Week 5, Term 4 2024 - 29th October 2024
APRE's Reflection
Last week it was announced to the staff and school community that I have been appointed Assistant Principal: Religious Education at St Mary’s for 2025. I am delighted to have the opportunity to be a part of the leadership team, working with the staff of St Mary’s to implement the Religion Curriculum and enhancing the Religious Life of our school.
Social justice is a key component of the Religious Life of our school. At the heart of Catholic social justice teachings is the belief in the inherent dignity and equality of every person, regardless of race, gender, religion, or ethnicity. At St Mary’s, we are committed to these principles. We encourage our students to work compassionately for justice and to believe in their potential to effect change.
"Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).
October is Catholic Mission Month, and our school has embraced Catholic Mission’s Socktober initiative. Our students decorated socks to raise funds, and last Friday, they wore silly socks and participated in a Shootout Challenge against the staff, raising $700 for Catholic Mission. These funds will help support children from disadvantaged and vulnerable backgrounds around the world.
This week, our Year 6 students will begin visiting Good Shepherd Lodge to share songs, cards, and conversations with the residents. This small gesture of service is deeply appreciated by the vulnerable in our society. These acts of service will inspire our students to grow into young adults committed to serving others.
We aim to make small acts of kindness a routine part of what we do at St Mary’s. Recently, with help from Catherine McAuley College students, our Year 2A students created cards with positive affirmations and gratitude comments. These were a lovely surprise and a highlight of the day for many of the teachers and school support officers.
Our school leaders are encouraged to be part of the wider community and last Saturday night, many of our leaders attended the monthly Youth Mass, participating in the mass and serving pizza and desserts to St. Mary’s parish members. Parishioners were grateful for their presence and acts of service, highlighting the positive impact of our students' dedication to helping others.
Through these initiatives at St Mary’s, our students have shown a commitment to making a positive impact on the world. These experiences are building blocks, guiding students to become caring, responsible individuals dedicated to serving others like Jesus did and creating a brighter future for the common good of all.
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” — Mother Teresa
Belinda van Lint - APRE (Acting)
From our Principal | Mr Wes Rose
Casual Teacher Assistant
Like working with children and being part of a team?
Thought about working in a school environment?
Have flexibility to work casually during the school week?
If this is you, you may be interested in applying to be on our casual Teacher Assistant list. Casual T/A’s replace staff who are away sick, as well as other short term leave arrangements. For many parents of younger students, being a casual T/A provides the flexibility needed to work around the busyness of family life. If you would like to explore this further, please get in contact with Mr Rose.
School News
- This Wednesday morning, our Year 6 students will travel to Good Shepherd Lodge to visit the residents.
- Thank you to the parent volunteers who assisted at yesterday’s swim carnival.
- Today, we held a Lockdown practice drill in the middle session. These drills help up refine our procedures and ensure all students and staff know what to do.
Free Dress Day – Tuesday 5th November
Please note that we are holding a free dress day next Tuesday (Melbourne Cup Day), with students asked to bring in $2. All proceeds will go towards the upcoming Christmas Fair raffle.
Prep 2025 – Parent Information Evening
This Thursday from 5:30pm in the Hall, we welcome families of our new prep students for our information session.
In Our Prayers
We keep in our prayers Michelle Brazil and her family. Michelle's daughter, Ashlin has been unwell.
Baby News
Congratulations to Josh Tudman and Emma Loncar on the birth of their daughter, Elvie, last week. Elvie is a sister to Chase and Lacey.
Boys Hairstyles
We have noticed a number of boy’s hairstyles that need attention. As per the uniform guidelines, we ask boys hair styles to be neat in appearance and not falling into eyes or past the collar. No mullets, thank you.
St Mary’s Reconciliation
All the best to the 31 students participating in the Rite of Reconciliation this evening from 6pm at St Mary’s Church.
Quote of the Week
“Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice.”
