Newsletter 2025 Term 3 Week 7
PRINCIPAL NEWS - Mr Peter Hughes
This week I would like to remind parents of their obligations under NSW Law and Catholic Education attendance policies when withdrawing children from school for any period of time.
This advice deals with families who decide to withdraw their children for any length of time, usually with the intention to travel rather than the illness of a child. Parents of children that are ill simply need to continue the current practice of advising the school of their child’s absence via Compass.
The following extracts come from the Catholic Education Attendance Policy.
- Parents/carers must notify the school of planned absences of up to 25 school days in a 12- month period (including 25 part days) in writing, including the reason for the absence.
- Planned absences of more than 25 days in a 12-month period, other than sick leave, have additional requirements and parents/carers must apply in advance for extended leave or exemption. The application and approval process complies with strict requirements of the NSW and ACT governments.
- The ACT and NSW governments recognise there are circumstances where students may be granted extended leave from school, or an exemption from the requirements to be enrolled at school or to attend full time.
- Planned absences of more than 25 school days (including 25 part-days) in a twelve-month period for reasons other than sick leave require prior consideration and approval, or they will be considered unapproved/unjustified absences. This ensures extended absences do not breach legal obligations for students to attend school or undermine a student’s education.
If considering either extended leave or an exemption for 25 days or more, families must contact the school office to obtain the required paperwork which is then submitted to the school principal for approval. The principal can approve leave up to 100 days but any leave over 50 days must also be approved by Catholic Education.
It is not appropriate for families to contact the school while their child is on extended leave. In these instances the roll may be marked as ‘unjustified’.
This week I have written to a number of families where children have low attendance rates or where a child has been absent without an explanation. Below I have reproduced a table from the policy that outlines the various attendance rates.
Bookweek Activities
Bookweek culminated today after several weeks of engaging lead-in activities. Today’s Meerkats performance and the book character parade were a wonderful way to finish the week. I thank the parents for supporting this event by providing many wonderful costumes. I also thank the students and staff for entering into the spirit of the day and finally to Mrs Sullivan for all the hard work she has put into organising so many engaging events while in the library filling in for Mrs Murphy.
What a promotion of reading and good literature!
Father Day’s Breakfast
It was wonderful to see so many dads, grandads and significant males at our Father’s Day Breakfast. Thank you to all that helped with the BBQ and the raffle.
A special mention to Thompsons Rural Supplies who provided the major prize.
We’re excited to announce the winners of our Father’s Day raffle:
🎁 First Prize: Ozpig Series 2 Portable Wood Fire Stove – valued at $370, kindly donated by Thompsons Rural Supplies
Paul O’Connor
🛠️ $50 Bunnings Voucher Donated by Mr Hughes
Sid Deasey
🥩 Meat Trays
Proudly provided by our Community Council
Will Sullivan & Renz Bassig
🧢 “Dad Bags”
Proudly provided by our Community Council
Andy McRae & Lucy Eastwood
Thank you to all our sponsors and supporters for helping make this raffle a success! 🙌
🎒✨ Kindy-Set-Go – Session #1 🎒✨
This week we welcomed our Kindergarten Class of 2026 for their very first Kindy-Set-Go session!
The children settled in beautifully with a story, followed by a fun activity, fruit break, and some outdoor playtime. 🌳📚🍎
We’re so excited to welcome them to the St Mary's School Community as they start their learning journeys.
AP NEWS - Mrs Katie Thompson
What is a S.T.O.P?
At our school, we understand that challenges, whether they happen in the classroom or on the playground, are part of learning and growing. When issues arise, we use a relational approach called Restorative Justice, which centres on helping students reflect, repair relationships, and learn from their experiences.
We guide students through a process called STOP:
Stop, Think, Options, Practice.
This framework encourages students to pause and consider what happened, how it affected others, and what steps they can take to make things right. It is not about punishment, or “being in trouble” but rather, it is about building understanding, taking responsibility for the consequences of our actions, and restoring trust.
Through a series of reflective questions, students explore:
- What happened and how they responded,
- Who was affected and in what ways,
- What needs to be done to repair the harm,
- And how they might respond differently in the future.
In Kindergarten to Year 2, we use age-appropriate language such as A and B choices or good and bad choices, which aligns with the language used in their classrooms. This helps our youngest learners begin to understand the impact of their actions in a way that’s meaningful and accessible.
By focusing on relationships and reflection, we aim to create a safe, supportive environment where every student feels heard, valued, and empowered to grow.
