Term 1 Week 3 Newsletter 2025

Important Dates

Character Virtue:  Compassion
What it looks like:  Compassion is being kind and caring to others when they're sad or in need.
What it means:  Compassion is like having a warm heart and helping people feel better when they're having a tough time.
Why it is important:  Compassion makes the world a kinder place.  It helps people feel understood and loved, and it can turn a bad day into a better one.

From the Principal

Dear Parents,
Welcome to Week 3.

Our teaching staff are looking forward to catching up with lots of our families tomorrow night. I encourage our families to come along, catch up with some friends, meet some of our new families and gain important information about your child’s learning this year.

Our swimming team travels to Wellington on Thursday, 27th February for the Western Region Swimming Carnival. 

Parent Information Evening and Welcome Picnic

Our Parent Information Evening and Welcome BBQ will be held this Wednesday, 19th February. 

6.00 pm     Families gather for BYO Picnic or sausage sizzle

6.30 pm     Principal Address in Year 6

7.00 pm     Kinder, Year 1, Year 3 and Year 4 parents attend parent sessions

7.30 pm     Year 2, Year 5 and Year 6 parent sessions.

8.00 pm     Home

The parent information evenings aim to meet your child’s class teacher and gain relevant information pertinent to his/her class and the school. We hope that by combining the picnic and information evening two events, you can catch up with friends and learn some important information concerning your child’s learning. We also appreciate that families with children in several classes will have some time clashes. Teachers will be preparing a handout, so if you miss the teacher’s talk, you may collect it from them. Please note that this is an information session only, and time restrictions will mean that there will not be an opportunity for individual parent/teacher interviews. If you would like an interview, please contact the school office to arrange a suitable time for a later appointment.

Families are welcome to bring a picnic dinner or have a sausage sizzle at school. Drinks can be brought along and will also be available at the canteen.

Smart Watches - Some very lucky children have come to school with Smart Watches this year which have the same capability as a mobile phone. The options for these watches are as follows;
* Leave them at home
* Drop them into the School Office on the way to school. (same procedure as for mobile phones).
* Adjust the settings so the watch cannot send or receive calls or messages whilst at school.
If a child is observed using their watch for calls or messages the watch will be taken from the child and left at the School Office to be collected by the child’s parents.

Sport

School Swimming Carnival - Thanks to Mr Keady who did an outstanding job organising last week's swimming carnival.  Thank you also to Kim Edwards and Tracey Bevan for their time in the recording box. 

Congratulations to all of our students whose cheering and participation made for a great day.

Congratulations to the students who will represent St. Mary's at the Western Region Carnival at Wellington on Thursday, 27th February.  Results from this carnival will be used to select swimmers for the Bathurst Diocesan Primary Carnival on Tuesday, 11th March to be held in Dubbo.

Library

Religious Education

2025 Jubilee Year - Pope Francis has proclaimed that 2025 will be a Holy Year of Jubilee, a special year of grace and conversion, involving prayer, pilgrimage and sacramental repentance, ordinarily held every 25 years. The goal of a Jubilee year is to inspire and encourage holiness of life among the faithful and therefore to strengthen the Church’s witness to God’s loving mercy in and for the world.
The spiritual theme for the 2025 Holy Year of Jubilee is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.
In choosing the motto ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ for the Jubilee, Pope Francis noted that ‘We must fan the flame of hope that has been given to us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and far-sighted vision. The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so greatly desire’.

School Opening Mass - Thanks to everyone for coming along to celebrate our Opening School Mass this morning. A shout out to our amazing choir, Mrs Fiander and Mrs Dann for all of their help in leading our community. Congratulations to all of our Year 6 students, SRC and Ministers and Deputies who also received their 2025 leadership badges.

2025 Sacramental Parent Information Sessions - Students in Years 2, 3 and 6 and any student who will be receiving a sacrament this year (including those who may have missed out in previous years) are asked to attend a Sacramental Parent Information session at the start of the year in preparation. This year they will be held on Sunday 23rd February at 10 am, Tuesday, 25th February 6.30pm & Sunday, 2nd March at 10 am in St. Brigid’s Church.
If you have any questions about sacraments throughout the year please contact me via the school office or contact Rosie Hosking, St. Brigid’s Sacramental Coordinator via email at sacraments.dubbo@cdob.org.au

ST. BRIGID'S PARISH - MASS TIMES:  
St Brigid's:  Saturday - 6pm, Sunday - 9am and Sunday - 6pm
St. Laurence's Church:  Sunday - 7.30am

Awards

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:

School Photographs

School Photography Date: 13/03/2025

ORDERING IS NOW OPEN...

Dear Parents,

School photography day is coming up soon. Group and portrait photographs can be purchased by following the link below. If you prefer to order using an envelope please visit your school office, collect an order envelope and hand your payment to our photographer on school photo day.

Two easy ways to purchase:

1. Visa, MasterCard or PayPal
2. Cash – complete the envelope supplied and return it to our photographer on photo day

Or visit: www.advancedlife.com.au
And enter online order code: WRP M52 MAB

School photography information:

• Online orders - do not require an envelope returned to your school
• Sibling Photos - Don’t forget to pre-order your sibling photos online up to 24 hours before photo day. We provide your school with a list of sibling orders right up to the day of photography, so no one misses out. If you miss the online order deadline, you can submit a completed sibling order envelope first thing in the morning of the day of photography, so your school is aware you want the photo taken and can bring your children together in time for it. Sibling photographs only apply to children enrolled at your school. Please note not all schools offer sibling photos
• Late fees - a late fee will be applied to each package purchased after photo day due to the additional cost of producing these packages separately
• Package delivery - School photographs will be returned approximately 6 weeks after the day of photography. Please note this delivery timeframe is dependent on proofing and additional photography days at your school.
• Previous Years’ photos - Past years’ photographs including sports, co-curricular and representative groups are also available to order under the “previous years or group photo” tabs at your school’s advancedorder site when you click on the “Order School Photos Here” button above. You can also order past packages, portrait images and gifts from your child’s unique, individual and secure advancedyou image archive site using the unique 9 digit image code found on packages you have ordered in the past

School Fees

Term 1 Fees will be generated and emailed to parents on Friday, 28th February and due for payment on Friday, 14th March.
If you have an existing Direct Debit with St. Mary's, please email to:  k.bywater@bth.catholic.edu.au so we can calculate your new installment for 2025.  If you wish to set up a new payment plan, please contact the school office.  Thank you.

Community News

BIRTHDAYS:
Celebrating their birthday this week are:
Kyle Orcullo, Reuben Wilson, Beau Georgiou, Riley Sorensen,
Benji Wiatkowski, Ellie Eagleston, Stella Hubbard and Mrs Carmen Clarke.
We hope you enjoy your birthday!

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School Uniform

Canteen

MunchMonitor - We encourage all families to use the MunchMonitor online program for lunch orders. 

Volunteers for the Canteen - A Volunteer form was sent home with all students last week.
Please Note:  It is necessary to fill out a new form even if you are on our current roster.  Thank you.