Mel Maria Catholic Primary School

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back to Term Three at Mel Maria Catholic Primary School! I hope the recent holiday break provided time to rest, reconnect, and enjoy family moments. We begin this term with renewed energy and a strong sense of purpose as we continue to implement and grow into our exciting new campus model.

The positive feedback we have received from both current and prospective families has been overwhelmingly affirming. Many have commented on the nurturing learning environments, the clarity of the new structure, and the way this model is already enriching student experiences and outcomes. We are truly grateful for your support and encouragement as we continue to refine and evolve this innovative approach to education.

This term promises to be one of dynamic learning, deep engagement, and joyful celebration. Our calendar is filled with a wide range of events and opportunities across both campuses including:

• Inter-School Cross Country Carnival
• Feast of Mary MacKillop (August 8)
• Feast of the Assumption (August 15)
• MAD STEM Challenge
• Tournament of Minds (TOMs)
• RoboCup
• Edu-Dance (on the EC Campus)
• P&F Colour Run
• Open Night
• Mercy Week

These activities showcase the diversity of opportunities available to our students — from sport and STEM to creative expression, inquiry, and faith formation.

Welcome to Our Community
We are delighted to welcome Mrs Sharlene Epis to the Mel Maria Catholic Primary School community in the role of School Social Worker.

Mrs Epis will be working with us each Thursday and Friday, providing valuable support and care to our students and families. She brings a wealth of experience, deep professional insight, and a strong commitment to student wellbeing.

We look forward to the positive impact Mrs Epis will make as she joins our team in nurturing a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment for all members of our school community.

Mel Maria Catholic Primary School offers so many exciting opportunities and I encourage students and parents to attend relevant events and to be as involved as possible in the life of the school. Our vision, at Mel Maria Catholic Primary School, is to provide “Excellence in Catholic Primary Education” where students and staff flourish. We provide a safe school environment where parents, teachers and students work together to provide a supportive and connected school culture.

It is important that parents support the school and ensure that their child is well prepared for each day. This support from the home helps foster pride in the child, their family and in their school.

At Mel Maria Catholic Primary School, we believe in:

• A culture of excellence as evidenced by high expectations and expressed through a shared vision.

• Encouraging relationships of mutual respect with one another, by developing empathy and care.

• Striving to develop skills to equip students with the necessary social etiquette and expectations to navigate their world both digitally and physically.

• A learning community that builds relationships and trust.

• Developing and maintaining a healthy partnership between the home, parish and school.

• Encouraging students of all ages to work alongside each other to form a Mel Maria Catholic family and #MakeADifferenceEveryday.

The conversations, therefore, that parents have with their child/children are critical and would include reflecting on the work shared through Seesaw, the student’s portfolio and the Semester One Report. As you take time to sit and discuss your child’s report and portfolio, look for areas for celebration and areas for encouragement by:

· Focusing on strengths. Look for strengths first even if they are not in the traditional 3Rs or core subjects.

· Considering your child’s effort and attitude to learning. If your child is putting in the required effort this is to be recognised and celebrated. If the report or portfolio work indicates that more effort is required, then this is something to work on next semester.

· Taking note of teachers’ comments. Teacher comments are very important and should be used as ‘indicators’ in areas where child/ren may work towards improving. A collaborate approach between home and school greatly assists in each child’s development and learning.

We recognise that it is essential for parents and teachers to cooperate for the good of the child. By showing interest in the child’s activities at school and by involving themselves in the school community parents will ensure that their child receives the full benefits of a Christian education.

It is important that parents support the school and ensure that their child is well prepared for each day, this support from the home helps foster pride in the child, their family and the school.

Congratulations to our Interschool Cross Country Team who competed this week at the UWA Sports Centre. Sixteen schools were represented at this year’s carnival and our students tried exceptionally hard, coming in third place overall. An amazing effort! There were some standout performances by different students which Mr John has listed in the “Sport Section” on the newsletter. Well done to all!

