The second candle, the Bethlehem candle represents peace. It symbolizes the preparations being made to receive and cradle the Christ child.

Bethlehem is a story about a humble couple on an unwanted journey, at an inconvenient time, to visit a tiny insignificant town.

  

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above,

While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.

O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth,

And praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on earth!

How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;

So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.

No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

Where children pure and happy pray to the blessèd Child,

Where misery cries out to Thee, Son of the mother mild;

Where charity stands watching and faith holds wide the door,

The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more.

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!

   

Vinnies 2022 Christmas Appeal is aimed at those impacted by the rising costs of living – those who are already struggling to make ends meet.

Please donate any nonperishable items to the front office by Wednesday 14^th December.

Some items you may wish to donate are tinned fruity, fruit cake, long life milk, tea, coffee, cordial, cereal, biscuits, Christmas lollies, soup, pasta, bon bons etc.

We welcome everyone to attend our matinee performance at 11.30am this Thursday.  Please arrive 15 minutes early to get settled before the show begins.

Our school will perform two songs at the West Wyalong Carols by Candlelight on Sunday 11th of December.

If your child would like to participate in our school performance please meet at Barnardo Park at 7pm.  We are usually one of the first schools to perform.

Circus Splendida is a show filled with colour, humour, energy and a great story. It features clowns, jugglers, hula hoop performers, the tiny tumblers and lots more! It revolves around one night in the life of a circus troupe that is competing for the opportunity to go on a fantastic world tour.

All of the various acts in the circus troupe try their best to present a fabulous performance but fall just short of the mark. To the surprise of everyone it's the bumbling quartet of clowns who emerge as the unlikely heroes of the show and along the way provide lots of laughter. 

Play Cast List

Myra	Alexandra Patton
Ringmaster	Hugo Harper
Benny	Nixon Loudon
Clowns	Clown 1. Eleanor Ramsay Clown 2. Will Stokes  Clown 3. Zack Gaynor Clown 4. Elizabeth Sturgess
Lola	Harper McDonell
Mrs Clancy	Catherine Curry

Costume Guide

Our teachers have sent the class costume guide via SeeSaw.  The school is supplying parts of each costume, the guide below is a general indication of what parents need to organise.  Please speak to your child's teacher if you are not sure.

Students with main parts in the play have already organised costumes with Mrs Harland.

The Year 5 students who nominated for School Captain, and were  successful in the first round of voting, will speak to the whole school, and invited parents, in the hall at 9:10am on Tuesday the 6th of December.

These students are:

Harper McDonell, Chloe Morton, Alexandra Patton, Elizabeth Sturgess, Frederik Bell, Max Cuthbertson, Hunter Connellan and James Dean.

Teachers and students from Years 2 to 5 will then vote for our 2023 School Captains.  The votes are weighted 50% teachers and 50% students.

The following students will have a part in the Mass:

        

James Curry and Rose Player

who celebrate their birthdays next week.

We hope you enjoy your special day.

Would you like to have the opportunity to be actively involved in decisions that directly affect the educational environment at our school?

In 2023, St Mary’s will officially amalgamate the School Board and Parents and Friends Association into one committee called the Community Council.

The Community Council will meet approximately 6 times over the school year to discuss school events and procedures and to form and hear back from sub committees. Some key responsibilities of the committee includes:

• Supporting the development of the Catholic identity, ethos and mission of the school.
• Generate ideas for fundraising and managing these iniatives.
• Supporting the school with capital and maintenance programs.
• Approving school uniform items decided at school level.
• Promoting the school in the local community.
• Provide input on parent priorities and suggest ideas about Catholic schooling.
• Forming and monitoring sub-committees to support the school.

St Mary’s is actively seeking volunteers from our parent community to become involved with our Community Council. The Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 7 December in the Side Room of the Royal Hotel. Proceedings will begin at 6pm and all members of our school community are invited to come. Nominations and voting will occur during the meeting and those that are not seeking an executive role will have the opportunity to become part of sub-committees that will be formed early next year to achieve specific goals for the school.

Students are reminded that there will be no more library book borrowing.

All books should be returned to the library by Friday 9 December.

The following events are in the calendar in the next few weeks.

To see the school's full calender check out the SZApp or our website.