Week 2 / 3 - Term 2

From the Principal

Thank you to all those families who joined us for the ANZAC Day March last Tuesday.  It was a very moving ceremony and our students did a wonderful job of paying their respects.  We received a lot of positive feedback regarding the respectful way our students conducted themselves and their beautiful singing of the national anthem. 

Prep 2024

We are currently taking Prep enrolments for 2024.  If you have a child beginning school next year or know someone whose child is due to begin Prep, please get your enrolment forms in ASAP. These forms can be found on our school website. Please follow this link to access our current enrolment form.   Don’t forget about our Prep Open Day on Saturday, 27 May. The Open Day will be held from 9am to 11am in the Prep classroom and will include:

• information stalls
• free snow cones and sausage sizzle provided by the P&F
• fun Prep activities, including robotics kits provided by Townsville Catholic Education
• take home stationery packs

Parents and students of 2024 Prep students are invited to join us on this day to get a taste of what Prep is like. Please RSVP to the Office so we know you are coming. 

Year 6 Transition

Our Year 6 students were invited to attend the St Catherine's production of Beauty and the Beast on Friday as part of their transition into high school. The principal of St Catherine's, Luke Thomson, spoke with the students during the interval about the transition program for 2023 and provided the students with their enrolment packs. Many past students of St Mary's were involved in the production and our Year 6 students were excited to see familiar faces while being given a tour of the backstage area. During Mr Thomson's presentation to the Year 6 students, he made special note that this year's transition program will run a little differently to previous years. Due to the fact that St Catherine's has increased interest for Year 7 in 2024, the school will only be able to accommodate a total of 75 students for the transition days, which means that parents will need to book with the St Catherine's office directly to register their children for the transition days. The first transition day will be held on Thursday, 1 June. If you would like to register your child for this day, please contact St Catherine's on 4945 1630.

Mothers' Day

Next Friday, 12 May, our P&F will be providing a light breakfast for mothers and mother figures from 8am to 9am in the undercover area. The breakfast will be a chance to enjoy time with your child before our Mothers' Day liturgy, which will be led by our Prep and Year 1 students from 9am in the undercover area. We invite all family members to join us for this special morning.

Under 8s' Day

We will be holding an Under 8s' morning on Monday, 15 May, from 8.30am to 10.30am. The morning will be filled with lots of fun activities including face painting, craft, imaginative play and games. The kindergartens have been invited to come along and join the fun. If you would like to bring along younger siblings, you are most welcome. Please remember to bring a hat, water bottle and a snack.

Queens Beach State School will be holding a large, community Under 8s' day on Friday, 16 June. We will be taking our Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 classes and parents are invited to come along to assist. As a result, our Athletics carnival will be postponed, with a tentative date of Monday, 19 June. We apologise for any inconvenience, however we were only recently made aware of the Under 8s' community event date.

Have a wonderful week.

Take care and God Bless

Alicia

Religious Life of the School

Good afternoon everybody, I hope you are all well. Below you will find important information about the Religious life of our school. 

Prayer Renewal: 

We have now begun the work of Prayer Renewal at St Mary's with the establishment of the prayer renewal team. This team will work on an audit of the St Mary's prayer life and create an action plan for a more recontextualised prayer life at our school. The word 'aggiornamento' is Italian for an updating, or modernisation, and by examining how and why we pray at our school we can better meet the spiritual needs of our community within a contemporary context. If you are interested in joining this team please contact Suzette or Alicia at the school office. We will share with you our progress as we move through the process. 

Laudato Si: 

May 16-24 is when we recognise Laudato Si` week in Australia. Laudato Si is the letter Pope Francis wrote to the world regarding climate change in 2015. This week is an opportunity for us to touch upon our responsibility as Christians to be stewards of creation and contribute in some small way towards the protection and restoration of our 'common home'. Teachers have discussed this theme and completed activities to help students connect to this important movement. This year, Catholics all over the world are also celebrating Pope Francis' eighth year since the release of his encyclical letter, Laudato Si, with the movie 'The Letter'. The letter tells the story of individuals' journeys to Rome to talk to the Pope about climate change, and showcases new insights into Pope Francis' history. See: http://www.theletterfilm.org/watch/ 

Murroona Gardens:

Our Mini Vinnies students truly enjoyed their visit to Murroona Gardens last week. I have included some pictures below. I am hoping we can return soon to bring some cheer and kindness to the residents day. 

School Masses and Liturgies:

Please join us if you are able for our Mary Help of Christians whole school meditation next week, Friday the 26th at 11:20 am (in the big shed). Students really do love it when families and friends join us for these special occassions. There will also be a whole school Mass to finish off the term on Friday the 23rd of June, at 9 am in the Church (led by Year 2 and 4 students). 

Thanks everybody, have a lovely weekend and may God bless you. 

Mrs Windridge. 

Celebrating 150 Years of St Mary's

1936: The community celebrated the Silver Jubilee of St Mary's Church, which included a Jubilee Catholic Ball and three "high" Masses, where the children's choir, trained by the Sisters, sang.  The Sisters trained the students for the mandatory concert and the Townsville Catholic News praised them for their, "Alphabet of the infant Jesus by the babies and the physical drill by the senior girls, showing an amount of work in training [by the Sisters] beyond the ordinary."