Many thanks to Mr John and Mr Williams for all their efforts with the team and for the additional trainings of a morning. Thank you also to the staff who assisted at these trainings and at the carnival.

We are particularly proud to share that, over the next five weeks, our students will be representing Mel Maria in the Catholic Schools Performing Arts Festival. This prestigious event brings together students from across the state, and we are thrilled that our children will be participating in both the Choral (School Choir) and Liturgical sections.

Our budding musicians have been working hard under the guidance of our dedicated music team and are excited to share their gifts and talents with the wider Catholic community. Their commitment and enthusiasm are a credit to both their families and our school.

Key performance dates can be found in the School News section of the newsletter — please mark them in your calendars and come along to support our talented students where possible.

The Term Three Planner is now available on the school website.

Places are filling fast for our Kindergarten program in 2026 which is most encouraging. There has been so much positive feedback from parents, educators and most importantly, the students that our numbers are growing.

Enrolments are now being taken for new students wishing to commence Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten at Mel Maria Catholic Primary School in 2026.

Mel Maria Catholic Primary School will continue to offer three, four or five days of Kindergarten in 2026.

Pre-Kindergarten will be offered (depending on enrolment numbers) over the five days of the week, with families having the opportunity to book a maximum of two days of Pre-Kindergarten to commence with. This may change over the course of the year.

Both Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten places are limited so parents within the Mel Maria community must submit their applications as soon as possible. Forms can be obtained from the office or on our website.

My daughter, who had a sleep averse baby couldn’t believe her ears when a new mum in a mother’s group proudly announced that her four-month-old slept through the night. My daughter thought, “What am I doing wrong?”

Approaching this mother to discover her sleep secret, my daughter learned that this boast was made on the back of some questionable data. The four year old had slept through the night once, but this mother thought it was worth boasting about.

I welcomed my daughter to the politics of parenting where benchmarking of kids’ physical and social development, their behaviour and academic progress can become a constant.

Comparing your child with others is a stress-inducing and, ultimately, useless activity. It’s hard to resist, as we tend to assess our progress in any area of life by checking out how we compare with our peers.

When you were a child in school you probably compared yourself to your schoolmates. Your teachers may not have graded you, but you knew who the smart kids were and where you ranked in the pecking order.

Now that you have kids of your own do you still keep an eye on your peers. Do you use the progress and behaviour of their kids as benchmarks to help you assess your own performance as well as your child’s progress? Or perhaps you compare your child to yourself at the same age?

Benchmarking children’s progress with that of other children is not a wise parenting strategy. Inevitably, it will lead to parent frustration, as there will always be a child who performs better than your own on any scale you use.

Each child has his or her own developmental clock, which is nearly impossible to alter. There are late bloomers, early developers, bright sparks and steady-as-you-go kids in everywhere. It’s the first group that can cause the most concern for parents who habitually compare children to siblings, their friends’ kids and even themselves when they were in school.

The trick is to focus on your child’s improvement and effort and use your child’s results as the benchmark for his or her progress and development. “Your spelling is better today than it was a month ago” is a better measure of progress than “Your spelling is the best in the class!”

It’s no secret that different architects developed boys’ and girls’ brains. One major difference lies around timing, or maturity. The maturity gap between boys and girls is anywhere between 12 months and two years and seems to be consistent all the way to adulthood.

Quite simply, girls have a developmental head start over boys in areas such as handwriting, verbal skills and relationship skills. Boys benefit greatly from teaching strategies designed for their specific needs. They also benefit from having teachers and parents who recognise that patience is a virtue when teaching and raising boys, as it seems to take longer for many boys to learn and develop.

So, your eight-year-old can’t hit a tennis ball like Novak Djokovic, even though your neighbour’s child can. Perhaps your neighbour’s teenager is a piano virtuoso, while your fourteen-year old’s idea of musical talent is listening to Spotify while doing homework. Comparisons are stressful, as they can bear no relationship to children’s interests and talents.

