Pastoral Bulletin

News and Reminders from your Pastoral Leaders.

General School News

This week we recognise the National Day of Action Against Bullying with the theme ‘Growing Connections’. The College assembly and prayer will focus on identifying nasty, mean-spirited and at times bullying behaviour. It will also provide information on what a student should do if they experience, witness or are a bystander to this behaviour. An activity on growing connections will take place at St Mary’s Day with students making a commitment to strengthen and develop good community culture. This statement will be on display between B and D Block for the reminder of the term to remind students of their commitment. See below for additional information on the flyer.
St Mary’s Day will take place this Tuesday. This is a compulsory day of school celebrating all things St Mary’s with a Mass, School run activities and student concert. It is a wonderful day to celebrate St Mary’s spirit and community. All students are to wear their house uniform for the duration of the day. Should your child be absent from the College please follow normal processes for explanation.
Monday and Tuesday timetable will flip this week. Students will work from the Tuesday timetable on Monday.
Reaching the half-way point of the term it is important for students to review current study habits as we head into assessment. Students and families are encouraged to check the assessment calendars heading into the back end of the term to ensure deadlines are adhered to.

Leah McBryde

Assistant Principal, Junior Years (7 - 9) | lmcbryde@cns.catholic.edu.au

Justin Brennan

Acting Assistant Principal, Senior Years (10 -12) | jbrennan2@cns.catholic.edu.au

Year 7 Camp is this week! A reminder that students need to be at school at 6:30 am for roll marking, group allocation and a 7:00 am departure. A guide containing transport information and what to bring has been emailed to all for perusal.
The House Competition is really heating up as we hit the half-way mark. Murray House is still narrowly out in front. This week the competition takes a break for Year 7 Camp but will return in week 7.
Weeks 6 to 9 generally sees an increase in assessment such as assignments due for submission and exams set for completion. Please encourage students to use their diaries diligently during this period. Recording exam and assignment dates is going to be essential to managing student time and stress levels throughout this period.

Regards

Nathan Haydon

Head of Year 7

Congratulations to PG 8.4 & 8.5 who took out the inter house challenge this week, your prizes will be delivered during community PG on Wednesday. Murray house maintains the lead but strong showing from both Hutchy and Heavey closes the gap significantly.
We are fast approaching the term time when assessment is starting to be due. Now is the time to access the assessment calendar via the student portal and enter dates in your diary.

Regards

Andy Winter

Head of Year 8

We are fast approaching the drafting session. If students are having technical difficulties, they need to see the IT team before school or during lunch breaks.
This week PG 9.1 (Cahill House) and Mr Shirvington swept the floor in our Basketball shootout challenge. Will they get to keep this crown? Or will our other Houses rise to the challenge?

Regards

Saripha Curro

Head of Year 9

Community PG will be on Monday this week as we have our Week 6 Monday/Tuesday timetable swap. Please assemble as per normal in the Nazareth Pavilion.
Information and timelines for the Year 11 Mentors for 2024 will be outlined in the next week via email.
Another little treasure the Year 10s will explore this week to support the National Day Of Action Against Bullying is this meme published by Reader’s Digest.

Reader’s Digest. (2023). 20 Kindness Memes That Spread Kindness. https://www.rd.com/list/kindness-memes/

Regards

John Cahill

Head of Year 10

St Mary’s Day is upon us, what a fantastic way to celebrate our community! It is the one before last for our Year 11 students and I look forward to seeing everyone there!
In SEL, students discussed the concepts of kindness and empathy as well as created a random act of kindness calendar to actively support their peers, their family and their community. I would love to hear that your student offered to cook!
Assessment deadlines should be checked and exam revision should be underway. Students need to keep in mind their personal goals and ask for support when needed.
Please note students will need their House shirt on both Monday and Tuesday, and Community PG will be Wednesday only.

Regards

Sophie McQueen

Head of Year 11

A reminder that Celebration dinner tickets are due to be paid for by this Friday. Please ensure the relevant information is entered into the spreadsheet - the link for this is on the letter.
Students are reminded that they are expected to arrive at school on time and be in attendance until the end of the school day. This includes Tuesday. We will be spending much of our Tuesday sport time preparing for the celebration dinner so it is very important that students are not signing out and leaving early. Students not in attendance for these sessions without parental permission will receive an after school detention for truanting.
The school has received several complaints from the neighbourhood regarding illegal parking and dangerous driving by a number of our students. Students are asked to please be considerate of the neighbours and other road users and to drive with care.
Community PG will be held on Monday morning in the lecture theatre.

Regards

Lucy Fitzpatrick

Head of Year 12

lfitzpatri@cns.catholic.edu.au