Newsletter - Friday, 25th July, 2025
Prayer
Sunday is the Feast Day of Saints Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ Grandparents
From the Principal
Dear Parents,
We give heartfelt thanks to all our grandparents, who are playing a more significant role than ever in supporting their loved ones. To the grandparents of St Malachy’s - thank you for everything you do, from school drop-offs and pick-ups to child-minding and countless other acts of care.
You may have seen the letter on Monday from Ms. Megan Ioannou, Acting Executive Director of DOBCEL, regarding my upcoming appointment as Interim Principal at St. Joseph’s Penshurst. This decision was not made lightly and has involved much reflection. With only 16 students, St. Joseph’s has faced several challenges this year and I hope to offer stability and support to their school community for the remainder of 2025.
I understand this is not ideal for St Malachy’s, but I’m confident that the strong team in place and the additional support being implemented will ensure everything continues to run smoothly.
I remain committed to St. Malachy’s and will continue to be involved wherever possible. For example, I will still support the Sacramental Program with the 14 students I’ve been working with and assist Gorgia and Sherryn as they step into their new leadership roles.
I will also retain the two-bedroom school unit that I currently rent, allowing me to remain connected to the community and be present for key school events.
Additional support, including financial resources, will be provided to St. Malachy’s to ensure this leadership transition is smooth and effective.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Warm regards,
John O’Sullivan
Pie drive fundraiser
It's been a few years since we've had a Pie drive and this year, we have Kings Katering to help us fill up our fridges and freezers with a wide variety of options and $5 from every item ordered will be donated back to the school. Please return your order forms and money to the office by Friday, 1st August and your orders can be collected on Friday, 15th August between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
An order form will be sent home to each family this Friday and send a message through if you want more order forms sent home.
Parent/teacher interviews - 5th August
Parent/teacher interviews will be held in the afternoon on 5th August and once the interview times are worked out with teachers' schedules, we'll notify parents and you'll be able to make your bookings via P.A.M. Details to follow.
From Carine - Mental Health & Wellbeing
"Supporting healthy sibling relationships means recognising each child's unique strengths and avoiding comparisons.
This encourages mutual respect, reduces rivalry and helps build lasting bonds into adulthood."
- Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg
Sibling relationships play a powerful role in shaping a child's social and emotional development. For parents and caregivers, understanding the dynamics between siblings is key to promoting harmony at home and fostering resilience. These relationships can be a source of lifelong friendship and support, but they can also be marked by rivalry and conflict if not guided positively. Encouraging young people to value each other's differences, communicate openly and resolve disputes respectfully, helps build strong sibling bonds. By creating a nurturing environment that avoids comparisons and recognises individual strengths, adults can help siblings grow into compassionate, cooperative and emotionally intelligent individuals.
Read more about this by following this link, https://smedenhope.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/sibling-relationships-au or read the KEYpoints at the bottom of this article.
Further to this topic, a free information session with psychologist Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg for parents, grandparents, and carers supporting school-aged children will take place in Kaniva (Kaniva Community Hub, 132 Budjik Street) on the 29th of July 2025 from 7-8 p.m. Dr. Carr-Gregg will provide strategies to build resilience, support wellbeing, and communicate effectively with young people. Registration is essential. Please follow this link to register: https://events.humanitix.com/youth-mental-health-roadshow-parents-and-carers-information-evening-kaniva. If you need transport to and from Kaniva, Carine will leave for Kaniva at 3:15 p.m. – just contact her on 0427 026 941 to arrange a ride.
Little Desert Hockey 7's
On the 23rd of July, Jade and Ella went to Dimboola and participated in Hockey 7s. We participated in 5 games with our team, a mix of Balmoral and Apsley students. We called ourselves ‘The Brolgas’. It was a very fun day and a lot of hockey was fitted in, both games and when waiting for our games, we practised and passed the ball to one another in a triangle.
Ella and I were mostly centre, centre forward and Inners. The other players were defenders and attackers. Our team won our very last game and scored 8 goals. The rest of the games were a bit challenging but we had a lot of fun. A big thankyou to Mr. Brennan and Mrs. Hulin.
By Jade and Ella
Helping your child learn to read
With students in Foundation learning how to read right up to our Year 6 students that are reading novels, etc., I found this an interesting read from learninglinks.org.au which shows "as a parent you can make reading fun!"
Being a parent means you’re your child’s first teacher – it also means you can help your child learn to read!
Learning to read is closely linked with language growth and the best way to develop your child’s language and reading abilities is to develop an interest and a positive attitude to reading in a relaxed home environment.
It is important not to place any demands on a child to develop any specific reading skills prior to entering school. At first we are most concerned with developing a positive attitude and love of reading. As a parent you can make reading fun!
The ‘read-to’ and ‘read-with’ child has a better chance of being a good reader. He or she usually develops a positive attitude to reading, gains essential concepts about print, and has a large vocabulary and a sense of language use and structure. These are important elements for school to build upon. Where they are lacking, the school must first establish them before they can teach a child to read.
