Newsletter 2025 Term 4 Week 1

PRINCIPAL MESSAGE - MR PETER HUGHES

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to Term Four. It was great to see our wonderful students full of enthusiasm for the start of the term. We have been welcomed back with a spell of beautiful Spring weather.

Thanks from Our Canteen Manager - Jen Harden

Through fundraising by the Community Council and supported by the families at our school some significant purchases have been made to replace old equipment in the canteen as well as the purchase of a number of appliances. This makes life easier for Jen Harden, our canteen manager and allows her time to produce a greater range of healthy food for our canteen.  A letter of thanks from Jen is reproduced below.

Thanks to the fundraising efforts of our Community Council I have generously received a number of new appliances both large and small in the canteen.

Our new industrial super fan oven was installed over break and it has been an absolute pleasure to use, offering speed of cooking, space and even heat.  This week I cooked bacon, chicken and baked goods in addition to our normal menu offerings and everything came out fantastic. Our new 2-minute cycle dishwasher was also plumbed in this week and marks an exciting new era for the canteen, cleaning up and sanitizing will be so much easier. For small appliances we have a new large capacity mixer that allows me to make up to four batches of cookie cake at once! We also have two new crock pots which have proven useful for keeping hot lunch food items warm during the winter months and a bullet blender which will be used for smoothie making among other things. Thank you again to the community council for your support in making the canteen more functional for serving our school community. 

Digital Work Samples

The long promised work samples for students from Kindergarten to Year Two go live on Compass today. Please ensure you look at your child's work with them and then you are encouraged to leave a comment.

Attendance

Congratulations to Year One/Two Blue for having the highest attendance rate for Term Three at an impressive 95.3%. We also had 11 students not miss a day of school last term and there are still a number that have not missed a single day this year. The following students attended every day last term.

For their reward Year 1/Year 2 Blue will travel by school bus to the playground near the pool on the afternoon of Monday 27th October and all will receive a treat as will those that attended every day last term.

Staffing

Following interviews last term Mrs Rebecca Cooper has been appointed Assistant Principal at St Mary’s from the beginning of the 2026 school year. Bec joins us from Trinity Catholic Primary School in Murrumburrah and we congratulate Bec on her appointment. Bec has been in leadership positions previously and we look forward to her sharing her knowledge and experience with us.

The official announcement from Catholic Education is reproduced in the link below.

Last term Mrs Mariah Anderson informed the school that she along with her family would be relocating to the Central Coast at the end of the year. She will be a significant loss to the school given that she has been instrumental in the many changes that have been made to teaching and learning over the past three years. We are conducting interviews to find a replacement next week. The position we are filling is that of coordinator and this executive position also has a teaching component.

Once this position is filled the school’s leadership team will be able to work towards finalising staffing for the 2026 school year.

We will have the opportunity to farewell Mariah in a more formal setting, later this term.

Volunteer Needed – Clothing Pool Helper

We’re looking for a volunteer to help sort and organise the clothing pool of uniforms here at school. If you’re available and would like to lend a hand, please get in touch with the front office. Your support would be greatly appreciated!

AP NEWS - MRS KATIE THOMPSON

Assembly Week 3 - change to day to Thursday 30th October at 2.00pm:

In Week 3 our Assembly was scheduled on Friday 31st October. We will be changing the Week 3 assembly to Thursday 30th October so we are able to invite our newest members of the school, Kindergarten 2026, who are here for the whole day, which is their last Orientation session. We will be making a special presentation to them in assembly and so please mark the change of date in your diaries, to Thursday 30th October.

Uniform - Full Summer for Term 4:

Welcome back to Term 4 and the very warm weather!! The students have returned to school full of enthusiasm and looking resplendent in their summer uniforms. We ask that parents please be diligent with LABELLING any new items of clothing, as without names we can not guarantee their return. This can become a costly exercise for families, particularly if your child does not put their hat or jumper into their school bag when it is taken off. Do not forget to make sure that your child comes to school each day with their hat as we have a “NO HAT, NO PLAY” policy for Term 4. 

We thank parents for their support of our uniform expectations and if uncertain please refer to the uniform policy. (See attached below).

Day For Daniel - The Daniel Morcombe Foundation:

On Friday 31st October we will be supporting the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, whose excellent PDHPE curriculum we utilised for Child Safety lessons in Year 1 to Year 6. Students can wear red (mufti clothing) and will need to ensure their clothing is sun-safe, that they have a hat and are wearing enclosed shoes. We ask children to please bring a gold coin to contribute to the great work the foundation does to keep our children safe. 

SPORT NEWS - MRS LEONNE CHALLEN

NSWPSSA Golf Championships

A big congratulations to Tom McKnight who represented the MacKillop Golf Team at the NSWPSSA Golf Championships in Barooga last term. Here is a report on the event from the MacKillop Golf Team Manager Mr Brett Murphy:

We had an incredible week, including being the most successful MacKillop team we have ever had. Please pass on my thanks to the parents of these students. It makes my job easy with such supportive, dedicated and friendly parents to work with. From Tuesday 23 to Thursday 25 September 2025, the MacKillop Golf Team travelled to Cobram Barooga and Tocumwal Golf Courses to compete in the NSW PSSA State Championships. MacKillop had 8 male representatives and 2 female representatives in their team.

The event is scored over 2 rounds of golf for individuals (Stroke and Nett) and for teams (Stroke and Nett, top 3 boy scores and top girl score), as well as beginning with an Ambrose Competition on Day 1. The MacKillop team finished in 2nd place in the Team Stroke Event out of 14 regions, and 1st place in the Team Nett Event, which was an incredible effort given the quality of teams participating. Well done MacKillop, this was a great team effort with contributions from all team members!

