2025 Term 1 Week 1
Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been an absolute joy to welcome our Years 1-6 students back to school this week. Watching them reconnect with their peers and spend time with their new teacher has been truly heartwarming. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to all of the new students and their families joining our school community. We are incredibly grateful to have you with us and are excited for the year ahead.
We are thrilled to welcome our Kindergarten students to St. Mary’s as they begin their exciting learning journey on Monday, 10 February. This marks the start of a wonderful adventure, and we can’t wait to warmly greet both the students and their families. Our school community is eager to connect through upcoming events and social gatherings, providing opportunities to get to know each other better.
We are grateful for the trust you’ve placed in us to care for your child. Rest assured, we are committed to nurturing their growth in faith, supporting their achievements in learning, and ensuring they feel safe, valued, and embraced in our vibrant school environment. We look forward to sharing this special time with you and your family!
We would also like to thank you for your continued support and cooperation in bringing your child to school for the MAI and Best Start meetings. These assessments allow the teachers to gain insights into the learning requirements for each child and ensure that they can tailor their learning experiences to meet the needs of all students.
A reminder that all school communications and events are shared via the Compass App, School Newsletter and the School Calendar. Please use this opportunity to ensure you have access to each of these mediums, and that you have notifications switched on. Our school also has a Facebook page, where we share photos and other celebratory posts.
We are thrilled to introduce Helen Backwell as our new Canteen Manager. With a wealth of experience as the Head Chef at Roches Family Hotel and Heart and Soul, Helen is excited to bring fresh, healthy lunch options to our school’s canteen. She is eager to revamp the menu to provide nutritious choices for our students.
We’re in the process of finalizing Helen's employment, and we look forward to having everything in place in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the canteen will remain closed.
We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Nancy Nolloth, who has volunteered her time and energy to run the canteen for the past few years. Nancy, we are deeply grateful for your dedication and the care you’ve put into providing lunches every Friday for our students. Thank you for everything!
Jacki is taking Long Service Leave and will return to school at the start of Week 4. During this time Rebecca Bentley will be taking on the Acting Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching role so that I can assist with Principal duties.
I am excited to confirm our 2025 St Mary’s Primary staff for 2025
Leadership Team
Principal - Jacki Moore
Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching - Jas Stuart
Assistant Principal Mission - Hannah Gorman
Middle Leaders
Equity and Enhancement - Katherine Davies
K-2 Curriculum - Rebecca Bentley
3-6 Curriculum - Samantha Ford
Classroom Teachers
Kinder Red - Leah Bancroft
Kinder Blue - Georgia Gibson
Year 1 Red - Logan Hanigan
Year 1 Blue - Jessica Fortescue (M, T, W), Sophie Tory (W, Th, F)
Year 2 - Rebecca Bentley (M-Th), Emma Webb (M-W), Lucy Greenwood (W-F)
Year 3 Red - Maartje Jansen (M-W), Samantha Ford (W-F)
Year 3 Blue - Larissa Davey
Year 4 - Melissa Brown
Year 5 Red - Peter Tonkin
Year 5 Blue - Katherine Davies
Year 6 - Rachel Kay
Release Face to Face Staff
Tricia Niethe
Janeen Myson
School Counsellor
Catherine Collopy
Student Wellbeing Officer
Jane Dougherty
Administration
Lisa Kelly
Administration Support
Susie Fletcher
Student Education Workers (SEW)
Jas Smith
Julie Staples
Kate Thompson
Mindy Cameron
Paula Carter
Indigenous Education Worker
Matt Jeffery
Canteen Manager
Helen Backwell
I’m excited to work alongside our dedicated staff, students, and parent community in 2025 to foster an environment of growth, collaboration, and achievement.
Warm regards
Jas Stuart
Acting Principal
2025 Student Technology Agreement
At St Mary's Primary, we prioritise responsible and safe digital citizenship. To foster this, we use a variety of digital technologies to support and enhance engagement and creativity within learning.
To ensure a shared understanding of our expectations, all students and their parents must sign a Digital Technology Student User Agreement each year. This agreement outlines the expectations for using digital technologies within our school and informs parents how digital technologies are managed and supported within our school and across the Diocese.
