Dear Parents,

Last Friday, students in Years 3-6 participated in the St Mary’s swimming sports. The event was held at Crib Point Pool and it was an afternoon full of positivity, teamwork and students showing great stamina and persistence.

To see our kids all jumping into as many events as possible, encouraging and cheering each other on and putting all of their learning powers and tool kit into action was brilliant. What a great team spirit!

Many thanks to Lisa Galvin for her excellent organisation of the day, to Jason Beach for his wonderful entertainment and to all parents who were able to come along and assist on the day.

Thanks to Natalie Dullard for a beautiful Ash Wednesday liturgy for our junior students. It was an example of our faith in action in a contemporary, recontextualised way which was so meaningful to our students and provided a beautiful spiritual platform for our Lenten season.

Be Kind, Be you and follow Jesus - what a great message!

Congratulations to students who made their commitment to the Sacrament of Reconciliation at the Parish Mass on Ash Wednesday.

Lent is a time to grow, change, reflect and be the best people we can be. Lent is a season rich in symbol, reflection and significance, with almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Lent is a season of preparation; building up to the celebration of the Lord's resurrection at Easter. It is significant that we are asked to prepare through self reflection, self discipline and prayer. This is balanced with the service to others through almsgiving.

Thanks also to Matt Demarte for setting the scene with a magnificent Shrove Tuesday celebration of yummy pancakes and to the Social Justice team for leading both the Ash Wednesday liturgy and the pancakes.

Building community is at the heart of student learning and engagement. Students who feel a sense of belonging and connectedness to their community shine and flourish. The environment we create together in partnership provides strong messages to our students that they are important and belong to a positive, caring and brilliant place of learning, discovering and growing.

At St Mary’s, we have many ways parents can become involved in our wonderful school. This could be by joining the School Advisory Council, social and fundraising team, or maintenance and gardening team; or come into the learning communities and help students with their learning.

An Operoo note will be sent out this week with some great opportunities to become involved in our wonderful school.

Every minute a parent becomes involved, it sends a clear message to our students that their education is important and we have a wonderful community surrounding, supporting and helping each child to grow.

Research shows that contributing to one’s community and being of service to others builds a positive sense of wellbeing, so please come along and get involved in our wonderful school.

As the saying goes, “Alone we are strong, but together we are stronger!” highlighting the power of collaboration. We strongly believe in reaching out and working with others to strengthen our design here at St Mary’s. Whether this is as a system with Principal networks, leader networks or at professional development, collaborating with our Parish schools or working in partnership with local businesses and community groups, we learn and collaborate together to strengthen and develop our design within.

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

Elysium OSHC