Week 7/8, Term 2 2025

Principal's News

Dear Parents and Caregivers 

I think it is fair to say that it has been a busy term for the entire school community and I do believe the students are looking forward to the upcoming end of term break. Teachers are particularly busy in Terms Two and Four with assessment and reporting processes, with reports available via Compass on Wednesday 25th June (Week 10). Families will need their Compass app to be updated to the latest version to access the student reports. 

Our Prep Open Day was well received with 20 families attending, including 3 families new to our school community. We now have 10 Prep families with completed enrolments for next year, with another 13 families having interviewed and in the process of completing their applications. Please note that even for existing families, it is important that an enrolment application is completed for your child to enter Prep in 2026, and a time is made to meet with me to complete that application process. This means that we will most likely have limited availability for Prep for 2026, so please contact the office if you have not organised an enrolment interview yet and would like to enrol your child in our Prep class for next year. 

We had a productive P and F meeting this week, and thanks to our generous committee, along with a funding grant, we are looking forward to purchasing our very own Robotics kit next term for use in our upper primary classes. The plan is to purchase further robotic kits for use across the entire primary school. Our P and F will also assist us with the purchase of some carefully selected shade trees along the front of the school to commence some natural shade options in that space. We very much appreciate both the hands-on assistance with events from our P and F committee as well as their generous financial contributions for the benefit of our students. 

We are thrilled to announce that some players from The Townsville Fire team will visit our school in the last week of this term (Wednesday 25th June) to run a basketball clinic for our Year 5 and Year 6 students. We are very much looking forward to this event as a catalyst to renew an interest in Basketball for our students. We are in the process of getting basketball backboards to install at each end of our court and ones that can be lowered so that younger students can also shoot hoops during HPE lessons and play time. We would like to be able to invite other primary schools to a friendly interschool competition on a Friday afternoon during school time, with a view to running a more formal competition eventually with other local schools. 

Our Athletics Carnival is next week and students are in full swing for the day, with high jump events this week and war cry practices ringing around the school today. Please remember to apply sunscreen on your child before leaving home next Friday and we will also have some available on the day at the event. Students will also need to have a shirt, preferably with a collar, in their house colour for the day. We are in preliminary discussions on the possibility of a polo type House shirt becoming available, with the school logo on,  but will speak more to this plan in subsequent newsletters. 

This semester, we have been working closely with our school community (students, staff, and families) to shape the future of our school. Through a thorough review and thoughtful analysis of your feedback, we've developed four draft strategic priorities to present to you that will be instrumental in responding to your feedback from the end of last year. These priorities are proposed to  serve as a roadmap for the next five years. Next term, we'll present these drafts to a visiting Verification Team for their input. The review process has been positive, revealing the great achievements and activities of our school, and underscored our community's commitment to self-reflection and our collective journey forward. 

You can view the draft priorities by clicking the link provided. It will be beneficial to our ongoing commitment to school improvement, if you could read the priorities and indicate your view of how well they align with your future vision of St Mary’s Catholic School by selecting a number on a 5 point scale for each priority. Please provide your feedback by Friday 27th June - last day of term.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DQDPHxmdOyS5gh963pf_sA3XL-WdNnedlA8wRcmpgfU/edit

Yours sincerely

Rodney Lane

Acting Principal

Apologies for any inconvenience, however breakfast club will not be running in week 7 (Tuesday 3rd and Thursday 5th June). It will resume in Week 8, thank you!

Religious Life of the School

Last Friday night, our Mini Vinnies students took part in an eye-opening Immersion Evening that gave them a small glimpse into the realities faced by people experiencing homelessness.

We were privileged to be joined by Stephen from Vinnies Youth in Townsville, who led an engaging session about homelessness in our wider community. Students listened intently as he shared real-life stories and challenged them to think with compassion and empathy.

The students set up their very own Tent City on school grounds, attempting to “sleep rough”. The experience took a surprising twist when our school’s security officer asked the group to move on — a powerful reminder of what many people face on a regular basis.

We are incredibly proud of our Mini Vinnies students for their enthusiasm, respect, and willingness to learn and act for justice. A huge thank you goes to the families who donated blankets for the homeless in our local area — your generosity is helping those in need this winter. Congratulations also to the winners in each year level of the Laudato Si` art competition, prizes were handed out this week. 

