Vice Principal 

& Wellbeing

Welcome back to Gab and a huge thank you to all the staff and students for supporting me while Gab was away. The children have all missed Mrs E and cannot wait to see her!

It has been such a wonderful term and I have enjoyed getting to know most students now to be able to call them by their (correct) name! I feel as though I have pieced most siblings and families together and this has been a joy.

It was wonderful to see the joy on the year 5 and 6 students' faces as they arrived back at school after their Summer Lightning Premiership on Thursday. We have receieved lovely feedback from the other schools about St Mary's behaviour whilst they were there. Our students showed fairness, encouragement and were polite to each other, as well as the students and staff from the various other schools.

As we roll into our final week of the term, I would like to remind all our families that the school holidays are a time to spend together and connect, but also a time to rest and recoup. You have probably noticed your children becoming tired and irritable and that is to be expected. They work so hard each day to be their best - in learning and socialising. It's exhausting - growing and changing. 

Connection is such an important aspect of childhood development. It is an essential part of positive relationships and is key to building children's positive mental health and development. Strong parent-child relationships, as well as good connections with siblings, extended family and friends, help guide a child's wellbeing into adulthood.

My familiy will be travelling to the south coast of NSW to visit the children's Great Grandmother, who is 98! This will be a very special Easter for us and we look forward to building on our family memories. Week 2 of the holidays will be spent mostly unpacking and washing! But we will be having some very quiet days at home to prepare for term 2. 

I encourage you to also allow some down time in the holidays so that we can all welcome in term 2 and be ready for all the wonderful events that are on the calendar and the learning experiences that are planned.

Yours in collaboration,

Naomi