Term 1 -Week 2 | 2nd February 2024

Principal - Ms Katrina Dunne

Welcome to 2024! As we embark on a new academic year, it is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that our team extends a warm welcome to each one of you! At St Mary’s School, we believe in fostering a vibrant and inclusive learning environment that nurtures not only academic excellence but also personal growth and development. Our dedicated team at St Mary’s School is committed to providing a stimulating and supportive atmosphere where students can explore their passions, embrace challenges, and discover their true potential. We encourage active engagement between parents, staff, and students to create a collaborative partnership that enhances the educational journey. Welcome back, and here is to our best year yet!

School Values | Mercy Values

At St Mary’s School, our foundation is entrenched in the timeless values of Mercy – hospitality, justice, excellence, and compassion. Hospitality, as an integral part of our ethos, encourages a warm and inclusive environment where every student feels embraced and valued. Justice forms the cornerstone of our community, fostering fairness and equality in all aspects of school life. Excellence is not just a goal but a journey, as we inspire our students to strive for their personal best in academics personal development. Finally, compassion shapes our interactions, guiding us to understand and support one another. As we navigate this year together, these Mercy values serve as the foundations to everything we do here at St Mary’s School.

Welcome to our new staff

This year, we welcome Ms Sue Holloway (Year 1), Ms Kerri McDougall (Year 4), Mrs Leilani Thomas (Health and Arts) and Mr Pete Lambourne (PE) to the classroom teaching team.

Parent Portal

Teachers and Administration Staff will be using Parent Portal daily for communication between school and home including - entering student absences, teacher-parent classroom specific communication, the week ahead for the whole school, fortnightly newsletter, extra-curricular information, Tuckshop news and more. Please ensure that you have activated your Parent Portal account and check this regularly. If you are experiencing difficulties with the app on your device, contact our administration team for support.

Parent Information Night | Monday 5^th February 5:30pm | Performing Arts Hall

This year, our Parent Information Night will commence as a whole group from 5:30pm with classroom visits to follow after the whole group presentation. Please assemble at the Performing Arts Hall on Monday afternoon for a 5:30pm start. A flyer will be shared on parent portal and our school Facebook page.

Change to End-of-Day Times 2024

We would like to inform you of a minor adjustment to our school schedule that will come into effect starting next week. In alignment with the Australian Curriculum requirements and to enhance the overall learning experience for our students, the end-of-day bell time will move to 2:50pm.

Beginning on Monday 5^th February, the school end-of-day bell will ring ten minutes later than the current schedule. This adjustment will ensure that our school aligns with the guidelines set by the Australian Curriculum, allowing adequate teaching and learning time for each learning area across the year.

The revised end-of day schedule is as follows:

• Current End-of-Day Bell: 2:40pm
• Revised End-of-Day Bell: 2:50pm

We understand that changes to the school schedule can impact your daily routine, and we appreciate your understanding and flexibility with this matter.

Dates to highlight on your calendar:

NOTE: please see the calendar on the Parent Portal app for up-to-date events throughout the term.

Have a great two weeks,

Katrina Dunne

APRE - Mrs Kirsty Lines

Welcome to 2024 – our year of Peace

A warm welcome to our returning and new families as we begin another wonderful year at St Mary’s!  When deciding our theme for the year, it wasn’t hard to decide on the theme of ‘Peace  - within ourselves, within our community, for the whole world’ – please join us for praying for peace through - out the year.

Leadership Mass

Everyone is welcome to join us at our Annual leadership Mass, Friday, February 9^th at 8.45am in the church.  What an exciting time for our Year 6 students and their families.  Year 6 families are welcome to sit with their children during the mass, at the front of the church.  There will be a morning tea for Year 6 students and their families in the church, following the presentation of badges.  We’d love to see lots of families there!

Ash Wednesday Liturgy

Ash Wednesday is Wednesday, 14^th February.  Our whole school liturgy will be on this day at 8.45am in the church.  We’d love to see you there to support our students as they mark beginning of the Lenten season.  What will your Lenten promise be?

Sacramental Program 2024

Wishing you a blessed start to the term,

God Bless,

Kirsty Lines

Learning Support News - Mrs Kirsty Lines

Welcome to St Mary’s Learning Support 2024!  It’s been so lovely to chat to some of our St Mary’s families in these first few weeks of school to discuss how we can support your learner to be the best they can be. 

Over the coming weeks we will begin Intervention (extra support) for those learners who require it.  Your classroom teacher is always the best person to ask if you have concerns around your child’s learning.  You will have been contacted by myself or the classroom teacher if your child is receiving intervention. 

Whilst we continue the process of recruiting for a learning support teacher, I will be providing intervention and working closely with classroom teachers to support them as well as support students and teachers in the area of Religion in my APRE role. 

I look forward to supporting our learners and families this year.  Let’s make 2024 the best one yet!

Kirsty Lines

Acting Learning Support Teacher

School Fees

School Fees and Statements were sent out to all Families  via email on Thursday this week.  Please contact the office if you have any queries.

When paying your school fees  - use your CHA(number) as your reference. Bank Details will be listed on your Invoice.

Library - Mrs Michelle Sheehan

A big welcome to the 2024 school year and to St Mary’s School Library. The library is a vibrant learning space utilised not only for teaching and learning but also as a place to relax and have fun during the lunch breaks.

Classes visit the library every week for a library lesson and borrowing. On this day the expectation is that students return their library books to the library upon arrival at school. This presents a great opportunity for parents/caregivers to visit the space with your child. We also have an open-door policy where you are most welcome to pop in. The library is staffed from Tuesday to Thursday and for the last hour on a Friday.

Scholastic Book Club orders due 8^th February.

Alice and Michelle

Prep - Mrs Bernice McPhee

Welcome to St Mary’s Preppies!! We are already off to a great start in Prep. Students are settling into classroom routines well and becoming more confident each day.

They are loving getting involved in Investigations each morning, where they are making some amazing creations. This week has seen students working as Focus children, reporters, and photographers. They are building up their speaking skills by talking about their Investigations to the whole class.

So many new and wonderful experiences to be had in Prep this year. I am enjoying getting to know each child and what they can do. 

Year 1 - Mrs Sue Hollaway

Welcome to Year One for 2024! 

My name is Ms. Sue Holloway and today, (Wednesday), was my first day as Classroom Teacher for Year One. It was wonderful to begin our teaching and learning journey today and to meet the students. Thank you also, for the warm welcome I have received from the parents I have met so far.  

As it was day one for me, I have yet to take photos of the students whilst they are learning. There will be plenty to share for the next Newsletter!  

You are most welcome to arrange a time to catch up with me if there is something you would like to discuss.  

Cheers, 

Sue Holloway 

Year 2 - Miss Imogen Hunt

Welcome to a brand new year in Year 2!

What a wonderful first few weeks we have had in our new classroom. It has been amazing to watch the students model our Mercy Values from day one. Year 2’s have loved exploring daily writing and have loved to push themselves to be better from the previous day. It has been awesome to listen to a few people share what they have written after 10 minutes.

We have been testing our decoding skills during decoding dash which students have been building their confidence in.

We have been loving our brain breaks learning new hand games of “Double Double, this this”, “Boom snap clap” and “tic tac toe”.

We can’t wait to see what learning we get up to this term and how much we will grow.

Thanks Imogen Hunt

January Birthdays

Tuckshop - Mrs Alice Short

Outside School Hours Care - Mrs Betty Couch

Flyers