St Mary's Newsletter

Term 3 - Week 8 (11 September, 2020)

Principal's Message

Dear St Mary's School Community

Gospel

In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus tells his followers the parable of the king who decides to settle his accounts.  The message in the parable is that of forgiveness.  Just as we are forgiven by the Father, so too should we forgive others.  Forgiveness allows us to restore broken relationships and let go of resentment.  Forgiveness frees us to love and live joyfully.

St Mary’s Day

St Mary's Day started with a liturgy in the Undercover Area led by the staff.  At the liturgy, Fr Andrew spoke to the students about how words in our school song and prayer were connected to Mary and how we  expect of people in our community to be.  Following the Liturgy, teachers did activities about our school with their classes.  After a sausage sizzle lunch cooked by our Year Six leaders the whole school did tabloid sports where everyone had a great time working together as a team!  An ice cream ended a great day filled with fun and school spirit!  Thank you to Mrs O'Malley for all her hard work in planning and organising the day!

Holy Communion

On Sunday at the 10.30am Mass, three of our Year Four students will be receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion.  We wish Skye Wilson, Archie Gethin and Tomas Kraske-Beck all the very best of luck as they take a significant step in their faith journey in receiving Jesus for the first time.  Please keep them and their families, Fr Andrew and Miss Montgomery in your prayers.

Interschool Athletics Carnival

Congratulations to Merredin College on winning the Interschool Athletics Carnival yesterday.  Well done to the St Mary's team who showed great sportsmanship, perseverance and team spirit.  As always, they represented our school admirably.  Thank you to Mrs McDonald, Miss Walsh and Mrs Criddle for all their efforts in preparing the team and in supervising and supporting them.  A full report on the carnival can be found further down in the newsletter.

DTiF

I received a certificate from ACARA (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority on Monday in recognition of the engagement of our staff in the Digital Technologies in Focus project (DTiF).  While all staff were involved, I would like to acknowledge the leadership of Sonya McCormack throughout this project.   Sonya ensured that all staff received targeted and sustained professional development which has given them the confidence to integrate digital technologies across a range of learning areas.  St Mary’s students have access to a range of digital technologies resources which they use both in the classroom and when they go to Science/STEM classes.   The certificate is being proudly displayed in the STEM room.

Welcome

Welcome to the Galbraith family.  Lucas has started Three Year Old Kindy at St Mary's.

Book Week

Book Week will take place next week and our traditional parade and activities day will be held on Wednesday for all students Kindy to Year Six.   All parents are welcome to come and join us for the parade which will begin at 8.50am in the Undercover Area.

God Bless and have a lovely weekend with your families,

Ms Adriana Coniglio

Principal

Religious News

Father’s Day Liturgy and Breakfast

A huge thank you to all of the Dads and father figures who attended our Liturgy and breakfast. It was a great turn out and everyone enjoyed a cooked breakfast after the Liturgy in the undercover area. Thank you to the Year 6 students who presented the Liturgy and the staff who prepared, cooked and served breakfast.

St Mary’s Day

Today we enjoyed a celebration of our school with a Liturgy, sausage sizzle lunch, ice-creams AND a whole school tabloid sport session! We completed activities about the history of our school and reflected on how lucky we are to have such a fabulous school community here at St Mary’s. Thank you to everyone for helping to conduct a lovely celebration. 

First Holy Communion Retreat

The Year Four students enjoyed their First Holy Communion Retreat on Wednesday, 9th September. They completed activities about The Last Supper and The Eucharist. Students wore free dress and shared in a Subway lunch. Thank you to Miss Montgomery for leading the retreat.

Mrs Zoe O'Malley

Acting Assistant Principal

Class News

Pre-Primary Class News

In our dramatic play this term we have had a hospital. People have come in with all sorts of injuries and illnesses. The children have loved pretending to be doctors and nurses, bandaging people up and giving them medicine. We were lucky enough to have Lola from Karis Medical Group come in to show us all the awesome things nurses do. On Friday we welcomed Dr Femi to tell us some more medical stories that we can use in our dramatic play. A huge thank you from us to Femi and Lola! 

Year One RE Corner

In RE, the Year One class have been learning about The Last Supper and have been acting out the events leading up to Jesus’ death. We talked about the students who are preparing to make their First Holy Communion and what this means. We know that Jesus washing his disciples feet is the ultimate act of service and ways in which we can serve others in our lives.   

PE

Faction Athletics Results

On Friday, 4th September we held our Faction Athletics Carnival at the Merredin Rec Center. The weather was beautiful and the students were amazing.

A huge thank you to all the parent helpers on the day, the staff for all the preparation and to the students for their awesome behavior.

A big thank you to Kev Southcott and Marcia Sayers who helped mark the oval on Thursday and to Lloyd Maloney and Sarah Carr for the new winner’s podium.

Following are the results from the day;

 Junior Boy

Champion - Patrick O’Neill (32)

Runner Up - Zac Crees (26)

Junior Girl

Champion - Olivia Maloney (34)

Runner Up - Michayla Maiolo (21)

Intermediate Boy

Champion - Koby Sayers (30)

Runner Up - Brock Barnett (23)

Intermediate Girl

Champion - Ellie Atkinson (40)

Runner Up -  Camee Roberts (26) 

Senior Boy

Champion -  Jake Casella (26)

Runner Up - Jacob Barnett (25)

Senior Girl

Champion - Zoe Olanrewaju (38)

Runner Up - Alexis Kermode (34)

Marching - St Joseph

Faction Sheild

3rd - Salvatorians 716

2nd - St Joseph 716

1st - Mackillop 718

Interschool Athletics Carnival 

On Thursday 10th September we held our Interschool Athletics Carnival at the Merredin College. It was a hard fought day of running, team games, jumps and throws. Up until lunchtime it was very, very close with only two points in it. After lunch we ran the Championship running races and the relays. The final result was the College beating St Mary’s in the end by 38 points.

Congratulations to all the competitors who tried their very best, to the year six students who came along and helped out with getting the team organised, to the parent helper’s for their hard work, staff for their dedication and to Merredin College for hosting the event.

Results are as follows;

Junior Boy

Champion - Patrick O’Neill

Runner Up - Zac Crees

Junior Girl

Champion - Olivia Maloney

Runner Up - Caira Tollarzo

Intermediate Boy

Champion - Brock Barnett

Runner Up - Nathan M

Intermediate Girl

Champion - Natasha Ockerby

Runner Up - Ellie Atkinson

Senior Boy

Champion - Ollie Parker

Runner Up - Xander Boehme

Senior Girl

Champion - Zoe Olanrewaju

Runner Up - Alionah Pickett / Chloe Van Der Merwe

 

Merredin College - 415

St Mary’s - 377

Learning Cooperative Social Skills: Weeks Three & Four - "Including everyone"

Pre-Primary:     Mac Johnston

Year One:    Lucas Bartlett

Year Two:    Wilson Mason

Year Three:    Xavier Amm

Year Four/Five:    Charlie Kudas

Year Five/Six:    Nate Corlett 

Learning Cooperative Social Skills: Weeks Five & Six- "Encouraging and praising"

Pre-Primary:     Georgia Caldwell

Year One:    Emily Kermode

Year Two:    Nicholas Elliott

Year Three:    Maya Dean

Year Four/Five:    Savannah Dean

Year Five/Six:    Jonah Clarke 

Other News & Important Dates

Let Us Pray

Jesus, you forgave those who tormented you.

Teach us to forgive.

Amen.

Community Notices