23 September 2024

Upcoming Events

Term 3 - Week 10

• Monday 23th September 2024
  
  • Cuppa before Assembly from 8:30am in the Hall
  • Assembly led by Year 5 @ 9:00am 
    
  • Mini Vinnies with Mrs Avinash @ Recess
    
    
• Tuesday 24th September  2024
  • Choir with Mrs Sadler @ 8:35am - 8:55am (Library)
    
  • PR Committee Excursion
  • SRC Committee Meeting @ Recess
    
    
• Wednesday 25th September  2024
  
  • Guitar Group @ 11:00am - 11:40am (Recess in Classrooms at 10:50am)
  • Didgeridoo Group @ 1:40pm
    
    
• Thursday 26th September  2024

  • Senior Band @ 7:50am - 8:50am
    

  • Junior Band @ 11:00am - 11:40am (Recess in Classrooms at 10:50am)
    
    
• Friday 27th September  2024
  • Agriculture Club with Mrs Angelucci @ Recess
    
  • Last Day of Term 3 

Term 4 - Week 1

• Monday 14th October 2024
  
  • First Day of Term 4 - Full Summer Uniform
  • Cuppa before Assembly from 8:30am in the Hall
  • Assembly @ 9:00am

2024 Important Dates

More important dates listed here 

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

From the Principal

It was such a privilege to join Year 5 on their Leadership Camp at Lake Burrendong last week. Our camps are a new initiative to encourage personal growth and leadership in our senior students. Resilience, gratitude, initiative, selflessness, kindness and empathy were the qualities that were developed and that our students demonstrated in abundance throughout the camp. 

During this special time of connectedness to God’s creation, our students enjoyed the fresh air, the cool lake water, the warmth of the fire (that they created) and the strength of their relationships with one another. 

We were so proud of each of our students who stepped out of their comfort zone, taking risks and developing grit and resilience. We thank our Year 5 parents for preparing and encouraging their participation. We are also so grateful to our teachers, Mrs Clayton, Mrs Angelucci and Miss Inwood; whose organisation, warmth and time were such a blessing! We would also like to extend a special thanks to Natalia and Rosario from our DeoQuest team who joined us and led us in prayer and reflection throughout the camp. Lastly, we thank our Lake Burrendong Sport & Rec Camp staff who along with leading our activities in the great outdoors also provided us with delicious meals and endless encouragement.

This camp forms part of our Year 5 student’s preparation for their 2025 leadership and their preparation to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Over the past weeks many of our students have celebrated Sacraments in our Parish. During Confirmation, Bishop Michael used the Oil of Chrism which is a scented oil. He reminded us of St Paul’s encouragement; that strengthened by Christ we are now charged to be the sweet scent of Jesus in our world. At Cathedral, we are all on a journey, we all fall short and make mistakes but through the grace of God we are united in our quest to be Christ to all and we thank all who prepare our young people to go forth as they bring the reality of Jesus to each other and to our world.

Camille da Silva Tavares   | Principal

Baby News

A warm welcome to baby Florence and a huge congratulations to Mrs Alice Gallagher and her family on the birth of this beautiful girl.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5

Condolences

At Cathedral, we are (especially lately) accustomed to celebrating life through birth but we know too that with human life comes the experience of death and the gift of eternal life. We send our prayers and love to
Mrs Julia Baird and her family after the passing of Julia’s father, Gordon Percival Worrell.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace.
Amen.

Staffing

We welcome Mrs Trisha McNiven as our Learning Support Teacher. Trisha joins Mrs Naomi Dubojski in our support team. Trisha and Naomi are pictured here in front of the Hub. Many of our students have been accessing our Hub for scheduled regulation breaks and skill building. Academic support and learning takes place in our Upstairs Learning Hub and differentiated support groups within our classrooms.

Trisha has spent the last week getting to know our students and staff.

Welcome to the team Trisha!

Afternoon Pick Up

In an effort to keep our students safe at pick up time, please read the following reminders: 

Walkers - Only students walking to a workplace or home should join the walkers. If you are picking your child up and you are parked across any nearby road, then you need to walk over to school to collect your child from the William St or George St collection point.

