To have my long term goal of becoming a School Principal materialise this year has been a dream come true and to have this occur in the town that I grew up in makes it all the more special.  I feel tremendously privileged and honoured to be given the role of principal at St Mary’s.

This school has one of the hardest working and caring staff I have been involved with, a parent community that is alive, supportive and vibrant and a student body that is respectful, happy and eager to learn.  I would like to thank everybody for their support so far and look forward to working with the school community into the future.  I would also like to again thank Mrs Robyn Akehurst for her service over the last 10 years and thank her for leaving the school in the wonderful position that it is in.

I would like to welcome our continuing families to another year and extend a special welcome to our new families for 2019.  This year we invite the Stokes, Bell, Bales, Braunberger, Chatrill, Crawford, Stewart and Westaway families into our school community.  I sincerely hope your experience with the school reflects our mission statement of Plant the Seed, Nurture the Growth and Celebrate the Harvest.

It is also with great joy that I welcome 17 new students to our school.

• In Kinder we have Savannah Atfield, Indianna Bales, Hamish Braunberger, Adalia Chantrill, Archer Crawford, Molly Gaynor, Ted Glasgow, William McDonell, Billy Pettit, Hugh Ridley, Maive Stewart, Abigail Sturgess and Toby Westaway;
• In Year 1/2 Mercy we have Freddie Bell and Molly Stokes;
• In Year 3/4 Trust we have William Stokes and
• In Year 5/6 Hope we have Riley Bell.

I look forward to getting to know you all and finding out about your story.

2019 also sees a band of new staff join our existing staff.  I would like to offer my support to Mrs Jacqui Cuthbertson (3/4 class teacher), Miss Josie Parker (Year 1/2 collaborative teacher) and Mrs Angela Scott (Assistant Principal) and warmly welcome them to St Mary’s.  I wish Miss Emma Jackson all the best in her new role as Religious Education Coordinator.  I would like to congratulate Mrs Stacey Maier and Mrs Belinda Haworth on the arrival of their new babies - Mrs Haworth welcomed Tomas Edward into the world on Wednesday 2 January and Mrs Maier welcomed Sophie Addison on Monday 14 January.  I hope you enjoy this special time with your new arrival.

For those that are new to our community, I have been teaching in Catholic schools since 1999. St Mary’s is the third school that I have taught in having previous experiences at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Merbein for 1 year and St Mary’s Toukley for 7 years.  I am passionate about developing the whole child and helping them to grow to the best version of themselves, about Catholic Education and the dimension Christ brings to all of us, about supporting my staff and giving each one the resources they need to thrive in their positions and about working with the parent and wider community to promote a healthy connection with the school and the students that fill our classrooms every day.

I would like to offer an invitation to our entire school community to contact the school for any reason, either positive or negative.  I am open to constructive feedback and no issue is too big or too small for the school to be contacted about.  I look forward to the rest of the year and the years to come.

Phil Nielsen