Dear Parents

AGM Board/P&F Meetings The AGM was held on Monday night and I am pleased to report that our school is in a very strong position and we are well placed into the future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all Board and P&F members for their commitment and service to our beautiful community. A big thank you is extended to Dee Wright who has retired from the Board. Dee has also been very active on the P&F in the past and has made many wonderful contributions to our school. I am happy to announce that Melissa Carlson has replaced Dee on the Board and I’m sure she will continue to do great things here at Mary Mac. From now on, as a part of CEWA becoming incorporated, the Board will be known as the School Advisory Council as the CEWA Commission now becomes the Board. There will be a number of changes but mostly, they won’t affect you.

I would also like to extend a huge thank you to the P&F members who are stepping down after a few years of hard work. The efforts of Alyce Hofmann-Fritz, Tara Clark, Daniel Armenti, Melissa Richardson and Samantha Parry have made a significant impact on our community. With a major focus on community building first and foremost, the money flowed as a result, and they have contributed around $40 000 towards resources for our students this year. It certainly has been a mighty achievement. Please make sure you thank these wonderful people when you see them.

Unfortunately, nobody has yet put up their hand to run the P&F for next year and we really need someone to step up. If you have been considering it, please let me know asap. It is a great opportunity to make new friends and contribute towards your children’s education. I am happy to look at an alternate model as I know one thing that puts people off from joining is that it can be a lot of work which tends to fall into the laps of only a few people and they burn out. If I could get a small committee together of a few people to coordinate the P&F, we could then give the events out to year levels, so the load is shared more evenly. This currently happens with the Year 6 parents who come together each year to organise the graduation dinner. We could explore different year levels running the Family Fun Night or the disco or the movie night etc. Please give it some thought as the P&F really is an important function of our community and it will be very sad not to have one next year.

Uniform Shop Please note that the uniform shop will be available six days a week from 8am to 6pm at the Inglewood super store throughout the month of January. This will give you plenty of opportunities to get your children’s uniforms sorted out for next year. However, if this does not work for you, it will return to our school site in February in its usual time slots. A letter with all the information has been sent home and I encourage you to try this option.

Awards Ceremony Our annual ceremony takes place this Friday morning from 9am. Please note that we have had to make a few changes due to the Phase 4 COVID-19 restrictions. The Pre Primary and Year One students will watch their classmates receive their awards and will then return to class to enable better social distancing. Thank you yet again for being so supportive of the changes we have had to make this year. However, we have still been able to hold our events which is wonderful.

Mass/Concert Night This takes place next Thursday 3 December on the oval from 6pm (students need to be in their classrooms at 5.30pm please) and once again, we have had to modify the seating arrangements to fit in with the COVID restrictions. It promises to be another wonderful night and all families are requested to follow the guidelines to ensure the right thing is done.

Year 6 Graduation Dinner This will be held on Saturday 5 December at the Macedonian Club in Malaga from 6.30pm. Once again, I would like to thank the parents who came together to organise this special event. The formal farewell takes place on Thursday 10 December in our Church with a Thanksgiving Mass. It is hard to believe that it is almost time to say goodbye to our Year 6 students who have been excellent leaders this year. It goes without saying that they will always be welcome to come back and visit us any time in the future.

Advent This Sunday is the beginning of Advent which is a time of waiting and joy. It is an important time in our Church and I ask you to make every effort to attend Mass at our parish this Advent. I know Fr John and Fr Mark would love to see you there. This morning, I was privileged to watch the Kindy and Pre Primary students do their Advent paraliturgy. Thank you to all the teachers who prepared it so well.

Yours sincerely

Laurie Bechelli