Term 1 Week 2 2025
Principal's Message
Welcome back to the new school year and we are thrilled to have you back within our school community! A special mention to our new families who have joined us and potentially the wider Warwick community.
I hope that you had a wonderful break and spent time relaxing with your families!
Staff have been back since the 20th January participating in professional development, planning curriculum units, exploring student data and readying learning environments. A warm welcome to our new staff members: Mrs Rhianna Ryan – teacher librarian, Mr Jack Grambauer – HPE/Auslan Teacher, Miss Grace Twidale – Year 3, Mrs Emma Hughes – Support Officer, Mrs Aleicia Russo – Support Officer and Mrs Lisa Willi – Support Officer.
Our theme for 2025 is ‘Illuminate – be a shining light’ and for us to achieve this the following are our strategic goals:
- Further embedding and strengthen all areas of Scarborough’s Reading Rope within English units to increase student growth within reading.
- Further consolidate writing concepts, paragraphing, punctuation, sentence structure, and audience. Focussed, explicit teacher to build vocabulary within students writing.
- Introduce the evidence-based framework ‘Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)’ within our planning practices to ensure that SMW optimises our data-driven decision-making to ensure all students are supported with their learning.
- Teachers to work within the Illuminate Project – TCS to grow in their capacity to teach Religious Education using a contemporary dialogical approach. The aim is to connect students understanding of our religious teachings to their everyone lives. Make it real!
- Review our current Master Plan and revise to incorporate the recent house/land acquisitions for the future growth of our school.
As educators, we often hear feedback from you in relation to wanting to know more about how your child learns and how are we approaching this at SMW. The above strategic goals are a broad outline of what we aim to achieve this year but as the year progresses my goal is to share with you the specifics of what are doing as expert teachers within the class to ensure that your child has growth each year; academically, socially and emotionally. One of the pedagogical approaches that we use here at SMW is explicit teaching. You may have heard this term at a parent meeting with teachers but not have fully understood that it is a systematic approach focussing on a range of impactful and responsive teaching strategies. Please watch Dr Nathaniel Swain from LaTrobe University explain further - Explicit Teaching Explainer
We will continue to review our explicit teaching practices to ensure that our students are fully understanding the content taught by displaying their retained knowledge through application. It is easy to teach the content required but it is our responsibility as experts within the classroom to ensure that retention of this knowledge has also been achieved. This is our moral imperative.
The things that excite me as an educator are wide and varied, but the biggest thrill I get each year is observing students returning to school and how they settle back into school life. This last week has showcased to us all how resilient our students are; as they have risen to the challenges we have put out there for them, and embraced their new class environments and teachers. A big shout out to our new Prep students! Moving from Kindy to school is a massive cultural and environmental shock but they have embraced their new routines and learnings with enthusiasm.
We are looking forward to a wonderful year of learning, hope and community spirit!
Have a lovely weekend, God bless!
God Bless
Emma Timmins
Principal
Religious Life of the School
A Blessing for the New School Year
May the gift of each new day be a chance to learn,
May our kindness and compassion be a moment to teach each other.
May the fragility of students, parents and staff be a place to build community.
May listening and encouragement be the well-spring of leadership.
May the passion of young people keep our hearts alive.
May the wisdom of older people keep our feet on the ground.
May laughter and joy spread like branches above us.
May prayer and gratitude be our deepest roots.
May justice and peace ripen like fruit as we grow in generosity,
reaching out beyond our familiar world to help those in need.
In this Year of the Jubilee, may we be Pilgrims of Hope.
May we find God in every class, game, performance, meeting,
discussion, assessment, friendship and lunch.
May we find God’s love and grace in even our most ordinary days.
Amen
Jubilee Year - Pilgrims of Hope
Every twenty-five years, the Church celebrates a Jubilee Year. The year 2025 marks such a celebration, honoring the 2025th anniversary of Jesus’ birth. Pope Francis, in announcing “Pilgrims of Hope” as the theme for this Jubilee Year, wrote:
“We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart, and far-sighted vision. The forthcoming Jubilee can contribute greatly to restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to the renewal and rebirth that we so eagerly desire.”
May this Jubilee Year inspire us to deepen our trust in God’s promises and rekindle the hope that sustains us, so that we may share that hope with the world.
Year 6 Leadership
At St Mary's we believe that all Year 6 students have the right to be a Student Leader. They all have gifts and talents to share with our school community. We love seeing them develop their leadership skills and over the past two weeks we have already begun to see them flourish with the taking on of extra responsibilities, including a student portfolio and immersing themselves fully in our Year 6 Leadership Retreat.
The Leadership Retreat focused on some key leadership skills:
- Being inspired by our school charism
- Co-operation
- Public speaking
- Service
- Following in the footsteps of Jesus
- Prayer
- Self-reflection
Based on our students' strengths and preferences they were allocated to our five student portfolios. All of our staff are allocated to these portfolios and together they will work to improve our school community.
