Week 2, Term 3 2022 - 19th July 2022

APRE's Reflection

Next week we celebrate Catholic Education Week. The theme is " Communities of Faith, Hope and Love". 

Each class has taken some time this week to learn about the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, Catherine McAuley and how her commitment to ensuring that all children had access to education, led to the Sisters of Mercy, establishing our school; St Mary’s, 98 years ago.

The Mercy Sisters have always revered the values of Mercy, Justice, Excellence, Integrity, Courage and Hospitality following the example of Catherine McAuley’s leadership and continued devotion to God.

Next Monday morning we will acknowledge our school founder Catherine McAuley in a whole school prayer celebration which will mark the beginning of a week of Catholic Education Week events.

Peace and blessings,

Terri Leotta
Assistant Principal: Religious Education

From our Principal - Mr Wes Rose

Staff News
- We keep Mrs Karlie Tatchell (Indigenous Liaison Officer) on our prayers following the passing of her mother-in-law.  I offer Karlie and her family our sincere condolences at this sad time.

Challenge Cup Rugby League/Netball
Last Wednesday – Friday, our Rugby League and Netball teams competed in the annual Catholic Schools Challenge Cup.  It was an action-packed carnival, with both teams performing really well. 

In the round robin stage our netballers won 5 from 7 placing them 2^nd in their pool.  They comfortably won their semi-final against St Francis Tannum Sands and then faced St Joey’s Clermont in the Final.  Unfortunately they were defeated, but played exceptionally well the entire carnival.  They finished 6^th out of 28 teams and were the best performing Mackay Catholic school, a great achievement!

Our Rugby League team, the ‘St Mary’s Battlers’ also had a carnival to remember.  They played 4 schools in the round robin stage, winning each game to place 1^st in their pool.  They then played St Peter’s Rocky and were defeated.  They then played Emmanuel North Mackay.  At the final siren, the game was tied 22-22, however with the first scored by Emmanuel, they won the game.  Our team finished 4^th, again a mighty achievement.

I sincerely thank Mr Clancy, Mrs Battaia, Mrs van Lint and Miss Gee for coaching/managing our teams.  A special thank you to our assistant coaches, Dean Tass and David Roberts.  I also thank the many parents who attended; I am sure you had a great time.  Lastly I thank our players, who showed good teamwork, persistence and were also exceptionally well behaved. I am sure that you will remember your time at Challenge Cup with fondness. 

NAIDOC Mass
Today, our indigenous students, school leaders and several staff attended the Regional NAIDOC Mass at St Joseph’s Church.  It was a great celebration, recognising the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Our NAIDOC celebrations continue next Friday with indigenous activities, food and games.  We welcome several guests on this day to run activities, and I thank them for coming to St Mary’s to share their culture with our school community.

Eat St Returns!
As part of our Catholic Education Week celebrations, we will once again hold the International Food Day ‘Eat St’.  This will be held next Tuesday from 12:30pm-1:15pm in our hall.  Already, several families have signed up to prepare a food from their particular culture, to share with the students and staff.  Currently we have cuisine from Italy, Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Germany and Malta.  Parents, if you would like to contribute a dish, please click this link for more information.

Parent Teacher Interviews - This Week!
As advised previously, Semester 1 student report cards are now available via parent lounge.  Following the release of these reports, I ask all parents to make a time to meet with their child’s teacher to discuss their progress and areas for improvement.  Parents can book a time during week 2 (this week) via the Fingernails. 

School Maintenance
This week, our junior playgrounds had works completed to finish off the refurbishment.  The old timber edging was removed and a new ‘kwik kerb’ was installed.  New sand was also added, to make this space a safe and fun place for our junior students to play.  Many thanks to Mr Clancy for coordinating this refurbishment.  

Police Visit to Year 5/6 Students
This Wednesday we welcome Senior Constable Tamara Cook from the QPS, who will talk with our Year 5 and 6 students.  Tamara’s visit will focus on cybersafety, appropriate online behaviour, social media use and what to do when things go wrong online.  I thank Tamara for visiting St Mary’s and know that her message is important and timely.

P&F Meeting
I advise that our next P&F meeting is scheduled for tonight, (Tue 19^th July) from 6:30pm in the staffroom.  At this meeting, we will have a ‘wrap-up’ of the Trivia Night, look at the P&F fundraising commitments for 2022 and plan some other great events for the remainder of the year, including the bike-a-thon.   All parents are invited to attend.

Removal of vaccination requirements for staff and parents
The COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for schools was revoked, effective from 1am, 30^th June 2022.  This means that staff, workers and parent volunteers are no longer required to be vaccinated for COVID-19, in order to attend schools.

Quote of the Week

Catholic Education Week

The Catholic Education Week 2022 theme is " Communities of Faith, Hope and Love". 

Celebrated annually in week 3 of term 3, Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for all 309 Catholic schools in Queensland to celebrate and promote their distinctive mission and ethos. Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of those in our schools and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society.

