Term 3 Week 7 Newsletter 2025
Important Dates
THIS WEEK: | |
3 September | Year 2 - Mixed League Tag Gala Day |
3 September | Netball NSW Schools Cup Regional Finals |
5 September | Father's Day Breakfast - 7.30 am - 8.30 am |
UPCOMING DATES: | |
8 September | Mary's Birthday Liturgy presented by Kindergarten - 12.30 pm in the school hall |
8 September | P & F Meeting @ 6 pm - ALL WELCOME |
11 September | R U Ok? Day |
12 September | Polding Athletics Carnival @ Newcastle |
13 September | St. Mary's - First Holy Communion Weekend |
14 September | St. Mary's - First Holy Communion Weekend and Meet 4 Mass |
15 September | First Holy Communion Liturgy - 12.30 pm in the school hall |
16 September | Infants School Dance: 6.00 pm - 7.30 pm |
17 September | Primary School Dance: 6.00 pm - 8.00 pm |
18 September | Year 3 - Bike Safety Day |
18 September | Year 6 - Gerard Yeo Shield @ St. Johns College |
19 September | Interschool Chess Challenge Final @ St. Mary's |
19 September | Premier's Reading Challenge (Years 1 to 6) - Closing Date |
21 September | St. Brigid's Parish Picnic - 10 am to 12 pm |
Vision Statement:
St. Mary's Primary strives to be a welcoming Christ-centred learning community that promotes a quality holistic
education and trusting relationships in a caring and supportive environment.
Acknowledgment of Country: We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Wiradjuri people, who, long before us, lived, loved, educated and raised their children on this site. We pay our respects to elders past and present, and we recognise the young people who are our future. We acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in our community. We respect their deep physical and spiritual connections to the country through their stories, traditions and living cultures.
Character Virtue: P U R I T Y
What it looks like: Letting everything inside and minds or what we do to our bodies affects us in a good way.
What it means: Purity means clean and wholesome and saying yes to good things.
Why it is important: Saying yes to good things and no to bad things helps us to make the right choices.
From the Principal
Mr Luke Wilson
Principal
Dear Parents,
Welcome to Week 7.
Thanks to Mrs Nuttall for her work in organising our participation in last week’s Chess competitions.
This week, we have our Year 2 League Tag Gala Day and the Regional Round of the Netball Schools Cup on Wednesday.
Then on Friday, we look forward to enjoying ham and cheese croissants for our Father’s Day Breakfast.
We have a P&F meeting next Monday, 8th September at 6.00 p.m.
All are welcome.
Chess
Congratulations to our Chess superstars, Menura, Naksh, Jagtej and Tom, who won the regional round of the NSW Chess competition last Wednesday. We now move on to the next round.
School Dances
Our school dances will be held in the School Hall, as follows:
INFANTS - Tuesday, 16th September - 6.00 pm - 7.30 pm
PRIMARY - Wednesday, 17th September - 6.00 pm - 8.00 pm
| Ten Read-Aloud Commandments By Mem Fox | |
| 1. | Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day reading aloud. From birth! |
| 2. | Read at least three stories a day: it may be the same story three times. Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read. Or the same story a thousand times! |
| 3. | Read aloud with animation. Listen to your own voice and don’t be dull, or flat, or boring. Hang loose and be loud, have fun and laugh a lot. |
| 4. | Read with joy and enjoyment: real enjoyment for yourself and great joy for the listeners. |
| 5. | Read the stories that your child loves, over and over, and over again, and always read in the same ‘tune’ for each book: i.e. with the same intonations and volume and speed, on each page, each time. |
| 6. | Let children hear lots of language by talking to them constantly about the pictures, or anything else connected to the book; or sing any old song that you can remember; or say nursery rhymes in a bouncy way; or be noisy together doing clapping games. |
| 7. | Look for rhyme, rhythm, or repetition in books for young children, and make sure the books are really short. |
| 8. | Play games with the things that you and the child can see on the page, such as letting kids finish rhymes, and finding the letters that start the child’s name and yours, remembering that it’s never work, it’s always a fabulous game. |
| 9. | Never get stressed around books. |
| 10. | Please read aloud every day because you just adore being with your child. |
Monday Uniform
Children are now able to wear our summer uniform on Mondays if they choose to do so.
As of Term 4, summer uniforms will be compulsory.
Religious Education
Gospel Focus: Exalt the Humble
Luke 14:1, 7-14
Be humble and kind; care for those who are less fortunate.
Mary’s Birthday
We will be celebrating Mary’s Birthday on Monday, 8th September. As with other years, we encourage families to bring some flowers from their garden at home to decorate the Mary statue at the front of our school entrance.
2025 First Holy Communion
First Holy Communion continues on the 13th and 14th September, with many St. Mary’s students making their sacraments on this weekend. Please come along to help our Year 3 class celebrate.
Term 3 Meet4Mass
Our Term 3 Meet4Mass will be held on Sunday, 14th of September in conjunction with our Year 3’s First Eucharist weekend. We are also looking for volunteer student readers to read a prayer of the faithful on the day. If your child is interested in reading, please speak to Mr Keady.
