Catholic Education Week

This week is Catholic Education Week in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne to celebrate their Catholic mission, the pivotal role they play within their local community and the strength of the sector.  The theme for 2025 is ‘Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you’ (Isa 60: 1).

St Catherine’s Open day  9.30-11.00am Thursday 20th March

This Thursday, we invite prospective families to visit and tour our school. Please let any friends or families know and invite them to register online via our website. Applications are now open for 2026 enrolments.

Please apply online via the below QR code or our website.

Monday 17th March

Happy St Patrick’s Day to all our families

St Patrick’s Mass & Concert in the Park 

On Friday, 21st March our Year 6 Leaders will represent St Catherine’s at the Catholic Schools Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral. They will be accompanied by their teachers, Miss Dunne, Mrs Harvey and Mrs Hamilton.

Prayer for 2nd Week of Lent

Loving God, we are changed because you love us.   Help us to know the depth of your love so that we may never be afraid to speak and act in your name.  Shine your light on us so that our hearts and minds are open to doing your will. Pope Francis tells us that “with the Jubilee, we start a new life, a new phase… we begin again.” Let us go forth from here, sharing the light of hope and message of God’s love in all that we say and do. 

God, guide us on our journey as ‘Pilgrims of Hope.’ 

Amen

The season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to alleviate poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice.

We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. Each family (eldest child in the family) has received a Project Compassion box for your donations, or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: lent.caritas.org.au If you choose to collect during Lent, please return the boxes to school by Monday, 31st March, so donations can be sent to Caritas Australia by the end of term. 

Tha Earth & Spirit Year 6 Leaders will organise a fundraiser in the last week of term with money raised going towards Caritas. Details to be advised soon.

Congratulations to Molly for this amazing effort!

Over the weekend, Molly ran her very own lemonade stand to raise money for Caritas Australia!

She put in an amazing effort, making signs, preparing lemonade, and braving the scorching heat to sell her wares. It was wonderful to see a few families from school come along to support her.

Thanks to her hard work and the generosity of the community, Molly raised an impressive $53.55! Well done, Molly!

Pancake Tuesday (4th March)                                                         

Thank you to staff that came in early to cook and serve pancakes to students as they arrived at school on Pancake Tuesday. Students really look forward to Pancake Tuesday each year. The smile on their faces as they skipped into school reflected this.

 

Sacrament of Reconciliation

10.30am Saturday, 22nd March St Catherine’s church

Congratulations to the following Year 3 students who will make their First Reconciliation this Saturday. Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare for this special day. 

Sacrament of Confirmation  Dates

Wednesday 30th April-  6.00pm Confirmation Family Workshop (Learning Hub)

Sunday 18th May- 10.30am Confirmation Presentation Mass (St Catherine’s Church)

Date TBA- Confirmation Reflection Day (St Peter’s School)

Sunday 27th July- 2.00pm Confirmation (St Patrick’s Cathedral- Melbourne)

Sacrament of Eucharist Dates

Wednesday 23rd July-  6.00pm Eucharist Family Workshop (Learning Hub)

Sunday 3rd August- 10.30am Eucharist Presentation Mass (St Catherine’s Church)

Wednesday 6th August- Eucharist Reflection Day (At school)

Sunday 24th August- 10.30am First Eucharist (St Catherine’s Church)

MACSEYE Before and After School Care

Term 1 Holiday Program Care for working families

MACSEYE have informed the school and families that they will not be providing care onsite these upcoming holidays. Megan and I are in the process of organising alternative care offsite and we will keep you informed of progress. We are also communicating with MACSEYE and will let you know if anything changes.

Chess Club

Carmel Donlan is running our Chess club every Tuesday lunchtime.

Choir

Srebrenka Casaceli is kindly running our choir every Monday lunchtime.

