I welcome everyone back to a new term. I especially welcome the Young family (Kaylah Year 3/4 White and Bianca Year 3/4 Gold) and the Braham family ( Hartley Year 1/2 White) to St Mary’s and trust they will enjoy their association with our school.
I ask everyone to keep the Eastwood family in their prayers. Over the holidays Vicki experienced the sudden and unexpected death of her brother. Vicki will be taking several weeks of leave to spend time with family.
The Easter break was certainly a notable time with many religious events culminating with the celebration marking the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. It was also memorable for the death of Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, a man widely admired for his humbleness, his compassion for others and his willingness to fight for social justice. I don’t think the true impact of his papacy will be felt for a number of years. I along with millions of others will be watching with interest the upcoming conclave to see who is elected as the new pope.
The holidays concluded with the ANZAC day long weekend and it was pleasing to see so many students and staff come along to the ANZAC day ceremony in Young. A special mention to Mrs Presser who played The Last Post and The Rouse. A tough gig considering the importance of the ceremony, the crowd and it also being her first time. Well done!!
As usual we have a lot of events happening in the first few weeks of school. I have listed important events taking place over the next few weeks below. More details regarding these will be sent home or have already been sent home on Compass.
Tuesday 6th May - Open Day 9am - 10.30am
Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th May - Book Fair sales
Thursday 8th May - Mother’s Day Breakfast
Friday 9th May - St Mary’s Soccer Carnival
Tuesday 13th May - First maths morning 8am - 8.45am
Wednesday 14th May Open Evening - 3pm - 5pm
Thursday 15th May - Student Disco
Friday 16th May - Kinder assembly 2pm & Archdiocesan Cross Country
Enrolment Period
The enrollment period for the 2026 school year is now open. Should you have a child starting school in 2026 we invite you to come along to one of our Open Days and then lodge an enrollment form. This will ensure your child does not miss our ‘Kindy, Set, Go’ orientation programme which commences towards the end of term three.
More details are available from the front office.
If you know of other families considering St Mary’s as an educational option for their children, I ask you to let them know that enrollments are now being accepted.
Parent/Teacher Interviews
Parent/teacher interviews will take place on Wednesday 21st May. Sessions will begin at 3.10pm with the last session being able to be booked at 7.20pm. Parents will be able to book times from next Wednesday when a link will be sent home on Compass. Teachers may block out sessions to enable them to have a break and something to eat.
Parents who have a child on a personalised plan may be contacted by their child’s teacher asking to meet for twenty minutes to enable a more lengthy discussion to take place so that both parties can work through the plan together.
If parents can’t make that evening, staff are able to meet with you outside the times set aside, possibly before or after school. If you are unable to make it to school a phone conversation will suffice, however face to face meetings are our preferred option. I have asked staff to conclude all interviews by the end of week five. Not long after this teachers will commence gathering data for the semester one reports which go home at the end of the term.
Attendance
Previously I have acknowledged students with a 100% attendance rate. Next week I will be giving certificates to all students that have a 100% attendance rate for term one.
I will also have a focus on the attendance rate of each class with Mr Hughes giving the class with the best attendance rate with a surprise next week. The rates for term one were:
K Blue 95.23%
K Gold 94.75%
1/2 Blue 93.68%
1/2 Gold 92.8%
1/2 White 93.68%
3/4 Blue 94.5%
3/4 Gold 91.3%
3/4 White 95.52%
5/6 Blue 94.16%
5/6 Gold 94.5%
5/6 White 95.32%
These rates are very pleasing with the three highlighted classes being so close, Mr Hughes will surprise all of them next week.