Friday 10th October 2025 ~ Issue 30

Child Safety Statement

School Values

Treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Respect Our School - Hormati Sekolah Kita

Do Your Best - Lakukan Yang Terbaik

Help Others to Succeed - Bantu Teman Untuk Berhasil

Important Dates

TERM 4

Friday 17th October - Assembly @ 2.55pm

Thursday 23rd October - Catholic Social Teaching Day - details to come

Friday 24th October - Mission Day - details to come

Friday 31st October - Assembly @ 2.55pm

Tuesday 4th November - Melbourne Cup Holiday

Wednesday 5th November - Prep Transition morning

Monday 10th November - 3/4 Swimming

Tuesday 11th November - Prep Transition morning

Tuesday 11th November - Remembrance Day

Friday 14th November - Assembly @ 2.55pm

Friday 28th November - Assembly @ 2.55pm

Friday 5th December - Christmas Parade

Tuesday 9th December - Orientation Day

Thursday 11th December - Junior Sport's Day

Friday 12th December - P/1/2 Excursion

ADVANCE NOTICE

Thursday 18th December - Last day of the school year for students

From the Principal

Dear Families,

Welcome back to school for Term 4! We hope you had a wonderful holiday and feel ready for the demands of this very busy term - so much going on!

We need to thank and celebrate Eureka Sheds who have so generously donated a garden shed for us to use in nurturing and caring for our kitchen garden. Their generosity is quite overwhelming. We are very lucky!

Speaking of lucky, Profeet Footwear in Thompson Street are offering our school a rewards program where $5 from every pair of school shoes sold will be donated to our school! Such a generous offer! Please see the brochure further on in our newsletter.

Today a note is going home regarding our Catholic Social Teaching Day and Mission Day. Please have a good read so you know exactly what is coming up.

Have a wonderful weekend, shared with those you love,

Terrielynn

Catholic School Culture

MASS TIMES – 2025                                                 

Hamilton: Saturday 6pm and Sunday 10.30am                                  

Dunkeld: Sunday 8.30am                  

Glenthompson:  Sunday 8.30am

Penshurst: Sunday 8.30am

Congratulations!

A huge congratulations to Latham Wishart and his partner Molly who were married over the holidays. We wish them a lifetime of love and happiness.

Welcome!

We welcome Zephee Grey and his family to our school this term. Zephee is in Gr 1/2E and is settling in very well.

New Term Prayer

We begin our term, 
honouring this life, 
with all its potentials and possibilities. 

We begin our term with trust, 
knowing we are created for loving encounter. 

We begin our term with hope, 
knowing the it can hold 
love, kindness, 
forgiveness and justice. 

We recall last term, 
May we learn, may we love, may we live on.

We make room for the unexpected, 
May we find wisdom and life in the unexpected. 

Help us to embrace possibility, 
respond graciously to disappointment 
and hold tenderly those we encounter. 
Help us to be fully present. 

We pray for all who will experience difficulty, 
May we support, may we listen, may we change.

We resolve to live life in its fullness: 
We will welcome the people who’ll be part of our term. 
We will greet God in ordinary and hidden moments. 
We will live the life we are living. 

This term and always
May we find the wisdom we need, 
God be with us. 
May we hear the needs of those we meet, 
God be with us. 
May we love the life that we are given, 
God be with us. 
Amen

                   Adapted from O Tuama P, (2017) Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community Canterbury Press: Norwich.

Learning and Teaching

Book Fair

Great news - our annual Book Fair is back for 2025! It will be held in Week 5 of this term, in the spare classroom space, next to 5/6W.  

The Book Fair will be open for browsing on Monday 3rd November and Wednesday 5th November of that week, with the buying days being Thursday 6th November and Friday 7th November, both before and after school.  It's a great chance to grab some Christmas gifts too!

Just like last year, we now have an option to pay via Tap and Go.  You can still pay online prior to the fair, as well as cash, but this adds an extra payment option.  

An invitation to the Book Fair (with information about how to pay online) will be sent home very soon. Please keep an eye out for this. Your children will bring home a 'Wish List' as well, after they have had a chance to browse the Book Fair.

If you have any questions about our upcoming Book Fair, please don't hesitate to contact myself or Casey Rook.

Tania Stevens

Sports Catch Up

Regional Athletics 

We have 11 students who qualified for the Greater Western Region Championships. These students competed today in Ballarat. We wish them all the very best and know they will be giving their events their all! Go team St Mary’s!!

Regional Athletes 

Jed P - Discus 

Sean N - 800m & 1500m

Marlee L - 100m, 200m

Lucy O- High Jump 

Beau P- Discus 

Alaska B- 800m & 1500m 

Isabella T - 1500m 

Johannah W- 800m, Relay 

Charlie M- Hurdles and Relay 

Sophie U - Hurdles, 100m & Relay

Nina R- Discus, Shot Put & Relay

Regional HoopTime 

We have two teams who have qualified for Regional HoopTime. Our Grade 3/4 Boys All Star team and one of our Grade 5/6 Girls All Star teams. We are very proud of the students' efforts and cannot wait to share their efforts with you all! A note regarding this went home today with the participating students. 

The Grade 3/4 event will be on Monday 20th October. The Grade 5/6 event will be on Monday 27th October. Both events are held at HILAC in Hamilton. 

The teams are:

Saturday Morning Netball - begins Saturday October 18th

We have entered three teams in the Grade 3/4 division for Term Four Saturday Netball and two teams in the Grade 5/6 Division.

The Season will be played from Saturday 18th October – Saturday 29th November (except for Saturday 1st November – Melbourne Cup Weekend).

