St Mary's Catholic School Wellington eNewsletter

Our Vision

St Mary's Catholic School is a Christ centred, inclusive community where individuals are supported to learn at high levels and to grow spiritually, socially and physically.

"We have gifts that differ, according to the grace given to each of us." (Romans 12:6)

Principal's Message

"Nothing brings more joy to me than knowing
I have found such a loving father figure in my life"

Dear St Mary’s families,

St Mary’s celebrated with our fathers and father figures on Monday with a beautiful Father’s day liturgy and breakfast. Our wonderful P&F supported the event and are thanked for their support with catering and setting up for our breakfast.

We were all treated to a wonderful matinee and evening performance of the Shrek musical last week. Students from across the school fully embraced the musical from performing, back stage, costumes, back drops, supporting the front of house and catering. Our directors Cherie and Sarah and behind the scenes staff have worked tirelessly for the past 12 months to make our production possible. Bravo!

Students across the school have had opportunities to learn outside the classroom with a Year 9/10 ZooSnooz with a careers focus and our K-2 students visiting the Royal Flying Doctors. These were wonderful opportunities for our students to learn and explore through.

Kind regards,

Mrs Leanne Clarke
Principal

Diary and Important Dates

Staff Development Days (Pupil Free Days) for Term 4
Monday 13 October 2025
Monday 3 November 2025

Week 9

Monday 15 September: Morning Assembly 8.50am | Year 5 & 6 Goldfield Excursion | CCC Athletics | Cultural Advisory Meeting 5.00pm

Tuesday 16 September: All Schools State Touch

Wednesday 17 September: All Schools State Touch | P & F Meeting

Thursday 18 September:

Friday 19 September: Year 5 Gotch4Life

Week 10

Monday 22 September: K-10 whole School Asembly | Year 10 Visit Maranatha House

Tuesday 23 September:

Wednesday 24 September: Year 10 Ridgecrest Retreat

Thursday 25 September: Year 10 Ridgecrest Retreat

Friday 26 September: Mercy Day Mass and games | Last Day Of Term

Religious Education News

Sacrament of Confirmation

Students enroled for the Sacrament of Confirmation last Saturday night. Please keep these children in your prayers: Phoenix Brindley, Will Carney, Willow Dearmer, Brodie Frogley, Frankie McGuire, Jackson Reid, Oliver Spradbrow and Jack Stevens. The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated in Wellington on Saturday, October 25.

Important Enrolment Information:

If there are any other parents wishing to enrol their child in the Sacrament of Confirmation, please contact Mr Stevens ASAP. A reminder that candidates must meet the preparation requirements for the Bishop to confirm them. This includes:

Enrolment Mass and meeting
Celebration of the Eucharist - attendance for the preparatory masses (including enrolment)
Lessons at school during class time,
Information sessions after some weekend Masses.
A path of significant events occurring throughout the preparation time (e.g. Spirit Day)

RISE

We recently had two Diocesan Youth members speak to students regarding RISE, a Youth Festival for young people in Years 6 to 9. The Diocesan Youth Ministers facilitate a festival filled with fun, friendship, small-group challenges, workshops, games, music, and numerous opportunities to encounter Jesus. We are looking for students who would love to have a great, memorable experience together.

RISE will be held 2-3 October at Ridgecrest.

Take a look at the RISE website. For more information, please contact Mr Stevens.

Click here for registration link and more information

Thank You

A massive thank you to the St Mary’s community that turned up on Monday from 8am to celebrate our Fathers and Father figures. The St Mary’s P&F committee, led by Emily Redfern and Sally Reid, organised a wonderful breakfast that set the scene for a welcoming community gathering. Thank you to all parents and friends that helped, and thanks Dads, for everything.

Mr Christopher Stevens
Leader of Ministry and Mission

St Patrick's Parish Sacramental Calendar 2025

Staff Spirtiuality Day

St Mary’s staff recently attended a Spirituality Day with Phil Glendenning, a human rights advocate and educator. We were led through discussions on the emerging issues of our time and guided on how to instill effective ideas for social action in the world with our students.

School Information

Uniform- Final weeks of Term 3

With warmer weather beginning to set in, students are permitted to wear their summer or winter uniform in the final two weeks of Term 3 (Weeks 9 & 10). This should not be a combination of both. A reminder that If your child is unable to wear their uniform on a given day, please send in a note (or send an email) to the classroom/ Pastoral Care teacher.

Year 9/10 Electives 2026

Parents and carers of students currently in Years 8 and 9 would have received a notification in Compass containing a google form to indicate their child’s elective preferences for 2026. Once the most requested choices have been determined, students will be asked to select two elective subjects for the 2026 school year from an elective line. If you have been unable to access this form, please contact the school office for assistance.

