Dear Parents,

St Mary’s had a wonderful visit from the Catholic Education Canberra & Goulburn Commission on Monday. The visit was part of a regional tour for the Commission who also visited St Xavier Lake Cargelligo and St Anne’s Temora on the trip. The purpose of the visit was to give commission members a clear picture of the context and challenges of a NSW regional school in the Archdiocese.

Eleven panel members came to school at 12.30pm and observed High Impact Teaching Practices (HITP) occurring in our classrooms. A shared lunch with staff members was had, followed by an information session with the leadership team. Finally, the commission visited classrooms to engage with students and hear their perspective of life in country NSW.

The commission gained valuable insight into the school, which will be used to offer counsel to the decision-making bodies in the system. Panel members were extremely impressed with the teaching and learning they witnessed and wanted to pass on congratulations to all the staff of St Mary’s.

Mrs Sinead Turner is in the final stages of completing her teaching degree. One of the requirements that remains for her to fulfill is a 10-week internship. Mrs Turner’s degree is a teaching degree encompassing 0 to 8 year old students. As part of this degree, Mrs Turner is required to complete this internship at a preschool level. Mrs Turner will take study leave without pay for term 4 to accomplish this internship. I wish Sinead all the best as she completes her university requirements. Recruiting for Mrs Turner’s position in Year 2 for term 4 has begun.

2023 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results have been delivered to schools and families of students in grades 3 and 5. The assessment provides a snapshot of students achievement at a point in time and is a consistent process that schools can use to gain an understanding of student knowledge in literacy and numeracy.

In 2023 St Mary’s has made significant gains in most areas of the assessment program. NAPLAN reports on Numeracy, Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar and Punctuation. In Year 5 the school performed above the national average in Numeracy and significantly above national average in Reading, Writing, Spelling and Grammar and Punctuation. In Year 3 St Mary’s performed well above national average in Numeracy, Reading and Grammar & Punctuation, above national average in Spelling and just below in Writing.

We are in the early stages of delivering High Impact Teaching Practices at our great school and the early signs would suggest that the systems CATALYST program is already starting to have a positive impact on student knowledge.

Kind Regards,

Phil Nielsen

Term 3, 2021 Class and Whole School Mass Timetable

At St Mary's we highly value student attendance.

This map below illustrates the importance of attending school on a regular basis.

Incredibly, if a student only misses one day per fortnight during their 13 years of schooling they will miss over 1 and a half years worth of face to face teaching.  During this time of a pandemic it is vital that students come to school whenever it is physically possible.

The significance of attending school has never been greater.   

The following events are in the calendar in the next few weeks.

The Compass Calendar is updated to show Mass times, sporting events, important events.

The SZAPP calendar is no longer updated, please do not refer to this calendar for important dates.

Please note we have had to change the date of our inter school ‘speak off’ with Lake Cargelligo from Monday the 14th next week to Thursday the 17th.  Please note that this is a quick turnaround as the Western Region Public Speaking Competition is the following Monday the 21st in Young. Successful speakers and parents will be notified immediately after our ‘speak off’ with Lake Cargelligo.   

For students who have been nominated to take the ICAS tests this year the confirmed  test dates for 2023 are:

• • Writing - Monday 7 August
  • Digital Technologies - Friday 11 August
  • English - Monday 14 August
  • Science - Monday 21 August
  • Spelling Bee - Friday 25 August
  • Mathematics - Monday 28 August

The ICAS test window for each test is open for one week, the week starts on a Monday.  If your child does not attend school for either of the two Friday tests they will not be able to sit the test on another day.  Please take note of the test days.

Please note that the test days could be subject to change at late notice.