Teachers only escort students across the crossings on William, Keppel and George Sts. Students are then left to make their way home. Please ensure that your child has the knowledge of and ability to walk the safest route home before allowing them to cross busy streets. Please note that not all streets around the school have pedestrian crossings and our teachers do not escort students across these streets.

George St - If collecting students on the Geroge St exit, please walk to students who will be seated on the pavers for collection. Students are not allowed to meet you on the street. If parked on the opposite side of the road, please use the pedestrian crossing and do not cross in front of or behind buses.

William St - If collecting students on the William St exit, please collect students from the gate. If parked on the opposite side of the road please use the pedestrian crossing on William St.

Please hold your child’s hand when exiting the school grounds.

We thank you for supporting these procedures and for modelling safe and calm behaviours at pick up time.

Student Representative Council

Thank you for your support of our Catch a Duck competition. We appreciate all of the prize donations along with everyone who was able to try their luck catching a duck!

We have raised a whopping $400 to put towards our school mascot costume. At times, we found it challenging to keep up with the high demand of customers so we have asked the Fete Committee if we can bring the stall back for the Cathedral Fete in November!

Congratulations to our Cathedral Mighty Ducks!

Student Representative Committee

Teaching and Learning

As we approach the end of the term, I’d like to share some important reminders and updates for our school community.

TECHNOLOGY
We want to remind parents about our Acceptable Use of Technology Agreements. Devices are essential educational tools and used under the direct supervision of teachers. Please remind your children about the safe use of technology at school and home, from a hardware (devices) and software (programs / apps) perspective. Additionally, it's important to minimise using computers and other devices as rewards or during 'free time’.

Please also revisit the information sent from the school recently about online safety advice and strategies.

WORK EXPERIENCE
This week we are excited to welcome St Stanislaus’ work experience students into our learning spaces this week.

Making it even more significant is that these young men are also former Cathedral School students. Welcome (back) James Billington, Darcy Fish and Noah McClements! We hope that you find your time here professionally rewarding as you begin to consider your future careers.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING
Here are some questions you can use to engage your child in meaningful conversations about their learning, goals, and progress as we conclude the term:

• What’s something new you learned this term that surprised you?
• Can you teach me something interesting you worked on in class?
• What was the hardest part of your term and how did you tackle it?
• How did you work with others during the term and what did you achieve together?
• What feedback did your teacher give you, and how did it help?
• Can you show me a piece of work you’re proud of? Why does it stand out to you?
• Was there a moment this term when something finally “clicked” for you? What was it?
• What are you curious to learn more about next term?

RESOURCES
We kindly ask that any school resources, such as Home Readers and School Representative Attire be returned early this week to classrooms.

READING DURING THE HOLIDAYS
As we head into the holidays, we encourage parents to support their children’s reading fluency and accuracy growth and progress. Engaging in regular reading practice at home can significantly enhance these skills. Modelling good reading habits can inspire your children to improve their own reading abilities.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership in your child’s education. Wishing all our families a wonderful school holiday!

Ashley Boylan   | Acting Assistant Principal

Religious Education & Catholic Life

“He has made everything beautiful in its time” Ecclesiastes 3:11

THANK YOU
Thank you all staff and students for Cathedral School’s Our Lady of Mercy and McAuley Day celebrations. What a joyful day it was! Made even more joyful with the presence of our families who shared a picnic morning tea with their child/ren and those who were able to also join us in prayer, at Mass. We give special thanks to the Sisters of Mercy who were able to be with us too! We give thanks for shining examples of faith, devotion, tireless work, and dedication to our community. 

THE ROSARY
By tradition, the Catholic Church dedicates each month of the year to certain devotion. The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary, one of the best known of all Catholic devotions.

The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centered on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary. The Mysteries of the Rosary give us “thumbnails” of the life of Christ and his Mother.

There are 4 Mysteries:

• The Joyful Mysteries are taken mostly from Saint Luke’s Gospel in the New Testament. They involve the joyful events of Jesus’ childhood.
• The Luminous Mysteries bring a deeper understanding to the public life of Jesus. They fill in the blanks between the childhood of Jesus and His suffering and death on the cross.
• The Sorrowful Mysteries remind us of how much Jesus loves us. They recall how He suffered and died just for us.
• The Glorious Mysteries tell us what happened after Jesus died-His Resurrection, the descent of the Holy Spirit and the love Jesus had for his Mother.

