St Mary's Newsletter

In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that he is the living perfection of God’s teachings.  God’s ways are so much higher than our own.  We think we are good because we don’t kill, but God tells us that even being angry with our brothers and sisters displeases God.

We have our first Children’s Liturgy at the 10.30am Mass on Sunday.  Mrs Cooper and Mrs Kermode will be leading this.  All families are welcome to attend.

Despite the threat of inclement weather, the Welcome Back Pool Party went ahead on Friday night.  The night was a relaxing and fun way to welcome in the new school year and all who came enjoyed themselves.  Thank you to Judy Jeffreys for being Pool Supervisor, Steph Walsh and Jillian McDonald for being the life guards and to Louise Discenza and Pauline and Glen Riethmuller who cooked the sausage sizzle. The St Mary's School community raised money for raised $450.00 for the Bushfire Appeal.

Thank you to all the parents who joined us for the Parent-Information Evening on Tuesday and to all the teachers for their hard work, preparation and perseverance!  Unfortunately, the power went out half way through the first session and we had to continue in the dark!  If you weren’t able to attend please make contact with your child’s class teacher to receive a copy of the information that was shared.

As part of our Literacy focus, we would like to introduce a regular reading roster into classrooms where parents and grandparents come in to listen to children read.  So that this process is consistent across the school, Mrs Riethmuller is hosting two parent workshops on Thursday, 27 February at 8.45am and 3.30pm in the Library.  If you are interested please note this date in your diary.  More information will follow via the Skoolbag App.

We welcome the Yates family (Mia) who are joining the St Mary's School community for the first time in Pre-Kindy.

Our Year Three to Six students will begin swimming lessons on Monday for the next two weeks.  Information has already been sent home via the Skoolbag App about lessons. A big thank you to Mrs Riethmuller who has liaised on the school's behalf to ensure that lessons were able to go ahead as scheduled.   It was still not clear, as late as this morning, whether or not lessons could go ahead.  Let’s hope the weather is perfect for swimming over the next two weeks.

Our first P&F meeting will be held in the Library at 7.30pm on Monday night.  The P&F work tirelessly for our community so please come along and support them.  All are welcome to attend.

God Bless and have a lovely weekend with your families,

Ms Adriana Coniglio

Principal

We have a busy term with many liturgical and sacramental events and I welcome and encourage you to attend the various events throughout the terms.

If you have any questions and/or concerns about the Religious Education Program or Sacramental Program throughout the year, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mrs Pauline Riethmuller

Assistant Principal

St Mary's school is extremely blessed to have Sam Macdonald who comes in to provide Flute, Guitar and Piano lessons to the students. Sam is here on a Tuesday and Wednesday. If you would like your child to learn any of these instruments please contact Sam on 0401 259 181 or macdonsp@yahoo.com.au.

Our local Dental Therapy Staff will be coming to visit our school on Tuesday 18th February. Students in Pre-Primary, Year Three and Year Six will be involved in this screening.

Kindergarten is where your story begins

Welcome to all the new children and families to our school community. We have had a lovely start to Kindy. We have a new classroom set up and a new teacher, Mrs Cruz who together with Mrs. Lane and Mrs Tomljanovich have welcomed 18 students into Kindy.

The children are eager and mostly happy to come each morning. They are beginning to make new friends, settle into the routines of school and enjoy the indoor and outdoor learning centres.

This term we will exploring the world around us using our five senses. We have lots of sensory activities planned for children to ‘get messy’. These photos show the children having fun painting with their fingers. 

We have lots of exciting activities planned for this term for Science and STEM.

Our Learning Area for this term is ‘Earth and Space Sciences.’ 

The Pre Primary students will be doing lots of different activities about the ‘weather’ and build on their knowledge of what they already know.  They will record it each week and create a variety of final presentation of their findings.    

The Year One students are looking at how things ‘change’ in our environment depending on the seasons.  They will become familiar with the different types of natural/man made and constructed environments.

The Year Two students will be studying the ‘earth’s resources’ and how we can look after them.  They will become familiar with how we need to live more sustainably for the future.

The Year Three students are investigating what causes Day and Night.  We will be looking at why shadows form and at what time.  The students will look at the NASA website and research different events that are occurring.

The Year Four and Five students will study the different layers of our earth and the elements it contains.  They will examine soils and rocks under digital microscopes and explain their observations.

The Year Five and Six students are looking at a variety of natural disasters and investigating  why they occur.  They will develop their knowledge of why natural disasters occur and how we can prepare for them.

Bookclub orders need to be placed online by Friday 21st February.

It is easy to order. The Book Club LOOP platform for parents allows you to pay by credit card. Your child’s order is submitted directly to school safe and sound and the books will be delivered to class. You can place your child’s order at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

Parents can opt for gift orders so the kids don’t see the books if they are intended as gifts (flyer attached with details)