Dear Parents and Guardians,

We eagerly anticipate the new school year and are thrilled to share our meticulously planned classroom and teacher structures for 2025 with you. These structures are designed to create an enriching and supportive learning environment for our students.

We welcome Nicole Ellis, who will join our St Mary’s family in 2025. Nicole brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as the Prep/One/ Two teacher at St Therses’s Primary School Kennington (Sandhurst Diocese). She is known for her dedication to student learning and innovative teaching methods. We will welcome and support Nicole in her new position as a school community.

Teacher Positions and Structures

Maria Moore - Principal

Debra Owens - Classroom, Deputy, MHiPS, Adjustments

Anthony Sheedy - Classroom, Deputy, Collective Mathematics 2.0/English 2.0 leader, STEM

Keira- Lee Williams - Classroom, Collective Mathematics 2.0/English 2.0

Leader, Physical Education

Sue Benc - Classroom, REL

Nicole Ellis - Classroom, Italian

Heather Flynn - Classroom

Tracey Richard - ESO

 Joanne Griffiths - ESO

 Sharon Garland - ESO

Deborah Isemann - Administration

Classroom Structures

Prep/ One - Nicole Ellis Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

Heather Flynn - Wednesday

One/Two/Three - Keira- Lee Williams Monday, Tuesday, Thursday morning and Friday

Debra Owens - Wednesday and Thursday afternoon from 12:15 pm

Four/ Five / Six - Anthony Sheedy - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Sue Benc - Thursday, Friday

ESO Staff Structures

P/1 - Joanne Griffiths - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Sharon Garland - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

1/2/3 - Tracey Richards - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

4/5/6 - TBC

At St Mary's, we are dedicated to our students' educational and emotional well-being. Our classroom and teacher structures for 2025 have been carefully designed with this in mind, ensuring a 20-22 student-to-teacher ratio. These ratios allow our teachers to implement explicit and targeted teaching practices, guaranteeing that each student's needs are met.

We are thrilled to share the success of our recent Swimming and Water Familiarisation program! It has been an incredible experience for all our students, and we couldn't have achieved this without our fantastic staff's tireless dedication and hard work.

A heartfelt thank you to all the teachers, instructors, support staff and parents who made this program possible. Your unwavering commitment to ensuring a safe and enjoyable environment has helped our students gain valuable water safety skills that will benefit them for years.

Our top priority is the safety of our students in the water, and this program has played a vital role in helping them build confidence, learn vital water safety techniques, and, most importantly, have fun!

We look forward to continuing to provide enriching experiences that help our students stay safe and confident in the water. Thank you once again for your support and dedication to this important initiative!

Let’s continue to keep our students safe and skilled in the water!

We celebrate the Combined Choirs this Sunday, December 8th, at the Regent Theatre. Thank you to all the students and families who can attend. We will gather in the foyer of the theatre by 6:45 pm.

The end of term is approaching quickly. Please use the calendar to keep up to date with all end-of-year events.

Maria

Our swimming program has been through a few seasons these past two weeks and in spite of this our students have done amazingly well. Thank you to all our staff for so much work put into this amazing program.

Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrate their birthdays this fortnight. We hope you have a wonderful day.

Tyler MacKay 4th December

Nolan McCormack 9th December

Kasharna Aliberti 31st December

Please remember these dates and don't forget to submit your signed permission forms.

WHOLE SCHOOL EXCURSION

All our students will be going to watch Moana 2 in Sale  on Friday, 13th December 2024.

Permission Note - Whole school excursion to Sale Cinema 2024

We request that all library books please be returned by Wednesday, 11th December 2024.

Religious News:  Thursday the 5^th of December

Graduation Mass

Graduation Mass will be celebrated on Thursday December the 12^th commencing at 9:30 am. Everyone is invited to celebrate this special Mass with us.

Sacrament of Confirmation 2025

Sacrament of Confirmation 2025 has been set for Sunday the 11^th of May.

Combined Church Choir is scheduled for Sunday the 8^th of December commencing at 7:00pm.

Advent:

Last Sunday, the 1^st of December we began Advent.  Advents lasts for four weeks.  The word ‘Advent’ means, ‘coming.’  When we light the candles on the wreath, it symbolises the coming of the light into the world.  This light is Jesus.

Advent is a special time in the church year when we prepare and get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  The Advent wreath has 4 candles, 3 purple and 1 pink. 

The first candle is the candle of hope and is purple.  We can be messengers of hope who share the message that God is faithful and will keep the promises made to us. 

The second candle is the candle of peace and is purple.  We can be messengers of peace and share the message that we can find peace when we are willing to forgive others and show mercy just as Jesus did. 

The third candle is the candle of love and is pink.  We can be messengers of love and share the message that we can find purpose and meaning in our lives when we follow the example of Jesus. 

The fourth candle is the candle of joy and is purple.  We can be messengers of joy who share the message that living in Jesus’ way can bring us joy and happiness.

 Advent Prayer

Loving and generous God, 

As we wait to celebrate the great feast of Christmas, 

help us to proclaim your message in the world. 

Help us to be truly generous to others with our time and effort, 

willing to show compassion and mercy to those around us, 

and ready to be messengers of your Word. 

We ask this prayer in Jesus’ name. 

Amen.

Kind Regards,

Sue Benc