St Mary's eNews
Term 1 Week 3
Principal's Message: 13th February 2026
Dear families,
I trust you had a great week and that your family is finding its school rhythms once again. As much as we adore our holidays, many families have expressed how lovely it is to be back into the school swing again.
Thank you for taking the time to come along to our annual Get-To-Know-You chats. Our staff find this such a valuable insight into their students at the start of each year.
If you missed a chance to meet with your child’s teacher, please reach out via Seesaw to make a time.
Yesterday, Mr Freeman and I, accompanied by our school captains and liturgy/social justice leaders, visited MSJ for a blessing and burning of palms in preparation for Ash Wednesday. Our leaders represented St Mary’s beautifully and enjoyed the experience immensely. The ashes created will be used during this coming week’s Ash Wednesday Mass. All are welcome to attend at 9:15am.
As is timely at the commencement of each school year, we ask that you read through the following reminders carefully:
Drop offs and pick ups
Morning supervision officially begins when the school gates open at 8:30am and a staff member is on duty. The children are officially your responsibility until this time. Children are not to be dropped off at the office for supervision.
Before school care runs from 7am. You can sign up for casual or regular sessions.
Similarly, we have staff on duty after school until 3:30pm each afternoon. If you are running late, please let the school know and we will have your child wait near the duty teacher in Area 1. This teacher will collect students and take them to the office once the gates are closed.
Late Camp Australia bookings
If you have booked your child into After-School Care without their knowledge (eg last minute, during the school day), please contact the office so we can let your child know to go to the hall after school. While the OSHC staff are notified, your child won’t know unless we inform them before the end of the school day.
nForma Parent Portal
We continue to ask for your patience as we navigate the new nFOrma Parent Portal as our Operoo replacement.
We are currently aware of a few glitches our parents are experiencing (eg not being emailed about new forms or visits to sick bay). We encourage you to let us know of any other issues you are facing within the portal.
In the meantime, we ask that you check into the portal regularly, just in case the notifications do not automatically pop up or email you.
Gastro cases
We have had several students with gastroenteritis in our community recently. We ask that you keep your child home if they present with these symptoms, ideally, until 48 hours after symptoms cease.
We continue to remind our students to practice good hygiene and ask that you reiterate this message at home.
Repeat reminders from my previous newsletter:
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.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage
Mary Help of Christians Parish Renewal Program 2026
PARISH RENEWAL PROGRAM – we would love all our parish school families to be involved! The Program provides us with a wonderful opportunity as individuals and as a community- to reflect on the importance of our faith and to embrace the exciting opportunities ahead. The Program runs for three weeks, covering themes central to parish life – FAITH, ENGAGEMENT and COMMITMENT. You will have the opportunity to hear how we all have a role to play in building a vibrant parish community, that meets the challenges of today and ensures a sustainable future for our children to enjoy in the years to come.
A special Program brochure has been provided for each parish school family – taken home with your eldest child. The brochure details where the parish is now and importantly what are our key priorities in the times ahead – mission, pastoral care and financial. ‘Soft copies’ of the brochure are also available through the link here.
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION:
“Why is our parish community important for my family?”
“Our parish school and our parish community have a special relationship – working together to provide the best Catholic education for our children. Providing an education underpinned by our shared faith and values. Laying strong faith foundations through the Sacramental Program and the celebration of our faith at school and class Masses. It is in the interests of
all our parish school families to ensure we have a vibrant, vital and viable parish community, so we can continue to support our children on their faith journey.”
Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage
Ashes Burning Liturgy @ MSJ
Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage
Icy Poles Are Back for Term 1!
Term 1 has 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.
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!
Respect • Responsibility • Resilience • Courage