- Henry Ford
2025 Confirmation of Enrolment Form and Sibling Discount
Dear Parents and Carers
The 2025 Confirmation of Enrolment and Sibling Discount Form was emailed to all families on Friday 18th October. A copy is also available by clicking the link below. We ask that you complete this form by this Friday 1st November 2024. Only one form per family is required.
Confirmation of Enrolment and Sibling Discount Form
This form will confirm your child’s enrolment in St Mary’s for 2025 and also help us to determine whether you are eligible for a family discount on your fees, dependent upon the number of children you have attending Diocesan Schools.
Section 3
When completing section 3, please ensure that you complete the name, school and year of all children attending Diocesan Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in 2025. Please list each student on a new line, e.g:
Michael Smith, St Patricks College, Year 11
James Smith, St Patricks College, Year 9
Sarah Smith, St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Year 6
2025 School Fees Schedule
To view the schedule of fees for 2025, please click on the link below. We are asking families that choose not pay their term invoice in full, to enter into a payment arrangement. The schedule of fees will help you determine, based on your individual family circumstances, repayment amounts either weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
You will be able to set up a payment plan using direct debit with your financial institution or by using Bpay (all details will be included in the first fees statement of 2025, which will be issued by the 31st January 2025).
Payment plans have been calculated over a 40 week period. If you would like to start your payment plan earlier to spread out your payments over a longer period, please contact me via phone on 4951 1743 or email smm_finance@rok.catholic.edu.au with your request.
Should you have any queries in relation to this form or would like clarification on a payment plan amount for 2025, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Kathy Parrish
Finance Officer
Important Dates
Free Dress Day
St Mary's Christmas Book Fair
St Mary's will be holding a second book fair from Tuesday to Thursday next week and we are looking for volunteers.
Please contact the school office if you are available to volunteer on any morning.
St Mary's Christmas Fair
Prep & Year 1 Coordinators Required
As the festive season approaches, the St Mary’s Christmas Fair is scheduled for Saturday, 16th November 2024 starting at 5pm. We are still looking for Fair Coordinators for Prep and Year 1.
This year, we’ve again paired two (2) year levels to manage the BBQ Stall to make things easier and give you more time to enjoy the fair with your family.
The stall allocations are as follows:
Year Level | Stall | Coordinator |
Prep | Fairy Floss, Popcorn & Snow Cones | |
Year 1 | BBQ (Money Handling & Food Preparation) | |
Year 2 | Cent Sale | Natalija Lorraway |
Year 3 | Hot Chips | Louise Appleton |
Year 4 | Bar | Renee Oliver |
Year 5 | Sweet Stall & Cold Drinks | Majella McGowan |
Year 6 | BBQ (Food Preparation & BBQ Cooks) | Jaz Breayley |
If you’re interested in volunteering as a Fair Coordinator or have any questions, please feel free to contact me on 0438 138 392 or via email tanya_davies@hotmail.com.
Raffle Tickets
We have some wonderful prizes up for grabs again in our Christmas Fair major raffle. Tickets will be distributed to all families later this week. Ticket prices are $5 each or $30 per book. Please look out for them in your child's bag.
Tanya Davies
St Mary's Fair Coordinator
Unlimited Ride Wristbands for the Christmas Fair are now available for purchase online only, closing midnight Tuesday, 12th November. Families who buy in advance will receive a written receipt on the Friday before the Fair, which can be presented at the Pre-Sale Line on Saturday.
*Pre-purchase is open to everyone, not just St Mary’s attendees.*
Swimming Carnival Wrap-Up
Yesterday we ran our St Mary’s Junior and Senior swimming carnivals at the ARC. It was a fantastic day and all students participated with great sportsmanship, smiling faces and plenty of splashing. Our junior students competed in 25m noodle and competitive races across the 50m pool whilst our senior students were able to decide between swimming the competitive strokes in 25m or 50m races.
