A message from Denis

Dear Parents and Carers,

Term 4 is busily moving along with our teachers working hard to finalise assessments and write semester 2 reports for our students.  Term 4 is always a busy time in schools, keeping one eye on 2024 and ensuring the best possible completion to what has been a great 2023.

As I look back on my first year of principalship at St Mary’s I am proud of what our staff has been able to achieve together for your children.  It has been a busy and change-filled year where we have worked dedicatedly to improve our teaching, our structures and our processes to make St Mary’s the best possible learning environment for our students.  I am pleased with the progress and foundation we have laid and am excited for what we can bring in 2024 and beyond to St Mary’s.  Watch this space.

Jerusalem

This week I am writing to you about a very special and sacred place: Jerusalem.  It is an incredible melting pot of a city with numerous cultures and religious all living adjacent to one another and rarely crossing over.  

We had the priveledge of staying within in the Old City walls, our surroundings were something out of a movie.  Giant stone walls and gates from thousands of years ago, cobblestone paths, narrow laneways that were once Roman marketplaces and steep staircases leading off in every direction.  Perhaps telling of the violence to ensue, the night before our arrival, a young Palestinian had attacked and stabbed a number of Jewish settlers 50 metres from our hotel.  The following evening, there were reporters and cameras filming from the spot.

Jerusalem is an extremely sacred place for the three monotheistic religions.  All three have highly sacred places for each religion not 200 metres from each other.

The Jewish people have the Western Wall, an architectural relic from the second temple, a piece of the most holy place in Jewish religious lore.  We had the fortune of visiting there and following tradition, I placed a prayer for the St Mary’s community in the ancient cracks of the wall.  The Jewish people’s faith was touching to see, they wholly commit themselves to their religion and to their God unwaveringly.

The Islamic people have the Al Aqsa mosque.  An architecturally beautiful, mosaic covered building.  It is here that Palestinian people gathered and protested in their thousands following the onset of the ongoing conflict.  It is also the place that Muslims believe Mohammed ascended to heaven from.  Following Islamic hospitality traditions, there are cold water drinking fountains surrounding the mosque for visitors to ensure they are hydrated in the Jerusalem sun.

Christians have the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built upon where Jesus was crucified.  This place is divided up by a number of Christian religious orders who guard their own piece of it carefully.  When we visited, it was packed full of enthusiastic tourists in the 38 degree weather.  A grand church is built around Jesus' tomb where visitors can attend and touch the place where Jesus was laid to rest.

Jerusalem was a fascinating place, a place of not extreme contrast, ancient beauty and a feeling of tenseness that permeated the place.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have visited the city which holds such significance for a number of the great religions of our world.

Grandparents and Special Persons

A highlight of my last fortnight was most certainly having our grandparent community visit St Mary’s.  We were somewhat taken by surprise with a last minute surge in numbers of the weekend but thanks to our dedicated P&F committee, we were able to amply cater for our visitors on the day.  It was truly wonderful to see the smiles and appreciation on the faces of the hundreds of grandparents who attended St Mary’s, a small gift to give back to those who give so much for their families.

Thank you to Katie Peacock and Carmel Tabor for running the event and for all the other P&F members who assisted on the day.  Thank you also to Olivia Hodgetts for her organisation and planning with the teachers to make the experience a memorable one for our grandparents.

Book Fair

Thank you to Dot Crowley for organising and running a successful St Mary’s Book Fair.  Thank you to the parents, grandparents and friends who supported the initiative.  Few things give me greater joy than watching a child be immersed in a book.  I love chatting to children about what they are reading.  The ability to take yourself off to another world of adventure and wonder through the magic of pages in a book is one of the the great joys in life. 

Staffing 2024

As we are nearing the end of Term 4, staffing for 2024 is well underway and complete (at this stage!).  We look forward to welcoming back Jemma Keely and Vanessa Berryman from maternity leave in 2024 as classroom teache.  We welcome Nicki Kirevski to our classroom teaching staff and Daanja Rensen as our STEAM teacher for 2024. 

Chickenpox and illness at SMAV

Unusually, we had quite a number of cases of Chicken Pox reported in our community over the last number of weeks.  Chicken pox can pose significant challenges for members of our community who are immune compromised and for pregnant women.  Please be informed and watchful of any illness in your children and take appropriate steps to minimise potential harm to the community.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay connected,

Denis Johnstone

Principal