Week 7, Term 4 2025

Loving God,

Help us to work together

to share what we have

so that everyone has what they need.

Help us to build a better world

where each of us can become the best person we can be.

Amen

I can hardly believe we are already over halfway through the term! Time has flown by, and as we enter the season of Lent, it’s a wonderful opportunity for reflection and growth. Let us all embrace the spirit of this sacred time, focusing on our personal journeys and the positive changes we can make in our lives.

I would also like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to Fr. Harold on his 10-year anniversary as a priest. His dedication and service to our community are truly appreciated, and we are grateful for all that he does.

It was lovely to have a bit of a breather with the long weekend, and I trust that it was a chance for everyone to rest and recharge.

Yesterday, many of our staff participated in a First Aid course, ensuring that we continue to prioritise the safety and well-being of our students. It’s always great to see our team engaging in professional development, enhancing their skills for the benefit of our school community.

Last Friday’s Sports Day was a highlight this term! We were blessed with beautiful weather, and it was fantastic to witness the incredible sportspersonship displayed by our students throughout the day. A big thank you to our wonderful staff and parent volunteers who made the event a success – your support is always appreciated!

Martin Hayes (Acting Principal)

Nominations for School Board

The School Board AGM takes place next Monday 17^th March at 7:00pm. All parents are welcome to attend. If you are interested in nominating or you wish to nominate a member of the school community, please contact the Acting Principal, Martin Hayes or the School Board Chairperson, Matt Hale.

Attached to the Newsletter email, you will find a School Board Nomination Return Slip, to be returned to the school office. We ask all parents to consider nominating a parent to join the School Board or consider nominating themselves.

Sports Day

Congratulations to all of our students on a fantastic Sports Day last Friday. The students showed great enthusiasm, determination and excellent sportsmanship. Thank you to all of our volunteers and staff for assisting in the day and helping it run so smoothly.

Well done to the following teams who won each section of the day.

Health Hustle Cup – St Josephs (Yellow)

Team Spirit Cup – St James (Red)

Sports Cup –   1^st Place: St Marys (Blue) 571

                        2^nd Place: St James (Red) 570

                        3^rd Place: St Joseph (Yellow) 501

NAPLAN Yr. 3 & 5

NAPLAN testing for our school begins on Thursday 13^th March for Year 3 and 5 students. If you have any queries, please contact our NAPLAN coordinator, Sandra Gresch.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews are planned for Week 10 on Tuesday 1^st April and Wednesday 2^nd April. Each family will receive an email via Operoo shortly, with information about how to book interview times. Parent Teacher Interviews will provide parents an opportunity to pass on information about their child and for class teachers to discuss how students are performing at school so far this year. Term 1 Parent Teacher Interviews are compulsory for all parents. Please make contact with the school, should you have any questions.

Book Fair

Next week we are lucky enough to have the Scholastic Book Fair coming to our school. Children will have time to visit the fair and bring home any wish list items. Look out for ordering and purchasing details next week. We encourage you all to come along and visit and hope this builds connections between our children and our library.

Writer’s Workshop

Students have been working hard during their Reading and Writing Workshops so far this term.  Teachers have been working on a whole school approach to building a workshop that focuses on explicit teaching of Literacy skills, modelled reading and writing, time for independent practice of authentic writing and reflection where learning is shared. 

Last week Lisa Burman returned to our school for an in-action day where she modelled writing workshops in our classrooms.  She regularly noted the strong positive writing culture that is being built in our classroom and like most visitors, commented on the engagement and community centred attitudes of our students. 

In Reading workshops students are building strategies to equip them to read and a love for stories.  They enjoy engaging in class stories, sharing in partners and small groups and having time to independently read texts.  We encourage this love of reading to be built on at home by sharing in books with your child.  If they are happy to read to you – brilliant – but if they are tired after a big day we also encourage reading to your child, no matter what age. 

Meeting 12th March 

Our next meeting will be on WEDNESDAY  (tonight) at 6:30pm in the Parish Hall.  This will be a quick meeting to finalise the Pop-Up Op Shop organisation before we have a sorting session.

Op Shop

A big thank you to all people who have volunteered their time in the Op Shop so far.  It is looking great and is almost ready to open.  If you can help in working over the weekend, please let Bel Heness know.

We are also asking for donations for the trading table which is held on the Saturday morning.  Items can be dropped off that morning by 8am or to the Learning Centre on Friday. 

Catering Event – SATURDAY MARCH 29^TH

The P&F are catering for the Northern Areas Show Association Award dinner.  We are not asking parents to donate food for the event, but are looking for volunteers to help on Saturday 29th March.  

Sam Catlin will prepare as much food as possible prior to the event but will still need some helpers for a morning shift and then for the night shift.   We are also looking for some waitresses (happy to have some past students or year 6's that might be happy to help).

This will be a really great fundraiser for the school  and a fun way to be involved so please consider helping out.  If you think you can help or would like to know more, please message or call Sam on 0475 065 467.

Sports Day BBQ

Thank you to Steve Tabone and Mark Hale for cooking the Sports Day BBQ, and to Jemma Tabone, Deb Moore and Billie Thomas for running it. As always thank you to our school community for supporting our P & F.