St Mary's Bulletin

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Mary Mackillop of the Cross.  Mary Mackillop is Australia’s first saint.  Mary was born in Victoria to Scottish immigrants.  She was the eldest of eight children and spent her early years working to support her family.  At the age of 24 she dedicated her life to God and took the name of ‘Mary of the Cross’.  Along with Fr Julian Tenison-Woods, Mary opened a school in a disused stable in Penola, South Australia.  Her vision was to provide education for underprivileged children.  Many other women came to join her there and Mary and Julian founded Australia’s first religious order:  The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.  Mary and the Sisters were committed to serving the poor – to going where the need was and living amongst those in need.  This took Mary all over Australia to many rural areas.  Mary was a model of forgiveness, insisting no ill be spoken of those who wronged her, while also remaining resolute in her convictions.  Mary was canonised as Australia’s first saint on the 17th October 2010.  The Sisters of St Joseph started St Mary’s School and it is on the charism of Mary Mackillop that our school is built.

Thank you to Mrs McDonald and Year 5/6 who led us in a lovely liturgy on Mary Mackillop of the Cross this morning.  Despite the cold weather, the students read and sang beautifully - painting for us a picture of who Mary Mackillop was.  Thank you to the parents who joined us for the liturgy and to Fr Andrew for his great homily.

The principal’s contract of employment requires that the principal undergo a performance review at the end of the third and eighth year of their contract.  As a principal in their third year of their contract, I am currently going through this process.  An element of this process is a panel visit.  The panel will consist of a nomination by the Executive Director and a peer principal.  The panel will be visiting the school on Tuesday, 11 and Wednesday, 12 August and will be spending some time speaking with myself, students, staff and members of the wider school community as well as touring our school to see the wonderful things that are happening at St Mary’s.  I am sure that the staff and students will make them feel welcome and I encourage you all to do the same should you see them around the school.

While parents have been welcomed back on to the school grounds, I would like to remind you that the 2-square metre rule still applies for all adults.  The congestion of adults on the lawn area (after school) has become noticeable recently as parents take advantage of the beautiful weather we have been having and the opportunity to chat with others.  The lawn space is a passive area and children running around on it have the potential to hurt themselves on the many sharp edges surrounding it (benches, garden beds, etc) and/or hurt others.  Parents are responsible for supervising their children once they have been dismissed by the teacher.  I have been notified that on Tuesday there was a nasty accident in that area that could have been avoided.  Please consider how long you are staying on the school grounds for at school pick up and also be aware of where your children are at this time.   If you need to speak to a teacher then you are to schedule a time to do this.  If you would like for your child to have a play with their friends then Lenihan Park across the road from the school is a great place to do this.  I thank you in advance for your support and understanding with this matter.

Please support the Mary MacKillop Today Foundation by wearing your pyjamas on Wednesday, 19 August for a gold coin donation. 

Thanking you in anticipation of your support.

Please see an amended Term Planner for the next two weeks.  Today the state government announced that they are keeping Phase 5 restrictions on hold for another fortnight.  This will impact on some calendar events particularly Family Friday.

God Bless and have a lovely weekend with your families, 

Ms Adriana Coniglio

Principal