What's Happening
What's Coming Up?
- Term 2 begins ~ Tuesday 16th April
2023 ~ Term 4
Mission Day!
On Friday 13th October, we celebrated Mission Day. This is a wonderful event that is a highlight on our school calendar. The Grade 5/6 students did a wonderful job organising and running their stalls. It was also great to welcome back our Cafe, after a hiatus during Covid, being renamed 'Mrs K's Cafe' in honour of our dear Jenni K. We raised much needed funds for Caritas on this day.
Grade P/1/2 Warrnambool Excursion
On Friday 17th November, our P/1/2 students headed off for some fun in Warrnabool as part of their annual end of year excursion. After a quick stop at Lake Pertobe, the Gr 1's headed to Mini Golf, the Gr 2's to Ten Pin Bowling and the Prep had fun at the beach making sand castles. We then all came back together to watch a movie on the big screen. What a wonderful day out we all had!
Junior Sports Carnival
On Friday 24th November we had our annual Junior Sports Carnival. The weather wasn't so kind to us, but we were fortunate enough to be able to use the Monivae Cricket Centre, as well our basksetball courts. Our Grade 6 leaders did a wonderful job taking our Junior students through each activity. Thanks to everyone involved!
St Mary's Christmas Parade
Our Christmas Parade took place on Friday 1st December. Thank you so much to everyone for making the Christmas Parade such a success. While the drizzle was not great, it was still a wonderful event. We are blessed to have so many people in our community who worked together to bring such a terrific event together for our school and community.
Hoop Time State Finals
Charlie, Meki, Hana, Nina, Johannah and Alani played in the State Hooptime competition in Melbourne on Monday 4th December. Eight games of basketball later, they are the runners up for the whole state!! Thank you to Daniel, Casey and our other wonderful families who supported and cheered on our team at such a large event! Congratulations girls, we are so proud of you!!
2023 ~ Term 3
Grade 3/4 Hoop Time
We had some very excited Grade 3/4 students who headed off to the annual Hoop Time competition on the 20th July. We had seven teams participate. It was a wonderful day that couldn't have happened without our wonderful parent volunteers who came along to coach and score for the teams. Thanks to our dedicated staff who attended and organised the day too.
Hockey 7's
On Friday 21st July, eleven very excited students from Grades 3-6 headed to Pedrina Park to take part in the Hockey 7's competition. For some of these students, it was their second day in a row taking part in a sporting competition! How lucky! We played Dunkeld, College and Coleraine on the day. Whilst we didn't have a win, a few goals were scored and lots of fun was had.
Grade 5/6 Hoop Time
On Monday 24th July, it was the Grade 5/6 students chance to head up to Hoop Time. Another fantastic day was had by all. We are so proud of the way our students conduct themselves when we head out to days like this - and these students certainly didn't disppoint. A big thanks once again to the staff and parent volunteers that made it all possible.
Grade 5/6 Primary School Netball Competition
What a start to the term our students have had! We had three teams head up to Pedrina Park to take part in the Primary School Netball competiton. The weather was perfect and a wonderful day was had by all.
Grandparents' Day
Oh, how excited we all were to be able to have our Grandparent Day celebrations onsite again after the Pandemic. We hadn't been able to host our grandparents and special people since 2019! The school was abuzz with excitement as we welcomed first the Rosaria and Fatima grandparents, followed by the Loreto and Lourdes grandparents. In between activities, our special visitors were treated to an amazing morning tea, as provided by our school families. Such a special day and we are so pleased that we were able to welcome everyone back to St Mary's.
Sheepvention Excursion
On Monday 7th August, our Grade 6 students, along with their Prep buddies, headed off to Sheepvention for the morning. Lots of fun was had by all (as you can see from the photos!). It is such a special connection that our Prep students have with thier big buddies (and vice versa!). Thanks to the staff and our parent helpers that came along on the day.
Book Week Parade
On Wednesday 16th August, we had a variety of characters arrive at St Mary's for the day! We had the Wonky Donkey, Ron Weasley, The Farmer Twins, Fancy Nancy and Snow White - just to name a few! We had a wonderful parade in the morning where we introduced our characters and spent the day immersed in books. Thanks to everyone involved for making it such a fun day!
First Eucharist
Our Sacramental program was completed on the weekend with our Sacramental candidates recieveing the Sacrament of First Eucharist. It was a beautiful celebration! Congratulations to all the candidates, their families, staff who helped them prepare and the Parish.
Grade 5/6 Camp ~ Warrnambool
On Wednesday 23rd August, a very excited group of 5/6's headed off to camp at the Warra Gnan Coastal Camp in Warrnambool. The children had a wonderful time, with lots of outdoor activities such as surfing, canoeing and having fun on the beach. They also went to Flagstaff Hill for the day and enjoyed the sound and light show. A big thanks to the staff and parent volunteers that supported the children on this camp. We couldn't do it without you!
