Welcome Back – Week 1

Welcome back to another exciting term at St Mary’s!

What a wonderful way to begin with our Day of Joy. It was beautiful to see our children reconnecting with their friends, staff and school community, sharing plenty of smiles, laughter and fun. Days like these remind us how important belonging, connection and joy are to learning.

As many of you know I will be moving over to Ballarat Catholic Education as a Principal consultant in 2027. I have training this week, Blythe will be here in my absence.

Anushka will not be returning in the first two terms and has extended her leave.

As we begin the term, we are also looking ahead to 2027.

At this stage, it is beginning to look like our grade structure for next year will be:

Prep – Year 2 and Year 3 – Year 6

Please note that this structure is subject to change as we continue to work through enrolments, staffing and, most importantly, the needs of our children.

Our specialist classes will remain Art, Music, PE and Farm to Kitchen, ensuring our children continue to have access to a broad range of creative, physical and hands-on learning experiences.

As our school grows — and I have no doubt that it will — we will see greater flexibility in our grade structures and more and more opportunities for our children. Growth will allow us to continue expanding what we offer while always keeping the individual needs, wellbeing and learning of every child at the heart of our decisions.

We are excited about what lies ahead for St Mary’s and look forward to growing our beautiful school community together.

We have many exciting things coming up in Term 4 - please continue to check the calendar.

Have a wonderful week,

Gemma

St Mary's School, Castlemaine

Respect, Resilience, Responsibility

Term 4 Week 1 · 05 Oct 2026

In this issue