St Mary's Newsletter

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

Thank you to Mrs McDonald, the Year Five/Six students and Father Philip for leading us through our Mass this morning. Thank you also to all the parents and guardians who came along to support the 

On Sunday, 17th August, at 10.30am, the Year 2 and 3 students will be reading at the Mass, all families are invited to come along and celebrate the Mass. We would love to see you all there.

The sacrament of Holy Communion will be celebrated on 14 September, please keep these students in your prayers as they prepare for the sacrament, Ava Webb, Sage O’Malley and Sienna Anderson.

Quite a few Parents have already been in to see the 4 uniform options and indicate their preference. Don’t forget to drop into the Office to pick up your preference sticker.

I will be attending the Principal’s Conference next week, Monday to Thursday.

We’d LOVE to find a farmer who can help and has the capacity to spray the clover on the school oval, the neighbours took their dog out for a run last night and lost him. Took them over an hour to find him. 

For those parents that may wonder how we arrive at the decision to attend various events/excursions/learning experiences, I thought it may be helpful to know the process we use to help us make a decision on such occasions.

Whenever an opportunity presents itself for such an event, we note when and where the event is, and if it fits into our budget.

Firstly, we consider whether there is an educational value to what is being offered. We then look at the cost of the event, including building in transport costs or whether we are able to walk. We carefully consider the loss of learning time versus the gains of the excursion and whether the event is unique or the fact that the students are unlikely to be often exposed to such an experience here in Merredin. Like you, we are extremely aware that being in the country gives us huge advantages that our city cousins do not have, but we also face certain limited opportunities because of this distance. Given this slight disadvantage, we are very keen to expose our students to activities they wouldn’t otherwise normally be able to experience.

It IS a balance, and while we may not get it right every time, our intention is to choose something that benefits the students. And while at times the educational strength of an event isn’t always clear to the wider community, be assured, adding educational experiences that will enrich the students of St Mary’s, is very much our priority.

 A reminder that next Friday, the 22nd of August is our annual Catholic Leave Day and as such is a pupil free day. I assume many families will take the chance to spend the long weekend together; travel safe and enjoy this gift of extra family time.

God Bless

Mr H

Term Three has commenced and students are enjoying learning about Chemical Sciences through experiments and hands-on experiences. The PP and Year One classes have sorted materials into different categories depending on their properties. The Year 2/3 class have used their knowledge of the properties of materials by designing and making kites. The Year 4/5 class have learnt about solids, liquids and gases and the composition of each of these.

In Week 4, all students will engage in different activities for National Science Week. The topic is ‘Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature's hidden language’.

Stay tuned for more photos and information in our next newsletter.

The Year 5/6 students have finished their unit of work on Natural Disasters (from Term Two) and were given the task of designing and building a model. Don’t they look fantastic? Come and see the finished products in the Science room during Learning Journey on the 16th September. 

We are looking forward to the St Mary's Fete on Saturday the 18th of October! We would like to give a BIG Thank you to all of the amazing sponsors so far who have donated to the day. If you would like to be one of our sponsors please reach out to the St Mary's P & F via stmaryspandf@yahoo.com for more information. Thank you!

Qualified teacher librarian Sarah Hodgson runs inclusive online reading groups for students from lower primary to high school. Whether your child is wanting to expand their reading across genres or hasn’t yet found the right type of books, these sessions foster a lifelong love of reading in a relaxed, welcoming environment. Students can participate in the way that suits them best — reading aloud, joining in discussion, or simply listening. Find out more at https://sarahhodgson.com.au/reading-groups.

Merredin: Saturday 6.30pm & Sunday 10.30am

Kellerberrin: Sunday 8.00am

Please visit our website https://merredincatholicparish.org/

Open Wednesday 8.30am-9.10am

Online Orders: www.quickcliq.com.au