St Mary's Newsletter

We have a duty to be accountable to ourselves and to others.

"God of the prophets you gifted Mary MacKillop with vision and courage.In her we see one who was not afraid to speak fearlessly your gospel of love."

I extend my thanks once again to the parents who are working on the Uniform committee. I will keep you up to date with the changes as they happen.

The process of upgrading the courts is unfortunately still in the planning stages with the CEWA architects. The school is waiting on further information before the project can move forward.

Our amazing P&F have levelled a spot for ‘Speedy’ the new playground boat and it was installed this week. I would like to give a HUGE thanks to all involved for the work that has been done on this project and special thanks go to those who did the physical preparation work on the playground so that Speedy has a safe harbour to moor in!! Speedy is already a big hit!!

The Year Four/Five led our Feast Day Mass on Wednesday. Thank you to Miss Della Bosca and the children for the wonderful, prayerful Feast Day celebration. We also have the Feast of the Assumption next Tuesday, 15 August at 9.00am in the church. Everyone is welcome to attend.

We have our SAC meeting on Monday at 7pm in the Library.

We have our Faction Long  Jumps on the 17th of August.

All students from Years 1 to 6 will be taking part during their class’ scheduled Physical Education Lesson. The format for the day is outlined below

9:00 – 9:50am          Year 3/4 

9:50 – 10:40am        Year 4/5

11:00 – 11:50am      Year 6

11:50 – 12:40am      Year 1/2

The remainder of the Athletics events will be held at our Athletics Carnival on Friday 1st September.

Mrs Crees is still looking for volunteers to assist with the day, if you are able to help out, please email  Kate.Crees@cewa.edu.au  

Our Week Five Assembly will be held next Friday the 18th of August and will be run by the Year 1/2 Class. I look forward to seeing you there.

God Bless.

David Hamersley

Principal

This term the students in Pre-primary to Year 6 have been learning about the natural world and its living inhabitants in Biological Sciences. Each class has been exploring the different aspects of the topic and conducting lots of interesting investigations to further develop their understanding of the natural world and the things that live in it.

Speedy the boat has arrived! Big thanks to Megan Anderson, Jayden Crook, Phill & Olivia Gray, the team from Great Eastern Freightlines, Nuterin who generously covered the freight costs and of course everyone involved in St Mary’s P&F who’s contributions to fundraising have allowed this to happen. The kids gave it the tick of approval! 

On Wednesday, Week 6, 23rd August, we will hold our annual Book Week multi-age activity day.  Students from Kindy to Year 6 will rotate through 5 activities during the day.

At 8:50 we will hold our costume parade, then at 9:10 students will be placed into their groups, ready for their first activity.

Students have free dress for the day.  Some dress up ideas for the day are:

·        Classic book characters

·        When I Grow Up

·        Inspired by History

·        Favourite Author

·        Mythical 

Many wonderful saints share the month of August for their feast days, but it is hard for an Australian to pass up the opportunity to celebrate St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

When Alexander and Flora MacKillop welcomed their first baby, Mary Helen, into the world in the bedroom of their little house in Melbourne they must have thought she was very special. They could not have guessed in a million years how many people would agree – all over the country and around the whole world! We know her today as St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Mary MacKillop was born in 1842. She was a fine teacher, the founder of schools and a religious order. She devoted her whole life to following Jesus and helping others, especially poor children. Many people who knew her could tell she was extraordinary. Mother Mary radiated God’s love and energy to everyone she met. Mary and her companion Fr Julian Tenison Woods dreamed of a new kind of school, open to anyone whether their family was rich or poor. Children from poorer families would be provided with clothing and school supplies for very little cost or for free. They could learn enough reading, writing and maths so they could get out of poverty and have a better life. When Mary wrote the lessons and timetable for her schools, she made sure there was time for prayers and hymns, which in those days were not written in English, but Latin. But she made sure these weren’t too long so that the children wouldn’t find prayer time too difficult or too boring. Her pupils must have been grateful for that! Her life wasn’t always easy and she had lots of problems sometimes, but she was happy because she firmly believed in God and that her true home was not here on earth but with God in heaven. She was very cheerful and didn’t want her sisters going around with frowns on their faces.

Eric Hind was born in Nottingham in England in 1901. He migrated to Western Australia in 1926 and came immediately to the Wheatbelt. In 1928 he took up farming land at Burracoppin and so commenced a lifetime of interest in the Burracoppin Area.

During the Second World War Eric enlisted in the R.A.A.F and served overseas.

In 1953 he was elected to the then Merredin Road Board and continued to represent the people of Burracoppin on the Merredin Shire Council until his retirement in 1989.

After 36 years of service on the Road Board and Shire Council, the Merredin Shire Council presented Eric with a long service award and made him a Freeman of the Shire. In 1990 he received the Order of Australia Medal for services to the community.

Eric Hind was an accomplished violinist who had gained his A.L.C.M (Eng) diploma before leaving England. As an active member of the Merredin Musical Society and Concert Orchestra of the day, Eric was much sought after as a violinist and was willing to perform at any function if possible. Eric also served on the local W.A Symphony Orchestra Committee and was instrumental in getting many concerts in Merredin over a number of years.

In his honor, the Shire of Merredin offers a yearly music scholarship to the value of $1000.00.

Please see below for more information and the application form for the 2024 Eric Hind Scholarship, the Merredin Shire encourages eligible family members, friends, or acquaintances to apply.

Merredin: Saturday 6.30pm & Sunday 10.30am

Kellerberrin: Sunday 8.00am

Open Wednesday 8.30am-9.10am

Online Orders: www.quickcliq.com.au