Dear Parents and Carers,

First of all I would like to thank the entire school community for ensuring that student learning was not impacted in my absence.  Personally it was a very frustrating time away, not knowing exactly what the issue was.  It turned out to be a partial tear in one of the muscles in my neck and it is getting stronger every day.  I would also like to thank Mrs Angela Scott for seeing to all the commitments of the Principal position at the school.  She did a tremendous job during a very busy period of time.

St Mary’s has also had a change of leadership in the Religious Education Coordinator (REC) position.  I would like to thank Mrs Belinda Haworth for fulfilling the role since 2013.  Belinda decided to step down from the position to allow for time for her family. 

An expression of interest was advertised to our current staff and we congratulate Mrs Louise Daniher on being the successful applicant.  Lou will fill the role for the rest of the year.  Lou has experience working at executive level at St Mary’s having been acting General Co-ordinator for Term 4 in 2009 and acting REC for Term 3 in 2017.  She is also a wonderful role model for our school, actively participating in a variety of parish roles.  St Mary’s will advertise for the position to become permanent for 2022 later in the year.

Since taking on the Principal role at St Mary’s I have had many proud moments for the school, and the ANZAC day march yesterday will go to the top of the list.  It was just wonderful to see so many of our students dressed so beautifully for the occasion.  Our school captains and sports captains performed reverently in their roles and were a wonderful example of our school.  The impact of not only St Mary’s but all the school’s participation, was clearly evident on all that spoke during the ceremony. A huge thank you to our parent community for supporting my request to join the march.

Phil Nielsen

Principal