From the Principal 

Dear St Mary Families 

It has been wonderful welcoming everyone back after the school break. I have loved hearing lots and lots of holiday stories of places and activities that have happened. I myself had a lovely week 'off the grid' enjoying family time, fresh air, time to exercise and enjoyed seeing a few movies. It is always so important to take the time to slow down, to give yourself moments to be quiet to reflect upon life and recharge to then go forward.

This term promises to be action packed and we are already off to a flying start. 

We warmly welcome two new families to our St Mary's family, the Kalloniatis family and the Zhu family and welcome back the Quinn family who have returned to us from their time in Ireland. It was great seeing these new  students playing with the other children at break time as if they had been here for ages. 

As you are aware NAIDOC week was celebrated in the holidays and we are in the process of re booking our Smoking Ceremony from early last Term. When this is finalised we will celebrate our St Mary's NAIDOC week.  This week our extra curricular activities have started and our break time clubs commenced today. It has been fantastic to see the responses to these activities. Taekwondo and Chess proved to be very popular.  We look forward to Kelly Sports for our Preps to Year 4s starting next Thursday. Please see the Community page for information in regards to these activities.  Enjoy the photos below of Chess Club, Choir, Writing and Drawing Club. 

Today we started a program with St Mary's College whereby some Year 10 students are going to support our senior students on a Thursday at second break on the basketball courts. We are also in the process of some Year 7 & 8 students coming across in the mornings once or twice a week and support some of our junior students with their reading. It is wonderful to be working in close partnership with St Mary's College and we thank Emma Doyle the Pastoral Care Worker for working in partnership with us for these new initiatives. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our students who worked in the St Mary's College Science labs and hope to continue this partnership. 

I am looking forward to joining the Year 3 and 4s at Anglesea YMCA Recreation Camp next Monday to Wednesday. Camps give students so many opportunities to learn and grow their independence. The activities planned are so exciting and I can't wait. For those attending please make sure you pack 'old' clothes and footwear and several warm layers. We look forward to sharing the photos with you.  Thank you to Anthony for being the Acting Principal in my absence and to Clare and the staff on Camp, but also to all the staff left at 'home' who pick up extra duties and responsibilities to enable us to go away. 

Our Preps are learning all about 100s as they excitedly prepare for a very special day in the school calendar. Monday 1st of August promises to be fantastic.  Celebrating 100 days of being Preps and attending school is always a highlight for our whole community. This day will be outlined in the next newsletter. Our beautiful Preps and Miss Jacquie are learning so much and growing taller and more independent each day. They are such a integral part of our St Mary's family. 

Last night our Confirmation Family Faith night led by Father Jerome, Carmel Vozzo, Paula Incretolli and Anthony Speranza gave our families the opportunity to deepen their relationship with God and learn more about the Holy Spirit as they prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation.  It is always a privilege to work with our Year 6 Confirmation candidates and their families. 

Our amazing P & F team are working very hard towards are major fundraiser Prom Gone Wrong on Saturday 30th July. The whole community is supporting this event and we thank each and everyone of you. Lynn as leader of the SWEG (School Wide Event Group) can be contacted if you wish to help and support. It will be a really fun night that should have happened last year, but due to COVID could not. I look forward to seeing the outfits that have been two years in the planning! 

Next Friday 22nd July is our Grandparents/Special Friends morning. The students are working on invitations this week. The morning will start with Mass at 9:15am and then we will come across to our learning spaces and share our experiences of school in the 'olden days' and school in 2022.  Please know that parents, friends and toddlers are most welcome as we don't all have grandparents/special friends in our lives. We are mindful of those of us who have lost loved ones and the happy and sad memories occasions such as these can bring. 

Daniela Borgese and Aoife McGuinness are having a fabulous time on their travels and send their love and thoughts to our students and their families. We look forward to seeing Daniela and Siena next week and Aoife the following week.  I would like to thank our Deputy Anthony for his work over the break updating our polices in line with the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) guidelines. These policies will be shared with the community. 

Thursday 28th July is our new Yr 3-6 Try Athletics Day at Bricker Reserve Moorabbin. Our Sports Co-Ordinator Angela Mason will be sending out information through Operoo.  This day gives our students an opportunity to participate and experience both track and field athletic events. Times and distances will be measured as we gather our Athletics Team for the Interschool HOLT Athletics Day on Thursday 1st September. If parents/carers are able to help please contact Angela Mason.  Our Thursday mornings Running Club continues to be a success and you are all welcome to participate. 

Finally another initiative this term from our Sustainability Leaders (Annabelle, Oliver, Ezrah, Zach and Mr Ian Scott) is our Nude Food Fridays.  Our Faith Based Inquiry focus this term from Prep to Year 6 is the environment. Our Sustainably Leaders are leading our call to action. The first step is Nude Food Friday. All students and staff members are strongly encourage to bring their brain food, lunch and snack without wrappings or soft plastic. Each Friday a tally will be taken and the year level with the highest number of nude food participants will have an extra long play with myself and Mr Speranza as a reward. This is one of many steps to ensure that our school is sustainable and that we are caring for our environment. Stay tuned for more updates! 

Finally always a highlight of mine is celebrating achievements with our students. Well done to this young man!

Take care and peace and God’s blessing to each of you, 

Cathy