ENewsletter

Dear St Mary's School Community,

Focus Value: : Leadership

We set a positive example in the classroom, playground and community.

Camp

The Year Six class have been busily preparing for the highlight of the year! Special thanks are extended to Mrs Mac and the two wonderful parent helpers who have agreed to come along and support the children during the week. We wait with anticipation for their return and with a long list of happy stories to entertain us with.

NAPLAN

Our Year Three and Year Five students have started their NAPLAN tests this week. Both groups have been methodically working through their set tests and have been coping well with the test schedule.

Sacrament Commitment Mass

Our Sacrament Commitment Mass will be held this Sunday at 10.30am at the Church. Everyone is welcome to come along to support our students in their sacramental journey.

Senior Centre Visit

Our Year Two/Three students head off to the Merredin Seniors Centre this coming Thursday. This is an incredibly valuable experience for both our students and our Seniors.

Harmony Day

Don’t forget everyone is welcome to dress up in orange or in their national dress, to celebrate Harmony Day on Friday the 21st of March. This is a wonderful way to celebrate our diversity and encourage our students to demonstrate the knowledge they have in their country of origin and further allows other students to explore the diversity of cultures we have here in Merredin.

Quality Catholic Education School Review

The Quality Catholic Education School Review (QCESR) provides an opportunity for a panel of educators, external to the school, to affirm, challenge and report on the improvement journey at the school and the principal’s leadership.

The QCESR focuses on the school improvement context and the principal leadership context, measuring the effectiveness of a principal’s leadership and engagement with self-review, the impact of a school’s engagement with self-review, and the future directions for the improvement of student outcomes that the school has identified.

The QCESR Panel will be visiting our school on 1 April. As part of the process, they will be meeting with the Principal, Leadership Team, a selection of staff, a selection of students, Parish Priest and nominees from the Catholic School Advisory Council and P&F group.

At the conclusion of the QCESR Panel visit, a two-part report will be completed. The first section comments on the school improvement processes and strategic direction and will be written and forwarded to school leadership. The second section comments on a principal’s leadership and professional growth and development. It will be written and forwarded to the principal and CEWA Executive Director.

How much does a chimney cost. Nothing, it's on the house.

God Bless

Mr Hamersley

Special Events

Teddy Bears Hospital Incursion

Yesterday the Kindy to Year One students were fortunate when 17 students from Notre Dame University visited to hold a Teddy Bear Hospital. There were many patients to be seen, so the triage area was very busy. Fortunately everyone had time to get their aliments attended to and all the teddies were feeling much better by the end of their visit. We would like to thanks all the students for taking the time to visit us at St Mary's and all the host families for opening their homes to the students during their stay.

Class News

Performing Arts

What a busy start to the year in Dance this term!

JUNIOR SCHOOL

In Weeks 1-3 we explored different locomotor and non-locomotor movements involved in dances and practised using props while dancing. We have focused on whole body movement, moving different parts of our body and dancing with our feet and knees as a body base.

In Weeks 4-6 we have been learning about the use of different directions and levels in dance and incorporated this into solo and partner dance moves. We are experimenting with slow and fast tempos and discovering how our movements change when dancing to songs with different tempos.

SENIOR SCHOOL

In Weeks 1-3 we explored the use of different body bases and how we can create dances with flow through different levels using this. We focused on incorporating different body zones, isolated movements and force to begin choreographing our own dances.

In Weeks 4-6 we have started experimenting with representing force, weight, dimensions and pathways through dance and how to control and combine different movement qualities to create connections in movement. We will continue learning about the different components of a dance such as patterns and using space to work in small groups to co-create a whole class dance.

Other News & Important Dates

Uniform Shop Update

The uniform shop has an abundance of preloved uniforms in excellent condition for only $5.00 per piece so grab yourselves a bargain!! Please remember they are cash only. All items are listed below.

Containers for Change

St Mary's School is part of the "Containers for Change" program.

Thank you to the Change Makers who returned 93 containers to the Merredin -Depot Wheatbelt Cash for Containers container refund point and donated their $9.30 to our school.

If you would like to donate your containers to the school, our Scheme ID is C10323720

If you require a green bag to collect your cans, these are available from Mrs Riethmuller at the school. Just remember, every little bit helps!

Project Compassion 2025

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Each year throughout the forty days of Lent, Caritas Australia's Project Compassion brings together thousands of Australian schools, parishes and supporters nationwide to Unite Against Poverty.

Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, was on March 5th and runs through to Holy Thursday, April 17th 2025.

Project Compassion 2025 calls on us to stand with Caritas Australia to Unite Against Poverty. The money raised by the school will help transform the lives of some of the world's most vulnerable people and help them to foster change from the ground up.

Your child/children have brought home a Project Compassion collection box which is due back at school by 7th April 2025.

Thank you for your support of Project Compassion 2025.

Kind regards,

Pauline Riethmuller

Assistant Principal