St Mary's Newsletter

We rely on each other to do the right thing.

In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus says, “All who love me will keep my words and my Father will love them and He will come to them.  I give you my peace, peace the world cannot give.”   The peace that Jesus promises is truly a great gift.  No matter what challenges life brings us, we can pray for the peace of Christ to fill our hearts.

On Tuesday, 24 May we celebrate the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, patroness of Australia.  The infant church in Australia had a special reason for turning to Mary. No priests were sent to the colony in its early days and Mass was not allowed except for one brief year until 1820. It was largely the Rosary in those early days that kept the faith alive. Catholic Australia remained faithful to Mary and was the rest nation to choose her under the title Help of Christians, as principal Patroness.  St Mary’s School will be having Mass in the Church at 9.00am to honour Mary Help of Christians, which will be led by the Year 6 Class.  All are welcome to attend.

Next week is Wellbeing Week at St Mary’s School.  Wellbeing can be defined as ‘The state of being comfortable, healthy & happy. A good condition of existence; a state of health, happiness and prosperity’.  A healthy state of wellbeing enables young people to successfully overcome difficulties and achieve their true potential. Feelings of wellbeing are fundamental to our overall health. Next week students and staff will be encouraged to be mindful, connect, reduce stress, socialise, reflect and improve their wellbeing.   

National Simultaneous Story Time will take place next Wednesday, 25 May.  The book this year is “Family Tree” by Josh Pyke.  I will read the book to all students (Kindy to Year Six) at 11.00am under the trees near the nature playground (weather permitting).

We have assembly scheduled for next Friday, 27 May at 8.50am in the Undercover Area.  This will be led by Year 3/4 and all are welcome to attend. 

COVID came to St Mary's this week!  As you may be aware, we have had a number of students away after testing positive to COVID19 (some classes have been affected more severely than others).  Throughout the week, we have also had to contact a number of families whose children have displayed symptoms such as runny noses, coughing, sneezing, temperatures and general malaise and ask them to be collected from school.  These symptoms may be an indication of other infectious illness, such as a cold, the flue, etc.  So while children with these symptoms may be testing negative to COVID they should still be at home until they are better.

The free RATs for each student have now been delivered to the school.

These free RATs will support our students to continue to attend school for face-to-face learning and will minimise disruption to their schooling.  You will be able to test your child at home if they are feeling unwell.  You can also use these RATs if your child is a close contact to enable them to test daily and continue to attend school, as long as they receive a negative result and remain asymptomatic.

We will start handing out these RATs as follows:

• Pre-Kindy families (eldest child in the family) will be distributed to parents on Monday, 23 May at pick-up
• Kindy families (eldest child in the family) will be distributed to parents on Wednesday, 25 May at pick-up.
• Families (parents) in Pre-primary to Year Six can collect their RATs from the Library on Wednesday, 25 May in the Library between 8.20am-8.40am or 2.20pm-2.40pm. 

If your child becomes symptomatic, they should stay home and be tested for COVID-19.  You should notify the school if your child tests positive for COVID-19.  Refer to healthywa.wa.gov.au for information on close contact definition, testing and isolation requirements. 

I will be taking Long Service Leave from Monday, 30 May.  I am looking forward to being with my family as we await the arrival of my first niece or nephew.  The Executive Director has appointed Mrs Zoe O’Malley as the Short-Term Principal in my absence.  Mrs Hannah Herbert will be replacing Mrs O’Malley in Year Six during this time.  I will return to St Mary’s for the beginning of Term Three.  I know that you will support Mrs O’Malley during this time and join me in congratulating her as she undertakes this leadership role.

God Bless and have a lovely weekend with your families.

Ms Adriana Coniglio

Principal

Our Year Six class reading at Mass this Sunday, 22 May at 10.30am has been cancelled. The Mass will be replaced with a Liturgy so they will no longer be required to read.

Please join us in the Church on Tuesday, 24 May for our Mary Help of Christians Mass. This will be presented by the Year Six class and commences at 9.00am. 

A reminder that it is free dress day for a gold coin donation on Wednesday 25 May. All proceeds go to Save the Koalas.

Kind regards,

Mrs Zoe O'Malley

Assistant Principal

Term 2 is proving to be a very busy one already with lots on for our students.

We have our Faction Cross Country coming up in Week Six and students from Pre-Primary to Year Six have been busy practising since the start of term and already shown a huge amount of improvement.

We look forward to parents being able to be on school grounds to cheer the students on for this event! The Interschool Cross Country will be held in Bruce Rock in Week Eight. 

We also have the Winter Carnival against Merredin College for our Year 3-6 students in Week Eight. This year students were able to choose between Netball, Hockey and Football (Year 4-6 only) to play on the day. We have been developing our skills and game understanding of these sports in PE lessons and on Fridays practicing within our chosen teams. For this event to run we will need plenty of volunteers for coaching, scoring and umpiring so please keep an eye out for a letter coming home and consider putting your name down to help.

In Week Five, we are lucky enough to have representatives from Hockey WA coming into school to run clinics for students during our PE lessons. We look forward to seeing what wonderful skills and knowledge they have to share with us.

Our younger students are continuing to work hard on developing their fundamental movement skills in particular, our throwing and catching and applying these skills into a variety of minor games. 

Merredin: Saturday 6.30pm & Sunday 10.30am

Kellerberrin: Sunday 8.00am

Round 8 saw Carynado win the round kindly sponsored by Two Dogs. The tipping has been very tight and close every round, with the winner taking home $50 but only a matter on margin.

Round 9 was won by new entrant to St Marys tipping, Lacucaracha69, thanks to Ross’s Diesel Service for your sponsorship.

Round 10, Indigenous round, is being sponsored by the team at Elders Merredin, thanks to the team in Red for that sponsorship. Happy Tipping!