Holy Spirit Schools eNewsletter

Executive Principal News

Dear Parents and Carers

Our new school year has seen the students across K-2 and 3-6 settle in very well to new routines, with new teachers and support staff, new classrooms (following the refurbishment upgrade of both sites at the end of Dec and through January) and meeting they’ve enjoyed learning new routines and spending time with old and new friends.

We held our first combined Opening School Mass two weeks ago at Holy Spirit Church Kurri, where we were able to induct our School Leaders who will serve helping others across both school sites. As the incoming Principal at Holy Spirit Kurri I am excited to work with such great role models who are ready to lead our school communities. Our thanks to Fr James and Fr Solomon for blessing everyone in our community and for presiding at this special celebration where the students sang so well and were reverent and prayerful. Thank you also to the proud parents whom we thank for their efforts to support, encourage and foster their child’s leadership skills. I am thoroughly enjoying this opportunity to engage more often now with the older students and I am invested in their growth, development and positive outcomes for their future.

I am grateful for this opportunity to work with both schools as the Executive Principal and I thank those of you who have come and had a chat or inquired how things are going. I really appreciate that. Our focus looking ahead is to align our two Holy Spirit Schools more closely and we are actively and enthusiastically seeking ways to make this happen. Staff came together on the very first day of the school year where we proudly named the strengths of both schools; sought to identify the similarities and highlight the opportunities for growth, enhancement and alignment. We are committed to having shared Professional Learning Days (Pupil Free Days) at both schools on the same day; special event days will be on the same day so parents may travel between the two sites to be present for their children; we will host a combined Cross Country and Athletics Carnival so parents and students can enjoy being together. We welcome parent feedback if you have ideas you’d like to share about ways we may be able to come together.

Our Executive Team is working closely; our Assistant Principals are very busy with logistics as we get processes embedded; our REC’s have come together for planning our masses and liturgical celebrations; our LST’s have come together to share their expertise and ideas; we have teachers working collaboratively to plan our upcoming Cross Country and Athletics Carnival Events. Yesterday all staff came together to attend some training around Trauma Informed Responses, showing their dedication and interest to learn so we can respond consistently to our students’ needs K-6. It is indeed an exciting time for both our schools.

Our School Improvement Goals are aligned across both schools in 2025:

Catholic Identity

Learning

Well being

All our Professional Learning and plans for student improvement are based around these goals. See below.

Our schoolwide expectations are being reviewed through a staff driven process and in response to student needs. We will be seeking parent input and student input as we reimagine the Positive Behaviour 4 Learning Framework at Kurri. Getting Behaviour Expectations clearly articulated to students, staff and parents; by explicitly teaching expectations across both schools and the implementation of consistent messages across the schools will provide both schools with the framework required to support all our students to be effective learners.

BYOD: Sincere thanks to our teachers and staff and to our CSO DIAL and TECH team who have actively been working to support our Year 5 students with setting up devices effectively. Moving forward in term 3 we will be making suggestions for a bulk purchase of devices which will ensure less diversity of devices and easier set up for all. Holy Spirit Kurri has the BYOD program across Year 5 and 6, however we will seek parent feedback prior to making a change to possibly include Year 4 in this program for 2026.

Uniform: It is great to see how smart our students look. Wearing the uniform with pride is very important in ensuring students feel a sense of belonging. The latest additional uniform items of the girls’ shorts and skirts look fabulous. There is a new soft shell jacket available however this is an item that will be phased in over the next two years and parents are not expected to go out and purchase this new item. It is however fleecy lined and windproof making it a more comfortable and smarter unisex jacket. The unisex sport shorts with the monogram and the new style sport skorts for girls, with monogram, also look terrific. If families are in need of second-hand items, each school does currently have donated items available. Please contact the appropriate school office. May I remind Primary students that jewellery is to be kept to a minimum; anklets/bracelets/wrist bands/necklaces are best to be worn on a weekend. Nail polish is not permitted at school. Our school uniform looks terrific -please ensure your child wears it correctly. School photos are coming in the next few weeks so we all want to look good!

Canteen: Canteen is up and running successfully at Kurri and our thanks to Mrs Freeman for her enthusiasm to provide this opportunity for our students and families. Our thanks to Tarsha Green for her work to keep the Abermain canteen operating. Canteen cannot operate without the support of helpers. If you can help out even one day a term, please contact the schools. We would love to hear from you.

