Special Announcement
Last week, Mr Tim Smith, our Performance and Improvement Leader from Catholic Education visited us to announce to the staff that Mrs Jo Wain had recently been appointed as Principal of St Mary’s from 2025. Mrs Wain who is currently the principal of St Bernard’s in Batemans Bay is already known to some of our families as she was on staff at St Mary’s some years ago. I congratulate Jo and wish her every success as she takes over next year. I know she will love her time at St Mary’s, with our beautiful students and staff.

Parent Information Night 
Thank you to our parents who braved a very cold night last week, to attend a Parent Information night on Learning and Data. It was wonderful to welcome parents of students across all grades. Mrs Sue Heffernan shared information about Catholic Education’s Catalyst Initiative and our school’s implementation of Direct Instruction in Literacy and Numeracy. Parents were informed of system and school data collection and how we use that data to inform our teaching and learning. I encourage parents who may have more questions to talk with their child’s teacher. If your child currently has a Personalised Plan, our Learning Support Teachers; Mrs Jessie White (Kinder-Year 2) and Mrs Jo Matthews (Year 3-6) will also be able to answer your queries. It was wonderful to have all teaching and support staff present on the night and I thank them for their support and commitment to their students’ learning. 

A special thank you to Mrs Sue Heffernan, our Assistant Principal for her commitment to leading the Teaching and Learning at St Mary’s. Sue is a talented and experienced educator, who is committed to supporting our teachers and further improving their practice, which in turn leads to improving student outcomes. 

Next week's Parent Teacher meetings are an important time for parents to gain an understanding of how their child’s learning is progressing. If you are unable to make the meetings, please contact your child's teacher for a conversation.

Online Safety and Mobile Phones
Online Safety is an increasingly important issue for young people and their parents and one that requires vigilance and support both at school and at home. At school, all students are taught age appropriate protective behaviours and cyber safety. Teachers use resources from the Daniel Morcombe Foundation and the eSafety website to support the students' learning about digital safety, cyber bullying and gaming. Parents are urged to closely monitor their children's use of technology, especially late at night.  For more information and support, please consult the eSafety website parent page.https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents. I highly recommend parents consider enrolling in some of the upcoming free webinars to keep themselves informed of emerging technologies and ways of protecting their children online. 

We understand that some students require a mobile phone for bus travel and arrangements before and after school hours. Whilst at school however, no students are allowed to use their phones. Each morning, students must hand in their mobile phone to their teacher and then collect them at the end of the day.

We do our best to make sure that the students are monitored closely when using devices at school. Catholic Education has blocked inappropriate websites and social media platforms. If parents become aware of any inappropriate use of technology e.g. gaming, messaging at school, please inform me or your child's teacher. We need to work together to keep all of our children safe. 

Winter uniforms
As the weather gets colder, please make sure that your child comes to school in warm clothing.

A gentle reminder that school uniforms need to be named, as it is almost impossible to find lost items without names. The old maroon jumper can still be warm, preferably under the new navy school jumper (jacket). The maroon raincoat style coat may only be worn outdoors.

All students are to wear black shoes on regular school days. They do not have to be leather but they must be a plain black shoe or jogger. Thank you for your support with this. Wearing the school uniform with pride, is important at St Mary’s.

Sacrament of Confirmation
We continue to pray for our Confirmation students, their sponsors and their families. With the support of Father George and Mrs Afflick, the Year 6 teachers have been working hard to prepare the children for such an important time in their life. 

God’s blessings on you and your families.

Mrs Noeleen O'neill​​​​
Principal