We will celebrate the week through these activities, liturgies and events. 

Youth Mass & Children's Liturgy

Please join us!

St Mary's School will join with Mercy College to celebrate our Youth Mass this Saturday 23rd July at St Mary's Church at 5pm. Children's Liturgy will also be held.  

Mass will be followed by a supper outside the church which the whole family is most welcome to attend.

We look forward to seeing you there. 

Mrs Terri Leotta
Assistant Principal: Religious Education

From the Office-Finance Department

Please note that school fees for Term 3 have been issued today.

If you have not received a copy of your statement, please contact the finance office smm_finance@rok.catholic.edu.au or  4951 1743 so that we can email your statement to you.

Kathy Parrish
Finance Officer

Curriculum Corner

2022 International Competition for Schools (ICAS) Invitation

Children in years 4-6 are invited to take part in the 2022 International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS).  The assessments are suitable for students wishing to extend themselves academically and take up the personal challenge of competing in an international assessment. Your child will be presented with high-quality, expert-developed questions, allowing them to apply their learning without the need for prior study or revision.  The competitions form the largest independent assessment program for schools in Australia, Asia and the Pacific region.

At St Mary’s we will be offering the following competitions this year:  Science, Mathematics, Spelling and English.

The entry fees for the competitions are as follows:

If you would like your child to participate in one or more of these competitions, please obtain an entry form from the office, make your payment using the ICAS parent payment system by Monday 1^st August and return the completed note to school by Monday 1^st August.

Belinda Battaia
Acting Assistant Principal Curriculum/Teacher

Sport News

We have started skipping and are well on our way to becoming ‘Heart Heroes’. It has been fantastic to see so many students practising their skipping skills at lunch times and teaching each other new tricks. I have seen lots of ‘skiers’, ‘criss cross’ and even some ‘pretzels’! A great start to our JRFH campaign. Our weekly class champions (students that skipped continuously for the longest time in each class from Year 2-6) in week 1 were:

2A- Mila Lorroway
2B- Jasleen Bajwa
3B- Isabella Villon
3M - Lexie Martin
4C – Ava Miles
4K – Georgie Duncan
5L- Jordan Wood
5R- Alexis Bonnici
6M- Millie Camilleri
6V- Demi Butler

Congratulations to Kolby Ferriday (3B) who has already raised $477.94 and earnt himself a Supersonic Ball and to Mackenzie Pratt (1L) for raising $52.75. As a school we have raised $530.69 since we started last Friday. An excellent start to achieving our $5000 goal.

For more information about Jump Rope for Heart please click on the link below.

Simone Sibley
HPE Teacher

Challenge Cup Wrap-Up

Rugby League

Last Wednesday, our St Mary’s Battlers set off on the highway southbound for Yeppoon on the Capricorn Coast.  The boots were packed, the jerseys were washed and the parents were as excited as the players!

After two days of tough rugby league, the players had secured their spot at the top of their pool.  A playoff for the top prize was imminent. 

They came up against a strong St Peter’s side in the semi final fighting to progress through to the grand final.  However, they went down in this game leaving the battle left to a spot for third or fourth place. In a repeat of last year’s final, we played Emmanuel Catholic Primary School in a hard fought battle.  The game ended up in a 20 all draw.  Due to Emmanuel scoring first, they were awarded the third place prize and we came away with fourth.  To come fourth out of 32 schools in our diocese was a great achievement and we are all proud of the team.  To single any one player out for their effort would be to sell the whole team short as it was an outstanding team effort to progress through our pool undefeated and play with such sportsmanship and support for team mates. 

Thank you to Mr Clancy, Mr Tass, Mr Roberts and Mrs Keating for their sideline support and to all the parents who so proudly supported our team over the three days. 

Challenge Cup Netball

Last week ten students from grades 5 and 6 represented St Mary's at the Challenge Cup Carnival in Yeppoon. The girls won 2 from 3 games on Day One and 3 from 4 games on day two. This meant that they finished 2nd in their pool and went on to play for the Sheild. On Day Three they won their semi-final against St Francis and went on to play the Shield final against St Joseph's Clermont. Unfortunately, the girls lost this game but secured 6^th place our of 32 netball teams - an impressive effort!

Our centre court crew of Sunny Hodder, Harriet Shields, Lara Savige and Ava Proberts did an amazing job of getting the ball down the court to our shooting superstars; Emmi Burgess, Lily Cheyne and Magenta Newland. Amara Daley, Evie Clarendon and Ivy Martin were strong in defense. 

The girls were excellent representatives of our school, displaying GRIT, determination and positive attitudes. 

Special thanks to Miss Gee for umpiring our games and to our support crew of parents and grandparents who encouraged our team throughout the carnival and assisted with scoring. 

Premier's Reading Challenge

Commonwealth School Data Collection

The Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment (the department) would like to advise all parents and guardians that it collects certain information about your child's school, its staff, and student body.  The 2022 Census Privacy Notice explaining what information the department is collecting is available by clicking the link below. 

Community News