Dear Parents,

Welcome back to the 2021 school year! I hope that all families have had a restful break from school routines and enjoyed the great outdoors and our beautiful region over January. The children were excited to get back into their uniforms and start the new school year one grade older.

We welcome our new Kindergarten students, Scarlett, Maya and Kayden to big school. We also welcome Aiden into Year 3 and his parents Kristy and Chris into our school community. We know you will enjoy our town and what our beautiful school has to offer.

We also welcome two new staff members this year: Ms Melissa Hotham is returning to St Mary’s from McAuley in Tumut as our Religious Education Coordinator and Literacy/Numeracy Coordinator. Ms Isabelle Lamont has ventured to us from St Joseph’s in Finley to be our Year 3/ 4 teacher. Please make them feel welcome as they familiarise themselves with our school community.

Opening School Mass

We will celebrate our Opening School Mass with Father George this Thursday at 10am. All Kinder parents and Year 6 parents are invited to attend. Covid restrictions, although eased, still require that we observe the 2 sq. metre rule in our church which limits the number of parents we can invite unfortunately. We are having a morning tea after Mass on our school grounds. All parents are warmly welcome to come and join with us for morning tea on this occasion. Morning tea will begin around 11am.

Swimming Carnival

The Swimming Carnival is scheduled for this Friday. Details and permission notes have been sent via Schoolszine. In the event of poor weather the backup day is Wednesday 10 February.

Parent Charter

On a final note parents are asked to be aware of the Parent Charter. It outlines our shared responsibility in the education of each child. The expectations and principles for both teachers and parents promotes the best environment to support a culture of cooperation and positive partnerships to enable rich educational outcomes for students. What a great starting point to remind us of our journey together each year. I look forward to supporting this relationship once again in 2021.

https://intranet.cg.catholic.edu.au/messageboard/Home%20Page%20documents/Parent%20Charter%20Poster%20Screen.pdf

Please don’t hesitate to contact the front office via phone or email, or myself for further information if needed.

Have a wonderful year everyone!

Regards

Jannine

WELCOME BACK!

As we celebrate the beginning of our new school year, we give thanks to God for the life we share together. We ask God’s blessing upon us all, so we will grow, not just through the learning and wisdom we receive, but especially through the love, care and support we give to one another in our community here at St Mary’s Batlow.

OPENING SCHOOL MASS

We look forward to welcoming our new students to our school community at our Opening School Mass on Thursday 4th February at 10am. All Kinder parents and Year 6 parents are invited to attend. Covid restrictions, although eased, still require that we observe the 2 sq. metre rule in our church which limits the number of parents we can invite unfortunately. However, we warmly invite all parents to celebrate with us after Mass by joining us for morning tea at 11am.

ABOUT ME

I am excited to return to the St Mary’s Batlow after 5 years away at McAuley Tumut. Batlow is a warm and welcoming community that I am very pleased to be apart of once more. Some of you may remember myself and my family (Riley, Lachlan, Angus and Archie) during our time here from 2012 to 2015, though many faces have changed since our departure. I am keen to get to know you all once more and look forward to a fantastic year together.

OUR PARISH AND FAITH

The school and parish connection is strong, with our parish priests - Father George Ogah and Father Namora Anderson, who will be joining us regularly throughout the year to celebrate Mass and other special days. 

If you are interested in finding out more about the Sacraments being offered through the Parish in 2021 or having your child baptised, please contact the Tumut Parish on (02) 6947 4599 or email: tumut@cg.org.au. I am also happy to support families in whatever way I can and you are more than welcome to please contact me at melissa.hotham@cg.catholic.edu.au or in school.

Melissa Hotham - Religious Education Coordinator

Sunday Masses are held at 8.30am each week

Mass is the 2nd & 4th Sunday (morning tea after Mass)

Liturgy is the 1st, 3rd & 5th Sunday

All families are welcome to attend

A number of upgrades took place over the holiday.