It’s better to help your child or young person identify his or her own talents and interests. And also recognise that strengths and interests may be completely different than those of his or her peers and siblings.

Take pride on your children’s performance at school, in sport or their leisure activities. Seeing your child doing well is one of the unsung pleasures of parenting. You should also celebrate their achievements and milestones such as taking their first steps, getting their first goal in a game or getting great marks at school.

However, you shouldn’t have too much personal stake in your children’s success or in their milestones, as this close association makes it hard to separate yourself from them. It may also lead to excessive parental pressure for kids to do well, which is an acknowledged source of anxiety for many children and young people.

The maxim “You are not your child” is a challenging but essential parental concept to live by. Doing so takes real maturity and altruism, but it is the absolute foundation of that powerful thing known as ‘unconditional love’.

Paul Hille

Principal

#MakingADifferenceEveryday

Prayer for the Week

Heavenly Father,

At the commencement of this

new semester,

we praise and thank you for the

gift of life and for the opportunity

of growth awaiting us.

We thank you for love – the love

and concern of our families, our

friends, and our teachers.

We ask you to bless each of us

in the semester ahead.

Help us to grow in faith, in

goodness and in generosity.

Create in us a capacity for giving

that will make us worthy to be

called Christian.

Keep us strong and steadfast in

the face of temptation.

Let wisdom be our guide.

May each of us be a messenger

of peace, of truth and of joy.

Amen

Thought for the Week

Jesus, gentle and humble of heart, make my heart like yours

(St Therese)

Early Childhood Cross Country Carnival

Last Friday, our school proudly hosted its inaugural Early Childhood Cross Country Carnival, welcoming enthusiastic Pre-Primary to Year Two students to join in the fun! Despite the chilly air, the sun shone brightly, drawing in a wonderful crowd of parents and grandparents who rallied to cheer on their incredible young runners. The atmosphere was filled with excitement and encouragement as students completed their laps around the oval, showcasing their determination and sportsmanship. A special congratulations to the Corpus (Gold) faction for clinching the shield!

It was a fantastic day of community spirit, athleticism, and, most importantly, joy. We can't wait to see what next year has in store!

Celebrating NAIDOC Week at the Early Childhood Campus

In the last week of Term Two, our Early Childhood Campus embraced the spirit of NAIDOC Week, dedicated to celebrating the history, culture, and achievements of First Nations people. Our students engaged in a variety of enriching activities designed to deepen their understanding and appreciation of Indigenous cultures. From storytelling sessions to art projects inspired by traditional techniques, the children explored important themes and learned valuable lessons about community and respect. It was a wonderful week of learning and connection, inspiring our students to honour and celebrate the rich heritage of First Nations people.

Thank you to our teachers who set up such engaging activities and to all who participated and contributed to making this event a memorable experience!

Edu-Dance Fever Hits the Early Childhood Campus!

Get ready to be amazed as our Early Childhood Campus prepares for the much-anticipated Edu-Dance concert! We encourage all families to mark their calendars for this exciting event where our talented students will showcase their dance skills and creativity. It promises to be a delightful celebration of movement and expression that you won't want to miss.

Jo Scouler

Vice Principal - EC Campus

Future Voices Speaking Competition

This week at the primary campus; we celebrated the inaugural Mel Maria Future Voices Speaking Competition. Nine finalists from across Year five and year Six classes were chosen to present their speeches to our guest judges.

The speeches were varied in topic, and each student shared a deep level of understanding of their chosen field of expertise.

Head Judge, Mrs Jenny Baker, commented on the high standard of speeches from all presenters. Her feedback will be instrumental for our future preparation.

Congratulations to our winners for 2025:

• First Place: Henry Renouf – Sanderson.
• Second Place: Ebony Fong.
• Third Place: Lyla Pritchard.

Thank you to Ms Naomi Smyth who coordinated this event, and to our teachers for the time and support given to our students in preparation.

