Welcome to Week 2,

I hope all families had a lovely long weekend.

Teaching and Learning updates

This term our Year 5/6 classrooms will be turned into our very own version of Shark Tank, but don’t worry, there will be no real sharks! In our 2025 Mini Boss project we will see students become inventors and young entrepreneurs, working in teams to dream up amazing new products. Students have a full day kick off event this Thursday with external presenters which will launch them into their term long project. At the end of the unit we aim to host an event for parents, allowing students an opportunity to present their persuasive pitches to a panel of ‘sharks’. This unit will be a fantastic opportunity to build real-world skills in communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Watch out, world, these kids mean business! 

Did you know at St Mary’s we offer three lunchtime clubs across the school week? Dance, Poetry and Chess! All led by three wonderfully dedicated teachers, Mr Daryl, Mr Howat and Ms Gina.

Check out some of our Dance and Chess photos! Poetry to come in our week three newsletter.

Have a wonderful week

Laura Graham

Acting Principal

Meet our Year 3/4 Teachers

Name: Michelle Ristovski

How long have you worked at St Mary’s?  This is my 8th year!

Photo: My beautiful family

What is your favourite thing about our school and especially teaching Year 3/4? St Mary’s is a wonderful school and community. I am so lucky to be able to teach 2 days in 3/4 White and share my class with Mrs McGregor. I love building connections with my students and creating interesting and exciting learning experiences and having a bit of fun in our day too. St Mary’s is a special place to work and I love coming here each day. I love it so much that I finally persuaded my daughter Estelle to join us this year. It has been so wonderful to see her fit right in and love St Mary’s as much as I do!

What’s an interesting fact about you?

My family background is Egyptian and when we have family celebrations we love to belly dance together!

Name: Karly McGregor

How long have you worked at St Mary’s?  This is my third year working at St Mary’s.  

Photo: My family celebrating on Christmas day. 

What is your favourite thing about our school and especially teaching Year 3/4? From the moment I arrived at St Mary’s, I was struck by how warm and welcoming the staff and students are. There’s a real sense of community here, with a strong focus on building a supportive and positive learning environment for everyone. I’ve been a primary school teacher for 20 years this year and have been fortunate enough to teach each year level, but Year 3/4 has always been a favourite of mine. Working alongside Mrs Ristovski this year makes life in 3/4 White a lot of fun! The Year 3/4 team is filled with such knowledgeable and passionate educators, It’s a real privilege to be part of such a committed and caring team.

What’s an interesting fact about you? A few years ago, I decided to take up surfing - maybe a bit of a midlife crisis? ? One of my absolute favourite places to surf is The Pass at Byron Bay. It’s such a beautiful spot and easily one of my favourite places in the world. 

Name: Melissa Cowan

How long have you worked at St Mary’s?  16 years 

Photo:  My Family at Christmas Time

What is your favourite thing about our school and especially teaching Year 3/4? I love working at St Mary’s School so much that both of my children were students here. The students, their families, the teachers, and all the staff make it such a wonderful place to be. Although I’ve worked at several schools throughout my career, this is the longest I’ve ever stayed at one and that must say something!

I absolutely love teaching Year 3/4. In 25 years of teaching, I’d never taught this year level before, and now I wonder why not—it’s an awesome age group with awesome kids!

What’s an interesting fact about you? Did you know that since I was a Prep student, last millennium, I’ve never missed a school morning—either as a student, a teacher, or sometimes both!  Sometimes even BOTH!!!!  That’s right—there were times when I was attending classes as a student at uni while also teaching. I really do love school, and I absolutely love learning.

Name: Stephanie King-Shipp

How long have you worked at St Mary’s? This will be my 7th year at St Mary’s.

Photo: A photo of my Family 

What is your favourite thing about our school and especially teaching Year 3/4? One of my favourite things about St Mary’s is its warm and welcoming community. It truly makes this school such a special place to be. Year 3 was my first class here, so it feels especially meaningful to be back in middle school again. I absolutely love watching the students learn, grow, and flourish throughout the year. It’s a privilege to be part of that journey and to build the strong, supportive relationships that help make it all possible.

I also feel incredibly lucky to work alongside such a dedicated and supportive staff team. Our Year 3/4 team is full of passionate, experienced educators, and I know it’s going to be a fantastic year working together to support your children.

What’s an interesting fact about you? I love all things Performing Arts. Take me out to a show and I’m happy! I enjoyed being in all of the High School Musicals and even dabbled in performing in local theatre companies (in Launceston, Tasmania). I happily enjoy watching from the audience now though.

