Primary School News

Dear Parents/Carers,

Happy New Year and a warm welcome to the 2026 school year. My name is Paul Blinkhoff and it is my absolute pleasure to join the Marist community as the Assistant Head of College – Primary in 2026. I hope you all had a joyful and restful Christmas holiday break filled with quality time with loved ones and friends. As we begin our new school year, we are excited to have our students back in the Saint Marcellin Centre, ready to learn, grow and make new memories together.

The start of the year is always a special time, filled with anticipation and promise. For our returning families, welcome back to our school community. To those joining us for the first time, a warm welcome to our Marist family - we are thrilled to have you here and look forward to getting to know you all over the coming weeks and months.

It was wonderful to welcome the newest members of the Marist family to our New Student Orientation Day held today. Great to see uniforms pressed, haircuts neat and tidy and that sense of excitement and anticipation that the school year, and the Marist journey, is finally underway! Our dedicated staff are here to support every child, ensuring they feel safe, confident and ready to learn. Later this week, there will be an opportunity to meet your child’s teacher, so I would encourage you to attend on Thursday evening.

We also welcome a number of new staff to the Primary section of the College this year. A warm welcome to classroom teachers Manijeh Wood (5 Gold), Hugh Freese (5 Red), Paul Dwyer (5 White) and Deen Mewburn (6 Red). We also welcome our amazing new front office staff Elaine Gibbons (Mon/Tues) and Marie Bond (Wed-Fri), along with our Learning Support School Officer Debora Lopez Armas.

On behalf of all the Primary staff, a big welcome back and super excited to see what this year will bring.

Year 5 - P&F Welcome Function

Parents are invited to attend an information session to be held in each of the Year 5 classrooms on Thursday, 29 January 2026. This meeting is a chance for you to meet your son’s teacher and learn more about his classroom for the year ahead. It will be held in your son’s Primary classroom and will start at 6:00pm. At the conclusion of the Year 5 meetings, all parents are invited to the ground floor of the St Marcellin Centre where the P&F will host Year 5 parents for a Welcome to Marist function. This will start at 6:50pm and is a wonderful way for our newest parents in the College to meet other members of their cohort.

RSVP: 2026 Year 5 Parent Information Evening and P&F Welcome