Setup for Success birth to five milangkani program

Get Setup for Success with the St Mary's College milangkani program!

Join us for our first-ever birth to five program, launching on Monday 17 August. Early-childhood teacher, Meg Kitchen will provide a variety of play-based educational activities to engage your child's learning and curiosity in all areas of development.

All families in the greater community with children aged between birth and five years are warmly welcome to attend each Monday during term time. Learn more on our website and pre-register here.

COVID-19 updates

Thank you for your ongoing support of the arrangements around COVID-19 and access to school. Term 3 guidelines from Catholic Education Tasmania remain unchanged and they are summarised below.

Hygiene procedures

While COVID-19 restrictions in Tasmania have eased, our College community is reminded to stay vigilant and continue practising good hygiene at all times.

This means washing hands regularly with soap and warm water, where possible, and using hand sanitiser when entering and exiting the College grounds (hand sanitising stations are available at each entry point for your convenience).

Parents onsite

There is no change to any of these arrangements for the day to day drop-off and pick-up. It is an expectation that we minimise interaction between students and adults within the school grounds and school entry points. This includes restricting adult access to the grounds during the school day, maintaining physical distancing and minimising clustering around school gates. Please visit our website for a refresher on our pick-up and drop-off arrangements.

College events and activities

Term 3 has seen the re-commencement of assemblies, masses and liturgies, sports carnivals, choir and performing arts, day excursions and other normal inter-school events and activities. Parents and carers, however, are not able to attend large indoor gatherings. Unfortunately, activities and events including Grandparents' Day, the Father's Day Breakfast, school camps, and interstate and overseas travel are still out of bounds.

Sick children

If your child is unwell, it is important that they stay at home and away from others. If a teacher determines a child is sick, they will be directed to Student Services, where they will (very kindly and pastorally) be instructed to put on a face mask, be quarantined, and you will be asked to collect them immediately.

Traffic and parking safety reminder

We hold the safety of our students with the utmost importance and wish to remind families to please use the St Mary's College designated Kiss and Go zone on Harrington Street (pictured below), and also Brisbane Street and surrounding streets, for drop-off and pick-up.

Please do not park in the Cathedral car park. This belongs to the Cathedral and is for Cathedral patrons only.

We are also very conscious of the safety concerns for students walking through what is currently the St Virgil's College construction site access area, which has trucks and heavy-duty vehicles that require clear access.

As an inner-city school, limited parking always poses a safety issue. We have developed an overview brochure that will help you and your family keep safe around the College. The brochure will be shared with families soon. This document includes useful information and guidance on traffic, road, parking and drop-off/pick-up safety.

We have been advised by City of Hobart that they will be closely monitoring the surrounding streets, including the bus zone, in the coming days.

We thank you for your support in this matter.

Formal uniform

A reminder to all students and families that the College's formal uniform should now be worn by all students in Year 3-12, except on days when the sports uniform is required.

For uniform enquiries, please contact the Midford Uniform Shop Supervisor, Margaret Illias on 6108 2572 or st.marys@midford.com.au.

The Uniform Shop is open Tuesday and Thursday from 8.00am-4.00pm. Orders can also be made online via this link.

Parents, have you had your say?

Thank you to all parents and carers who have so far completed our Parent Opinion survey, which was emailed to you last week. This is your chance to have a say on what we are doing well as a College and what needs improvement.

If you haven't yet completed the survey, we would greatly appreciate it if you could take 10 minutes out of your day to do so, by clicking on this link. All responses will be kept confidential and anonymous.

School Census collection

The Australian Government provides funding to Australian schools under the Australian Education Act 2013 (AE Act). The AE Act and the associated Australian Education Regulation 2013 (the AE Regulation) require that a school authority provides the Australian Government with certain information about the school, its staff, and student body to ensure the school’s funding is properly calculated and appropriately managed. This information is collected by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (the department) on behalf of the Australian Government.

Please find further information regarding the 2020 Non-Government School Census collection in SEQTA documents here.

Important upcoming dates