St Mary's Newsletter

In Sunday’s Gospel, we hear about the Lord’s joyful entry into Jerusalem.  This is known as Palm Sunday.  The Gospels tell of crowds laying branches on the road for Jesus and proclaiming him as king but, he is then betrayed and crucified.  Palm Sunday highlights the paradox of Christ’s kingship; the palms represent his victory, but a victory that comes only through suffering and self-sacrifice.

We had a very reverent representation of the Stations of the Cross this morning in the Church.  The Stations of the Cross trace the key moments of Jesus' last day on earth.  The Year Five students acted out each station while teachers and students from each year level read prayers, gave an explanation of each station and explained how each station might parallel the life of a child.  A big thank you to Mrs Herbert for putting together such a reflective liturgy.

On Thursday, 2 May the Confirmation Parent Information Evening will be held in the Library at 7.00pm.  All children who are receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation this year and their parents are asked to attend

The St Mary's Mother’s Day Mass and Morning Tea will be held on Friday, 10 May 2019.  All mothers, grandmothers and significant females in the St Mary’s School community are invited to join us for Mass and Morning Tea.  Please save the date.  More information will go home in Term Two.

ANZAC Day falls during the holidays and as a school community we will acknowledge it with an assembly on Wednesday, 1 May at 8.50am.  All are welcome to attend.  Mrs Riethmuller, John McGinniss and Laura Casella will represent St Mary’s School at the Merredin ceremony.

I am very pleased to announce to the school community that ACARA (Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority) has identified St Mary’s School as having demonstrated substantially above average gain in reading achievement, as measured by NAPLAN.  

This is a great achievement and accolade for our school and testament to the hard work of all the staff  to ensure that our students achieve to the best of their potential.

Conduct Statement 5: You respect the dignity, culture, values and beliefs of each

member of the school community.  

For STAFF this includes but is not limited to: 

  Accepting and embracing the cultures and different values of the students/school  

  community.    

  E.g. Discussing different celebrations in class, Multicultural day, NAIDOC,   

  Acknowledgement to country.  

  Not withholding information regarding a student in terms of their welfare or academic       

  concerns.  

  Reporting any discriminatory behaviours to the Principal/relevant supervisor.  

  When planning and teaching, having an awareness of the cultural background of all 

  students to deliver the content in a non-prejudicial manner.   

For PARENTS this includes but is not limited to: 

  Ensuring that parents receive a copy of the Code of Conduct upon enrolment. This

  is signed to acknowledge that this has been read and understood.   

For STUDENTS this includes but is not limited to: 

Reporting any discriminatory behaviours to teacher/s, parents or to the Principal.    

For VISITORS/VOLUNTEERS this includes but is not limited to: 

Volunteers/visitors providing their WWCC and signing to acknowledge that they have read and accept the Code of Conduct.  

The St Mary’s Healthy Food and Drink Policy includes: 

Children Birthdays  

Birthdays are celebrated in class with the teacher and classmates and each student receives a Happy Birthday sticker and has the ‘Happy Birthday’ song sung to them. Some classes have a birthday hat, crown, badge etc. Each week those children who have had or are having a birthday will have their birthday celebrated at the Monday morning assembly and receive a birthday pencil. The children’s birthdays are well celebrated at school and therefore parents are asked to support the school by not sending in cakes or birthday gifts.  

Lunchboxes  

Parents are encouraged to provide a healthy recess and lunch for their child/ren. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday all the school (K-6) participated in games and activities with Fair Game Australia.  This was the first time that Fair Game had come to Merredin.  Three volunteers from Fair Game came to deliver and introduce the students to a range of team building games and activities.  A fun time was had by all the students.

Monday 29 April and Tuesday 30 April will be Pupil Free Days.  School returns for all students on Wednesday, 1 May.  As per last week’s Bulletin, students are to wear their winter uniform when they return to school.  

The Ladies High Tea on Saturday, 6 April was a great success and another example of what a wonderful community we have at St Mary’s.  Those who attended were treated to two inspiring guest speakers in Robina Crook and Fleur McDonald and an amazing spread of high tea! The generosity of the St Mary’s community was very evident with many ladies giving of their time and talents to ensure the day was a huge success. A big thank you and congratulations must go to Mrs Marie Bartlett for coordinating the day.