Cultural Advisory Committee Meeting

Our next St Mary’s Cultural Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday 15 September at 5:00pm in the hall meeting room. Suggested agenda items can be submitted to Miss Hodges, Mrs Sears or Mr Jones prior to the meeting.

Mr Allan Jones
Assistant Principal

Learning Matters

K-2

‘Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world.’

K-2 students have engaged in some wonderful learning over the past few weeks. Kinder have been busy bees singing their months of the year, practising their phonics and sight words and creating some wonderful Dinawans Artwork in history.

1/2 classes are exploring the world of time and grouping in Maths. They are learning how to read analog and digital clocks, making arrays and groups of, and diving into the world of fractions. In English we have been writing procedures and following clear and precise instructions. 1/2R made milkshakes following our procedures. Students are also focusing on informative writing and are working on sentence structure to help us write descriptively.

Ms Kellie Rich
K-2 Leader of Learning

Year 3-6

Christmas Art Competition

Students in Year 5 and 6 have spent the past few terms creating a piece of artwork that depicts some of the Christmas stories from the Bible. Students had a choice of particular Bible scriptures and had to choose how they were going to represent their understanding of the scripture in an artistic manner. From the artworks created in school, the artworks completed by Steph Frogley, Ellie Heywood, Pippa Horton, Caylee Johnston, Olivia Potter, Jack Stevens, Frankie Maguire, Brodie Frogley, Jasper Telfer and Phoenix Brindley have been selected to be displayed at the Diocesan Christmas Art Exhibition in Bathurst.

Bathurst Goldfields Excursion

Year 5 and 6 students are excitedly looking forward to the Bathurst Goldfields excursion next Monday. Students will explore gold panning equipment and various trinkets from the Gold Rush era. They will also be involved in some hands-on activities reminiscent of the era, such as making mud bricks, playing “old time” games and watching a blacksmith make some useful tools using his blast furnace. Students will finish the day goldpanning to try and discover some real gold!

Mr John Nugent
3-6 Leader of Learning

Year 7-10

ZooSnooz Excursion

Year 9 and 10 students undertook an industry visit within the Dubbo region this week. Students went to the following Industries: Little Big Dairy Company, Royal Flying Doctors, Charles Sturt University, Fletchers Grain Receival, Western Plains Zoo, Taylor Made Building and Bodangora Wind Farm. Students were exposed to a variety of industries available to work in within our area. They also got to play Ten pin bowling and have an overnight stay at the Zoo, camping in tents and going on a night and early morning walking tour as well as a bike tour. A big thank you to Mr Doherty for helping myself organise this opportunity for our students. Also thank you to the staff that gave up their own beds to take these students on an overnight excursion, Mr Stevens, Miss Crean, Mrs Doherty & Miss Doherty.

NAIDOC Celebrations

A number of our senior students joined the Wellington community on Monday morning to raise the flags as part of a week long NAIDOC celebrations. We then had students from Years 8-10 join two teams for the “Curry” cook-off which we placed 1st and 2nd in the competition. Hopefully you have been able to join in some of the celebrations throughout the week. Nanima Village park celebration this Sunday 10-2pm, lots of activities including weaving workshops, free BBQ, Live music etc.

SHREK

How amazing were our students and staff. Year 7 & 8 Students spent many hours crafting and painting all of the backdrops, props and accessories for the cast. We had some stars shine as major roles in the play, and lots of students work behind the scenes changing props, closing the curtains and general running of the play. Well done to everyoone who stepped-up to make this whole school event a success.

Mrs Tammy Nugent
7-10 Leader of Learning

Sport News

Netball

Our Stage 3 Blue netball team had a great day at the Schools Cup Primary Finals last Wednesday! The girls played with skill, determination and fantastic sportsmanship. Players’ Player was shared between Stephanie Frogley and Ebony Ryan for their hard work all day. Well done girls, you can all be very proud! Congratulations to St Matthew’s Mudgee who now progress to the State competition.

NSW Polding Athletics

Congratulations to all athletes who competed at the NSW Polding Athletics Carnival today. Mia Stevenson, Lily Nugent and Noah Whale. You are to be commended on your personal performances.

