Term 3 Week 2 Newsletter 2025
Important Dates
29 July | Bishop Michael McKenna visit |
30 July | AFL Paul Kelly Cup - Sydney |
30 July | Year 6 Canberra Excursion |
31 July | Year 6 Canberra Excursion |
01 August | Year 6 Canberra Excursion |
07 August | Naidoc Liturgy |
02/03 August | Sacrament of Confirmation @ St. Brigid's |
18 August | BOOK WEEK |
Vision Statement:
St. Mary's Primary strives to be a welcoming Christ-centred learning community that promotes a quality holistic
education and trusting relationships in a caring and supportive environment.
Acknowledgment of Country: We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Wiradjuri people, who, long before us, lived, loved, educated and raised their children on this site. We pay our respects to elders past and present, and we recognise the young people who are our future. We acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in our community. We respect their deep physical and spiritual connections to the country through their stories, traditions and living cultures.
Character Virtue: O P T I M I S M
What it looks like: Optimism means that you are positive.
What it means: This means that you look on the bright side of any situation and approach tasks with enthusiasm. It is the opposite of worrying and being negative.
Why it is important: Being optimistic means we can see that it is possible to be optimistic in difficult situations.
From the Principal
Mr Luke Wilson
Principal
Dear Parents,
Welcome to Week 2.
Thank you to all our teachers who put in many hours over the holidays preparing for Term 3, so that our students could hit the ground running on the first day back.
A huge thank you to our grandparents, parents, and friends who joined us for Grandparents’ Day on Friday. A big thank you as well to our REC, Mr Keady, and our Year 5 teachers for organising a beautiful Mass. Thanks also to Mrs. Dann, Mrs. Fiander, and our wonderful choir for their contributions to the celebration.
Congratulations to our Year 6 students who celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation on the weekend. The Sacrament of Confirmation enables a baptised person to confirm the promises made on their behalf at baptism. It is also a sign of full membership in the Catholic community. Confirmation Masses continue this week.
Please pray for our Year 6 Confirmation candidates being confirmed this weekend.
Year 6 are heading to Canberra on Wednesday for their three-day excursion, and we’re sure they’ll have a wonderful trip.
Catholic Faith Handbook
CCSP have recently updated the Our Catholic Faith handbook for 2026 – it’s a very popular guide to Catholicism because it’s easy to read. Resources and Links for Families: https://www.ccsp.catholic.edu.au/faith-formation
Religious Education
Gospel Focus: P E R S I S T E N C E
Luke 11:1-13
Be Persistent in Prayer
Introducing the St Mary’s ‘JOLT’ Project:
Research shows that the best way for children to become actively involved and engage in events is to feel a ‘jolt’ or connection. In 2025, St. Mary’s are introducing a school-wide ‘JOLT Project’ where grades are making connections with local organsiations in our community, whilst challenging themselves to engage with ‘Justice and Outreach by Learning Together’. As such, each grade will connect with a local non-profit and build a relationship with them. They will investigate how to become involved with their chosen group to support those in our community and reach out in justice as active members of our local community. Grades may choose to hold a fundraising event or do a donation drive to support their chosen organisation, with the hope of them being ‘JOLTed’ into action by making our world a better place. These events will be planned by each grade with the support of class teachers and will align with their RE curriculum. All activities will be undertaken during school time. More information on each grade's ‘JOLT Project’ will be provided in grade emails in Term 3 as they begin this program.
NAIDOC WEEK
Our school will celebrate NAIDOC Week in Week 3 (next week). We warmly invite you all to join us for our NAIDOC Liturgy to be held on Thursday, 7th August at 10.30 am in our school hall. You are also welcome to join us for morning tea after the Liturgy outside our school Library.
Confirmation
Congratulations to those students in Year 6 who received the sacrament of Confirmation over the weekend with Bishop Michael McKenna. We are extremely proud of you all as you make the next step on your faith journey. Confirmation continues this weekend, and we warmly welcome you to attend one of the weekend Masses to support our Year 6 students. A special thanks to Rosie Hosking, Miss Herbert, and Mrs Toole for all their work in preparing our students for this.
2025 First Holy Communion
First Holy Communion registration weekends concluded last weekend. Preparations for the sacrament will commence in Term 3.
