Term 1 Week 10 Newsletter 2025

Important Dates

Character Virtue:   F A I T H
What it looks like:   Faith is like trusting in what you can't see but you still believe.  The Virgin Mary is a great example of faith because she believed the Angel Gabriel when he told her she would give birth to Jesus.
What it means:   Faith is accepting the word of another and trusting that we know what the other person is saying is the truth.
Why it is important:  Faith in others is important if we are going to develop strong and trusting relationships.

From the Principal

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Week 10.

As Holy Week commences next Sunday, we’ll celebrate the events of Holy Week a week early in the last three days of this week. Since the early days of Christianity, the week beginning with Palm Sunday and ending at sundown on Easter has been a sacred time because it commemorates the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

On Wednesday, at 2.15 pm, Kindergarten will lead us in the celebration of Palm Sunday.  Year 6 will lead our Holy Thursday Liturgy on Thursday, and Year 3 will lead our Stations of the Cross Liturgy on Friday.

I’d like to thank our parent community for their support throughout Term 1 and hope the coming school holidays give you the opportunity to relax and spend some quality time with family and friends.

Night of the Notables - Night of Notables will be held tonight, and we’re looking forward to seeing our Year 6 parents, grandparents, and friends come along and support our students. Congratulations to our Year 6 students, who have spent a lot of time preparing for the evening. Thanks to Miss Herbert, Mr Keady, and Mrs Toole, who have worked tirelessly to help our students prepare for the evening.

Our P&F Association annually holds the Easter Raffle as a fundraiser for our school, and announcing our major winners is always exciting. Thank you to our school community for their generosity in supporting the raffle.
We will announce the lucky winners tomorrow AFTER RECESS.
All tickets must be in before 8:45 am.

Citizenship Awards - These will be given out at our school assembly tomorrow at 1.40 pm to students who set a good example to their classmates through their respect for classmates and teachers and a positive attitude to school life. 

Sibling Enrolments 2026 - Our little brothers and sisters of current students commencing Kindergarten next year should have submitted their Enrolment Application by now. 

Federal Election - The National Catholic Education Commission has produced some material, available here: website. 

Catholic Education Benefits All Australians. Catholic schools are Australia’s largest non-government education provider, delivering choice, affordability, and value for all. With the upcoming election, you might be interested in finding more information at https://ncec.catholic.edu.au/2025-federal-election/. 

There is a short video explaining how school funding works, as well as a page titled 'A Dispelling the Myths.'

Sport

Polding Swimming - Congratulations to Matthew, who placed third in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke at the Polding Swimming Carnival held last week in Homebush. Matthew will now represent Polding at the NSW PSSA Carnival. Congratulations to our Senior Girls relay team and Emily, Diesel and Georgie, who swam very well in their events.

Gala Days - Congratulations to our AFL and Rugby Union teams, who won their local gala days and are now moving on to the regional finals of their events. We also sent six teams of enthusiastic St Mary's students to the non-competitive Rugby League Gala day on Friday, and they all enjoyed the opportunity to represent their school. Thanks to all of our staff who made participation in those days possible. A special thank you to St. Johns College students Ava, Finn, Riley, and Tilly, who helped out by coaching our teams at the Rugby League Gala Day.

PRIMARY CROSS COUNTRY - Wednesday, 9th April
Our 9-year-olds and under and 10-year-olds will run 2 kilometres, and our 11 and 12-year-olds will run 3 kilometres. All children will walk the course in the morning and run in age-group races throughout the day. The first four runners across the line will be selected for the School Cross-Country Team. All parents and friends are welcome to attend and cheer on our runners.

The following start times are approximate:

9:05 am - Primary students walk the course 

9:45 am - 9 years and under boys

10:00 am - 9 years and under girls

10:15 am - 10 years and under boys

10:30 am - 10 years and under girls

RECESS – 11:00 am

11:30 am - 11 years and under boys

11:45 am - 11 years and under girls

12:00 pm - 12 years and under boys

12:15 pm - 12 years and under girls

LUNCH – 1:00 pm

INFANTS CROSS COUNTRY - Thursday, 10th April
All students in K-2 will be participating as part of our PDHPE program. 

Students in Kinder and Year 1, will complete their 1 kilometre runs with their year 5/6 buddies. Year 2 will run independently.

On the day: 
All students will walk the course together first and will run in groups throughout the morning. 

9:05 am - Walk the course (Kinder and Year 1 with buddies, Year 2 with teachers) 

The following start times are approximate:

9:30 am - Kinder girls

9:40 am - Kinder boys 

9:50 am - Year 1 girls 

10:00 am - Year 1 boys

10:10 am - Year 2 girls

10:20 am - Year 2 boys 

Water bottles will be provided to all students after the race.

Any parent volunteers are most welcome to come & assist or to cheer on our runners! 

Religious Education

Holy Week Celebrations - As our Easter celebrations are during the holiday period this year, our school will celebrate Holy Week in the final week of this term, as follows:
* Palm Sunday Liturgy,  presented by Kindergarten, at 2.15 pm on Wednesday, 9th April - COLA
* Holy Thursday Liturgy, presented by Year 6, at 12.30 pm on Thursday, 10th April - School Hall
* Stations of the Cross, presented by Year 3, on Friday, 11th April - 12.30 pm - School Hall 

2025 Sacramental Parent Information Session - These have now taken place for 2025. If you have missed out on registering your child for one of the sacraments you need to contact Rosie Hosking, St. Brigid’s Sacramental Coordinator via email at sacraments.dubbo@cdob.org.au

ST. BRIGID'S PARISH - MASS TIMES:  
St Brigid's:  Saturday - 6pm, Sunday - 9am and Sunday - 6pm
St. Laurence's Church:  Sunday - 7.30am

Attendance

Awards

HOUSE AWARDS:
Congratulations to the following students for gaining 10 points for
their Sports House for exemplary behaviour:

School Fees

TERM 1 FEES WERE DUE... 14th March 2025.  PROMPT PAYMENT PLEASE.
Reminder letters were sent out last week.
If you wish to commence a new Direct Debit plan or have an existing Direct Debit plan in place that needs adjusting, please let us know via email:  k.bywater@bth.catholic.edu.au  Thank you.

Community News

BIRTHDAYS:
Celebrating their birthday this week are:
Jaxon, Hunter, Archie, Madelyn, Archie, Thomas, Chelsea, Stella, Asher, Zoey, Willow, Claudia, Harvey,  Mrs Justine Foley and Mrs Lynne Fiander.

Celebrating their birthday during the holidays are:
Eva, Ainsley, Lucas, Zoe, Alice, Eva, Lucy, Mila, Ruby, Lucy, Luna, Solei, Theo,
Mrs Stephanie Toole, Miss Karla Hodges and Mrs Caja O'Brien.
We hope you enjoy your birthday!

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Canteen

MunchMonitor - We encourage all families to use the MunchMonitor online program for lunch orders. 

School Uniform

CCSP Parent Survey

Tell us about your experiences as a Catholic school parent and what you'd like to know more about.

We value every parent's thoughts and opinions.

CSSP would like to know how involved/engaged you feel you are in your child's learning at a NSW/ACT Catholic school, how connected you feel in your child's school, and your thoughts on how schools could enhance family-school partnerships.

This data informs our parent learning program and provides us with valuable information about how our Dioceses and schools are engaging with families.

Thank you so much for taking time out to give us your feedback.

Please click the link to go to the survey: