From the Principal...

2024 Annual Report to the School Community. 

The Annual Report to the School Community highlights the achievements and progress made throughout the 2024 school year, framed around the five key spheres of our School Improvement Plan: Education in Faith, Learning and Teaching, Student Wellbeing, School Community, and Leadership and Management.

In addition to celebrating our successes, the report identifies key areas for growth that will shape our focus moving forward.

The report provides a reflective overview of the previous school year and our continued commitment to improvement. We are proud of all that has been accomplished in 2024 and invite you to explore the full report.

To access the 2024 Annual Report to the School Community, see the link below or visit our school website.

A message from the School Advisory Council (SAC)

Prepared by Ryan Fort - SAC Chair.

Last night, the School Advisory Council (SAC) held our second meeting for 2025, building on the momentum from our initial meeting held in May. We had several productive discussions across a range of topics, all aimed at creating positive impact to our school community, setting clear objectives, identifying key challenges and developing strategies to overcome them.

While we have a number of initiatives we’d like to pursue, we have agreed to focus our efforts on three key areas. To support these initiatives, we will be forming subcommittees:

• Enrolment Strategy – evaluating the current enrolment trends and, developing our schools value proposition
• Uniform (Sports) – exploring the redesign of the current sports polo
• Additional Revenue – diversifying the school`s income streams

To ensure we achieve the best outcomes for our school, we’re inviting members of the school community to join these subcommittees.  Ensuring that we capture balanced views and, perspectives, we recognise that parents and guardians possess a wide range of diverse and transferable skills, honed through the unique challenges and opportunities of raising children, combined with lived experience and, professional qualifications.

Each subcommittee will require varying levels of commitment and involvement. Over time, we’ll continue to introduce additional subcommittees as new focus areas emerge, and we would be delighted to welcome anyone interested in participating in the development and implementation of these strategies.

If you're interested in contributing and being involved in this innovative, collaborate and, future focused work we would love to hear from you. Please reach out to me or, any of the SAC members.

I’d also like to take a moment to thank the many local businesses in the Preston, Northcote and Thornbury areas who have kindly displayed our enrolment posters. It’s fantastic to see the St Mary’s brand in the community and please consider supporting these businesses in return.

If you are a business owner or, an employee of a business, that would be happy to promote our vibrant school community via an enrolment display poster or board, please contact reception or, one of your SAC members.

A special thank you goes to the SAC members who made this possible within just 48 hours — a great team effort.

I will continue to provide updates throughout the year and please feel free to approach any of the SAC members to join one of our subcommittees.

Just a reminder the SAC members are

Mary Kearney                                                          Amanda Gill

Ryan Fort (Mia G1)                                                 Rachel Hurstfield (Franklin G1)

Emily Fraresso (Frankie P)                                   Malissa Kardamiliotis (Ruby G6 & Alex G3)

Paul Harris (Daisy G5 & Chloe G1)                    Natasha Ralston (Paige G5)

Linda Marson (Percy G3 & Flecther G5)          Fr Shabin  

Regards

Ryan Fort, Chair

School Fees...

We kindly remind all families to ensure that school fees are up to date.  Prompt payment of school fees plays a vital role in supporting the continued delivery of high-quality education, resources, and services for all students.

Statements were issued last week for your reference. If you have any questions regarding your account or require assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact Loretta, who will be happy to help.

We appreciate your attention to this matter and thank you for your ongoing support.

End of Term Market

Thank you to our Middle Community - teachers, students and parents - for hosting our second End of Term Market yesterday.

Our Markets are a lovely way to wap up a term and to gather together - albeit for a short period of time!

HUGE THANK YOU  to all who assited.

Semester One Reports

In the last newsletter I incorrectly stated that Semester One reports would be going live on Monday June 30.  The correct date it Tuesday July 01.

I also explained some changes to the reporting in Mathematics in the last newsletter.  If you have any questions about these changes please ask your child's classroom teacher at the upcoming Student Led Conferences.

Student-Led Conferences will be held on:

* Wednesday July 2 from 1:00pm - 6:00pm

* Thursday July 3 from 3:45pm-6:30pm

A Wellbeing Message from Ms Tania

This term all classes have participated in the Darebin Council WOW program.  The 9 week program has encouraged us to walk or wheel to school to promote exercise, sustainability and good practices for the environment. 

We are proud to present the GOLDEN BOOT AWARD to the class who has walked and wheeled the most.  The spreadsheet used to collect data took into consideration the amount of people in each class.

It was a very close finish.  

In 3rd place…  5-6B 

In 2nd Place…  GRADE 2 

Our WINNERS in 1st place - Congratulations 5/6A.  

They will also receive a pizza lunch courtesy of the Darebin council early in Term 3.

Please see the Wellbeing section of this newsletter for information about our Child Safety Standards

END OF TERM TWO!!

As we wrap up another term at St Mary’s,  I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our incredible staff for their commitment, creativity and care. Your collective genius makes St Mary’s a truly vibrant place to learn and grow, and this term has been filled with rich, engaging learning experiences because of you.

To our families – thank you for your ongoing support and partnership. Your involvement makes such a difference in the lives of our students.

And finally, to our students – thank you for your energy, curiosity, kindness and enthusiasm. You are the heart of our school, and we’re so proud of everything you’ve achieved this term.

Term 2 concludes on Friday, July 04.  Children will be dismissed at 1:00pm.  

Term 3 commences on Monday July 21

See the Community News section of this newsletter for information on... 

* Carlton Football Club's offer to provide two free tickets to all families for their upcoming match against North Melbourne, Round 15 at the MCG, Saturday June 21st (starting at 1:20 pm).

* A survey on Traffic Safety in Thornbury