Issue #13 21st August 2024
Principal's Update
Term 3 always feels like a busy time in our school community - that has certainly continued to be the case this year! In addition to the learning taking place in our classes, we've had gala days, a disco, Grandparent's Day, Athletics, Masses, Green and Gold Day and Confirmation. And we're only warming up... Book Week, Grade Assemblies, Public Speaking Finals, Father's Day stall and breakfast and more gala days. And all classes are enjoying their weekly drumming with InRhythm Drumming throughout the term.
I would like to congratulate the many children who made their Sacrament of Confirmation on the weekend in a special celebration. I have seen your hard work to prepare for the day, both at school and with your parents in classes. I loved hearing about which saints name you chose at our morning assembly this week. Congratulations to you all.
Science Week
Last week our classes across the school were able to celebrate Science Week by participating in lots of various experiments. There was lots of fun and creativity with food dye, slime, nests and more. Thank you to Mrs Perry for organising the activities for the school.
CCC Athletics and Broken Bay Athletics
Last week a number of students participated in the CCC Athletics Carnival at Mingara. Students were so well behaved and tried their best throughout the day, well done! Congratulations to the following students who will go to the next level and represent the school at the Broken Bay Athletics Championships next Thursday 29th; Benji A, Leo C, Amelia D, Emmanuelle D, Lachlan F, Archer G, Hunter H, Sienna H, Byron H, Owen M, Abel N, Mia S and Archie W. Good luck!
Disco
We hope everyone enjoyed our school disco! A huge thank you to our PIP Team for helping to organise the evening, and Eileen and Ellie for the wonderful photo background. We can't wait for another fun disco next year!
Grade Assembly
Once a year, each grade shares an afternoon assembly item. This is in addition to the once a year that the class shares a Monday morning Sacred Space item. A number of these assemblies are this term. The dates are as follows: Year 3 Assembly, tomorrow 22nd August at 1.50pm. Year 4 Assembly, 1.50pm Friday 6th September. Year 1 Assembly, 1.50pm Thursday 12th September. 2 White and 2 Blue Assembly, 1.50pm Friday 20th September.
Father's Day
We celebrate Father's Day next week. We look forward to celebrating with the many fathers and father-figures that make up our St Mary's community. Please remember that all purchases (Father's Day Stall and Breakfast) must be completed through Qkr! by 4pm this Friday 23rd August. Unfortunately, we are unable to process any late orders and cannot accept orders on the day.
Our Father's Day Liturgy will begin at 9.00am on the top playground, all dads are welcome to join us if they can. This will be followed by a Dads vs Year 6 game on the oval.
Our Father's Day Stall will be on Thursday 29th August (prepaid through Qkr!). There is a maximum of 2 gifts per child.
Our Father's Day Breakfast and Liturgy will be on Friday morning, 30th August. Our breakfast is free, for all dads/father figures (pops, granddads) and students, however we can not cater for other family members. Please order for your family under just one child's name, it is also important to add what time you expect to attend so that food can be prepared. Once you arrive in the morning for the breakfast, please head to the designated area to collect your tickets, before you collect your breakfast.
Our PIP Team are still looking for volunteers to help with the Father's Day Breakfast preparation and serving (Thursday 29th August and also Friday 30th August). Days such as these are not able to happen without our generous volunteers. If you can offer a few hours of your time for any of these events, it would be appreciated. Please use the sign-up links below to register your interest:
Father's Day Breakfast Preparation: Preparation Team on the Thursday afternoon, 2-3pm.
Father's Day Breakfast Serving: Serving Team for breakfast on Friday morning, 6-9am.
Book Week A message from Miss Gray...
The countdown is for… Book Week!!! This year’s Book Week theme is READING IS MAGIC and it certainly is at St Mary’s. The excitement has been building here in the library. Each week we have read one of the picture books in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Competition and our library looks amazing filled with the children’s work.
Children are also excited to be dressing up as their favourite character for next Tuesday’s Book Parade (students only dress up on Tuesday, not every day). We can imagine how busy parents and grandparents are at home helping costumes come to life for our parade. We ask that costumes are not spooky or scary and age appropriate.
