Every Week 

Monday 3-6 Group C Sports Uniform

Tuesday 3-6 Group A Sports Uniform

Tuesday Canteen

Tuesday Japanese with Janine - @ 1.45pm  

Wednesday 3-6 Group B Sports Uniform

Wednesday K-2 Sports Uniform

Thursday Canteen

Friday K-6 Sports Uniform

Friday Piano with Victoria

Week 6

Wednesday 5th - Hockey with Ellie

Wednesday 5th - Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival Author Workshop. Year 3-6 with Rebecca Timmis

Thursday June 6th - Mission Assistants at school

Friday 7th - Athletics Carnival - wear house colour shirt and sports shorts

Friday 7th - Miss Ella’s last Practicum day in Kinder

Saturday June 8th - World Ocean Day

Week 7

Monday June 10th - King’s Birthday Public Holiday

Wednesday June 12th - Hockey with Ellie

Thursday 13th - Mission Assistants at school

Friday 14th - Coffee and Connect @ 9.00am.  All welcome

Sunday 16th - Refugee Week begins

Week 7 will begin Tuesday June 11th

Understanding bullying helps students and parents distinguish between regular conflicts and actual bullying. This helps avoid confusion and ensures that the right help is given when needed. It can also empower you as parents to engage in prevention efforts proactively. By teaching your children about respectful behaviour, empathy, dignity, courage, and inclusion, parents can help prevent bullying from occurring in the first place.

Bullying refers to the unwanted, repeated and intentional use of words or actions against a student or a group of students to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing. Watch What is Bullying?

Bullying means behaviour that has three (3) key features:

1. It involves the intentional misuse of power in a relationship;
2. It is ongoing and repeated; and
3. It involves behaviours that can cause harm.

A student can acquire power through advantage, such as social status, popularity, an advantage in size and strength, number of allies, age, skill, or membership in a socially defined dominant group, which could be based, for example, on wealth or gender. Behaviours that do not constitute bullying include:

1. Mutual arguments and disagreements;
2. Not liking someone or a single act of social rejection;
3. A single episode of hurtful words or actions
4. Isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation and/or violence

Indirect bullying (also known as covert bullying) is not always immediately observable and acknowledged as bullying. Indirect bullying can be discreet and anonymous, and the person experiencing the bullying behaviour may not realise it until after it has occurred. 

Examples of indirect bullying include:

• Spreading rumours: Sharing false or harmful information about someone to tarnish their reputation.
• Gossiping: Engaging in negative discussions about a person without their knowledge.
• Social manipulation: Encouraging others to exclude or reject a person from social groups.
• Cyberbullying: Using digital platforms to harass, intimidate, or spread harmful content about a person.
• Stealing: Discreetly and repeatedly stealing personal belongings

When parents understand what bullying entails, they can effectively communicate with their child about their experiences at school, in the community and online. By using the correct terminology and understanding the dynamics of bullying, parents can encourage open dialogue and provide the necessary support.

Watch Bullying and Conflict with your child.

The 2024 survey has closed.  We will be able to share information regarding this in the next newsletter.

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 have started to send out emails to advise if this is you.  Remember we are here to help and support where possible.

Reminder the P & F meeting is on Wednesday 5th June at 5pm at school - everyone is welcome!

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.

Week 4

Kinder - Tara McRae & Logan Piper

Year 2 - Harriet Lynch & Daisy Tarrant

Year 3 - Jamie Moodie

Year 5 - Aoife Tsang & Solomon Day

Year 6 - Phoebe Mallo & Aryan Sharma

PBS - "I put my rubbish in the right bin"

Kinder - Archer Curwood & Asha Beddows

Year 2 - Bodhi McRae

Year 3 - Ivy Ellis-Cluff

Year 6 - Pippa Nolan

Week 5

Kinder - Lily Hogarth & Asha Beddows

Year 2 - Meilani Taylor & Henry Hart

Year 3 - Savannah Tyrrell

Year 4 - Pearl James

Year 6 - Bella Irvin

PBS - "We take care of our things".

Kinder - Vera Farrugia & Logan Piper

Year 2 - Malkia Wamara

Year 3 - Neiva Harding

Year 4 - Tenzin McRae

Year 6 - Jesse Clack

Good Samaritan - Phoebe Mallo

As part of our work in History, Science and English the K-2 students were able to explore the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, History Exhibition and Sea Monster Exhibition. We then went to the Botanical Gardens for a picnic lunch. It was a fantastic day filled with great learning. The staff in each venue commented on the great behaviour and level of engagement from our students.