A huge congratulations to all of the MacKillop team: Tirzah, Lydia, Jesse, Archie, Roy, Sean, Benjamin, Tom, Max, and Jax. All of the boys and girls represented with pride and played the game in the right spirit, displaying excellent golf etiquette in the process. 

What a fantastic experience for Tom and we are super proud of your efforts!

MacKillop Athletics Carnival

Congratulations to Henry Aiken who competed in the MacKillop Athletics Carnival in Sydney last term. His classmates were very excited to watch his events on the livestream! Henry had a fantastic day and came 13th in the 12 yrs 100m, 14th in the Senior 200m and 4th in the Senior High Jump! What an amazing achievement!!

3x3 Basketball Inter-school Fun Day

Basketball NSW are hosting a Basketball Gala Day to be held at the PCYC on Tuesday 25th November. The divisions will be open for Boys in Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 as well as Girls in Year 3/4 and Year 5/6. Teams will consist of 4 players and we are limited to entering 3 teams per division (only 12 students per division). The event will be open for registrations next week on Compass.

MacKillop Girls - 10-12’s years Rugby League Pathway Development Day 

An exciting new initiative has been developed for Girl’s Rugby League!! Registrations and all information can be found on the Canberra-Goulburn Sports Webpage.

Date: Thursday 30th October 

Venue: Collegians Sports Complex, Wollongong

Aim and overview of the day: 2026 will see the introduction of the girls standalone rugby league pathway and team selection for PSSA Sport. In preparation for this exciting new pathway, we are inviting primary catholic school students in Years 4 -6 to attend the MacKillop Girls Rugby League Development day to build skills, raise awareness and be prepared for this opportunity. Please see below the eligibility criteria for those best to attend. 

Eligibility - Students must meet all of the following:

Students must be turning 10, 11, 12 in 2025* 

Years: 4 - 6 

Encouraging students who currently play rugby league, league tag or those interested in becoming tackle-ready to attend the day. Students who demonstrate skills and ability of being ‘tackle ready’ on the day will have the opportunity to trial for the 2025 MacKillop exhibition team via a 9 a side round robin (students in Year 5 & 6 only). This event will be held in Sydney on the 25th November.

All other students will be engaged in a Rugby League development program, skills, tackle-ready session and league tag round robin in preparation for the 2026 pathway. 

All students when registering will be required to self-nominate into one of two key groups: 

Group 1: Rugby League experience* The student has had experience in training, playing in regular competition and is skilled and has some experience tackling as a rugby league player. 

Group 2: Rugby League development * The student has played touch, oztag, league tag and has foundational skills in footy but have not engaged in tackle rugby league and has not yet acquired tackle skills. 

Boorowa Touch and Netball Carnival - Training change for netball

The final training session will be held next Monday - Wk 2. Mrs Wright will supervise the students from 3pm and they are welcome to bring training clothes to change into after school. Students can be collected from the basketball courts by parents at 4pm. 

The QR codes to access the draws have been uploaded to the Resources section on the Compass event. Information about parking and a canteen price list has also been uploaded. The organisers have advised that cash is preferred - there is EFTPOS but may be limited due to a high level of usage.

A reminder that students need to wear their full sports uniform including their school hat. Please no Cherrypicker/Yabbies/Harden Hawks gear to be worn. Students may wear football boots and may borrow school football socks if needed. If your child needs to borrow school football socks please have them see me in the Stem room on Tuesday.

KINDY-SET-GO - KINDERGARTEN 2026

Kindy-Set-Go Orientation Continues!

This term, we’re excited to welcome back our Kindergarten 2026 students for the remaining Kindy-Set-Go orientation sessions. It’s wonderful to see our future learners settling in and getting ready for their big start next year!

If you or someone you know has a child starting Kindergarten in 2026 and they haven’t yet enrolled, we kindly ask that you complete the online enrolment as soon as possible.

👉 Click here to enrol

Parent Information Session 

During next week’s Kindy-Set-Go session, we will be hosting a Parent Information Session in the Library. We kindly ask parents to remain in the Library, enjoy a cuppa, and take this opportunity to connect with key staff.

This session is a valuable chance to discuss important information about your child’s transition into Kindergarten in 2026, ask questions, and meet other families beginning their school journey.

We look forward to seeing you there!

STUDENT BUS PASSES - TRANSPORT NSW

Applications are now open for 2026 School Student Transport Scheme (SSTS) travel 

Students starting Kindergarten in 2026 or those progressing from year 2 to year 3 and from year 6 to year 7 need to apply/re-apply.

Where a student meets the new distance eligibility, the system will automatically update their entitlement. If they do not meet the new distance requirements, parents will receive an expiry notification.

Students who change address, have repeated a year or received an expiry notification for their school travel entitlement need to renew or update their details before the end of term 4, so students travel entitlement can remain valid for the start of the 2026 school year.

Students who have an entitlement approved under a medical condition that is due to expire will receive a notification advising them to re-apply.

Rural and Regional Students

Students living in rural and regional (R&R) areas should receive their travel pass at the start of the new school year from their nominated transport operator. Note: some R&R operators do not issue travel passes. Students/parents should confirm with their nominated operator if they do not receive a pass.

School Drive Subsidy

The School Drive Subsidy is available to NSW parents/guardians to drive eligible students all or part of the way to school or to the nearest bus service. Find out more and apply online

COMMUNITY COUNCIL - Family Event