And while the children are only too eager to share their costume plans, the teachers have begun the annual grand Cone of Silence, plotting and planning their costumes and very careful not to give any clues away. We are just going to have to wait until next Tuesday to see what characters our staff are dressing up as this year!
As part of our Book Week Celebrations we will host a Book Fair in the library where children and families can purchase a book. Our goal is to invest in additional robots for our school. The Book Fair will be open every morning from 8:15am – 9:00am and afternoon between 3:15pm – 4:00pm. The absolute last time to purchase a book or that early Christmas gift will be Friday morning.
Book Week is always a joyous celebration at St Mary’s, beginning with our Book Character Parade beginning just after 9.00am, and then the rest of the day is just for the kids. Year 6 will host our annual reading on the oval and each class will be visited by a mystery teacher after lunch to read their favourite books. There will be other activities for children to enjoy throughout the week. Tuesday is promising to fair and fine so come along and join us for the morning parade and don’t forget our Book Fair here in the library.
Public Speaking
Over the last few weeks, our Year 6 students have been part of Broken Bay Public Speaking. Each child has presented a 3 minute speech from a list of given topics to their class. Some students then progressed to give their speech to the grade, and from that, tomorrow a number of students will present their speech to the school. Good luck to our finalists for tomorrow; Archer G, Louis F, Addi P, Ellie C, Luke P, Edward C, Ayla C, Aila K, Piper E, Andy B, Cochella O and Ruby R. From there, two students will progress to represent the school in the Cluster Finals to be held at MacKillop Warnervale on 2nd September.
Weekend Family Masses
Upcoming Grade Family Masses are for Year 1 and Year 2. Please add this date to your diary to attend. Year 1: Sunday 25th August at 9am. Year 2: Sunday 22nd September at 9am. We look forward to seeing you there.
From our REC
Confirmation
On Saturday over 30 of our students were Confirmed by Bishop Robert McGurkin. It was a beautiful service. Thank you to Sr Jiji, our Parish Team and the children's parents who prepared them so well. Please use the link below to complete the pre-registration for our Sacramental Program in 2025 - Reconciliation and First Eucharist.
https://forms.office.com/r/an3trZN6Z7?origin=lprLink
Year 1 Sunday Parish Mass
This Sunday our Year 1 students will lead the ministries for our Sunday Mass. We are looking forward to celebrating Mass and sharing morning tea with our Year 1 families this Sunday. Mass begins at 9am. We can't wait to hear the song they are singing!
Sacred Space - 4 Blue and 6 Blue
Thank you 4 Blue who shared their learning last week in RE. They shared with us how and when the four Gospels were written.
Thank you 6 Blue for sharing your learning in Religion on Monday. It was wonderful to hear about the importance of prayer especially the Rosary for Catholics during the early 1800s before we had any priests in Australia.
Beanie Day
Thank you to all our families who supported our Beanie Day fundraiser. We raised over $600 for Mary Macs at Woy Woy.
Feast of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop
Thank you to our Year 6 students who led our mass to celebrate the wonderful work of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop.
Father's Day Liturgy
Next Friday our Year 2 students will lead our Liturgy for Father's Day. This will be held on the top playground after the Father's Day breakfast. Mrs Hughes is putting together an iMovie to celebrate the significant males in our lives. If you would like to contribute one photo, please send a high quality image to rebecca.hughes@dbb.catholic.edu.au The iMovie will be put on Facebook.
Year 2 Save the Date
The Year 2 Sunday Parish Mass is coming up on Sunday 22nd September at 9am. The students will be leading the ministries and singing a Thanksgiving Song. We look forward to celebrating with you all.
ICAS Assessments
We have only two ICAS assessments remaining. Please remember to bring headphones on Friday if you are taking part in the Spelling Bee. Thank you Ms Gray for administering these assessments. Mrs Kyle will take the students for the Mathematics ICAS assessment next Wednesday 28th August. Please wait on the seats on the top playground for her. This assessment will take place in her classroom as the library will be holding the Book Fair.