All are welcome to join our school P&F Committee. If you would like to be involved this year, come along to our next meeting of 2026. This will be held on Wednesday 18th 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 that 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.

This term students will have the opportunity to enjoy a salad roll, wrap or bowl! This will include the choice of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, cheese, egg, ham and mayonnaise.

Students will come down to the canteen in grade groups with their teacher prior to second break time to order and enjoy their lunch – a nice opportunity to have a picnic lunch together outside as a whole school!

If you are available from 12:15pm on this day and able to assist with the preparation and serving of this lunch, please let us know. Thank you!

Date: Wednesday 18th March

Bring along: A gold coin donation for lunch and a reusable bowl (& spoon) or plate/container for your lunch.

Please note – if your child would prefer not to have this lunch, they can bring along their own packed lunch as per usual.

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

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

Planning and organisation for this event is well underway.

A huge THANK YOU to local real estate agency PRD who are sponsoring all of our major attractions at the fair. We are so appreciative of your generous support of our school!

If you would like to join the St Mary’s Community School 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.

An updated Stall Form has been sent home this week (containing all class stalls) – please return this as soon as possible to help with planning and organisation. THANK YOU for your support! If you have already returned the first stall form, you do not need to return this updated stall form unless of course you would like to offer additional support now that we have finalised stalls.

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

Grade F/1 Mystery Number Jars Stall – Jars of different sizes, items to go in jars for example wrapped lollies, lego, stickers, beads for jewellery making, chocolates, easter eggs, stationary. This will be a guess the number in the jar activity stall with the correct guess/closest guess winning the jar!

Grade 2/3/4 Ice Cream Stall – Ice cream tubs, cones, toppings, sprinkles, lollies, m&m’s or smarties, mini flake bars, serviettes.

Grade 5/6 Face Painting, Temporary Tattoo and Lucky Dip Stall – face paint, stencils, temporary tattoos, lucky dip items eg, stationary, fidgets, card games, key rings etc.

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

Adopt a Pet Stall - 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, gardening items (and hamper baskets!). Items will be made into hampers to be raffled at the fair!

Craft Activity Table - jewellery making sets, scratch art.

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

Accessories Stall – jewellery or hair accessories.

Raffle – any vouchers or donations from any school family businesses which could form part of/a prize in our school fair raffle!

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 18th February at 2pm. Please join us to help plan and organise this event!

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. We require a Tuesday morning helper as well as an extra Monday helper and an extra Thursday helper…If you are able to assist, your support will be greatly appreciated and will enable our students to access this service each day of the week!

THANK YOU to Baker’s Delight, Castlemaine for donating bread each week!

THANK YOU also to Castlemaine Fresh, our local fruit and vegetable store, who donate a box of fresh fruit per week to our school. 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.

Easter Raffle

It is here again – our annual St Mary’s School Easter Raffle!

We are asking families, if they are able, to donate any Easter themed items, edible or non-edible, to be made into prizes for our raffle. These can include chocolate eggs, chocolate, mugs, stationary, plush toys etc and can be dropped off to the office – there is a basket for donations in the foyer. Thank you!

Raffle tickets will be sent home soon – please look out for these. These can be returned to the school office. If you require more, you may collect another booklet from the office.

This is a great mini school-based fundraiser and a fun and joyful way to finish the term – we aim to make up lots of prizes to spread the joy amongst our students!

Raffle Tickets Due to office: Friday 27th March 2026

Raffle Drawn: Wednesday 1st April (last day of term one for students)

*Wrapping of Prizes: Monday 30th March after morning drop off – please meet at the school office if you would like to help! Thank you!

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.

This term we have organised:

Date: Friday 6th March

Time: 6:30pm

Venue: Five Flags Hotel, Campbell’s Creek

RSVP: Clare c-majella@hotmail.com

Pop it on your calendar and join us for a catch up, a meal and/or a drink!

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

Issue 2 · 13 Feb 2026

In this issue