Issue #6 30 April 2025
Principal's Update
Welcome back! I hope you had a safe, happy and holy Easter Season. We look forward to a busy term ahead. A number of grades will attend their excursion/incursion, and we will see the start of Grade Assemblies. A reminder that our Term 2 Calendar was sent home last term (hard copy and in the newsletter). Please contact the office if you need a copy.
Over the last two days, our staff joined St Brendan's and MacKillop primary, to dive deeply into the HSIE, Science and Technology, PDHPE and CAPA syllabus which have been through significant curriculum reform. The syllabus and new units of work will be implemented by 2027. During the days, our staff were able to unpack the content and identify the changes. We also listened to guest speakers including NESA and CSBB Learning Partners, who further outlined the changes and impact on our teaching; the reformed curriculum ensures that all students are equipped with the essential knowledge and skills they need for success in a rapidly changing world, by making learning clearer, more focused, and relevant to their futures. The days were very worthwhile for our staff.
Winter uniform will begin in Week 4 (May 19th). Please make sure you place your orders with Midford. We are aware there have been delays with some items; we have contacted Midford, unfortunately their stock is not in our control. Please contact Midford for any questions about your order. Items are generally delivered to school twice a week.
Next week we celebrate Mother's Day with our mothers and mother-figures. Mother’s Day breakfast and Mother’s Day stall orders must be completed in advance though the Qkr! App. All orders close this Friday 2nd May. We cannot accept any late orders.
Mother's Day Stall will be held next Wednesday 7th May. Orders are $10 each and limited to a maximum of two gifts per child.
Mother's Day Breakfast is next Friday 9th May from 7.00am. Catering for breakfast will include either a ham and cheese croissant, plain croissant, or a fruit bowl with optional yoghurt. Breakfast is complimentary, but must be pre-ordered. We are only able to cater for mother/mother figures, as well as your St Mary’s school children, and the orders you place on Qkr! should reflect this. Unfortunately, we are unable to cater for older/younger siblings and extended family members. Helpers are still needed, please call the office (7256 2143) to register your availability for either Thursday 8th afternoon or Friday 9th morning.
Our Mother's Day Liturgy will be held on the top playground (weather permitting) after breakfast at 9.00am. At it's conclusion, approximately 9.30am, we will hold a Year 6 vs Mums game on the oval (weather permitting). More details will be sent out next week.
Photos for the Mother's Day slideshow are also due by Friday (one photo per family only). Please read below ('From our REC') for further details.
CCC Cross Country will be held next Tuesday 6th May at Tuggerah. Good luck to the many children across U8-12 who will attend and represent our school.
Polding We wish the following boys good luck, as they have been selected for Broken Bay to attend the Polding trials, and will be travelling to Bathurst this week; Benji A, Lennox K, Noah B, Flynn B and Koa F.
ANZAC Day Last Friday we commemorated the sacrifice of the ANZACs through a march to Toukley Cenotaph. Thank you to all the students who attended to march with our school - we had about 60 students in attendance! Thank you also to Mrs Kyle, Mrs MacMahon, Mrs Doyle, Miss Evans, Mrs Lee and Miss Johnson for marching with our students. This morning, we held a lovely ANZAC Day liturgy at school with members of the Toukley RSL. Thank you for attending.
Our Stage 3 Touch-Tag Gala Day was held last term, our students were fantastic at cheering each other on and trying their best. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the sun too! Thank you Year 5 and Year 6 for being wonderful role models and representing our school so positively. A big 'thanks' also to the parents who were able to supervise a team, so the day could go ahead.
Excursions Next week our Year 3 students will enjoy a fun incursion with the Planetarium, and the following week our Year 2 students will travel to Tocal Homestead, as they step back in time. We hope you all enjoy you days and can't wait to hear about your experiences.
Our Holy Week Liturgy was beautiful last term. We were blessed to have Andrew Chinn return and lead our liturgy in the church. All of the students joined in with gorgeous singing. Thank you to the parents who were able to join us.
On our last day of school, we had so much fun at our Easter Raffle. We are so grateful to the many parents who donated eggs and helped to wrap them for prizes. We had almost 200 prizes for some very lucky students! The money raised will be donated to Mary Mac's Place in Woy Woy.
Have you heard our fantastic School Choir? Each Thursday, Mrs Hodgson, Mr Hochkins and our choir meet for choir practice. Students in choir are from across Year 3-6. They always enjoy performing for Masses, liturgies and other events. We're so proud of their commitment to the choir! This morning, they sung the ANZAC version of 'I am Australian' to our church so beautifully.
Your Thoughts and Prayers Please keep the Scannell family (Sunny and Kai) in your thoughts and prayers, after the recent passing of their grandmother. May you find strength during this difficult time.
REC Update
Holy Week Memorial Liturgy
In the last week of Term 1 we were blessed to have Andrew Chinn lead our school in our Holy Week Memorial Liturgy. Our students sang and danced so well. A special mention to our Year 6 students who led a moving liturgical movement reflecting on Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemene.
Project Compassion
Thank you to all our families who contributed to Project Compassion. We raised over $2000 between Project Compassion and our Easter Raffle. Congratulations to 3 Blue who raised the most money as a class. A special mention to Willow C from Year 6 who donated over $200. 3 Blue and Willow will have a pizza party next week to celebrate their generosity. We will be donating $1000 to Mary Macs at Woy Woy to support our local community in needs and the remainder to Caritas for Project Compassion to support our global community.
Recording with Andrew Chinn
Congratulations Katy-Leigh, Maddie and Indie (Year 5), who were asked by Andrew Chinn to record with him. They did this during the school holidays. A huge thank you to their parents who made this possible. We will be including this in our Mother's Day photo slideshow. If you would like to like to listen to his most recent song, 'Blessing For Mothers' please click the link below.
Mother's Day Liturgy and Photostory
This year our Year 1 students will be leading our Mother's Day Liturgy. This will take place on the top playground at 9am following our breakfast.
Mrs Maiden is in the process of putting together a Mother's Day Photostory. If you would like one image included in this, please email one high quality image to stephanie.maiden@dbb.catholic.edu.au This will be published on Facebook. We will only be accepting photos up until Friday 2nd May to give Mrs Maiden time to prepare the presentation.
ANZAC March
Thank you to all our students who marched with us at the ANZAC March. It was wonderful to see so many students in attendance. It was touching to see our students wearing their grandparents or great grandparent medals to honour and celebrate their courage and sacrifice. A special thank you to our School Captains who laid a wreath on behalf of our school and the many teachers we had in attendance.
Anzac Liturgy
Today our students were able to participate in our ANZAC Liturgy. This was a wonderful opportunity to stop and reflect on the courage and bravery of those men and women who have served Australia, in times of war and conflict. Thank you to the members of Toukley RSL Sub-branch who were able to commemorate with us.
Combined Family Mass
We have our Family Mass coming up on Sunday 18th March with St Brigid's Catholic College. We will begin the afternoon with games on the oval. Light refreshments will be provided before a joint Mass at 6pm. This Mass is a wonderful opportunity to make connections with one of our feeder High Schools. St Brigid's are inviting their students in "Lakes (Gold) House" to come along a celebrate with us. There will be many roles to do during Mass, please complete the link and let us know if you would like a specific role in our Combined Mass.