St Mary's School, Charleville eNewsletter

NAIDOC Prayer

God of all creation, from the beginning you have spoken through the land, and through the voices of the First Peoples who have cared for it with wisdom and reverence. We thank you for the cultures, stories, and spiritual strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We honour their deep connection to this ancient land, a connection that reveals your presence in all things.

Holy Spirit, move across this land. Inspire us to walk gently, speak truthfully, and act justly. Unite us as one people, many cultures, sharing one faith. May your Church be a sign of hope, a community of welcome, and a voice for justice and healing. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Principal - Ms Megan Pearce

Welcome Back to Term 3!

We hope everyone had a relaxing and refreshing mid-year break. Term 3 is set to be a busy and exciting time at St Mary’s, with plenty of engaging activities ahead from Catholic Education Week to camps and excursions. We’re looking forward to a term full of learning, fun, and community spirit!

ENROL FOR PREP 2026

Prep interviews will begin this term. Places are filling up fast. Don’t miss out!

Is your child ready to start their learning journey? We’re now accepting enrolments for Prep 2026 at St Mary’s! Our Prep program offers a nurturing, faith-filled environment where children grow in confidence, curiosity, and a love of learning. If you or someone you know has a child eligible for Prep next year, we’d love to hear from you! Contact the school office to book a tour or enrol now online.

NAIDOC WEEK 2025

Celebrating NAIDOC Week 2025

This week, we proudly celebrate NAIDOC Week. A special time to honour the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This year marks 50 years of NAIDOC celebrations in the Murweh Shire, and it’s been inspiring to see the strong sense of community reflected in events across the region. At our school, we embraced the theme through activities that encouraged learning, reflection, and respect.

On Tuesday, we welcomed Bidjara artist Alara Geebung for hands-on workshops where students explored cultural meditation, storytelling, traditional symbols, and boomerang throwing - deepening their understanding of First Nations cultures as vibrant and central to Australia’s identity.

Friday’s school liturgy was a beautiful moment of gratitude and prayer for healing, reconciliation, and justice. Afterwards, students and staff replanted our NAIDOC garden as a symbolic renewal of our commitment to caring for Country and honouring Indigenous perspectives.

We look forward to joining the wider community this Friday for the NAIDOC Closing Ceremony at the State School.

NAPLAN

This week, students in Years 3 to 5 will be bringing home their individual NAPLAN reports from the assessments completed in March. These reports offer valuable insights into each student’s progress across key learning areas.

The first page of the report outlines general information about the NAPLAN tests and provides guidance on how to interpret the results. Pages two and three detail the student’s performance in each subject area, categorised into four proficiency levels:

Exceeding – Results go beyond the expected standards for the time of testing.
Strong – Results meet high but achievable expectations.
Developing – Results show the student is progressing toward the expected level.
Needs Additional Support – Results suggest the student may require extra help to meet learning goals.

Each student’s achievement is shown in relation to the national average (represented by a black dot) and the performance range of the middle 60% of students in their year level (indicated by a shaded rectangle). The final page summarises the typical skills demonstrated at each proficiency level.

These reports play an important role in helping our school refine teaching strategies and learning priorities for the remainder of 2025 and into early 2026.

‘Shaping Our Future’ Survey

In addition, families with a registered email address have received an invitation to participate in the “Shaping our Future” survey, distributed via Sentral and the Parent Portal by the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office. We encourage all families to take 10–15 minutes to complete the survey and share their feedback. Your input helps us reflect on our progress over the past two years and identify areas for growth.

Once the survey results are returned, our leadership team will collaborate with staff and the school board to incorporate your feedback into future strategic planning. We’re aiming for a response rate of around 80%, and your participation would be greatly appreciated.

Exciting Workshop Week with St Ursula’s College

In Week 8, (starting Monday 1 September), St Mary’s will host a dynamic team from St Ursula’s College, Toowoomba, for a three-day workshop program in soccer, touch football, and dance.

Led by expert coaches including James Darlington (Liverpool FC International Academy), Elyce Ruhle (Director of Sport), and Lydia Pickard (Director of the Arts), students will enjoy hands-on sessions designed to build skills, teamwork and confidence through movement.

Workshop Schedule:

Tuesday 2 Sept – Prep to Year 2
Wednesday 3 Sept – Years 3 & 4
Thursday 4 Sept – Years 5 & 6

Additionally, students in Year 3 and above can opt into a special Liverpool Soccer Experience after school on Tuesday and Wednesday. Limited spots of 30 will be available, with registration details coming soon.

