Term 1 -Week 4 | 16th February 2024

Principal - Ms Katrina Dunne

As we reach the midpoint of Term One, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our collective achievements and address some key areas vital to our school's success: behaviour expectations, uniform standards, and the crucial school-to-home relationships.

Behaviour Expectations: I am immensely proud of the respectful and responsible behaviour exhibited by our students thus far. Our school community thrives on a culture of mutual respect, where each member plays an integral role in fostering a positive and conducive learning environment. As we move forward, I urge our students to uphold these standards of behaviour both inside and outside the classroom. Respect for peers, teachers, and the learning environment is paramount to our success as a school community.

Uniform Expectations: Maintaining a sense of pride in our school uniform is essential. Our uniform represents our collective identity and reflects our commitment to excellence. I appreciate the efforts of students who consistently adhere to our uniform policy. Please ensure that all students are dressed appropriately in accordance with our guidelines. Let's continue to uphold our uniform standards with pride and respect.

School-to-Home Relationships: Strong partnerships between school and home are fundamental to a student's academic and personal growth. I encourage open communication channels between parents, guardians, teachers, and school administration. Your involvement in your child's education plays a crucial role in their success. Whether it's attending parent-teacher meetings, staying informed about school events, or engaging in your child's learning journey, your active participation strengthens our school community immeasurably.

As we navigate the remainder of Term One, let us remain committed to our shared values of excellence, justice, compassion, hospitality, and collaboration. Together, we can continue to create an environment where every student feels valued, supported, and empowered to achieve their full potential.

Thank you for your continued support.

What’s happening this term…

Swimming

Class swimming commenced this week. We are fortunate to have Mr Lambourne and Mr Winton working with each class each Thursday or Friday. The improvement and rising ability levels of our students is a result of the high-quality program that we offer. Please help us encourage your child to attend as many swimming lessons as possible for the remaining four weeks. If you are available to help as a spotter or in the pool with students, please contact the school office.

Movie Night | Friday 15^th March

Due to a clash in social events and the recent confirmation of the race day from the Charleville Race Committee, we will need to move our movie night date. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this date change. All students are welcome to attend the movie night at the Performing Arts Hall on Friday 15^th March. The doors open at 6:00pm and the movie will begin at 6:10pm. Students will receive a sausage on bread and a popper halfway through the film. The cost for the movie night is $10. All funds raised from this night will support the school musical production in Term 4 this year.

Charleville Races | St Mary’s Family Race Day | Saturday 2^nd March

The Charleville Race Committee met with the school a fortnight ago and confirmed that the school would host the first race meet each year as The St Mary’s Family Race Day. It is with much excitement and hard work that we bring this family day to our local community. If you would like to support the day, please contact the school office to nominate your interest. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who have already supported the planning in the past week and the businesses that have donated toward our prizes for the day. If you would like an opportunity to donate, please express your interest to the school office. We look forward to seeing you all at the races on Saturday 2^nd March.

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

Ash Wednesday & the beginning of Lent

Thank you to all our families and community members who attended our school Ash Wednesday liturgy on February 14.  Fr Peter led us in prayer and reminded us that lent is a time of renewal and positivity – we can be positive in our Lenten promises!  Please see photos below from out liturgy and some Lenten promises of our students.

Opening Mass

Our Year 6 leaders did a fantastic job in leading us, along with Fr Peter, in prayer on Friday February 9 at our Opening Mass.  Our leaders received their badges during this service and were blessed by Fr Peter.  Thank you to all parents, friends and community members who attended.  Please see some photos below. 

Sacramental Program

Our Sacramental Program will begin next week, when booklets (hopefully!) arrive for candidates.  This term, candidates will participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Reconciliation of candidates will take place at St Mary’s church on Wednesday, 20 March at 9.30am.  This is a private ceremony for candidates and their families.  Thank you to all the families who have contacted me or Sr Elizabeth to confirm they would like their children to participate in the Sacramental Program this year.  Keep your eyes open for communications over parent portal confirming dates, etc.

