Term 3 Week 4 | 31 July 2024

Principal - Ms Katrina Dunne

Healthy Lunchboxes

A healthy lunchbox is essential for children’s overall health, growth and well-being. We acknowledge that there are a lot of school days to pack lunchboxes! If you are like me, I am guessing that you dread packing lunchboxes? They are just another thing on the never-ending to do list of the administration of family life. But what if we changed our mindset around lunchboxes? What if instead of thinking of lunchboxes as a nuisance, we thought about them as a gift for our children? They’re a gift because the food we pack for their lunch has the power to nourish their body and brain and help with their learning. Of course, this really depends on the quality of the items we pack in their lunchboxes. Get your children involved in packing their lunchboxes too! It’s a great reminder to also ask our children, ‘Did you have enough food today?’

2025 Enrolment and Class Planning

Class arrangements and planning for 2025 is underway. If you know that you will not be returning to St Mary’s in 2025, please let Loretta or Deidre, (at the school office), know at your earliest convenience. The number of class teachers and the year level class model is directly linked to the number of students in the school.

Your ongoing support of our school is greatly appreciated, and should you know of friends, relatives or work colleagues who are considering schooling options for 2025, I ask you to encourage them to consider St Mary’s School. Should you or they require any further information regarding enrolment at St Mary’s, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I am always happy to meet with people to talk about what St Mary’s has to offer. At any stage, prospective families are more than welcome to come along, tour the school and see firsthand the engaging classroom environments conducive to learning.

School Attendance

Consistent school attendance is critical for student success. When students miss school, they miss out on vital learning opportunities that are difficult to make up. This can cause them to fall behind their peers academically, which can have long-lasting effects. We strongly encourage all parents to ensure their children attend school regularly, arriving on time and staying for the full school day. Absences should be limited to cases of illness or family emergencies only. By prioritising attendance, you are investing in your child's future and setting them up for the best possible learning outcomes. The teachers and staff at St Mary's are here to support you and your child - please reach out if you need any assistance in maintaining strong school attendance.

St Mary’s Fete – 8 weeks to go!

SAVE THE DATE | Friday 11^th October 2024

Vanessa Alexander is the fete coordinator this year. Only eight weeks to go! Vanessa will schedule a fete meeting each week commencing next week. Please keep an eye out for this communication and come along to our meetings to support a successful fete for 2024.

Use the link below to nominate your interest in helping with the 2024 Fete.

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=_f1LV0RCBUK3EBaPWwxYDY02do4BFBhCpX5UzLf9ScxUQ1BWOTQ2VzgwUTg1RUs2TlRWUzRFQzgwNi4u

Performing Arts Festival

We have many students entering in a variety of sections at the Performing Arts Festival in Week 7. Thank you to our teachers and parents for supporting this wonderful community event. More communication will be shared in next fortnight’s newsletter and via Parent Portal.

School Fees – Fee Relief and 2024 accounts

The school has been granted Choice and Affordability funding from the Australian Government through Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office. These funds will be used to offer families with up-to-date fee accounts a $200 fee relief for each child enrolled at the school. This relief credit will be applied in Week 1 of Term 4. Please ensure your fee invoices for 2024 (Terms 1, 2 and 3) have been paid to receive this fee relief.

Have a wonderful fortnight.

Kind regards,

Katrina

APRE - Mrs Kirsty Lines

Catholic Education Week

Thank you to all parents, grandparents and our St Mary’s community for attending our whole school Catholic Education Week mass on Friday, July 26.  Our Year 5 class showed great leadership and commitment in assisting Fr Peter to lead the mass.  Thank you Miss Price and Year 5!  Please see pictures below.

On Monday, July 22, our staff travelled to Quilpie for the annual Bishop’s Inservice Day.  The guest speaker this year was accomplished singer / songwriter Graeme Connors.  Mr Connors spoke and sung of the impact of Catholicism in his faith and life journey.  He also stopped into St Mary’s on the Tuesday to have a sing along with our students.  Please see picture below.