Please join us next Friday, 14th February for our Beginning of School Year Mass at 12pm. At this Mass our Year 6 leaders will receive their student leader badges. Afterwards we invite our Year 6 families to a light lunch in Assisi Place as we celebrate this special event.
Leadership Portfolios
Illuminate Project
Religious Education (RE) is the key point of distinction of Catholic schools and is an important subject for St Mary's School. In 2025, we have launched the Illuminate Religious Education project to empower our teachers as a witness, specialist, and moderator in teaching Religion and fostering the religious life of the school.
During the student free days at the beginning of the year, teachers worked with Angela Travers, Senior Leader: Mission and Identity and Lyndal Rick, Education Officer: Mission and Identity from Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office, to refine our teaching and learning of sacred Scripture, Catholic tradition, Catholic social teachings and prayer, students engage in authentic dialogue on contemporary issues from a Catholic worldview.
The goal of the project is to help teachers become more confident in their delivery and understanding of RE so that their students develop the capacity to live a faith-filled life and are more confident to live in a way that brings to life the values of the Gospel.
As a school we prioritise three things. The first is outstanding teaching and learning; the second is caring, holistic wellbeing; and the third priority is a passionate commitment to authentic formation in a Catholic tradition. The Illuminate project supports all of these priorities.
Parish News
Family Mass
On Saturday, 15th February, at 6pm, there will be ‘Family Mass’ where the songs and readings are chosen for children. At this Mass children are encouraged to help with the ministries of welcoming, reading, offertory and singing. Please contact Mrs Young if your child would like to participate.
Sacramental Program
St Mary's Parish Warwick Sacramental Program will run:
Baptism for children and adults into the Catholic Church – Available throughout the year.
First Reconciliation - Term 1 for Year 3 or older. The parent information session will be Thursday, 13th February at 6pm.
Confirmation - Term 2 for Year 4 or older.
First Communion - Term 3 for Year 4 or older.
If you wish to enrol your child/children in the 2025 Sacramental Program please contact the Parish Office ASAP on 4661 1033 or warwick@ctwb.org.au. If you have any questions please contact Mrs Young who will assist with the Sacramental Program.
Altar Servers
Once students have celebrated their First Communion they are able to perform the ministry of Altar serving. If you child is interested in this important ministry please contact Mrs Young.
St Mary’s Parish Family Groups
Are you wanting to make new friends, have some fun, extend your support network, or create a greater sense of belonging in the community? If you are single, a sole parent, a family with/without children, or a grandparent, then a St Mary’s Parish Family Group may be just what you’re looking for. Family Groups meet once a month for a simple social function (eg. picnics, BBQs, pizza nights, tennis, fishing, games nights) and are low cost/no cost. We’d LOVE more people to be involved – ALL WELCOME! For more information contact Family Group Coordinators, Justin and Marguerite on 0411092841 or the Parish Office on 46611033.
Wishing you a wonderful school year.
May peace be with you,
Sharon Young
Assistant Principal: Mission and Identity
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
Curriculum
Staff Professional Development
Welcome back to a new and exciting year at St. Mary's! We have been busy preparing engaging learning experiences for all students from Prep to Year 6. During our staff development week, we focused on enhancing our teaching practices to best support your children's learning journey. Alongside other training, our teachers and school officers participated in workshops covering a range of key areas involved in teaching and learning. These included:
Spelling Success: Our Year 3-6 teachers were excited to receive training in the new Toowoomba Catholic Schools Year 3-6 Spelling Program, which will help students develop their spelling skills in a systematic and engaging approach.
Early Literacy: Our Prep to Year 2 teachers spent time organising home readers and creating exciting curriculum resource boxes for their classrooms, a great way to repurpose the books no longer in the regular library rotation, but still suitable for use.
Reading Development: All staff deepened their understanding of the Diocesan Approach to Reading, incorporating the Science of Reading and Scarborough's Reading Rope, ensuring a targeted and effective approach to reading instruction across all year levels.
Supporting All Learners: We welcomed TCS English as an Additional Language/Dialect (EAL/D) specialists to learn how to best support our growing number of EAL/D students as they begin their learning journeys at SMW, and for some, in Australia. We are thrilled to welcome these families to our school community.
Collaborative Planning: Teachers also spent time meeting with members of the Leadership Team to collaborate and refine our approach to learning support, curriculum, and religious education across all year levels.
I would like to acknowledge and thank our dedicated staff for their engagement and significant efforts during the staff development week; 2025 is shaping up to be a wonderful year for SMW, with plenty of excitement to come!
