Dear Parents and Carers,

Last Friday Mr Ross Fox Director of Catholic Education visited St Mary’s to meet with teachers and visit classrooms. He visits all 56 schools in the diocese on a regular basis and we warmly welcomed him into our beautiful region, greeted at the gate by our Year 6 leaders Jie Min and Sebastian.

Three Way Conferences are scheduled to start after school today and will continue on Wednesday evening. Three Way Conferences mean that the student is part of the conversation and they are able to celebrate their learning with their parent/s and their teacher/s. Parents can ask questions, express ideas and make plans to support your child's learning at home. Teachers can support students by clarifying, elaborating and responding to specific questions and concerns. 

We ask that you arrive ten minutes ahead of the scheduled time to view your child's work that they have flagged as important to their learning.

We ask that every effort is made for siblings not to be present in the conference during this time. I will be available to supervise siblings in the hall way area where it is warm and there will be some activities set up for them to enjoy. The duration of the conference time is ten minutes, so if you require more time or wish to discuss anything in greater detail please arrange a separate time with the teacher/s.

Last week our St Mary's Athletics Team travelled to Cootamundra for the Western Region Athletics Carnival. Ms Buckmaster and Ms Clark reported a fabulous day was had by all with personal best times recorded for many. 

 Last week, our Year 5/6 students presented Mass with Fr George. I would like to commend Year 5/6 for their leadership during Mass. They stood proudly, read extremely well and conducted themselves as senior members of our school throughout. Our soup luncheon was a lovely celebration after Mass. Thank you to staff and Ms Letishia Fayle (Emily and Logan's mum) for helping to get lunch organised.

This week Year 2/3/4 will present assembly on Thursday afternoon. All friends and family are warmly invited to attend. We hope to see you in their new classroom at 2:15pm if you can make it along.

 Finally, this is our last week for Term 2. The first day of Term 3 is a Staff Development Day. Staff will be travelling to Temora for a Day on Privacy, Record Keeping and Well Being.  We will be returning to school on Tuesday 23 July with students.

 Have a lovely holiday everyone. Keep warm and enjoy the break.

 Warm regards

 Jannine

Hello from Mrs Saunderson who is on leave this week in Far North Queensland.

The Sisters of Mercy came to Cooktown before the world wars. During the Second World War the American troops took over the convent the sisters never returned. 
The convent has been refurbished and is now part of the Captain Cook Museum.
Have a restful holiday...I did say a prayer for all of you in this beautiful chapel. 
Thank you to Yr 5/6 and all who were involved in last weeks Mass...I hear on the grapevine you had a lovely celebration.

Last Thursday Year 5/6 lead the liturgy at Mass. The theme was "We are the Shepherds of the Church". Thank you to Father George for saying Mass.

Following Mass everyone enjoyed Pumpkin and Chicken and Corn soup. Thank you to Mrs Dobbie and Mrs Richards for making the beautiful soups.

Congratulations to our St Mary's Athletics Team who represented in Cootamundra last Friday. Stand out results were:

Zayn Bartlett - High Jump 4th

Dainiel Korn - 800m 5th, Discus 4th, Long Jump 3rd

EJ Sullivan - 800m 5th, Discus 4th

Mixed Relay Team - William, EJ, Zayn and Jonny - 3rd

The deposit of $50 for the Year 2/3/4 excursion to Borambola is due THIS FRIDAY 5TH JULY. Please deposit into the school account.

BSB: 062786  ACC: 000010032 with Family name and exursion in details. Or send into school.

Student of the Week

K/1 - Jack, Liam and Angus

5/6 - Jie Min

BUCKETFILLERS

Liam, Jie Min, Marlie and Maverick.

Year 6 will be selling cupcakes on Friday for $1 at recess and lunch as a fundraiser for our local St Vincent De Paul Society.

Thank you to all the families who did Home Cooking this term. 

We are in need of some more volunteers for the roster for next term. Please let the office know if you can help.

The Willems family is asked to supply the cake for the cake raffle this Friday 5th July.

Thank you to all the families who supplied cakes this term. 

Birthday wishes go to Nadamary who turns 11 this Thursday 4th July. Also happpy birthday to Amara who turns 9 on the 8th July, James Mc who turns 6 on the 18th and Demianna who turns 10 on the 20th. Have a happy holiday birthday.

Three Way Conferences begin this afternoon and continue tomorrow afternoon. This is a valuable opportunity for your child to meet with their teacher and parent/s and talk about their learning and set goals for their future learning.

At the meeting held last week Community Council have decided to:

### Update the windows in the 2/3/4, K/1 and foyer area in the original part of the school as these are very old and in urgent need of replacement. 

### Cement under the COLA area to replace the loose gravel

This will hopefully take place over the next month.

All our fundraising money goes towards helping to ensure our school is kept up to date and to assist our students and staff where needed.

REMINDER: Raffle tickets and money in our wood raffle are due back this Thursday to the office.

The Premiers Reading Challenge closes Friday 30th August, so keep the reading up over the holidays.

Tomorrows Winter Warmer is Mini Quiche - $3.50 per serve. Hot Chocolate - $1.50

Orders to the office by 9.00am

You can direct deposit BSB:  062786 Acc: 000027184

(please email the office with your order or put the order in with DD on the bag.)

Last week 5/6 took on the challenge of making an amusement park ride using Little Bits!

Meet Ranger Recycling.

He collects all recyclable objects that we may have in our school including paper, cardboard, clean yoghurt containers and even aluminium tins. 

Ranger Recycling is emptied once a week with our local bin collection.

Kinder and Year 1 visited our friends at Batlow Daycare last Wednesday. The students read some stories and showed the residents some of their work.

Year 2/3/4 visit Daycare tomorrow.

Please ensure that all outstanding school fees are paid by end of term if you are not making regular instalments.

Parent Information - Home Reading Night Thursday August 1st. 

Kindergarten - Year Three parents. (Year 4 to Year 6 also welcome)

More information later.

Term 2 ends this Friday 5th July.

Term 3 Staff Development Day - Monday 22nd July.

Term 3 commences for students -  Tuesday 23rd July.

Term 3 ends - Friday September 27th.

If you need to contact the school during the day please phone the office for a quick reply.

Sometimes emails are not seen during the day by staff so any reply or answer to a query may not be given on the day. 

If it is not urgent or needing a reply on the day emails are fine to the office or individual staff.

Earn and Learn is over for another year. If you have any stickers at home please send them in ASAP as we have to send them off this Friday.