25 March 2024

Upcoming Events

Week 9

• Monday 25th March 
  • Palm Sunday Liturgy and Acknowledgement Assembly (9:00am - 9:30am Hall)
  • Assembly hosted by 5C
    
  • PR Comittee Meeting at Recess
  • Rehearsals for Holy Week Liturgy @various times
    
    
• Tuesday 26th March
  
  • Rehearsals for Holy Week Service @8:30 am, Recess and Lunch
  • Choir in the Hall with Mrs Sadler @Recess
  • SRC and House Captain Meeting @ Recess
  • Kindergarten to Year 2 Cross Country @11:45am
    
    
• Wednesday 27th March 
  • Years 3 to 6 Cross Country
    
    
• Thursday 28th March
  • Rugby 7's Training @8am
  • Rehearsals for Holy Week / Easter Services @8:30 am, Recess & Lunch
  • Senior Band @7:50-8:50 Junior Band @11:00-11:40
  • Easter Cup Seminarians Soccer Match @10.30-11.00am
  • Holy Thursday Holy Week Service (12:00pm Hall) hosted by Mr Boylan and Year 6 Volunteers
    
  • Assembly hosted by Mr Boylan and Year 6 Volunteers
  • Easter Egg Raffle @1:50pm
  • After School Auskick - School Oval

• Friday 29th March 
• Good Friday (Public Holiday - school closed)

Week 10

• Monday 1st April 
  • Easter Monday (Public Holiday - school closed)
    
    
• Tuesday 2nd April
  • Easter Celebration Service (9:00am Hall) 
  • Assembly hosted by Mr Boylan and Year 6 Volunteers
    
    
• Wednesday 3rd April
  • CPS Swimming Homebush
  • Year 6 Farewell Committee Meeting @5pm
  • P&F Meeting 5:30pm
    
    
• Friday 5th April 
  • Rugby 7's Gala Day
  • P&F Disco
    • Kindergarten to Year 2 5:30pm - 6:15pm
    • Year 3 to Year 6 6:30pm - 7:30pm

2024 Important Dates

• Thursday 11th April 
  
  • Last day of Term 1
    
    
• Friday 12th April 
  • Pupil Free Day - Staff Development Day
    
    
• Monday 29th April 2024
  • Pupil Free Day - Professional Development Day
    
    
• Tuesday 30th April 2024
  • Welcome to the first day of Term 2 - Winter Uniform

More important dates listed here Website Calendar Link

For those with a Google Account the calendar can be added to your Google calendars for
easy access on your phone or device Google School Calendar Link

Term 2

Week 1

• Monday 29th April 2024
  • Pupil Free Day - Professional Development Day
    
    
• Tuesday 30th April 2024
  • Welcome to the first day of Term 2 - Winter Uniform

From the Principal

As we journey through Holy Week we are reminded of the final events in the life of Jesus.  A courageous journey which ultimately led to his death. This week is an important time to acknowledge the many struggles in our lives. Following the path of Christ is not easy and often brings with it burdens and scrutiny.  We too, are called to follow the way of the cross.

This week we give thanks that Jesus chose to take up His cross. We gather in hope this week, knowing that His struggle led to death and that death was overcome when Jesus rose to new life.

Throughout the week we encourage you to join us for our Holy Week celebrations and to join with our Parish as we remember the way of the Cross.

The Cathedral Parish

• Thursday 28th March, 2024
  Thursday of the Lord’s Supper
  • 8.00am - Morning Prayer, Cathedral
  • 7.00pm - Mass of the Last Supper, Cathedral
  • 9.20pm - Night Prayer, Cathedral
    
    
• Friday 29th March, 2024
  Friday of the Passion of the Lord
  
  • 10.00am - Stations of the Cross, Cathedral
  • 3.00pm - The Passion of the Lord, Cathedral
    
    
• Saturday 30th March, 2024
  Holy Saturday
  
  • 6.00pm - Easter Vigil Mass, Rockley
  • 7.00pm - Easter Vigil Mass, Cathedral
    
    
• Sunday 31st March, 2024
  Easter Sunday
  
  • 8.00am - Mass, Assumption
  • 9.30am - Mass, Wattle Flat
    
  • 10.00am - Mass, Cathedral
  • 10.00am - Mass, Perthville
  • 6.00pm - Mass, Assumption

Loving Jesus,

We pray that we may courageously take up our cross.
Give us the strength to always choose love.
Lead us to new life in You.

Amen

Camille da Silva Tavares   | Principal

From the Public Relations Committee

Harmony Day 2024

Caitlyn, Flynn, Jacky, Minh Minh, Oliver, Oscar, & Ralph  | Public Relations Committee

Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences

As spoken about at our Parent Information Session, this year our Parent/Teacher meetings will take the form of Three Way Conferences. Students are invited to attend with you to reflect and plan on their learning. Our staff will be participating in professional learning around this form of conferences and the Three Way Conferences will be held at the start of Term Three. At this point you will have received your child’s Semester One report along with NAPLAN results for students in Years 3 and 5. 