If your child has had me before, you have probably been told that I love to sing and dance in the classroom.

Name: Kieran Condon

How long have you worked at St Mary’s? This will be my 7th year! 

Photo: A photo of our family at Tokyo Disneyland.

What is your favourite thing about our school and especially teaching Year 3/4? This will be my second year teaching Year 3/4 and I absolutely love the various personalities in the classroom, which always makes the day fun and interesting. It is particularly gratifying to see the growth our students make every single day and it is not without their amazing perseverance, open minds, and courage to be happy to make mistakes along the way. Our cohort is truly representative of the St Mary’s community as a whole, in that they are hugely supportive and welcoming. We are extremely fortunate to have parents that are so generous in their time and endorsement of what St Mary’s is to Williamstown.

To accompany this, I could not be any more glowing about my teaching team. We are the largest in the school, but seem to complement each other fantastically; from working perseveringly to ensure your children are having the best possible experience at St Mary’s, to laughing about the most silly things that just brightens everyone’s day. I’m especially grateful to share a class with Mrs King-Shipp, who is the Ying to my Yang, being not only an amazing work colleague and teacher, but also a wonderful and supportive friend.

What’s an interesting fact about you? One of my big passions in life is Leeds United F.C., located in Yorkshire, England on the other side of the world. I’ve been supporting them for 22 years, due to my grandpa passing down his own fervor and love, and it has been a whirlwind of emotions along the way. I’d love to finally visit and get to catch a game at Elland Road!

What’s happening in Year 3/4

The year 3/4 students have settled into the year with great enthusiasm, and Term 2 promises to be full of exciting learning opportunities.

In Literacy, students will explore Yirra and Her Deadly Dog, Demon by Anita Heiss, with a focus on vocabulary development, sentence construction, and writing factual recounts with attention to editing and proofreading.

In Mathematics, we will cover Multiplication, Measurement, Statistics, and Space. Students will practise times tables to 10 × 10, interpret data to create graphs, measure using metric unit and design two-dimensional maps.

Our Inquiry unit, Early Settlers, will examine Australia’s history, exploring European settlement, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and the traditions and symbols that shape our national identity.

In Religion, students will deepen their understanding of the Easter story and prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation through self reflections, prayer and focused lessons.

We are proud of how our students have embraced Year 3/4 and look forward to a wonderful Term 2!

From your 3/4 Team :)

Meet our Library Ladies

Name: Deborah Styzinski

(I prefer being called Ms Deborah by the students, because Mrs Styzinski is a bit of a tongue twister).

How long have you worked at St Mary's? I have worked at St Mary's for 12 years and before that I volunteered as a parent for a few years.

What is your favourite thing about our school and especially working in the library?

I like the friendliness and kindness of all the staff and students.  Living locally I often bump into students and they always say hello (or " I will return my book back tomorrow I promise" haha). I love books! I love buying new books knowing what our students like. It is really great to see children's interest grow and to try new books! Storytime in the library is also a great way to connect with the children. Mrs Tucker and I pick a weekly theme and we try to make it fun and interesting.

What is an interesting fact about you? I have a green belt in Judo. When I grew up, football (soccer), gymnastics and martial arts were very popular. I was pretty good at soccer too, but that is a very long time ago  

Name: Mrs Tucker

How long have you worked at St. Mary's?

I started working at St. Mary's in 2007, so this is my 19th year in the Library!  However, similar to Mrs Deborah, I volunteered for a few years as a parent before that.  (My 3 children came to St. Mary's starting from 2002)

What is your favourite thing about our school and especially working in the library?

I LOVE books and the joy I see on everyone's faces (children and adults alike) as we read them a story.  It is such a special thing to be able to escape into a good book.  My favourite thing about St. Mary's is the community feel we have.  Our staff are friendly and inclusive to all, and our children greet us in the Library with happy faces every week. Many walk or ride to school which is fantastic - this is something that I do too!

What is an interesting fact about you?

I played competitive netball until I was 54...with only Covid stopping me!  I am a Sports Fan through and through, enjoying watching in person or on TV nearly every sport with Swimming, Athletics, Tennis, Football and more recently F1 being among my favourites. 

What is happening in the Library

LOTS!  Every week there is a Theme so we are always busy planning for those.  Of Course every week there is also Quiet Reading time too.