Session 1- Tuesday, 29th July @ 6.15pm, Wednesday, 30th July @ 4.30pm, Sunday 3rd August @ 10am
Session 2- Tuesday, 5th August @ 6.15pm, Wednesday, 5th August @ 4.30pm, Sunday 10th August @ 10am
Session 3- Tuesday, 12th August @ 6.15pm, Wednesday, 13th August @ 4.30pm, Sunday 17th August @ 10am
If you have any questions, please feel free to email Rosie Hosking (Sacramental Coordinator) or myself at;
Rosie- sacraments.dubbo@cdob.org.au
Tim- t.keady@bth.catholic.edu.au
| Upcoming Events: | |
| Week 2 | Confirmation weekend (2nd-3rd August) |
| Week 3 | NAIDOC Liturgy - Thursday (7th August) 10.30 am in the school hall Class activities to follow. |
| Week 4 | Mary MacKillop - Monday (11th August) 12.30 pm in the school hall Feast of the Assumption Mass - Friday (15th August) 12.00 pm in the school hall |
| Week 5 | Confirmation Liturgy - Monday (18th August) 12.30 pm in the school hall |
ST. BRIGID'S PARISH - MASS TIMES:
St Brigid's: Saturday - 5pm, Sunday - 9am and Sunday - 5pm
St. Laurence's Church: Sunday - 7.30am
Sport
NSW PSSA Cross Country
Congratulations to Lexi, who represented St Mary’s and Polding at the NSW PSSA Cross Country.
NSW Touch Football Gala Day
Thanks to our teachers, support staff and parents who assisted in allowing around 110 of our students to enjoy the Touch Gala Day last Wednesday.
Rugby 10s
Congratulations to our Rugby 10s team, who participated in the Diocesan Gala Day held in Orange on Thursday. The boys played well throughout the day but were defeated by a very talented team from St Matthew's Mudgee in the final. Well done to our boys and congratulations, St. Matt's. Thanks to Mrs Sutcliffe and Mr Carter, who generously helped out by coaching on the day.
AFL
Best of luck to our AFL team, who travel to Sydney on Wednesday to compete in the finals of the Paul Kelly Cup. Thanks to Mrs Sutcliffe and our generous parents for making our participation in this competition possible.
BOOK WEEK
ST. MARY'S BOOK WEEK 2025
We are celebrating this year's Book Week on Monday, 18th August.
The children are to come to school dressed as a character from their favourite book or as something related to this year's theme - Book an Adventure.
We also ask the children to bring in the book their character is based on, or a favourite book, to show their class as part of the day's activities.
The day will begin with a character parade for the whole school at 9 am.
Parents and friends are welcome to attend.
Awards
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
| Daisy - KG For her amazing writing. So clever. |
| Ethan - 3B For consistently displaying excellent behaviours for learning. |
| Nate - 5B For being a reliable and responsible member of 5B. |
| 100 NIGHTS READING... Congratulations to the following super readers: | |
| 3B | Jamarni and Lucas |
| 3G | Nora and Archer |
| 4B | Ravnoor, Chloe, Archie, Joseph, Emmett, Aidan, Ryder, Bridie, George, Roy, Eva, Sophie, clyde, Isaac, Lily, Indya, Lucy, Heidi, Louie and Lily. |
Attendance
School Fees
Term 3 Statement date: 4th August, 2025 and instalment due date 15th August, 2025
If you have any questions, please email Mrs Karen Bywater k.bywater@bth.catholic.edu.au
Community News
BIRTHDAYS:
Celebrating their birthday this week are:
Maggie, Wyatt, Harry, Caleb, Cooper, Emmett, Hank,
Brock, Zarlia and Zadie.
We hope you enjoy your birthday!
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Canteen
CANTEEN ROSTER | |
| Tuesday, 29th July | Sean Jones |
| Wednesday, 30th July | Elly Large and Michelle Williams |
| Thursday, 31st July | Kate Butler, Lucy Moore and Zoe Madgwick |
| Friday, 1st August | Michelle Howarth, Keira Temesvary, Donna Temesvary and Anne Gemmell |
| Monday, 4th August | Taylor Walkom |
MunchMonitor - We encourage all families to use the MunchMonitor online program for lunch orders.
We Are Allergy Aware
Anaphylaxis is a severe and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. We want to do our best to keep those at risk, as safe as possible. We have several children at our school who have allergies to peanuts and tree-nuts.
It is important for the safety of these children that we ask that you don't send any nuts or nut products to school.
This includes foods such as peanut butter, Nutella, hazelnut spreads, trail mix or muesli bars/biscuits that contain nuts.
Please help us maintain the health and well-being of all our students by considering this information when packing lunches for your child.
We appreciate your support.
The Clothing Pool