Footy Colours Day and Father's Day celebrations
On Friday 1st September, our school was awash with an array of footy colours. From AFL to the A-League and the Matildas to the NRL, all the codes were on display. To add to the excitement, we also welcomed our Dad's and special people to school for a cuppa, some lunch and a play. The playground was buzzing - from a dad and kids soccer game, to playground antics and a kick of the footy, everyone was having a ball! Thanks so much for coming along and celebrating with us!
2023 ~ Term 2
ANZAC Day March
Primary School Table Tennis Competition
Prep Visit to the Monivae Science Lab
On Friday 28th April, our Prep students went to the science labs at Monivae to explore being a scientist. This is our Integrated Inquiry topic for this term, so it was great to be able to head up to Monivae and experience a real science lab and some science experiments to get us ready for our learning this term!
Grade 3/4 Visit to the Monivae Science Lab
Last week the Grade 3/4 students went to Monivae to continue their science learning for the term. The focus has been reversible and irreversible changes. The students were able to watch Mr. Minney demonstrate what you would use to clean an elephant’s teeth by making “Elephant’s Toothpaste”.
The students then participated in their own experiments by mixing chemicals to make footy colours. They were required to follow the instructions and see how successful they could be.
Lots of fun was had as well as varying degrees of success! Thanks to Mr. Minney and Monivae for allowing us to come up and learn more about science.
Division Athletics Carnival
On Friday 5th May, a team of children who had qualified through the District Athletics headed off to the Division Athletics in Warrnambool. The weather was cold but excitement was high! Congratulations to all our students who took part. We are very proud of you!
Mother's Day
On Friday 12th May, we had a lovely celebration of our mums, nans, auntys, and other people who care for us at our Mother's Day celebration. We had the coffee van here at school for our visitors and then there were activities throughout the school for children and visitors to enjoy. Thanks to everyone who came along and made it such a special day.
Here's a little video of the day for you to enjoy. Please click on the link below.
Prep Skittle Experiment
As part of their science unit this term, the Preps have been expolring and investigating. In this experiment, they used Skittles to make a pattern and then watched what happened when water was poured over the Skittles. Lots of excitement could be heard from the Prep rooms as they watched the colours run!
Before - setting up the Skittles.
After - watching the colours run!
Catholic Education Week
We celebrated Catholic Education Week last week (May 22nd - 26th). It was wonderful to be able to celebrate with our friends from Monivae College, all the wonderful things that Catholic education provides. The theme for this year was 'Let the words you speak always be full of grace' - Colossians 4:6
Sacrament of Confirmation
We celebrated with many children, their families and friends in our Parish yesterday when they received the Sacrament of Confirmation.
We congratulate all of them.
Footy Clinic
We were very lucky to have Ally from AFL Vic come and work with us on our footy skills. The children had a fantastic time practising their kicking, handballing and marking. Last week the P-2's had their clinic and later this week will the the 3-6's turn.
Peg Collery Memorial Scholarship
Congratulations to our 'Peg Collery Memorial Scholarship' recipients, Claire, Edwin and Finn. These children demonstrate our school values every day in their words and actions. We are all very proud of the young people that you are.
2023 ~ Term 1
Student Leadership
We celebrated our Student Leadership group for 2023 at our first school assembly for the year. The children were presented with their badges and were congratulated by the school community. The Leadership positions for 2023 are School Captains, House Captains, Sustainability Leaders and School Councillors.
Opening School Mass
On Sunday 5th February, our school community came together with the Parish to celebrate the beginning of a new school year. Each homeroom has created a prayer cloth for their class prayer table. These were shared with the parish and Fr Paddy blessed them.
At the end of Mass, our Grade 1/2 students sang the song 'The Little Light Of Mine'
School Athletics Day
We had a fabulous day on Thursday 2nd March for our annual house athletics carnival. The weather was perfect and the students were outstanding. Not only did they try super hard in all of their events, but they were great sports, cheering on their peers, no matter what house they were in!
We are very grateful to Monivae College for allowing us to use their beautiful facilities too.
Lourdes was the winning house on the day. Congratulations to everyone involved.
Grade 1/2 Sport at Monivae
The Grade 1/2 students have been very excited this term to take part in an extra sport session with some Year 12 Sport and Recreation students from Monivae. These Monivae students have planned and prepared three lessons for our students - one on kicking, one on catching and throwing and one on hitting. Each class will take part in each of these lessons over the term. A big thank you to Simon Hatherall and his Yr 12 students - the children are having a great time!
Coin Snake for Caritas
Wow! We had a wonderful time creating a 'Coin Snake' with all of our donations for Caritas. Check out the video below to see it!
Cross Country
We had a great day at our Cross Country last Friday. We had true Cross Country weather - rain and sunshine all at the same time! A huge thank you to all of our parent helpers - we couldn't run events like this without you. Everyone gave it their best go - well done!
Palm Sunday Mass
The P/1/2 students hosted Palm Sunday Mass at the Parish yesterday. It was a wonderful celebration, particularly for our Parishioners who just love seeing the children. Thank you to everyone who was able to come along.
