Dear families,

I trust your Christmas was restful and blessed.

It’s been a wonderful start to the school term for our students and staff.

Classrooms have been the usual hub of excited and (sometimes) nervous energy.

I’ve enjoyed visiting classes daily and seeing the early establishment of routines and expectations. The children appear engaged and enjoying the start to their school year.

Our Preps, especially, are doing a great job, settling into primary school life, though they definitely need their Wednesday reset (as do their teachers, I bet!)

I want to thank parents for their commitment to our updated Smartphone and watch policy. I understand the change may have been a difficult one for our students. The policy has since been updated on our website.

There have been a few questions regarding various Garmin watches, Fitbits, step-counting watches and the like. I visited classrooms today and answered students' questions. To simplify this, we have said that the only watches allowed will be analogue or simple digital watches. Any watch that does (or is capable of doing) more than telling time will be considered a Smartwatch under this policy. This makes it easier for staff to ensure students are adhering to the policy.

Communication

In light of the recent  removal of Operoo services to Australia, this year we are working on streamlining our communication platforms.

You will have noted that as well as being our Reporting program, nForma is now able to do the following:

• Absence reporting
• Whole School notices
• Excursion forms
• First aid incidents

The calendar feature will soon be available via the nForma parent app. To access the school calendar in the meantime, please head to our website.

Lunch services and Canteen update

Subway lunch orders are now available every Monday and Friday. 

Existing arrangements with KingWill Catering continue on Wednesdays.

Ordering instructions can be found on our website.

Family events

Many of our school events have already been added to our calendar.

Before we plan some of these events, we’d like to hear your preferred times. Dates are yet to be decided as we want to ensure there are no clashes with any district-level events. 

If you prefer morning or afternoon events, please nominate here. If you don’t have a preference, you don’t need to vote.

Parent Buddies

Each year, we like to invite our new families to the school to nominate to be assigned an existing family buddy. 

Being new to a school and school community can be daunting and it is often helpful to be able to ‘phone a friend’ with the multitude of questions you can sometimes have in this situation.

If you would like to be assigned a family buddy, or would like to nominate yourself as a buddy to a new family in our community, please fill in your details here.

I will assign buddies and email introductions.

Parent Teacher Chats

Parent-Teacher chats take place next week. These are a great way to meet your child’s teacher and help them gain an insight into your child, from your important perspective.

Staff news

We congratulate Ms Barnes, her husband, John and son Oliver, on the safe arrival of precious Charlotte. Born on 9 January, a few days earlier than expected, Charlotte is doing well. I’m sure Ms Barnes will be in to visit some time soon. 

Have a lovely recuperating weekend,

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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This week's community news we have some information about the church Bulletin, Creative music and much more. Altona Gators Registration

Altona Hockey

Calistenics

Creative Music

Shoto Karate

Church Bulletin

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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St Marys is a SUN SMART SCHOOL. As such students and staff are required to wear sun smart hats from 1st September to the end of April regardless of whether the sun is out or not. This measure is part of our commitment to ensure the safety and well-being of our students during outdoor activities. Check out the widget at the bottom of our website which will guide you in the hours to especially check UV. 

Please make sure your child has their school sun smart hat (legionnaire or wide brim) each day, at least until the end of April.

Thank you for your cooperation!

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

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Sacrament Dates have been set for 2026, Reconciliation for Year 3 students, First Communion for Year 4 students and Confirmation for Year 6 students. First Communions will be celebrated on Saturday 20th June at 6PM mass and Sunday 21st June at 10:30AM mass.

Confirmation will be celebrated on Saturday 1st August at 11AM with Bishop Martin Ashe.

Reconciliations will be celebrated on Wednesday 2nd September, 11:30AM and 3:30PM; Thursday 3rd September11:30AM and 3:30PM; Wednesday 16th September 11:30AM and 3:30PM; Thursday 17th September 11:30AM and 3:30PM.

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Term 1has kicked off brilliantly, and as the weather begins to warm up, students can look forward to cooling down with a refreshing icy pole. Our senior student leaders will be selling icy poles for $1 each lunchtime from Monday to Friday. 

 

All proceeds will go towards supporting the development of our exciting new ninja playground.

Please note our canteen will operate as usual on Fridays.

Thank you for your support in helping us make this fundraiser a success and for giving our students a fun way to stay cool this term!

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Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage

 

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