Principal's Update
Dear Parents and Carers,
On Tuesday we celebrated Shrove Tuesday, with all the children making their own mixtures and enjoying lovely pancakes cooked in the classrooms.
Yesterday our children in Grades 3-6 attended Mass for Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent, and the junior students participated in a special prayer service where they received the Ash Wednesday ashes.
A Lenten Reflection
Jesus,
You placed great value on acting with integrity. Your justice was applied to all, irrespective of who they were and what they did. Everything you did was out of love.
As a community, we seek your guidance to make good life-choices. When we are tempted to fall short of the mark, prop us up. As we continue on in our Lenten journey, lead us to that place that will give us happiness in what we say and do. Make us strong to make the right choices and to love as you loved others.
Beginning of the Year Mass
A reminder to all parents that our beginning of the year Mass will be held next Thursday at 10am. At this Mass we will celebrate the beginning of a new school year. I encourage all families to attend to help make this a special occasion for our school community.
Prep Tours
Already I have begun meeting with prospective 2024 Prep parents. It has been wonderful to meet them and take them on a tour of our beautiful school. If you know of any families who are considering enrolling their children at St. Mary’s, please encourage them to make contact with the office, as doing tours early helps to alleviate the rush in the middle of the year.
ECSI Survey
In the coming days parents from selected year levels will be asked to complete an ECSI (Enhancing Catholic School Identity) survey. This is an online survey that is completed every 3 years by staff, students and parents in all schools in our diocese. It provides schools with valuable information and feedback about their Catholic identity, giving them future direction as they plan for this most important part of the life and ethos of our Catholic schools. Instructions will be sent via email. Once you have logged in you will be given your own user ID and password, please record this so that you can do the survey in more than 1 sitting if required. The survey takes approximately 45 minutes. I know we are all very busy, but your participation would be greatly appreciated.
Student Information Form / Open Classrooms
A form has been sent home to parents requesting transition information for classroom teachers on personal traits and how your child(ren) have settled into their new classroom environment. On Friday March 3rd all parents are invited to visit their children’s classrooms from 2.15-3.15. The information form can be handed in on this day, if not before. If you wish to discuss matters further, there will be an option on the form to request to meet in person or have a phone conversation with your child’s teacher.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Michael Mahoney
(Principal)