we also took control of the centre bounce clearances. We charged back to be only 2 points down at three quarter time. Unfortunately, Salesian finished strongly, and we went down, but we were extremely proud of our boys’ spirit and strong character especially when at times during the game we had our backs to the wall.

We had fantastic contributors during the game Mason Sacco our captain was brilliant in the air and on the ground and add to that 3 goals. Bailey Holland at full back repelled many attacks and cleared the ball out of our D50 with penetrating kicks. James Potts’ ball use was excellent creating plenty of opportunities for teammates. Edison Lehocz was fearless with his attack on the ball and preparedness to take the game on. Bradley Akacich, our ruck man, showed much resilience and manfully toiled against bigger opposition.

The following boys showed small glimpses of their ability: Jackson Caguioa and Dan Komatsuzaki with their run and carry. Charlie Clarke, Finn Blacklow, Jasper Brennan, Harri Ridley, Callum Slattery and Luke Muir all looked dangerous up forward, hitting the score board. Finally, Nick Cleland, only new to the game, however, his strength and height will be a great asset as he develops.

Special mentions to Elijah Iwanow, James Pearce and Finn Fitzgerald who all helped with duties during the game.

Best: Sacco, Potts, Holland, Lehocz and Akacich.
Goal kickers: Sacco 3, Clarke 1, Slattery 1, Muir 1 and Blacklow 1.

Eddie Cavolo 
Teacher

Noah Chapple and Milo Dressel-De Bruyn Shine at VSAC Championships

Two of our talented St Mary’s swimmers, Noah and Milo, delivered exceptional performances representing the Associated Catholic Colleges (ACC) team at the recent Victorian School Associations Competition (VSAC). Competing against the strongest swimmers from across the state, both boys showed great composure and athleticism in a demanding program of individual and relay events.

In the Open 200m Freestyle Relay, Milo and Noah combined brilliantly, swimming the second and third legs respectively. Milo clocked an impressive 25.64 seconds, followed closely by Noah in 25.41 seconds, helping the team to a commendable third-place finish.

Noah continued to excel in backstroke, recording a strong 29.33 seconds for the third leg of the Open 200m Backstroke Relay, contributing to the team’s fourth-place finish.

In the 200m Medley Relay (16-year-old division), Noah led the team with a solid backstroke split of 30.40, while Milo followed with an outstanding breaststroke leg of 31.16. The relay team placed fourth, showing strength across all strokes.

Milo also swam the anchor leg of the 200m Breaststroke Relay (16-year-olds), finishing with a strong 31.21, securing another third-place result for the ACC team.

In individual events, Noah did the 50m Freestyle, while Milo took on two races: the 100m Freestyle and the 50m Breaststroke.

These performances reflect Noah and Milo’s skill and dedication, and we congratulate both boys on representing the ACC with pride and determination.

Pat Kaufman
Teacher