Principal's Message: 28th August 2026
Dear families,
It’s been an exciting Book Week at St Mary’s, culminating in this morning’s Book Week Parade.
Thank you to Ms Lycke for organising some fantastic activities each lunch time for the students, as well as a Family Book Club evening, where we celebrated the book Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas. Children and families shared a sausage sizzle, looked at the moon through a telescope, completed a book review and created their own aliens. The evening was very well received. We are planning another later in the year.
This time of year always brings out such a range of media coverage, usually critical. It’s disappointing that an event that is focused on the love of reading is met with such negativity.
I’m thrilled that our families get behind this week at St Mary’s every year.
District Athletics
We’ve had close to 20 students make it through to the Divisional Finals, which will take place next month. You can read more about it in the article in this week's eNews.
Before and after school parking
We have noticed some unsafe parking occurring around the school. Please do not double park and let children alight unless you are properly parked and stopped.
The council have also re-marked the parking spots alongside McBain Street. For safety, and to avoid expensive fines, please make sure you are not parking outside of these spaces, particularly avoiding parking across the school driveway/gates. This may mean you need to go around the perimeter a few times; it's a small price to pay for our students' safety.
Have your say
MACSSIS
The yearly MACSSIS (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic School Improvement Survey) window opens on Monday 31st August. Families will receive their unique code and access to the survey this afternoon via email.
We take the results of these surveys seriously and explore them with staff each year. This helps us set goals for the following year. We encourage you to take the time to complete this. The survey window runs until the last day of this term, Friday 18th September.
If you have any difficulties accessing the survey, please contact Mr Hein (jhein@smaltona.catholic.edu.au). If you do not receive your survey this afternoon, please let us know. You may want to check in with your spouse/partner, as it may have gone to them.
Melbourne Synod
Our school community is invited to contribute to the Melbourne Synod 2026, an important process of listening and discernment that will help shape the future evangelical and missionary priorities of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
The Synod invites people across Melbourne to reflect on three themes – Young Discipleship, Missionary Leadership, and Formation and Participation – and share their experiences, ideas and hopes for the future of our Church.
As a Catholic school community, this is an opportunity for our students, families, staff and broader community to have a voice in this important conversation.
You can participate individually by reading one or more of the Synod theme papers and responding to the reflection questions through the relevant online form.
We particularly encourage young people and families to share their voices and perspectives as the Archdiocese considers how to strengthen faith, belonging, participation and missionary discipleship for the future.
Feedback for this stage of consultation closes at 5.00 pm on Saturday 5 September 2026.
For more information:
Melbourne Synod 2026
Provide feedback on the three themes:
Catholic Education in the news
You will have noticed a lot of information (and quite possibly, misinformation) circling about Catholic Education funding and costs due to the upcoming wage increases. I encourage you to come and see me or email me with any questions or concerns you may have regarding what you’re hearing.
I will keep families informed regarding staffing, budgets and fees as this information is finalised in the coming months.
Have a great weekend,
Kind Safe Responsible