2026 Swimming Carnival

Friday 13th February 8.50am start

This year our School Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday 13th February starting at 8.50am. Our Carnival has a focus on participation and friendly competition. Please note, only children aged 8 yrs and older may qualify for a position at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival.

Please note the following important information:

Kindergarten students DO NOT attend the Carnival. They attend school as normal.

The ONLY Year 1 and Year 2 students who are permitted to attend the Carnival are those who can competitively swim 25 metres of any one stroke without stopping.

ALL other Year 1 and Year 2 students MUST attend school where lessons will run as normal. The usual drop off and pick up routines will remain for all Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 students who are attending school that day, including school buses.

IMPORTANT- TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS FOR 2026

Due to new transport regulations, the school buses are unable to drop students directly to the pool.

All parents will be required to drop-off and collect your child from the pool. No students attending the carnival are to be dropped to the school.

As we use a computer program to record all results, we require you to nominate your child for events prior to the day. This is to be done on COMPASS when you do the consent form. Please discuss nominations with your child so they are aware of what events they are doing. Although we can fix nomination mistakes, it is very time consuming so please be careful when nominating your child.

NOMINATIONS ARE DUE BY Tuesday 3rd February to allow us plenty of time to process all nominations. Please do this on Compass under events.

There is no cost for students to attend the carnival. Spectators will need to pay at the pool.

Spectators are welcome to attend. All students will sit on the hill and be supervised by staff members. Please do not take your child away from the student area without notifying the supervising teacher/s.

Students will be able to go to the canteen at allocated times (after 11.00am) under staff supervision. Please ensure you pack enough food and water for your child for the whole day.

Students in Years 3-6 are expected to attend as it is a normal school day. Students may wear their sporting house colours or sport uniform. Please consider sun safety. Clothing such as singlet tops are not allowed and hats are compulsory. Please pack sunscreen for your child and remind them to re-apply.

Parent helpers will be needed on the day. Please indicate on the form if you are available to help and we will get in touch with you. We really appreciate all the help we can get as it is impossible to run these large events without your assistance.

Children 8yrs and up who can swim 50m backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke or freestyle are encouraged to participate in those events on the day. Some students may do a mixture of distances depending on their ability. Please note, children who are entered in a 50m race can not enter the 25m race for that same stroke.

Six and seven year old students will only be swimming 25 meters, regardless of their ability.

A program of events will be emailed closer to the day.

ACS Swimming Carnival

The Diocesan Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday 27th February. The carnival will be held at the new Inverell Aquatic Center. Unfortunatley, we will not be taking a bus to this event. If your child qualifies, it will be parent responsibility to get them to and from the event.

NSWPSSA Cricket Trials

Best of luck to Emma Gander who qualified for the NSWPSSA Cricket Trials. The trials will be held in Armidale from 17th - 20th February.

Polding Tennis Trials

Late last year, Millie Lyle, Belle Nichols and Zac Tunbridge qualifed for the ACS Tennis Trials. These trials will be held on Friday 6th February in Tamworth. Good Luck!

Golf, AFL, Rugby 7's Softball & Diving Nominations

As these sports historically have had limited nominations, we do not host trials for them. We gather all expressions of interest, and then information is directed to parents and schools when EOIs are completed. Please circulate this information with your students however you see fit. I will also provide the link for the EOI form on our ACS website (under the selections tab and desired sport) and our ACS Facebook page.

Expressions of interest are now open for the following sports:

2026 Sport Nomination Form for Girls Rugby League, Golf, AFL, Rugby 7's, Softball and Diving.

GIRLS & 11 YRS RUGBY LEAGUE

Changes have been made to the sporting pathway opportunities offered to our students in 2026.

The 11 years League will no longer be offered as a pathway in 2026. This pathway has been cancelled by NSWPSSA School Sports Unit due to its inability to become a School Sport Australia pathway sport, like all other offered sports. As a Diocese, we will continue to offer opportunities for our younger league players to participate in a non-trial format, in days such as the Toni Palmer Memorial Shield.

Girls Rugby League has become a separate pathway opportunity. It will now have its own separate trial date. This trial will be a Polding trial and therefore as a Diocese we will not hold a trial. Students can nominate to attend this trial directly through the Google form provided.

Girls will no longer be permitted to trial with the 12 year boys Rugby League as they have done previously.

For further information please do not hesitate to get in contact.

2026 Sport Nomination Form for Girls Rugby League, Golf, AFL, Rugby 7's, Softball and Diving.

Community News

Lowes Updates