Welcome to Term 3. Staff and students have returned to school well rested and ready for another big term. Our first two weeks have been very busy and we have had many visitors to St Mary’s. As always, our students have been polite and friendly and we have received numerous commendations about them. 

New Families
This term we welcome some new students and their families to St Mary’s. The students in Kindergarten, Year 2 and Year 4 were especially excited to welcome Bastion, Elsie and Andre into their classes.  

NAIDOC Week Mass and Awards
Last Friday St Marys hosted the 2023 NAIDOC Mass for our regional schools. Students and staff from St Patrick’s Bega, Lumen Christi Catholic College Pambula, Carroll College and St Bernards joined us for a very special Mass at Sacred Heart Church. Mr Tim Smith and Mr Chris Higgins represented Catholic Education. Thank you to Mrs Trish Ellis for her Welcome to Country and Father George for his homily about the vital role of Elders in our communities. The Mass was a lovely celebration and an opportunity to pay respects to country, honour our Elders and those who work tirelessly on preserving land, sea and culture.

A special thank you to Mrs Geneveive Schofield, who with the help of other staff, organised the Mass and Awards ceremony.   

During NAIDOC Week each year, Catholic Education awards members of its community for their exceptional contributions to Aboriginal education, in whatever area they work or learn. Nominations from school principals and teachers are considered by the Aboriginal Education team at Catholic Education. This year we are proud to announce that one of our St Marys students was a recipient. Congratulations to Elyse B in Year 5 for receiving an Academic Award for her consistent application and achievements in learning. Elyse has an attendance rate of over 96% and is a committed and dedicated student who consistently demonstrates an aptitude for Mathematics, Science and Technology and works hard across all areas of the curriculum. Congratulations Elyse!

Community Council Movie Night
Unfortunately the Community Council Movie Night planned for earlier this week had to be postponed as our projector in the PAC is not working properly. We are currently organising for its replacement but we are not sure of the timeframe. The Community Council will advise of new date/substitute activity as soon as possible.

Kindergarten 100 Days of School Celebration
Yesterday, when Mr Tim Smith, Mrs Heffernan and I walked into the Kindergarten classroom for a visit, we thought we were in an Aged Care Home, not a Kindergarten classroom! A group of very happy, old, grey and wrinkly little people were having so much fun making a stew with Mrs Schofield to celebrate their 100th day of school! 

Check out our Facebook Page... for more photos

Indonesian Teachers
In Week 4, St Mary’s will welcome two Indonesian teachers to our school.  Ms Yuni and Ms Lina will spend time visiting classrooms and learning about Australia and its school system. On Tuesday August 8, we will hold a Special Culture Day and students may come dressed in clothes that represent their families’ cultures and/or Mufti clothes. 

As it is the Feast Day of our Australian saint, St Mary McKillop, we will have a combined liturgy and Special Assembly to officially welcome our Indonesian teachers at 2pm in the PAC. The students receiving ‘I am Doing My Best’ Awards will also be acknowledged at the Assembly. Kindergarten and Year 6 will host the Assembly and all parents and grandparents are very welcome to join us.  

School Fees
In the next couple of weeks, Term 3 school fees will be sent home. Most families find making regular payments the best way to manage them.

We understand that the last few years have impacted many of our families and we do not wish to add any additional stress upon you in regards to school fees. We offer School Fees Remissions for our families experiencing financial difficulties. It is important however, that parents make early contact with Mrs Hazell or me personally so we can assist you with the remission application. This is a highly confidential process. 

COMPASS calendar
Please closely monitor our parent calendar. Term 3 looks to be very busy again with NAIDOC activities, Southern Region Public Speaking, Southern Region Athletics, Yuin Banaan, Indonesian teachers visit, Whole school Assemblies, Book Week, Science Week , Fathers Day and First Eucahrist. We also have visits from Fair Education and Mr Patrick Ellis and Mr Ross Fox from Catholic Education later in the term. 

Enrolments 2024
In recent weeks, we have received many enquiries about places for students in all grades in 2024. Our Kindergarten numbers are strong and we are now likely to have a Kinder and a K/1 class.  Mrs Genevieve Schofield and Mrs Jessica White will remain the teachers in Kindergarten and Year 1. They are having too much fun to be separated!

We are in the process of determining the best class structure across the school, so if you know of parents considering sending their children to St Mary’s for later this year or 2024, can you please ask them to contact us as soon as possible. 