I often reflect on how blessed I am to be the principal of such a wonderful community as ours.  As Term One comes to an end, I would like to thank you all as parents for your support of our school, to the teachers for their amazing work ethic and willingness to always keep giving for the benefit of the students and most importantly to the students for just being the wonderful people that they are!

I wish all our families a Happy and Holy Easter and a relaxing and enjoyable holiday.  Please travel safe and be safe over the holiday break.  I look forward to seeing you all in Term Two!

God Bless 

Ms Adriana Coniglio

Principal

On Thursday the 4th of April, all students from Kindy to Year Six wore free dress to school and each class created a coin line using only silver coins. In total, we raised $836.20! The money we raised has been donated to Project Compassion to help those less fortunate than ourselves. 

Congratulations to the Year Two class for making the longest line and raising the most amount of money! 

Mrs Hannah Herbert 

Religious Education Coordinator 

Please see below the Tuckshop Menu and Roster for Term Two.  As you can see, we are still in need of addition  volunteers to fill our roster.  If you are able to help please drop in and see Damiana next term or contact the office

In Religion this term, the unit we have been completing is called Just Like Jesus.  We explore ways Christians celebrate Jesus as the Son of God. One special time that Christians celebrate this is during Lent/Easter. The students recall how Jesus came to show people how to live in real freedom and helps his followers to choose to do what is good.  We have been recalling some of the events that occurred in the lead up to Good Friday and our Easter celebration.

PP:                            Cooper Pascoe                   

Year One:                Ashley Auburn          

Year Two:                Chloe Bartlett               

Year Three:             Jasmine White 

Year Four:               Olumiji Onikola

Year Five:                Casey Alvaro

Year Six:                  Tom Carlson

On Saturday the 6th of April; 104 Ladies attended a Ladies High Tea at the Merredin Recreation and Leisure Centre. Organised by a sub-committee of the St Mary’s School P & F. This event was held at the Merredin Recreation and Leisure Centre. 

Guests had the pleasure of listening to two amazing speakers in Robina Crook and Fleur McDonald. 

Robina Crook grew up on a farm in Warralakin and spoke to us of her journey of her breast cancer diagnoses and surrogacy journey to become a mother. This was a truly inspirational story which saw a few tears being shared. 

Fleur McDonald author from Esperance spoke to us about her children, farming and being an author. Determination and hard work has certainly paid off for Fleur with the release of her new book “Without a Doubt”, being released on Monday the 1st of April, guests were able to purchase this book along with all of her other books including two children’s books. Fleur has also launched a a not-for-profit organization  https://www.breakingthesilence.com.au/  to support victims of domestic violence in remote Australia. 

We were lucky enough to have Melinda Carr as our “Master of Ceremonies”. All of our guest’s enjoyed a scrumptious High Tea catered by Hayley Billing from Wheatbelt events and catering. Guests were able to taste test a variety of Teas from Tea Wisdom - thank you Klman for making the journey to Merredin. Karen Slater from the Merredin Camera Club volunteered her time to be our “official photographer” of the event. 

Thank you to the staff at the Merredin Recreation Centre for accommodating our needs for this event. 

These events can not be successful without the support of our local businesses. We would like to take this opportunity to THANK: Shelley & Jodie at the Merredin Gumtree Hotel for providing Fleur’s accommodation. Ross’s Diesel Service, Mia Davies, Chris & Sonya Barnett, Matt & Sam Barnett and IGA Merredin for your contributions. 

Thank you to the Burracoppin & Bruce Rock Ladies Day Committees and the Merredin Camera Club for allowing us to borrow items that we required for the day. 

Thank you also to Danielle Jacobson of Naturally You Beauty and Skin Care, Estelle Madaffari of Trapeze Nutrition - Gold Foods, Kat White of Youngevity, Lyndsay Clement from Enjo, Kate Downsborough from Neka for the donation of the door prizes and to Marie Bartlett of Tupperware for your gifts for all of the guests. 

This event would not have been made possible without the tireless effort of the Ladies High Tea committee. The committee meeting at the end of August last year and have all put in many hours of hard work to make the event successful.

So thank you to Amanda Swartz, Erika Muniz, Tash Crees, Skye Olcorn, Narelle Millington, Lauren Franklin and Marie Bartlett for your efforts. 

Lastly thank you to the Merredin community for attending and making it such a successful event.