The end of the school year is always busy with many events taking place in a short space of time. This week we have had our end of year mass and prize giving where we formally farewelled our Year Six students, our Year Six Graduation evening last night and tonight we have our community celebration at school. 

These events don’t simply happen but take a lot of hard work and organisation by many staff members and parents. While I won't try to name everyone there are a few key people I would like to acknowledge. Firstly to Donna dal Molin, our office manager who manages most aspects of every event; to Jillian Murray and Katie Thompson for their organisation of the formal aspects of the celebrations and to Vicki Eastwood and Kym Connelly for the work they have done in preparing the Year Six students for the mass and their graduation celebration.

Class Lists

Today all students were informed which class they will be in for 2025. Many parents had found their child's class by accessing COMPASS and entering a 2025 date, which then allowed them to see their child's teacher.

This method obviously spread, as today we had a large number of students who knew their teacher for 2025. Catholic Education has now blocked access and apologised for this oversight.

Students will be having a meet the teacher session on Monday morning.

Student placement has taken a lot of consideration and discussion among staff this year. As mentioned in an earlier email we have tried to come up with balanced classes bearing in mind relationships between students that may impact on class cohesion.

I have never been through this process where everyone is happy. I ask parents to be positive with their children so they begin the 2025 school year with a positive mindset. Due to the implications of making a single change, I will not be making any changes to the published lists.

2025 Return to School

All students return to school on Tuesday 4th February.

Staff return to school on Friday 31st January.

As this is the last newsletter of the year I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a refreshing break. I look forward to seeing everyone back at St Mary’s rested and keen to learn on the 4th February.

St Mary’s Named a High Performing School by ACARA in 2024 NAPLAN Results

In case you had missed the great news sent out on COMPASS and social media, we received this week about St Mary’s NAPLAN results in May this year. Please find attached a link to the article from the Australian newspaper 

Recently the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) released the 2024 NAPLAN results for all schools in NSW. St Mary’s was again identified as one of 52 High Performing Schools across NSW when compared to similar schools. This follows on from last year’s outstanding results and is a credit to the hard work of our staff and the support we receive from our parents.

In 2023 we were one of a small number of primary schools across the state who received the ranking ‘well above average’ in all strands across both year three and year five when compared with similar schools.

This year we were the only NSW primary school in our Archdiocese to be classified as a ‘High Performing School’. We have received letters of congratulations from the Catholic Education Office as well as from a number of principals from other schools. This emphasises the incredible achievement this is.

St Mary’s taking Online Safety Seriously

St Mary’s takes the safety of children very seriously. Navigating the online world can be treacherous. Just ask a parent. Our school community was very happy to welcome Kirra Pendergast from Safe On Social on Thursday 5th December to talk with our students, staff and parents about keeping children safe online. Kirra ran 4 sessions across the day in Year 3 and 4, Year 5 and 6, staff and parents in the evening. 

Eight other Western Region Catholic Schools in the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese joined in via live stream from Boorowa, Harden, Gundagai, Adelong, Batlow, Grenfell, Lake Cargelligo and Tumut. 

Students learned how to do things better online, learnt about some of the traps, how to be kinder online, what to do if they fall victim to online bullying. Parents were informed how to protect their children with answers to questions like: 

• Do your children have issues with online bullying?
• Have your children ever been contacted online by someone they do not know?
• Are your children in chat rooms that you are not aware of?
• Have your children seen or heard things that make them scared?
• Do you know every platform that your child is on?
• Are you confident in the use of platforms that your children are using like ROBLOX or Fortnight?

The school received many thanks from parents and staff across all 9 schools and the children too found it very empowering. 

Kirra is a passionate advocate for the safety of children, and her facebook site Safe on Social is a great place for all parents and adults to start learning how to protect children from the insidious online threats that are constantly being created.

St Mary’s Young students were incredibly engaged and open to learning how to navigate the online world more safely and positively. They were keen to discuss how they could make better choices online, asked great questions, and showed a willingness to improve.

Whole School Mass

Last Wednesday, 11th December, we celebrated our Graduation Mass at St. Mary’s Church.  It was a lovely celebration, led by Fr. Mark,  which gave us the opportunity to farewell our Year 6 students and wish them all the best as they continue on their journey to secondary education. The theme for our mass  was “Love One Another” and our departing students will go forward from here, shaping their life stories into wonderful tales of courage, beauty, wisdom, dignity and love - especially love. 

No matter who we are, what we do, where we’ve been or where we’re going, we all hold something in common – we are loved by God, blessed by God’s Spirit and called to share God’s love with those around us.

Christmas Vigil Mass Nativity

Fr. Jiss and Fr. Mark are asking for any students, who will be attending the outdoor mass on Christmas Eve with their families, if they would like to participate by dressing up as angels, etc. Please contact Cath at the Parish Office for further details on 6382 2222 or email  young@cg.org.au 

The Vinnies Christmas Appeal - Celebration Foods

Thank you St. Mary’s for your generosity during our Vinnies Christmas Appeal this year! Your support makes the world of difference to people in our local community who need assistance during this Christmas season.

Advent Resource for families

The Christmas: Way of the Star is a guided series of testimonies, scriptures, reflections and prayers that follow the scriptural encounters leading up to the birth of Christ.

