St Mary's Bulletin

We believe in God and in each other

Welcome back to the new school year in 2023! It was fabulous to see the children all excited and very polite as they greeted me on my first day. I would like to thank everyone for making me so welcome to the school community. Our teachers have been working tirelessly to have everything ready for the students and it shows with such a seamless start. Welcome back to Jillian MacDonald (Year 6) and Melissa Davis (Kindergarten) back to the St Mary’s teaching team. I would like to cordially invite all families, especially our new families, to ‘St Mary’s School Welcome Back Function’ next Friday, 10th February at Merredin Swimming Pool (details below). This will be an excellent opportunity to reconnect with each other and meet some of our new families. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

We had a lovely Mass Tuesday morning in Southern Cross at St Joseph’s. Thank you to Fr Matthew Hodgson who led the Mass on the feast of St John Bosco and delivered a beautiful Homily explaining his contributions to education and the wider Catholic Church. At the Mass, Fr Matthew also commissioned new and transferring staff members including myself.

On Monday 30 January, all teachers participated in a revision course on the Talk for Writing Program used at St Mary’s. Teachers participated in a variety of activities and information sessions to build on their professional skillset. As a novice to the program, I was very impressed with the detail that goes into teachers planning and preparation to improve students writing skills.

On Friday, 10th February, a Mass to celebrate the start of the school year will be held at St Mary’s Church at 9am. During the Mass, we will be commissioning any available members of the the CSAC and P&F for 2023.  Following the Mass, there will be tea and coffee served with Mr DiCarlantonio in the foyer of the Chuch. As always, this Mass is open to the entire St Mary’s Community.

As mentioned at last year’s Annual Community Meeting, the Canteen will be closed until further notice. The leadership team are working with a vendor to have it back up and running in the near future.

Pre-Kindy will commence on Friday 10 February in the Kindergarten classroom. We are looking forward to the arrival of our new members at St Mary’s!

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:

Emails: Staff can be emailed directly using:

firstname.surname@cewa.edu.au

Please keep emails to staff short and to the point.. Avoid discussing academic, social or behavioural concerns in emails - these are best addressed via face to face meetings or through telephone conversation. If you are sending emails after hours, please do not expect an immediate response (staff need to relax and recharge after hours in preparation for the next school day). Within 24 hours is an acceptable response time.

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/Bulletin and/or P&F Facebook page.

Seesaw: This is used as an e-portfolio - so parents can see what their children are doing/have done at school during the day. Although it has a message functions, please do not use this 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 i.e. email, telephone call, diary, communication books etc. Please do not contact staff though social media i.e. Facebook, messenger, Instagram etc. as staff will not respond and therefore your query will not be addressed.

On Wednesday, 8 February 2023 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. The outline for the evening is as follows:

5.30pm: Session 1

 6.15pm: Session 2

 All information sessions for Pre-primary to Year 6 will be presented during the allocated time slot and repeated in the second session. This will enable parents with multiple children to attend two different year group sessions if necessary. Some families may need to bring their children with them on the night. There will be no supervision by staff; therefore, parents are responsible for their own children. This means no children playing outside unsupervised

Please find below the link to the 2023 Parent Handbook

The St Mary's School Community would like to congratulate Miss Stephanie Walsh on her engagement to Sam Hooper over the holidays. We wish you all the very best for your future together.

Thank you to all the staff who worked tirelessly before school returned to ensure that the new school year could start smoothly. The start this year has been seamless and I know that the preparation of the staff has made this so. Thank you to our wonderful students who have come back to school ready to learn and so full of enthusiasm for the year ahead. If Week One is any indication, then we are in for a fabulous year at St Mary's School in 2023.

God Bless and have a lovely weekend with your families.

Mr Andy DiCarlantonio

Principal

The Uniform Shop has changed days and will now be open every Wednesday morning from 8.30am to 9.10am. (no longer open on Tuesdays).

Online orders through QuickCliQ will not change, however all the orders from the week will be processed and ready for collection or delivered to the students on Wednesday mornings.

St Mary’s school is very fortunate to have a dedicated team of volunteers running the Uniform Shop. 

Is your child interested in representing St Mary's School in tennis at the Central Districts Academy Plate (aka Schools Classic) in Beverley?

 We are looking to take 1-2 teams.

 Requirements:

• Is in Yr3-6 and has a knowledge of tennis (older children, Yr 5/6 may be given preference, but it is also dependent on tennis ability).
• Can travel to Beverley and back on Thurs 2nd March, either with own parent or another parent (some of us even travel the night before and stay in Beverley as it is a long way and an early start).
• Children must be able to serve from the baseline and know basic tennis rules.  They play several rounds of 10min singles and 10min mixed doubles (but it is not normal scoring and is fully umpired by parents/teachers).
• Can attend 2-3 training sessions after school to learn scoring, practice skills and for us to be able to choose the teams .
• Are also available for the state final on Fri 31st March in Perth if our team is successful.

Email megethin@gmail.com or phone 0428128153 if you are interested or have any questions.

We require names by 10th February.