Noah 1st 100m MC
Noah 2nd Discus MC
Noah 3rd Shotput MC
Mia 3rd Discus
Lily 4th Long Jump

Mr Alistaire Thompson
Sport Teacher

Netball Primary Finals At Orange

School Wide Positive Behaviour for Learning SPB4L

SPB4L Focus- All Areas

The ‘Use Technology Appropriately’ SPB4L focus finished this week. Our focus for Weeks 9 and 10 will be ‘All Areas’. St Mary’s School has 4 fundamental rules:

Be Safe

Be Respectful

Be Responsible

Be a Learner

Mr Allan Jones
Assistant Principal

SRC News

SRC have been busy organising a couple of events in recent weeks.

This week we had a school pyjama day to support our wonderful Breakfast club initiative. Students and staff came to school in their PJs and made a Gold coin donation for our Breakfast program.

We raised $279.75 which will go towards breakfast supplies.

Today we launched Operation Christmas Child - Christmas Boxes.

The aim of everyone in each class being involved and focusing on the importance of giving to others.

Classes will be given 2 boxes - one for a girl and one for a boy, the same age as students in the class.

Items that might be suitable include:

‘Wow’ item or Something to love- Soft toy

Toys- games, crafts

Something to wear- clothing items, thongs

Personal care items- Brush, toothbrush, comb, soap, washcloth

School supplies- pens pencils etc

Accessories- sunglasses, necklaces, reusable bag

Please send your you items in to class teachers (K-6) and pastoral care teacher (7-10).

Cybersafety Sessions For Parents

Off the back of a very successful parent webinar around cybersafety, CNA has sponsored the following events for students to view. Please add these dates to your calendar for the Cyber Safety Project Virtual webinars which are running:
Ollie Online Year K-2 Thursday 23rd October 9:15 - 9:45 or 12:30 - 1:00pm (two possible live sessions)
Adventures Online Year 3/4 Thursday 23rd October 10:00 - 10:30 or 12:45 - 1:15pm (two possible live sessions)
Digital Defenders Year 5/6 - Wednesday 15th October 9:30 - 10:15am or 12:30 - 1:15pm (two possible live sessions)
Thriving Online Year 7 - Monday 13th - Friday 17th October (on demand for the week)
My Place in a Digital World Year 8 - Monday 13th - Friday 17th October (on demand for the week)

Library News

Thank you to everyone who has shared their favourite books in library over the last few weeks. Please keep an eye on Seesaw for notifications about who’s turn it is next to share their favourite book and library reminders.

There has been a huge effort by most students with Reading this term and I would like to congratulate you all. It's great to see students reading everyday and best of all, finding books they love. At the beginning of this term, classes were asked as a class to come up with a class reading goal for the term and to think of a suitable reward for achieving their goal. It is fantastic to see students driven and working together to achieve their goal.

As we are heading towards the end of this term, all students should have completed at least 2-3 (depending on book size) Renaissance Reading quizzes by this stage. Please check in with your child to see how they are tracking with Renaissance Reading. It is vitally important that students are reading every day as part of their homework, aiming to do 20 - 30 minutes at least. Younger students still need to be reading out loud and getting support where needed with their reading. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s reading, please do not hesitate to contact their class teacher.

Mrs Hayley Jones
Teacher Librarian

Shrek

St Mary’s Catholic School is delighted to celebrate the incredible success of our Shrek production, which was a true community achievement.

First and foremost, we thank our amazing cast—without them, the production simply would not have gone ahead. It was wonderful to watch them grow in confidence, learning their lines, stepping into their characters, and ultimately making the show the fun success it was.

Behind the scenes, our dedicated backstage crew managed props and ensured everything ran smoothly, their efforts making the performances flow smoothly. We also extend our thanks to the Year 7 and 8 Visual Arts students, whose creativity and skill in making props helped transform the stage into the magical world of Shrek.

To our families, thank you for your support in providing costumes and encouraging students to practise their roles at home—your involvement was essential.

We are also grateful to our staff for their patience during rehearsals and for preparing class dance groups that added so much energy and joy to the show.

Finally, a very special thanks goes to the Shrek team, whose commitment gave students an incredible opportunity to express their creative and dramatic talents, while also producing some of the most iconic props ever seen on our stage. With such a team effort, we were able to bring happiness to our audience and proudly showcase the talents of our students to the Wellington community. And just to settle the curiosity of our students—no, we haven’t decided what play will be next, we may need a little break between scenes!

Sarah Doherty and Cherie Hughes
Shrek Productions Managers

K/1/2 today were lucky enough to visit the Royal Flying Doctors in Dubbo. We had an amazing time learning about the importance of the Flying Doctors, hearing stories of how they have helped people. Students were able to explore the inside of one of the emergency aircrafts that travel our vast outback areas to save lives. We visited the adventure playground which was a treat for all with students, having a ball on the flying fox, sliding on slides and swinging on the swings.

