Welcome Back - 2026

Welcome Back!

Welcome to the 2026 school year at St Mary’s.

I hope you and your family enjoyed a safe and relaxing summer break. We are looking forward to another positive year of learning!

St Mary’s staff will return officially next Tuesday and Wednesday for student-free days, as we prepare for the start of the year. Students in Year 1 to Year 6 will commence on Thursday 29 January. We are excited to welcome our new Prep students, who will begin on Friday 30 January.

We warmly welcome Mrs Kyeanne Moore (Year 3MC Teacher) and Mr Grant Douglas (Year 5D Teacher) who join our staff team in 2026.

Thank you for taking the time to read our first newsletter for the year. It contains important information to help you prepare for the weeks ahead, so please read it carefully.

Welcome New Students

We warmly welcome the following students and their families who will be joining St Mary’s in 2026. We are delighted to have you as part of our school community and look forward to getting to know you.

Year 1 (1L): Emilia, Zephyr
Year 2 (2BH): Griffin, Joachim
Year 4 (4BD): Luca, Hugo
Year 4 (4S): Sofia
Year 4 (4DB): Viktoria, Ariana, Daniella
Year 5 (5D): Milana, Emilia, Zeta, Èlodie

We hope you enjoy your time at St Mary’s and feel supported as you begin your learning journey with us.

House Teams 2026

In 2026, we will be re-launching and refreshing our House Teams. We will keep our traditional house names, with updated house colours to make them simpler and more consistent.

We will officially launch our new house team colours at a Kaboom Sports event on Tuesday 10 February.

Before this day, families are encouraged to purchase a T-shirt or polo shirt in their child’s house team colour. These shirts can also be worn at school carnival days and other house events throughout the year.

If you are unsure which house your child belongs to, please contact your child’s class teacher.

House colours for 2026:

Auburn – Green
Coakley – Blue
Nagle – Red
O’Brien – Gold

School Uniform

We ask for your support in ensuring students are wearing the correct school uniform.

Students are required to wear black leather shoes with the formal school uniform.
The official school hat must be worn and can be purchased from PSW. Other hats are not acceptable
Sports uniform is to be worn only on the designated sports uniform days for your child’s class.

Wearing our uniform with pride is important. It also helps students develop positive habits as they progress through school and into secondary education.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Parent Information Evening

Our Parent Information Evening will be held on Wednesday 4 February. The evening will begin in the school hall at 5:30pm with a whole-school presentation outlining the year ahead, including the strategic direction of the school.

From 5:45pm to 6:15pm, parents will then move to their child’s classroom to hear more year-level specific information from the class teacher.

Please note that there will be no Meet the Teacher interviews this year. These have been replaced with a progress meeting at the end of Term 1. For this reason, all parents are strongly encouraged to attend the Parent Information Evening.

Invitation to Class Prayer

Parents and carers (Year 1 - Year 6) are warmly invited to join their child’s class for prayer on Friday 30 January from 8:45am to 9:00am.

This is a lovely opportunity to begin the year together as a faith community. Bashir, our coffee van friend, will be on site, so feel free to grab a drink and join the students for this prayer session. It will also be a great opportunity to say hello to our new Prep families who will be no doubt full of emotion as thier children begin school on this day.

Class Information

Class teachers will be sending more year-level specific information tomorrow (Friday) via SeeSaw.

Teachers will endeavour to respond to any questions on Tuesday or Wednesday next week, once staff have returned for the student-free days.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

2026 Open Days

We encourage families to share the details of our upcoming Open Days with friends, neighbours or relatives who may be considering St Mary’s for their child.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

Tuesday, 17 February 2026 – 9:30am
Wednesday, 4 March 2026 – 9:30am
Tuesday, 17 March 2026 – 5:30pm
Thursday, 19 March 2026 – 9:30am

Each tour includes:

9:30am – Presentation by the Principal and Deputy Principal
9:45am – School tour led by our Year 6 students
10:15am – Q&A with the Principal and Deputy Principal

To book a place on a tour, please complete the form on the website https://www.smhampton.catholic.edu.au/enrolment/book-a-school-tour

or contact the school office on 03 9521 9335.

Thank you for helping us spread the word about St Mary’s.

Steele