End of Term Message
Dear Parents and Carers
Over the past two weeks, our students have had the fantastic opportunity to participate in swimming and surfing lessons. It’s been wonderful to see their confidence grow in the water and their enthusiasm for learning new skills. A huge thank you to all our parents and carers for your support - whether packing extra clothes or supporting from the sand or stands. If your child is still developing confidence in the water, I strongly encourage you to consider additional swimming lessons over the coming months. Water safety is such an important life skill, especially in our coastal community.
As we approach the Easter holidays, we hope families can find time to rest, recharge, and enjoy some slower days. Holidays are a great time for children to explore their independence - whether it’s helping to shop for dinner, making their own lunch, or planning a day out with minimal adult input. These little moments foster problem-solving, resilience, and confidence in ways that classroom learning can’t always replicate.
I really promote the holidays for the chance it gives to make memories with your children. I know that a good portion of the primary school will be heading south for the break and we also will have plenty of families overseas as well. For those, like myself, who will enjoy a 'staycation', it is a chance for children to relax at home. It’s also okay if not every moment of the break is filled with scheduled activity. In fact, unstructured time can be a real gift. Left to their own imagination, children play with long forgotten toys, reread favourite books and learn that moments of boredom are normal in life. So if your child brings up the dreaded 'b word', remember it is an opportunity for them rather than a problem.
Helping alleviate any holiday boredom could be training for our Interhouse Cross Country that occurs in the first week back. Mr Barton has included a plan later in this bulletin, but cross-country success really comes from practice running distances and this is hard work - for me at least! This type of running can be challenging and students who want to do well really do push themselves and practice for this helps enormously.
This term farewells Mrs Lorinda Wharton who has been teaching Art at St Mark's for many years. We wish her the very best for the next part of her journey and thank her for her contribution to our community over this time.
Towards the end of the holidays, the normal school logistics spring to mind. It is expected that our full winter uniform will be worn (please see the bulletin item below which mentions an optional change to the winter uniform). As always, I thank parents for their support of our school guidelines around haircuts. Mullets (almost gone!), mohawks and the increasingly popular faux hawks are not suitable and make for uncomfortable conversations for teachers when they have to call home. At St Mark's we are proud of our uniform and dress standards and by supporting us, your child will be too.
I hope all families enjoy these last few days of the term and I wish all our families a safe, happy, and refreshing Easter break. The end of Lent and Easter Sunday are important parts of our calendar and the Anglican churches around Perth would welcome your support in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.
Kind regards
Mark Douglas
Head of Primary School