1937: In November 1937, Santa Barbara Infants’ School opened on land on Sinclair St, as part of the expanding St Mary’s Primary School site.

From the Guidance Counsellor

A SPECIAL REPORT: Celebrating Mother's Day

Mother’s Day originated from humble beginnings in 1908 as a simple tradition to honour all mothers, living and deceased. However, it did not take long for florists, confectioners and card companies to jump onboard and commercialise the day, much to the disappointment of its founder, Ann Jarvis.

Mother’s Day is a good annual reminder to say thanks to the mums and other special carers who play an important role in our lives, but it is essential we mark the day with love and sincerity. This year is especially important due to the recent pandemic, where mothers played multiple roles over recent months providing care and support to those they love under difficult circumstances. Mothers will often put the needs of others above their own, so it is paramount to remind them to take care of themselves also, especially when it comes to mental health.

Research has shown that women experience some mental health conditions more so than men and at much higher rates. There are many factors that can impact a woman’s wellbeing physically and emotionally. Seeking effective treatment can enable her to engage more readily in everyday activities and fulfil the needs of her children and family.

This Special Report highlights the role mothers play in the developmental growth of her children and the importance of self-care for good mental health.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report:
https://smbtsv.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/celebrating-mothers-day

Award Winners Week 2, Term 2

In Week 2, our weekly awards were presented to students who have been following Mary's Way by Showing Respect.

Mary's Way Award Winners:

Back row: Angus Murray, Joel Young, Anna Sylvester, Scarlett DeLacey-Green

Front row: Alfie Smith, Enoch Zhang, Miranda Palmero

Praise Note Winner of the Week:  Ryan Guy

Star Reader:  Liberty-Grace Fellows

Award Winners Week 3, Term 2

In Week 3, our weekly awards were presented to students following Mary's Way by showing Mercy and Outreach.

Mary's Way Award Winners:

Back Row: Kendall Malone, Harry Menzies, Domingo del Solar, Aaliyah Klaus

Front Row: Darragh Gentle, Petelo Ngauamo, Maddison Majid-Bird

Paise Note Winner of the Week: Ada Beygirci

Star Reader:  Leroy Freiberg

Sports News

Well done to students Sam Murray, Sophie Palmero, Charlotte Wood and Samantha Pugh, who all attended the Bowen Sub-District Cross Country Trials on Friday, 28 April. The students all gave 100% effort and displayed exemplary behaviour and sportsmanship!

Congratulations to Sam and Charlotte, who were both successful in gaining places in the Bowen Sub-District team! Best of luck for the next stage of the competition!

Extra Activities

P&F News

Welcome all our families and students to Term 2! We are certainly excited to get into the year with you all. Friday 12th May we will be inviting all of our St Mary's Mother's to join us for a morning tea to say thank you.  Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunties and all special women in our lives support our students daily with love and care just like Mary, Mother of God did.  This special morning will be followed by a liturgy in the Big Shed.
With a full agenda at this week's meeting it was wonderful to have great support. Our plans for a musical bingo event are well on their way and we can't wait to share more with you all. The tentative date for this event will be August 12th. As a result, we are looking at holding a second disco on June 16th, whcih was the original date for the Musical Bingo. This term will also have our school opening its gates to new families who are looking to enrol for 2024 and we thank all our current families who regularly share with our community how great our little school is.  
After a fun Cross Country event at Merinda, the P&F will be popping out on the oval to support the ongoing Tuesday & Thursdays running club. Keep an eye out, as we hope to encourage all our students to continue training leading into the upcoming Athletics Carnival. 
With a big term coming up if you would like to help out with any of our P&F events reach out to any of our committee members or Mrs Ninnes, we truly appreciate all of your support.

Ellie Palmero

Prep Open Day

Mary's Munchkins Under 8's Day

Birthdays

Birthdays

Angus Murray                                                                                                             Xavier de Groot                                  Emerson Graf                                                                                               Ava von Pein                                      Mica McVeigh                                                                                          Sadie Murray                                    Koha Haare                                                                                             Saoirse Gentle                                  Hunter Dood                                                                                             Lachlan Foster                                  Zach Leyden                                                                                                Ethias Schultz

Tuckshop Menu Term 2

Mary Mackillop OSHC

OSHC at St Mary’s Catholic School is now operating Monday to Friday from  6.30 am to 8.30 am and 2.45 pm to 6.00 pm.

The government has announced changes in the way that Child Care Subsidy is worked out. The income limit for CCS will be increasing to $530,000, meaning that the cost of OSHC will reduce for the majority of families. The changes will come into effect on 10 July.

Currently the service costs $17.50 for Before-School Care, and $22 for After-School Care, before CCS reductions are applied. Food (breakfast and afternoon tea) is provided at no extra cost. Please see below for more information about the upcoming reduction in fees.

If you would like more information or to register, please contact Miss Rob on 0428 216 062 OR at bowenoshc@mmcnq.catholic.edu.au

Weeks 4 to 5 Important Events

• 10 May - Bowen sub-district tennis trials
• 11 May - 5.15pm Board meeting
• 12 May - 9am Mothers' Day liturgy, Undercover Area
• 15 May - Under 8s Event at Mary's Munchkins; NQ Soccer Trials, Ingham
• 18 May - 3.15pm Catholic Identity Team meeting
• 19 May - Year 6 Class Mass

Community News

Kids' Car Show