We’re thrilled to welcome such talented educators and look forward to a fun and enriching experience for our students. Please contact the school with any questions.

APMI - Miss Imogen Hunt

Last week, our Year 6 students led a beautiful NAIDOC Week liturgy for our town community, where we proudly launched our school’s new Acknowledgement to Country video. This video is a meaningful expression of our commitment to reconciliation and respect for the rich cultural heritage of First Nations peoples. We thank Year 6 for their thoughtful leadership and the powerful message they shared with our community.

This coming week, we celebrate two significant moments in the life of our school community.

Firstly, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 16 students who will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this weekend. This is a sacred and joyful occasion, as these young people are sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and take another step in their journey of faith. We are honoured to welcome the Bishop, who will lead this special celebration. Please keep these students and their families in your prayers as they continue to grow in faith, courage, and love.

We are also excited to mark Catholic Education Week in Week 3. This is a time to reflect on the unique mission of Catholic schools and to celebrate the values that guide our learning and community life. As part of our celebrations, we invite you to join us for a whole-school liturgy next Friday, led by our Year 4 students.

With blessings,
Imogen Hunt

Year 3 - Miss Katherine Spalding

Welcome to Term Three!

We're off to a fantastic start this term with plenty happening already.

In Week One, we were lucky to host Alara Geebung, who shared his deep knowledge of First Nations cultures and traditions. As part of our preparations for NAIDOC Week, Alara taught us how to make fire and explained the different types of boomerangs and their unique uses.

Last Friday, we said goodbye to James. We wish the Abrahall family all the best as they begin a new chapter on the coast. James' cheerful smile will be missed by everyone in Year Three.

Attached is our Term Three Overview—there’s so much to look forward to in the weeks ahead.

Year 4 - Mrs Madisen Flaherty

Well, here we are—back to school and ready to tackle Term Three!
We hope you all had a lovely break and managed to enjoy some family time and self-care.

In Year Four, the students have hit the ground running. In Week One, they planned and wrote their holiday recounts, revisited previously learnt mathematical concepts, and participated in NAIDOC activities with Alara Geebung.

Term Three is packed with engaging learning experiences across all key learning areas, along with exciting events such as the NAIDOC march, athletics carnival, and colour run.

Additionally, this term, the Year Four students will be performing the poem “Sick” by Shel Silverstein at the Performing Arts Festival. Planning is already underway, and rehearsals will begin soon. We are looking forward to all the exciting things happening in Year Four this term and remember—please feel free to pop in and say hello!

Warmest regards,

Mrs Madisen Flaherty

Year 5 - Mrs Kirsty Lines

Year Five is very excited to participate in lots of different learning, sports and arts this term! Some of the things we are MOST excited about include:
- NAIDOC week
- School athletics carnival
- Charleville Performing Arts Festival – performing ‘Shotgun’ and our poem
- Bookweek
- School camp in term 4
- Readers Cup – Clara is off to the state finals!
Our class has LOTS of people representing our school at a state level in the coming term!!! Some of the sports we are participating in are: cross country, soccer, softball, touch football and cricket.
We are hoping to have many students represent St Mary’s at district and regional athletics carnivals as well.
Lacy has auditioned for Arts Fest out West and is hoping to hear a result this week!! So we have lots going on in the Arts space – good luck Lacy!!!
The Bingo night is coming up next week and we are keen to help set up and pack up. Thank you to our parents for their amazing support when fundraising for our camp.

We love visiting prep and reading.

We wish everyone a fabulous term 3!
The Year 5 Gang

Year 6 - Miss Toni Lamb

Hello all,

What a wonderful introduction we have had in Year 6 to the start of Term 3. Straight into our prayer assembly in the first week, we ran the NAIDOC Liturgy, and the kids worked incredibly hard setting it all up with Mr Patto, practicing and then packing up again.

It has been an exciting and highly fussy journey if I do say so, picking our poem for the Performing Arts Festival, however I am so glad that the kids care so much and are excited to teach me a thing or two about reciting poems and preparing for Performing Arts. We cannot wait to practice it to perfection and perform it to you all later on in the term!

We have jumped straight into our learning, with fractions being our current topic in Maths and the kids are geared up and raring to go picking community issues to then later write a persuasive text for in English. They have been working hard in group and individual areas and have come back to school with an incredibly positive and eager attitude to learning, which has been amazing to see.

We have also welcomed a new student to year 6. All of the kids have made Indie feel welcome and at home and have been great and inviting friends to help her transition into our classroom smoothly. I couldn’t be prouder!