Dear Parents,

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Thank you for entrusting your children’s schooling to the teachers and staff at St Mary’s. Our role is to support parents who are the first and primary educators of their children. It was exciting to see their smiling faces at yesterday’s first day back. In spite of the heat, St Mary’s is well and truly open-for-business.

 

2020 promises to be a rich and full year. I’m looking forward to getting to know you and discussing your children’s learning needs.

 

I’d like to congratulate Joseph Ryan who is the 2019 College dux. Joseph achieved an ATAR score of 94.45, just pipping Maria Chandrasegaran who achieved an ATAR of 92.45.  .

 

Congratulations also to our band 6 achievers:

 

Maria Chandrasegaran for Mathematics

Rosalee Murphy for Visual Arts

Bernadette O’Brien for Agriculture

Joseph Ryan for Mathematics

 

The class of 2019 are models of consistent effort and an inspiration to each of us to strive for excellence.

 

Ian Smith

Principal

 

 

Welcome Back BBQ

We invite families to our school’s Welcome Back BBQ and blessing of the new food tech room and school grounds this Sunday 2nd February at 12:00pm. The BBQ is a great way to get to know the current and new families in our school community. Sausages and bread as well as cordial will be supplied by the school. Please bring a salad or dessert to share.

 

Parent Evening

The first Parent Night of the year will be held on Wednesday the 12th February at 7.00pm in the college hall.  The evening will include a Principal’s address, information about the college virtuous behaviour program and an opportunity to meet with your child’s teachers.

 

Text/Library Books

We ask that students who still have school text books or library books from last year please return them as soon as possible. These books are only on loan to the students and remain the property of the school.

 

Secondary Swimming

The years 7-10 Secondary Swimming begins again on Wednesday 5th February. Student permissions have been sent to parent’s PAM accounts and must be responded to by the 4th February. Each session costs $2 per student which can be paid at the school office.

 

PAM Accounts

 

As of the beginning of this term we are now using a new database system.  The new system includes a Parents Access Module (PAM) that allows parents to update their child’s medical information, notify a child’s absence and give excursion permissions as well as access the school’s calendar.

 

All parents received an email last year inviting them to log in and verify their PAM account.   If you are having trouble logging into your account, please contact the office for assistance.  Once logged in parents must complete the medical information required for each of their children. We ask that parents also include at least one emergency contact person in their child/ren’s medical profile.  Please note that if your child has a medical action plan, it must be uploaded and included in your child’s medical details. If you are unable to scan and upload documents, please bring in any documents to the office and we can do this on your behalf.

 

Student Absences

If your child/children are away for any reason, absences must now be notified through your PAM account. Students who arrive to school late or leave early still need to report to the school office where a late/early pass will be generated through the new PAM system.

 

Lost Property

The lost property baskets are very full from the end of last year.  We ask that families please check the lost property for any missing items. Any unclaimed items will be cleared out of lost property within the next few weeks and we would prefer that items are returned to their rightful owners.