Every Week 

Monday 3-6 Group C Sports Uniform

Tuesday 3-6 Group A Sports Uniform

Tuesday Canteen

Tuesday Japanese with Janine - @ 2.00pm K-2 even weeks, Yr 3-6 odd weeks, @ 2.30pm Yr 3-6 even weeks, K-2 odd weeks 

Wednesday 3-6 Group B Sports Uniform

Wednesday K-2 Sports Uniform

Thursday Canteen

Friday K-6 Sports Uniform

Friday Piano with Victoria

Week 2

Tuesday 7th - 3:30 – 5.00 pm Parent Information Session - Literacy K - 6 (all welcome) 

Wednesday 8th - 9:30 – 10:30am Mitch Tambo - Whole School Performance

Thursday 9th - Mission Assistants at school

Friday 10th - 4.00 – 5:30pm Mothers Day Gathering @ Cedar Bar, all welcome  BYO drinks, nibbles provided

Sunday 12th - Mothers’ Day

Week 3

Tuesday 14th - Dance Workshop with BMNAC - Limited Students

Wednesday 15th - United Nations International Day of Families

Thursday 16th - Ten:Ten Wildfire visit, Whole School Concert 1.45pm

Friday 17th - Ten:Ten Wildfire visit

Please reach out if your family is experiencing difficulties regarding attendance.  We will be working with families and children who have attendance rates that fall into the Complex (Less than 70%) and Chronic (Less than 80%) ranges.  We want to help and support where we can.  The following is some information regarding School Refusal.

School refusal behaviour is thought to be maintained by two functions, negative and positive reinforcement. From these two main functions, there are four profiles that can help in determining successful strategies. Some students may be across more than one profile. Remember we are working with the student and family to address the root cause/s and facilitate the student’s return to school.

Negative Reinforcement

Avoid: The student who refuses school to avoid school-related objects and situations. In this profile, by staying home the child avoids something that he or she is worried about.

Escape: A student who stays home to escape aversive social and evaluative situations, such as presentations, exams, or reading out loud.

Positive Reinforcement

Attention: The student who refuses school to receive attention from a primary caregiver. This profile includes children with separation anxiety, and by refusing school, these children are often allowed to remain with their major attachment figure.

Rewards: The student who receives tangible rewards while refusing school. These rewards will vary based on the individual, but they frequently include access to television and video games. 

Support Advice

1. Mental Health Access Line  1800 011 511.
2. Contact your local headspace centre for advice regarding access to services (students over 12 years). 
3. NSW Parentline
4. ReachOut Parent support. A free coaching service for parents and carers. 
5. Recommend a GP Referral for a Mental Health Plan.

https://intranet.lism.catholic.edu.au/mission/pastoral-care/student-participation/school-avoidance

During Term 1, children rated how they felt when they started their school day. 16-26% of children in each class rated themselves as feeling tired to start their school day.

We will be reaching out to families of children who identified feeling tired on a regular basis and will provide strategies and resources that may help.

Why sleep is important for children aged 5-11 years

When your child sleeps well, your child will be settled, happy and ready for school the next day. That’s because good-quality sleep helps your child concentrate, remember things, manage emotions and behave well. This all helps your child learn well.

Getting enough sleep is also important for your child’s health. That’s because it strengthens your child’s immune system and reduces the risk of infection and illness.

Sleep: what to expect at 5-11 years

At 5-11 years, children need 9-11 hours sleep a night. For example, if your child wakes for school at 7 am and needs approximately 10 hours sleep per night, your child should be in bed before 9 pm.

Some children fall deeply asleep very quickly when they go to bed. Others sleep lightly, fidgeting and muttering for up to 20 minutes, before getting into deep sleep.

Children have different kinds of sleep during the night. The first few hours of sleep are usually the deepest. Most dreams happen in the second half of the night.

School-age and pre-teen sleep: what to expect

Dear Parents,
We are very fortunate to have the Wildfire team joining us at St Mary’s
next week. The two days they spent with us last year was so positive
and inspiring and such a wonderful experience for our school
community.
Ten:Ten is a high-energy experience focused on enabling students to
achieve the fullness of life. Inspired by the words of Jesus in the Gospel
of John, “I came so that they may have life, life to the full” (John 10:10),
this experience is an interactive and fun opportunity for students to
celebrate life with their peers, build connections and hear the relevance
of the Gospel from a team of faithful youth ministers. Each of the
Ten:Ten sessions are an invitation for students to encounter Jesus
through music, talks, activities, prayer and small group discussions.
This experience is facilitated by the Ten:Ten Team. This includes the
Proclaim Lismore Wildfire Worship Team, well-known for their original
new worship music, and local Youth Ministry Officers.

