Term 2 Week 10 | 19 June 2024

Principal - Ms Katrina Dunne

As we bid farewell to another fantastic term, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to all our students, parents, teachers, and support staff for their incredible dedication throughout this term.

I want to extend a sincere thank you to our parents for their unwavering support throughout the term. Your involvement and engagement play a vital role in our school community, and we are truly grateful for your partnership in your child's education. I also encourage all parents to take the opportunity to visit our classrooms and connect with their child's learning journey. Your presence and involvement make a significant difference in fostering a collaborative learning environment.

A special recognition goes out to our outstanding teachers and school officers for their hard work and commitment to excellence in teaching and learning at St Mary’s School. Your passion and dedication have made this term a resounding success, and we are immensely grateful for all that you do.

As we look forward to Term 3, beginning on Tuesday, 9th July, I want to remind parents to stay connected through our Parent Portal application. Should you encounter any difficulties, please don't hesitate to reach out to the lovely ladies in our office for assistance.

Thank you once again for a fabulous term, and I am confident that together, we will make Term 3 even more amazing. Here's to another term filled with learning, growth, and memorable experiences!

Thank you and farewell to Bob and Sue

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Mr Bob Grant and Mrs Sue Grant for their invaluable contributions as Year 4 teacher and School Officer at our school this term.

When we were unable to successfully fill these roles, Bob and Sue graciously came to our rescue, bringing a wealth of knowledge, skills, and a deep sense of compassion and kindness.

Their generosity in making themselves available to join our community in Charleville for this term has been truly appreciated. The students have thrived under their guidance, and we are grateful for the positive impact they have made.

As Bob and Sue depart on their next journey, we wish them all the best. Their dedication and care for our school and students will be deeply missed. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

Staff updates for Term 3

We would like to share some important staffing updates for Term 3.

We wish Mrs. Michelle Sheehan all the best as she takes long service leave for the upcoming term to journey overseas. We look forward to welcoming her back to our school in Term 4.

We are excited to welcome back Susan McInnes, who is returning from two years of leave. Susan will be taking on the librarian role and teaching Health to our Prep through Year 6 students this semester.

Mr Pete Lambourne will continue in his position as PE teacher for the remainder of the year.

Vanessa Alexander will be taking four weeks of long service leave next term. During weeks 2 and 3, Taylor Morrison will be acting as Middle Leader. We will also be recruiting a Year 6 teacher to cover this short-term leave.

Please join us in thanking our staff for their dedication and wishing those embarking on new adventures all the best. We look forward to the term ahead.

Have a wonderful break.

Kind regards,

Katrina

APRE - Mrs Kirsty Lines

Sacramental Program

Congratulations to our newly confirmed students!

On June 15^th, during 6pm mass, seven St Mary’s students were confirmed by Bishop Ken and Fr Peter.  Congratulations to Clara Alexander, Dominic Chang, Henry Lehmann, Samuel Jones, Ari Thompson, Grace Sullivan and Sophie Williams. 

Bishop Ken remarked on how well prepared the students were.  Well done to everyone involved and we look forward to supporting these students in term 3 as they continue their sacramental journey, making their First Eucharist on Sunday, August 11 at 9am mass.

Please see a picture below of our newly confirmed students with Bishop Ken and Fr Peter.

Catholic Education Week

Catholic Education week is just around the corner, taking place early next term from 21 – 27 July.  The theme is ‘Communities of Faith, Hope and Love'.  We look forward to celebrating Catholic Education with you and your family.  Part of the celebrations will involve a whole school mass on Friday, 26 July.  All are welcome!

Prayer Assemblies

Thank you to our Prep students for a very insightful prayer assembly last week about the power of kindness.  We look forward to seeing Year 2 perform their prayer assembly this Friday, June 21.  Please see a picture below of the Preppies looking ready to do a great job before their assembly.

Have a Wonderful Winter break!