Outside surfaces - walls, eaves and guttering pressure cleaned professionally.

Pest control sprayed on all outside surfaces.

More softfall installed on playground.

New carpet installed in two classrooms.

More acoustic fibre board installed in foyer and Year 3/4 room.

The St Vincent de Paul grant saw the painted games on the concrete completed and new playground equipment installed.

Excited students enjoyed using the equipment from day one!

A reminder that school hats must be worn when outside. If students do not have a hat they will be asked to play in the shade. School hats are available to purchase for $11 and sunglasses for $10 from the uniform shop.

Black school shoes are to be worn Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays.

For newsletters, forms and all communication please download the SZAPP APP on your phone, computer or ipad.

Our home cooking and cake raffle will resume this term in

Week 4 Friday 19th February 

Each family is rostered on to do cake raffle which can be a home made or bought cake. Tickets are sold at morning tea each Friday for 20c each.

Home cooking is also sold each Friday for 50c per item. This could be little cakes, jellies etc

We ask for families to volunteer to cook once per term for home cooking. 

Please click on the link below to indicate if you would like to take part in home cooking this year by this Friday so we can organise a roster.

Fill in and Submit form to be put on roster.

Radio News will begin again in Week 4

Year 5/6 will be speaking each week on what has been happening at St Mary's. 

OUR OPENING SCHOOL MASS IS THIS THURSDAY 4 FEBRUARY AT 10am.

Students are to wear full summer uniform including black shoes.

Due to COVID restrictions only Kindergarten and Year 6 parents will be able to attend.

An email went home today regarding the swimming carnival on Friday. If you did not receive it please contact the school.

The children will need to bring the following items with them for the pool.

• Swimmers including a rashie top
• towel
• sunscreen
• packed recess and lunch
• a small amount of money $5, if parents approve, to spend at the canteen
• plenty of water
• goggles (if needed)
• thongs may be worn

This is a non uniform day. The students are invited to come dressed in their house colour i.e. red for Hume /green for Hovell. No hair spray please. Students who are not confident swimmers will have some novelty type events to enter throughout the day. It is a relaxed program and a fun day for all.

If you can help out in anyway ie: timekeeping, setting up or packing up please let the school know.

TERM 1 

Monday 1 Feb - Thursday 1st April

TERM 2

Tuesday 20th April - Friday 25th June

NSW Active Kids vouchers available to families with children aged 4.5 to 18 years of age. This has been made available to make sport and recreation more accessible to children of all backgrounds.

In our district there was 66% uptake of vouchers in 2019 and this declined to 59% uptake in 2020. There was also a 4% gap between male and female uptake of the vouchers. 

One of the objectives of Live Life Well at School is to see more children moving more often. So from a health perspective we want more kids, equal numbers of girls and boys, taking up the offer and getting active through sport and recreational activities among other physical activity!

Families can obtain two $100 vouchers, with one valid from Jan-Dec 2021 and the second valid for Jul-Dec 2021. 

Vanessa Hall will be offering piano turoring on Tuesday's this term. If you would like for your child to have lessons please phone Vanessa on 0448609479.

ST MARY'S SCHOOL BANKING DAY IS WEDNESDAY

Banking will begin this week.

Please call in to the Commonwealth Bank to set up a "Dollarmite" account if you havent done so already.

TUMUT BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

Team Nomination forms for the 2021 Autumn Competition are available from Pie in the Sky Bakery and Sportspower or www.tumut.basketball.net.au. Active Kids Vouchers can be redeemed for Miniball and Basketball.

Team Nominations from Kindergarten aged boys and girls through to Mens and Womens teams close on Thursday 18 February. Please submit by email tumutbasketball@gmail.com

Any registration enquiries can be made to the Registrar, Debbie Webb on 0427 647027 or through the Tumut Basketball Facebook page. Further information for the upcoming comp can be found on the website or on our Facebook page.