St Mary's Bulletin

Welcome back to the new school year – it’s amazing to think that we are already in the year 2020 – when I was a little girl 2020 was a futuristic year you read about in books or saw in movies!  It was fabulous to see the children all excited for the school year ahead on Monday and Tuesday (Kindy) morning.  I would like to welcome Mrs Laura Cruz (Pre-Kindy and Kindy), Miss Meredith Kinsella (Pre-Primary), Ms Jasmin Holmes (Administration) and a welcome back to Mrs Zoe O’Malley.  We welcome the Tayler family (Emmett – Year 3), Cruz family (Stella - Kindy) and Parker family (Grace - Kindy).  We extend a warm welcome to the Alberti  family (Charlotte), Gray family (Maggie) and Last family (Addison) who all join the  St Mary’s School community for the first time in Pre-Kindy.

Over the school holidays we had some work done throughout the school.  We replaced the broken air-conditioner in Room Four, we added glass panels to the Kindy, Pre-Primary, Year Two and Year Three classroom doors and we had our telephone system updated. 

Thank you to Matt White (All Round Maintenance Merredin) who gave the back carpark a spruce up and painted all the logs (this should make it easier for parking) and who gave the school grounds and gardens a thorough tidy up – I am sure that you will agree with me that the school looks fabulous!  It’s nice to see green grass on the lawn too! 

 Thank you to the P&F and Sheree Lowe who arranged to have the girls’ and boys’ toilets painted with positive affirmations.  The affirmations were collated by the current Year Six students (Year Five 2019) and Sheree spent the last two weekends painting them onto to the doors and walls.  They toilets look amazing and the quotes give our students positive messages!  Thank you to our wonderful P&F for funding this project!

The St Mary’s School Code of Conduct promotes positive work practices and establishes expectations for personal and professional boundaries concerning appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in relation to staff, students, volunteers, parents and guardians. It provides guidance about behaviour, relationships, attitudes and responsibilities and outlines the process that will be followed if the code is not observed.  I have attached the 12 Conduct Statements for your information – the entire Code of Conduct can be found on the St Mary’s website.

Please be reminded that the front carpark is only for families who have students in Pre-Kindy, Kindy, Pre-primary and Year One.  If this doesn’t apply to your family then please use the carpark behind the school as we don’t want the front car park to become congested making it unsafe for the youngest members of our school and their families.

At St Mary’s School, we value the relationship between home and school and believe that open communication between the two is a factor in student happiness and success at school.. At St Mary’s, we have many vehicles of communication, including the website, Skoolbag App. Email, newsletters and bulletins.  To streamline this communication, could I please ask you to take note of the following:

Skoolbag App:  Skoolbag App is a one-way means of communication between home and school.. It is not a vehicle for advertising community events.  This is best done through the Newsletter and/or P&F Facebook page.

SeeSaw/Class DoJo:  These are used as e-portfolios – so parents can see what their children are doing/have done at school during the day.  Although they both have message functions, please do not use these as a means of communication as messages may not be seen and responded to and therefore your concern or query may not be addressed.

Any contact with school staff in regard to school matters is to be done through the appropriate channels at school ie email, telephone call, diary, communication books, etc.  Please do not contact staff through their personal social media accounts ie Facebook, messenger, Instagram, etc as this is in breach of the school Code of Conduct and staff are unable to respond.

Throughout the year if you have any concerns please follow this procedure:

It is important that if you have a query, question or concern that you discuss it with the appropriate people at that point in time.  Please do not let things linger or turn a blind eye in the hope that they will eventually go away.

Should you wish to speak to me, I am generally out and about in the morning before and after school, I can be emailed directly or through the school admin email, alternatively you can call the reception to speak with me or make a time to meet with me.

Congratulations:  We offer our congratulations to the following families on the arrival of their babies and siblings over the holidays.  To the Axford Family (Stevie - Kindy) a baby boy and brother named Mack and to the Johnston Family (Mac - Pre-Primary) a baby boy and brother Tex.  mrs Hannah Herbert (staff) and her husband Josh welcomed Myla to the world on New Years Eve.

Condolences:  We offer our condolences to Miss Anna Piazzola (staff) and her family on the loss of their father and grandfather, Mr George Barnes.  Anna has travelled with her family to England to attend his funeral.

Next Friday, 14 February is our first Family Friday for 2020.  On Family Friday, families have the opportunity to spend time with their children in their classroom – looking at work they have done, completing an activity or helping the teacher.  The bell will go at 9.00am on Family Friday. I look forward to seeing families for Family Friday throughout the year.

On Tuesday, 11 February 2020 we will be holding our Parent Information Evening.  This is an opportunity for families to hear what their child’s teacher’s educational philosophies are and how their classroom will operate.  It is important that at least one parent from each family attends.  Mrs Riethmuller will open the Library for those children who will be attending with their parents. Those children will need to either be with their parents or in the Library – children are not to be unsupervised on the school grounds.  The evening will begin at 5.30pm (Pre-primary to Year Two), with a gathering at 6.00pm in the Undercover Area and then from 6.10pm (Year Three to Year Six).

At St Mary's School, the safety and wellbeing of our students is paramount.  This week we had two examples where we enacted the School's  policies and procedures to ensure that our students were safe and well looked after.  In the latter part of the week (Wednesday to Friday), we enacted our extreme weather policy.  The children stayed inside to eat and play at lunchtime when the temperature had reached 40 and above.

On Thursday ,we went into lockdown as we had a snake on the school property.  The students and staff stayed inside the classrooms while a snake handler was called to remove the snake from the property.

Thank you to parents and guardians for ensuring that the children were ready for school this week by ensuring they were in the correct uniform,  had everything they needed to function and were emotionally prepared too!  It was great to see so many brand new predominately white sneakers accompanying the sports uniform today.  The relationship between home and school is so important and your support of school policies is very much appreciated.

A big thank you to the staff who worked tirelessly before school returned to ensure that their classrooms were all ready for the start of the school year.  I know that I have said it before, and I will continue to keep saying it, but we are so lucky to have the caliber of staff we do at St Mary’s School.

It goes without saying, but thank you to the wonderful students for coming back with big beautiful smiles and for being so ready to start learning - they make our jobs so much fun and they are a pleasure to teach!