Dear Parents

It was a privilege to accept the wonderful community award on Friday night, together with my family, our wonderful leadership team and Father Shymon.

Community is truly at the heart of all we do in our Catholic schools.

A sense of the importance of community has been instilled in me by my wonderful parents: from the wheat farms of the Mallee, to sporting clubs of the Peninsula, to the sensational Catholic schools I attended and then had the privilege of teaching in. The power of being immersed in strong, positive communities throughout my schooling and life has significantly contributed to who I am today.

By immersing students in a school that is underpinned by a positive faith community we ensure students' lives are enriched with many diverse perspectives and experiences and are ultimately filled with hope.

From our school families, to staff, to our Parish and local and global communities, each person we partner and learn with contributes to each student building self-belief, a strong sense of identity and the necessary skills and dispositions to flourish and make a difference.

I believe our children need to be surrounded by a positive, inspiring community - a village to give them a strong sense of who they are. The community we provide for our kids will profoundly influence who they are and what they set out to achieve.

We never do this alone. We reach out and work with as many diverse groups as we can to ensure every need is met, and we access and provide whatever support is required.

I thank you all for all contributing to our beautiful school community and a special thanks to our wonderful leadership team who partner with me to ensure we have the best environment possible for our students.

It all starts with the ground we walk on in our own local communities: being stewards of God’s earth, caring, respecting and honouring the narrative of the past and present and working together for the common good of all.

This was in action on Saturday at the wonderful Womenjeka festival. What a brilliant day of celebrating our first nation people, underpinned by our amazing local community showcasing, supporting and respecting the sacred story of this magnificent land.

A huge shout out to Lucette Talbot and Marissa Egan who led our stall at the festival along with Natalie Dullard, who is also on our Indigenous team, Kim Saltmarsh and myself. Our team is inspirational in embedding, celebrating and highlighting the importance of ensuring our students and families respect and honour our first nations people. Thanks to any parents who were able to attend. It was such a special day for everyone.

Last week, we had the Living Ripples company work with us on our wellbeing action plan. Living Ripples is a three-year student wellbeing program funded by philanthropy and backed by research. Living Ripples partners with schools to improve the resilience and self-confidence of students. We look forward to partnering with the Living Ripples company to ensure our school has the highest standards of wellbeing, resilience and self-confidence possible.

Kind regards,

Gab

Key dates for the remainder of the term are outlined below:

Tuesday 28th March	School advisory Board Meeting 7pm
Wednesday 5th April	Holy Week Student Led Liturgy 2pm
Thursday 6th April	End of Term 1 Students finish at 1pm
Monday 24th April	Curriculum Day (Pupil-free day)
Tuesday 25th April	Anzac Day public holiday (No school)
Wednesday 26th April	Students commence for Term 2

Faith at St Mary's

with Miss Natalie Dullard