Rosmuire Nichols
Vice Principal - Primary Campus

A highlight of our musical year is the Catholic Performing Arts Festival, which runs the start of Term 3 up till the end of Week 7 on September 5th.

It provides a platform for students to perform publicly and celebrate their creativity and skills. The festival involves around 105 schools including 11 regional schools with 18,00 students participating in 32 different categories.

Students from Mel Maria will be representing the school in choral singing, solo singing, piano performance, and instrumental ensemble playing.

All Year 4 classes have come together to form vibrant musical ensembles, combining voices, guitar, ukulele, violin, xylophone, and djembe drums. They have been learning a variety of pop and folk tunes, including Shepherd’s Dance, Bridge at Moster, Quickstep, and Township Taxi. They are hard at work rehearsing and adding the final touches to their ensemble pieces in preparation for their upcoming performance at the Orana Catholic Primary School next week. We wish them the best of luck!

CPSSA Interschool Cross Country

After the fun and noise of our ECE Cross Country subsided last Friday, our attention shifted to Tuesday’s Catholic Primary Schools Sports Association Cross Country Carnival. We took 57 of our Primary students to represent the school in an event where we have finished in the top three for the last ten years. I could tell when our students arrived that they were ready to go and full of energy to attack the course.

We had numerous students placing in the top ten out of 48 runners which is brilliant, and most of our runners finished in the top half of the field. The course is a long 1km loop with a nasty, deceptively steep 15m hill 900m from the finish line for the Year 4-6 runners. With three runners per race from each school, some of our runners were able to help their team mates along with pacing and encouragement which was great to see. These strong performances helped to push us to a very consistent 3rd place in the Girls’ (71 points off 1st), Boys’ (135 points off 1st) and Overall Shields (161 points off 1st, 90 points behind second). While we didn’t come away with a shield after taking two home last year, the way our students pushed themselves to the finish line in lung busting efforts was inspiring. This year, our opposition where just a bit too strong but we will be back bigger and better next year. Most importantly, our students maintained great sportsmanship and a smile after their race – some took a little longer to smile after running themselves into the ground!

Well done to the following students who finished in the top 10 in their races:

Year Three:

Aaliyah Jones: 1st A Division Girls

Quinn Jury: 9th A Division Girls

Amelia Wilson: 5th B Division Girls

Ollie Gwerder: 2nd A Division Boys

Jules Widdicombe: 7th A Division Boys

Lewis Reid: 6th B Division Boys

Year Four:

Montana Hughes: 5th A Division Girls

Seth Siegert: 4th A Division Boys

Gus Wigger: 8th A Division Boys

Archer O’Sullivan: 3rd B Division Boys

Year Five:

Lucy Minchin: 1st A Division Girls

Natalia Ratta: 8th B Division Girls

Hallie Shemeld: 9th B Division Girls

Koby Coleman: 10th A Division Boys

Year Six:

Emme Jones: 2nd A Division Girls

Reggie Boston: 1st B Division Boys

Well done to all our runners on their fantastic efforts, and thank you to the huge crowd of Mel Maria parents and grandparents who turned out to cheer their children and the school on. Thank you to Mr Williams and Miss Fourie who took charge of the troops while I was preoccupied running the carnival – our students made it much easier for them with their respectful behaviour and demeanour.

Athletics is the next big thing for Mel Maria sport, with Athletics Club starting this week and the Physical Education program moving to an athletics focus from Week Four. Athletics is another strong area for our school so I can’t wait for the carnival in Week One, Term Four to come around. Information about the format of this carnival and year level specifics will be sent out soon via SeeSaw.

Running Club

While Cross Country may be done for the year now, the running doesn’t stop as we prepare for Athletics. Running Club will continue throughout Term Three (weather permitting) to allow students to maintain fitness, energise themselves and warm up on these cold wintery mornings. Handball is off limits on Friday mornings at the Primary Campus, so students are strongly encouraged to come down to jog, sprint or walk their way around the oval to start Faction Friday with a few more points for their faction and get the benefits of a little physical activity at the end of a busy week.

