Dear Parents and Carers, 

Today marks the end of an extraordinary semester of schooling, the likes of which we hope we will not experience again.

If we stop and look back to the end of last term we find a school with only 4 students in attendance and the beginning of remote learning. To start this term, St Mary’s had around 30 students attending daily with remote learning in full swing.  Where would have we been without SeeSaw?

In Week 3 we invited all students back for one day a week and I’ll never forget the daily survey to gather information on who would be coming each day and ensuring we had the appropriate timetable and supervision to cater for what was expected.

Finally in Week 5 we were able to invite the entire student community back to face-to-face teaching.  It has just been wonderful to have our students back and filling the school with joys they bring.

Usually the schools cross country is one of many whole school activities that St Mary’s engages in.  This year the cross country was a very significant event indeed. It marked the first whole school activity that was outside of a video link up, since COVID-19 restrictions were put in place.  While the event was modified to meet the current restrictions and we couldn’t yet have our wonderful parent community in attendance, it will be the beginning of future whole school activities.

With all the changes that occurred over the semester a significant amount of pressure was placed on our teaching staff to keep offering quality learning experiences and our parents at home to help deliver and support the activities planned.

I thank everyone for their hard work and commitment to St Mary’s and encourage you all to have a restful break, to take time to enjoy the simple things in life and to find time to recharge the batteries ready for an exciting return to Term 3.

Go gently,

Mr Phil Nielsen

Principal

    

 

Father I thank You for the opportunity to take a holiday.. and be enabled to have a complete break from the daily rounds and the many responsibilities and routines that govern our lives.

It is such a joy to have this break and I pray that it will be a time of rest and refreshment where I am enabled to go quietly through the day without having to plan for the many ‘workaday’ things that have become the norm in our busy daily schedule.

I pray that during this holiday I will enjoy both spiritual and physical renewal and find rejuvenating rest for my mind and spirit as well as enjoy relaxation and respite for my body as well.

Thank You Father in Jesus name, Amen

The pupil free day for next Term is Monday 20th of July.

Students will start Term 3 on Tuesday 21st July.  

Happy Birthday to

Kayla Edwards, Hamwene Sichimwi, Luca Northfield and Amelia-Rose Blampied

who celebrate their birthdays during the holidays.

We hope you enjoy your special day.

Our P&F have made a decision to employ a paid Canteen Manager for Term 3 and 4 this year.

The canteen is an integral part of the school and is utilised by every family.  We are keen to recruit an enthusiast parent or other commmunity member to work for 3 hours per week organising our canteen ordering, volunteer instructions, roster, equipment maintenance and cleaning. 

Details of the role are in the document below.

Written expressions of interest can be emailed to phillip.nielsen@cg.catholic.edu.au before Friday 24th of July.

Bland Shire Grant

We would like to thank Clare Parker who applied for and received a COVID-19 Recovery Grant from the Bland Shire Council.  These were distributed by the council for organisations who could not fundraise during the COVID lockdown period and we were blessed to receive over $3000 which we will use towards swimming lessons next year.

Below are our School Captains Sam Koop and Scarlett Connellan with Lisa Stugess, P&F President, accepting the grant from Mayor Brian Monaghan.

School Cross Country

These pictures show our winners and place getters for the modified cross country held on Tuesday.

Cross Country Action

The following events are in next weeks calendar.

To see the school's full calender check out the SZApp or our website.