If you would like to learn more about the Rosary. Please view this little clip >> The Rosary in 2 Minutes

Next term the students will spend time praying the Rosary. You might like to spend some time as a family praying the Rosary in the holidays, so your child is familiar with this special traditional prayer.

The students are welcome to bring their own Rosary beads if they own some, otherwise school will supply them with a set of beads to pray with.

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAMME
LAST OPPORTUNITIES to register for 2024 - Registrations for all Sacraments (First Penance, First Holy Communion and Confirmation conclude soon. Please contact the Parish Office this week if possible if you wish for your child to receive one of the above mentioned Sacraments.  

IN OUR PARISH
We are proud to be an important part of the Cathedral Parish of Ss Michael & John.   For information about our parish please click here. This includes Mass Times, Ministries, Sacraments and current edition and archived stories from the Catholic Observer and Parish Bulletin. 

Coming up:

Julia Baird   | Acting Religious Education Coordinator

Awards

Library

Bathurst City Library
I encourage you to go to the Bathurst City Library these holidays to see their great selection of books. They even have board games you can borrow!
They have lots of activities in their school holiday program including a special feature event with local author Rachel Jackson. Rachel has written a choose your own adventure story for 8-12 year olds called Escape from Cuttlefish Cove. Bookings for this event and the other programs are open now http://bit.ly/3vhXvSo.

Merryn Sadler   | Teacher Librarian

Class In Focus - 3G

This term the children in 3G have been very busy learning about new concepts and gaining further knowledge in all Key Learning Areas. In Mathematics we have been working in groups to collaboratively solve problems in relation to different sizes of angles and multiplicative relations:division.

In English the students have been reading and gaining a deeper meaning books about Country and the essence of Australia. The children are currently looking at different types of poetry and a place that they feel means home to them. They are practising writing poems based on this image, using colour and symbolism. 

In Geography, the children recently did a research task on a particular Australian landmark e.g. Three Sisters, Blue Mountains, Shark Bay. The students really enjoyed researching an Australian landmark and finding out some interesting facts about it. In Science, the students have been investigating forces and how some forces can be a contact and non-contact force and a type of force can be a push or a pull.

Ainsley Greer   | 3G

Class In Focus - 4W

In Year 4W, students have been studying biomes from around the world, exploring the unique ecosystems and characteristics of each. Using their imagination and newfound understanding, the class created detailed shoebox biomes, bringing to life environments like rainforests, deserts, and tundras. Through this hands-on project, they demonstrated their knowledge of the animals, plants, and climate typical of each biome, while creatively presenting their work in vibrant, miniature ecosystems.

Carolyn Wood   | 4W

SPB4L - School Wide Positive Behaviours for Learning

Week 10 Focus: ‘We are punctual, prepared and poised for success!'

At Cathedral School, all students are expected to demonstrate respectful, responsible, safe and kind behaviour. Thank you to the students that showed an improved effort last week.

Other teachers have noticed different classes and have ‘caught’ them following the SPB4L expectation. It was very pleasing to see 25 ‘Shout Outs’ to classes for demonstrating the correct and expected behaviours.

Let’s see if we can catch some more classes doing great things this week. Remember, positive classroom and playground behaviours help us all to have positive days.

🟢 SETTING UP FOR SUCCESS 🟢
All teachers review our school rules and shared behaviour expectations each morning as part of their daily routines. This consistent revision of our rules and expectations is aimed to help our students have successful days.

All students are expected to follow our school rules and SPB4L universals/focus points as this helps our school to be a happy and safe place.

🔴CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES 🔴
Negative behaviours impact the student’s learning, social interactions and wellbeing. Just like in real life, students need to learn that their are consequences to their choices. 

Students who continue to ignore expectations or teacher instructions will receive a re-teach aligned to the behaviour.

LET’S FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE
We encourage all parents to check in with their child/ren about their classroom and playground behaviours. Maybe ask some specific questions to help you know how they are ‘tracking’, ie. Did you show respect for your self today by keeping your uniform neat and tidy? Were you responsible when you lined up at bell times? Did you follow the teacher’s instructions so you were safe and in the right place? Were you polite and kind as you spoke to your teacher and peers?