Pictured below and on behalf of the Redfern family is Alice Redfern making a donation to the RFDS, thanking them for their service that was needed back in 2016.

Ms Kellie Rich
Teacher

Our Year 9/10 Elective excursion was a major success! The Wild weather did not hold us back. The staff are incredibly proud of the students who behaved wonderfully throughout the entire trip and made it the success that it was!

A shoutout to Emma from Little Big dairy for the incredible tour of her dairy farm and factory ! And the delicious chocolate and coffee milks given to the staff and students!

An incredible time was had at the Royal flying Doctor centre, it was incredibly immersive and informational and made us all think about how lucky we are to live in a country that prioritises the health and wellbeing of all our citizens !

A big thank you to Zac from CSU, for leading the students through the Dubbo campus and showing them all the possible courses available to them at a local level !

After a quick BBQ we headed out to Fletchers International where ex-student Joe Masters gave us a tour of the grain facility and a run down of Fletchers international, we were also lucky enough to have met with Roger Fletcher, who took time out of his busy day to come and introduce himself to the students.

Ten pin bowling was a quick and fantastic way to spend our time in between, with Mr Stevens and his smooth bowling swing, almost winning the teachers vs students competition !

Our time at the zoo was memorable ! Our camping tents were steadfast against the rain and wind and the night and morning walks were a real treat of information.

On our second day we began with a bike ride through the zoo ! Honestly the best start ! The weather was fresh, but the rain held off all day and all of the animals were out to say hello. We also ran into a previous teacher of St Mary’s Terry Frost! Who now volunteers at the Zoo!

Afterwards we went to Taylor Made Homes and had the opportunity to meet with 3 individuals in the electrician and carpentry trade. They gave the kids solid advice on the benefits of gaining a trade.

We then headed out to Bodangora Wind farms where another ex-student of St Mary’s, Michael Bullock took us on a tour and explained the ins and outs of the turbines and where the electricity goes.

Thank you to all the staff who accompanied the students and to Hamish Doherty and Tammy Nugent who organised and executed an amazing excursion showcasing all the incredible possibilities for our students' futures!

“We plant the seeds that will one day grow, we water seeds that are already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.” - Oscar Romero

Ms Sarah Doherty
SLSO

Zoo

Bowling

Taylor Made Buildings

Year 7 & 8 Students gifted a cupcake to St Mary’s staff. Students are undertaking Food Technology as part of their Mandatory Technology course this term. They have been learning how to measure ingredients, follow recipes and cook lots of yummy food. This past week they cooked cupcakes and then learned basic piping skills to decorate a cupcake for their chosen teacher. They then wrote a beautiful note for each and placed it in a decorative box before delivering.

Mrs Tammy Nugent
Teacher

St Mary's students wore a touch of yellow on Thursday to acknowledge RUOK? Day.

Many thanks to everyone for supporting our Pyjama Day fundraiser and helping us to raise $279.75 for our breakfast club.

St Mary's dads, grandfathers and father figures were celebrated with a special Liturgy and delicious bacon & egg rolls. Great to see so many father figures join us. A huge thank you to our P&F and parent helpers. Without their amazing support this wonderful family event would not have been possible.

This week was NAIDOC week in our community. There were a number of events in our community. A number of our students were a part of the catering team for the Wellington NAIDOC Ball Saturday night, in attendance were both Mrs Sears & Miss Hodges.

On Monday, some secondary students attended Dubbo Regional Council NAIDOC Flag-Raising Ceremony hosted by Aboriginal officer Lyonal Wood, in attendance, Dubbo Regional Mayor Josh Black. After hearing from guest speaker Mason Hill of Wellington High School, who told of his family connection to the Binjang people and his personal powerful reflection of this year's NAIDOC theme- “The Next Generation;Strength, Vision & Legacy” . His confidence was an inspiration to our young students.

Students then joined the official NAIDOC Cake Cutting Ceremony at the Maliyan Cafe with students from Wellington High School and community members.

We then attended WACHS Social Emotional and Well-Being Team NAIDOC Curry Cook Off with two teams entering, No. 1 Deadly Dust & No. 2 Currynanters. Teams had to budget their recipe, shop for items, and prepare their curries for a blind tasting by selected local elders.

There were many variations of chicken and sausage curries this year, with some served with fried scone, bread & butter, a papadam, and one with mashed potato. There was a magical community spirit across the event with participants sampling each other's dishes, after plates were handed in for judging.

