From the Principal

Mrs Belinda Burton

Week 4 Newsletter

Welcome to Week 4 Term 3

Please remember our Term 3 PUPIL FREE DAY - 28th AUGUST

A date has been set for our Term 3, Staff RE PD Day. It is Monday 28th August. This will be a Pupil Free Day. The staff will all be off site, the school will be closed for the day.

Please put this date in your calendar and make arrangements for your child/children.

SAVE THE DATE FRIDAY 25TH AUGUST Book Week Parade & Grandparents Day

Friday 25th August.

9:30-10:45am - Classroom visits & Library visit

10:45am - Morning Tea

11:15am - Book Parade

12:00pm - Percussion, String, Band Perform

12:30pm - Choirs Perform

WELCOME

We welcome to St Mary's Ruby & Stanley Napper (Year 6), Philomena Smith (Year 1), Evita Smith (Year 4) and Raphael Smith (Year 6) .

We hope they enjoy being part of our school community.

P & F Items

Trivia Night

Thank you to the P & F for organising the Trivia Night this Saturday night. I am looking forward to the Round of questions written by the children.

Pie & Lamington Fundraiser

Also a big THANK YOU to the P & F for the Pie & Lamington Drive. Collection day today!

Fete Date Set 4th November 2023

Please come along to the Fete Meeting Monday 14th August 5:30pm in the Staff Room

Armidale Diocese Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Education Conference Committee Visit

On Thursday 3rd August the Conference Committee members visited St Mary's. A group of our Aboriginal students welcomed them and thanked them for coming to our school.

100 Days in Kindergarten

What a wonderful day Kindergarten 100 Days, the children were so cute all dressed up along with their teachers. Keep up the great work Kinder!

Let's Hang It 29th July - Pippi Hoy

Friday evening I was very fortunate to attend the 2023 UNESAP Let’s Hang It Competition Finalists Exhibition Opening and Award Ceremony. Pippi Hoy's artwork was selected as a finalist in the Infants Section of this competition. This was acknowledged as each participant received an award for making the finals as well as their artworks being part of this exhibition open to the public until the 13th of August. Congratulations Pippi on this excellent achievement.

Pride in Uniforms and Appearance

This term, I have seen many students wearing our winter uniform with pride. Students are reminded that the presentation we hold ourselves in and the manner in which we act lifts our personal expectations and those that we have as a community at St Mary's.

Our morals and values are vital in how we act responsibly towards our peers, staff and parents of our School.

Let's continue to build and nurture a future of confident and proud individuals here at St Mary's who show pride in their school through their presentations, pride, actions and words.

2023 NAPLAN Reports Sent Home Wednesday for Year 3 & 5

Our school’s results are very pleasing, with a pleasing percentage of students in the top two proficiency levels.

In READING 70% were in the top two proficiency levels for Year 3 and in Year 5 READING 75% were in the top two proficiency levels.

In WRITING 81% were in the top two proficiency levels for Year 3 and in Year 5 WRITING 56% were in the top two proficiency levels.

In NUMERACY 67% were in the top two proficiency levels for Year 3 and in Year 5 NUMERACY 61% were in the top two proficiency levels.

2023 School Improvement Survey - August

Very soon, the annual satisfaction My School Survey of parents, students and staff will be conducted on behalf of all Catholic schools in the Diocese. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement. The surveys will be launched via email in August using the email addresses supplied to the school. We will send out a notification when the survey are sent & open.

Parent Teacher Interviews Term 3

Parents your classroom teachers will be offering you the opportunity to come and discuss your child's progress. A Compass notification will be sent via Compass with the times available for these appointments.

Parent Messages for Students during the Day

Please make sure where possible you phone the school by 2pm with any messages for students to be given before home time. This would be greatly appreciated so we have minimal interruptions in class time.