Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome to Week 4. After such a big week last week we are definitely not slowing down at St Mary’s with plenty of learning happening.

Tonight at 7pm, the Community Council will hold its Annual General Meeting and Open Meeting. The main objective of this meeting will be to elect a new Chair to the Community Council. After several years leading the school’s community council, Mrs Diana Carne has indicated that she will be stepping down from the role. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for the time and effort she has put in to improving the school. She has seen many changes throughout her time and instigated many improvements that have had a positive impact on the students at St Mary’s. We will miss the thoughtful, professional approach she brought to the community council. Tonight’s meeting will also serve as an opportunity to voice any issues or concerns members of the St Mary’s community might have. If you have an item for the agenda, it should have been sent to damian.collins@cg.catholic.edu.au by now. However, if you do have anything you would like raised please let me know before the meeting at 7pm.

A huge thank you to all staff, students and parents who attended our Opening Mass. The Mass was a lovely ceremony and the students singing and engagement was superb. Congratulations to all who were involved and in particular our Year 6 leaders who received their badges.

A special thanks to Peter McDonell for his time installing our new basketball backboards. They look fabulous. We also thank CJM Welding and Fabrication for loaning their equipment for the installation and thank you to the Men’s Shed for making them.

A reminder to those using the church carpark. Please remember to enter the carpark from the lane on Court Street and to exit via church street. Please also remember that you need to collect your child from inside the school grounds. Students cannot wait to be picked up in the carpark as this is a safety issue.

Remember my door is always open.

Principal

Damian Collins

World Day of Prayer 2025

Cook Islands

‘I made you wonderful’

St Mary’s Parish will hold World Prayer Day in the church on Friday 7^th March at 10am. St Mary’s students will be singing all of the music for this wonderful prayer event. All families are invited to attend.

    

Billy Green, Zechariah Semi, Abigail Sturgess, Adalia Chantrill and Harry Carne

who celebrate their birthdays during this week.

We hope you enjoy your special day.

Western Region Swimming 2025 - Monday 24th February

Congratulations to the 20 swimmers who competed in yesterday's Western Region Swimming carnival in Tumut. It was quite a warm and exciting day for the competitors. The students of St Mary's showed exceptional behaviour and school spirit!

Congratulations goes to Maisie Maslin (3rd in 9 Years Girls 50m Freestyle), Clancy Blampied (4th in the Junior Boys Breaststroke) and the Junior Girls Relay team (3rd). Maisie and Clancy will now move on to the Canberra Goulburn Swimming Championships held in Boorowa on Monday the 3rd March. We wish them the best of luck!

   

Kinder Rest Day and Best Start Interview

Parents of Kinder students are reminded that they still have 1 Rest Day - Wednesday 26th of February.

Our Kinder students get very tired and this break will help them to remain keen and focused.

Mrs Turner will be holding the Best Start Interviews on these days. 

The Life Education Van will be visiting St Mary’s School Monday 3rd, Tuesday 4th & Wednesday 5th March.

It is expected that all students participate in this program as the content is linked to the school curriculum.

The programs that the students will be attending are as follows:

Monday 3rd March 
Kinder Kind - My Body Matters
Year 6 Faith - Relate Respect Connect

Tuesday 4th March
Year 1 Joy - Harold's Online World
Year 2 Mercy - Harold's Online World
Year 5 Hope - Relate Respect Connect

Wednesday 5th March
Year 3 - Friends & Feelings
Year 4- Friends & Feelings

The cost per child is $13 and this should be paid via Compass.

A Compass event has been sent out.

Week 4

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.

Day	Event	Location
Tuesday 25th February	Community Council AGM @ 7pm	At School
Wednesday 26th February	Kinder Rest Day
Monday 3rd - Wednesday 5th March	Life Education Van - Healthy Harold	At School
Wednesday 12th - Monday 24th March	NAPLAN	At School
Wednesday 2nd April	Mid Western Primary School Rugby Union 10's Gala Day	West Wyalong Rugby Union Grounds
Friday 4th April	St Mary's Cross Country	- Infants at School - Primary at Showgrounds
Tuesday 8th April	St Anne's Taster Day	At St Anne's, Temora
Thursday 10th April	Last Day of Term 1
Friday 11th April	Staff Development Day - Pupil Free Day

 Student Residential Address Collection

The Australian Government Department of Eduaction (DoE) will collect student residential addresses for all non-goverment schools in February/March 2025.  The purpose of this collection is to help in calculating the needs-based funding arrangements for non-government schools.

Please note that student names will be 'de-indentified'.

An email has been sent out with all the information.