Thank you to everyone who has put their hand up to coach or umpire our teams - Renee Perriman, Lisa Lowin, Jane Nankivell, Emily Kelson, Belinda Colliton, Shae Outtram and Mallory Stanley. We cannot do this without you and I am incredibly grateful for your time and support. We are especially thankful for Eva Outtram, who has offered to umpire two of our teams. Eva is also playing as well, what an absolute amazing person you are! Thank you Eva. 

** We are still in need of one umpire for a Grade 5-6 team. If we cannot secure an umpire by Monday, we will need to combine the Grade 5/6 teams to make one team. **

The HNA has let me know that quite a few teams are struggling to find umpires. Saturday Morning Junior Netball is the perfect place for beginner umpires to gain experience as the games are social and fun rather than competitive. There is an ‘Introduction to Umpiring’ clinic at Monivae on Thursday 16th October 4pm - 7pm. It would be great if you could all promote this amongst our community- this is the link to register https://learning.netball.com.au/login/index.php 

The HNA would also love to run a Net Set Go program in Term 4 however, they are still in need of a coordinator for this. If you know of anyone that might be interested or suitable please reach out, it's a great program for our younger kids to get involved in. 

District Cricket (Cricket Blast Competition)

The Cricket Blast School Cup will be held on Thursday 30th October at Pedrina Park. The day will run from 9.30am to approximately 2.30pm. 

The Cricket Blast School Cup is a modified cricket competition played in a round robin format on modified grounds. It is a quick, 16-over game (8 overs per team). Each player gets to bowl and wicket-keep for one over each and bat with a partner for two overs. The competition is run in two categories; Boys/Mixed and Girls.

The winner of each section of the Cricket Carnival will progress to the Regional Finals in Ballarat on Wednesday, 19th November. 

We are currently finalising teams, from the expression of interest form, and staff supervision. A note will go home with interested students next week. We will bus the students to the event and there is no cost associated with the event. 

Grade 5/6 Swimming Program

Our Grade 5/6 students have had a busy week at the pool. We thank the staff who supported the students across the week.

The Grade 3/4s get their turn in the pool Monday 10th November - Friday 14th November from 12.00-2.00pm. 

The information note and ‘blue’ note for the Grade 3/4s will be coming home next week. 

Ford Aussie Hoops All-Star 5

Over the holidays Gigi C was selected in the All Star 5 for Term 3 Aussie Hoops Basketball Program.

Each term, five standout participants from across the country will be selected for the Ford Aussie Hoops All-Star 5, recognising their commitment, enthusiasm, and improvement in the program. Each winner receives an Australian Opals/Boomers Spalding basketball and an All-Star trophy.

Well done Gigi, what an achievement!

Dates for your Diary

TERM FOUR

October

Saturday 18th October - Saturday Morning Netball begins

Monday 20th October - Regional HoopTime Grade 3/4

Monday 27th October - Regional HoopTime Grade 5/6

Thursday 30th October - District Cricket Grade 5/6 

November 

Monday 10th - Friday 14th November - Grade 3/4 Swimming Program

December 

Thursday 11th December - Junior Athletics Carnival

Elise Gordon

egordon@smhamilton.catholic.edu.au 

Woolworth's Cricket Blast

Here is link to sign up for Woolworth's Cricket Blast which will be held at the Monivae Cricket Hub.

Https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/c08910

Please see the flyer attached for more details.

Wellbeing

 Child Safety

The eSafety Commissioner is once again running some valuable parent webinars for Term 4.  The two listed below are very important ones with the end of the year approaching, our Grade 6 students transitioning to high school and the social media ban for under 16's coming into effect on the 10th December.  They are less than an hour and definitely worth checking out!

Supporting healthy tech use as your child transitions into high school
This webinar explores the social pressures, peer influences, and technological challenges young people face as they transition into high school. It also offers practical strategies for navigating online friendships and connections to help minimise negative experiences.

It's suitable for parents and carers of children in upper primary school (ages 11 to 12) and Year 7.

Available on:

• 18th November, 12:30pm

Social media age restrictions explained - a guide for parents and carers

From 10 December 2025, certain social media platforms won’t be allowed to let Australian children under 16 create or keep an account. Join our 30-minute information session to understand the changes.

Available on:

• 20th November, 12:30pm

Please see the flyer below for other topics available this term, as well as a link to register.

The Digital Dilemma

Following on from the above webinar, the ABC are hosting a live forum on the social media ban and what it means on Tuesday 14th October at 8pm.  It will be broadcast on the radio and on the ABC news channel and iView. Click on this link  to find out more, including the opportunity to submit any questions you may have. It will be a very interesting event!

Tania Stevens

Leadership and Stewardship

Kitchen Garden

Fried rice and cauliflower fritters were on the menu today. Such beautiful fresh, nutritious and tasty ingredients were used to create these amazing dishes. We are going to start doing some cooking on Mondays starting next week to ensure that the Grade 1/2 students have their turn in the kitchen. The Prep students will have their turn working with Monique Sobey and another of our wonderful volunteers, Nola next week also. The smiles on the faces of the students when it is their turn in the kitchen reminds us how worthwhile this program is - we are truly blessed to have the Kitchen/Garden program at St. Mary's.

Catherine Egan

Recipes from this week

Community Engagement

St Mary's Christmas Parade

This year our annual Christmas Parade will be held on Friday 5th December.

We are a looking for lolly donations to make lolly bags to sell at the parade. If you are able to donate, can they please be pre wrapped like chuppa chupps or lollies in little bags. 🍬🍭🍡

Also, we would like to give a BIG thanks to Emily Kelson who has been baking Christmas Cakes/Puddings etc for our Christmas Parade for years. We thank Emily for her generosity . 

Assembly

Our next assembly will be on Friday 17th October at 2.55pm.