Term 3 Week 4 Newsletter 2025

Important Dates

Character Virtue:  P E R S E V E R A N C E
What it looks like:  Perseverance is like not giving up, even when faced with challenges or failures.  It's like a marathon runner who keeps going, no matter how tired they are.
What it means:  Perseverance means having a strong will and determination.  It's continuing to try our best.
Why it is important:  Perseverance helps you overcome obstacles and achieve your goals.  It's the path to success, even when things get hard.

From the Principal

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Week 4.

Thanks to Mrs Sutcliffe for organising the Western Athletics Carnival on Tuesday.
St. Mary’s students put in some fantastic performances, and we have a strong team progressing onto the Diocesan Athletics Carnival next Friday.
This week, we have our Vinnies PJ Day tomorrow and our Assumption Mass on Thursday.

Peer Support
We are commencing Peer Support this week.  The whole school participates for 30 minutes each week.  Year 6 Leaders facilitate a group of 8-10 younger students, who work together on several structured activities.  Each teacher will supervise 2-3 groups in a room.  We are running a module called Living Positively - helping explore the concept of optimism.  The first enables children to get to know everyone in the group, agree on how to work well together, and cooperate.  They also begin to think about what it means to be optimistic.  We encourage you to talk to your child about Peer Support every week, as it helps reinforce concepts learned.

This week in Peer Support... the children share the things they enjoy in life and have an opportunity to discuss their favourite activity.  This session enables children to recognise what makes them happy.  Discuss with your child their favourite activity.

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.

Religious Education

NAIDOC Day
Thank you to Miss Powell, Mrs Zell, Mrs Dann, and Mrs VC for their organisation of our NAIDOC Day last week. A special thanks goes to our indigenous students who led the whole school liturgy with pride and did an excellent job at marking this important occasion.

Vinnies PJ Day
St. Mary’s SRC have organised for our school to hold the annual PJ Day tomorrow, 12th August. Students are encouraged to wear PJs to school and bring a gold coin donation to support the local St. Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal. Closed-in shoes are to be worn (joggers or school shoes).

Thank you to our SRC students who designed these posters...

St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop Feast Day
Our school gathered today to celebrate the feast day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Mary was an Australian nun who was declared a saint by the Catholic Church. She was the first Australian to be canonized. She is known for founding the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (link) a religious order dedicated to educating poor children and providing social services. Mary and her sisters hold an important role in the history of Catholic education, particularly in the regional parts of our Diocese. We thank Year 4 for preparing this Liturgy for us. 

Feast of the Assumption
Due to only having one priest in Dubbo at the moment, our school will gather to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary this Thursday at 11.30 am in our school Hall.
Each year on 15th August, Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Assumption, which honors the belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was taken up into heaven—body and soul—at the end of her earthly life. This central teaching of the Church, solemnly defined as a dogma by Pope Pius XII in 1950, underscores the dignity of the human body and affirms our hope in resurrection and eternal life. Although the event is not explicitly described in Scripture, it is rooted in long-standing tradition and reflects Mary’s unique role in salvation history. In many communities, this feast is observed as a Holy Day of Obligation, inviting the faithful to attend Mass and reflect on the promise that, like Mary, we too are destined for heavenly glory.

2025 First Holy Communion
First Holy Communion preparation sessions have commenced.  If your child is receiving the sacrament of First Holy Communion this year, they are required to attend one session per week in the lead-up. 

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

ST. BRIGID'S PARISH - MASS TIMES: 
St Brigid's:  Saturday - 5pm, Sunday - 9am and Sunday - 5pm
St. Laurence's Church:  Sunday - 7.30am

Sport

Polding Netball - Best of luck to Zara, who will represent Polding at the NSW PSSA Championships this week

Western Region Athletics Carnival
Last Tuesday, our school athletics team competed at the Western Region Athletics Carnival at Barden Park. Thanks to Mrs Sutcliffe, who organised the carnival.

Congratulations to Maggie, Slater and Jake, who were named Age Champions
after some outstanding performances throughout the day.

We extend special congratulations to the following students who 
broke long-standing records on the day – an incredible accomplishment!
Lucy - Discus
Maggie - High Jump
Roy - 1500 m

Congratulations to Thomas, Lucinda, Ollie, Hugh, Jake, Beckham, Maddix, Jake, Charlie, Hunter, Gus, Ellie, Evie, Tom, Aidan, Lucy, Slater, Solei, Tanner, Roy, Cooper, Emily, Zara, Emma, Lucy, Maggie, Georgie, Jackson, Leo, Ned, Ella, Cohen, Buddy, Remy, Diesel, Frankie, Alyssa, Jensen, Ada, Esther, Frankie, Rio and Ari who will now compete at the Diocesan Athletics Carnival on Friday, 22nd August at Barden Park, Dubbo.

Soccer Gala Day
Over 130 of our students made up the ten teams from St. Mary’s who participated in the Soccer Gala Day last Friday. Thanks to Mrs Fiander, Mrs Jones, Mrs Scalora, Mrs Walkom, Miss Powell, Mr Keady, Miss Herbert, and Mrs Toole, who supervised our students. Special thanks to our generous parents, Daniel Peterson, Jakke Gardiner, Kristy Hubbard, Ben Farrelly, Sarah Chippendale, Tim Nicholls, Jena Squires, Emma Anderson, Emily Simpson, Chloe Whiteman, Alex Trimboli and Garry Jones, whose support made it possible for many of our students to enjoy the day.

Horse Sports Days are as follows:

Merriwa - 25th and 26th September
Tamworth Inter Schools - 16th to 20th October

Please email Mr Wilson - l.wilson4@bth.catholic.edu.au if your child is interested in participating.

Awards

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:

HOUSE AWARDS:
Congratulations to the following students for gaining 10 points for
their Sports House for exemplary behaviour:

Wellbeing

School Fees

Statement of Fees for Term 3 2025 were emailed out on Monday, 4th August 2025. If you have not received your Statement, please check your JUNK/Spam Folder or contact the School Office.

Please Note:  All students who attended the Soccer Gala Day on Friday, 8th August 2025 have been invoiced $10.00 per student for registration and lunch on the day.  Payment for this event should be made by BPay or Compass Pay. 

Attendance

Community News

BIRTHDAYS:
Celebrating their birthday this week are:
Owen, Archie, Merryn, Amya, Alice, George and Isabella.
We hope you enjoy your birthday!

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Canteen

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