Looking ahead we have the National Simultaneous Storytime on the 21st of May 2025.   The book this year is titled ' The Truck Cat '.

We thought we would ask students to bring a photo of their pet so we can add it to the display in the library. 

Happy Reading as Always

St Mary’s Faith News

 School and Parish Connections

Gospel: Second Sunday of Easter

John 20: 19-31

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’ and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.

‘As the Father sent me,

so am I sending you.’

After saying this he breathed on them and said:

‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

For those whose sins you forgive,

they are forgiven;

for those whose sins you retain,

they are retained.’

Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he answered, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.’ Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you’ he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.’ Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him:

‘You believe because you can see me.

Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’

There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.

Anzac Day Dawn Service 2025

As a school, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the remarkable school leaders of St. Mary's who exemplified dedication and respect at the recent Dawn service. Rising early and embodying the values of our school, these leaders represented St. Mary's with grace and reverence, honouring the solemn occasion.

Their presence and conduct not only honoured the significance of the service but also beautifully reflected the spirit of our school community. We are immensely proud of their commitment to upholding the values of respect and dignity.

Thank you to all the school leaders for your exemplary representation of St. Mary's. Your actions speak volumes about the character and integrity instilled within our student body.

Mother’s Day Mass 2025

We are looking forward to celebrating all our mother’s and mother like figures on Friday 9th May

Mass will begin at 9:15am and the children will be start arriving at the church shortly after 9:00am, so we ask that those attending the Mass be seated by 9:00am - CHILDREN WILL SIT WITH THEIR MOTHERS. They will be brought to the church and find you inside.

The front row is reserved for the readers and their mothers and siblings. The following three rows will be reserved for the Year 1 students and their mothers and siblings.

The seats to the right of the Altar are reserved for our choir.

Children whose parents are unable to attend will sit with their classroom teacher.

We know that all mums will be enjoying a coffee and catching up with other mothers in the hall prior to Mass, but we do ask that if you are attending the Mass, that you make your way over to the church for 9:00am and that no coffee cups are brought into the church.

We look forward to seeing as many mums and mother like figures at the Mass as possible. The year ones have worked hard in preparing for this and are so excited to lead the Mass for us.

Year 3 Reconciliation evening with Maria Forde

We invite all Year 3 students and their parents to attend an important Information Session about the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which will be celebrated this term.

The session will provide an overview of the preparation program and key dates. It is essential that at least one parent attends with their child.

Date: 27th May
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: The school Hall

We look forward to supporting your child on this special faith journey.

An Information booklet will be sent home with your child this Friday 2nd May.

If you have any questions please contact your child’s teacher or Charlotte Lipnicki at clipnicki@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au

Altar Servers

Join Our Altar Server Team!

We are looking for students in Years 3-6 who would like to train as Altar Servers!

As an Altar Server, you play an important role in supporting Fr. Greg during Mass. You will be part of the entrance and recessional processions and, most importantly, assist in preparing the gifts for the Eucharist.

Fr. Greg is in the process of organising the training. Once I have all the details, I will contact the interested families.

There is still time for anyone who is interested in training to sign up. Please let me know.

If your child is interested in this special opportunity, please contact Mrs. Lipnicki at clipnicki@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au or Fr. Greg at greg.trythall@cam.org.au

We look forward to welcoming new Altar Servers to our team!

Sacramental Program 2025

This year the only Sacrament the school will be facilitating is the “Rite of Reconciliation”.

Below are the dates for Reconciliation

Two weeks prior to the Sacrament you will receive an email requesting you to book a time for child to make their Reconciliation.

There will also be an information evening session for candidates and their parents. Details will be provided in next week’s newsletter.

Eucharist and Confirmation

Instruction will be conducted through the Parish with the support of

Mrs Lipnicki

If you child is in Year 4 and is yet to make their “First Eucharist” please contact Mrs Lipnicki at clipnicki@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au.

Likewise if your child is in Year 6 and is yet to make their “Confirmation” please contact Mrs Lipnicki at clipnicki@smwilliamstown.catholic.edu.au

School Masses

Term 2

All families are welcome to attend the school Masses.

At St Mary’s, students sit as a class with their teacher in reserved pews.

The Altar servers sit in the first pew to the left of the Altar. The pews to right of the Altar are reserved for the choir and music ministry.

Parents are asked to find a seat towards the back of the church or any free seats once the children are all seated.

Please do not sit in the pews reserved for the school children.

Congratulations to the Class Representatives for Term 2