Here is what some of our students had to say about the Excursion

Layla - I loved the sea creature colouring table 

Vera - The games

Jack - the giant shark fossil

Jax - Going to the library 

Archer - seeing the sea creature fossils

Gabbie - The dinosaur game 

Floss - the dinosaur game 

Zion - seeing the sea creature fossil

Jude - the dinosaur game 

Asha - I loved the sneezing sea creature fossil 

Logan - I loved going on the bus to the museum

Henry H - I loved seeing the bower bird nest at the botanical garden 

Jaxon - I like the long neck creature skeleton at the museum 

Goldie - I like the giant fossils

Henry - I loved exploring in the under sea area and seeing the sea monsters

Meilani - I loved playing the game where we helped the sea creatures survive

Tara - My favourite was dressing up like sea animals for funny photos

Toby - when we got to see the cool turtle that survived

Pheonix Lane - I like the video game at the library 

Jed - my favourite part was the bus ride

Harriet - seeing the fossils

Safiah - looking at the teeth of sea monsters

Malkia - I loved the bus trip

Maddi - when i saw the bowerbird nest at the botanical garden

Kohan - when I saw the history of the bananas at the museum

Pip - I loved the whole day 

Dusk - when i got to listen to the banana story headset

Bodhi - my favourite part was the paperwork in the history museum

Lachlann - my favourite part was the sneeze button with this fossil

Tully - the big sea creature skeleton

Daisy - having fun with all my friends 

Phoenix J - when we colouring in the sea monsters then saw it projected on the wall

Harry - the machine where we learnt about Coffs Harbour 

Hi, I'm Miss Pepper. As I prepare for my final week of placement at St Mary’s Primary School, I wanted to share and reflect on the incredible experiences and memories I've gained here. 

One of the highlights of my placement was participating in the K-2 history excursion to the new Yarrila Arts and Museum (YAM). The trip was an enriching experience as we explored the library, the council chambers, and the museum's history of Coffs Harbour. The most exciting part was undoubtedly the Sea Monsters exhibition, which captivated everyone with its fascinating displays. Another memorable moment was joining the whole school in the beautiful Reconciliation Walk on Thursday, 27th May. It was a significant and heartwarming event that underscored the unity and spirit of the school's community - Now More Than Ever, the work continues. I am also so looking forward to seeing everyone at the novelty field events which Mrs Stephen and I will be running for the Athletics Carnival — don't forget to bring your egg and spoon! 

However, the most rewarding aspect of my practical placement has been witnessing the incredible growth of our Kindergarten students in Mathematics! It has been amazing to see them develop their recognition of whole numbers, ability to combine and separate quantities, measure and compare weights using hefting, and even start telling the time on both analog and digital clocks. Their enthusiasm for learning new math concepts has been truly infectious, and it has fueled my passion for teaching.

To celebrate their progress, I asked the Kindergarteners to share some of their favorite things they've learned in math this term and what they're excited to learn more about.

“I loved counting up to make more numbers, and especially bigger numbers. I am excited to count to 102!” - By Archer

“I like Hefting to know if something is the same weight, and I want to count to 100!” - By Lily

“I liked putting events in order. I want to be able to count really high, past 100.” - By Asha 

“I learned to count forwards and backwards to 30! And next I want to count all the way to 100, and even more.” - By Tara 

“I love counting all the numbers, and I am really excited to learn to count to 100!” - By Kohan 

“I like playing one-more or one-less snap! And I want to keep playing what's the time Mr Wolf!” - By Logan 

“I like hefting, and I want to know how to heft really heavy things.” - By Vera 

“I love numbers and counting to 100 and even 102, I want to learn how to count to 1 Million!” - By Jed

Thank you all for making my time here so memorable. I will always cherish the experiences and the growth I have seen in these wonderful students. 

Premiers Reading Challenge Update

Updated Book Lists can be found here

Digital library including decodable readers and quality texts 

Come along and meet some other families.  Everyone is welcome.

For the next 4 Wednesdays we will be participating in sessions to learn hockey skills thanks to the Sporting Schools grant. Ellie is a local mum who is passionate about hockey herself and loves being able to share her interest and passion with others. Watch this space for updates on how we go….

Piano = Victoria Christie 6655 8782

Brass/Piano = Kate Butcher 0419 789 078

Guitar = Katie Crane 0431 151 987