Mr Butts' Announcements

Attendance is Important!

At St Mary's we are wonderful at many things, unfortunately as a school, attendance is not as high as it should be. I urge all families to make attendance a priority when planning the week ahead.  Obviously all children will miss some days due to illness and the odd holiday.  This is why it is so important to be at school everyday possible, not leaving early and getting to school on time.  Our aim is to improve our attendance rate overall and we are putting many strategies to support students and families.

New Staff

This week we welcome Mrs Celisha Earl to our teaching staff.  Celisha is teaching in the Gr 5/6 area and is looking forward to kicking off her teaching career at St Mary's! We also welcome Devin Smith who is working with our learning support team. Devin has recently arrived in Australia from the US and is playing for the Shepparton Gators this year.

School Advisory Council

The following items were discussed at last weeks School Advisory Council meeting:

• 2024-26 School Improvement Plan (See attached)
• 2023 School Engagement surveys. (completed by staff, students and parents/carers). 
• Child Safe Standard 4.
• Car park safety (see next item in this newsletter)

Car Parking

For safety reasons, we are asking all parents and carer's to please park in designated areas in our car parks when picking up and dropping off children.  Please note the Marian Centre and Hall St pick up roundabouts are quiet at the moment and are a very easy and safe way to pick up and drop off.

Naplan

Well done to all the Gr 3 & 5 students who took part in Naplan testing last week. The students took part in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation tests.

St Patrick's Day

Well done to everyone for wearing green and raising money for Caritas on St Patrick's Day. The green jelly was also a huge hit!

Before School Supervision

Please note that  all students that arrive at school prior to 8:30am must fill out an application that is explained the letter below.  I appreciate everyone's understanding and cooperation regarding this.

Free NBN!

If you currently don't have NBN connection, you may be eligible for free internet for 2 years. This is a government initiative and you can check your eligibility by calling 1800 954 610 or using the QR code below:

Assembly 18th March

Principal's Award

Week 8 - 18th March

Heidi Green

What a wonderful role model Heidi is, both in and out of the classroom. She is a confident learner and loves reading. Heidi is a great communicator  and  I have recently heard many examples of how she genuinely cares for others in the school.  Thank you for being such a wonderful young person Heidi!

Mr Butts' Jokes!

Q: What is faster hot or cold?

A:  Hot because you can catch a cold!

Q: What do you call a chook who counts its eggs?

A:  A mathemachicken!!! 

Anthony Butts

Principal

Be Good to people and the world will be good to you.