General News
Dhulu - Message Stick
Yaama!
Significant Dates to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - Term 1
15th March - National Close the Gap Day
5th April - Bringing them home
Cultural Immersion Groups
At St Edward's School, we provide weekly Cultural Immersion lessons for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The lessons are programmed and taught by our Aboriginal Education Assistants. Each grade will have one lesson a week focusing on a significant part of Aboriginal Education and Culture.
Kindergarten - The Dreamtime
Year 1 - Aboriginal Art & Gamilaraay Language
Year 2 - Cultural practices & Gamilaraay Language
Year 3 - Identity, Family/Kinship & Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Role Models
Year 4 - Gamilaraay Language
Year 5 - Connections to Country
Year 6 - Indigenous History & Men's & Women's business
Gamilaraay Word of the Week -
Term 1 - Greetings/Dhiiyaan (Family)
Week 2 - Yaama - Hello
Week 3 - Yaluu - Bye
Week 4 - Buliyaagu - Morning
Week 5 - Gaba Nginda? - How are you?
Week 6 - Dhiiyaan - Family &Maliyaa - Friend
Week 7 - Bubaa - Dad & Gunii - Mum
Week 8 - Brother - Dhagaan & Sister - Baawaa
AEA team
Brittany Cloake - bcloake2@arm.catholic.edu.au
Primary AEA
Jarrod Peachey - jpeachey@arm.catholic.edu.au
Primary AEA
Amanda Gwalter - agwalter@arm.catholic.edu.au
Infants AEA
Sally-Anne Clarke - sclarke@arm.catholic.edu.au
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Focus Teacher
Word of the Week
Our Word of the Week is back and we are excited to kick off another year of expanding our K-6 students' oral language skills, one word at a time! Each time a student uses our 'Word of the Week' in the classroom, they will earn a point. The student with the most points at the end of the term will receive a book prize to further expand their vocabulary.
We will publish our Word of the Week on Facebook and in the newsletter. Please support your child to use this word at home.
Term 1 Week 8 Word of the Week "BEFUDDLED"
School Cross Country - Friday 21st March
All students have been busy preparing, practising and are ready to race in our School Cross Country this Friday 21st March on the Primary Campus Oval from 9.00am. Families are most welcome to join us and cheer the students on! Our Infants students will be bussed up to the Primary with their grade at their allocated times and returned as normal before the end of the day. Please don't forget to pack plenty of water, their school hat and sunscreen on the day.
See the "Sport" page of this newsletter for approximate times of age events run on the day.
Parent/Teacher Conferences for Years 1 - 6
In weeks 10 and 11 of this term, parents and carers are able to book an appointment to meet with their child's teacher. This meeting will be used to discuss learning progress observed so far this year, as well as sharing learning goals that students are currently working towards. Please use the Compass app to book a suitable appointment. The booking cycle will close on Friday 21st March.
Please note: parents of students in 3P and 5Q will not be able to book an appointment during this window due to staff absence at this time. An alternative opportunity to meet with teachers in these classes will be organised in Term 2.
Labelling of Items
A reminder to please ensure your child/s school clothing, hat, lunchbox, drink bottle and pencil case items are clearly labelled with their name. Please see below our lost property procedure:
* Labelled Items - are returned to child
* Items not labelled or ex-student name - placed in lost property
P & F Easter Raffle
Our wonderful P & F committee is currently organising our annual Easter Raffle.
Raffle books will be sent home with students early next week and extra raffle books will be available from either school office.
Donations of easter eggs for the raffle is not required this year, but will be gratefully accepted if you did wish to do so.
PLEASE NOTE OUR EASTER RAFFLE WILL BE DRAWN ON FRIDAY 11TH APRIL AT 8.45AM.
2025 School Fee Structure
For 2025 the school fees are billed over a 42 week billing cycle and are due by the 21st November, 2025. Shown below is the updated 2025 school fee schedule. The school fees have been posted to your account and you will note there is an instalment schedule at the bottom of your statement for monthly payments on the current years fees. You do, however, have the option of paying weekly, fortnightly, monthly or the whole balance. BPAY is the preferred method of payment. If you have any queries, please phone the school office or email Hannah Barnes: hbarnes@arm.catholic.edu.au.
2026 Kindergarten Enrolments - ENROL NOW
Applications for Kindergarten 2026 are NOW OPEN. Please contact the Infants Campus for an enrolment pack or download the online form.
Enrolment forms will not be processed until all supporting documents are received: ie. Birth and Immunisation Certificate; Baptismal Certificate (only required if your child is baptised Catholic) and proof of student’s residential address.
Please spread the word if you know of anyone with a child wishing to start at St Edward's School in Kindergarten 2026. Please note enrolment applications close on Friday 11th April.
Attendance
Children are required to attend school from 8.45am to 3.00pm. It is essential that children are always present at school, except in the case of sickness.
Whenever a child is absent, parents are required to explain this absence through the Compass App. An SMS message is sent to parents on the morning of the absence if no notification of absence has been received before 10.00am. It is a legal requirement that you log in to Compass to explain all absences within 7 days of your child being away from school, however it is so much easier if you attend to this on the day as soon as you receive the reminder.
You will NOT be able to complete this task after the 7 days has passed which means they will be recorded as 'Absent Unexplained'.
If you are having trouble accessing all of the Compass features, there is a drop down menu on your homepage which looks like 3 horizontal lines. Open this menu and choose 'open in browser'. This will help you access the school portal features.
PUPIL FREE DAYS
The following are the Pupil Free Days for the remainder of 2025.
Please mark on your calendar.
- Monday 28th April
- Monday 26th May
- Friday 4th July
- Monday 21st July
- Monday 13th October
- Thursday 18th December
Esteem Kids
Before school care is available in the Infants Hall for both Primary and Infants students. It operates from 7:00am to 8:30am, Monday to Friday during the term, and includes breakfast.
After school care is available in the Infants Hall for Infants students only from 3:00pm to 6:00pm Monday through Friday. Our Primary after school care operates from the Art Room for primary students only from 3:00pm to 6:00pm Monday through Friday. Afternoon tea is also provided.
Families are encouraged to make enquiries or express interest by contacting William Wong on 0410 841 628 or email: info@esteemkidsgroup.com.au or visit the website at www.esteemkidsgroup.com.au
ABSENCES - Please remember to contact (telephone or text) Esteem Kids St Edward's directly if your child is going to be absent on 0481 373 883. Thank you.
Armidale Diocesan Investment Group (ADIG)
SWAP IT
SWAP IT is a free, evidence-based school lunchbox program. The program supports parents and carers to SWAP what is packed in their child’s lunchbox from sometimes foods to everyday foods. Visit their Website here.
Cancer Council Healthy Lunch Box
Visit 'Cancer Council Healthy Lunch Box' for a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about packing a healthy lunch box.
Good for Kids, Good for Life
Developed by Hunter New England Population Health, Good for Kids is an award winning approach to healthy eating and physical activity for children. See snippets below.
Parent Information Night - Tuesday 26th March
SORA - Free Parent Program
Taste Tamworth Festival...
Don't forget to like us on Facebook and tell your family and friends about our page too!
St Edward's Primary School: Facebook
We are now on Instagram too! Feel free to follow our page to keep in touch with the fantastic things that happen at St Edward's Primary School.
St Edward's Primary School: Instagram