Congratulations to Illawong Blue who were our champion house on the day and to Eungella Green who took out the Spirit Award for their fantastic cheering and willingness to be in as many races as possible.
The results for the day were-
Iluka White: 355 points
Eungella Green: 436 points
Illawong Blue: 468 points
A big congratulations to Annaliese Miles and Ava Corrigan who both broke records in multiple events. Some of these records had stood for over 20 years and were broken convincingly by the girls.
Event | Name | Previous Record | New Record |
Open 100m girls freestyle | Annaliese Miles | 1.07.22 (2023) | 1.07.10 |
12 year girls 50m freestyle | Annaliese Miles | 33.22 (2003) | 31.09 |
12 year girls 50m backstroke | Annaliese Miles | 39.81 (2003) | 38.60 |
Senior girls 50m butterfly | Annaliese Miles | 37.80 (2003) | 36.30 |
12 years girls 50m breaststroke | Annaliese Miles | 42.03 (2003) | 41.74 |
10 year girls 50m breaststroke | Ava Corrigan | 50.45 (2022) | 45.56 |
Junior girls 50m backstroke | Ava Corrigan | 42.52 (2022) | 40.37 |
Congratulations also to our 2023 swimming age champions as listed below:
9B – Hunter Mapp
9G – Riley Doolan
10B – Samuel Christie
10G – Ava Corrigan
11B - Brady Vassallo
11G - Nina Lucas
12B – Ryder Reynolds
12G – Annaliese Miles
Thank you to all our spectators who cheered the students on, our volunteer parent helpers who were able to assist with set up and pack up, lifesaving duties, house marshalling, timekeeping, judging and ribbon writing. Thank you also to Mr Clancy for all his behind-the-scenes preparation with tents, tables, chairs, water (and the list goes on!)
Simone Sibley
HPE Teacher
Prep Grandparent's Day
Grandparents are the perfect mixture of wisdom and mischief, joy and strength and we are grateful for all the grandparents who were able to celebrate with our Prep classes last week. Grandparent's Day is always such a special event.
Student of the Week
Week 4, Term 4 Student Award Winners
| Prep P | Nikolas | For great work during our Boost reading sessions this week. It is great to see your enthusiasm for reading and learning. Keep up the super work Nikolas! |
| Prep P | Rosa | For wonderful work during our literacy rotations activities this week. You are on your way to being a super reader and writer! Keep working hard Rosa! |
| Prep R | Nathan | For working hard to become more independent during writing sessions. You are growing in confidence and your writing is taking off. Keep up the fantastic work Nathan! |
| Prep R | Mack | For the hard work you are putting into literacy rotations. Thank you for trying your hardest when reading and writing. You are a superstar! |
| 1B | Stella | For the amazing effort in maths this week. You have tried very hard to improve and use your strategies to calculate your algorithms. Well done! |
| 1B | Matilda | For being a kind and loyal friend. You are able to help everyone and your teachers love your enthusiasm. Well done! |
| 1S | Matilda | For the wonderfully descriptive language you used when writing your colour poem. Keep up the super effort Matilda! |
| 1S | Tyler | For your thoughtful contributions to our conversations on weather this week. Keep up the great effort Tyler! |
| 2A | Adelynn | For the fantastic week you have had. You have been brave and courageous in your learning. I love seeing you smile each day! Great work, Adelynn. |
| 2A | Harper | For being our 2A social butterfly. You have such a kind heart and care for others. Your contributions during class discussions are always thoughtful. Keep being you Harper! |
| 2L | Amelia | Amelia, your teacher is super-impressed with your use of persuasive language when writing persuasive text. You disagree that ‘homework should be banned’ and that it’s an important piece of your learning. Well done and keep up the great work! |
| 2L | Halle | Halle, your teacher has been admiring your creations in visual arts over the past couple of weeks. You have been adopting great techniques to blend colours using oil pastels. Love your work! |
| 3C | Isaac | Isaac, your teacher is proud of the effort and enthusiasm that you bring to class every day. You are always smiling and the first to lend a helping hand. Keep being you! |
| 3C | Andre | Andre, your teacher is impressed by the effort and dedication you've shown this semester in all areas of your learning. Your recent PAT assessment is a true reflection of your hard work! Keep it up! |
