Yesterday saw many mothers and grandmothers attend the Mother’s Day Breakfast. It was wonderful to see so many take the time out of their morning to come along and enjoy the egg and bacon rolls along with the camaraderie of meeting up with other parents.

The Mother’s Day raffle was drawn with the winners being Sarah Cronin, Ceri Gerrard and Sue Caldwell. Thank you to everyone that bought tickets and to Little Wren Homewares, Raw Canvas Co and the Bryant and Carson families for their generous donations of prizes.

Thank you to the dads who turned up to cook the BBQ and various staff for their assistance with the breakfast and also with the Book Fair.

I wish all mothers a wonderful Mother’s Day on Sunday. I hope you get to put your feet up for a while and get spoiled.

Canteen

On Tuesday night a group of interested parents met to discuss proposed changes to the canteen. Jen Harden, our canteen manager, has made considerable changes to the menu and particularly to items available across the counter. Parents will see the changes to the lunch menu when they login to Flexischools.

A few suggestions were made and one of these was to survey both parents and students to see what meals they would prefer where we to offer a special lunch at the start of each week. This will be sent home via Compass in the near future.

It was a very constructive meeting and I thank all those that attended for giving up their valuable time.

Parent-teacher Interviews

Just a reminder that they are coming up on Wednesday 21st May. Details were sent home on Compass previously. Please ensure you book a time to discuss your child's progress with their teacher.

Winter Uniform

Commencing next Monday, all students should be attired in the correct full winter uniform. We ask that you ensure the ties are fitted correctly so they sit around the neck and are not hanging down at chest level. We still have jumpers and hats being handed into the lost property without any names on them, and some are new. Please check all clothing, particularly removable items like jumpers and hats are labelled with your children’s names to ensure a return to their owner. 

Please check the attached Uniform Policy for the correct items.

Safe On Social

Starting next week in our Monday Morning Student Messages we will be commencing a series of reminders in the form of short lessons that the students will receive over a series of weeks. We repeat these lessons every year as the lessons are important because as students get older, bullying can change, particularly when it moves online. St Mary’s is a zero bullying school and so student education is an important part of enabling this to happen. Students learn what bullying is and is not, know what being an upstander is and how to keep themselves and their friends safe. 

This week from Safe on Social I am providing all families with an excellent resource which I highly recommend you download and read, but also keep for future reference. It is called “Unfollow the Fear - A guide to Online Bullying” and will keep parents ahead of the game or more importantly, provide you with excellent ways to protect and support your children. It may seem like these kinds of issues are a long way off but in schools we are noticing that it is creeping into younger age groups each year. I hope you find it informative and useful.Click here to access Unfollow the Fear.

BOOK FAIR

Our library was buzzing with excitement this week as students and their families visited the Book Fair to browse and purchase books to read and enjoy. A BIG thank you must go to our very generous St Mary's school community for their support.  A special thank you to Mrs Donna Dal Molin for her assistance with the sales and organisation of our Book Fair. Sales from the Book Fair attract a generous commission from Ashton Scholastic and these funds will be used to supplement our school and classroom libraries.