When: Thursday 16th May and Friday 17th May
Who: All students from Kinder to Year 6
All are invited to join us for our whole school Concert in
the hall on Thursday 16th May at 1.45 pm.

Our school is moving from paper-based enrolment applications to online enrolments using Compass.  As an existing user of Compass, you will find a new tile in the Compass app called Family and Enrolments, found under the “More” icon in the Compass app or under the Cog icon in your preferred browser.  As a parent, you can update your contact details at any time. We strongly encourage you to log in to confirm your details. 

Applications for 2025 can now be completed online.  See our website for more details on how to enrol and where to get assistance if you need it; https://www.stmarysbellingen.nsw.edu.au/enrolling-at-st-mary-s 

Dates for Kindergarten 2025 enrolments are as follows

Information session: Tuesday, 7th May.

Enrolment Period Opens: Monday, 29th April.

Starting Date for Interviews: Monday, 6th May.

Proposed Date for First Round Offers: Monday, 24th June.

Proposed Date for Second Round Offers: Monday, 5th August.

If you know of anyone in the community who is looking at enrolling their child for Kindergarten 2025, please direct them to the website or encourage them to make contact with the school as soon as possible.

St Mary’s Walk Safely to School Day is on Monday 20th May 2024!

On Monday 20th May, we would like to invite all of our students and their families to join with St Mary’s staff to walk to school from various locations around Bellingen. Even if you don’t live within walking distance to of one of the meeting points, why not drive to a meeting point and walk with us from there?

Our walking bus will depart from the following locations;

8:15- The Carpark at Lavenders Bridge (Hammond St)

8:20- The War Memorial (Corner Oak & Hyde St)

8:25- The Yellow Shed (Corner Prince & Hyde St)

We will be collecting walkers as we go so that we can all arrive at school together. We hope to see as many of you as possible join us for this important event.

Why is National Walk Safely to School Day important?

Australian children are becoming less active. One substantial contributor is the decline in walking to school. Walk Safely to School Day asks that we all consider our transport habits and try to incorporate more walking as part of a healthy, active way to get around. Children who are regularly physically active are healthier, perform better academically and are less likely to be overweight. Although walking all the way to school every day isn’t realistic for many of us, walking regularly is the best exercise for your health because you can build it into your daily routine.

On Wednesday the 1st of May we had some amazing students go to Zone Cross Country at Junction Hill. They had an amazing time and everyone gave it a red-hot go! They were respectful and showed great sportsmanship making our school proud. Eddy Wadick and Henry Hart came 4th and 5th in the 8/9-Year-old boys race. They will be going through to the next stage, Diocesan Cross Country on the 21st of May. 

The Confirmation preparation program will run over eight weeks (excluding school holidays) in the parish centre meeting room in Bellingen after the 8am Sunday morning Mass.

A child is eligible for the sacrament of Confirmation if they are baptised Catholic, between the ages of 8 and 15 years, and should be attending Sunday (or Saturday night) mass every week.

Enrolment and Parental Authority forms are available from the parish office and must be collected before the day of the Parent Meeting. To obtain the forms you will need to bring with you your child’s baptism certificate (no photocopies) plus proof of ID (e.g. photo driver’s license) of all legal guardians of your child.

The completed enrolment form (and Parental Authority form) is to be brought to the Parent Meeting at the Parish Centre Meeting Room on Tuesday 14th May at 7pm. Enrolment will take place at that meeting.

Enrolment forms will not be available at the Parent Meeting.

For more information please contact the Parish Office.

Keep an eye out for a link to the survey.  Your feedback helps inform decisions that are made and we value your input.  We will send an email with the necessary information in the coming days.

         Week 2 "I do my best".

Week 1

Kinder - Safiah Andrews & Jed Ravell

Year 1 - Eva Hamill & Harry Piper

Year 2 Lachlann Kiddle & Archie Keen

Year 3 - Maddie Gibson, Juno Nicholson & Digby Bruce

Year 6 - Pascal Oliver

PBS - "I am kind to others".

Kinder - Vera Farrugia & Archer Curwood

Year 1 - Jax Maher

Year 2 - Toby Rake

Year 3 - Sienna Kiddle

Year 6 - Geeya Narayan

Last Term, as part of our work in History the children in K-2 visited the Bellingen History Museum and the library. The students really enjoyed exploring all of the amazing items in the Museum.

In Kindergarten, as part of our work on the book, The Teddy Bears Picnic, we decided to have our own picnic. We took our favourite teddy bears to school and invited our Year 6 buddies to join us for some yummy treats.

https://libraries.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/Whats-on