Breakfast Club: Mrs Lynch and her crew of wonderful helpers are actively cooking and serving brekkie items if students have missed their breakfast on a Monday or Friday morning. Great job! Thank you!

NAPLAN: NAPLAN assessments are well underway in Years 3 and 5. My thanks to the teachers for their efforts to prepare the students for what to expect and to minimise anxiety by ensuring students know that they are simply asked to do their best. NAPLAN will continue across next week for Year 5. Please ensure your child attends school.

Representative Sport: At Kurri we have many students trialling for inclusion in a representative sport or a gala day. These are great and exciting opportunities for our older students and our thanks to Miss Williams and Mrs Cotten for ensuring these opportunities are available for our students. All students trialling are encouraged to do their best and to know we are proud of you!

Exciting Upgrades: There are several projects planned and underway for both school sites. At Kurri we are eagerly awaiting the installation of a PA system and bell commander system in coming weeks. We are also due to have the telephones upgraded across the school is ensure greater connectivity, safety and better quality calls. We are awaiting confirmation for the project to install glass stackable doors across the Stage 3 block of classrooms. When completed this would enable the school to have a gathering space when doors are stacked, given the school has no hall. The request for a new cola to provide shade and shelter has been requested. At Abermain the request for funding for an additional climbing play equipment and enhancement of the KB classroom has been submitted. Due to recent works the classrooms across both schools look terrific, new furniture for Yr 3-6 will be planned for over coming years.

Reminders – Morning Drop Off and Afternoon Pick Up: In the morning teachers are on duty from 8.30am at both sites. When parents drop your child/children at the front gate at 8.10 or 8.15am they are not in the care of teachers and should not be left please. We had the situation recently where a dog came into the playground twice at Kurri. Luckily it was quite tame, but at that time there were over twenty five-thirty students already at school and behaving unsafely. The dog became agitated. We do understand that parents need to drop and get going to work.

IF your child needs to be dropped at school prior to 8.30am, Kurri OOSH supervision or St Nic’s OOSH at Abermain is available and should be utilised. Thank you. Safety is our priority.

Kurri Afternoon Pick Ups: We are seeing more and more parents standing on the traffic island. This action impedes the bus coming from the Abermain school bus and its ability to pull up, have young children alight safely and walk either into the school or to their parents. PLEASE parents do not stand there. It is not safe. Thank you.

Parent Information Sessions: The evening Meet the Teacher evening at Abermain in Week 6 and the Meet the Teacher morning at Kurri in Week 7 were well attended opportunities. Thank you parents and carers for coming along to meet our teachers who are working to ensure every child feels that they belong.

There are lots of great news item in our first combined newsletter. We will be seeking feedback about this and the new weekly communication “Peek at the Week” from both school sites.

Have a wonderful fortnight ahead,

Diane Murphy

Sharing Our Faith Abermain

OPENING MASS Year K-6

Its was a very big and exciting day when Holy Spirit Schools came together to celebrate their Opening Mass for the first time in many, many years! Our Infants students safely and sensibly travelled on the bus to Kurri Kurri Holy Spirit Church.

The Church was filled with the joyous singing and dancing, confident and capable readers sharing in the Liturgy of the Word and Prayers of Intercession and many responsible and reverent students who created the sacred space with symbols important to our school community and brought forward the gifts so our community could share Communion together. The students listened carefully and really took part beautifully in engaging with the Mass.

We thank our students and teachers for their preparation and reverence on the day. Thank you to all who came along and shared in the jubilant celebration opening our 2025 school year. We are very grateful to Fr James and Fr Solomon for presiding the Mass and supporting us in fostering our Holy Spirit School’s sense of belonging!

SHROVE TUESDAY

Pancakes were hot, ready and waiting for the students to devour at recess as we celebrated Shrove Tuesday. We spoke about the Catholic tradition of preparing for the season of Lent, through engaging in a final round of merriment and delicious feasting before the Lenten fast begins on Ash Wednesday, and our beautiful students certainly took up this tradition eagerly!

ASH WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday, to mark the beginning of Lent our students and teachers came together in grade groups and took part in an Ash Wednesday Liturgy. All were marked with the sign of the cross using ashes from the palms burnt from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations, which is the first day of Holy Week in the Church’s Liturgical calendar.

