Dear Parents and carers,

Why do we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday? In Christian traditions, the 40 days before Easter are known as Lent, and they mark the time that Jesus spent fasting in the desert. ... And on Shrove Tuesday eggs, butter and stocks of fat would be used up. Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter – was traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday, Christians went to confession and were “shriven” (absolved from their sins).

St Mary's will celebrate Shrove Tuesday on 5th March at recess. Please advise if you do not wish your child to participate.

Ash Wednesday opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. Ash Wednesday takes place 46 days before Easter Sunday, and has a  tradition of penance and fasting.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Lenten fast and is the day after Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day.

St Mary's will have an Ash Wednesday Mass on Wednesday 6th March at 12:00pm.

There will be a Children's Mass on Sunday 17th March - St Patrick's Day, come dressed in green. Children are invited to participate with parishoners to celebrate Mass.

Holy Week Focus will be Thursday 11th April at 10am. An invitation will be sent asking for community members to participate in the symbolic washing of the feet which occurred at the Last Supper the evening before the Crucifixion.

Our radio announcers next Tuesday 26th february will be Jiemin & Daniel.

Please tune in to FM 96.3 each Tuesday at 1.45pm to hear what is happening at St Mary's school.

The Wilkinson/Skerry & Jackson families will be our home cooks this Friday.

Items are sold for 50c each on Fridays.

The Klavins family are on the cake raffle this Friday.

Tickets are sold for 20c each Friday.

A reminder that there is a NEW Canteen List that commenced this week. Please read the list carefully for pricing and changes. There are no longer Pizza's or cakes and slices.

Birthday wishes go to  Catriona who turns 10 on the 20th February, Sebastian who turns 11 of the 22nd and to Calee Bree who turns 7 on the 23rd. Have a fabulous time on your special day.

On Thursday St Mary’s school held their opening school Mass.

Year 6 were presented with their leadership badges & and area of responsibility for the year and kindergarten were given a welcome certificate.  

A lovely morning tea was shared after Mass with family and friends.

Well done to those students who represented St Mary's at the Western Region carnival last Friday in Tumut. All put in a great effort on the day.

Congratulations to William & Daniel who will now go on to represent St Mary's and Western Region at the Archdiocesan Carnival in Narooma in March . 

Well done boys!!!!!

Don't forget Student Banking is every Monday.

Schoolzine is a "one stop shop" app for families for all St Mary's communication needs including Newsletters, permission notes, calendar, Quick Push notifications, online uniform orders, ... here is how to download the app.