Term 1 2025 dates

Week 8 

Monday 17th March - 24th March - NAPLAN Catch Ups Years 3 & 5

Tuesday 18th March 10.00 -10.45am - F/1/2 Fire Incursion

Wednesday 19th March - Year 3 Reconciliation students - Reflection Day 

Wednesday 19th March 10:00 -11:00am - 3/4 class mass

Thursday 20th March - Ride to School day

Thursday 20th March 9.30-11.00am - Open Day for 2026 families

Friday 21st March - Harmony Day (Wear a touch of Orange)

Friday 21st March - Yr 6 Leaders attending St Patrick's - Catholic Education Week Mass

Saturday 22nd March 10:30-11:30am - Year 3 Reconciliation students -Reconciliation day

Week 9 

Wednesday 26th March 10:00-11:00am - Year 5/ 6 and Foundation class mass

Week 10

Wednesday 2nd April 9:00-9:30am - Easter Hat Parade, Raffle & Caritas Fundraiser  

Friday 4th April 3:20pm - End of Term 1 (school resumes Tuesday 22nd April)

FJH

In Foundation, we have been learning about the mathematical concept of time. We have focused on sequencing events, especially during the school day, exploring the language of sequencing and recognising the days of the week.

To help students learn the days of the week, we have been singing the ‘Days of the Week’ song everyday which has helped us to reinforce our understanding through repetition and rhythm. Every morning we have been reading the date and identifying the day today, yesterday and tomorrow. 

One of the most exciting activities was using The Very Hungry Caterpillar story. Students sequenced the events from the book, identifying the days of the week as the caterpillar eats different foods, helping to reinforce both days and the concept of sequencing.

These activities not only helped students understand the progression of time but also supported their numeracy and problem-solving skills in a fun and interactive way. It was wonderful to watch them gain confidence in these early time concepts!

Well Done Foundation!

1/2HB

In 1/2HB our big focus has been on learning how to identify the place value of 2 and 3 digit numbers. Some activities that we have been doing with our 2 and 3 digit numbers are: 

• Making our number using MAB and bundling sticks
• Identifying how many hundreds, tens and ones there are
• Identifying what comes before and after our number
• Identifying what is 10 more and less from our number
• Counting on and back from our number
• Skip counting by 10’s from our number

Check out some of our numbers we have been working with!

3/4JB

Grade 3/4 students have been having a blast learning multiplication through creativity and music! They’ve been remixing popular pop songs into catchy times table tunes to make memorization fun. Some students took a hands-on approach by designing skyscraper arrays on classroom windows to visualize multiplication. They’ve also explored a variety of strategies to tackle problems, including repeated addition. Some students were exposed to the area models for larger numbers, and the lattice method for tricky calculations. Ask your child to share their favorite song or strategy—they’re sure to impress you!

5/6

To celebrate St Patrick's Day, the Year 5/6's helped their Foundation buddies to make hats and shamrock people. The focus was on fun, collaboration and strengthening fine motor skills. The senior students enjoyed dressing up a little to mark this special feast day, and our Year 6 leaders will participate in the annual St Patrick's day Mass at the cathedral on Friday.

Páidí was Gaurd of Honour in memory of Jim Stynes at the Melbourne Demon game yesterday on behalf of the Irish Community.

Congratulations to Liam - Year 3

Liam completed his 1st kids 2xu triathlon and did very well. 

Click on the image to catch up on the latest parish bulletin

Kingston Council: WOW- Walk or Wheel to school

In 2024 Kingston Council staff worked with staff, students and parents (surveys & consultations) to develop the ‘St Catherine’s Primary School Walk & Wheel Route Map’. A copy of the map was sent  home for each family early in 2024. The suggested routes to school map has been designed to help encourage students to walk, bike, scoot, skate or park and stride safely to school. We encourage you to use this to plan safe routes to school. Please consider using this map on Thursday for our 2025 ‘Ride to School ‘ Day.

to Woolies Moorabbin for providing our Playgroup with fresh produce.

Click on the image to book your place

click on the image for further information & to book

Click on the image to visit Sam's website