Dear Parents and Carers

It has been a wonderful weekend for many of our Year 6 families with the Sacrament of Confirmation being conferred by Bishop Brian Mascord on Saturday night. Students from St Mary’s and other local primary schools gathered with their families to receive the Sacrament. The mass was beautifully supported by the Parish community. A big thanks to all staff who supported the students. In particular to Mr Simon Kinch in his role as Religious Education Coordinator who combined with Mrs Erin Chard, provided beautiful music on the night. The St Mary’s candidates had been well prepared by Mr Brent Harding. This preparation culminated in a Retreat Day hosted by St Mary’s on Friday. Thank you to Father Michael for generously sharing his time and knowledge with our candidates and for being so supportive of the families presenting their child. Congratulations to all of the newly confirmed students who have made such an important commitment to their faith, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

There were many reasons to celebrate our school last Thursday as our Infants and Primary Choirs made the journey up to Nowra to compete in the Shoalhaven Eisteddfod. Both choirs represented their school with great pride. I was lucky enough to join the choirs for the day to witness their enthusiasm and beautiful songs. The children were so well presented in their full school uniforms and looked so impressive on stage. Both choirs came home with an award: the Infants choir a Highly Commended, and the Primary Choir First Place in the small choir section. A big congratulations and thank you to our Music teacher and Choir leader Mrs Erin Chard who trained and conducted the choir with such a sense of joy for singing and music.

Thank you to everyone who visited and supported our school Book Fair last week, there were many excited customers moving through the school with very shiny new books. This initiative has provided some lovely new books for our school Library as well as motivating students to read, read, read! Thanks to Mrs Louise Hamilton and Mrs Karyn Faust for their running and organising of this annual event.

Kindergarten 2020 Interviews will be held in the coming weeks. If you know of a family who would like to join our beautiful school next year, please remind them to return their enrolment forms to the school office at their earliest convenience. Once  forms are received an Enrolment interview can be booked. We are excited this year to introduce a ‘Transition To School Playgroup’ where all students and their parents are invited into school to play, and to get to know each other. This will assist in building confidence and community, before our new Kinders begin their school journey.

Last Monday, Mr Simon Kinch and I attended the initial meeting for the ‘Fathering Project’ which is a combined schools community project with the Apex Club and Milton and Ulladulla Primary Schools. This project focuses on the important role of fathers and other father figures in the lives of children, as well as building a network of fathers supporting each other. One of the main tips of the night was the importance of connecting with your children and the importance of eye contact to make this connection. At St Mary’s, we are encouraging children to greet each other and adults at school and encouraging them to look at each other when they do this. It would be great to have our parents also encouraging this at home and out in the community. St Mary’s School is very happy to be hosting the first Fathering Project event on the 24th June. Please save the date and practise your paper plane making skills for the event. Everyone is welcome to join the fun!

Have a good week and I look forward to seeing you around our school.

Yours in partnership,

Laurinda Nelson

Principal