Dear Parents and Carers 

Over the last year our staff have been working together to develop a Vision and Mission statement for our school. The purpose of these statements is to clarify the school culture that we want to create at St Mary’s. The Vision statement overarches and informs our decision making and planning for our school.  The Mission statement supports this Vision, explaining how we realise this. In the words of Jesus to his disciples ‘Who do you say I am?’, this is who we say we are. 

I am pleased to share these statements with our school community;

Vision: St Mary's Star of the Sea, Milton is a supportive community of learners, living Christ’s love through faith in action. 

Mission:  By nurturing the head, the heart and the hands of every student we:

•  ensure quality learning

•  create a sense of joy and belonging 

•  contribute to a just and sustainable world

As a staff we have also identified the following Gospel Values which guide our relationships within the school community;

 Compassion, Respect, Inclusion, Joy, Creativity, Community

It has been wonderful to see our new Kindergarten start their school journey over the last two weeks, there was certainly a lot of joy and enthusiasm dancing through our gate and into our playground. The Kindergarten room is a buzz with lots of learning and fun. An enomormous thanks to Mrs Jodie Lee for stepping into the fulltime Kindergarten role while Mrs Gabrielle Peters is away.

On Friday, we held the investiture of our new school student leaders as part of our Opening School Mass, the new leaders are a credit to their families and our school. We look forward to seeing how these leaders will take an active role within the school community, which they certainly did at our Swimming Carnival.  The  carnival, at the Milton Pool was held in perfect sunshine, it was a great community day with many students really giving their all on the day. A big thanks to Mrs Katy Reid for her superb organisation on the day, to our staff and many volunteers who helped to make the day a success. 

We are looking forward to seeing many of our parents and carers at Parent /Teacher Goal Setting Interviews or Personalised Planning meetings this week. We ask you to bring your child to the meeting along with the Three Stars and a Wish form completed with your child.  Please remember to observe COVID restrictions whilst on site. 

We have had some wonderful news this week; we have been successful in applying for a Federal Government Black Summer Bushfire Grant, this grant will be used to transform our playground. We have a preliminary plan and look forward to creating a magnificent place for our children to play. Mrs Julie Valentini was instrumental in applying for the grant which will realise a major playground refurbishment. Thank you to our local community for their support of the application, a wonderful gift for our children. 

The traffic restrictions and parking situation in Cork’s Lane have been very challenging over the past months with the work on the ‘through road’ at the end of Cork’s Lane. We have been informed during the week that the restricted area will be further increased to include most of the parking area outside the school fence. We are working with the engineers to find some solutions to the traffic congestion.  These further restrictions will be in place for approximately three weeks, we apologise for the significant impact that this work is having on the wider school community, particularly during afternoon pickup time. We ask that you be particularly vigilant with supervision of your children after school and of course demonstrating patience and kindness to each other.  

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have concerns or questions. 

Yours in partnership

Laurinda Nelson