FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents, Carers, and Friends of St Nicholas’,

I would like to extend a very warm welcome back to everyone for Term 3. As you will see from the events highlighted below, we have started the Term at a gallop, enjoying every minute of these special whole school events. 

Grandparents Day 

Last Friday, we celebrated one of the biggest days on our school calendar: Grandparents Day. Coinciding with the Feast Day of Jesus’ grandparents, Saints Joachim and Anne, our annual celebration is always a special tradition, and this year was no exception.

We began the morning with classroom visits, where our grandparents and special guests spent quality time in our learning spaces. The classrooms were awash with smiles—from our students and grandparents alike! We then gathered in the Holy Family Courtyard for our liturgy. I would like to extend a warm thank you to Deacon Allem for celebrating with us, and to Mrs. Scott for her wonderful organization. A special mention must also go to our Kindergarten students, who wowed everyone with their enthusiasm and humour in their poem about getting old.

Our celebration concluded with morning tea out on the Oval. It was truly wonderful to see our families sharing quality time together, creating memories that I am sure will be cherished for years to come.

Hosting so many visitors takes a total team effort. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the entire St Nicholas staff, our students, and their families for making the day so memorable. As Principal, I could not have been prouder.

NAIDOC Week Celebrations 

This week at St Nicholas’ we gathered together at school to celebrate NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week is a special time in our calendar where we come together to celebrate First Nations cultures and recognise the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia.

This year’s national theme—"50 Years of Deadly"—marks a significant milestone: five decades of the NAIDOC movement as a national platform for cultural pride, truth-telling, and celebration. In Aboriginal English, the word "deadly" is a term of high praise, meaning fantastic, excellent, or brilliant. This theme honors the Elders, leaders, artists, and communities who built this movement and kept it strong, while inspiring our young people to walk proudly into the future.

Our AEA Team of Trevor French, Sharni Upward and Kimberly Miller have done a wonderful job putting together a week of whole school activities for the staff and students and I would like to thank them for all their efforts and leadership throughout the week. This started with a beautiful welcome assembly on Monday morning where we were lucky enough to be joined by Councilor Mark Sutherland, who addressed the school about the history and importance of NAIDOC Week and celebrated a smoking ceremony with us. 

The celebrations will conclude tomorrow with what has become a NAIDOC week tradition, our staff v’s Yr 6 students Oztag game. Last year our students got the better of the staff. Tomorrow the teachers will be looking to square the ledger, and to get through with no injuries !!!

New Staff 

This Term we welcome the following new staff: 

Mark Thomas - joining our educational assistant team in Yr 6 while Laura Geddes in on Maternity leave and Connie Maweni will be replacing Claire Dorrstein on our Centacare Counselling team.  

Have a wonderful break, 

Peter Flynn