In faith and service,
Mrs Suzette Windridge
Assistant Principal – Religious Education & School Chaplain

Mini Vinnies at St Mary's

Online Safety for Kids: 3 Key Tips for Families

This week I attended an eSafety event and wanted to share three simple but important strategies for keeping our kids safe online:

1. Be Involved and Supportive
Talk regularly with your child about what they’re doing online — what games they like, who they’re chatting with, and if anything is worrying them.
Play games together and explore apps as a family.
Let your child know they can always come to you, even if something goes wrong online. It’s important they don’t feel scared they’ll lose access to their devices if they speak up.

2. Set Clear Rules
Make family rules about screen time, devices, and online behaviour.
Include your child in the rule-making process — they’re more likely to follow them!
Lead by example: show the kind of online behaviour you want your child to copy.
You might like to try a family tech agreement — there are templates available on the eSafety website and ThinkUKnow Australia.

3. Use Safety Settings
Set up privacy and safety features on your family’s devices.
Use parental controls to help manage screen time and block unsuitable content.
Check age ratings before downloading new games or apps.

Let’s work together to help our children enjoy the digital world safely and confidently.

Year 3 Students Explore the Sacraments of Initiation

This week, our Year 3 students had a special visit to the church with Father Sibi and Mrs Windridge to deepen their understanding of the Sacraments of Initiation — Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist.

These three sacraments mark the beginning of a person's journey in the Catholic faith. Catholics believe that receiving these sacraments brings a person into full membership with God's family, and equips them with special gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit. 

Father Sibi shared a beautiful message with the students, saying, "Once you are baptised, you are Jesus’ brother or sister… Why wouldn’t you want the help of God in your life?"

It was a meaningful learning experience that helped all students better understand the symbols, meaning, and importance of these special sacraments in the Catholic tradition.

Sacraments of Initiation

Learning and Teaching

This week Nic Beltramelli (TCE Curriculum Adviser) will be visiting our school to work with our P-6 teachers to analyse their latest DIBELS data. 

DIBELS ® (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of literacy skills. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures that can be used to regularly detect risk and monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills in Prep- Year 8. 

The measures are consistent with many of the Common Core State Standards in Reading, especially those for Foundational Skills. When implemented as recommended, DIBELS results can be used to evaluate individual student development, as well as provide grade-level feedback toward validated instructional objectives.

We are looking forward to celebrating the growth of our learners, and setting new learning goals for them based upon our latest data set.

Currently we are participating in the annual Premiers Reading Challenge. Prep and Year 2 are currently leading the way for having the most students return their reading log form. If you need another reading log, please call into the office and our admin ladies will give you one. Our school challenge this year is to have every student participate in this challenge. 

To complete the challenge:

•   Prep to Year 2 must read or experience at least 20 books
•   Years 3 and 4 must read at least 20 books
•   Years 5 and 6 must read at least 15 books

The challenge finishes on 22nd August 2025.

Semester 1 Reports will be shared with Parents and Carers on the afternoon of Wednesday 25th June. Please check that you are using the updated version of the Compass app. If you encounter any difficulties with opening the report card, please contact our school office on 47 861 203.

As another term comes to an end assessment in all classes are being finalised. You can help your child be successful during their learning time by ensuring that they have a decent amount of sleep and a healthy breakfast to start their day. I wish all students the best as they finalise their assessments over the next two weeks.

Kind regards,

Krystal Land

Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning

Music & Art News

This week, our students have been diving deeper into musical patterns and stretching their creative thinking in visual arts. Let’s take a look into what’s been happening! 

Year 3: Rhythm in Colour! 

Our Grade 3 musicians have been extending their understanding of rhythm and note duration through a fun colour-by-note activity! As students coloured their musical masterpieces, they developed their ability to recognise and understand the value of different rhythms in a hands-on and engaging way. It’s been a bright and rhythmic way to learn! 

Year 6: Art Inspired by Idioms! 

In Visual Arts, our Grade 6 students have been using common idioms as an inspiration for their creative works. From “raining cats and dogs” to “a piece of cake”, they’ve been turning well-known phrases into imaginative artworks. This project has been a wonderful way for students to combine language, symbolism, and visual storytelling. The results are clever, thought-provoking and quite funny!

Year 3: Rhythm in Colour! 

Year 6: Art Inspired by Idioms! 