Please take the time to read through and sign the attached Digital Technologies User Agreement for 2025 with your child by Friday 7 March 2025.
Please note: A new form is to be submitted for each child at our school. We ask that you use your child’s name as per Compass - first and last name only.
To further support this, teachers will be exploring each of the dot points over the first term with students in class.
We appreciate your continued support in guiding your child towards responsible digital citizenship.
The agreement is available here: https://dlcsl.jotform.com/team/digital-techologies-for-learning/grafp-dtsua2025
Welcome back to a new and exciting year of learning in 2025! We have implemented a new initiative this year at St Mary’s - THRIVE Week: Setting the Stage for Success @ St Mary’s. During this week, teachers have taken the time to develop safe and predictable school environments by teaching structures, routines, and rules, whilst also focusing on developing positive student-teacher relationships. This focus aligns with our 2025 School Improvement Plan (SAIP) Goal: Uplift student engagement and wellbeing through optimal learning environments. We hope your child had a fantastic time during THRIVE Week! We'd love to hear all about it - what they enjoyed, what sparked their excitement, and what could be even better next time.
Student Expectations & Values
Each week during the term, routines and expectations will be taught and practiced as a whole school until it becomes a habit for all students. This week’s focus is on Eating Time.
Eating time expectations include;
- Getting seated promptly
- Staying seated until pack up time, this includes making a ‘pile’ of rubbish, then taking it to the bin once dismissed
- All students MUST have lunchbox with them at both breaks (not negotiable)
- Moving calmly and safely when transitioning to and from eating
Breakfast Club
St Mary's Primary School Breakfast Club will now be held on Monday mornings at 8:15 AM, starting on Monday, February 10th. This adjustment came after feedback from Year 6 students, who expressed that Mondays often felt rushed, and the change will help ensure that students have a positive, supportive start to their week.
The breakfast offerings include a variety of cereal, toast, juice, and milk, all provided free of charge to students, thanks to the generosity of our local St Vincent de Paul Conference.
In a great display of service and leadership, Stage 3 students (Years 5 and 6) lead the Breakfast Club, donating their own playtime as part of Catholic Faith in Action. This helps instill values of service, compassion, and community involvement.
This initiative is a wonderful way to support students both physically and emotionally, ensuring every child starts their week feeling cared for and ready to engage in learning.
What is Bullying?
As parents of young children, it is important to know what bullying is. This can help you tell the difference between normal disagreements, conflict and bullying. You can then respond and give the right support to your children. Parents also play an important role in reducing the likelihood of bullying by teaching children about respectful behaviour, empathy, dignity, courage, and inclusion.
Definition of Bullying
Bullying involves the unwanted, repeated, and intentional use of words or actions aimed at causing distress and endangering the wellbeing of an individual or group of students.
Key Features of Bullying:
- Misuse of Power:
The deliberate use of power in a relationship to harm others. - Repetition:
The behaviour occurs repeatedly over time. - Harmful Impact:
The actions result in physical, emotional, or social harm.
How Power Can Be Misused:
- Social status or popularity
- Physical strength or size
- Age or skill
- Number of allies
- Membership in a socially dominant group (e.g., based on wealth or gender)
Behaviours That Are NOT Bullying
Certain actions, while unpleasant, do not meet the criteria for bullying:
- Mutual arguments or disagreements
- Disliking someone or a single instance of social rejection
- A single episode of hurtful words or actions
- Isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation, or violence
If you are concerned that your child is experiencing or displaying bullying behaviour, please contact their class teacher for support and guidance.
Sincerely
Hannah Gorman
Assistant Principal Mission
Over the next few weeks, all students will complete their MAI assessments. These assessments help teachers track student progress throughout the year and identify areas of need.
Kindergarten students have been completing both their Best Start and MAI assessments this week and will join us for their first day of school on Monday.
This year, in K-2, teachers will implement the InitialLit program into the English block. InitialLit is an evidence-based literacy program designed for students in Kindergarten through Year 2. It teaches reading and spelling through daily lessons based on research-backed teaching methods. InitialLit helps students understand that words are made up of sounds, which are represented by letters. As students master this concept, they build the skills to decode and spell most words independently, without guessing. Once these foundational skills are in place, the focus shifts to reading comprehension and spelling.