ECE RUNNING CLUB: Wednesdays, 8:00-8:30am on the oval

PRIMARY RUNNING CLUB: Fridays, 7:50-8:20am on the oval

There is no sign up to this club, but if you haven’t been before and want to join come and see Mr Williams or Mr John and we can help get you started!

Athletics Club

We had a fantastic start to Athletics Club on Wednesday with great noise and energy levels. Some of our students tried something a little different, especially with some of the throwing events, and there was a great atmosphere at the long jump pit. If you missed the sign up and want to get involved, please get in touch with Mr John via david.john@cewa.edu.au or via SeeSaw. Our athletes attacked the session with great enthusiasm – looking forward to next week!

EC Cross Country Carnival

The inaugural EC Cross Country was held on Friday July 25 in front of a large crowd of enthusiastic and supportive parents, Grandparents and other relatives. The PP to Year 2 students were buzzing with nerves and excitement as they waited for their turn to show their long distance running skills.

After some fiercely contested races which had their share of spills, amazing skills and drama, Corpus were eventually declared the winners on 854 points, just nine points ahead of Frayne (845 points). McCauley were hot on the heels of first and second, a meagre one point behind in third (844 points) while Mercy finished in fourth with 739 points. A fun time was had by all and I’m sure there were some tired people on Friday night.

Thanks to all the supporters who came along and encouraged our little runners as they made their way around the course. Thanks also to the Staff for helping on the day and getting behind the event. Thanks also to Mr John for giving up his time to help setup and be involved. He was very impressed with the standard of the competitors and is already making plans for future Interschool Cross Country teams!

Points from Term 2 Running Club were included in the totals, and this Term they will go towards the faction Athletics Carnival which will be held Week 1 of Term 4. So if you want to help your faction gain a little bit of an advantage, then come to EC Running Club on Wednesday morning, 8am- 8:30am.

For the safety of students and staff, please observe the following speed limits in effect during school hours:

• Morning (7:30am - 9:00am)

• Afternoon (2:30pm - 4:00pm)

We appreciate your cooperation in ensuring the safety of our students.

Parental controls can be used to support your family's online safety when using devices that connect to the internet, such as phones, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles and smart TVs. But it's important to understand their limitations and use them in combination with other protective strategies.

In short:

• Parental controls can help keep children and young people safer online by preventing access to harmful content, managing time spent online and limiting who they communicate with.
• To be most effective, parental controls need to be set up on all devices your child accesses. They should be reviewed and updated regularly. It’s also important controls are set on devices your child may access while in the care of others (such as other family members and friends).
• Parental controls are most effective when used alongside supervision and other online safety strategies.

Click here for more information: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

I am delighted to be joining Mel Maria CPS as the school Social Worker. My highlight so far has been the sense of community and interest which surrounds every aspect of both campuses. I will be at the early childhood campus on Thursdays and the primary campus on Fridays. I look forward to meeting parents over the coming months.

With the wellbeing of students as my focus, I offer confidential counselling to students and families in relation to any school-based issues. I provide support to students on issues concerning building resiliency, self-esteem, coping skills, friendship concerns, family separation/divorce, grief and loss, and social skills.

A signed consent form is required for your child to participate in counselling, however, I am always available to assist staff with general pastoral care and support. In addition, I am available to support parents with enhancing their children’s growth and development.

I look forward to working with you and wish you and your child every success for Semester 2.

Sharlene Epis

BEd, MSW

sharlene.epis@cewa.edu.au

School Term Dates for 2025

Term 1: Wednesday 5 February - Friday 11 April

Term 2: Monday 28 April - Friday 4 July

Term 3: Monday 21 July - Friday 25 September

Term 4: Tuesday 14 October - Friday 12 December

Pupil Free Days for 2025

Term 1: Friday 28 February

Term 2: Tuesday 3 June

Term 3: Monday 25 August, Friday 26 September

Term 4: Monday 13 October