Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back for 2025! The staff are excited and have eagerly awaited the return of our wonderful students. Many of our teachers have given up a large amount of their holidays to prepare lessons and setup their classrooms, for this I thank them. Last year I mentioned that Week 1 started on Friday last week. This is incorrect. Week 1 is this week!

The beginning of the year is extremely hot and is a good time to remind students of the importance of hats. We will be changing from ‘no hat-shade play to no hat-sit in the shade. We appreciate your understanding as we endeavour to prioritise your child’s health.

TOYS TO STAY AT HOME! The start of the year is a good time to remind students that no toys are allowed at school. This includes trading cards, fidget tools (unless medically recommended), figurines, toy cars, dolls or games. Toys are expensive for parents and we would hate for them to get lost or broken. We have lots of fun things at school to play with so students do not need to bring anything but themselves. If toys are found at school they will be collected by the teacher for safekeeping and returned after school. Please have a chat to your child about this. I appreciate your support.

The staffing at St Mary’s for 2025 has two welcome additions. Miss Brydi Holmes and Miss Madelyn Turner both will join the team for 2025. Brydi will teach 1 Joy and Madelyn will teach Year 6. Both bring with them a huge amount of enthusiasm and are extremely keen to meet their class and immerse themselves in life at St Mary’s. We welcome both to our school and the community and trust they will enjoy their time with us. 

St Mary's is retiring its school supplied Apps program in 2025. As a result we will be remotely removing any apps supplied by the school and installed on BYOD iPads used at the school in 2024 and prior years. This removal will occur in March 2025.

Please ensure you check the “School apps” icon on your BYOD iPad for a list of apps that will be removed. It is suggested you backup or export any work that you would like to keep from those apps before March. There will be no requirement of paid apps moving forward, however you may still get requests for free apps to be installed as required.

Many thanks to Andrew Connellan, Stuart Hetherington, Sarah Curry and Josh Curry who have given up their time to ensure our grounds are looking fabulous and are ready for our students to return. A special thanks to those in the community who have turned on the watering system for our struggling plants at the front of our school and the trees on Church Street over the holidays.

Due to the movement of Year 1 & 2 upstairs, from Week 2, can we please ask that no parents go upstairs with their children at drop off. We appreciate and understand that you want to settle you children into their class, however, this is a safety issue and we do not want any accidents to occur on the stairs or in the corridors. We appreciate your cooperation.

There has been a few changes to our staffing model over the holidays that was previously communicated. I am very pleased to share this with you.

Principal – Mr Damian Collins

Assistant Principal & Religious Education Co-ordinator Nickey Harland

Kinder Kind – Mrs Tessa Turner

1 Joy – Miss Brydi Holmes

2 Mercy – Miss Georgia Thomas 

3 Peace – Mrs Carlie Iverach & Mrs Kate Dean (Mondays)

4 Trust – Mrs Lauren Manchur & Mrs Robyn Akehurst (Mondays)

5 Hope – Mrs Bree Taylor & Mrs Emma Speedy (Wednesdays)

6 Faith – Miss Madelyn Turner

Early Career Release Teacher – Mrs Kate Dean & Mrs Carlie Iverach

Library – Mrs Speedy

Classroom Support Teacher – Mrs Kylie Tulloch (Tuesday & Wednesday and every second Thursday)

Release from Face to Face – Mrs Allison Browne (Monday & Wednesday)      

Learning Support Assistants – Miss Lana Stephanie, Mrs Casey Loudon, Mrs Jenny Baker, Mrs Anna Davis & Mrs Sarah Wood

Front Office Manager – Mrs Wendy Connellan & Mrs Sarah Wood

School Cleaner – Mrs Maree Spackman

Groundsman – Mr Ralph Nicholson

I am very excited about the commitment these teachers have shown already in 2025. I look forward to a successful year.

Remember my door is always open.

Principal

Damian Collins