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Celebrating the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ
This week, we celebrate a very special day in the Church’s calendar, The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi. This feast reminds us of the great gift Jesus gave us at the Last Supper, the Eucharist.
At the Last Supper, Jesus shared bread and wine with His disciples and said, “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” He asked them to continue this meal in memory of Him. Every time we go to Mass and receive Holy Communion, we are sharing in that same sacred meal. It’s a beautiful way of being close to Jesus and remembering how much He loves us.
This Sunday’s Gospel, the story of the Loaves and Fishes, helps us understand this even more. In the story, a large crowd had gathered to listen to Jesus, and they were hungry. A young boy offered five loaves and two fish, and Jesus used this small gift to feed thousands of people. Everyone had enough, and there were even leftovers!
This miracle shows us that Jesus can take something small and make it more than enough. It also reminds us that Jesus feeds us spiritually through the Eucharist – giving us the strength, love and grace we need to live as His followers.
This feast is especially meaningful for our Year 4 students, who are preparing to receive Holy Communion for the first time in Term 3. Just like the crowd in the Gospel, they will be nourished by Jesus in a very special way. We are proud of their journey so far and keep them in our prayers as they continue to learn about this wonderful sacrament
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for the gift of the Eucharist.
Thank You for feeding us with Your love and helping us grow closer to You.
Please bless our Year 4 students as they begin preparing for their First Holy Communion.
Help them to always know how much You love them.
May we all come to Your table with open hearts, ready to be filled with Your peace.
Amen.
Year 4 First Eucharist- Important Dates
Family Sacrament Workshop- 6:00pm Wednesday, 23rd July (Learning Hub)
Presentation to the Parish Community- 10:30am Sunday, 3rd August (Church)
Student Reflection Day- 9:00am-3:20pm Wednesday, 6th August (Learning Hub)
Celebration of the Sacrament- 10:30am Sunday, 24th August (Church)
Detailed information will be sent home to eligible Year 4 families today. Please read the information and return the ‘Eucharist Enrolment Form’ to school by Friday, 4th July.
Year 6 Confirmation - St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne
2.30pm Sunday, 27th July
The Year 6 students are continuing to prepare to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation early in Term 3. This year, our students will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation with the students from St Peter’s, East Bentleigh and St Paul’s, Bentleigh.
Monday, 23rd June- Readers’ practice at the Cathedral with students from St Peter’s and St Paul’s. Duke and Leona will represent the St Catherine’s candidates.
Thursday 24th July- Year 6 Confirmation Reflection Day & Meet Bishop Tony Ireland (St Peter’s School)
Sunday 27th July- 2.00pm Year 6 Confirmation (St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne)
Parent/Teacher/Student Meetings
Semester 1 student reports will go home on Friday, 27th June.
Term 2 Parent/Teacher/Student Meetings will take place in your child’s classroom.
Please do not book back-to-back sessions for siblings. Leave at least 15 minutes between bookings.
Students are required to attend to share their learning and achievements.
Parent/Teacher/Student Meetings will take place on:
Monday, 30th June
Tuesday, 31st June.
Please click on the link to make a booking.
Bookings are now open.
St Catherine’s School Improvement Plan 2025-2028
With support from the MACS (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools) School Improvement Team, we have set our goals for the SIP 2025-2028. We have used data and recommendations from the 2024 School Review Process to formulate the Goals.
Goal 1: Learning & Teaching
To pursue excellence and equity in explicit instruction by:
- Implementing the MACS Flourishing Learners position statement, Vision for Instruction to embed knowledge-rich evidence by embedding the L&T SIF rubric-based teaching practice, where consistent pedagogy and explicit teaching enable all students to achieve proficiency in numeracy in literacy;
- Deepening teachers’ knowledge of the cognitive sciences, embedding the L&T rubric to continue to improve teacher practice.
Goal 2: Instructional Leadership
To enable instructional leadership that enhances teaching, learning and continuous improvement by:
- Ensuring professional learning and collaboration within and beyond the school encourages reflective practice to ensure a positive impact on student learning and wellbeing;
- Determining and enacting strategic priorities and actions for leadership growth.
Goal 3: Enabling Learners
To develop student agency in learning and wellbeing by:
- Identifying and implementing the high impact wellbeing and teaching strategies embedding the Vision for Engagement that promotes students’ readiness to learn, optimise cognitive load and develop resilience;
- Ensuring formative assessment fosters students’ self-efficacy by monitoring learning progress and being responsive to students’ learning needs.