It was wonderful to see many of you catching up with your children’s teachers during the open classrooms after the Parent Information Session. A reminder that you are free to reach out to your child’s teacher to arrange a phone call or meeting should you need to discuss any matters regarding your child or their learning.

Cuppa After Assembly

You are invited to join us for a cuppa after assembly each Monday morning.
Bring your coffee from Cafe Viva or make yourself a cuppa in the hall kitchen.
All are very welcome.

Toys and Sports Equipment from Home

A reminder that students are asked to use the school sporting equipment that is provided instead of bringing sporting equipment from home. Mrs Bowman is currently re-stocking the sports equipment
for the year which is managed by our Year 6 Sport Committee.

We recommend that children do not bring toys from home unless specifically requested by the teacher
for show and tell or other classroom activities.  Toys can be disruptive to the learning environment and cause jealousy among the other children. If children do bring toys to school they do so at their own risk.
Staff will not be responsible for locating missing items or investigating instances of traded or stolen items. Staff may request that students keep items at home if they are causing disruption in any way.

Pedestrian Safety

We ask that any families using the George St entrance/exit to please use the pedestrian crossing. It is unsafe to cross in the middle of the road as this is the bus bay area. We also ask that parents please hold their child’s hand when exiting the school gate and walking to their vehicles.

Afternoon Walkers

Parents are reminded that the afternoon walkers duty is intended for students walking home or to workplaces only. For those families picking up children, we ask that you walk into the school grounds
on George St for collection or for a quicker pick up approach the gate at William St.  We understand that this is a busy time of the day and there is congestion around the streets however it is important that our procedures are followed so that we can provide a safe exit for students.

If there is extreme weather at pick up time (heavy rain, lightning etc) then students who are walking will be supervised on George St until they can be collected from the school or can safely walk.

Lockdown Drill

This Wednesday students will participate in a lockdown drill. This is an important component of our school safety planning. Teachers will explain the procedures to students, assist them with the drill and answer any questions that they may have regarding the procedure.

Year 6 Farewell Committee Meeting

We invite all parents of Year 6 students to a brief meeting on Wednesday 3rd April at 5:00pm in the Library. At this meeting we will begin planning fundraising events for the Year 6 Farewell Dinner along with the event.

Enrolments

Enrolments for 2025 are now open.
We thank all those families who have already submitted Kindergarten enrolment forms and we ask
those wishing to enrol their child for 2025 to do so as soon as possible.

Teaching and Learning

Year 5 Writing Workshop
Year 5 students were extremely lucky last week to engage in Writing Workshops led by distinguished Wiradjuri author, Anita Heiss. Ms Heiss, led students through a series of quick writing activities that reflect the process that she undertakes when writing her own novels. This included experimenting with vocabulary and the senses to write settings and develop scenes, explore character feelings and motivations to develop characters and actions within a story.

 Examples of student’s work can be found below:

 My Sacred Space by Lily
My sacred space is my backyard because I have space to be calm and peaceful … I go there because I love nature and all the soothing sounds … I can see nature surrounding me creating calmness. I can hear birds singing and chirping, the soft wind and the gentle swaying grass. I can touch the grass, that act's like a soft pillow, and feel the wind passing me by.

My Sacred Place by Joe
My sacred place is the footy field. I hear players’ mums and dads yelling. I taste the mud on the ground. I feel the players’ hard tackles and the hard ground. I feel happy when I get a try.

 My Character by Amarli
I am a magician and my name is Magnificent Milo. I am performing tonight and I have a trick up my sleeve. I am only 18 years old and I recently bought a new sparkly purple hat that matches my sparkling purple suit. I am ready to go!

My Character by Harper
My character is an Australian Shepherd Spirit whose name is Neptune. Neptune is 1500 years old and her death day is June 12. Neptune began life as a puppy but she sadly passed away at two months of age after being hit by a car. During Neptune’s short life as a solid, her owner (whose name is lost to time) used to fan Neptune on hot days. Now, according to legend, Neptune roams the daisy paddock and if you feel an unnatural wind, it is probably Neptune fanning with her fan.

Catherine O’Neill   | Assistant Principal

Religious Education & Catholic Life

Holy Week Activities
Please join us this Thursday as we undertake a number of activities to acknowledge this very special time in our faith and the Liturgical year. At 10:30am, Year 6 will be playing against the Seminarians in their annual soccer match.

At 12pm we will all come together where another group of Year 6 students will present a dramatisation of Holy Week in a special service. After a combined K-6 Lunch playtime, the school will come together for the annual Easter Egg Raffle, hosted by the Year 6 Social Welfare Committee.

We thank our Year 6 students for beautifully leading our various activities this week and warmly welcome all visitors and families to our school.

Easter Celebration Service
Students from our Holy Week Service will also present the next aspects of this amazing story next Tuesday morning at 9:00am in the School Hall. Please join us. 

Project Compassion 
Please continue your wonderful efforts towards our focus on almsgiving during Lent. Students are encouraged to continue bringing in their donations to their class teacher/s by this Wednesday so that we can begin to calculate our amazing school totals. 

