St Mary's Bulletin

The Year Five Class led the school and parish in a very reverent Mass for Ash Wednesday.  Fr Andrew reminded us that Lent is a time of renewal.  He used a plant that had shed all its leaves as an ongoing visual for the parish community that during Lent he will water and nurture as it grows.  As Christians, during Lent, we can nurture our own faith and spirituality through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  

Our Year Six students will be reading at the 10.30am Mass on Sunday.  All are welcome to attend.

The 2019 Sacramental Program commences on Thursday, 14th March with a meeting for all parents of sacramental years (Year 3, 4 and 6) in the Library at 7.00pm.  if your child is receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Eucharist or Confirmation this year it is important that at least one parent from each family attends this meeting (children are not required to attend).

The 2019 Faction Swimming Carnival was another huge success this year thanks to the organisational skills and planning of Mrs Criddle!  Congratulations go to Salvatorians who won the Carnival!  Thanks to the students for being great competitors and showing sportsmanship throughout the day, to the staff, to all the parents who volunteered and to the P&F for cooking the sausage sizzle – it was due to everyone’s contribution and spirit that the day was so successful!

The Interschool Swimming Carnival will be held at Merredin Pool next Friday, 15 March beginning at 9.30am.  Further information about this will go home through the Skoolbag App.

Thank you to Mrs McDonald and the Year Six students who led us in our first assembly for 2019 today.  The message of the assembly was about sharing what we have and thinking of others who are less fortunate and not being greedy – this message is very appropriate for the season of Lent.  Well Done Year Six!

In 2019, students in Years Three and Five will sit the NAPLAN online tests. NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students learn through their regular school curriculum. One of the main benefits of NAPLAN Online is that is it tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test automatically adapts to a student’s test performance. The test presents questions of a higher or lower complexity, depending in the student’s performance. NAPLAN Online is not a test of keyboard skills, just as there are variations in how students write, there are variations in how students type. Year Three students will complete the writing test on paper.

Parents/caregivers may withdraw their child from the NAPLAN tests. This is a matter for consideration by individual parents in consultation with the principal. Withdrawals are intended to address issues such as religious beliefs and philosophical objections to testing.  If you would like to discuss this further, please make an appointment to see me.

St Mary’s will be hosting the GEMS Network meeting on Monday, 11 and Tuesday, 12 March.  We will be having guests from CEWA, PFFWA and other Catholic schools at St Mary’s on Monday and on Tuesday we will be based at the CRC.

I will be attending Professional Development at Scotch College next Friday, 15 March.  Mrs Riethmuller will be responsible for the school in my absence.

God Bless and have a lovely weekend with your families. 

Ms Adriana Coniglio

Principal