Goal 4: Faith-Filled Community
To promote collaboration and inclusion as a faith-filled community by:
- Developing teachers’ capacity to engage students in interpreting their lives and the world, in dialogue and encounters with others and the Catholic tradition, identifying the interconnections between faith, culture and life;
- Promoting flourishing partnerships between parish and school, school and home, focusing on formation, learning and wellbeing outcomes.
Year 5/6 Learning Assembly
Congratulations to the Year 5/6 students and staff for a fantastic Learning Assembly last Thursday. They showcased their learning across all areas of the curriculum. Congratulations to Andrea Harvey, Joyce Dunne, Caherine Dudley and Paula Hamilton for all the work they did to prepare the students to showcase their learning. They all spoke articulately, confidently and were proud to share their learning.
MACSEYE- Onsite School Holiday Program
I’m pleased to announce that MACSEYE will be running a School Holiday Program onsite at St Catherine’s during the July School Holidays. Please see the PDF for more information and booking details.
See MACSEye News section for more information
Term 3 Afterschool Chess Club- ‘Chess Fanatics’
I have engaged an outside provider to run an after school Chess Club on Tuesday afternoon during term 3. The Chess Club will run from Week 2 until Week 8 (7 sessions). The Chess Master, Felix Chandler has offered a great introductory price of $90 for the term. Classes will run in the Learning Hub from 3.30-4.30pm. Beginners and experienced players are welcome. Please see the PDF for more information. Payments are to be made directly to Felix. I will supervise the students before the class begins (send an extra snack to school). MACSEYE will collect any students for After School Care if required after the class.
ADVANCE NOTICE
Remaining 2025 School Closure days
Term 3
Week 9 Friday 19th September
Term 4
Week 5 Monday 3rd November (Day before Melbourne Cup Day)
Week 7 Friday 21st November
Last day of school for 2025
Week 11 - Yr 6 Monday 15th December @ 3:20 p.m.
Week 11 - Foundation - Year 5 & Staff 16th December @ 3:20 p.m.
Term 2 Dates
Week 10
Monday 23rd June - Walking club @ 8:40am
Monday 23rd June - School choir @ 1:45pm
Tuesday 24th June - Playgroup 9-11am
Tuesday 24th June - Chess club @ 1:45pm
Thursday 26th June - Playgroup 9-11am
Friday 27th June- Semester 1 Reports sent home
Week 11
Monday 30th June - Walking club @ 8:40am
Monday 30th June - School choir @ 1:45pm
Monday 30th June - Parent / Student / Teacher meeting
Tuesday 1st July - Playgroup 9-11am
Tuesday 1st July - Chess club @ 1:45pm
Tuesday 1st July - Parent / Student / Teacher meeting
Thursday 3rd July - Playgroup 9-11am
Friday 4th July- Last day of Term 2 @ 3:20pm (Term 3 begins Monday 21st July)
FJH Term 2 Learning Wrap Up
It has been a HUGE term in Foundation and the students have worked exceptionally hard. They have learned so much since the beginning of the year and absolutely love being at school! Congratulations Foundation students on a wonderful first semester at school!
On Tuesday 29th of July, our Foundation students will be celebrating 100 Days at school. We would love for you to attend our brief whole school celebration assembly from 9-9:15am. All are welcome!
This is a part of our Foundation Learning Assembly and will be followed by some activities with the Foundation students, which the Foundation families are invited to attend and participate in!
Mathematics:
This term in Maths we have been learning about part-whole relationships, shape and continued with our focus on counting and place value. We have been looking at how numbers can be broken into parts, in many different ways and using hands-on activities to explore basic addition, developing our understanding of how different number combinations can make up the parts of a number. We even played some special games in class sport to help us to develop our understanding of part-whole relationships.
In our unit on shapes, we have named, sorted and identified everyday 2D shapes like circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. We went on shape scavenger hunts around the school to help us to clarify our understanding of and determine the features of these shapes. One of our favourite activities was creating our super scary shape monsters!
We have also been exploring numbers up to 20, learning how to recognise, write and represent them with lots of games and hands-on activities. We have learnt about the Friends of 10 by singing our favourite song lots and lots!