We look forward to sharing the detailed Term 1 Curriculum Overviews at our Parent Information Sessions on Tuesday, Week 3. If you're unable to attend, your child will bring home a copy the following day. We're excited to partner with you in your child's education this year!
Jess Harper
Middle Leader: Teaching and Learning
Positive School Culture
Class RISE UP Trophy
Congratulations to the first two winners of our Class RISE UP Trophy! Each week at SMW, morning prayer is led by one of our teaching staff. During their week, teachers choose a 'goal' or 'focus' for the school to work towards, then award the trophy to a class on Fridays that they have seen demonstrating the focus effectively.
In Week 1, the Leadership Team kicked off the year with a goal for classes to be lined up efficiently and orderly. We were thrilled to award the trophy to Year 5D, who made commendable efforts to get back into routine as a class.
In Week 2, Mr Harper was keeping an eye on how classes transition away from Morning Prayer and into classes. The art of walking together in two lines was showcased fabulously by Year 2S, who even spent extra time practicing how to move together as a class throughout the school.
Well done to both of these classes on their efforts in demonstrating the St Mary's Way to RISE UP!
Sport
Swimming Super Stars
We had a great carnival on Monday. It was wonderful to see our students giving their very best in the pool and demonstrating awesome sportsmanship out of the pool. There was much fun to be had with the war cries and our Year 6 leaders did a great job of inspiring their team mates.
There were some great times made at the carnival and there are 18 swimmers who have qualified to compete in the Southern Downs Swimming trials on February 25th at WIRAC. We wish all the best at the trials. Information will be sent out on Monday to those who made qualifying times.
Swimming Stars
Congratulations to Rooney Red who were the winners on the day. Overall points were:
Rooney Red - 487 points
Kelly Gold - 263 points
Potter Blue - 153 points
Individual Champions on the day:
9 year old boy Champion - Brooks B; Runner Up - Leo F
9 year old girl Champion - Emily L; Runner Up - Emilia R
10 year old boy Champion - Carlo S; Runner Up - Liam H
10 year old girl Champion - Sylvia M; Runner Up - Kennedy D
11 year old boy Champion - Beckett B; Runner Up - Thomas C
11 year old girl Champion - Abby L; Runner Up - Ciann R
12 year old boy Champion - Josh M; Runner Up - Grayson L
12 year old girl Champion - Isabel H
13 year old boy Champion - Zane W
Special thanks to the staff and parent helpers who helped our carnival run so smoothly and Johanna Zolg for taking these great photos on the day.
Interschool Hockey
We will be putting a St Mary's team into the after-school Interschool Hockey Competition. This will be on Thursday afternoons for students in Years 3-6 starting on Thursday, 20th February. There is training at 3:30 followed by games at the Warwick Hockey Fields. Beginners are encouraged to join.
To play students need their own mouth guard (compulsory - can be purchased from chemist) and shin guards (the school has some if needed). If your child would like to compete and you didn't complete the Sport Representation Form please contact Mrs Young.
Administration
School Student Protection Contacts
The safety and wellbeing of our students is of the highest importance at St Mary’s School. As with all non-state schools, we have nominated School Student Protection Contacts who are staff members that students can raise concerns of abuse, harm or inappropriate behaviour by others. At St Mary's School, our School Student Protection Contacts are:
- Emma Timmins (Principal)
- Kath Stevenson (Year 2 Teacher)
- Brett Armstrong (School Guidance Counsellor)
All School staff receive regular training and information to be able to respond to student protection concerns. Please contact the Principal should you have any queries regarding student protection processes at St Mary’s School.
Parent Portal - Sentral for Parents App
Please check your personal details (address, phone number, email address) on the Sentral for Parents App and notify the School Office if there are any changes to be made. This will ensure that you are up-to-date and receiving all correspondence from our school. You can check the details we have for your family on the Sentral for Parents app by clicking on Settings, Account Details and adjusting your details there.
If you are still not signed up to Sentral please check your emails for instructions on how to sign up and see the office if you have any trouble.
Updating Details
If there have been any changes to your contact details (eg address, phone number, email address) please contact the school office as soon as possible. This will ensure that you are up-to-date and receiving all correspondence from our school. You can check the details we have for your family on the Sentral for Parents app by clicking on Settings, Account Details and adjusting your details there.
School Fees
Signing your child in and out of school
Parents bringing their children to school late MUST sign the children at the Administration Office Kiosk. If a child is collected during the day, they must be signed out from the Administration Office Kiosk and if the child is returned to school (perhaps after a dentist/doctor visit) parents/caregivers are required to sign the child in the Administration Office Kiosk on their return.
Changes to pick up for your child/children
If there are any changes to the pick-up arrangements for your child/children please notify your child's teacher through email, Class Dojo or contact the office. This includes Bus arrangements, after school care and appointments.