POSITIVE BEHAVIOURS GAIN REWARDS
Classes that are ‘caught’ doing the right thing 5 times before end of term will receive ⭐Golden Time  ⭐

Julia Baird  | SPB4L Committee

Wellbeing

Breakfast Club - Jump on board!
A BIG thank you to all our new and current volunteers for Breakfast Club and Canteen! How lucky our students are to have you come and prepare some yummy toasties for them for breakfast!

Volunteering is easy! All you need to do is make cheese sandwiches, toast cheese sandwiches and cut up some fruit. Do you think you could spare 30 minutes in the mornings? Help is needed from 8.20-8.50am each day.

Please contact Alana on 0417 044 116 if you can help.

School Hats
Our school is a SunSmart School. This means we actively encourage and promote sun safety. We encourage the children to wear hats all year long to safely manage the average UV factor for our Australian climate.

In Term One and Term Four SCHOOL HATS ARE COMPULSORY when the children are outside playing and participating in learning or physical activities.

We ask that you support this school practice by helping locate your child’s school hat in anticipation for Term Four. It’s time to find those school hats, give them a wash and return them to school or pop them in bags ready for next term.

Merryn Sadler   | Wellbeing Coordinator

Sports

Diocesan Summer Sport Trials
Year 4 and 5 students who have nominated for the Diocesan Summer Sport Trials will be notified of their selection  by the end of this week.

Please note: Primary School children who have previously participated at a recognised high standard in the sports outlined - Touch, Softball, Cricket, Tennis and Basketball - and who are selected will travel to Dubbo with parents/careers in November 2024.

Touch, Softball, Cricket - Thursday 14th November 2024
Tennis and Basketball - Friday 15th November 2024

It is important to note that when nominating your child, you are acknowledging that your child has previously been recognised as demonstrating an exceptional standard of ability and have a very high knowledge of the rules of the game at a town/city or district competition level in the chosen sport. It is not sufficient to have simply participated in the sport previously.

We are limited in the number of students we can nominate so where large numbers of students display interest in a particular sport it will be necessary to hold selection trials at Cathedral School before finalising nominations for the trials to be held in Dubbo. Participation in these trials does not mean that your child has qualified for selection. Parent Information and Consent Forms will be distributed via Compass to selected representatives.

Australian Interschool Equestrian Championships
An update on our champion horse rider.
Harrison competed in his first events at the Australian
Interschool Equestrian Championships, riding his horse Bamborough Lady Jodie.
Harrison scored an impressive total of 102 points over three phases. He gained 35 championship points giving him the championship placing in first place.

Harrison was awarded the overall winner which gave him the “Australian Champion Working Hunter Primary K-6”
The Cathedral School community congratulates Harrison on his amazing results.

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

 Louise Condon   | Sports Coordinator

Cathedral School Fleecy Sports Tops

Marietta’s now stock the new Cathedral School fleecy sports top. 
Price is $40.

Parents and Friends

Next P&F Meeting: Wednesday 6th November 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 Fete 8th November 5pm- 8pm
If you would like to be part of the Fete Committee please reach out to
Courtney- 0404 378 971 or Jodie 0417 656 452
Keep an eye out for the Fete newsletter on a Thursday via compass to see how you can help

OPTIONAL SCHOOL JACKETS
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

Well done on successfully making it through another busy  term.
Congratulations for all your hard work and commitment which has shown how wonderful you are all sounding, along with great team work that is shown each week.

Happy Holidays and see you all next term.

Cathedral School Ensemble Times & Days:

• School Choir Tuesdays at 8:35am
• 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

Absences

Full Day Absence
Full Day absences (the Compass default time is 8:00am-5:00pm, please do not change this) are entered via the Compass App and Compass allows 7 days to add this.

Part Day Absences - Arriving Late or Early Departures
Complete this absence via the Compass Portal located in the School Office, when you bring your child to school late or collect your child early.
This information is recorded against your child’s attendance records and sent to your child’s teacher.

So that we can have your child ready for an early departure from school, please email your child’s teacher
(via Compass) the departure details.

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

   Canteen Roster Term 3 2024

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.

Out of School Hours Care (OSHC)

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