Phonics:
In Phonics, we have been working extremely hard and have mastered ALL of the initial sounds for each letter of the alphabet! As a part of the Little Learners Love Literacy (LLLL) program, we were introduced to Milo Monkey who was planning his birthday party. Every couple of days, we would meet a new character that Milo Monkey was inviting to his birthday party, in the Milo’s Birthday Surprise Book, which on every page, introduced us to a new letter and sound. In Week 7, we had been introduced to all of the characters, but Milo Monkey was sad because all of his friends were busy. Little did he know that all of his friends were planning a birthday surprise for him. To celebrate the success and learning that the Foundation students had achieved, we decided to plan a surprise birthday party for Milo and the students.
Thursday morning was a normal day, except Milo was missing. After recess, we decided to go searching for him - but first, we needed to read the book again for clues. On the second last page of the book was a special note with clues that sent us on a Scavenger Hunt around the school to find all of Milo’s friends. Every clue linked to a different sound, so our fantastic Foundation detectives used their knowledge and learnings to find all 25 characters as a team. Finally, we were back at the classroom and inside was the birthday surprise! The students were SO excited! To celebrate Milo’s Birthday, we played Pass the Parcel, Pin the Tail on Zoe Zebra, decorated Milo muffins, had some party food and had a dance party! To quote many of the kids, it was the “Best Day Ever!” Congratulations Foundation on learning all of the letters!!
English:
Throughout the term, we have been busy using our knowledge of letter sound relationships to read, spell and write lots! We have been reading lots of books including, ‘We Are In A Book,’ ‘That Is Not A Good Idea,’ ‘The Great Paper Caper’ and ‘Lost and Found.’ We have been making text to self connections, making predictions by using text clues, comparing and contrasting ideas and exploring fiction and non-fiction text features.
In writing, we have been writing lots of informative texts, especially procedures. We have been learning about the structure of sentences and what is needed to make a full sentence, including capital letters and full stops. We have been reading lots of informative books about helpers in our community, road safety and animals. We have used our knowledge to write lots of fantastic facts.
Chemical Science:
In Science, we have been learning about different materials and the properties that different materials have, such as being soft, hard, or waterproof. We have sorted lots of everyday materials and objects into categories based on their properties, by touching, testing and talking about them, and have explored how these properties determine what something is used for. We have discovered that materials can change by bending, stretching, or folding, and applied this knowledge when creating our twisty dragonflies and making paper planes. We have investigated how materials can be combined or changed in reversible or irreversible ways, and explored the difference between solids, liquids and gases.
In Week 8 of Term, we had a Science Day with the Year 1 and 2 students where we learned about all things chemical science. We discovered the physical difference between solids, liquids and gases, investigated the impact of freezing on different liquids, explored how the properties of materials change when heated or cooled when making jelly, explored how different liquids react with gummy bears, blew up a balloon with a bottle and even made lemon volcanoes! Last week, we took on the Big Bad Blow Dryer challenge! We used paddle pop sticks, straws and lego blocks to make the three houses built in the story of the Three Little Pigs. We made predictions and designed houses that we thought could survive the Big Bad Blow Dryer! It was lots of fun!
Kihayl - For the fantastic effort you put into your writing and for creating a very detailed and well structured information report on elephants.
Rian - For always giving your best in every learning task and showing incredible effort in your writing.
Joshua - For always showing kindness, care and compassion to others, and for being a thoughtful friend to everyone in the classroom.
Isabelle - For bringing a positive attitude to every learning opportunity and for creating a fantastic information report on elephants. Isabelle included subheadings and well structured paragraphs.
Archie - For putting in fantastic effort to improve your handwriting and for working hard to build your letter and sound knowledge when reading and writing.
Kensie - For her strong work ethic, the pride and humility she brings to all her endeavours, and her caring, collaborative spirit that enriches our learning community.
Sofia - For her genuine love of learning, her curiosity and enthusiasm in every task, and her thoughtful, positive contributions as a valued and collaborative team member.
A big congratulations to Xavier on winning this trophy for “Defensive Player of the Season” for his basketball team. Well done Xavier!!!
Think you know your hits from your one-hit wonders? 
Gather your friends, grab a drink, and get ready to test your music smarts at our 2025 Music Trivia Night! It's going to be a night of epic tunes, laughs, and friendly competition. Prizes, good vibes, and bragging rights await — book a baby-sitter and don’t miss out! 
Click on the image for more information
We have 4 special passes to give away to 4 families. Pick up from the office, first in first served!
