Dear Parents and Carers,

Moruya Celebrates Parade
What a wonderful event the ‘Moruya Celebrates, Yesterday’s Heroes’ was for our community in Moruya and St Mary’s was thrilled to be part of the celebration.

Thank you to all the families that were able to join us on the day. It was lovely to have Mum’s, Dad’s, grandparents and older and younger siblings of our students join in and walk with us in the parade. Thank you to Betty’s family (Year 6) for the use of their ute, and TJ Lawns for the use of the trailer, their support enabled us to put together a superb Neverland and pirate ship float. 

A huge thank you to the staff, especially the fabulous Green ladies, Mrs Sue Heffernan, Mrs Shellie Butler, Mrs Brooke Connaughton and Mrs Jessie White for their amazing efforts and hard work in building the float and organising the children. We are very grateful for the time they put into rebuilding Neverland and creating a fabulous pirate ship. I may well be biased, but the St Marys float was by far the best on the day!

A huge thank you also, to our Community Council, who cooked and served delicious sausage sandwiches down at Riverside Park.

We have had lots of wonderful feedback from the organisers and the community…we even made the front page of the Bay Post!

Special School Assembly
Next Monday at 2pm in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) we will be hosting our Whole School Assembly. Parents, grandparents and visitors are most welcome to attend.

We will be handing out the first round of our Special School Awards for 2023. Based on our four School values, I am kind, I am safe, I am respectful, and I am doing my best. The leadership Team will choose approximately 10 students who live out that value everyday at our school. Recipients will be treated to a special lunch outing with me in the following week.

Year 4 will be showcasing their amazing Term 1 learning at this assembly too. 

Swimming in Term 4 
Great news!
We can confirm that swimming lessons for students in Years 2-6 will take place in Term 4 this year. Last year, we held our swimming lessons in Term 1 but unfortunately this year, the Moruya pool was unable to find swimming instructors. 

In recent weeks, four of our own staff participated in the Royal Life Saving Australia: Swim Teacher course, for students seven years and over, so that we could offer our own swim classes. In previous years parents have contributed towards swimming lessons with the majority of the cost being covered by the School Community Council. From now on, that won't be necessary as the school will cover the costs of replacing teachers while swimming is on. 

Thank you to our School Community Council for its large donation towards the costs of the  qualifications. A big win for all! 

New Enrolments...Welcome to St Mary's
In the last few weeks several new students have joined us at St Marys. We are thrilled with how well William, Koa, Troi-Nina and Taleena have settled in and feel at home with us. 

If you know of anyone in the community considering joining us this year or next, please encourage them to contact the front office for a chat. We are an inclusive school and we  welcome all students and their families from different faith backgrounds. We offer significant fee remissions for both current and prospective families who can not afford our school fees. 

Open Day 
Please put down on your calendar our Open Day this year, Wednesday 3 May. Our Open Day is a great opportunity for prospective and current families to see the school in action and hear about our supportive and nurturing school community. We will be having a presentation and information session, and it will be an opportunity to meet our leadership team, staff and current student leaders.

Claire Burrows Retirement 
We were honoured yesterday afternoon, to be able to host a retirement party for Claire Bateman Burrows. Having taught in Year 1 and in the library here at St Mary’s, Claire has been on leave for the last couple of years. Claire has had an incredible career working in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese since the 1980s. We are grateful that Claire chose to be with us for her years of teaching and for sharing her expertise, especially in early years’ literacy and Reading intervention. 

It was great to have Mick Lowe and his wife Christine and some of Claire's colleagues join us to celebrate Claire's achievements. 

Webinar: Anxiety and Resilience
Please find attached a flyer with information on a webinar focusing on the important topic of Anxiety and Resilience. This free webinar will be delivered by Dr Justin Coulson PhD for parents, carers, and staff in NSW and ACT Catholic schools. This webinar will be held on Wednesday 29 March at 7.00pm.

Lent 
As we come towards the end of the term, we need to remember that we are in the season of Lent, the most important time in the Catholic Church Year. Under the guidance of Father Anthony and Mrs Genevieve Schofield, we are teaching the students that Lent is a time of getting closer to God; a time to do good deeds, give to the poor through Project Compassion and  have conversations with God. We teach them that Lent, Holy Week and Easter are much more than chocolate and easter eggs.

Mary, Mother of the Church Pray for us. 

Noeleen O’Neill
Principal