Dear Parents and Carers 

This week, we marked the beginning of the new school year with a special Opening School Liturgy celebrated by Deacon Justin, as Father Michael was unwell. As a Catholic school, gathering for the Eucharist with our wider parish community is deeply significant. It allows us to seek God’s blessings for the year ahead and to express our gratitude for the many blessings we receive, particularly the peace and support of our community.

During the liturgy, we had the privilege of presenting our 2025 student leaders with their badges. We celebrated the achievements of our School and Vice Captains, House Captains, and members of the School Representative Council (SRC). These students will work together in teams to ensure that every student’s voice is heard while balancing the responsibilities and privileges of their leadership roles. Over the next few weeks, they will be honing and developing their leadership skills, setting the stage for a year of growth, collaboration, and service to our school community.

Our current Parents and Friends Association (P & F) has done an outstanding job in gathering the community and raising funds. Just to name a few initiatives they’ve been responsible for: the canteen, Colour Fun Run, Gingerbread House Night, Easter Raffle, Mothers' and Fathers' Day stalls, and supporting our kitchen garden. The P & F plays a vital role in fundraising for facilities and resources for our students, as well as representing and giving a voice to our parents and community in the school.

The AGM for the P & F will be held on Monday, 24th February at 5:30 pm, and we’re asking our parents to step in and help. Many hands make light work, our team is made up of very welcoming and collaborative individuals. Research shows that the more involved you are with your child’s school, the greater the social and academic outcomes for your own child. We look forward to seeing you there!

A few reminders as we start the school year:

Every school day counts, there is a very strong relationship between consistent school attendance and high academic achievement from the very early years of education. Please make sure your child is at school each day, even being regularly late has an impact on learning. Our Attendance Guidelines have changed this year, and as a result, I am unable to give approved leave for family holidays or sporting events during school hours. 

Consider these interesting statistics.

Student phones are not permitted at school, if your child requires a phone for contact out of school hours they must bring the phone to the Office for safekeeping and collect it before going home. All smartwatches must be locked during school hours, if the device is active it will be held in the Office for the day, and regarded as a device. 

If you wish to contact teachers you can reach them through the following: 

• Phone call to the Office 
• All emails to the school Office at info@sosmdow.catholic.edu.au
• Please do not contact staff via personal email or messaging 
• Please allow 48 hours for a response to emails

Social Media

• Be mindful of the right for privacy for all students, please only post photos of your own child on social media platforms
• Always contact the Office if you have a query, please avoid using social media platforms for school-related matters

Morning/ Afternoon Drop Off and Pick Up

To keep everyone safe, Duty Teachers are on the playground in the mornings at 8.45 am, please ensure your child is dropped off after 8.30 am. Students must remain seated until 8.45 pm when the morning teacher starts duty. If you are just dropping your children off, pull into the area in front of the main gate, this is our Stop and Drop Zone. In this zone you must remain in or next to your car. If you would like to come into the school or the Office please park near the oval on Cork’s Lane. When picking students up in the afternoon please park and enter the school grounds, do not park and call students to cars during the after-school busyness. 

Kindergarten will be picked up with our other students at standard school dismissal at 3:20 pm next week. 

Walkers and Bike Riders 

We are currently investigating the possibility of escorting bike riders and walking students through the carpark to the new development on Cork’s Lane instead of down the busy highway route. We ask parents to complete the following survey to provide feedback on this suggestion. 

Walking Or Riding To School 

I look forward to seeing you around our school next week,

Yours in partnership, 

Laurinda Nelson

Is your child starting Kindergarten in 2026?
We are now taking enrolment applications!

My name is Dylan Anderson. I am delighted to introduce myself as the new Religious Education Coordinator at the school and have already enjoyed meeting many parents and carers. I warmly welcome parents and carers to approach me and introduce themselves, as I look forward to building strong connections within our school community. I am excited to contribute to and coordinate the Catholic life of the school, fostering faith-filled learning experiences for all students. It has been wonderful to see our school spirit shine, especially during our Welcome School Mass, which was well attended and positively celebrated by students, staff and families. With classes now commencing stage teaching of religious education, students have new opportunities for rich discussions and collaboration, deepening their understanding of faith across the school. Our journey together has begun with great enthusiasm and I look forward to a meaningful and rewarding year at St Mary’s, Milton. 

Yours in faith,
Dylan Anderson

2025 SCHOOL FEE INFORMATION

School fees for 2025 have now been invoiced and statements issued with annual or first instalment payment due on 28 February 2025. You may also view your school fee account in the Compass Parent Portal. Please note that if you have instalments, they will only be visible on your school fee statement and not in the Parent Portal.

Please note the following:

• The invoicing of school fees and the distribution of school fee statements each month, is now a function carried out by the Catholic Education Office.
• Payment of fees, whether as an annual payment or payment by instalments is due on the date/s provided on your school fee statement.
• If an amendment is made to your school fee account eg your child changes subjects in a secondary school, you will be emailed a statement which will provide a new schedule of payments and due dates. Please review this schedule to make any changes to your payments that are necessary.

Reminders for Late Payments:

SMS and email reminders are automatically generated by our accounting software based on the number of days a payment is overdue and are distributed by the Catholic Education Office. For those families that may have difficulty in paying their school fees, these reminders may cause some distress. This is not our intention. Our intention is to support the collection of school fee accounts centrally and in so doing, alleviate some of the administrative work of our schools.

School Fee Account Enquiries:

Please note, despite the centralisation of various functions, our school will always be your point of contact for matters pertaining to fees. If you wish to discuss your school fee account, please contact the school office. The role of the Catholic Education Office is to action centralised tasks on behalf of schools.

If you wish to pay by Instalments:

Many families have already elected to pay their school fees by instalments. If you wish to avail yourself of this option please complete a Request to Pay by Instalment Form which is available on our school’s website or at the school office. On completion of the request either email it to instalments@dow.catholic.edu.au or return to the office. Following receipt of the request, instalments will be generated on your account and a schedule of payments and due dates will be provided on your next school fee statement. Please note it is only necessary to complete this form once during the period of child/children’s enrolment unless you wish to amend your payment frequency.

Difficulty with Payment:

If you are experiencing financial difficulty, we encourage you to contact our office to discuss an arrangement that will assist you meet your commitments. This may include the completion of a Diocesan Application for Fee Concession which is also available from the office. Be reassured that your situation will be treated with strict confidentiality and respect for your circumstances. Please note, if you have children in more than one Diocesan school, it will only be necessary to submit one application.

For those families that received a Fee Concession in 2024, you will receive an email prior to your annual review date attaching a further Application for Fee Concession. You may also initiate an earlier review if you wish to do so by contacting the office.

For further information regarding school fees, please access the Diocesan School Fee Management Policy and Frequently Asked Questions which is available on our school’s website.