Staff Blessing & Children’s Parish Mass

Our annual staff blessing and children’s mass will take place at Parish Mass on Saturday, 16 March.  This is a wonderful opportunity to come together as a Catholic Community to bless our staff for the coming year and for our children to participate more fully in mass and demonstrate leadership, no matter what Year level they are in.  See you there!

Wishing you all a blessed and fruitful Lenten season,

God Bless,

Kirsty Lines

APRE

Library - Mrs Michelle Sheehan

We loved having visitors during our play breaks on Wednesday to share

all the fun we have in the library.

‘Rev Up Your Reading’ is our term reading theme, and in our library lessons we have had lots of discussions around this concept, in particular the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. To promote our theme, we are conducting a competition. Students who demonstrate revving up their reading behaviours in the library and in their classrooms will receive an entry slip. Each week three names will be drawn with the winners able to select a book of their choice. Watch this space for our winners.

Love these snaps… students reading at lunch time!

Feel free to pop into the library to view the space or to collect some extra books.

The Arts and Health

Representative Sport

Year 3 - Miss Katherine Spalding

An eventful start to the year! It has been wonderful getting to know all the year 3 students and especially to all the new faces who have joined our St Mary’s School.

In Science we have been investigating characteristics of living and non- living things. We completed a scavenger hunt in our natural environment.

In maths, we have been revising and consolidating our knowledge on place value.

 We have loved getting to know our Prep buddies! The year threes have been showing wonderful hospitality welcoming our newest member to the St Mary’s community!

Some important upcoming year 3 events include:

• Wk6: prayer assembly (Friday)
• Wk 8 NAPLAN and Student Led Conferences
• Wk 9: X-Country and Colour Run

Year 5 - Miss Holly Price

Year 5 have been working extremely hard over the last few weeks. We have been exploring adaptations in plants and animals in science and are beginning to plan our very own creature creation.

‘Task Master Thursday’ has been a hit with the students! Each Thursday afternoon, students work in small groups to complete tasks that promote problem-solving skills, lateral thinking, and positive group work. Stay tuned to find out who the champions will be in Term 1!

We celebrated Shrove Tuesday by sharing some pancakes, and learning about why people eat pancakes on this day.

We have been learning about our ‘invisible buckets’ and discussing ways that we can fill our own ‘bucket’, to help us feel more cheerful on days when it is needed. We also discussed things that may take water out of our ‘buckets’ and the buckets of others. Year 5 taught this concept to their Year 2 buddies also.

Miss Holly Price.

Year 6 - Miss Taylor Morrison

Welcome to the 2024 school year! In Year 6, we have enjoyed settling in and learning how to work together as our new St Mary’s leadership team. Please see photos below of students taking part in some team building exercises!

We have jumped straight into our learning this term. In literacy, we are focusing on procedural texts and have had fun making and eating toast to test our descriptive writing.

In science, we are learning all about micro-organisms and are currently working on an experiment that tests what happens when water, yeast and sugar are mixed together!

We have begun our Mandarin lessons and this week, learnt all about Lunar New Year!

In Week 2, Years 4-6 took part in Topology Workshops where students engaged in drumming, dancing, singing and song writing.

“It was fantastic” – Year 6 Student

“My favourite part was the dancing!” – Year 6 Student

Last week, we came together as a school to celebrate our Opening Mass and Year 6 Leadership Induction where students received their badges and got to enjoy a cake!

“The best part was the cake” – Year 6 Student

This week, we begin the Season of Lent. On Tuesday, we celebrated Shrove Tuesday by eating some pancakes (traditionally, the start of Lent meant a season of fasting for Catholics.  So, the day before, Catholic households would ‘get rid’ of all the left overs (so you weren’t tempted by them during lent) and make pancakes – savoury and sweet).

On Wednesday, we came together for an Ash Wednesday Liturgy and made our Lenten Promises. What is your Lenten Promise?

“I promise to be more kind to my siblings” – Year 6 Student

“I promise to do more jobs around the house” – Year 6 Student

“I promise to donate more to Project Compassion” – Year 6 Student

We are looking forward to a fabulous year together!

Until next time,

Miss Morrison and the Year 6 Crew

February Birthdays

Tuckshop - Mrs Alice Short

Outside School Hours Care - Mrs Betty Couch

Flyers