Dear Parents,

Last Wednesday we held our Year 6 Confirmation dinner in the Parish Activity Centre. A huge thanks to Natalie Dullard, David Worthington, James Corkhill, Lisa Galvin, Amanda Strickland and our three Year 5 helpers, Lexi, Olivia and Shalise, for supporting and leading such a wonderful night.

The focus on this dinner was to bring our Year 6 cohort together to ensure strong connections and a sense of belonging and this was just a brilliant night. We focused on the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit and taking action in our lives. It was so wonderful to see our families enjoying the night and learning all about the ways we can strengthen our lives through our gifts and fruits, with the Holy Spirit guiding us all.

We are continually looking at ways of shining our light and using our strengths in our daily lives. This comes from us all being the amazing St Mary's community, encouraging, motivating and lifting our students to great heights.

Together, we take every opportunity to celebrate when we see shining lights and examples of exemplary high standards of human behaviour in our school. Examples of this last week were little Maddy Dales and Jack Nissen being so proud of their Anzac Day sporting medals, our Confirmation night, Anzac Day and our little preppies just shining in their learning.

Let us continue to be a community that shows gratitude, celebrates and brings positivity to all. We are focusing on using the tool kit elements of using positive self talk and switching Head Hassler thoughts to Mind Master ones, so we can be motivated to achieve anything and solve whatever problems we face in a positive way.

Our whole school theme for week 3 is focused on building a sense of belonging and the strengths and importance of relationships. Please read the slide show below outlining all the important factors and research into why this is just so important in our school.

We thank all in our community who were able to attend the Anzac Day service in Hastings. This is a significant day in our school as we respect, revere and remember our Defence Force families who continue to serve our country today, along with the soldiers who did not return home. Thank you to Lisa Galvin and Saskia Kalkbrenner who supported our students on the day.

This week we highlight this weeks theme with the upcoming Mother's Day celebrations. Our mothers and special carers are always caring and nurturing every child in their care. We celebrate their importance in the development of children and we invite all of our community to the special Mother's Day celebrations both this week and next. On Friday 12th May, we have our Mother's Day Mass at 9.30am in the church. Following the Mass is our Mother's Day morning tea where we invite all our Mums, Grandmothers, Aunties and any special members of our community to a special event. Our student leaders will serve, we have a guest speaker and our school choir will be performing. Please remember to RSVP via Operoo. The Mother's Day stall is also on this day. Gifts range from $2 - $5. Raffle tickets are also available for $1 each.

Just a reminder that all students must be in full St Mary’s uniform every day. This includes shoes, socks, hair ties and coats. Uniforms are a great way to celebrate and belong in our school and it is most important that the uniform code is worn every day in the correct way. We do have some funds for shoes so please let me know if you need a hand to ensure your child is wearing the correct shoes.

Our school photos are this Wednesday. Students are to wear full winter uniform.

Boys Winter Uniform	Girls Winter Uniform
Grey Trousers	Grey Pinafore
Light blue school shirt	Light blue school shirt
Royal blue school woollen jumper	Royal blue school woollen jumper
Grey school socks (no ankle socks)	Grey school socks (no ankle socks)
Black leather school shoes (no runners)	Black leather school shoes (no runners)

Enrolments are open for 2023. Please promote our wonderful school to anyone in our community. We have our Open Day on Friday 19th May, so please pass the invite on. There are flyers being sent home soon and if you can distribute any flyers in our community please let us know.

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

Indigenous Perspective