Absenteeism
At St Mary's we have specific guidelines to follow in regards to students who are absent.
We are required to ensure that all students are accounted for everyday whether at school or absent. If we have not been notified by a parent/caregiver of the absence of a student, teachers are to mark the roll as 'unexplained'. In each case of an unexplained absence, notifications to parents/carers must be made by the school as soon as possible.
We therefore ask that if you know that your child will be away from school prior to the date please contact the office or add it to Sentral, so a scheduled absence can be put into the roll.
If your child is away due to illness, an expected appointment etc. please phone the school before 8.45am on the morning of the absence or enter the absence via Sentral for Parents app.
We thank you for your co-operation in this important matter.
Volunteers
We love our volunteers at St Mary's and cannot operate without you. We have a large number of parents/grandparents who assist in various ways around the school including reading in classrooms, assisting in the tuckshop and helping in the Library. As part of our WHS obligations, each volunteer is required to read a brief Volunteer's Induction at the beginning of each year and to sign and acknowledge that they agree to abide by these procedures. It is also very important that volunteers sign in and out of the school grounds at the office whenever they are assisting around the school.
The Volunteer's Induction documents are located at the front office. Should you wish to volunteer in any capacity you will be required to read and acknowledge these guidelines on your first visit to St Mary's this year – please see the front office staff when you arrive. Volunteers who are not parents at our school will also need to have a current Blue Card. Our office staff can also assist with this. Thank you for your continued support and assistance. The students and staff truly do value and appreciate it.
Pets at School
From time to time students may like to bring their pets for show and share to school. In this case, arrangements must be made prior to the day with your child's class teacher and must be accompanied by an adult. They cannot be left at school and parents must take responsibility for ensuring the needs of the pet are met, including adequate food and water if needed and cleaning up after the pets. If you walk your child to or from school with a dog it must remain on a leash and under the control of a parent. We love to see pets at school but student health and wellbeing must be taken into account.
Parent Engagement Network (PEN)
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome, to what we hope will be a wonderful 2025 for you and your family at St Mary’s School.
For those who don’t already know; We, Fiona Ah-Loy and Emily Cross, are the 2024/2025 Parent Engagement Network (PEN) Executives.
Here are just a few of the things we are looking forward to rolling out this year:
- Hard copies of decodable readers to assist those that struggle at home reading online.
- Dance Party for the parents - 16th May
- Term 2 Parent Forum – 28th May
Special guest speaker “Karen Young” presenting “Strengthening Teens and Children Against Anxiety”
- Term 3 Parent Forum – “Real Talk” presenting on subjects such as relationships and personal identity (Date TBA)
- Paint & Sip 12th September
- School Ball – 30th October
- Term 4 Parent Forum – Master Planning
Please note that everyone is encouraged and welcome to attend the Parent Forums.
Volunteering at the school is rewarding. Children find great joy out of seeing their parent or carer helping at school. You also get to know other people in the school community and make new friends. There are many ways you can volunteer, such as helping in the tuckshop, covering books for the library, listening to children read and offering a helping hand at events. Please register your interest at the office or keep an eye out in the newsletters.
Did you know that your children can return and borrow books from the library at lunch and snack break Tuesdays - Fridays? So if they are struggling to get through to their next class borrowing session let them know they don’t have to wait!
Thank you to the PEN for their support of the 'Brett Lee Cybersafety- Internet Safe Education' lessons provided for SMW students this week and our parent forum. Each year there is new information coming to light in relation to dangers for our children online and this is an essential resource to utilise to make our students and parents aware.
We are pleased to advise that our school community now has access to a 24hr a day Cyber Safety Hub provided by Internet Safe Education (ISE) who is a Trusted Provider with the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. What does this mean for you and your family?
You will have exclusive access to all the support, resources and education you will need to raise your child in the online world and create a safe, fun, education and productive family. The HUB is available to you on any device and applies to school aged children of all ages. This comes at no cost to you as a member of our community.
The Cyber Safety Hub is the only one of its kind in Australia and is designed to provide all you need and nothing you don’t.
What you and your family will have access to:
- Courses for you as a parent or carer that will guide you to setting up the ideal home technology environment.
- Dozens of targeted downloadable resources including conversation starters, victim indicators and a home technology contract for computers and phones.
- Live webinars throughout the term.
- Webinar library covering specific topics.
- Monthly articles that are recent, accurate and relevant.
- Latest App updates.
- A direct link to the eSafety website for further resources or to report cyberbullying.
To access the HUB:
- Click on the link below or copy and paste the website into your browser -
https://www.internetsafeeducation.com/hub-home/
- Enter our unique password -
StMaryW25
Here are some further websites for parents Online safety | eSafety Commissioner & Movie Reviews, Kids Movies | Common Sense Mediawhere you can get support or report concerns.