Term 2 - School Captains Report

This term has been amazing. We have had our Pajama disco, our Under 8’s Day, Prep Open Day and next Friday we will have our 2025 Sports Carnival. Friday Week 10 we will have our Naidoc Week 

Our Pajama disco was very fun. The P&F organised this amazing event, and we would like to thank them for all they do for our school. They made us delicious food, glow sticks bundles and made sure our shed was spotless. Thank you P&F!

At Under 8’s Day, the Year 6 students kindly made a face paint stall, organised by Mrs Fellows. Thanks for organising this! Again, our amazing P&F group also made all the yummy food, so thanks again. There were many fun activities, including Bee Bots, Spaghetti and Marshmallow Towers and the push and pull activities.

Our Prep Open Day was also an exciting event. Our Year 6’s also had their face painting stall, and the p&f had handled all the food. The day was a complete success!

Next Friday is our Athletics Carnival. Students can wear their team colours; green for Foley and yellow for Mackillop! We’ll see who wins this year!

Naidoc Week is also in Week 10. We will have a short liturgy, and after that we will participate in a rotation of activities.

“I’ve really enjoyed meeting and getting to know students and their families. I also enjoyed the Under 8’s Day, our Prep Open Day and the Cross-Country. I am also looking forward to our Athletics Carnival next week.” says our principal, Mr Lane.

We hope to see you in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

 School Captains: William and Charlotte.

Class Awards - Week 6 - Be My Best

Class Awards - Week 8 - Show Respect

Birthdays

State of Origin - Wednesday, 18 June

We are excited to let you know that next week we will be holding a Pizza Meal Deal Day on Wednesday, which will be available for Morning Tea only. Please ensure students bring their own afternoon snack, as the Tuckshop will be closed for the rest of the day, with no other items available for purchase.

To help accommodate this change, the Tuckshop will be open this coming Tuesday, 17 June, as an additional service day for students to access our regular menu.
 

Pizza Day will also be a Free Dress Day for all students. We encourage students to come dressed appropriately and comfortably for the school day.
 

This Pizza Meal Deal is a fundraiser to support our Year 6 students in raising funds for their Year 6 Graduation Shirts.

We thank you for supporting this initiative and helping to make this a memorable year for our senior students.

Athletics Carnival - Friday, 20 June

MMBDO - Thursday, 26 June

Mary Munchkin's Playgroup - Event 2

2025 Spirt of Catholic Nomination

Congratulations Mrs Lawless on your well-deserved nomination! You have made a difference to each and every learner in our school by having high expectations.Plus you are always there to lend a helping hand when someone needs it, or to take new staff and families under your wing to welcome them into our school family!

Laudato Si Art Competition Winners!

Congratulations to our talented students who were recognised in last week’s Laudato Si Art Competition, judged by members of our local St Vincent de Paul Society!With a strong focus on social justice and caring for our common home, the artworks reflected deep thinking, compassion, and creativity.

A big thank you to our Vinnies representatives for their time and thoughtful judging – and to all the students who shared their voices through art. We hope you enjoy your prizes."A single act of love moves the world forward." – Pope Francis

Prep - Willow 

Year 1 - Annalyn 

Year 2 - Matilda (absent) 

Year 3 -Mimi 

Year 4  - Lazariah 

Year 5- Saoirse 

Year 6 - Charlotte

School Officer Appreciation Day

Thank you so much to all of the AMAZING School Officers that we are lucky enough to work with every day at St Mary's. You do so much each and every day to support and help us in so many ways and we appreciate you more than words could possibly say.

Farewell and Thanks

We were sad to say goodbye to Miss Applin last week. Thank you for all your hard work and the wonderful moments you’ve shared with us. You will be truly missed!

We also had the pleasure of meeting the beautiful baby Lainey, it was lovely to see you, Mrs Nolan! 🌸 Wishing you all the best and lots of happiness ahead.

Reminders

Bowen and Whitsunday Sub District

Stop, Drop, Go Zone

Uniforms

Uniforms are available for purchase from the school office. Reminder that uniform days have now changed, please see below:

Formal Uniform - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday

Sports Uniform - Wednesday and Friday

Specialty, commemorative and representative shirts - Friday

Community News

Mary Mackillop OSHC

OSHC at St Mary’s Catholic School is now operating Monday to Friday from  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 came into effect on 10 July.

Food (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 Sue on 0428 216 062 OR at bowenoshc@mmcnq.catholic.edu.au

School Dental Service

Tuckshop