Kindergarten 2024 Orientation and Little Investigators Playgroup
Dates have been set for 2024 Kindergarten Orientation sessions - Wednesday November 8 and Wednesday November 22. Invitations will be sent to families who have enrolled their children at St Mary’s next year.  

I highly encourage parents to bring their children 0-5 years to our Little Investigators Playgroup each Tuesday in the PAC. Please let others know. It is free and open to all local families.   

“I think this is truly the most wonderful experience we can have: to belong to a people walking, journeying through history together with our Lord, who walks among us! We are not alone; we do not walk alone. We are part of the one flock of Christ that walks together.”  Pope Francis

God’s blessings on you and your families.

Noeleen O'Neill
Principal

NAIDOC Week Celebrations
Due to NAIDOC Week occurring during the school holidays (2-9 July), St Mary’s celebrates NAIDOC Week during the first weeks of Term 3, with students having the opportunity to learn, appreciate, and honour the cultures and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia.

This year’s NAIDOC theme ‘For Our Elders’ celebrates and pays respect to all Elders, honouring the important role they play as cultural knowledge holders and leaders in our community. Classes are exploring this theme in a variety of ways and participating in a range of activities focusing on First Nations Peoples. At 10am on Monday we will hold a short NAIDOC prayer service on the bank of the river at Albert Stewart Park.Yuin Banaan
Next Friday 4 August our South Coast K-12 Pathway schools will be holding a Yuin Banaan Cultural Day at Captain Oldrey Park, Broulee for all Aboriginal students from Kindergarten to Year 12 and some of their invited friends. 

A range of activities will be facilitated by Year 10 students from Carroll College and members of the Aboriginal community including art, dance, ochre face painting, damper making, ball games and a bush tucker walk with Trish Ellis. We thank NIAA for the grant we received from them to support the day, as well as community groups who have generously accepted our invitation to attend.

            

Welcome to Term 3!

It’s hard to believe we are more than halfway through the school year already.

We have lots of sports still to come for the remaining half of the year and I am excited to be part of the many sporting opportunities that the children can take part in.

St George Dragons ‘Best you can Be’ Design competition
Late last term, stage 3 students used their skills in visual arts and computer design (using sketchpad) to create an artwork for the Best you can Be Learning Icon design competition. Students were asked to design a learning icon for their school that relates to the Indigenous History of the land that St Mary’s sits on. 191 students submitted their finest artworks across the Illawarra/South coast regions and we are very proud to report that Felicity P in year 5 was named runner up with her electronically designed learning icon. Congratulations to Felicity! What a wonderful achievement!

Interschools Snowsports Competition
Last week, Xavier H in year 6 travelled to Perisher to compete at the Interschool Snowsport competition. Xavier is an ‘old hand’ at this event now having excelled last year. Xavier has qualified for the NSW championships snowboarding and giant slalom event in late August. This is an excellent achievement and we congratulate Xavier on his successful competition last week. We are sure he will continue to achieve well in the next level of competition and in the years to come.

Xavier H: ‘The weather was really nice at Perisher, really sunny, which was good. It was a bit icy, so on my second run of boardercross I slipped out. I had a new board this year that I used for the boardercross. The giant slalom track was good but overall the mountain was icy and hard’. 

Southern Region Athletics Carnival
Next Wednesday, we have 53 students travelling to Bega to take part in the Southern Region Athletics Carnival. This has always been a wonderful day hosted by Mrs Jannene Harnett and the team at St Pat’s, Bega. Parent consent and payment is due by Friday 28 July via COMPASS. I am sure you all join with me wishing our St Mary’s athletics team all the very best for the day of competition. Thanks to Mr Paul Hill who has been finalising the long jump and high jump events late last term and last week in preparation for the SR event. A list of events that your child has entered will be sent home by early next week at the latest. In the coming weeks, we will present the place ribbons and winning house trophy to students. Archdiocesan Athletics will be held in Canberra on Tuesday August 22. 

Below are some photos from the high jump finals which took place on Wednesday, concluding (finally) all the field events. 

League Stars program
Next Thursday and Friday, we welcome Josh Norris, Game Development Officer from NSWRL to St Mary’s.

Josh will be running 30 min sessions with each grade, taking them through skills and drills in passing, playing the ball and running. It will be lots of fun for our students across the school.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

Megan Grant
Sports Coordinator