Newsletter - 13th August 2025
Acknowledgement of Country
We respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Wadawurrung people. It is a privilege to be standing on Wadawurrung country.
We pay our respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge the contributions of Indigenous Peoples from the past, present and future who contribute to this country in which we live.
May Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians continue to work together to educate, unite and live in peace on this land we call home, Australia.
Upcoming Dates
14th August: Damascus College students visiting
18th August: Book Week commences
19th August: Book Week Parade
21st August: Lunch orders in
22nd August: SEED Day - Damascus for Year 5 students
23rd August: First Eucharist, 6:30pm, St Peter's Church
25th August: Lunch orders delivered
1st September: SEED Day - Loreto College & St Patrick's College for Year 5 students
4th September: Lunch orders in
5th September: Father's Day Breakfast, 8:30am
8th September: Lunch orders delivered
19th September: End of Term 3
Prayer
Loving God,
We remember and celebrate Mary MacKillop, Australia’s first saint and a woman of courage, kindness, and deep faith.
Mary cared for those in need and believed every child deserved an education. She started schools across Australia so children, rich or poor, could learn and grow.
Mary showed respect to all people, welcomed everyone with love, and never gave up, even when things were hard.
Help us to follow her example:
to be kind and fair,
to include others,
to be brave when we face challenges,
and to use our learning to make the world a better place.
Mary of the Cross, pray for us. Amen.
Messages from the Principal
FRIENDLY REMINDER: SRC Insight Survey due this Friday 15th August
If you haven’t already completed the SRC Insight Survey, could you please submit it by Friday, 15th August? With such a small cohort of parents, it would be wonderful if we had all parents complete the survey. Your feedback is really valuable and will help us improve.
Thank you in advance for your time and input!
NATIONAL PRINCIPAL'S DAY
On Friday, 1st August it was National Principal's Day and I attended a meeting with 13 of my Central Zone principal colleagues. It was lovely to come in on the following Monday to an office decorated with work from the children and red and black streamers (Go Bombers!). Students completed some activities around what their principal does. I thought I would share some of their answers with you…..
Mason - I like it when you teach us and you make me laugh when you are funny.
Boston - I love coming to school and Clare makes me feel happy.
Gen - Clare is funny. She says “Do you know why my mum called me Clare, because I am Clare-ver” .
Skyler - I love the way you include everyone if they are not being included.
Woo - You work hard in the office to get photos and make sure everyone is okay.
Teddy - In the yard, if you see the ball going out of the yard, you kick it so it stays in.
Addy - Clare’s favourite parts of the job are seeing everyone, spying on us and taking care of us.
Jayden - Her favourite part of the job is having us to talk to.
Mimi - Clare’s favourite part of the job is being with all the kids and staff.
Pat - Clare watches Netflix in her office while faking doing work (joking).
Kaezia - When Clare is in her office she has meetings, eats chocolate and spies on us.
Will - When Clare is in her office she does hard work.
Vanessa - Clare’s favourite part of the job is being with us and helping us do art.
Emilia - When Clare is in her office she watches and waves at me and the others.
LITERACY AT ST. MARY’S
St Mary's is proud to be moving successfully through DOBCEL's Flare Literacy Improvement process. As a school, we have committed to learning all about evidence-based literacy instruction across the course of 2025, with a view to implementing this learning from Foundation to Year 6 in 2026.
Structured Literacy is the approach recommended by national and international experts, including the International Dyslexia Association. In a Structured Literacy classroom, all the aspects of literacy are taught in a systematic and explicit way that ensures all children can read, write and spell at an appropriate level. DOBCEL's award-winning Flare Structured Literacy methodology is being enacted across the diocese in partnership with La Trobe University, and literacy outcomes are steadily improving.
If you'd like to find out more about Structured Literacy, the following resources may be of interest. You may also reach out to our Literacy leader, Jenny Curran or contact Emma Rutherford, the leader of Flare Primary Literacy, erutherford@dobcel.catholic.edu.au with any questions you may have.
ASSEMBLY
A big thank you to Jenny and Karen for putting together such a fantastic school assembly last week! I’m sure everyone will agree it was a huge success. Our students shone brightly as they shared their work with confidence and enthusiasm.
It was wonderful to see their pride as they flipped through their workbooks with their families too, eager to talk about their learning journey. Moments like these remind us of the joy of celebrating our students’ hard work and the strong sense of community we share. Well done to everyone involved – you made it a day to remember!
CLARE AWAY – Who to Call While I’m Out
This Thursday and Friday, I will be in Horsham for a Diocesan Leadership Gathering, and next week I’ll be heading north to sunny Cairns for the National Catholic Education Conference.
While I’m away, I may not be able to pass on your messages straight away, so if you need to get a message to staff — or let us know your child will be late — please contact the school mobile instead of my phone.
Sometimes messages come directly to me, but if I’m off-site, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to relay them quickly. To help things run smoothly, please update your contacts to the following:
St Mary’s School (Mobile) 0491 734 779
St Mary’s School (Landline) - 53345280
BOOK WEEK CELEBRATIONS
Book Week is held annually at St Mary’s to celebrate reading and engage children in literature and to bring stories to life through play and costume. It's a great time to encourage the joy of reading through dress ups. Book week begins next Monday 18th August. This year we'll be holding our dress up day on Tuesday 19th August. Everyone is welcome to our Parade at 9:00 am in the library. Each year Book Week carries a new theme. The theme for this year is "Book an Adventure!" If your child can bring the book to school that relates to their costume that would be fantastic. If you need help finding a book at school, please let a staff member know.
BON VOYAGE, SUE - WELCOME SARAH!
Sue will be away for the rest of the term enjoying a well‑deserved Long Service Leave adventure overseas. We all wish her an amazing trip filled with exciting experiences, beautiful sights, and plenty of stories to share when she returns.
While Sue is off exploring the world, Sarah will be stepping into her role. We’re lucky to have Sarah on board and know she’ll do a fantastic job keeping everything running smoothly.
Safe travels, Sue — and welcome aboard, Sarah!
God Bless,
Clare
News from the Banksia Room
First Communion
Will, Addy and Pat are getting ready for their First Communion — the special time they receive Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time. When someone has been baptised, confirmed and received the Eucharist, they are a full member of the Catholic Church.
At Mass, we pray, listen to Scripture, and share the bread together. This helps us live like Jesus and show His love to others. After Mass, the priest sends us out to be kind and help people.
Let’s pray for Will, Addy and Pat as they get ready for this special day.
Gumnut Room News
The Gumnut class has been investigating patterns during maths classes. The patterns have 2 and 3 repeated units. The patterns can be made with colours, shapes, objects, and numbers. Number patterns become skip counting patterns and we have been focussing on the 2, 5 and 10 patterns. We have also been working with shapes and location.
Suffixes have become a focus during the literacy sessions. A suffix is added to the end of a word and changes the meaning of that word.
-ed means in the past.
-or means a person who does something.
-s means plural.
We finished our three weeks of NAIDOC learning which had us expanding our knowledge of Australia's First Nations peoples, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. We looked at the similarities and differences between ancient and modern Australian cultures including creation stories, languages and art. We learnt about the importance that our local area has for the creation story of Bunjil.
Our Diocesan Community
The latest edition of Our Diocesan Community is now available online and in print. A paper copy was distributed to families with our last newsletter. In case you missed this, please feel free to access the magazine using the following link:
https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/ODC-July-2025-web.pdf.
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