Welcome to the 2025 school year!

I hope everyone enjoyed the break and had some great fun with family and friends. We have had a smooth start to the school year, commencing with our assessment days and have welcomed approximately 70 new students to our school in foundation and other levels. Please join with us to make our new students and their families feel very welcome in our school. You will receive some feedback about the assessments at our beginning of the year parent-teacher interviews that will be held in a couple of weeks. Please see the information below.

We have a busy term of learning and some wonderful events planned so please read the newsletter each fortnight to make sure you are aware of all that is going on at St Mark's. The "Dates to Remember" page is very important for your forward planning.

Parent-Teacher Interviews:

Please make sure you have booked a time to see your child/ren's teacher on either the 18th or 19th February between 1.45 - 6.00 p.m. At this meeting the teachers will be sharing some information about school and level routines and expectations and some information about the assessments that have just been undertaken. They will also ask you to share some information about your child that you feel is important for his/her teacher to know. On both Tuesday 18th and Wednesday 19th February school finishes for students at 1.00 p.m. to allow time for teachers to eat their lunch and be ready to start interviews at 1.45 p.m.

Specialist staff and intervention teachers will also be available to chat with you in the library if you would like to see any of them. It is a great opportunity to meet your child's specialist teachers and introduce yourself or to seek information from intervention teachers that may be working with your child in small group settings. There is no need to make a booking to see these staff members, just make your way to the library and parents will be seen on a first come - first served basis. Please see the interview booking form for which teachers will be available on each afternoon.

Sports Uniform:

Over the next couple of years we will be phasing out the solid green sports polos and only having one sports top for all levels. The sports top that all students will wear is the polo top with the St Mark's lion on it, that the 5/6 students currently wear for interschool sport. We were finding that for some sporting events the 3/4 children also needed to wear the "interschool sport top" and they did not have it and it is also an additional expense for our Year 5/6 families that is not necessary - one sport top is plenty. Both the current green sports polos and the St Mark's lion sports polo are acceptable wear for PE days for all students. Year 5/6 students are still required to wear the St Mark's lion interschool sports top on interschool sport days. Once we are further underway with the roll out of the new sports top we will set a date where students can no longer wear the green polo - but that will be quite some time away so please do not worry.

Beginning of the Year Mass:

Everyone is very welcome to join us for our Beginning of the School Year Mass on Friday 7th February at 2.10 p.m. in the St Mark's church.

St Mark's Village Market:

A wonderful team of our St Mark's Parents' Association have been working very hard all through the holidays and over the last couple of weeks to prepare for our very first St Mark's Village Market, which will be held at St Mark's school on Saturday 8th February from 10.00 a.m. - 2.00 p.m. It is not too late to put your name down to help on the day with some very simple tasks such as patrolling the school grounds, emptying bins or helping with parking. We would really love to have lots of helpers to ensure everyone can have some time to enjoy the stalls as well as offer an hour or two to fill the needed roles. I am looking forward to a great day and hope to see lots and lots of our school families come along and support the event.

Parents' Association AGM:

We will be holding our Parents' Association AGM on Tuesday 11th February at 7.30 p.m. in the Library. We would love to see some new faces to join our wonderful PA and support the events the PA organise for our students and families. These wonderful activities help to build our school community and bring people together, which is so very important in our world today. Research tells us that our children do better at school when their families are involved in school life - so please come along and support the work of the PA and at the same time support your child to get the very best out of his/her educational opportunities.

School Photos:

School photos will be taken on Thursday 20th February commencing at 8.50 a.m. Please ensure your child is at school on time so as not to miss their class photo. All students need to wear their full summer school uniform with black school shoes (NOT BLACK RUNNERS). Year 1/2s who have sport on Thursday may bring their runners to school to change into for their sports lesson - they do not need to change their clothes for sport.

Welcome Picnic - Everyone is Welcome!!!

Please save the date for our beginning of the year "Welcome Picnic" on Tuesday 25th February from 5.30 - 7.30 p.m. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet your child's classmates and their families and have a chat with your child's teacher and the staff of St Mark's. We would love to welcome as many of our families as we possibly can and hope to see you all at the picnic.

Congratulations to our Year 6 Leaders for2025:

STUDENT LEADERS 2025

School Captains	Leo M Elena V
Social Justice Captains	Zara D Georgia M
Sustainability Captains	Edwina H Oliver W
Sports Captains	Max P Rhiannon H
Performing Arts Captains	Alannah V Oscar B
Technology Captains	Cynthia L Conor A
Buddy Captains	Lakhi Barth T Isabelle S Hannah H
Francis Captains	Rosaline L Zane G
Kolbe Captains	Luke M Bronx S
Clare Captains	Natalie K Alan W
Brigid Captains	George M Jack H
FIRE Carrier Captains - (Year 5)	TBC
Stand Up Leaders - (Year 5 & 6)	TBC

Congratulations Aaron!

Aaron won a tennis competition at the end of 2024 and was presented with his award by Craig Tilley - CEO of Tennis Australia.

Well done Aaron.

Library News: