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It is hard to believe that Term One is finishing and we are already one quarter of the way through the 2025 school year. It has been an exceptionally busy term with so many events, sports, activities and learning squeezed in.
Nathan Lyon visit to St Mary’s
The students had a wonderful time this morning welcoming back alma mater and cricketing great Nathan Lyon. Nathan was welcomed with a trip down memory lane, a PowerPoint presentation of his years from K-6.
- When Nathan was in 3/4 T, he wrote that “I’d like to be a famous sportsperson”!!!
- Nathan was a keen soccer and cricket player representing the Canberra Goulburn region and went on to represent MacKillop in cricket.
- In 1999 he was St Mary’s School-Vice Captain.
There were a fantastic array of interesting questions from the students, but the highlight was his key message in one particular answer. Nathan explained that it is OK to fail and he had experienced more bad days than good in his cricketing career but made sure that he learned from his mistakes. Nathan views failure as a learning opportunity. What fantastic resilience, a great growth mindset, and a wonderful message for our students. THANK YOU Nathan for taking the time to visit and share your experiences and wisdom.
Year 6 Camp
As you read this, Year 6, Mrs Eastwood, Mr Hughes and Mrs Dal Molin are returning from Narrabeen after an action packed three days. From all accounts they have had a busy and exciting time where they were challenged with new experiences and pushed their own comfort zones. We thank our staff for supporting the students and giving up much time away from their own families. We hope Year 6 will always treasure the precious memories made.
ANZAC Day March - Friday 25th April
We invite all students and their families to participate in the Commemoration of ANZAC in Young on Thursday 25th March, including the march and ceremonies at Anderson Park.
All students are asked to march in their full winter school uniform. We will be assembling at the Town Hall at 10.30am.
Staff will be marching with the students and all students must be collected immediately at the conclusion of the event.
Please RSVP HERE by Wednesday 23rd April.
Returning in Term 2 / Winter Uniform
Just a reminder that school resumes for all students in Term 2 on Tuesday 29th April. Staff return on Monday 28th April for their Professional Development Day. The commencement of Term 2 brings with it a change in our uniform. There will be a two week window where students are able to wear either their full winter uniform or full summer uniform, if the weather is still too warm for the winter clothing. By Week 3 all students will be expected to be in their full winter uniform. We have attached for your reference the Uniform Policy, and ask that all families follow the expectation that children wear the correct attire. The winter jacket should be the navy soft shell jacket and the winter jumper should be the navy woollen jumper.
We also have St Mary’s scarves (optional) for sale in the office at $30. Please ensure that any clothing (jumpers, jackets, hats or scarves) are CLEARLY LABELLED with your child’s name, especially if they are new.
We wish all families a very happy and safe Easter holiday, where the journey of Jesus through Holy Week to Easter, fills your hearts and minds with hope and renewal. In the Jubilee Year of Hope, we are reminded of the hope God gave us by sacrificing his only son for us, and through his resurrection from the dead Jesus gives us new life, spiritual rebirth and renewed hope. Your children journeyed through Holy Week in their whole school prayers this week and they were reminded of this simple and hope filled message.
Best wishes for a restful and safe holiday, particularly if you are travelling.
Last Tuesday sixteen girls travelled to Canberra to participate in the ACT Girls Primary School Girls Chess Championships at Rosary School in Watson.
There we 97 competitors of which St Mary’s had 16 and the competition was held over seven rounds. The event was won by Canberra Girls Grammar School, however some of our girls played very well considering, for many, it was their first competitive tournament. Our top five competitors were:
Savannah Wright who came 15th with 5 points from her 7 games
Indi Wilder who was placed 18th who also finished with 5 points
Pippa Harris finished in 26th place with 4 points
Annabelle Carson in 34th place with 4 points and
Maisie Horne in 36th place on 4 points.
Well done to all the girls who travelled to Canberra. I am sure they learnt from the experience. This was the first of several chess competitions we will be participating in this year. The open competition in which our boys participate looks like it will take place in term three.
I thank Rosary School for their hospitality. They provided morning tea and lunch for all the students and adults in our party.
I also thank Kylie Wilder for again accompanying the students on this adventure.
