Week 1, Term 4 2023 - 3rd October 2023
Principal's Reflection
Each school holidays, I look forward to a trip to the Mackay City library to borrow a wide variety of books, ranging from historical non-fiction (if you are interested in learning more about Captain Cook, I highly recommend Rob Mundle’s biography, ‘Cook’), to thriller novels and everything in between. One title that immediately grabbed my attention was the relatively new auto-biography from Ash Barty ‘My Dream Time’. It did not disappoint!
In the world of tennis, recently retired professional Ash Barty emerged as a shining example of what can be achieved through unwavering self-belief, mental fortitude and incredible hard work.
Barty, a champion player from a very early age, rose to prominence early but struggled to convert her junior success onto the WTA tour. After a few years of gut-busting touring, she made the crucial decision to step away from tennis, citing burnout and the need to rediscover her passion for the sport. This 16-month hiatus, which included a stint as a cricketer for the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League, allowed her to reconnect with herself and develop the mental strength necessary to compete at the highest level. Her return to tennis in 2016 marked the beginning of an extraordinary transformation personally and athletically.
In mid-2018, Ash was firmly in the world’s top 20, but struggling to cope with the rigors of the most demanding schedule in world sport, a near 11-month professional season. It was at this time that Barty started working with Ben Crowe. Ben, renowned for his work in sports psychology and mindset coaching, played a pivotal role in helping Barty unlock her full potential. Together, they embarked on a journey of self-discovery, addressing life’s big questions of, "Who am I?", "What do I want?" and “How do I get there?”.
This introspection allowed Barty to understand her motivations, strengths and areas of improvement more deeply. It allowed her to see vulnerability as a strength and that, win or lose, her performances on the tennis court did not define her as a person. Armed with this fresh mental outlook, Ash went on to win 3 grand slams, claiming the #1 ranking for 114 consecutive weeks in the process.
Remarkably she retired at just 26, shortly after winning the 2022 Australian Open without dropping a set. Since then, she has married and welcomed a son, Hayden, into her growing family. She remains as one of Australia’s best ever athletes and her memoir gives the reader a wonderful insight into her journey thus far. If you are interested in Ash’s story, or the work of Ben Crowe, please see the links below.
All the very best,
Wes Rose
Principal
Additional Material:
Ben Crowe’s Website
Ash Barty, “My Dream Time”
From our Principal - Mr Wes Rose
Welcome back
Welcome back to school. I trust that the school holidays provided much needed rest and relaxation, ready for term 4. Only being a nine-week term and filled with many events, it is sure to be a busy time. Please take note of the following important dates;
5/10 St Mary’s Got Talent; 11:20am in the hall.
15/10 P&F Bike-a-thon; 8:30am at the Caneland Park.
16-18/10 Year 5 Camp to Seaforth Pines
26/10 Prep 2024 Parent Info evening; 5:30pm-6:30pm (School Hall)
3/11 St Mary’s Swimming Carnival; ARC
18/11 St Mary’s Parish Fair; 6pm-10pm
23/11 2024 Orientation morning
27/11 Year 6 Graduation Dinner
30/11 Christmas Concert; 6pm in Basketball court.
30/11 Report cards published on Parent Lounge
1/12 Last day of school
6/12 School Office closes
15/1/24 School Office re-opens
22/1/24 Term 1 Commences
Staff News
I advise that Mr Andrew Doyle, our Indigenous Teacher Assistant, resigned at the end of Term 3. On behalf of the school community, I thank Andrew for sharing his talents in the short time he was with us. For the remainder of the year, we have employed Mrs Fiona Ahwong in this role. Fiona brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, having served in this role previously. Welcome back, Fiona.
P&F Meeting – Tonight
I advise that we will hold a P&F meeting tonight (3rd Oct) from 6pm in the Staffroom. At this meeting, we will discuss the upcoming Bike-a-thon as the main agenda item. All parents are most welcome to attend.
School Maintenance
Over the holidays, we had several maintenance jobs completed, including;
- Air conditioner servicing in the Early Years.
- Remaining sections of external ceiling sheeting in F Block were replaced.
- Emergency lighting testing.
- Pressure cleaning of library and the hall.
B Block Lift Installation
Many of you would have noticed the newly installed elevator in B Block. This lift will be commissioned in the next three weeks and will then be available for use by staff and students when needed.
New Junior Playground Installation
Over the holidays our old junior playground was dismantled, in preparation for the new playground to be installed this week. I sincerely thank the P&F for funding this new play space, which will be thoroughly enjoyed by our students.
A message to children/families arriving before 8:15am
We have noticed that many of our students arrive to school before 8:15am and are spread out across various areas of the school. I remind students and parents that before 8:15am, there are no teachers on supervision duty. Therefore, students are to either sit with their parents, or if unaccompanied, sit in the tuckshop area. There is to be no play before 8:15am. Once the 8:15am play bell rings, students can play handball, skip, walk the track, visit the library or go to their classroom if their teacher is available.
Early Departure and Late Arrival at School
For the safety of all students, it is important that the following procedures are followed when students are collected early or arrive late for school;
- If your child needs to leave school during the day for any reason, they must be collected from the school office and signed out.
- Please do not go directly to your child’s class, as the class teacher is unable to amend the attendance roll.
- When returning to school following an appointment, students must report to the office so that the class roll can be marked accordingly.
- Students who arrive late to school in the morning (after 8:30am) must report to the school office before going to their classroom. This will prevent SMS messages being sent to parents when children are present at school.