VINEYARDS PASTORAL REGION MASS TIMES

St Joseph's Church Cessnock

Friday 2:30 PM - Adoration 2:30-3:30pm

Saturday 6:00 PM (Vigil)

Sunday 10:30 AM Mass

Monday 9:00 AM Mass

Wednesday 9:00 AM Mass

Wednesday 10:00 AM - Adoration 10:00am-12:00noon

Wednesday 5:00 PM - Adoration 5:00-6:00pm

Wednesday 6:00 PM Mass

St Michael the Archangel's Church Wollombi

Sunday 2:00 PM (2nd and 5th Sundays)

Holy Spirit Church Kurri Kurri

Saturday 9:00 AM Mass

Saturday 9:30 AM - Reconciliation Reconciliation

Saturday 4:00 PM - Adoration Eucharistic Adoration

Sunday 8:30 AM Mass

Tuesday 10:00 AM - Adoration Eucharistic Adoration

Thursday 7:00 PM Mass

St Francis Xavier's Church Abermain

Friday 9:15 AM Mass

Sunday 4:30 PM Mass

Tuesday 6:00 PM Mass

Wednesday 5:00 PM - Adoration 5pm - 6pm

Sarah Haines

REC Abermain

Assistant Principal News Abermain

Attendance

Consistent school attendance is crucial for children’s social development, learning, and academic success. Here are some ways parents can support their child's attendance and engagement:

Ensure Punctuality: Help your child arrive at school on time. School starts at 8:55 am, but a teacher is on playground duty from 8:25 am, giving children time to socialise and settle in before class begins.
Promote Full-Day Attendance: Encourage your child to stay for the entire school day, which ends at 2:55 pm. The final session includes important learning activities, such as group work and creative projects, that contribute to their development.

By prioritising regular attendance and minimising absences, parents help create a positive environment for their child's academic and social growth.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) is a school-wide framework aimed at promoting positive behaviours and creating safe, supportive learning environments. The approach focuses on teaching students positive behaviours to help them succeed academically and socially, similar to how we teach essential skills like swimming or reading. At Holy Spirit Infants Abermain, the PB4L framework is built around four key principles:

I am Safe!
I am Respectful!
I am Responsible!
I am a Learner!

Each of these principles is supported by specific behaviours that the school encourages students to demonstrate.

At Holy Spirit Infants, the school takes a step-by-step approach to teaching positive behaviours. Every two weeks, staff focus on a specific behaviour based on students' needs. This behaviour is discussed in assemblies, classrooms, and on the playground, with guiding questions to help students understand its importance. Students are rewarded with coloured tokens for demonstrating the targeted behaviour, and the class with the most tokens at the end of the fortnight wins a reward.

Wayilla, a black cockatoo seen near the school, serves as a mascot and visual reminder for students to follow the PB4L rules. The school is introducing students to the PB4L matrix and Wayilla through art projects.

For Term 1, the focus is on familiarizing students with PB4L, with the first two behaviours being: “I listen carefully” and “I am in the right place at the right time.” For weeks 8 and 9, the focus shifts to the "I am Safe" domain with the rule: "I walk on tar, concrete and around buildings", encouraging safe movement around the school.

Bus Safety - BE BUS AWARE!

Parents and carers are urged to take safety precautions when assisting their child with bus travel. The key guidelines include:

Responsibility: Parents are responsible for getting their child to and from the bus stop safely.
Post-Bus Safety: Children are most at risk in the minutes after getting off the bus.
Supervision: Always supervise your child and hold their hand when walking to and from the bus stop, and when crossing the road, until they are at least 10 years old.
Meeting Points: Always meet your child at the designated stop time, on the same side of the road as the bus stop and never call them across the road.
Road Crossing: Remind children to wait until the bus has gone before choosing a safe place to cross.
Stop! Look! Listen! Think! Teach children to stop one step back from the curb, look both ways, listen for traffic, and think about whether it's safe to cross the road.

Families can access more bus safety information through the provided links: Bus safety for school students and Welcome to Safety Town.

Wellbeing Week

Wellbeing Week took place in week 5 of this term, focusing on the importance of taking care of both our minds and bodies. This week aimed to highlight how wellbeing positively impacts student learning, and vice versa.

Infant's students participated in a variety of fun activities, including reading with a buddy or friend, meditation, a scavenger hunt, enjoying ice blocks, and having an out-of-uniform day. It was a successful and enjoyable week for both staff and students, promoting overall wellbeing in a relaxed and engaging way.