On Tuesday 25 th March the six of us were lucky enough to attend the Halogen Young Leaders Day in Sydney. We represented our school and came away totally inspired by amazing speakers from all walks of life.
The first speaker was Catherine Laga'aia. She spoke about how hard it was to be one of the youngest actors in the live-action Moana. She shared how she accidentally punched Dwyanne Jonhson also known as “the Rock” while filming the song “Your Welcome”. Many people from the crowd had a big laugh at the many jokes she made. What we took away from Catherine was;
‘Not everyone is perfect but deserves to be treated the way you want to be treated whether you are a woman or a man.’
We are all human and there is nothing wrong with being unique or different.
We had an amazing time and were so very lucky to hear from Catherine.
After Catherine Laga’aia we had a little brain break with Dean, from Dance Curriculum. He is a hip hop dancer who taught us a dance called Hip Hop Hoedown. It was tricky at first but we got there by the end.. (We’re doubly excited because Dance Curriculum are coming to our school later in the year to teach the whole school some dances. We just can’t wait for everyone else to see how cool they are and learn some dances.
The second speaker was Thomas “Duncan” Watt. He spoke about how he created another version of one of the episodes of Star Trek with one of his good friends in his garage. He also talked about his love of writing stories and being an author of some of the books that we read today. One of Thomas' sayings was
“ Every master was once a disaster” and that tells us that no one is perfect!
Thomas talked about how he published his new book, Tomb of the Zombie King. One of his other sayings was
“Keep trying no matter what”. He never gave up when things didn’t go his way and he just kept pushing through.
The third speaker was Emma Mckeon. She spoke all about her swimming and how she started when she was 5 years old. She showed us a photo of her trying to do a lap of butterfly when she was 5 years old. She told us that she gave up swimming once because she wasn’t enjoying it and she hopped out of the pool crying almost every week. Whenever she got to her race she was hoping it got cancelled but as soon as she got on the blocks and swam she said she felt fine.
She said never to rely on doing it when you feel motivated because it’s not always going to be there to help you. That there will be parts of EVERYTHING you do that you don’t enjoy, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it. Another great thing she said that we wanted to remember was that failure can be your greatest teacher, the key to progress is consistency.
After Emma Mckeon we lined up for a photo and when we got back, we saw 10 different leaders on the stage. There was music and Dean, from Dance Curriculum said “Show us what you’ve got!!” They were entertaining, some of us wished we’d been able to get up there too.
The fourth speaker who spoke was Harries from Bondi Rescue. Harries was very entertaining speaking about his job for 30 years at Bondi. Some stories were sad, and some were really funny. Harry’s son Billy and his best friend Bailey were even in our year and went on stage to show us CPR on themselves. His most favourite episode of Bondi Rescue is when he proposed to his wife Emily and now has two kids Billy and Leo. Our favourite take-away from Harries was;
Take the T away from CAN’T and you CAN!
We learnt a lot from the speakers and were lucky to get a photo with Emma Mckeon, because the line was massive so we were very grateful, excited and proud to have a photo with her.
It was definitely worth the long drive all the way to Sydney. We want to thank our parents for helping us to have this experience the six of us will always remember.
By Hadley, Marlie, Amity, Kate, Annabelle and Belle.
Our annual Book Fair will be held in our school library in Week 2 of Term 2.
Wednesday 7th May from 8:30am - 3:30pm.
Thursday 8th May from 7:30am - 3:30pm (Mothers' Day Breakfast)
We see this as an opportunity to promote reading for pleasure and foster literacy through developing a love of books and reading. Sales from the Book Fair attract a generous commission from Scholastic and this is then used to purchase resources for use in the library.
Students from Kinder to Year 6 will visit the Book Fair during their library time to browse and preview the books available for sale. During this visit students will create a Wish List of book titles that they can take home. Parents and students can either visit the fair or complete an online purchase.
PURCHASING BOOKS ONLINE
Students will have a list of book titles on their Wish List. To purchase from the Book Fair, simply go online and search St Marys School (select YOUNG) and make your payment and return the Wish List form to St Mary’s Library. Further details, including the website details may be found on the Wish List. The purchased books will be sent home with your child. Any titles that are sold out will be ordered and delivered to student classrooms soon after the completion of the Book Fair.
Thank you for supporting our school library. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you require further information.