Wishing all St. Mary’s students, staff and school community, a peaceful and blessed Christmas this year. 

SPORT NOTIFICATIONS 2025

Information about upcoming sporting events - weekly school newsletter

Nominating for School sporting events (including Western Region Carnivals) - Compass

Nomination for Archdiocesan & MacKillop sporting events - via CSNSW Sport website

All questions or general enquiries about sport at St Mary’s please contact me at school or via email leonne.challen@cg.catholic.edu.au

2025 Upcoming Swimming Dates

School Swimming Carnival - Friday 14th February

Western Region Swimming - Monday 24th February (Tumut)

Archdiocesan Swimming Carnival - Thursday 6th March (Boorowa)

NSWCPS Swimming - Tuesday 2nd April - Wednesday 3rd April (Sydney)

NSWPSSA Swimming - Thursday 10th April - Friday 11th April (Sydney)

2025 Upcoming Year 5 & 6 Sporting Dates

MacKillop Basketball & Tennis Championships (Yr 5&6) - Friday 21st February (Wollongong)

Archdiocesan Rugby League Trials (Yr 5&6) - Thursday 27th March (Lyneham)

Archdiocesan Netball Trials (Yr 5&6) - Thursday 27th March (Lyneham)

MacKillop Hockey Championships (Yr 5&6) - Friday 28th March (Goulburn)

Archdiocesan Soccer Trials (Yr 5&6) - Monday 7th April (Lyneham)

SWIMMING CARNIVAL 2025

The Primary Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday 14th February 2025 at the Young Aquatic Centre. This event is open to students from Years 3 to 6 and any Year 2 students turning 8 in 2025 who wish to be considered for selection for the Western Region Swimming Carnival. 

Nominations for events via Compass:  All students need to nominate for events prior to the carnival, as this ensures the events run smoothly. An invite to this event has been sent out to parents for students in Year 3 to 6 in 2025 via Compass. Please use the opt in permission feature to nominate your child for an event. Heats will be made up from these nominations and children will not be allowed to nominate for events on the day. The events button can be found by clicking on the 3 horizontal lines titled More. Nominations for events can only be completed via Compass.

Year 2 students turning 8 in 2025: Any 8-year-olds that wish to compete for selection in the Western Region Swimming Team may attend the Years 3 to 6 Swimming Carnival on Friday 14th February at the Young Aquatic Centre. They will be able to swim in the 25m, across the pool or novelty events, however, they must nominate for a competitive 50m race to be eligible for these 25m events. If your Year 2 child who is turning 8 in 2025 cannot confidently swim 50m please do not send them to the carnival. For safety reasons we may only have Year 2 students turning 8 in 2025 who are capable of swimming 50m in a competitive setting. Please email me to let me know your child would like to attend with the 50m events they wish to compete in at leonne.challen@cg.catholic.edu.au

Helpers: We would love some parents to help with Timekeeping! Many hands make light work which ensures our carnival runs smoothly and on time. If you are available to help out for an hour or two please email me at leonne.challen@cg.catholic.edu.au 

The Community Council will be hosting the end of year Family Christmas Event TONIGHT starting at 6:30pm.

Santa is scheduled to arrive at 6:30 with Kindergarten and Year 1 kicking off the class/stage group performances at 7:30. Than as the sun starts to set, we will be treated to a movie on the big screen featuring Elliot the Littlest Reindeer.

This will be a free event with food and drinks available for purchase on the night. 

• Hot Dogs
• Chips
• Pulled Prok or beef n slaw
• Fish bites and chips
• Prawn poppers and chips
• Nuggets and chips
• Oven roasted vegetable medley with aioli rolls

Concession Stand 

• Drinks
• Snacks
• Ice creams
• Lollies

Bring your own picnic

I can't believe another year is almost at an end. 

It has been a pleasure serving lunch and over the counter treats to all the kids this year. 

Their smiles make my day. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge my steadfast volunteer Sheree! A super grandparent to one of our students and super canteen helper who has turned up every Friday to assist me in getting those meals ready and passed out, sometimes 100 lunches! Thank you Cherie Ward, I couldn't do Friday's without you. 

Now onto canteen business for next week. 

See you next year, 

Jen Harden 

End of school meal deal

Next week, alongside the whole school reward we will be having a 'Pop up Picnic' for our end of the year meal deal, your child/children should have their meal deal flyer or you can order on flexischools. No other meals will be on offer on the last day of school. The meal deal includes a sausage sandwich, slice of watermelon and bag of potato chips. $5.00 

Extra sausage sandwiches can be added on for $1.50. 

Please return your forms or order on flexischools by Tuesday the 17th. 

Over the Christmas Break we ask that students with medical conditions such as Asthma, Anaphylaxis or Diabetes have their medical plans reviewed by their Medical Practitioner and have their Individual Medical Response Plan form & Action Plans updated. 

If your child has other illnesses that does not require a plan but could affect their health at school, we ask that you keep us informed so that we can record it on their student medical file.

Students who take medication at school are also required to have a Medication Authorisation Form completed. All medication must be in its original container, bearing the original label and instructions.

Printed copies are available at the front office. We ask that you forward these to the front office by Friday 7th February (Week 1)