Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 4, we are all happy to be back together as we head into the final term of a very interesting and challenging year. I hope all of our families managed to have a restful break. We have a very busy first week with our Berry Sport and Rec ‘In School Camp’  on Thursday. Our students all had a great day, learning the importance of working in teams and cooperation, the facilitators were motivating and very skilled at entertaining and keeping the groups actively working together. We are looking forward to a follow up day for Years 3-6 this Tuesday onsite at Berry. Students are to wear sport uniform, sport shoes & hat. The bus leaves school at 7:30 sharp and returns to school at 4pm. Enormous thanks to Treading Lightly for covering the cost of the buses to and from Berry. 

At St Mary’s, we recognise the important role that parents and families play in supporting their child's education. Research has shown that when schools and families work together, children do better, stay in school longer, are more engaged with their school work, go to school more regularly, behave better, and have better social skills. Parent engagement also results in longer term economic, social and emotional benefits.This week many parents will be participating in Personalised Planning meetings with Mrs Valentini and your child’s class teacher. Unfortunately due to COVID regulations these meeting cannot be face to face, but via a phone call. Collaborating with your child’s teacher and being part of their goal setting and planning is such an important factor in their academic and personal growth.  I thank Mrs Valentini, Mrs Faust in our school office, the teachers and parents for devoting so much time and effort to develop these partnerships in our school community. 

Creativity in all its various forms are highly valued in our school. Our students are working hard to bring our latest production ‘Dragon Days’ to light, the year 2020 has not been encouraging of such ventures and we applaud the tenacity and commitment of our cast and crew to bring this production to you. Whilst rehearsals with Mrs Cooper are continuing, our plan is to film the production and distribute this limited release as a video to our families. Filming will take place during Weeks 4 and 5 with a release to families in Week 7. We currently have two student artworks hanging in the Wollongong Gallery, Tess Wilson and Lillie Phelan have been shortlisted for the Bishop’s Christmas Art Competition. We congratulate the winners and thank Mrs McGregor for her continuing passion and support for visual arts in our school. 

This week we have had the welcome news that we will be able to host a modified Kinder 2021 Playgroup, we will be inviting our new Kinders in to play and meet our 2021 Kindergarten teacher, Miss Helena Karas.  Helena is very excited to be welcoming our lovely new students into our school community. This term we are also happy to welcome back the Bracken family from their travels around Australia and to two new families joining our school community. 

We thank our parents and carers for their ongoing support of COVID restrictions and look forward to welcoming you back onto school grounds as soon as possible. 

Yours in partnership,

Laurinda Nelson 

SAVE THE DATE - 26th November

ST MARY'S MOVIE RELEASE 

 All students have been busy practicing lines, dance moves, making props and solos last term and will continue this over the next few weeks. Filming will start Week 4 then go the school production and editing team ready for release for families to enjoy in to comfort of their own lougeroom DONT FORGET the POPCORN!!

More information for students will be sent home closer to dates.

Our Kinder 2021 students have been invited to attend the following optional playgroup sessions in our school hall on the following dates:

• Wednesday, 28th Oct -9:30 -11:00 am

• Monday, 2nd Nov -2-3pm 

• Wednesday, 4th Nov - 9:30 -11:00 am

• Monday, 9th Nov - 2-3pm

Parents are to call our school office to book in to attend sessions.

We will be following COVID-safe practices during the Kinder Orientation to ensure the highest level of safety for our community.

All families are required to attend the following Orientation days: 

• Thursday, 19th November Orientation 9.30am – 11 :00am

• Wednesday, 25th November Orientation 9.30am – 11:00am  

Presented at Assembly Friday 25/9/20                                          

Class Merit Awards Week, 

Kinder – Ben WG

Year 1 – Ben K, Jacob M

Year 2 – Imogen H, Max C, Liam R

Year 3 – Felix A, Andie M

Year 4  - Noah H, Ella R

Year 5 –Luke W, Lucy A

Year 6 –  Oscar PD, Duke R

Super Star Awards for Week,

We care for Ourselves

Arabella B,Delphi S-H, Parker G,Peyton MJ, Josh Mc, Axel B

We Care For Others 

Summer G, Ryder L, Imogen H, Torin D, Zuri G, Bryn S, Jacob M

We Care For Our Learning

Eli D, Daisy D, Milla G, Tehya G

We Care For Our School

Summer G, Delphi S-H, Evie P

Principal Awards

Delphi SH, Harrison K

ALL Stars Awarded to YEAR 4

Tuesday 20th October - Berry Sport and Rec Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6

Friday 23rd October - School Zoom Assembly 9.30am (link sent via Compass)

Wednesday 4th November - St Johns Year 7 2021 Orientation Day

Friday 6th November - School Zoom Assembly 9.30am (link via Compass)

                                  Confirmation Retreat Day School Hall

Sunday 8th November - Confirmation, 11am Ulladulla Church

Wednesday 11th November- Remembrance Day

Thursday 12th November - St Johns Year 7 2021 Orientation Day

Monday 16th November - Intensive Swimming This Week Yr1-Yr2

                                      ( Awaiting confirmation from SCC of Covid restrictions for swimming)

Friday 20th November - School Zoom Assembly 9.30am (link via Compass)

Thurday 26th November - Dragon Day's School Musical Movie Release 

                                   - UHS Year 6 Taster Day

Monday 30th November - Intensive Swimming This Week K, Yrs 3-6                                                              ( Awaiting confirmation from SCC of Covid restrictions for swimming)

Tuesday 1st December - UHS Year 7 2021, Orientation Day

Friday 4th December- Swimming Carnival ( Awaiting confirmation from SCC of Covid restrictions for swimming)

Monday 7th December - Leadership Speeches

Wednesday 9th December - Gingerbread House Making Night (more info to come)

Thursday 10th December - Year 6 Graduation Mass and Dinner 5.30pm

Friday 11th December - Year 6 Fun Day Out

Monday 14th December - School Presentation/Christmas Concert

Tuesday 15th December  - Last Day Students 

The Kindergarten students have enjoyed using the Blue-Bots to learn basic coding while consolidating their knowledge of the letter-sound relationship. The Year 1 students have applied their new geographical and mathematical skills by using the Blue-Bots to navigate and locate positions on the floor mats.

The Year 2 students have been visiting the STEM Space every Wednesday afternoon to play with the M-Bots.  During these sessions, the children have been learning to write simple programs using basic block coding. At the end of last term the children programmed their robots to perform a dance in an in-class ‘So you think your robot can dance’ competition. 

The Years 3 and 4 classes have been participating in a ‘Solar Car STEM Challenge.’ The children were provided with the basic parts to operate a solar car (eg, a 1.5v Solar battery and a small motor). They engaged with the Engineering Design Process to plan, design and test a solar powered toy car with the goal of trying to make it move as fast as possible. It was impressive to see them discussing and experimenting with concepts such as aerodynamics, friction and weight distribution. 

Ben W, Tex L,  Samuel S, Luke S, Imogen H, Duke R, Brigum D

We are taking orders for Summer Uniforms.

Orders and payment can be made via phone / email / front office.

good quality Pre-loved uniforms can be dropped of the office