Wishing all of our families and communities a healthy, happy and relaxing holiday – see you in Term 3!

God Bless,

Kirsty Lines

APRE

Library - Mrs Michelle Sheehan

Two St Mary’s teams competed in the Readers Cup competition held at the School of Distance Education last week. This competition involves the students reading five nominated titles and then answering questions as a group of four for each book. Teams from Augathella, Charleville State School and the School of Distance Education also participated, with our two teams St Mary’s Teams coming first and second. The Question Marks are now off to Brisbane for the state competition in September, and a big thankyou to Rex Airlines for provisioning seven resident fares for our five students and two adults attending.

Thank you to Katrina Lehmann for submitting and acquitting a Gambling Community Benefit Fund Grant on behalf of St Mary’s Library. We are all excited about our new furnishings and loving our upper and lower quiet areas.

Students are also enjoying hammering on our new carpentry table, funded also by the grant.

Any wood off cuts would be greatly appreciated. Just drop them to the library.

In our Prep lesson last week we read the story, How to Hatch a Dragon. As a follow up activity, the students located the Library Web App icon on the iPads and completed the matching online puzzle. Students also navigated the menu bar to customise their number of puzzle pieces.

Preps very happy with their completed puzzle.

Some library lessons across the grades this term have also incorporated story extension activities utilising Kahoot (an online quiz) to answer comprehension and vocabulary questions.

The Year Two students selecting their answers pertaining to the Dreamtime story, Why the Kangaroo Hops.

It is imperative that students continue reading over the two week break.

Happy holidays and I will see you back at the commencement of Term 4, as I am taking Long Service Leave next term.

Michelle

HPE & Sport - Mr Pete Lambourne

What’s happening this term in PE…

T-Ball

For the last 5 weeks of this term the students have been fully engaged in the fundamental skills of Tee ball. The focus being throwing, catching and hitting. I have observed directly the advancement and rising ability levels of all the students as a result of having a go.

In week 7 I had the pleasure of taking 8 St Mary’s students to Chinchilla for the South-West Regional Soccer Trials where they represented the school superbly.  Also, this term I have been running a Soccer Clinic for all students on Monday/Tuesday from 8am along with testing the students with a Beep Test.

Next term the Athletics carnival is at the end of week 2, so our focus for the next week and start of term 3 will be all things athletics. By working together, we can keep fostering an atmosphere where each student feels appreciated, encouraged, and equipped to reach their greatest potential.

May peace be with you.

Pete Lambourne

PE Teacher

The Arts - Mrs Leilani Thomas

… and that’s a wrap for Creative Arts 2024!

In case you did not know, the Arts consists of 5 different subject areas that we categorise into creative arts (Visual Art & Media) and performing arts (Music, Drama and Dance). At St Mary’s we do Creative Arts in our first semester, and next semester we will dive into Performing Arts.

Shrek the Musical Jr.

Our production of Shrek the Musical Jr. is coming along nicely! If you would like to get involved, please let us know! Next term we will be building sets, creating props and sewing costumes. Any volunteers who wish to help are more than welcome!

Scripts:

All characters should now have their scripts. If they do not, please ensure they come and see me this week if they wish to take them home over the holidays. Lyric books are also available for ensemble characters and P-Y2 students.

Music:

Our students have mentioned having a difficult time finding the correct version of our songs when playing music at home. If your performer wishes to stream their music, you will need to specify the ‘junior’ version. Feel free to download the songs directly through the following link: Shrek JR. - Rehearsal Guide Vocal Tracks (feel free to bring in a USB or CD and I can add the music and/or script to it).

Tuckshop - Mrs Alice Short

Tuckshop will recommence in Term 3 on Friday 12th July with orders due on Wednesday 10th July. Please note that there will be no tuckshop on 19th July. Instead, we will be offering a menu for the Athletics Carnival which is being held on that date. Orders for the Carnival are due on 12th July. 

Lost Property

June Birthdays

Flyers