The key learning areas covered in InitialLit include:
- Comprehension and fluency
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Vocabulary
- Handwriting
- Phonological awareness
- Phonics knowledge
For Years 3-6, students will continue using SpellEx, which was introduced last year. SpellEx is a comprehensive, whole-class spelling program. By following its carefully sequenced and scripted lessons, supported by a variety of differentiated resources, students develop the skills and knowledge needed to master English spelling patterns. The program teaches grapheme choices, spelling rules and conventions, morphology, and key spelling terminology.
Kind regards
Rebecca Bentley
Acting Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching
Sport
POLDING TENNIS TRIALS, Tamworth
Addison Peppernell is representing our school and the Lismore Diocese in Primary Schools Tennis at Tamworth today, Friday 7 Feb. Addison is among some of our outstanding tennis players at St Mary’s. We hope and pray for the Peppernells in their travels and endeavours and maybe Addison might make it to the next level which is the NSW State finals.
Sincerely
Peter Tonkin
FEES
Start the School Year Safely: Tips for 2025
As children return to school, it's important to prioritise their safety on the journey to and from school. Take time to discuss these key safety tips with your child:
Getting In and Out of the Car:
- Always use the door closest to the curb to prevent stepping into traffic
- Make sure your child waits until the car has completely stopped before exiting.
Walking Safely:
- Encourage distraction-free walking by asking your child to remove headphones and put away devices while crossing streets.
- Teach your child to stay alert, follow traffic signals, and use designated pedestrian crossings.
Using the Bus Safely:
- Wait at the bus stop together, standing at least one step back from the edge of the road.
- Always meet your child at the bus stop on the same side of the road—never call them across from the opposite side.
- Wait for the bus to leave before crossing the street, ensuring it is safe to cross.
Using Wheeled Transport:
- Remind your child that helmets are mandatory when riding a bike in public—it’s the law.
- Encourage helmet use and protective gear for other wheeled activities, such as scooters, skateboards, and rollerblades.
Never sacrifice safety for convenience, source: https://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au
OOSH
CVCON 2025 enrolment forms
Bricks4Kidz Northern Rivers
Uniforms
St Mary's School uniforms are available to purchase from Lowes in Grafton Shopping World. The sports uniform is worn on Wednesday and Friday each week.
Attendance
- If your child is arriving to the school after 8:45am please sign them in at the office.
- Please use Compass to record full day absentees. Partial absences are recorded by staff when students are signed in and out of the office.
- Students who leave a school event early will have a partial absence recorded.
- A medical certificate or other documentation may be requested where frequent absences due to illness occur.
- Generally, extended leave (greater than 10 days) during the school term would not be approved. These absences are recorded on the roll as unjustified and a completed Form 01 Extended Leave Notification Travel/Other Greater than 10 Days is required.
- In exceptional circumstances parents may complete an Form 02 Approved Extended Leave Application - Travel/Other Greater than 10 Days for consideration by the Principal, explaining why an absence for extended leave is in the best educational interest of the student. The Principal may decline or accept this application.
Parking in Hoof Street
There are a small number of parking spaces near the Sunrise Shop (corner of Hoof and Turf Streets) for use by their customers. To assist this small business, we suggest parking away from the corner.
Overseas Visa Details
Reminder: Parents and Carers are to keep the school informed of any change in residency/visa status during the course of their child's enrolment, with
evidence of new visa status provided. Parents should be made aware that
the school must be informed of any change in residency status;
Working With Children Check (WWCC)
At St Mary's we are committed to creating and supporting a culture of safety for children and ensuring that children are protected. All employees and volunteers are required to have a current WWCC.
NB - The vast majority of volunteers in schools are parents of a child attending the school at which they are volunteering (eg reading groups, fetes, camps, excursions and canteen) and therefore do not require a WWCC. Exceptions to this are
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volunteers interacting one-on-one with a child not their own,
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working with children who have a disability,
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offering mentoring services,
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when the volunteer is not a parent or close relative.