Vale Fr Brien Murphy
Fr Brien Murphy, past Parish Priest, passed away on the weekend. Fr Brien had a strong connection to the local Dubbo community. We keep Brien’s family and friends in our prayers during this very difficult time.
| Upcoming Events: | |
| Week 8 | Mary's Birthday Liturgy - Monday (8th September) 12.30 pm in the school hall St. Mary's First Holy Communion Weekend - Saturday/Sunday (13th/14th September) |
| Week 9 | First Holy Communion Liturgy - Monday (15th September) 12.30 pm in the school hall Year 6 Gerard Yeo Shield - Thursday (18th September) at St. Johns College with St. John's Primary, St. Pius and St. Laurence's |
ST. BRIGID'S PARISH - MASS TIMES:
St Brigid's: Saturday - 6pm, Sunday - 9am and Sunday - 6pm
St. Laurence's Church: Sunday - 7.30am
Sport
Netball NSW Schools Cup
Best of luck to our netball team, who will be competing in the regional finals of the NSW Schools Cup on Wednesday.
Year 2 - Mixed League Tag Gala Day
Wishing our Year 2 students an enjoyable day on Wednesday, 3rd September, participating in the Mixed League Tag Gala Day.
Premier's Reading Challenge
REMINDER
The closing date for the PRC is Friday, 19th September 2025.
To complete the challenge, children in Years 1 and 2 need to have read 20 books from the PRC list and 10 free-choice books. The children in Years 3 to 6 need to have read 10 books from the PRC list and 10 free-choice books.
Each child must then log onto the website and record the books they have read before 19th September to receive their certificates.
If you are having any problems, please feel free to contact me.
Mrs McKenzie - Teacher Librarian
Awards
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
| Ruby - 1B For her consistent effort and beautiful work presentation. |
| Lucy - 1G For her enthusiastic and positive approach to her learning. |
| Maggie - 3G For always bringing a smile and a positive attitude to every task. |
| Menura - 5G For showing admirable effort and dedication in every aspect of school life - from playing chess to visual arts and everything in between - he applies himself wholeheartedly to every task. |
| 100 NIGHTS READING... Congratulations to the following super readers: | |
| 1G | Anthony |
| 2B | Oakley, Ari and Wyatt |
| 3B | Jett and Jaxon |
| 200 NIGHTS READING... Congratulations to the following super readers: | |
| KB | Brendan, Audrey, Evie, Millie, Addi, Alice, Sophie and Finn |
| 1B | Hank, Polly, Skylar, Chelsea, Olivia and Quinn |
| 1G | Evie, Nate, Beau, Nadia and Florence |
| 2B | Merryn |
| 3B | Annabel, Kieran, Tommy, Taejin and Tasha |
| 3G | Brodie, Ned, Nestor, Jack, Annelise, Eva, Thomas and Robbie |
| 5B | Emmie, William, Naksh, Rubie, Emily, Maddison, Evie and Peter |
HOUSE AWARDS:
Congratulations to the following students for gaining 10 points for
their Sports House for exemplary behaviour:
| LA SALLE: | McAULEY: | MOORE: | LENNON: |
| Charlotte - 1B | Sonny - 1B | Conor - 1B | Hank - 1B |
| Lola - 1B | Harvey - 1B | Harry - 1B | Scarlett - 1B |
| Ellie - 1G | Tommy - 1G | Ruby - 1B | Polly - 1B |
| Quinn - 1G | Blake - 1G | Quinn - 1B | Halle - 1G |
| Florence - 1G | Jimmy - 1G | Lottie - 2B | Charlie - 1G |
| Eleanor - 2B | Hendrik - 1G | Oakley - 2B | Aubrie - 1G |
| Thomas - 2B | Hayden - 2B | Gracie - 2B | Jake - 2B |
| Tasha - 3B | Anuki - 2B | Heidi - 2B | Clay - 2B |
| Reggie - 2B | Mackenzie - 2B | Digby - 2B | |
| Maggie - 3B | Ari - 2B | Louie - 2B | |
| Liddy - 2B | |||
| Willow - 2B | |||
| Wyatt - 2B | |||
| Charlie - 2B | |||
| Jensen - 2B | |||
| Merryn - 2B | |||
| Alfie - 3B |
Wellbeing
PEER SUPPORT:
This week in Peer Support children learn how important it is to take small steps towards achieving goals. Children develop a range of strategies and different ways to think to help them stay optimistic. Ask your child to share their goal and discuss ways to provide encouragement.
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Attendance
Community News
BIRTHDAYS:
Celebrating their birthday this week are:
Zoe, Mia, Maizy, Willah, Maggie, Logan, Ollie, Mollie
and Miss Mirakai Powell.
We hope you enjoy your birthday!
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Canteen
CANTEEN ROSTER | |
| Tuesday, 2nd September | Kristy Hubbard |
| Wednesday, 3rd September | Leah Job and Jo Trimboli |
| Thursday, 4th September | Emma Maas and Emily Simpson |
| Friday, 5th September | Liesl Gamser and Aleks Sutton |
| Monday, 8th September | Sheridan Wiatkowski |
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