Families Leaving
As our total enrolment drives many aspects of our school (staffing, budget, class sizes and structure) it is important that we try to be as accurate as possible in predicting the school enrolment for 2024. If you know that you will be leaving at the end of the year, please notify the office as soon as possible. Your assistance with this matter is greatly appreciated.
Quote of the Week
“Be the person your dog thinks you are.”
- Ricky Gervais
St Mary's Got Talent
Come along and see the amazing talent of our students, this Thursday 5th October at 11:30am in the School Hall.
This is always a highlight of our calendar and parents and relatives are most welcome to attend.
October - Month of the Rosary
Today we commenced praying a decade of the Rosary. We will pray the Rosary each day in October. St Mary's honours the Blessed mother of Jesus and our school booklist requires that each student have their own set of Rosary beads throughout Prep to Year 6.
If your child does not have rosary beads, please purchase a set through our school office for $12 or source them from home, St Vincent de Paul or South Mackay Newsagency.
Thank you.
Terri Leotta
Assistant Principal: Religious Education
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Students in Yr 3 or above are invited to begin preparing to receive their sacraments.
Workshop 1 will be held Thursday 12th October 3:15pm (Early Years Classrooms)
Enrolment Mass: Saturday 14th October 5pm
Workshop 2: Thursday 26th October - 3:15pm (Early Years Classrooms)
Reconciliation Sacrament: 9th November 6:30pm (St Mary’s Church)
St Mary's Bike-a-Thon
CALLING ALL SUPERHEROES
St Mary’s P&F is proud to host a Bike-a-Thon fundraising event!
The past two years have been a huge success and it would be great to see as many families and friends of St Mary’s in attendance.
Date: Sunday 15th October from 8:30am – 10:30am
(Registration will open from 8am)
Venue: Caneland Park (Playground/Park near Bluewater Lagoon)
Cost: $ 8 per person (entry fee covers sausage on bread)
$30 Per family 2 Adults 2 Children
Theme: Superheroes
Prizes for :
* best dressed boy/girl
* best dressed family
* class prize for most student attendance
Scan The QR code Or Follow the link to purchase tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/st-mary-s-bike-a-thon
For more information if needed please contact Event Coordinator Melissa McGuiness 0439 375 509.
Student of the Week
Week 10, Term 3 Student Award Winners
| Prep P | Sabine Ey | For the kindness and care that you show to your classmates. You are a wonderful friend to everyone. Thank you Sabine. |
| Pre P | Zoey | For the ‘can do’ attitude that you bring to all aspects of your learning. You always work hard and never give up! Thank you Zoey. |
| Prep R | Flynn | For always sharing your thoughts and ideas in class discussions. You have great ideas and are remembering to put your hand up, well done. |
| Prep R | Vinudi | For the effort you are putting into your writing. You trying so hard to sound out tricky words and write sentences. Keep up the fantastic work. |
| 1B | Lishwanth | For working hard all week! You have followed instructions well and constantly remained on task. Awesome effort! |
| 1K | Eloise | For having a superb attitude to learning and for being a wonderful role model to all students. |
| 2A | Edie | For being an enthusiastic writer. You have listened to suggestions and applied them to your persuasive writing tasks. Great work, Edie! |
| 2L | Chet | Chet, you have worked really hard to finish the term strongly this week. You’ve been doing your best to listen to your teacher and finish work in class. Your teacher is very proud of you for trying so hard. |
| 2L | Alek | Alek you have made a big effort to stay more focused in class this week, especially when writing sentences and when spelling out compound words. Well done. |
| 3B | Lucas | For the fantastic improvement in your work this week. Your effort to complete all your tasks has not gone unnoticed. Keep up the great work Lucas! |
| 3P | Kevin | For a great start at St Mary's this term! You are kind, resilient and a positive member to our classroom. We are very impressed with your math skills and your coding skill in Scratch Junior. Well done Kevin! |
| 3P | Sienna | For your excellent emotive writing piece for English! You have similes, exaggeration, personification and amazing adjectives! Well done Sienna! |
| 4A | Kolby | For working hard towards your classroom goals this term. We love seeing how far you have come. Keep up the great work! |
| 4A | Sophia | For the improvements you have made in mathematics this term. We can see your recall of times tables improving and we are very proud of your efforts. Well done, Sophia! |
| 4C | Class 4C | For your commitment to learning and maintaining excellent behaviour as we work towards the end of Term 3. You amaze me every day! |
| 5SA | Nikol | For your consistent efforts in all your learning. You apply yourself with a maturity beyond your years and your focus in class is greatly appreciated by your teachers. Keep up the great work Nikol! |
| 5SA | Hannah | For the consistent and concentrated efforts you give to your learning. It has paid off particularly well in math this term - with 100% for your mid term assessment and 91% for end of term. Congratulations Hannah, keep up the great work! |
| 5T | Chiara | For the positive energy you show every day in class. You consistently apply 100% effort into all tasks you complete. Your work ethic is impeccable! Well done Chiara! |
| 6M | Stella | For your informative and interesting Genius Hour presentation. Thank you for sharing it with the class Stella! |
| 6M | Thomas | For your hard work and perseverance in problem solving lessons this week. Keep it up Tom! |
| 6V | Mayson | For working diligently in class to complete assessments and assignment work and finishing the term with a mature, responsible attitude. Keep up the great work Mayson! |
| 6V | Harry | For displaying steady growth and improvement in all subject areas this term. It is great to see your effort and determination to complete classwork on time and make responsible choices, Harry. |
Community News
Would you like to know more about the Non State Schools Transport Assistance Scheme and eligibility requirements? Click on the link to view the short introductory video here: https://youtu.be/ogWpq7tVaio