Principal Talk with Mrs. Sally-Anne Croker
ANZAC DAY
A heartfelt thank you to all our students and staff who proudly participated in marches on Anzac Day.
Your presence at Grabben Gullen, Crookwell or Taralga was a wonderful tribute to the courage, sacrifice and spirit of our servicemen and women past and present.
I am extremely proud of the way you represented our school and showed such respect for this important national day of rememberance.
Even more impressed with the five students who, without hesitation, participated in two marches on Friday.
I would like to express my thanks to CWA members, Lillian Marshall and Pam Roth who thoughtfully crotcheted and donated red and green poppies for our three St Mary's wreaths. We are extremely appreciative for your kindness and generosity ladies.
FEDERAL ELECTION
What you need to know to support your local Catholic school
The next Federal Election will be held on Saturday 3 May and it is important to consider how your vote will impact your child’s education.
The National Catholic Education Commission has issued an election briefing paper aimed at promoting how Catholic Education benefits all Australians. The NCEC calls on our political leaders to guarantee funding certainty with no adverse changes.
You can download the document here:
Catholic Education Election Scorecard
Catholic Education asked the Australian Labor Party, Liberal National Coalition, the Australian Greens and key Independent candidates to provide their response to our priorities for Catholic education. https://ncec.catholic.edu.au/2025-federal-election/federal-election-scorecard/
Here’s how they scored…
You can also check out the NCEC's 2025 Federal Election web pages: https://ncec.catholic.edu.au/2025-federal-election/ to find a School Funding Explainer, election updates and the facts about Catholic Education
Keep School Funding Fair
Parents and the community are invited to support our means-tested school funding system so families can continue to choose the school which is best for their child.
Find out more at keepfundingfair.org.au
YEAR SIX CAMP
What a privilege it was to spend the week at Camp with our 2025 Year Six cohort. I have been to many camps over the years and have rarely been as impressed as I was with this group. They ate heartily, participated eagerly, socialised maturely and slept like angels! I am confident each one of them made memories that will stay with them for many years and would like to also thank Mrs R Croker for the leadership and guidance she offers these young people by working so closely alongside them but also from within them.
Our bus driver also had a wonderful week and now knows why I put my hand up every year to attend !
Mrs SPACKMAN'S LEAVE
Mrs Spackman is having the trip of a lifetime for the first 5 weeks of term- heading to Canada and the USA. In her absence Mrs Nicole McCormack will be covering our Classroom Support Teacher role.
Have a wonderful time!
UNIFORM
This term, the students are to wear their full winter uniform; however, a two-week leeway is given if the weather is still warm enough for the summer uniform.
In preparation for the cooler months, you might order our school coat, a warm bottle green parka-style coat, from our Uniform Shop. No other coats will be permitted. Bottle green gloves and beanies may be purchased elsewhere.
Also note the polar fleece option for Friday Sport Uniform is available from the Uniform shop.
Some other reminders about our school uniform- hair accessories must be in the school colours only, earrings must be sleepers and studs and no nail polish is to be worn to school.
Please check all your uniform items at home to ensure they belong to your family. Please ensure you have all your children's uniform items labelled.
THREE WAY LEARNING DISCUSSIONS
This Term we would like to invite parents/carers and students to our Learning Discussions on Friday 4 July. This is the final day of Term Two and is a Pupil Free day. Your child's Semester Report will have been delivered to you on Monday 30 June. Appointment times will open around Week Seven for you to arrange a time that suits. If the opportunity to meet in person is difficult we are also opening up phone appointments for the day.
'NUT AWARE SCHOOL'
We have an increasing number of children attending St Mary’s who suffer from a severe anaphylactic reaction to peanuts/tree nuts and sesame seeds. These reactions can be serious and even life threatening. These children need to have an EPIPEN (automatic injector devise to administer adrenalin) on hand in case of an emergency at school.
As caregivers we need to take all precautions necessary to minimise risk of a life threatening anaphylaxis.
As a community we can work together to minimise risk associated with being exposed to these foods that act as a trigger to such attacks.
The school acknowledges that due to food processing practices, it is impractical to eliminate nuts or nut products entirely from an environment where there is food, hence the reference to ‘Nut Aware’ School.
Management at School
- Parents/caregivers being encouraged not to send food that contains nuts to school with their children. This includes peanut paste, Nutella, Muesli Bars, all nuts and cooking oil containing peanut oil, as well as foods containing nuts (but does not extend to ‘foods that may contain traces of nuts’)
- Staff supervising students whilst they eat their lunch.
- The Tuckshop will not have ‘for sale’ food items that contain nuts, but does not apply to food labelled ‘may contain traces of nuts’.
- No food sharing between children.
- Staff participate in annual First Aid training to assist with understanding and dealing with anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction).
For Parents
- Parents are asked not to send peanut butter or nutella on sandwiches, biscuits etc. (to minimise the risk from person to person contact).
- Emphasise the importance of hygiene when eating food at home and at school – washing hands.
While we can never entirely enforce or regulate what comes from home in each child’s lunch box, not where foods contain traces of nut oil, we hope people will assist in working towards minimising the risks and look at alternatives away from nut products.