Vinnies News
As we begin the new school year, I would like to welcome any new students to the amazing Vinnies team, as well as our steadfast returning students who are once again ready to do ‘Good Works’.
Our leadership team consist of Sophie McKinlay (Yr. 11) as our President, supported by Mariam Kaginyan and Joshua Kosior (Yr. 11) as Vice Presidents. We thank them for taking on these roles for 2026.
We had over 40 students sign up last week, all enthusiastic about helping those in need.
I am grateful to work with such wonderful students, and together, we can make a difference.
This group will meet every Day 1 at lunchtime in G1-17 to plan out upcoming activities. If there are any students who could not attend the sign-up meeting, it is never too late, so please come along on Monday, 23 February.
Next week marks the beginning of the Lenten period, and Vinnies will place a donation box in each Pastoral classroom. We encourage students to donate any spare change they may have. All monies raised will support people in less developed countries, which will be highlighted and hopefully shared in some of the RE Classes. Towards the end of the term, Vinnies will hold a Casual Clothes fundraiser to support our Project Compassion donations. A $3 donation will be collected by the Pastoral teachers on this day.
The highlight of Term 1 is the annual Easter Raffle, which is made possible by the generous donations of staff, Vinnies members, and Year 7 students. We encourage every Year 7 student in each House to make a small donation of chocolate, lollies, Easter eggs, and any other Easter-themed goodies to help us prepare our amazing hampers, which are raffled off at the end of term one… just in time for Easter. These donations can be handed to either their Head of House or to the Resource Centre. All proceeds from the raffle go toward supporting the SVDP homework club at St Anthony’s Primary School and toward purchasing much-needed books and stationery.
St Anthony’s Tutoring Program
Speaking of St Anthony’s, we have been supporting this tutoring group for many years now by sending a group of Nazareth student volunteers every Tuesday afternoon. Volunteers must be 14 years of age or older and can sign up on the roster located in the Resource Centre. Our students travel by the Nazareth bus at 3.05 pm and return to Nazareth by 5 pm. It is a lovely way to engage with the Primary school students, who just love having older kids working with them for an hour each week. Nazareth students might sign up once or twice a term, or every week…the choice is theirs. For further information, please see me in the RC.
Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club has resumed and is available to any student who comes to school between 8 am and 8.30 am, and has not already eaten breakfast. What's on offer includes toast, cereals, fruit, juice, and yoghurt. And on Wednesdays, cheese-and-ham toasties.
We are very lucky to have the Nazareth Staff volunteer each morning to oversee breakfast preparation, but ideally, we would like to have students volunteer to assist their peers. Any student who is at school before 8am should consider signing up to help, even if they do so only once a cycle. The sign-up roster is located in the Resource Centre.
For any questions about Vinnies, Tutoring or Breakfast Club, please come and see me in the Resource Centre.
Ms Douglass & the Vinnies Team