Principal's Update
Dear Parents and Carers,
A Lenten Prayer
Lord,
May I stand in solidarity today with all my brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering, particularly those who have been devastated by the war in Ukraine. May we be united in your love during this season of Lent, and may I work to build your kingdom here on earth through my words and actions.
Amen.
Beginning of Year Mass
This morning we celebrated a wonderful start to our year by attending a whole school beginning of the year Mass. It was a very prayerful occasion and it was great to welcome our new Preps. As always, the buddy blessing was a highlight and we wish our Gr 6 students well as they prepare for a big year guiding their Prep buddies and leading 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 all students and staff well for a great year ahead.
Student Leadership
Votes for our 2023 school leaders were finalised last week. Our school leaders that make up our SRC for 2023 are;
School Captains- Jackson Fleming and Olivia Marriner
Sports/Sustainability Leader- Jack Fay
Arts/Culture Leader- Claudia Simmonds
Social Justice Leader- Olivia Featherston
Grade 5- SRC Members- Leo Falciola-Barrow and Freya Baum
Grade 4- SRC Members- Taya Egan and Charlie Groves
Grade 3- SRC Members- Louisa Roe and Reuben Baillie
Congratulations to these students, we wish them well and know they will lead our school admirably in 2023.
Badges will be presented to the students at next week’s prayer gathering.
Prep Tours
Already I have begun meeting with prospective 2024 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.
ECSI Survey
Last week I sent an email to parents from selected year levels inviting them to complete an ECSI (Enhancing Catholic School Identity) survey. This is an online survey that is completed every 3 years by staff, students and parents in all schools in our diocese. It provides schools with valuable information and feedback about their Catholic identity, giving them future direction as they plan for this most important part of the life and ethos of our Catholic schools. Once you have logged in you will be given your own user ID and password, please record this so that you can do the survey in more than 1 sitting if required. The survey takes approximately 45 minutes. I know we are all very busy, but your participation would be greatly appreciated.
Open Classroom Afternoon
A reminder that tomorrow we invite families to visit their child(ren’s) classrooms after lunch between 2.15-3.00. This is an opportunity for parents and grandparents to check out the classrooms for 2023, say hello to teachers and staff and have children share some of the work they have completed so far this year. Please keep in mind that this is a very informal arrangement, we are just looking at simple ways for our families to engage and re connect with the school post COVID. We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow afternoon.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Michael Mahoney
(Principal)