Sacramental Program: Thank you to those families who were able to join us in Assumption Church recently for information on First Penance, First Holy Communion and Confirmation and how the parish based but school supported Sacramental Program will function  this year. This was for families not just in the grades where Sacramental Units are taught (Years 2, 3 and 5). The information evening was also if your child has previously been in one of these grades but hasn’t had the opportunity to make one or more of these sacraments as yet.

Monday Liturgy & Assembly:  Please join us each week between 9:00 and 9:30 am as we pray together and acknowledge the achievements of those in our school community. Classes, Grades and Committees each take responsibility for this important event weekly.

Coming up:

Ashley Boylan   | Religious Education Coordinator

Awards

Library

I encourage you to go along to the Bathurst City Library in the holidays to see the Australian author Jacqueline Harvey.

Merryn Sadler   | Teacher Librarian

SPB4L

Thank you for your support at home of our recent focus on kindness and welcome.  We hope that our shared work around this has been demonstrated outside of school as well.

This week our focus is around shared expectations at special events. With so many wonderful things happening this week happening for ourt students and families we felt that it was important that we explicitly taught what being safe, responsible, kind and respectful at these special things looks, sounds and feels like. 

Please take some time this week to have a discussion at home about the important expectations in place so that everyone can experience the wonderful sporting and spiritual events this week.

Ashley Boylan   | SPB4L Committee

Sports

Community Sport Site
Our Diocesan sports coordinator Mr Steve Maguire has created a Community Sport Site (has reports from events) for parents, families & teachers which can be accessed to assist with Diocesan Sports pathways. You may like to bookmark this site for reference:
https://sites.google.com/bth.catholic.edu.au/cedbsportcommunity/home

Abbie Bowman   | Primary Coordinator

Parents and Friends

Next P&F Meeting: Wednesday 3^rd April 5:30pm - School Library

Everyone is invited to attend our monthly P&F meetings, which are held on the first Wednesday of each school month at 5:30pm in the Library.

There is NO PRESSURE to attend every meeting or volunteer bucketloads of time - the P&F is a great resource to keep track of what’s happening at school and connect with other parents, caregivers and school staff. 

For those who cannot attend in person, we have a zoom link, if you would like to join from home!
https://bthcatholic.zoom.us/j62675200979?pwd=duYyV3M2MvdoTVVjclRKZE5jdnlMdzo9
ID:62675200979@zmau.us 
Password: 106688

SCHOOL DISCO: Friday 5^thApril - School Hall
The school Disco is back for 2024, dust off your dancing shoes and practise your dance moves
Infants: 5:30 - 6:15pm      
Primary: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Entry: $5 at the door includes a Glowstick

DATE FOR THE DIARY
 May:
Wednesday 1^st P&F Meeting 5:30pm
Thursday 9^th Mother’s Day Breakfast & Liturgy
Friday 10^th Mother’s Day Stall

OPTIONAL School Jackets- Are you ready for a cold snap ?
The Cathedral School logo is embroidered on the chest, the jackets are lightweight, windproof and water-resistant perfect for the cold weather. These optional school jackets are available to try on at the school office and ready to order via Flexischools under shop.

Please note:
The optional jacket is NOT compulsory - All maroon/navy/black school jackets are also acceptable.

If you have any enquiries about our projects or would like to get involved,
please email us at cathedralpandf@gmail.com

Melissa Bray   | P & F Publicity

Music

Cathedral School Ensemble Times & Days:

• School Choir Tuesdays at Recess
• Guitar Group Wednesdays at Recess
• Concert Band Thursdays at 7:50am
• Junior Band Thursdays at Recess

If your child is interested in participating in any of these groups please feel free to contact me chris_dove_trumpet@hotmail.com

Chris Dove   | Band Director

School Calendar Handy Hints

For those who are not familiar with Google Calendar an easy way to keep up to date with the school calendar is to check the school website. Here is the link that will take you straight to the Calendar section of the site where the calendar can be displayed by month. If you click on the event more details (if confirmed) will be available for the event. 

Most end of year events and special celebrations have already been added to the calendar and all
other events appear as soon as we can confirm the details.  Website Calendar Link

For those with a Google Account the calendar can be added to your Google calendars for easy access
on your phone or device. Google School Calendar Link

Update your Details

Update your email, phone number, address, your child’s medical details or emergency contacts by emailing the information to cathedral@bth.catholic.edu.au

Canteen

The Canteen is open on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

We are in need of helpers in the Canteen on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. 

For the canteen to run smoothly 3 volunteers are essential.

Please contact Alana Watson on 0417 044 116 if you would like to be included in the canteen roster,
any time offered is welcomed.

Thank you to all our friends and family for all your ongoing support of the Cathedral Canteen.

Community Notices

Bathurst Bus Lines - School Bus Tracking App
The school bus tracking app is available for parents to download on their phone and track their child's bus in real time.  This might alleviate some of the anxiety related to putting students on the bus. Please see instructions below.

Parents requiring any bus pass or general bus travel information are welcome to contact our office and we will be able to discuss their needs accordingly.

If you have any queries please contact us on 6331 2744

Kind regards,

Carolyn
Bathurst Bus Lines