Principal's Report

Dear St Cecilia's Community,

Thank You for a Wonderful St Cecilia’s School Fair

What an awesome day we shared on Saturday at our St Cecilia’s School Fair.

After plenty of nervous weather watching during the week, the weather was actually very kind to us in the end. Apart from a little drizzle for a short time, we were able to enjoy a fantastic day together.

Most importantly, Saturday was a wonderful celebration of community.

A huge thank you and congratulations must go to our incredible Fair Committee. The amount of work that goes into organising an event of this size is enormous. Months of planning, meetings, organising, sourcing donations, coordinating volunteers and attending to countless details all came together beautifully on the day. We are enormously grateful for your generosity, energy and commitment to St Cecilia’s.

Particularly to: Laura McCarthy, Sarah Lethlean, Em Fitzgerald, Kate Hall, Claire Barrett, Chelsea Woodruff,  Scott Weekley, Rohan Dixon, Bec Ceveri and all many others who helped in various ways. 

Thank you also to the many parents and families who volunteered throughout the day. Whether you ran a stall, cooked food, sold tickets, supervised an activity, helped set up, packed away or simply stepped in wherever you were needed, you played an important part in making the Fair such a success.

A special thank you also goes to our staff, many of whom gave up their Saturday to be part of the day. Your presence and willingness to support our community is greatly appreciated.

It was particularly lovely to welcome many of our new 2027 students and families, from Foundation and other year levels. We hope Saturday gave you a genuine sense of the warmth, connection and community spirit that makes St Cecilia’s such a special place.

Thank You to Our Major Sponsors

An event such as our Fair simply could not happen without the generous support of our sponsors and local community.

We extend a very special thank you to our major sponsors:

Your generosity and willingness to support St Cecilia’s made a significant contribution to the day. We greatly value the relationships we have with businesses and organisations within our wider community, and we encourage our families to support those who so generously support our school.

We also sincerely thank the many other local businesses, organisations and families who donated prizes, auction items, goods, services and their time. The generosity shown towards our school was extraordinary and greatly appreciated.

Below we have an anouncement regarding the both the 2026 Fair Raffle Winners and the Class Competetion regarding the selling of Raffle Tickets. Congratulations to all winners!

More Than a Fundraiser

While funds raised through the Fair will support important projects across our school, including our ongoing Library improvements and resources, the development of two student wellbeing hubs within existing school spaces, and our continued sponsorship of The School of St Jude in Tanzania, the success of our Fair is about much more than the money raised.

Our Fair is first and foremost about community.

It is about families coming together. It is about children having fun with their friends. It is about staff and parents connecting outside the classroom. It is about welcoming new families and strengthening the relationships that make St Cecilia’s the community it is.

Saturday certainly achieved that. To everyone who planned, volunteered, donated, sponsored, performed, attended, supported, set up, packed away or simply came along and enjoyed the day with us, thank you.

On a personal note, I felt incredibly proud watching our community come together on Saturday. Seeing our children enjoying themselves, our families connecting and so many people generously giving their time to make the day possible was a wonderful reminder of what makes St Cecilia’s such a special community.

Thank you for the many ways you continue to support our school and, most importantly, one another. Days like Saturday do not happen without an enormous collective effort, and I am genuinely grateful to everyone who played a part. 

Thank you for another wonderful St Cecilia’s Fair.

Year 2 Making a Difference

A very big congratulations to our Year 2 students and teachers for their wonderful African Bead fundraising initiative last week.

Together, they raised just over an incredible $1,500, an outstanding achievement, particularly in the week leading into our School Fair. The response speaks volumes about the generosity of our St Cecilia’s community and the willingness of our families to support causes that genuinely matter.

More importantly, this initiative was a wonderful example of our students putting their faith and learning into action. It brought to life some of the important principles of Catholic Social Teaching, particularly Human Dignity, the Common Good, Solidarity and the Preferential Option for the Poor. These principles call us to recognise the dignity and worth of every person, to stand alongside others, to care for those experiencing disadvantage and to work together for a more just and compassionate world.

For our Year 2 students, this was much more than a fundraiser. It gave them a meaningful opportunity to see that their actions can make a genuine difference in the lives of others. This is an important part of our mission at St Cecilia’s. We want our students not only to learn about compassion, justice and service, but to have opportunities to actively live these values.

A sincere thank you to our Year 2 team for the thought, organisation and energy that went into bringing this initiative to life. Thank you also to our families and wider community for once again supporting our students so generously.

Well done, Year 2. A wonderful example of faith, learning and action coming together, and something our whole St Cecilia’s community can be very proud of.

Welcoming Southern Region Principals to St Cecilia’s

This Thursday, we are pleased to serve as hosts for the Southern Region Principal Network Day, welcoming approximately 15–18 Principals from Catholic primary schools across our region to St Cecilia’s.

Throughout the year, these Network Days are hosted by different schools across the Southern Region. They provide Principals with an important opportunity to come together, share ideas and practice, and learn from one another. Hosting the day is also a wonderful opportunity for us to open our doors and share St Cecilia’s with our colleagues.

One of the highlights of these days is the chance to see the host school in action. Between approximately 9.15 am and 9.45 am, our visiting Principals will head out in small groups for a short tour of St Cecilia’s, guided by some of our wonderful student leaders.

They will visit our classrooms and learning spaces, meet our students and staff, and see firsthand what a typical morning of learning looks like at St Cecilia’s.

We are particularly excited about this opportunity because there is something very special about welcoming fellow educators into our school. We are enormously proud of what they will see. Our students engaged in their learning, our teachers and support staff working alongside them, and the warm relationships and strong sense of community that are such an important part of St Cecilia’s.

There will be no special performances or changes to our normal school day. We want our visitors to experience St Cecilia’s exactly as it is every day. That is what we are most proud to share. Families may notice a few additional cars around the school on Thursday morning as our visitors arrive, and we thank you for your patience and understanding.

We are very much looking forward to hosting the day and having the opportunity to showcase our wonderful students, staff and school community to our colleagues from across the Southern Region.

Have a great week everyone,

Warm regards,

Marty