Principal's Update 

​​​​​​Dear Parents and Carers,

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. During the 40 days of Lent we prepare for the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is also a time to reflect and think about our own lives and changes that we can make from the heart.

Prayer for Lent

Jesus, you placed great value on acting with integrity.

Your justice was applied to all, irrespective of who they were and what they did. Everything you did was out of love.

As a community, we seek your guidance to make good life choices.

When we are tempted to fall short of the mark, prop us up.

Lead us to that place that will give us happiness in what we say and do.

Make us strong to choose as you would choose, and to love as you would love.

Amen.

Beginning of Year Mass

Last Friday we celebrated a wonderful start to our year by attending a whole schoolbeginning of the year Mass. It was a very prayerful occasion and it was great towelcome our new Preps. As always, the buddy blessing was a highlight and we wishour Gr 6 students well as they prepare for a big year guiding their Prep buddies andleading our school. We also wish our Prep students well as they begin their school life at St. Mary’s. They have done an amazing job settling in so well, and we are all very proud of them. This year we have many exciting events organised and I wish allstudents and staff well for a great year ahead.

Prep Tours

Already I have begun meeting with prospective 2026 Prep parents. It has been wonderful to meet them and take them on a tour of our beautiful school. If you know of any families who are considering enrolling their children at St. Mary’s, please encourage them to make contact with the office, as doing tours early helps to alleviate the rush in the middle of the year.

Prep Information Morning

On Monday 24 th March an information session will be held in the school library from 10.00am-11.00am. The meeting is aimed at prospective new families in 2026, but existing families are most welcome to attend. Topics covered will be specialist programs, mental health and wellbeing initiatives and strategies for helping parents prepare their child for school. If you have any family or friends looking to enroll their child at a school next year, please pass on this information. If you are intending on attending, please inform the school office.

School Advisory Council Annual General Meeting

Last night the School Advisory Council AGM was held in the school library. All of the reports presented by teachers and myself were well received. There were 3 changes to the SAC with Donna Hay, Nicole Darcy and Sam Simpson finishing their terms. On behalf of the school community I would like to thank Donna, Nicole and Sam for their contributions over the past 4 years. This year we welcome Vanessa Oakley, Beth Roe and Alistair Harris to the School Advisory Council.  The members for 2025 are;

Michael Mahoney - Principal

Jodie Hassett – Staff Representative

Vanessa Oakley

 Beth Roe

Alistair Harris

Scott Richardson

Kate Leahy

Jennie Darcy

Student Leadership

Votes for our 2025 school leaders were finalised last week. Our school leaders that make up our SRC for 2025 are;

School Captains: Tessa Hay and Will Black

Sport & Sustainability Leader: Harrison McGuane

Arts & Culture Leader: Scarlett Ogle

Social Justice Leader: Imogen McNamara

Grade 5 SRC Members: Frankie Gannon and Jack Hitchings 

Grade 4 SRC Members: Finn Hay and Clem Geue

Grade 3 SRC Members: Indigo Rickard and Isabella Asidor

Congratulations to these students. We wish them well and know they will lead our school admirably in 2025. Badges will be presented to the students at tomorrow’s prayer gathering.

NAPLAN

Over the next 2 weeks our Grade 3 and 5 children will complete NAPLAN tests in Reading, Writing, Numeracy and Language Conventions. While we look closely at individual and school wide results, the NAPLAN testing format is a learning environment that is not a regular part of our day to day experiences in the contemporary, differentiated classroom, where discussion, interaction and group sharing are encouraged. Therefore, we do not make judgments on the children based solely on their NAPLAN results. It is one of many assessment tasks that the children participate in throughout the year. Results will be sent to schools early in Term 2.

Use of Class Dojo

Class Dojo is a convenient, time efficient mode of communication between teachers and parents that has had a positive impact on parent engagement since its inception. It has been a wonderful way for teachers to give quick messages, feedback,reminders and to share experiences and visuals from everyday classroom activities and school camps/excursions. However, there are a few protocols and guidelines that need to be understood so that as a school community we have a shared understanding of its use. Therefore, I would like to make the following clear;

             -Some matters cannot be communicated effectively over Dojo and require face to                  face discussion. If this is the case, please make a time to meet with yourchild’s                        teacher

             -Teachers will be available to respond to messages from parents between 8am and                5pm

            -Teachers cannot be relied upon to be checking their phones throughout the school              day, as they are busy teaching. Therefore, if you have an important message that                    needs to be passed on to your child eg transport, please call the school office.

To ensure Class Dojo remains an effective mode of communication between school and home, your understanding and cooperation is much appreciated.

Enjoy the rest of your week and have a great long weekend. A reminder that Tuesday is a pupil free day.

Michael Mahoney

(Principal)