Dear Parents and Carers

Today we celebrated our faith in action through the wonderful, energetic, exciting work of Andrew Chinn. Andrew worked with all classes throughout the day to create a fantastic celebration of our faith in the form of an afternoon concert. We were so proud of each of our children and the way they engaged with all of the songs, actions and instructions. We loved that so many parents and grandparents – and even great grandparents – came to share this special afternoon with our students. It has been a fantastic day and we thank Andrew for bringing such joy and fun to our school.

We are very busy with our production preparations! The children are working hard to learn their songs, actions and, for the senior students, their lines and roles. We are so excited that we can have our big production this year and we look forward to sharing another special occasion with our families. Please remember that for some of our students, performing on a stage in front of an audience is exciting and they thrive in this environment. For other children, this is daunting and challenging. We are so proud of all of our students as they prepare for our production, safe in the knowledge that their best is always enough.

As we prepare for the end of yet another busy year, we are also getting our students ready for transitioning to the next year of their school lives. For our Year 6 students, this can be an anxious and uncertain time where they become aware that they are leaving the security and familiarity of their primary school life and stepping into the relative unknown of secondary school. Please ensure that your children are able to talk with you about their concerns and reassure them that they are being well prepared for this next step. They will have transition opportunities where they have the chance to spend time at their new school to familiarise themselves with the environment, staff, students and routines. We will also be creating opportunities for the children in the younger grades who are continuing at St Mary’s, to experience what life will be like in their new class. Currently we are allocating teachers to classes, which will be followed by the allocation of students to classes. We dedicate a lot of time and care to ensure that every child is placed in a class with others who will support them with their learning. We thank you for your support and understanding as we follow this process to give your children the best possible opportunity to learn and grow in their new class next year.

Kind regards

Lisa