Today, Students from St Mary's Cultural Dance group joined the Wiradjuri Wagambirra Dance group and students from Wellington High School to perform in unity at the Wellington Community NAIDOC Day at Kennard Park. This was the perfect way for students to celebrate culture in this year's NAIDOC theme of 'The Next Generation Strength'-in coming together, Vision- of our elders to continue knowledge sharing & Legacy- being present in the storytelling of history.

We hope that every student who attended a NAIDOC week activity this week had a deadly time and continues to celebrate traditional cultural learning.

Mrs Danielle Sears and Miss Jo Hodges
Aboriginal Educational and Wellbeing Officers

DRC Flag Raising Event

Cultural Dance Group Performance At Wellington Community NAIDOC Day

Milkshakes

1/2R have been busy this term learning about procedural writing. We had lots of fun making fairy bread where we taught Ms Rich to write a procedure. Ms Parkes' fairy bread did not turn out the way it should and 1/2R helped her to correct the procedure. Luckily we as the students know the correct way to write a procedure with nice clear instructions and Ms Hibberd followed our instructions to make some very tasty milkshakes.

Ms Kellie Rich
Teacher

Maranatha House Visit

Eighteen Year 7 students visited Maranatha on Monday 8 September and celebrated the beginning of spring as an activity. With some inspiration the students and the elderly residents painted onto rocks (mainly quartz rocks from my place - which proved a great surface). The sun, flowers, bees, lady bugs and some watermelon featured on the rocks. When we finished the students displayed them on the outside window ledge so that they could be seen from the dining room. They looked just amazing! Well done to a very creative and kind Year 7

Louise Hennessy
Community Wellbeing Program Manager

St Mary's recognised National Indigenous Literacy Day as a day to celebrate and promote First Nations stories, cultures, and languages. St Mary's K-2 students took part in library lessons focusing on the text Kookoo Kookaburra by Aboriginal author Gregg Dreise and in a special Playschool Storytime read by another Australian Indigenous author, Anita Heiss.In this story about friendship, humility and forgiveness, Kookoo eventually learns that kindness is like a boomerang – if you throw it often, it comes back often. Students then came up with a large ideas bank of ways they could show kindness, from simply smiling to making sure everyone is included. Keep your eyes out for our K-2 students spreading kindness everywhere!

Basketball Years 9/10

A fortnight ago, Mr Doherty and Mrs Brooke Ryan took the year 9/10 boys to Bathurst to compete at the Secondary Diocesan Basketball. We won our first game, and came second place in all other games for the day. Our boys played well and showed great sportsmanship throughout the day. A special thanks to Brooke for driving the boys down with Mr Doherty and supporting the team.

Mr Doherty
Teacher

Our Friday canteen welcomes parent helpers and all money raised from our canteen goes into supporting our students. If you are able to volunteer your time please email our canteen manager Kacee Ryan with details of your availability.

k.ryan7@bth.catholic.edu.au

CCSP Parents and Carers Conference

We are thrilled to advise that TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE for our 25 October CCSP Parents and Carers Conference! And we wanted you to be the first to know!

SUPPORTING FAMILIES: WORKING TOGETHER IN A MODERN WORLD

This special one-day event will bring Catholic school parents together from across NSW to explore how we can support and strengthen families in a rapidly changing world. With thought-provoking keynotes, breakout sessions and opportunities for connection, it’s set to be an amazing day.

Find out more about the program, speakers and session details on our website:
ccsp.schoolzineplus.com/2025-conference

Secure your ticket now via Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/supporting-families-working-together-in-a-modern-world-registration-1363786414879?aff=oddtdtcreator

We look forward to welcoming you to this milestone event as we celebrate, reflect and look to the future of Catholic education and school + family partnerships!

When: Saturday 25 October 2025
Where: Novotel Parramatta, Sydney
What time: 8:30am – 3:30pm

Information Flyers

Parent Line

CEDB Attendance Information for Parents

2026 Enrolments

Catholic Education Diocese of Bathurst eNewsletter

Friday 12 September 2025 - T3W8 Newsletter

Our Vision

Principal's Message

Diary and Important Dates

Religious Education News

Staff Spirtiuality Day

School Information

Learning Matters

Sport News

Netball Primary Finals At Orange

NSW Polding Athletics

School Wide Positive Behaviour for Learning SPB4L

SRC News

Cybersafety Sessions For Parents

Library News

Shrek

Shrek - Behind The Scenes

K-2 Royal Flying Doctors Service Excursion

ZooSnooz Overnight Excursion

Zoo

RFDS

Little Big Dairy

Fletchers

CSU

Bowling

Wind Farm

Taylor Made Buildings

Gift A Cupcake

RUOK? Day

SRC Pyjama Day

Father's Day

Wellington NAIDOC Community Events