Principal's Panorama

Week 2, Term 2 

"Almighty God, we gather with heavy hearts, mourning the loss of our dear Scott. 

May his soul find eternal peace and rest in Your loving embrace. Grant comfort to Scott's family and friends as they navigate this time of grief. 

May the memories of Scott, his contributions, and his positive spirit bring us solace and strength. 

We ask for your guidance and support as we remember and honour the life of Scott. 

Amen." 

Scott Youman

As many of you will know, St Mary of the Angels has lost a well loved member of our community over the holidays.

Mr Scott Youman was the St Mary of the Angels resident Grounds-person and handyman for 8.5 years.

After a 10 month long fight with cancer, Scott was laid to rest on Friday 2nd May at a beautiful and yet sorrow filled service at St Mary of the Angels Church.

The stories that friends and family told both in the church and outside in the ground are a testament to Scott's love and heart and his influence on those around him was highlighted by the number of people who were present for his funeral.

The inside and the grounds of the church were packed 'to the rafters', our love and prayers go to Nadine, Austin and Kelsie as they navigate their lives without the earth bound presence of this great man.

New School Website

After working on the school website last term by Armidale Catholic Schools, it is complete!!! How wonderful it is to see these gorgeous faces?

Year 6 Jersey & Shirt

Gorgeous young people! The new jersey design for our Year 6 students was received with delight on Monday, after ordering back in November 2024, they arrived!

Additional to the jerseys in 2025, our young people have a Sports Shirt that reflects their unique and wonderful personalities!

Engaging with Families and the Community in Faith and Service

Faith remains at the heart of our school community. This term, we have honoured our ANZAC's with attendance of our young people at both the Dawn and Day services here in Guyra and surrounds.  

With over half of our young people attending, either one or both of the services, it demonstrates our families committment to remembering the sacrifices and gifts of those who have come before us and ensuring that we hold this standard for our young people and staff to recognise that we are only here because we stand on the foundations of those community members.

Thinking of those who came before us, we celebrated our Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunts and special women in our lives with a BBQ breakfast and Mass this morning.

It was a delight to see the fathers coming in early to cook and help serve on the BBQ breakfast and to see so many of the special women in our community coming in to be celebrated.  Our St Mary of the Angels choir, put together a small song that was sung to the tune of "You are my Sunshine" and it was played at the end of our mass. I shall put it up on our Facebook Page for all to see over the weekend.

Our little community received an abundance of Catholic Joy as we welcome a new Pope and also our new Bishop over night.  Please see the write up on our Catholic Identity Page HERE.

Staff Contact

After our Stage Three 'Pizza Your mind' evening, our School Advisory Council helped collate all of the feedback which the Leadership Team and School Performance Leader (John O'Connor) used to highlight areas that parents and carers were looking for change or futher guidance.

One of these areas highlighted, was a frustration with communication going through the front admin rather than direct access to classroom educators.

After discussions with Armidale Catholic Schools, staff and with an awareness of the 'Right to Disconnect Laws', we have put together some guidelines so that this communication can occur;

Please note: contact for urgent information or travel changes still contact the school phone or complete through our guyadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au email address.  

For connection to your child's/ren's classroom educator for information sharing purposes you can use their direct email addresses below. 

Parent to Classroom Educator Communication Guidelines:

Parent/carers acknowledge:

• Contact will not be made by educators outside of the hours of 8 am to 4:30 pm.

• Educators will respond to emails within 48 hours on listed school days (approximately two listed school days). eg If contact is made Monday morning, educators would contact before Wednesday morning.  If contact is made on Friday afternoon, the 48 hours boundary is Tuesday the following week.

• All contact will be continue to be recorded through COMPASS as a parent contact by the educator.

• Parent/carers are to contact their child's classroom educator only.

• Educators have been reminded that all written communication occurs through email, not via social media platforms.

• In Stages where there is more than one educator: BOTH/ALL educators are to be listed in the contact.

Early Stage One:

Mrs Theresa Grills: tgrills@arm.catholic.edu.au

Stage One:

Miss Eleisha Outridge: eoutridge@arm.catholic.edu.au

Miss Natalia Mayes: nmayes@arm.catholic.edu.au

Stage Two:

Substantial Educator: Mrs Tiffany Ahumada: tmartin@arm.catholic.edu.au

Co-Teacher: Ms Carla Holmes: cholmes1@arm.catholic.edu.au

Stage Three:

Mrs Angela Hayes: ahayes@arm.catholic.edu.au

Signing off for the fortnight, wishing all of our Mother's and significant women in our lives, a gentle and love filled Sunday.  Where your young ones truly recognise and celebrate all that you do for them and their school community.

                                                        HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Blessings,

Zoe Nugent

Principal, St Mary of the Angels, Guyra