Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 3! This term is going to be very busy with many events happening and opportunities for you to engage with our school community.

Our Kindergarten enrolment period has closed and the cohort for Kinder 2026 is now a reality. If you have a sibling of a current student coming to Kinder next year they will have received their enrolment acceptance letter by now.

If you know of anyone who wishes to enrol their child they can still contact us. Although classes are officially ‘full’, there is usually some movement between the local area Catholic schools, so a position may become available later on.

PLAYGROUND UPDATE

Work began on our playground over the holidays and it’s amazing how fast things are moving. The children have responded very well to the restricted play spaces, our focus for the next 3 months while the work is undertaken is “Be patient and share the space” – so far, they have all been wonderful in this area.

Once again, I remind parents to please not park in the  school car park at any time. This is for the safety of the children. Also, if a truck pulls in and blocks the car park to unload, you could be blocked in the car park until the unloading is completed. The trucks have priority at the moment which is why we have asked all parents, including those doing OOSH drop offs and pick ups, not to park in the car park.  

PLAYGROUND SNEAK PEEK! (at the moment most of it is a big hole!) 

PBL Award assemblies

This term, PBL milestone awards will be given as part of our normal school assemblies. Parents will still be notified the week before if their child will be receiving a merit, principal, spirt of Jesus or PBL award.

I am aware that in the past a ‘running total’ of the number of Bennies given over the year has been given at assemblies. Unfortunately, the PBL app that teachers use to record Bennies was not working for the first part of the year and teachers were keeping manual records of Bennies, so the running totals on our app are inaccurate. We will have to wait to resume the running totals in 2026.

I look forward to seeing you at the many exciting events coming up this term. Please keep an eye on Compass throughout the term for updates and permission notes for various activities.

Funding Campaign

Recently there has been much public discussion around the Australian Government's model of funding schools. Catholic Schools NSW have put together some data to explain how government funding for non-government schools—such as Catholic and Independent schools— supports your right to choose the best educational environment for your child while also reducing costs for Australian taxpayers.

Using the most recent data, the report outlines how funding these schools through a mixed education model reduces pressure on public education resources, with savings of up to $6.88 billion annually. The report highlights how school choice benefits families and the broader community alike.

To read more, find the report here: Money invested, Money Saved - July 2025 - Adobe cloud storage.

Parent and Carer Information Session 

Catholic Schools Maitland-Newcastle has launched a webpage with links to webinars that are relevant to parents. There are many topics covered and the webinars are free. Please click the link below to explore the upcoming events.

Parent and Carer Information Sessions | Catholic Schools Maitland-Newcastle

Stay safe and God Bless,

Dani