Community Engagement
St Mary's Catholic School is deeply committed to nurturing a strong sense of community within and beyond. This dedication is reflected in various initiatives that encourage students and staff to actively engage with other schools, community groups, and organisations.
Students and staff regularly collaborate with neighbouring schools for sports activities, joint excursions and incursions, and cultural celebrations. Events such as ANZAC Day, Harmony Day, Reconciliation Week, Holy Week, and Indonesian Independence Day are enthusiastically observed, fostering understanding and respect for diverse cultural traditions.
In addition to educational exchanges, St Mary's emphasises community involvement through visits to the Inglewood Kindergarten, men’s shed, and Inglewood and District Health Service. These interactions not only enrich the learning experience but also instil values of empathy and mutual respect for others among students.
Held termly, social functions bring parents and friends of the school together along with staff and students. Every second year, students participate in the Energy Breakthrough Program, where they learn about alternative propulsion methods for vehicles and participate in a two-day race program for our Human Powered Vehicle (HPV). This program requires students to contact local businesses to ask for donations or sponsorship that go towards the competition costs. The school participates in and supports major events in the Inglewood/Bridgewater area, such as Run for Resilience and Inglewood Alive, and provides catering for events at the Inglewood Town Hall.
In 2023 St Mary’s worked with community members to form the first community playgroup associated with the school, providing a space for families in our community to come together in a supportive setting, building social skills for their children. Students from the leadership group attend each week to help facilitate the program and interact with the parents and children alike. This involves setting up the space, reading to the children and facilitating activities for playgroup. The Inglewood Lion's Club has been an enormous support to this initiative and provides valuable resources for our Playgroup space and visited at Christmas with Santa Claus giving gifts to the children.
Moreover, St Mary's has a longstanding tradition of actively participating in community development and improvement projects. These include initiatives such as vegetation and tree planting efforts for Landcare and Planet Ark National Tree Day, community service activities, and fundraising campaigns for various local and international charitable organisations such as Caritas’ Project Compassion and St Vincent de Paul’s Christmas Appeal. Recently, the school has participated in a community garden project located at the Inglewood and Districts Health Service aimed at growing produce to support families within the school community and the local food bank.
At its core, St Mary's prides itself on fostering inclusivity and celebrating diversity. Through authentic learning experiences that promote understanding of different cultures, the school aims to cultivate an environment where students learn the importance of acceptance, reconciliation, and global citizenship.
Overall, St Mary's Catholic School strives to be a beacon of community spirit and educational excellence, dedicated to preparing students not only academically but also as compassionate, engaged citizens of the world.