Learning to read isn’t easy, but it can be fun! The only short cuts to successful reading are plenty of enjoyable experiences with reading and patience.
Parents can develop children’s confidence in their own abilities by providing genuine praise for achievement, supporting their child in changing situations and offering understanding in difficult ones.
Here are some things you can do to help your child learn to read and develop an interest in reading
Our world is filled with words so it is easy to use the environment around us as a way to teach a child how to read.
Using a positive mindset about reading, books, magazines and newspapers will help promote reading and literature in a household and can subsequently lead to a child wanting to engage with reading.
- Read your child’s story books aloud.
- Allow your child to handle and care for books.
- Use reading as a tool for communication in the home; for example, notes on the refrigerator, bulletin / boards, etc.
- Read letters received to children.
- Join the local library and go there as a family.
- Display, at all times, a positive attitude that reading is important and pleasurable.
- Read yourself, and be seen to be reading by your children.
- Tell children why you are reading or what you learnt while reading.
- Read to your child and with your child.
- Read ‘incidental’ materials such as labels on groceries; notice boards; letters and greeting cards; recipes; gardening instructions; instructions; maps and street directories; shop signs; T.V. commercials and captions and newspapers and magazines.
- Provide a variety of materials at suitable interest and development levels. Many are published as inexpensive paperbacks.
- Give books as a reward for a job well done or as a gift and buy your child a bed lamp and use that special time before lights out for reading.
- Read signs such as railway stations; shopfronts; directions and distances; posters and billboards.
Talk and listen
Teaching your child to read can also come from simple day-to-day activities.
You can use meal time, tv time and even a drive in the car to help kick start an interested in reading.
- Listen to children’s talk and allow time for talk, especially at meal times.
- Discuss family interests and problems.
- Plan activities together as families/individuals.
- Discuss newspaper items, current affairs, magazines and books.
- Select television programs together and talk about the good and bad points.
- Listen to singing, music, radio, CDs or DVDs.
- Listen to audiobooks, podcasts and radio stations that promote discussion and thought provoking ideas.
Write
Writing engages reading and literacy skills. Engaging words, writing sentences and constructing stories will help your child build a love for words in their own time and pace.
- Write to children, with children and for children. Write messages; letters and cards to relatives and friends; and labels in diaries. You can also write a diary or make simple books, dictated by the child in the child’s own language, from experiences shared together. You and your child can then illustrate them with drawings and photographs.
- Organise a pen pal for your child. Set them up with a pen pal and have your child read letters and write letters to their pen pal each week, fortnight or month. You can vet and find Australian pen pals on different websites.
Play
Play-based learning is a great way to help your child learn to read. Promoting play-based learning has many benefits and can help develop many different skills in your chuild.
- Indoor games, like Snakes and Ladders, Ludo, Lotto (and later, do crosswords, play Junior Scrabble)
- Party games like Hunt the Peanut and Treasure Hunt. Provide large, clear, written instructions to be read (out loud by the adult) and followed.
Many of the familiar “old fashioned” parlour games (e.g. Snap, Snakes and Ladders, Dominoes, etc.) nursery stories and rhymes, help children develop visual and auditory discrimination, motor control, memory, sequencing, and logic. Toys children enjoy most are useful for a variety of purposes which stimulate the imagination. They need not be currently fashionable.
Child safety
As we begin a new term, all students' parents are reminded of our ongoing commitment to child safety. Everyone at St. Malachy’s has the right to feel safe and respected at all times. If you feel unsafe or worried about anything at school or outside of school, please talk to a trusted adult or one of our staff. We are here to support you.
Seen the film @ Balmoral K-12 Community College
There will be an option for children to be supervised if needed.
RSVP’s and further information can be made to leanne.dillon@education.vic.gov.au, 0475 961 545 or via the Balmoral K-12 Community College Facebook page.
What's coming up this Term?
- Tuesday, 29th July - School Advisory Council meeting @ 7.30 p.m.
- Tuesday, 5th August - parent/teacher interviews - details to come
- Thursday, 7th August - Foundations' 100th day of school
- Sunday, 10th August - Eucharist/Confirmation combined sacrament - shared lunch
- Friday, 22nd August - Book Week parade
- Friday, 5th September - Fathers' Day celebration
- Wednesday, 10th September - Little Desert Athletics @ Stawell
- Thursday, 18th September - Footy Colours Day
- Thursday, 18th September - Last day of term for students
- Friday, 19th September - Staff P.D. Structured Literacy - PUPIL FREE DAY
St. Malachy's Mass times are:
1st Sunday: 11.15 a.m.
2nd Sunday: 11.15 a.m.
3rd Sunday: 11.15 a.m.
4th Sunday: 11.15 a.m.
5th Sunday: 11.15 a.m.
St. Malachy's welcomes everyone to join us.