2025 St Mary's Primary School Newsletter Term 3 Week 3

Acknowledgement of Country

St Mary’s Primary School respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the
Wimmera Mallee area, the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagalk
peoples, and pays respect to the ongoing living cultures of First Peoples.

As partners in Catholic Education and open to God’s presence, we pursue the fullness of life for all.  St Mary's Catholic Primary School  is committed to the safety and well-being of all students.

Principal's News

Dear families,

Today we were very excited to receive a special visit to our school. The confident and welcoming Year 6 students gave a superb tour of St Mary’s to Bishop Paul Bird and the Director of Catholic Education Ballarat, Tom Sexton (Special Edition below).

Parent/Carers Conversation will take place today and Thursday. Teachers have allocated times for families to attend and if you have not yet booked a time, it may not be too late for Thursday.

Beginning this Friday, Meg Werner will be taking on the role as the Science/Wellbeing. This is in addition to her PE  classes and classroom teaching roles. Meg will be supported by Mrs Schulz and Mrs Lang.

Don't forget this Friday is Hot Food Day, supploied by our wonderful Parent's Club. 

School Improvement Survey                                                                                                                                                              Families will soon receive an email requesting participation in a school survey. Each year, Insight SRC conducts a survey on behalf of schools and the Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited. It is designed to assist in gaining an understanding of parents' perceptions of their children’s experience at St Mary’s. The results will benefit everyone within our school by providing valuable information about the ways in which we can use staff, student and parent input to plan programs and activities to improve your child's learning journey and experience at school.

We encourage families to regularly take a look at our St Mary’s FB Page. Schools and family life in general are very busy places.  Often reminders or events and activities are posted.

Continue reading for Special Editions and Flyers for some big events

Julie

Key Dates

Bishop Paul Bird and DOBCEL Director's visit

Bishop Paul Bird and the Director of DOBCEL Tom Sexton visited St Mary's today. They were greeted by the Year 6 student leaders and given a tour of the school. This is the first time Bishop Paul has visited our school to see the new buildings and groundworks. The Bishop and Tom enjoyed their tour and said that our school felt very welcoming. They were impressed with how nice our school looked and was represented by our students. They were very impressed with the way the leaders introduced their buddies. They also commented that the students in the school are really happy and showed a that a lot of confidence in themselves and pride in their school.

Lentil Class

Visit from Bishop Paul and Director Tom Sexton

School Promotional Video

                                               Foundation Class Celebrated 100 Days of School 

Last Friday our Foundation Class celebrated 100 days at school. In the education field, this day has become a hugely celebrated milestone and dressing up is where it all begins. After the Foundation Assembly, photos were taken from the Herald and the day continued with fun activities. Thank you to Jess, Louise, Deb and Nicola for organising such a memorable day for our little people.

Transport assistance request. 🚗

 A family with two students currently enrolled at St Brigid’s College have just moved from Nhill to Warracknabeal due to a change in employment. One student is in Year 12 and concludes her education in 9 weeks. Currently, St Brigid’s College does not provide transport from Warracknabeal to Horsham, although this may change soon. We are seeking support in transporting these students over the next few months between Warracknabeal and Horsham. If you know of anyone who may travel to Horsham from Warracknabeal and return during the week who may be able to assist, please ask them to call Gerard Raven (Principal) at the school, on Ph: 5382 3545.

Book Week Parade

 When: Tuesday 19th August 9:15am: Where St Mary's

                                       Come along and join in the fun!

Art News 🎨

In Art classes at the end of Term 2 and start of Term 3 students have been inspired by collage artist and author Jeannie Baker to create landscape collages from natural materials.

Here is a selection of our work:

Over the next two weeks students will be looking at Aboriginal rock art painting and investigating how to make paints from natural materials. If anyone has any coffee grounds at home, colourful fruit or flowers in their gardens, tea leaves or charcoal can you please send it to school by the end of this week.

GAGA Fun has begun

St Mary's has a new gaga pit for students to enjoy.  A gaga pit is a pit that has 1 to 2 balls in one game. You can have as many people in the gaga pit ranging from 7 to 14 players. At our school the rules are that if a player gets hit below the knees you are out. It can ricochet off the wall and hit you as long as it hits you below the knees.

A huge thank you for the work our amazing Parent's Club have done to obtain the gaga pit, and install it near the oval. It has been very popular with all students. It has been great to see the honesty from all students when playing.

SPECIAL REPORT: Sibling Relationships

"Supporting healthy sibling relationships means recognising each child's unique strengths and avoiding comparisons. This encourages mutual respect, reduces rivalry and helps build lasting bonds into adulthood."

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg: Child and Adolescent Psychologist

We are a BARR school (Bushfire at Risk)

Pleae read the communication below. As a Bushfire at Risk school, on days there is a Catastrophic fire danger forcasted in our district, the school will close. Other educational providers in our area will also close, and there will be no school byses running. We need to receive notification from the Department if Education and also DOBCEL in order to close. The school will always endeavour to notify families as soon as practical. We did have two Catastrophic school closure days earlier this year. 

Please ensure you have downloaded the SIMON everywhere app to receive the first notification of a sudden school closure through PAM, as this is the official school emergency notification platform.

Then emails will be sent to families, followed by a Facebook update. 

DOBCEL Strategy 2035

Please find below a letter from Catholic Education Ballarat Executive Director, Tom Sexton and DOBCEL Board Chair Terry Harney regarding the DOBCEL Strategy 2035.

This letter introduces the new strategy that all DOBCEL schools will be working through over the next ten years.

Child Safety at St Mary's

St Mary's is committed to zero tolerance of child abuse, listening to and empowering children and young people and keeping children and young people safe. We are committed to being proactive in the care, wellbeing and protection of children and young people. Child Safe Standard 11 as below highlights what we as an organisation must do. regarding documentation. If you ever have any concerns, regarding the safety and wellbeing of your child please contact the Principal. Your information makes us more aware of what needs to be addressed and how we can improve. 

For more information please visit this link Child Safe Standards 

Thunderstorm Asthma