P&F Committee

All are welcome to join our school P&F Committee.

If you would like to be involved this year, come along to our first meeting of 2026. This will be held on Wednesday 4th February at 2pm in the school library. Please meet at the school office to sign in. All most welcome! Our main focus of this meeting will be on our school fair, taking place at the end of term one, on Friday 27th March.

If you are unable to attend our monthly meetings due to work or other commitments, please feel free to email and you will be added to the group so you can contribute and stay connected.

Term 1 Student Special Lunch Day

Each Term, our students enjoy a special lunch prepared by our P&F Committee. Stay tuned for this term’s special lunch day – details out soon!

St Mary’s School Community Fair – Term 1 2026: Friday 27th March

It is here again – our St Mary’s School Community Fair!

Planning and organisation for this event is well underway. If you would like to join the St Mary’s School Community Fair Committee, please send through an email (see below). It is a fantastic way to be involved and every volunteer helps ensure the success of the event! Thank you to all those already supporting this major fundraising event.

Please return the Stall Form that was sent home last year (or if you need another, please pop into the office to collect one)– this form includes all stalls at the fair and calls for volunteers to coordinate, work shifts and/or donate to the different stalls. Thank you to those who have already filled in and returned the form. We will send the form out again soon with class stalls listed so that you know which stall your child will be helping to run – please look out for this and return asap!

If you would like to run a stall at the fair let us know via email or add it to the space provided on the fair stall form.

If you would like to sponsor entertainment for the fair in exchange for advertising for your business, please let us know!

*Please drop off any donations that you may be able to contribute for the following stalls to the school office:

Book Stall – second hand books in good condition that you no longer want or need.

Adopt a Pet Stall – we will be having a soft toy stall. All toys will be washed and given a name tag! If you have any soft toys to donate, please drop these off at the school office.

Hamper Stall - body products, tea, coffee, chocolate, stationary (and hamper baskets!)

Craft Activity Table - jewellery making sets, scratch art, mindful colouring pictures.

Hand Made Items Stall - eye pillows, knitted items, bookmarks, cards.

Thank you in advance for your support of our major school fundraiser!

Our next meeting to discuss the school fair is taking place on Wednesday 4th February at 2pm. Please join us to help plan and organise this event! (Or send through an email if you are keen to help but cannot attend the meeting).

Toast

Toast is available each morning from 8:30am until 8:45am for all students who would like some extra fuel before they begin the school day. Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers who prepare and serve the toast each morning and to those who collect the bread as well as top up the supplies!

If you are available and would like to join the roster this year, please let me know via email or you can pass your name onto Krystal in the office.

THANK YOU to Castlemaine Fresh, our local fruit and vegetable store, who has kindly agreed to donate a bag of fresh fruit per week to our school. We wanted to add some fresh chopped fruit to our breakfast on offer each morning for our students to enjoy! Some will also be available if needed, for those students who require it during the school day, particularly at fruit snack time in the mornings.

Sushi Lunch Orders

Every Friday, students have the opportunity to have a sushi lunch order provided by Lunch Box Sushi Castlemaine. If you would like to organise this for your child/ren, please jump online to School lunch online to organise ordering. Orders need to be placed prior to 5pm each Thursday afternoon.

Second Hand Uniforms

Second hand uniforms are available from the school office should you require any. Please also donate any uniform items you may no longer need for others to use. Thank you! (New uniform items can be purchased from Hip Pocket Castlemaine).

Sensory Garden

A huge thank you to all those families who were involved in this project last year. We appreciate your ideas, time, labour, donations of materials and effort to bring this project to life! Students really enjoy playing in this uplifted space.

Final sensory engaging accessories and finishing touches will be added this term, including a mud kitchen and play materials, chalkboard and musical instruments. If you would like to assist with any donations of materials or labour to help install these items, please send through an email or let us know…THANK YOU! As they say, many hands make light work!

St Mary’s Parents and Carers Catch Up

Each term parents and carers in our community have an opportunity to connect. Stay tuned for our first catch up this term!

Parents of St Mary's Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/14Fws3874w/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Clare Grainger

P&F Committee President

c-majella@hotmail.com

St Mary's School, Castlemaine

Respect, Resilience, Responsibility

Term 1 Week 1 · 30 Jan 2026

In this issue