Week 4, Term 2 2023 - 9th May 2023

APRE's Reflection

From the 27th of May, 2022 to the 3rd of June, we celebrate Reconciliation Week, and St Mary’s are entering Connecting The Sea Of Hearts Challenge.

We are creating a Sea of Hearts which will depict our commitment to ensuring that Reconciliation lives in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians. We are working to create a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the Australian community and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

We request that you

• decorate the heart (click on the link below) and fill in "What Does Reconciliation Mean To You". Cut out the heart and return it back to the school.
• The hearts will be used to create a Sea of Hearts.
• We thank you for your support in making positive changes in our community.

From our Principal - Mr Wes Rose

Screen Time in Children

Many parents have reported excessive screen time as the number one health concern affecting kids, especially now in the hyperconnected world we live in. Parents around the world have experienced the ‘Tech Tantrums’ when kids don’t get the screen time they want.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that there should be no screen time at all for children under two, less than an hour a day for children aged from two to five, and less than two hours for five to 17 year olds. However, these guidelines have been disputed by experts and often ignored by families. Parents must play an important role in modelling a positive approach to using screens, and assisting children to navigate the content they access.  For some useful information about this, please visit our School TV page.

Staff News

• Today, Miss Azzopardi and Miss Banks attended a spiritual retreat at Broken River, Eungella. I am sure they have enjoyed their reflective time amidst a lovely, natural setting.
• This Tue and Wed, we welcome Mrs Catherine Simmonds from the Diocesan Faith Formation Team, who will work with various teachers and students at St Mary’s.

Sporting News

• Well done to the following students who were selected into the Southern Suburbs Tennis team: Tom Louw, Harvey Savige, Ryder Reynolds, Campbell Smith and Addison Cookson.  They now play at the Mackay District Tennis Trial on 16th May.
• St Mary’s Battlers Rugby League team will play Emmanuel this Wednedsday 10^th May at 4pm (Field 3).

Yr 2 Excursion

All the best to our Year 2 students who will attend the ‘Wind in the Willows’ performance at the MECC this Wednesday. We are very lucky that the P&F excursion allowance and the Pathways to Performance Grant is fully covering the cost of the bus and tickets for this excursion. 

Quote of the Week

Prep 2024 Enrolments

St Mary’s are currently taking enrolments for Prep 2024. We encourage both existing and new families who have a child starting Prep next year to lodge their enrolment application as soon as possible. Applications are to be made via our online enrolment form available from our website https://www.smmrok.catholic.edu.au/enrol-now and close on 2nd July.

 Please contact the school office for further information or any assistance required.

From the Office - Finance Dept

Dear Parents

Please note that Term 2 school fees were due last Friday. Thank you to those parents who have made payments already or who have entered into a payment arrangement.

If you have not yet received your school fees account, please contact the office so that we can send you a copy of your statement.

Should you be experiencing any financial difficulties in paying fees, please don’t hesitate to contact me to discuss payment arrangement options.

Kathy Parrish
Finance Officer

From the Office - Events & Payments

We are very excited to announce the launch of our online Events & Payments system through the Parent Lounge. 

Instead of completing permission forms by hand, parents are now able to login to parent lounge to accept/decline attendance for various events including excursions, camps and sporting activities. 

Another awesome feature of this new system is the ability to make card payments for excursions, camps and sporting activities if required.  No more having to coming into the office or sending cash with your child.

To find Events & Payments, simply log into your Parent Lounge via the App or Website and click on Events & Payments on the left side of the screen.  This will bring up a list of your events.  Follow the prompts to record permission/attendance, etc.

If you are having any issues accessing Parent Lounge, please contact the school office.

St Mary's Schoolzine App Update

Schoolzine have released an update for their App. If your device is still showing a green logo, please update the app through the App Store or Google Play.

Details on how to download the Schoolzine App can be found by clicking the link below. The parent sign-in code for St Mary's is 4142. 

