School News

Dear parents, families and friends,

As week four concludes we have celebrated two out of the three feast days that hold significance for our school and parish. On Friday we celebrated the Feast of the Assumption (more about this in Faith News) with families, parishioners and the Sisters of St Joseph from the convent on Fehon Street.

The week before we celebrated the Feast of St. Mary MacKillop and Grandparents Day. It was wonderful to see so many Grandparents join us, starting off with a shared activity in the classrooms before heading across to the church for mass and then a shared lunch with everyone getting a lunch order of party pies and sausage rolls. It really was back to school for our Grandparents. If you haven't already done so, please visit our instgram page to see photos of all the action on that day. It took a few days and a coordinated effort, but we finally took all the flowers that the students and their Grandparents coloured and decorated and made a display. Please visit the foyer of Building A, The St. Mary MacKillop building to view the Family Flower Garden.

Working Bee 1

A very, very, very huge thank you to Russel Mann who generously gave of his time on Saturday to be the only volunteer who turned up to the first Working Bee. Considering that there was only two of us, we managed to get a lot done.

The 2nd Working Bee will be held on Saturday 30th August from 10am to 2pm. We really need as many volunteers as possible to help with finishing the dismantling of the music tution rooms, reorganising the sports and hall storage area and disposing of old and nolonger used stuff (boxes, old props from concerts etc) and firing up the woodfire pizza oven in preparation for its first cook.

Capital Works Building B Refurbishment Project

Progress is building momentum with permits being granted and plans approved. An add was placed in the Age about three weeks ago to seek Expressions of Interest from builders for when we go to tender. We have also spoken with an artist who we are hoping to engage to paint the lift shaft mural. As mentioned above, we have begun the working bees in preparation for moving the classrooms across to the other side of the school. We plan to move the students across to the classrooms they will be in next year before the end of the year and Step Up Day.

Below are some more renders of key parts of the refurbishment project:

SEL - Social & Emotional Learning

The Mental Health and Wellbeing of our students is crucial for our school to be a happy and friendly place for learning. Being a catholic school we have prayer, the Gospels Values, scripture and the Religious Education program to guide us in our actions and interactions with others. To further support this we also have School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS).  Along with this we have Rights, Responsibilities & Respectful Relationships which is taught on a Monday afternoon across the school from Prep to Year 5/6. This year we have also begun introducing strategies and routines from the Berry Street Education Model to further support students to feel safe, calm, accepted and supported at school. This term we have also introduced SEL - Social & Emotional Learning in response to a growing number of cases of anxiety amongst our students. SEL helps students develop skills to understand and manage their emotions, build positive relationships, make thoughtful decisions, and show empathy for others. Understanding emotions, how they affect us and how to deal with them is a complex and challenging issue that students need to be explicitly taught. Each level will have an hour session once a week on a Thursday. The program is lead by Miss Natalina Paglianiti with Miss Jess Brennan and Ms Tara Brennan (bringing her couselling knowledge and experience to the sessions) delivering the weekly sessions. A coordinated team approach is needed to ensure the success of SEL program. Please see Wellbeing News for further details.

Book Week 2025 – 80 Years of Celebration!

Next week, we will be celebrating Book Week  with a range of exciting activities for our students. This year marks the 80th year of Book Week, so we’re going big with our celebrations!

The theme for 2025 is “Book an Adventure”, which has inspired each class to choose a CBCA Shortlisted Book to explore in depth.

On Thursday 21st August at 9:00am, we will hold our much-loved Book Week Dress-Up Parade in the hall. Students are encouraged to dress as:

• A character from the CBCA book their class is focusing on
• Or something connected to or inspired by the story from the CBCA book their class is focusing on

Please refer to your child’s teacher email for the class theme, book title, and costume ideas.

After the parade, students will take part in a range of rotational activities and enjoy a shared lunch to celebrate our Book Week adventures. Please keep an eye out for the Operoo note with more details. A very special thanks to Kat (Neo’s mum from PrepDM ) for helping me  in organizing the books week events & for especially organizing the shared lunch. 

We can’t wait to see all the amazing costumes and enjoy a week full of adventure!!

~Miss Librizzi~

Author Visit – Wednesday 27th August

We are thrilled to welcome well-known Australian author Leigh Hobbs to our school for an engaging workshop with students. This is a wonderful opportunity for our young readers and writers to learn from a celebrated storyteller.

Important Upcoming Events

• Monday 18 to Friday 22 August - book Week
• Tuesday 19 August, 7pm - School Advisory Council Meeting
• Tuesday 26 August, 6pm - Parents & Friends Committee Meeting
• Friday 29 August - School Closure Day: Berry Street Education Model Day 2
• Saturday 30th August, 10.00am to 2.00pm - Working Bee
• Sunday 31st August, 9.30am - Jubilee Mass: Back to St. Augustine's celebrating 100 years of St. Augustine's Church.
• Saturday 13th September, 10.00am to 2.00pm - Working Bee
• 16 and 17 September - St. Augustine's Art Show

Until the next newsletter, stay warm and stay safe. Only two weeks left of winter!!

Matthew Stead

Principal