St Mary's Primary School Young eNewsletter

Dear Parents,

We welcome everyone back to term two and especially welcome the Straub and Oakley families who join the St Mary’s school community.

We have a busy few weeks ahead of us with the soccer carnival which we are hosting taking place next Wednesday. This will see a large number of students participating over three venues. There has been much preparatory work undertaken by a number of parents who are organising catering. Having to run canteens at three different venues has stretched our volunteer base so we are still seeking assistance, even if it is only for one or two hours. If you can assist please respond to the notice sent out on Compass this week.

The children who are not attending the soccer carnival are still required to attend school where they will be taught by a teacher from their stage.

Next Friday parents will be sent a booking sheet for Parent-Teacher Interviews that will take place on Tuesday 21st May. This gives you the opportunity for you to select a time you wish to meet with your child’s teacher. Please note that Mrs Collins and Mrs Carson will have limited slots on Tuesday but will contact families to make alternate arrangements to ensure they meet with the parents of students in our Year One/Year Two multi-age class.

This is an important opportunity for families to discuss with their child’s teacher how their child is progressing and what areas they may need assistance with. I encourage all parents to attend these sessions.

Enrolment Period

St Mary’s is now accepting enrollments for the 2025 school year. As part of this process we are holding three sessions where prospective parents may come and tour our school and learn about what we offer. The dates and times of the open sessions are:

Tuesday 7th May - 9am to 10.50am
Thursday 16th May - 9am to 10.50
Wednesday 22nd May - 4pm to 5pm.

If you know of any families that have children beginning school in 2025, I ask you share this information with them.

ANZAC Day Prayer Service

This week, our school prayer focus was ANZAC Day. Staff and students participated in a prayer reflecting on what ANZAC Day means, the freedoms won for us and prayed that the gift of peace will be treasured and protected for generations to come.

Year 4 Retreat Day

On Thursday May 9th, all Year 4 students will attend a Retreat Day at the Parish Centre as part of their First Holy Communion programme. This day will be held during normal school hours, beginning at 8:50am and concluding at 2:50pm.

Parents can drop off their children from 8:30am to the Parish Centre and collect them at 2:50pm. Students who catch buses to and from school will be able to do so from Hennessy’s bus stop. Students will be supervised by St Mary's staff at Hennessy. Once they are off the bus, staff will direct them to the Parish Centre

Upcoming events:

May 9th - Yr 4 Retreat Day at Parish Centre

May 11th - First Holy Communion mass - 6 pm at St. Mary’s Church

May 24th - Whole School mass - 9 am at St. Mary’s Church

May 31st - Presentation Schools Celebration Day

Western Region Cross Country

Well done to all our runners for their huge efforts yesterday at the WR Cross Country in Batlow. From all reports the course was very challenging! A big thank you to Mrs Presser for accompanying the students and to our parents for attending and assisting on the day.

Congratulations to Jayda Holt - placing 3rd, Indiana Brown - placing 4th and Agatha Murphy - placing 6th. These three girls will now represent the Western Region at the upcoming Archdiocesan Cross Country in Stromlo on Friday 17th May. We wish you the very best of luck!!

Soccer Carnival - Important Information

Our carnival is fast approaching. Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to help us by managing a team.

This year we have 7 schools participating with 55 teams entered. We are very excited to host everyone! Due to the numbers we are playing at 3 different ovals. This will mainly affect Year 5 & 6 who will play at two different venues. Year 1 to 4 will play at Gus Smith. Please look on the teams list as this will indicate whether your team plays at Hall Brothers or Cranfield Oval.

A canteen will operate at both Gus Smith and Hall Brothers Oval. We thank our Community Council who are working hard to provide us with much needed nourishment on the day!

The 5/6 students playing at Cranfield Oval will walk via the short walkway accompanied by an adult to access the canteen at Gus Smith Oval during their breaks. All 3 ovals have toilet facilities.

Please see the following information:

Soccer_Carnival_Teams_2024.pdf

1.2_Draw.pdf

3.4_Draw.pdf

5.6_Draw.pdf

Map_of_the_Fields.pdf

Soccer_Carnival_Canteen_Menu.pdf

NSWPSSA Swimming Championships

We congratulate Chloe Buck who attended these championships at the end of last term in Sydney. What an incredible achievement to swim at state level - amazing!! Her results at the championships were outstanding and we are so proud of her!!

12 yrs 50m Free - 9th in the Finals

Snr Butterfly - 18th in the Heats

Snr Backstroke - 4th in the Finals.

Way to go Chloe!

MOTHER'S DAY CELEBRATION
St Mary's will celebrate the special ladies in our lives with brekkie on the lawn!

Friday 10th May, 2024 at 8am.

For catering purposes please RSVP via https://forms.gle/UQjHqtTgn8ceuvRs7

MOTHER'S DAY STALL
A Mother's Day stall will be open for classes on Thursday 9th May & Friday 10th May (Yr 4 and any students away to buy on Friday)
A Variety of gifts will be available for $3-$5.
Children are asked to bring money on these days if they wish to purchase a special treat for Mum!

MOTHER'S DAY RAFFLE
The St Mary's Community Council will be running a raffle with a beautiful Mother's Day Hamper kindly donated by Little Wren Homewears.
Tickets are $2 each or 3 for $5. Tickets are also available via https://square.link/u/smdsJSsW

Our annual Book Fair will be held in our school library with books available for sale on:

Thursday 9^th May 8:30am to 3:30pm

Friday 10th May 8:00am to 11:00am

Ashton Scholastic will be offering a wonderful array of books catering to all ages and interests including quality picture books, novels, information, and reference books.

We see this as an opportunity to promote reading for pleasure and foster literacy through developing a love of books. Sales from the Book Fair attract a generous commission from Scholastic, and this is then used to purchase resources for use in the library.

Students from Kinder to Year 6 will visit the Book Fair during their library time to browse and preview the books available for sale. During this visit students will create a Wish List of book titles that they can take home. Parents and students can either visit the fair 'in person' or complete an online purchase.

PURCHASING BOOKS ONLINE

Students will have a list of book titles on their Wish List. To purchase from the Book Fair simply go online, select our school, make your payment and record your receipt number on the wish list. Return the Wish List with the titles listed to St Mary’s Library.

Further details, including the website may be found on the Wish List. The purchased books will then be sent home with your child. Alternatively, students can make cash purchases at school. Any titles that are sold out will be ordered and delivered to student classrooms soon after the completion of the fair.

Thank you for supporting our school library. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you require further information.

61000_space_book_fair_flyer_St_Marys.pdf

61000_space_book_fair_flyer_St_Marys _pdf 353.28 KB

Each Monday, for the next 5 weeks, some budding Year 6 MasterChefs are challenging the school to a 'COOK OFF'. They have chosen choc-chip cookies first up with Round 1 on Monday 6^th May.

Other rounds include; brownies, spag-bol, cupcakes and other dessert.

To enter you simply need to bring in a sample of your cooking to the Hall on Monday morning on a paper plate with your name, class and list of ingredients on the back of the plate. Judging will take place at lunch by a mixed panel of staff and students with winners announced in the Hall after the bell.

"Your time starts now!"

Access keys have been handed to students to for selection and ordering. Please visit www.creativeschoolportraits.com.au

Please note that any orders placed after Tuesday 14th May will incur a late/postage fee.

The Lions Eye Health Program Children's Vision Screening will be available here at St Mary's in Week 6. If you would like your child/ren to participate in the free service, please complete the attached permission form (printed copies available at the front office) and return to the front office by Friday 31st May