St Mark's Catholic Primary School

Why choose St Mark’s?

St Mark’s Catholic Primary School Drummoyne is a nurturing, positive community that delivers excellent academic results through a student-centred learning approach. We are committed to ensuring that all students experience growth in their learning and are adequately challenged and supported to achieve their best. Staff are highly professional, committed, collaborative and enthusiastic.

We cater for gifted learners, and provide opportunities in the creative arts and in many sporting areas. If you would like your child to realise their full potential, St Mark’s is a wonderful educational choice.

Principal’s Message

Welcome to our school. As a passionate educator, my primary focus is to educate our students in a supportive environment so they will develop their full potential as lifelong learners. As a learning community, our teaching practices are personalised and responsive to the individual needs of all learners, to ensure they all have one year’s growth or more for each year of schooling.

We provide a range of educational programs and co-curricular experiences to support student-centred learning, to address different learning needs, interests, aspirations and cultural backgrounds of our students. Classroom teaching programs also provide ongoing enrichment opportunities to extend and challenge gifted and talented students and, as a result, we have been accepted into the Newman Selective Gifted Education Program for Sydney Catholic schools.

It is a privilege to share with parents this special role of educating children in the strong and vibrant St Mark’s Catholic Primary School community.

Rachel Bourke
Principal

St Marks Catholic Primary School Principal

Our History and Charism

History

The school of St Mark’s Catholic Primary School Drummoyne was built and opened in 1889 with 13 students taught by two local sisters. By 1894, there were 98 students and the school was taken over by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan. By 1900, the Sisters of St Joseph agreed to staff the school, which had 150 students. The school continued to progress, despite limited funding and the 1930s depression, to over 250 students by 1940. In 1948, the Presentation Sisters (Wagga Wagga congregation) took over the leadership of the school.

By 1953, with the support of the parish priest, a new school was provided by the parish. By 1969, there were approximately 250 students at the school. In 1993 the Presentation Sisters ended their fifty-five year leadership of the school and in 1994, the first lay principal was appointed.

Charism

At St Mark’s we have a dual charism, the Sisters of St Joseph, and Mary MacKillop as the founder and the Presentation Sisters of Wagga Wagga, with Nano Nagle as the co-founder.

Both Mary MacKillop and Nano Nagle were women who saw a need in their society and responded to help those who were poor and disadvantaged.

Our Mission and Values

Mission

With Christ as our model, St Mark’s Catholic Primary School Drummoyne works together with our parish, parents and staff to provide and celebrate Catholic education for all students.

Vision

With Christ as our model we seek to lead each student to:

Discover – more about themselves, their relationships with others, their world, their faith tradition and God
Achieve – their full potential personally, spiritually, academically and intellectually
Become – empowered, lifelong learners.

Our school motto

As a faith-filled community, our school motto is ‘Live the Gospel’; this motto underpins our school’s mission and vision.

Our vision for learning

Students are the centre of our learning environment and are given opportunities to:

Discover – in a supportive and positive learning environment which caters for diverse needs
Achieve – through challenging, yet achievable learning experiences that are relevant to real life
Become – confident, resilient and critical thinkers, enabling them to make connections between their learning and the outside world.

Our Parish

St Mark’s Parish Drummoyne

Parish Priest: Fr Michael McLean

Mass and Reconciliation times

Monday: 8.00am
Tuesday: 9.30am
Wednesday: 7.30am
Thursday: 9.30am
Friday: 8.00am
Saturday: Reconciliation 11.30am, Vigil 6.00pm
Sunday: 9.00am. 6.00pm

Find out more about our parish St Mark’s Parish, Drummoyne

Parish-based Sacramental program

Parents wishing to present their children for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, First Communion and Confirmation, will be invited to attend a Sacramental information meeting facilitated by St Mark’s parish. Sacramental programs are based at the parish.

Annual School Report

Download School Report

Proudly Part of the Community of Sydney Catholic Schools

Our school is part of a system of over 150 low-fee Catholic schools in the Sydney Archdiocese.

Sydney Catholic Schools are thriving Catholic communities that ignite a love of Christ through excellent teaching and learning to empower students to reach their full potential.