Dear Parents,

It is a bit like Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns that appear in supermarkets not long after the Christmas break; enrolment periods for schools begin early in the year. During the past few weeks I have seen advertisements on television and heard them on the radio informing families of what schools offer and encouraging them to enrol their children for the 2026 school year. As a school we have locked in our dates for families considering St Mary’s as an option for their child’s education.

The key dates for the enrolment process are below.

April 28th - May 30th Official enrolment period

Open Days

Tuesday May 6th 9am - 10.30am

Wednesday May 14th 3pm - 5pm

Thursday May 22nd 9am - 10.30am

Orientation Sessions

Thursday September 4th 9am - 10.50am

Thursday September 11th 9am - 10.50am

Thursday October 23rd 9am - 10.50am

Thursday October 30th 9am - 2.50pm

As a school we will be advertising these dates to the wider community, however, if you know of any parents who may be considering St Mary’s as an option for their child’s education please pass this information on to them.

INTERIM REPORTS

From today parents are able to access their child's interim report via Compass. The interim reports purely reflect the effort a student is putting into their classwork and whether they are living out our school values.

To view the report you will need to open your child’s profile and it can be found by opening the ‘reports’ tab.

On Wednesday 21st May we will be holding parent-teacher interviews and this will have academic achievement as a focus. This will again be the emphasis in the end of semester reports which go home in week nine of term two.

ATTENDANCE 

One of our goals in our Annual Improvement Plan was to lift attendance rates across the school. Our rates for the last two years would be classified as acceptable however we want these to improve. Below I have published a list of students who have a 100% attendance rate so far this year.

In Catholic Education’s Attendance Policy they identify the following levels of attendance:  Attendance Policy

Excellent Attendance 95% and above (e.g. 2.5 days absence or less in a term or 10 absences over a year) 

Regular Attendance 90%-94.9% (e.g. 2.6 to 5 days absence in a term or 10.1 -20 absences in a year) 

Emerging Absenteeism 80%-89.9% (e.g. 5.1 to 10 days absence in a term or 20.1 - 40 absences in a year) 

Chronic Absenteeism Less than 80% (e.g. more than 10 days absence in a term or 40 absences in a year) 

Parents that intend to withdraw their child/children from school for periods over 25 days need to get approval from the school principal after filling out an application form. This is required by the NSW Education Act. These applications are often sought by families going on a lengthy holiday. Please contact the front office if you find yourself in this situation.

This week we have celebrated our students who have 100% attendance. We congratulate the below students 

CASUAL JANITOR/GROUNDSPERSON

We are looking for someone to cover Mr Williams when he takes leave or is away from school. He normally takes several week’s leave in the middle of the year. If you are interested please contact Mr Hughes via the front office.

The hours of work are negotiable.