Dear Parents and Caregivers
Please note that Monday 7 August is our annual Catholic Day and it is a student free day for everyone at Mary Mac. Our staff also get to have a day of rest in recognition of the extra work we do outside of hours with our faith commitment. I’m sure that everyone will appreciate the long weekend.
Awareness/Compassion Reflection If you have people who exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have people who will deal likewise with their fellow brothers and sisters.
Confirmation Commitment Masses Please remember the Year 6 students this weekend as they will be making their commitment pledges to the Confirmation programme. This is a very exciting time for them and I’m sure they will all attend one of the Masses this weekend to make their pledges.
Mary Mac Week This is possibly the biggest week of the year for our students. It is a great tradition in our community that each year, we celebrate the saint after whom our school is named. Mary MacKillop is Australia’s first and only saint. In many ways, she was the founder of Catholic education in our country, and her deeds are worthy of celebrating. This year, we will be having our usual art exhibition in the parish hall. I know Mr Miller has been working hard all year preparing our young artists to showcase their talents. Please do make the effort to go and have a look at it. On Wednesday 9 August, we will be having a whole school Mass to celebrate the life of Mary MacKillop. Straight after Mass, we will be holding a morning tea for our grandparents in our staffroom who are then invited to visit the classrooms from 10am to 12pm to see the great things our students have been doing this term. We are also holding our cup cake day after Mass. All parents and grandparents are most welcome to come along and join us.
Book Fair During Mary Mac Week, we will also be holding our annual book fair. Again, parents are strongly encouraged to come along and have a look and maybe even buy a book or two. The book fair will be open from Tuesday to Thursday before school from 8:00am and after school until 4:00pm. It will also be open on Wednesday straight after Mass. Unfortunately, we have had to cancel the storytelling evening which was scheduled on Thursday 10 August from 5:30pm due to limited availability of storytellers to entertain us. Instead, we are going to celebrate the theme of the book fair, “Hats off to Reading”. Children are invited to come to school in their pyjamas and bring in a crazy hat to wear on Thursday 10 August. Each class will select a winner who will receive a prize from the book fair. More details will be sent home so keep an eye out for them!
Mission Fete To round out Mary Mac Week, our Year 6 students will be running the Mission Fete. This is always a lot of fun and it is very popular. All money raised goes to the Josephite sisters who use it to support people in poor countries. I know our good deeds are greatly appreciated by the Josephite sisters.
School Advisory Council Our meeting for this term will be held on Monday 14 August at 6pm in the staffroom.
Confirmation Parent Workshop This will be held in our parish from 7pm on Wednesday 16 August. Fr Mark will lead us through Mass and then a brief talk about the importance of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Parents and sponsors are strongly encouraged to attend. Finally, our Year 6 student get to receive the Sacrament on the weekend of 19 and 20 August. It certainly is a very busy time here at Mary Mac.
Yours sincerely
Laurie Bechelli