Cross Country
Congratulations and thank you to the children and parents who attended the recent Regional Cross Country Carnival in Nowra.  We are all proud of the efforts and commitment to the training that took place.  Thank you to Mrs Quick for her fine organisation and support of this event.

NAPLAN 2021
Next week all students in Australia in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will participate in the NAPLAN tests.    NAPLAN tests the sort of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. It is important to remember that NAPLAN is not about passing or failing, but about assessing learning progress. At the classroom level it is one of a number of important tools used by teachers to measure student progress. We encourage all of our students to eat a healthy breakfast and to get plenty of sleep so as to produce their best efforts during this time of NAPLAN.

Parent Engagement Meeting
On Wednesday 26th May, parents and carers are invited to the School Hall, commencing at 8.30am, to engage with the life of our school.  Come along and hear about what has been happening at STM so far in 2021 and some plans for the future.  This is our first Parent Engagement Meeting that replaces the former P&F meeting.

Supporting Diverse Learning In Catholic Schools - A Guide By Parents For Parents
The Supporting Diverse Learning in Catholic Schools - A Guide by Parents for Parents was developed to support and accompany families as they prepare their child for school, or for the transition from primary to secondary school. It offers practical ideas and advice from parents and carers who have 'been there and done that'. It includes areas such as 'Preparing the School for Your Child', communicating with the school, conversation starters for challenging topics, as well as practical ideas such as visuals board to help establish morning and evening routines once school has commenced.  The complete guide can be found here.

Afternoon Dismissal
Thank you to those who are adhering to our schools rules regarding afternoon dismissal.  We continue to seek feedback from you in regards to our processes and procedures.  In recent weeks there seems to be a large number of vehicles entering the property at 2.40pm.  We understand you need to collect your child as soon as school has finished but we are asking that some families consider arriving between 2.50pm - 3.00pm to collect your children.  The congested traffic seems to have eased greatly 10 minutes after the dismissal has commenced.  A reminder that at all times parents and carers must abide by the road rules.  That is, it is illegal to wait in the roundabout and block St John’s Road.  Police were present last week and were moving cars along.  A suggestion is that when the internal road is lined up to St John’s Road that you continue along St Johns Road to the next roundabout and turn around and then hopefully when you return the internal road is clear for you.  A huge thank you to the staff of our school who do an amazing job every afternoon in ensuring the safety of the children and who coordinate a ‘smooth running’ pick up line.  The success of a ‘smooth’ dismissal is children knowing each day how they are being collected in the afternoon.  Parents are reminded to have their family name displayed in the car so that the children can be called and are ready for collection.

Term 2 Uniform
From Monday 10th May (Week 4) all children will be expected to be in their Winter uniform.

Wash Hands

Social Distancing

Stay Safe

Philip Barrington 
PRINCIPAL