Sacramental Program

On Sunday, August 11^th, four of our students will make their first Holy Communion.  Please pray for Grace, Clara, Sophie and Ari.  We’d love to see you there to support these students.  Mass is 9am with cake to follow afterwards!  Please see a photo of our candidates below.

Prayer Assemblies

We look forward to seeing Year 2’s prayer assembly this coming Friday, August 2^nd at 11:10am in the PAH.

Wishing you a peaceful fortnight,

God bless,

Kirsty Lines

APRE

School Guidance Counsellor - Mr Jesse Kupper

Hello, everyone!

This week I would like to provide a little information on Momentum. Momentum is a website that can help children (ages 7-17) learn new ways to manage anxiety and unhappiness. It can also help with some of the more common difficulties that come along with anxiety and unhappiness, such as sleep problems, unhealthy eating and lack of exercise.

Momentum is an entirely free Australian program designed by Griffith University. Each session takes about 30-45 minutes. Sessions are fun, include lots of activities (not just boring reading), and earn children rewards and badges.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. For Young People (7-17 years):

• Momentum offers tailored online treatment programs to help manage anxiety, unhappiness, and sleep difficulties.
• Children can learn coping skills, track their feelings, and tackle challenges step-by-step.
• The program is free to use and can be completed at your own pace from home

• Momentum provides tools for determining if a young person is experiencing difficulties including features for tracking your child’s mood and wellbeing gauged off their progression in the program.
• Treatment programs cover various issues, and the platform offers mental health care information and resources.
• It’s accessible on computers or tablets and completed by the young person independently
• Activities are tailored to the age of the student. Families with children in secondary school may also find the program of benefit.

Feel free to explore Momentum further or register. Children do need a parent/guardian to authenticate when they sign up so perhaps have that first look at the program together.

Warm regards,

Jesse Kupper

School Counsellor

Prep - Mrs Bernice McPhee

Lots of fun has already been had in Prep this term. It has been a big countdown to our 100 Days of Prep. A big thank you to all families who helped make our day so fun. Prep students wore “Very Creative” t-shirts and brought along some delicious party food to help us celebrate.

There were lots of activities to do all about the number 100. We made “100 Days Smarter” crowns, 100 Fruit loop necklaces, mini books with 100 picture punches, 100 Gumball dot machines, the number 100 with Lego, iced and decorated biscuits, drawing 100 little pictures/marks, salt painting the number 100.

In week one we had some fun doing a yoga workshop with Alara, who came to help us celebrate NAIDOC week. We made lots of Australian animal poses.

In buddies this term we are learning about the Olympics. We have made Australian Passports, Mini-Olympic torches and have had some fun running in “3 legged races” with our buddies.

Prep would like to welcome Miss Smith to our class for the rest of the term.

Year 1 - Ms Susan Holloway

Hi there,

As always, it has been busy in our Year One classroom. The students have well and truly settled back in to our daily and school routines. 

Our athletics day was a wonderful way for the Year Ones to show their sporting expertise, with many of our students receiving ribbons.  Seeing everyone having a go was the highlight of this teacher's day!

The students are once again enjoying time with their new buddies during our buddy programme. They have been spending time learning about their buddies and what they enjoy doing, their favourite food and what they like most about school.

Take care everyone!

Year 2 - Miss Imogen Hunt

In week 1 we engaged with NADOIC week yoga. It was amazing to see students engaging with this story through an Indigenous perspective. Students loved giving all of the poses a go and also had a little bonus of hearing about the different styles of boomerangs.

Week 2 ended with us taking on our athletics carnival. It was fabulous to see students giving everything a go and also seeing the excitement on each child’s face. They all did an amazing job and should be very proud of themselves.

In week 3, we explored, in science, how water reacts on different surfaces. Students got to test a range of surfaces and how some would absorb water and some areas where water would stay on the top. We also celebrated Catholic Education Week where the theme of love was explored. Students enjoyed learning about how we can show faith, hope and love in our school community.

We have had a jam packed few weeks, and we are excited about what the rest of the term has in store for us, especially this week with our prayer assembly on Friday 2^nd August. We hope to see you there.

Kind regards,

Imogen Hunt

Tuckshop - Mrs Alice Short

July Birthdays

Flyers