Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 5 of Term 1!

It’s hard to believe how quickly this term is flying by. Our students have settled in wonderfully, especially our new Kindies and it has been a joy to see them engage in exciting learning activities across all subjects.

Thank you to our teaching staff and parents for being part of parent/teacher interviews this week. We appreciate your continued support and partnership as we work together to ensure the learning and wellbeing needs of all students are met.

As a school and Catholic community we have been praying for the recovery of Pope Francis who has been critically ill. We have provided a prayer in the newsletter for families to use.

Next Wednesday we begin the season of LENT. Lent is the 40 days (not including Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter Sunday. Lent is often described as a time of preparation and an opportunity to become deeper with God. It’s a time for personal reflection that prepares people’s hearts and minds for Good Friday and Easter. Families are very welcome to join us for Ash Wednesday Mass next Wednesday 5th March starting at 9.30am in the church.

Welcome BBQ

We look forward to seeing you all at our welcome BBQ next Tuesday evening from 5.00-6.30pm. It’s a wonderful way to start our school year gathering together socially with staff.

New Drop Off and Pick Up Traffic Arrangements

This week we sent out the changes to our morning drop off and afternoon pick up procedures.Thank you for assisting in keeping our school community safe by following these procedures.

At no stage can students or adults walk through the MPC car park gates or can parents park in the school car park of an afternoon for pick up.

Below is a link to the letter sent this week with the new procedures. We welcome feedback and please do not hesitate to contact the school if you have any queries. We will review the new procedures to ensure the safety of all.

School Uniform

We ask that the students wear their correct school uniform to school each day. This includes the proper school shorts for boys. Boys are not permitted to wear sport shorts or canterbury shorts as part of their school uniform. Please refer to the below for the correct uniforms:

Diocesan Swimming Carnival

We wish all our students who are competing in the Diocesan Swimming Carnival next Wednesday. We know they will be wonderful ambassadors for our school.

NAPLAN

Our Year 3 & Year 5 students will sit the NAPLAN tests from Monday 17th March until 24th March.

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake.

As students progress through their school years, it is important to check how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and numeracy.

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national proficiency standards.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

The students can not study for NAPLAN. Below is a link to some further information for parents and carers to read. https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers

School Advisory Council

Our AGM and first meeting for the year has been postponed to 11th March, 2025 starting at 6pm in the school staffroom. All parents are invited to attend the AGM.

If you have any concerns or wish to speak to me please do not hesitate to contact the school and make an appointment.

God Bless

Angela Scott

Student Wellbeing