Laudato Si'

Inspired By Faith News

End of Year Mass and Prep Nativity

It was wonderful to see so many families at our End of Year Mass and Prep Nativity last Friday. The Mass was such a special faith-filled celebration of all we have shared in 2024.

Together we prayed for all those who are moving on from St Mary's at the end of 2024, especially our amazing Grade 6 students. We farewelled and expressed our love and gratitude to our amazing principal Mrs Espenschied, as well as Mrs Snooks, Mrs Benoiton, Mrs McMahon and Mr Beech.  For their amazing contributions, dedication and commitment to our St Mary’s community and asked for blessings on their journey forward.

Our Prep Students were inspiring in their retelling of the birth of Jesus. Each of the students had an important role to play and did the most fantastic job rehearsing. We hope everyone loved the Nativity as much as the Preps did. 

Mini Vinnie's Update with Grade 6 leaders Evan and Riley

Evan: On Monday 2nd December we had our final Western Port Mini Vinnie's Project meeting for the year. St Mary's hosted the Mini Vinnie’s staff and students from St Brendan’s and St Joseph’s, along with St Vincent de Paul Volunteers.

Riley: We want to say a big thank you for the support of the St Mary's community towards the appeal. Because of the incredible generosity of the 3 Western Port Parish primary schools we were able to pack 80 Christmas hampers! This is an amazing effort. 

Evan: The St Vincent de Paul volunteers will now deliver the Christmas hampers to people in need in our community. This is a wonderful example of the way we are an example of Jesus’ love at St Mary’s.

Riley: We have loved the amazing leadership opportunities we have had as Mini Vinnie’s this year. Being a Mini Vinnie’s leader is an honour. You get to meet students from other schools and work together for the Common Good, for a range of projects. We are excited to find out who will be our Mini Vinnies leaders next year! Good luck to all the students in 2025.

Sustainability News

DRI 'i sea, i care' Term 4 Excursion

Our DRI 'i sea i care' ambassadors had a great finish to the year at their coastal excursion at Jacks Beach, Bittern. Skyla from Living Culture wowed us with stories and ancient artefacts from our rich indigenous history and we all had a blast learning how to make fire and throw a spear. We enjoyed our walk and talk with the rangers from NatureLinks learning about the flora and fauna and some of the issues our beautiful native creatures face in this area. We finished off with a fun climate change game, a special afternoon tea and presentations of certificates.

Our ambassadors recently presented to the Grade 3s about the highlights of the program and how much fun they have had throughout the year and explained what they could do to apply for the position in 2025.