| 3P | Alexander | For your improved focus on all learning tasks this term. Fantastic effort Alex! Your teacher is proud of you. |
| 3P | Elena | For your exceptional effort and pride in your learning and assessments. It’s great to witness your knowledge and understanding flourish, Elena! |
| 4C | Santiago | For your wonderful effort in class, particularly with your soundwaves assessment. It is great to see you listening for the sounds in words and having a go at writing them. |
| 4C | Emerson | For the resilience you show when faced with a set back. It is wonderful to see you attempt tasks again and use different strategies to help you. |
| 4R | Jett | For the knowledge and understanding you demonstrated in Maths. You mastered all the multiplication strategies we worked with this week. Great effort Jett. |
| 4R | Olivia | For your hard work in Maths this week. Your teacher is so impressed with the effort you have made with learning different strategies for solving multiplication problems. Keep up the great work Olivia! |
| 5C | Aliyah | Aliyah this week you have used a range of figurative language purposefully and creatively to create emotive acrostic poems. Well done! |
| 5C | Lexie | For your hard work in Economics & Business this week. Lexie you have explained the nature of resources and how they meet need and wants with great detail and description. Keep up the great work. |
| 5M | Makenna | For your beautiful poetry writing. It is so sensitive and descriptive Makenna. Great work! |
| 5M | Samuel | For the enthusiasm and energy you bring to all areas of your education. Your positivity brings a great vibe to the classroom Sam. |
| 6T | Lauren | For your hard work and persistence during mathematics problem solving. You are breaking the questions down into manageable parts and tackling them with determination. Keep up the great work! |
| 6T | Blake | For your excellent approach to research-based tasks. Your ability to break down complex topics and analyse information is impressive. Keep it up Blake! |
| 6V | Evie | For working hard to stay on task and complete your work. You have made excellent progress with your research tasks, ensuring that you answer each question in your own words. Well done Evie. |
| 6V | Regi | Thank you Regi for always showing the virtue of kindness and respect to your classmates and teachers. |
| 6V | Charlie | For displaying persistence when solving harder maths problems. Your willingness to accept assistance and keep trying is to be commended Charlie. |
| Sport | Ezra | You showed great leadership skills in PE this week. You listened attentively, followed your teacher’s instructions and made sure your group was being safe and respectful when moving between activities. Keep up the great work. |
| Sport | Brydie | You are a fantastic team player Brydie and your teacher loves how you encourage others and play fairly during all games. You smile and give your best every lesson and it is great to see you enjoying all aspects of our PE lessons… even when out in the hot sun. |
| Drama | Class 3C | Your energetic and joyful approach to every performance is truly remarkable. You are STARS! |
Community News
Stevenson St Water Main Upgrade
Mackay Regional Council would like to advise residents of planned water main connection works on Stevenson Street, South Mackay.
An aged water main was upgraded in 2023, and council is now undertaking connection works. This will increase reliability of the network in the area.
Stage two of the works is scheduled to start on Monday, November 4, with completion due early December, weather permitting.
The work will be undertaken between 6am and 6pm, Monday to Friday, with some weekend work required.
Two-way traffic will be maintained along Stevenson Street, however, parking on the western side of the road will be unavailable for the duration of the project. (Please refer to the map.)
Traffic control will be in place occasionally while equipment is delivered on site.
There will also be some noise and dust disturbances with various plant and equipment on site. Council apologises for any inconvenience caused and appreciates your patience during these essential works.
If you have any queries, please contact Carl Teske on 1300 MACKAY (622 529).
