This morning CE Director Mr Ross Fox officially announced to our community that Mr Phillip Nielsen has been appointed as our Principal from the beginning of the 2019 school year.

Phil’s dedication and enthusiasm to our school along with his personal and professional qualities will ensure that St Mary’s is set for the future.

I know that we all congratulate Phil on this appointment and will give him our upmost support.

   

   

Mary, Woman of the Outback, open our eyes to the ways in which our brothers and sisters are struggling.

Mary, Woman of Australia, inspire us, through your courage and conviction to offer practical help to those who wait for rain.

In Christ we are immersed in living water.  We are refreshed.

In Christ we drink from the wellspring of hope.  We are restored.

In Christ we dance in the fountain of life.  We are renewed.

So, Holy God, in the wake of drought and extreme temperatures - Refresh us with the water of life.

In the barren places of dust and aridity - Refresh us with the water of life.

When all we can see is devastation and despair - Refresh us with the water of hope.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Good luck to the students travelling to Canberra on Tuesday for the Canberra Goulburn Athletics trials:

Bobby Bryant, Asha McDonell, Ted Curry, Claudia Murdoch, Priscilla Tachie-Menson and Ashontae Nielsen

Good luck to our public speakers who compete at the Western Region public speaking on Wednesday: Alex Murdoch, Emily Rogers, Claudia Murdoch and Charlie Murdoch.

This will be held in our school hall Wednesday 22 August from 11.30 am.  Everyone is very welcome.

  

Thank you to the parents who have offered to help at the public speaking with donations of food and their time.

     

   

For privacy and safety reasons and to minimise learning interruptions visitors to the school, including parents, are not permitted to enter classrooms without previously making an arrangement with the class teacher and signing in at the office, even for just a quick message.

Thank you to parents who comply with these regulations.

• General Excursion Permission Note - Kinder to Year 2 - Due by 22 August
• General Excursion Permission Notes (2 Notes) - Year 3-6 - Due by 22 August
• Canberra Excursion - Year 5/6 - forms due ASAP, final payment due 14 October.  Payment plans available.
• Bolo Chapel - Year 5/6 - Due 31 August

PLEASE NOTE

CHANGES TO TIMETABLE FOR WEEK 5

Kinder, Year 5 and 6 will have sport on Monday.  Please wear your sports uniform.  (Note: basketball training for Year 5/6 does not start till Week 6, so Monday will be sport uniform and Wednesday school uniform.)

Year 2 and 3 will have library on Monday.

On Tuesday Year 3 and Year 5 will take part in an online trial of the NAPLAN test using their iPads.

Please be aware this is a test of the internet capabilities NOT of the children's abilities.

Tuesday 16 October 2018 for Year 5/6 students and parents from 7.00-8.30pm in school Library

My Body My Life Workshops

My Body My Life sessions aim to create fun, non-threatening discussion between students and their parent/guardian.  Boys and their parents and girls and their parents will be addressed in separate rooms but will cover the same material listed below:

· Changes during puberty: physical, emotional, social

· Personal hygience: skin, hair, cleanliness

· Reproductive systems: growth, development, changes and experiences

· Human conception

· Mood changes & mental health

· Respecting yourself and others

· Cyber safety tips

· Talking to trusted adults.

As we were expecting to have started our renovations by now, we have not planned a Book Fair and parade for this year.  Hopefully in 2019 we will be celebrating Book Week in our brand new library.

Instead our students will be visiting the Bland Shire Library for Book Week as follows:

Monday 11.30am - 12.30pm Kinder

Tuesday 9.30am -10.30am Year 1

Thursday 9.30am - 10.30am Year 2

Thursday 2.00pm - 3.00pm Year 3/4

Friday 2.00pm - 3.00pm Year 5/6

Pyjama Day - Thursday 30 August

Students are asked for a $2 donation which will go to St Vincent de Paul Drought Appeal.

More details in next weeks newsletter.

Bellarwi Country Womens Association Education Grants

Bellarwi CWA are calling for applications for the Phillip Group Education Grants 2019. 

These are for students going into Years 3 to 12 or first year Tertiary/TAFE education and are intended to assist families with the financial responsibilities associated with educating their children.

Application forms are available from the school office and they must be returned to the school by Friday 28 September 2018.

St Mary's now use Schoolzine Parent Platform to provide our eNewsletter, Mobile App and Website.

We are not continuting our subscription to Skoolbag which will be unavailable in the near future. 

Please download the SZApp and start using it now.  For instructions to download click here.

Wednesday 5th September

This is a half day holiday and the school day will finish at 12.00 noon.

Children can wear mufti to school.

Please notify your bus driver if your child will not be catching the bus home at midday.

Remember if your child is absent from school in the morning that an absence note will be required via the SZApp.

Thursday saw four Year 3 and Year 4 teams travel to Temora to participate in the Trent Barrett Shield.

Our boys played Rugby League and our girls played League Tag and had been well prepared by their respective coaches.

It was wonderful to see how well our students supported each other during the games with cheering from the sidelines.

Both St Mary's League Tag teams played wonderful supportive football and only recorded one loss on the day.  Our St Mary's Red team performed well enough to become an emergency team for the next stage of the competition in the event another team can't make it.  

Our Rugby League teams also played with a high level of spirit and put together some great sequences of football.  In a very tough competition they were able to score numerous tries and competed till the end of every game.  St Mary's Blue played well enough to record a victory and St Mary's Green had two very narrow losses in games that could have gone either way.

Thank you again to our parents who volunteered to help out on the day.

CPS Basketball

26 and 27 October 2018

The teams are shown below with coaches and managers listed.

Training will commence in Week 6 for Seniors and next week for Juniors on Wednesday and Friday:

• Senior Teams (Week 6) - Wednesday at 12.30 pm to 1.30pm
• Junior Teams (Week 5) - Friday 12.30pm to 1.30pm

SPLATTER GALLERY & ART STUDIO is holding a Round & Rectangle Art & Photography competition.

Children aged from 2 years to 18 years are encouraged to submit an entry in one or more of the categories. Students have been handed an information sheet and are encouraged to participate.

All entries must be received by 26 September 2018 at the Splatter Art Gallery and include a $5 entry fee per piece.