Dear Parents and Carers,

St Mary’s is buzzing with energy and excitement. Peter Pan rehearsals are in full swing and the staff are busy organising Kindergarten Orientation Days, Remembrance Day, Mission Day and other End of Year activities to celebrate a wonderful year of school. 

Alongside the fun, daily learning and assessments continue in each classroom as teachers prepare to write your children’s Semester Two school reports that will be ready at the end of Week 9.

Peter Pan 
With only two weeks to go, Peter Pan is nearly here! It will be an incredible show.  Tickets are selling fast, so make sure that you get yours before they sell out. Thank you for supporting the Community Council’s Jar fundraiser. We have some spare jars at school if you need them. Our very creative and hardworking canteen manager, Mrs Hayley Van Weerdenburg is also planning something special for the Friday before the big week!  

2023 Student Leadership
At St Mary’s we consider all of our Year 6 students to be school leaders. The Year 6 Buddy program with the new Kinder students is one of our most important leadership programs. In addition, we have a Student Leadership Team. In the coming week, our current Year 5 students will be invited to nominate themselves to be on the Student Leadership Team for 2023. Following interviews and speeches, Year 3-5 students and staff will vote for who they believe will make the best School and House Leaders. To encourage broader school leadership, students will nominate the areas of school life, that they would like to lead in e.g. Social Justice and Fundraising, Liturgy, Hospitality, IT and Media, Sport, Speaking at formal events, Performing Arts, Environment and Indigenous Culture. The Year 5 teachers will support the students with this process. 

The 2023 Student Leadership Team will be announced at the End of Year Awards Night on Tuesday December 6.

Kinder Orientation
Next Wednesday November 9, we will be hosting our first Kinder Orientation morning. I am pleased to be able to announce that Mrs Genevieve Schofield has agreed to be our Kindergarten teacher from next year. Gen has worked closely with Mrs Jacquie Stephen for the past two years and is ready to take on the challenge and have the privilege of teaching our youngest children. If you know of any parent who is still undecided about Kindergarten for next year, please encourage them to speak with us as soon as possible, and come in and see how amazing Early Years’ Learning is at St Mary’s.

Feedback from Catholic Education 
In recent days, the Leadership Team has been involved in Communities of Practice and Teams meetings, focusing on School Improvement. We have had the privilege of sharing our data and successes with High Impact Teaching Practices with Mr Tim Smith our Performance and Improvement Leader, Mr Patrick Ellis, Education Lead at Catholic Education, other Principals and Assistant Principals. Earlier this week, a teacher from St Bede’s in Braidwood spent the day with us to learn more about Explicit and Direct Instruction in Literacy and Numeracy. Feedback from Catholic Education and our Instructional Coaches has been very positive and provides momentum for continuous improvement. Thank you to our teachers and students for taking up the challenge to become even better at what they do.  

Combined School Mass- Postponed
Unfortunately, the K-12 Combined School Mass with St Bernard’s and Carroll College has been postponed until early 2023. I will inform you of the new date as soon as it is determined.
 
2023 IMPORTANT DATES

# Kinder rest days at home - Wednesdays from Feb 8 - March 1 inclusive

God's blessings on your families.

Noeleen O'Neill
Principal