Safe On Social - Kirra Pendergast
This week I received via my inbox a wonderful resource from Ctrl+Shft+Connect. This resource was designed by Kirra Pendergast and her team from Safe on Social. Recently they changed the company to Ctrl+Shft+Connect, as part of a broader evolution in its mission and approach to online safety education. It is a shift from simply raising awareness to actively leading cultural change, shaping legally defensible policies, and preparing organisations, including schools, for future challenges in the digital space.
The resource is called, A Parent Carer Guide to the Australian 16+ Age Delay and it is an excellent document to support your parenting in the digital space, which has been described as “like trying to build a fence around a cyclone!” This new legal shift to delay social media access until age 16 is not a critique of parenting but an infrastructure upgrade. From 10 December 2025, the Australian Government will require social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent anyone under 16 from creating or keeping an account. Not as punishment. Not to control, but to create a buffer, a developmental pause, in a system that has, until now, let children be shaped by digital forces far more powerful than most adults realise.
I hope you find this useful and supportive in conversations with your children, whether primary or secondary school aged.
RE NEWS - Ms Jillian Murray
Whole School Mass
Next week on Tuesday 9th September, St. Mary’s will join Hennessy Catholic College in celebrating the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We will be celebrating this special whole school mass at St. Mary’s Church, 9 am.
All students will need to be dropped off to the Parish Centre by 8:50 (before mass begins) to meet their teacher and have their name marked on the roll.
All buses will be dropping students straight to Hennessy bus stop, NOT St Mary's on Tuesday morning. Students will be supervised by St Mary's staff at the Hennessy bus stop and at the Parish Centre from 8:30 am.
Students will return to school with their class once our mass has concluded to continue with their regular school activities.
SPORTS NEWS - Mrs Leonne Challen
Boorowa Touch and Netball Carnival - Training for Netball
An opportunity for our Boorowa netballers - Mary Wright has kindly offered to conduct some training sessions with our three teams between now and the carnival in Week 2. The training will be here at St Mary’s from 3pm to 4pm. Mrs Wright will supervise the students from 3pm and they are welcome to bring training clothes to change into after school. Students can be collected from the basketball courts by parents at 4pm.
Archdiocesan Sport for 2026 - NOTIFICATION OF TRIAL DATES
Please note that some Archdiocesan Sporting trials for 2026 will occur this year in Term 4. These trials will be open for students who will be in Year 5 & 6 in 2026. Registrations will be via the Canberra-Goulburn Sports Webpage.
2026 Cricket - to be held in Queanbeyan on Friday 31st October 2025. Registrations are open now and will close on Friday 24th October.
2025 Tennis - to be held in Belconnen on Friday 21st November. Registrations open soon.
2025 Basketball - to be held in Belconnen on Friday 21st November. Registrations open soon.
Links for the Canberra-Goulburn Sports Webpage:
LIBRARY NEWS - Mrs Sarah Sullivan
Book Week 2025… what an Adventure!
We have had quite the adventure in the Library this week!
Thank you to all the children for the fun, the smiles, the character hunts, the extra fun in the Library, the effort they put into their costumes and their joy of “Book An Adventure” this week!
We searched on the playground for our “Character Hunts”, and the prizes were quickly snapped up each day. We made paper flowers for our Meerkat Performance which made our corridors look like a spring garden. We created artworks based on the shortlisted books and decorated our Library and hallways with everything from buses to turtles to dinosaurs! We watched the Meerkat Performance based on the book “The Garden of Broken Things”. We had the opportunity to watch the amazing Oscar award winning, Year 5/6 students performing their favourite books. Every recess we had fun Book Week activities in the Library and read all the books we love! We solved emoji problems, guess the characters and I Spy pages!
The week was just fun, fun, fun!
Thank you to the wonderful staff who embraced all things Book Week and assisted in a variety of ways. Thank you to the parents for helping the children with their book character costumes. A very BIG thank you to the children for joining in on the Book Week Adventure in the Library!
Book Week Class Art
Book Character Parade
Stage 3
Stage 2
Stage 1
Kindergarten
CANTEEN NEWS - Mrs Jennifer Harden
Hot Lunch Tuesday 9, September
Sloppy Joes with potato gems and veggie sticks
$6.50
Hot Lunch Tuesday 16, September
Hot Lunch Leftovers
This will be our last hot lunch for the year and will include individual portions of some of previous meals.
Thursday 25, September
Last day of the term Meal Deal
Meal to be determined and flyer sent home as we get a little closer.
Volunteers Needed
I am looking for volunteers on Monday’s and Tuesday’s each week. Also Thursday 25/9 for the MEAL DEAL DAY.
Feel free to reach out via my email Jennifer.vorvis@cg.catholic.edu.au or phone 0428 115 296
Every little bit helps even if it’s only an hour or so.
FATHER'S DAY CELEBRATIONS 2025
COMMUNITY COUNCIL NEWS
