General News 

School TV , Facebook  links below 

Staff for 2026

Principal: Mrs Amanda Sheridan

Leader of Pedagogy: Mrs Robyn Wilson

Religious Education Coordinator: Sharnie Meade

School Administrator: Kate Thompson

Finance: Tracey Klitsch

Kinder : Mrs Amanda Bartholomew

Year 1/2: Mrs Leisa Crane

Year 3/4: Mrs Sumandana

Year 5/6: Miss Kayla Latter

Mrs Sallie Nichols & Mrs Sharnie Meade will be providing extra support in the Infants on a part time basis.

Release from face to face teaching : Mrs Belinda Barnes

Education Assistants 

Kinder: Mrs Jodie Gamble & Veggie Garden Coordinator

Year 1/2 : Mrs Michelle Cortis & School Promotions Coordinator

Year 3/4: Mrs Sally Darnell & Library Administration

Year 5/6: Mrs Judy Allan & Aboriginal Education Coordinator

School Counsellor: Cass McIlrick

Welcome Mrs Sheridan

We are delighted to welcome Mrs Amanda Sheridan as our new Principal! We are so fortunate to have such an experienced leader joining the St Joey's team.

Amanda is looking forward to meeting everyone and becoming an active part of our school family, so please say a warm hello 👋 when you see her here at school or when attending Mass.  

Swimming permissions

There may have been a bit of confusion in regards to notes for the carnival. Please fill in both the nomination form that Mrs Bartholomew sent out in paper form AND the permission note on Compass asap.  

Uniform Purchases

If you order uniform items on Compass and the order comes through to me by 2pm, we will send the items home with your child on the day.  If the order comes in after 2pm, the items will be sent home the following day. 

Parent Information Night and Welcome BBQ

On Wednesday the 11th of February we welcome you to join us for Information Sessions and a lovely Welcome back BBQ.  For catering purposes, please fill in the form below by Friday the 9th of February. 

If you haven't already... 

Please complete these 2 documents today to ensure we have up to date information for your child/ren.  

Afternoon Travel Arrangements for 2026

Medication forms - at the end of last year we sent home all medications.  You will need to fill in a new form and provide new medication for 2026. 

Back to school requirements:  

Each child will need to have their own:  

• Art shirt – labelled
• Library bag
• Textas and/or special pencils they may want to use
• Highlighters - yellow, pink, green, blue for vcop writing
• Headphones or earbuds 
• Extra pens / pencils as back up
• Pencil case 
• Scissors
• Years 5/6 need a geometry set 

• Pencil sharpener

   

**Homework satchels are available through Compass for the 2026 School year. They cost $15 and are great quality.  These are not library bags but to be used for homework, sight words etc. **

Important Friendly Reminders: 

Front Garden:  Please do not let your children play in the front garden beds.  You never quite know what might be lurking in there and also what small items have been planted in there by our amazing gardening guru, Greg. 

Parking/drop off:  Please remember to park correctly at the front of the school when dropping your children to school and when collecting in the afternoons.  Double parking and pulling up on the crossing is dangerous for your child and for other families and we have already witnessed both of these things occurring this week. 

Names on clothing:  Please make sure that all items of your child's clothing are clearly named so that we can return them to you.  If they do not have names they will be put into the Swap Shop as we don't have a lost property box.  

Pick up:  Last term we asked that parents come to the gate to collect your children rather than wait out near the road.  This worked really well and we encourage all parents to do the same from now on.  We have new staff and they need to know who is collecting your child every time. 

Newsletter

We are now moving to fortnightly newsletters so please take the time to read them carefully so you know what to expect for the upcoming weeks.  The parent calendar on the tab at the top of this page is also a great way to be informed.  

If you require teacher email addresses, these can be found on the contacts page at the end of the newsletter. 

School Fees

The Board of Armidale Catholic Schools has made the decision to increase all school fees for 2026 by 5%.

This decision to increase has not been made lightly and is mindful of the cost of living pressures we are all experiencing. Schools are experiencing cost escalation pressures as well and this increase is a contribution towards the resourcing required to provide your child/children with an excellent Catholic education. 

From 2026, School Fees will be billed on an annual basis at the commencement of the School Year and our standard payment terms are 10 monthly instalments from February to November. See schedule below.

Our preferred method of payment is Bpay. You can also pay your school fees via the Compass App and we have facilities at school to pay fees by EFTPOS. Families with existing ADIG direct debit facilities are asked to cease their direct debits with ADIG and change their method of payment to BPay. Your Bpay details are located on your Tax Invoice/Statement. 

Armidale Catholic Schools endeavours to offer an affordable Catholic education of the highest quality. There is a deeply held commitment that no Catholic family should be denied a Catholic education due to genuine incapacity to pay all, or part, of their children’s school fees. New and existing parents are encouraged to make contact with the school Principal, who will treat the matter confidentially and respectfully.