Walk Safely to School Day

When:       Friday 19th May
Where:      Mackay Basketball Stadium Car Park
                     Students will walk from the car park to school, supervision                       will be provided
                     A free Breakfast will be provided upon arrival at school
Time:         Student drop off 7.30am, for a 7.45am walk 
RSVP:         Friday 12th May
                      Please Accept/Decline via Parent Lounge/Events

 St Mary’s will be participating in this year’s Walk to School Day on Friday 19th May.  If your child intends on participating in the walk, you will need to accept the event invitation through the Parent Lounge for each child.  This will ensure we have enough food for the free breakfast back at school and for the distribution of the participation certificates.  The event registration will need to be completed by Friday 12th May.  

Parents and siblings are invited to attend and do the walk with our students. We invite parents to park or drop students to the bitumen carpark across from Mackay Basketball Stadium on the corner of Juliet Street and Bridge Road and we will gather participants on the grassed area.  Students can be dropped off from 7:30am for a 7:45am walk departure.  We will proceed down Juliet street toward St Mary’s with an approximate arrival back at school of 8:00am.  Breakfast will be served to participating students at this time. 

What are the benefits of riding or walking to school?

It helps children get enough exercise
Ideally, everyone aged under 18 should have at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. There isn’t time for this much sport as part of the school day every day, so riding or walking to school is a great way to help students get enough physical exercise.

It reduces pollution
If we want to care for the planet, we need to reduce pollution as much as possible. If more children ride or walk to school, this reduces the number of cars on the road. The result is cleaner air and a healthier environment for all of us.

It improves children’s health and wellbeing
Physical activity is extremely beneficial to our health - it’s one of the most important things we can do to reduce our risk of illness. It also improves educational outcomes. Children who have travelled to school in an active way arrive more alert, so they’re more able to concentrate and retain information.

It helps children learn about road safety
Road safety is such an important topic. Ride to School Day gives you the perfect opportunity to teach children how to stay safe while walking or riding. You can find some helpful tips for teaching road safety in the Twinkl video at the bottom of the page.

It’s fun!
Riding, walking, scooting and skating are all great communal activities that children can enjoy with their friends, helping them to build stronger social connections. Families can get involved, too!

Sacramental Program

Our Sacramental Program for children who have received the Sacrament of Reconciliation will recommence in the coming months.

The program will prepare the students (usually Year 4) for the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation. Students need to have received the Sacrament of Reconciliation last year.

We would like to advise that the program is expected to commence across the Southern Cluster in the week of the 22^nd of May.

Further details will be provided as soon as possible; this message is intended to provide ‘save the date’ information for you.

Terri Leotta
Assistant Principal: Religious Education

May - The Month of Mary

This term the Year 5 students have been investigating the life of Mary our Mother and sharing her virtues. These artworks are from our Yr 5SA class.

Terri Leotta
Assistant Principal: Religious Education

Sport News

St Mary’s Battlers
Last Wednesday, the Battlers took to the field for their first game this year.  The team finished the game with a convincing win over Sarina of 18 to 8, with tries being scored by Tom Hurley, Jack Davies, Archer Chamberlain and Noah Sommerfeld.   Well done to Jimmy Rogers, Ryan Phelan and Tom Louw who took to the rugby league field for their very first time completing some solid runs and show stopping tackles. 

Thank you to Jude Fidler, (Jax’s brother) for stepping in to referee our game and to the many St Mary’s family supporters who came down to cheer the team on. 

Next Wednesday, we play at 4pm on field 1 against Emmanuel Catholic Primary School.

Rugby League
Congratulations to Tom Hurleyfor his selection in the Capricornia U11s Boys Rugby League team. He will compete in the Queensland State Titles in Townsville in July.

Tennis
Well done to the following students who were selected into the Southern Suburbs Tennis team: Tom Louw, Harvey Savige, Ryder Reynolds, Campbell Smith and Addison Cookson.  They now play at the Mackay District Tennis Trial on 16th May.

Mother's Day Stall

St Mary's Chess Club

PLEASE NOTE: If families have any unwanted chess sets that students are able to use for Chess Club, these would be greatly appreciated and can be dropped into the School Office.

Student of the Week

Week 3, Term 2 Student Award Winners

Community News