Principal's News

We had a wonderful staff professional learning day on Faith Formation on Friday 6th March with Michael McGirr. Michael is the Mission Director at Caritas Australia and brought with him a wealth of information and wisdom that he shared with us. He explored with us the foundations of Catholic Social Teaching in so many practical ways and we engaged in a hope filled and positive learning process that helped us to further refine our own thinking, learning and teaching in regards to our Catholic faith.

NAPLAN is done and dusted for another year and I am sure many of our students are breathing a sigh of relief - as are our staff. We always remind our students that NAPLAN is one test on one day that is one measure of how they are progressing in certain areas of learning. We also know there are many other skills and talents that our students have that are not measured by NAPLAN and we always want to acknowledge and celebrate all areas of skill development.

Thanks to Mrs Bredin and Mr Davies for organising a lovely Harmony Day Celebration last Friday. It was lovely to see our children dressed in their traditional outfits and a splash of orange to acknowledge and celebrate the positive outcomes a diverse community can achieve by working together and celebrating each other's uniqueness.

On Saturday 14th March I attended Fr Thang's induction as the new Parish Priest of St Joseph's and St Mark's Parish. It was a lovely celebration with all groups from our community coming together to celebrate the feast day of St Joseph and to formally welcome and hand over the role of Parish Priest to Fr Thang. Thank-you to those St Mark's families who made themselves available to come along and support Fr Thang and welcome him to our community.

Please join us on Thursday 2nd April at 12.45 p.m. for our Holy Week/Easter Liturgy and end of term assembly. 

Term 1 ends at 1.30 p.m. on Thursday 2nd April. Term 2 commences on Monday 20th April at 8.50 a.m.

There are quite a few PA and school events coming up prior to the end of Term so please check the calendar to ensure you are aware of all that is happening in our community.

PA News:

It is wonderful to be able to share with you some updates to our PA and the welcoming of new members to our PA committee in some key roles. We warmly welcome Melissa Harder as the new President of the PA and Christina Panayi as the Vice President and also acknowledge and appreciate the ongoing work of Lauren, Joanne and Roslyn in their roles on the exec committee.

President - Mel Harder

Vice President - Christina Panayi

Secretary - Lauren Williams (continuing)

Treasurer - Joanne Papa (continuing)

Marketing - Roslyn (continuing)

We also need to say an enormous THANK-YOU to our outgoing office bearers Frank and Cassie who have held the key roles of President and Vice President for many years and worked tirelessly to support and bring together our St Mark's community. The wonderful thing is that both Cassie and Frank will continue to work with the PA to support Mel and Christina in their new roles and ensure a smooth transition. 

I urge everyone in our community to support the work of the PA and engage in upcoming events that are planned to elicit  ideas from the wider community to continue the great work of this committee.

Before School - Child Safety Routines:

At St Mark's we have many routines in place that help us to ensure our children are safe. Many of our routines rely on our parents and family members working with us to ensure the safety of all children. Please remember that our school does not open until 8.30 a.m. each morning. Children should not be left at the gates prior to 8.30 a.m. unattended. Once staff members come out to the Dimar Court and church gates to do before school duty at 8.30 a.m., children are then permitted to come into the school grounds and wait near their own classroom door where they can chat to their classmates prior to the doors opening. Year 5/6 students are asked to wait in the undercover area outside the 5/6 building. We need to be very clear that this is not a playing time. Children cannot play ball games or chasing games anywhere in the school at this time or be anywhere on any of the playgrounds. The time between 8.30 a.m. and 8.40 a.m. (when the class doors open), is a time for children to chat with their classmates without using play as the basis for the interaction. It is a different way of connecting and helps to ensure child safety whilst encouraging children to interact with classmates they may not have played with before, thus allowing new connections to grow and flourish, whilst being safe. We ask for the support of all parents/carers to implement our morning safety routines.

MACS Survey:

Families are invited to participate in a survey focused on school choice and their experience as a MACS family. It explores what influences families’ decisions, what they value most, and what supports satisfaction, belonging and confidence at different stages of schooling.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MACSFAMILY 

School Advisory Council

We are still looking for some new members for our School Advisory Council for 2026. The group will meet 6 more times this year on a Tuesday evening at 7.30 p.m. The role of the School Advisory Council, in keeping with the objectives of the MACS Constitution, is to provide a crucial point of connection between the wider school community, the parish and our school leaders. If you are interested in joining the group please contact Frances on 9262 2000 or email: principal@smdingley.catholic.edu.au 

Our next meeting will take place on Tuesday 19th May at 7.30 p.m. in the staffroom. This meeting will be our AGM.

2027 Enrolments and School Tour Dates:

If you have a child starting school in 2027 please do not delay in submitting your enrolment via our online system, accessible on our website. We have enrolments coming in thick and fast for 2027 and want to ensure we are well aware of all our current families who have children starting next year, before we offer places to new families.

Our school tour dates for 2026 have already been very popular and many of our school tour dates are almost full. Please share these dates with anyone you know who has a child starting prep in 2027 and invite them to book in for a tour by visiting our website.

19th March 9.15 a.m.

24th March 9.15 a.m.

28th April 9.15 a.m.

4th May 9.15 a.m.

14th May 9.15 a.m.