2024 Term 3 Week 7
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome to the Term 3 Week 7 newsletter!
Feast Day
Today our community came together and celebrated our Feast day, beginning with a breakfast of pancakes, liturgy, and open classrooms.
Fathers Day
Thank you to our staff, students and their parents for making our Father’s Day celebration so successful last Friday. It’s only when we become parents ourselves that we realise the importance of our fathers (and mothers) in our lives. It’s their sacrifices and nurturing that has influenced and moulded us into the parents we have become.
Uniform Consultation
Yesterday two uniform consultations sessions were held to gather feedback from families in a number of areas including quality, availability, cost. Results will be shared with our school community very soon.
R U OK? Day
Monday (9 September) is R U OK? Day. R U OK? Day is a day dedicated to inspiring and empowering everyone to meaningfully connect with people around them by asking the simple question “Are you OK?”.
Students are asked to wear yellow to show their support. The canteen will be open for icy treats (cash only).
Stage 3 Camp
On Monday 16 September our Stage 3 students are attending a three day camp, travelling to Queensland and visiting Stradbroke Island, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. As you can imagine there is a great deal of thought and planning involved in taking a group of children away from the safe environment of the school for two nights. We wish all of our students a happy and safe time, and we thank our teachers for providing this opportunity and know lifelong memories will be made.
Lost Property
As the weather is warming students are removing their jumpers and jackets and leaving them around the school. We do our best to return lost items but many jackets etc do not have the student's name attached. Please ensure any items brought to school are clearly labelled with their name.
Upcoming Student Free Days
Pupil-free days are crucial for teacher development as they provide dedicated time for educators to focus on professional growth. These days allow teachers to engage in collaborative planning, attend workshops, and delve into new teaching strategies or curriculum updates. Teachers spent time to reflect on their practices, share insights with colleagues, and explore innovative methods to enhance student learning. This focused time for learning not only supports teachers in staying current with educational trends but also directly benefits students through improved teaching quality and more effective classroom environments. We are grateful to all families for your continued support of these days. This is a list of the remaining student free days for 2024:
- Friday 27 September (Week 10, Term 3)
- Monday 14 October (Week 1, Term 4)
- Thursday 31 October (Jacaranda Thursday - gazetted public holiday)
- Thursday 19 and Friday 20 December (Week 10, Term 4)
Principal Awards
The Principal awards are awarded to one student in each class at the whole school assembly in Week 4 and 8 of every term. The awards acknowledge and celebrate students who have demonstrated effort and achievement in their learning. Congratulations to all of our award winners!
Staffing Update
This week we farewelled Louise Tarrant who has been working at our school as both a casual teacher and Release From Face to Face teacher. Louise is moving into another career path and we wish her every success for the future. Louise will be missed by our parents, students and teachers.
Lindsay Tulloch has resigned from her Student Wellbeing Officer role at the school however will continue to work at the school in her Student Education Worker role.
Thank you to Louise and Lindsay for their dedication to our students.
The last day of Term 3 (Friday 27 September) is a pupil-free day.
Warmest regards,
Jas, Dominique and Jacki
Term 3 Events Calendar
St Mary's Feast Day
Today, our school community came together to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, and what a wonderful day it has been! A special thank you goes to Damien from Loving Life Radio, who made the morning extra special. Our students had an absolute ball being interviewed and getting the chance to be on air!
We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Loving Life Radio for providing a delicious pancake and fruit breakfast, which the students thoroughly enjoyed. It was the perfect way to start our day of celebrations and reflection.
Thank you to all those who attended our Feast Day Liturgy. During our Liturgy we were reminded of how special Mary was and reminded that each of us is special just like Mary. Let us take time today to thank God for the gift of life and show respect and care for one another, remembering that each of us is created with love and a unique purpose.
Be sure to join us for St Mary's Family Mass
Congratulations to our Stage 2 and Stage 3 who participated in our school based Public Speaking enrichment opportunity. Each Year level was given a topic to speak about and a time limit for their speech
Year 3 Time Limit: 2 Minutes
Topic: If I had three wishes ...
Year 4 Time Limit: 2 Minutes
Topic: If I were famous it would be for my...
Year 5 Time Limit: 3 Minutes
Topic: If I had a time machine...
Year 6 Time Limit: 3 Minutes
Topic: If I could change one thing about the world…
Classroom competitions were held and 5 students from each class were selected to compete in our school based competition which was held on Tuesday. Representatives from Mighty Clarence Toastmasters Club volunteered their time to judge the students and select a winner from each year level.
Congratulations to our winners:
Year 3: Darcy Waghorn
Year 4: Spencer O’Range
Year 5: Addison Peppernell
Year 6: Lilly Lemont
These students will travel to Coffs Harbour to take part in the Clarence Schools Public Speaking Competition at St John Paul College on Monday 23rd September. Finalists from Mary Help of Christians Sawtell, St Augustine’s Coffs Harbour, St Francis Xavier Woolgoolga, St James Yamba, St Mary’s Bellingen, St Joseph’s Maclean, St Joseph’s South Grafton, St Mary’s Bowraville and Mount St John’s Dorrigo will also be competing.
We are so proud of all of our students who participated, they showed a tremendous amount of courage and wrote some wonderful speeches. Thank you to Erin Molloy Perkins, Jeff Smith and Susan Hereford-Ashley from the Mighty Clarence Toastmasters Club for volunteering their time to judge the event and provide our winners with some vulnerable feedback.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership in your child’s education.
Warm regards
Jas Stuart
Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching
Parent Education
Parent Opportunity - Supporting Mental Health Wellbeing
Research into how to best support children and young people with mental health challenges is critical to ensuring that as a society we have evidence-based, best practice support strategies for our young people. Southern Cross University is offering parents of children aged 10-13 with mental health needs an opportunity to access a high quality online education program as part of a research project. Further information is available on this flyer for those parents/carers who would like to learn more or apply to be a part of this research project.
Breaking Point: Free Webinar for Parents - Unpacking the Crisis in Youth Mental Health with Dr Justin Coulson
A Free Webinar for Parents and Carers
Date: 11 Sep 2024
Time: 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
CLICK TO REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR https://ccsp.schoolzineplus.com/form/61
Consent and online boundaries: How to support your primary-aged child
Suitable for parents and carers of children in primary school.
Wednesday, 11 September, 12.30 pm
Register here
Approaching Teenage Years - A Presentation by Chris Hudson
A FREE presentation for parents of tweens and teens in the Clarence region of our Catholic School system on Monday 14 Septemebr at Grafton District Services Club.
We wish them every success.
Registrations OPEN 
Juniors - U9's, U11's, U13's & U15's
Times - 4:15pm (9, 13) and 5pm (11, 15) Seniors - Mixed Open Times - 6pm and 7pm
Round games, finals, and GF concluding on the 16th December 2024
Team managers will need to “REGISTER A TEAM”. Search “Grafton” and select the relevant division.
COMMUNITY SCIENCE NIGHT
Macquarie University presents a fun night of science and discovery for students and parents/carers interested in all things science!
Cost: Free
When: 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Where: PCYC Grafton, 300 Powell Street, Grafton
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.
School Fees
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.