“Let’s Love Water” Show – A Fun Learning Experience for Infants Students

On Monday, 10th March, our Infants students enjoyed the “Let’s Love Water” show, which taught the importance of water conservation. The fast-paced, colourful, and interactive performance kept the students engaged and sparked conversations about saving water. Highlights included creating water with a safe explosive reaction, Eddy the AquaBot making elephant-sized toothpaste, covering Professor Puddle in toilet paper, and helping a flower shower work through song. It was a fun, memorable, and educational experience that emphasized water-saving in an entertaining way!

Rebecca Kearns

AP Abermain

Assistant Principal News Kurri Kurri

NAPLAN 

Students in Years 3 & 5 will participate in NAPLAN in Weeks 7 & 8 (14th-24rd March). The school is beginning preparations in order to effectively administer the assessments.  This involves technical elements around devices and internet access, installing the lock down browser and ensuring all students have access to a device.  NAPLAN utilises a specialised browser that ensures students cannot access other platforms during the assessment ie google.  These are installed at school and have no impact on devices outside of NAPLAN. 

Part of this preparation also includes preparing the children for completing an online assessment. 

For our Year 3 students, this will be a new experience.  For our Year 5 students, this will be their first time participating in the Writing assessment online. Our Year 3 and 5 teachers are giving the students lots of opportunities to become more familiar with the layout and tools used in the online assessments.  If you would like to give your child more exposure to the online platform, below is a link to some practice tests that your child might like to complete at home. After accessing the link, scroll down and click on the appropriate school year for your child. 

https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/public-demonstration-site 

I have also included links to some documents that give further information about the purpose, benefits and structure of the NAPLAN assessments. Please remember that NAPLAN is a snapshot of your child’s educational growth. 

https://nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/simple-english-naplan-parent-carer-information.pdf 

https://acaraweb.blob.core.windows.net/resources/20150424_NAPLAN_chalkboard.pdf 

Since 2019 Education Ministers have been considering a range of changes to NAPLAN. These changes include bringing forward the testing. As of 2023, tests are now undertaken in March instead of May.  

Now that the tests are undertaken fully online, reporting can be done earlier in the year with parents and schools scheduled to receive individualised reports in July 2024. Benchmarks will be more meaningful and clearer to reflect the personalised online tests that students undertake. They will be set against a challenging but reasonable standard of literacy and numeracy expected for the child at the time of testing.  

Education ministers agreed in 2019 to set proficiency standards for numeracy and literacy assessed by NAPLAN.  

The new standards will give teachers and parents better information about what a student can do. The names of the new standards are based on advice from ACARA’s First Nations Australians Advisory Group and parent bodies. They are Exceeding, Strong, Developing and Needs additional support.

These standards will be accompanied by detailed descriptions that are useful for teachers and families. The descriptions are developed by a panel of teachers. They will simplify reporting, replacing the current 10 NAPLAN bands and national minimum standard, allowing parents and carers to know at-a-glance whether their child is where they need to be in literacy and numeracy, which are skills that underpin all other learning.  

These reports and standards will provide parents and schools with easy-to-read information about what they mean for a student’s strength in literacy and numeracy. The statistical benchmarks for the new categories of achievement will also be confirmed by teachers with relevant experience. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your child’s teacher or myself. 

Angela Waters

AP Kurri Kurri

Sharing Our Faith Kurri Kurri

Welcome to a new school year at Holy Spirit Primary School! I would also like to welcome to our new staff and new families!  

Kurri Kurri Foyer Display  

Throughout the term, each grade takes a turn in decorating our foyer display about different events and to showcase their artwork.  

Our first display is an all about our staff to welcome you to our Holy Spirit Primary community.  

Thank you to Year Three for their class artwork display

About our School- Holy Spirit Primary Kurri Kurri 

Catholic schools offer a unique educational experience which forms the whole child (head, heart and hands). Holy Spirit Primary School provides an environment which integrates the gospel values and example of Jesus in our everyday life and culture of our school.  

At Holy Spirit Primary, we acknowledge our role in Catholic mission to proclaim the Good News and to be the living presence of Jesus through our words and actions. Religious Education is a Key Learning Area which assists students in nurturing their own relationship with God. We provide opportunities for students to learn about and experience the traditions, rituals and customs of a Catholic Faith. These include Religion lessons, formation experiences, Church experiences, prayer and liturgy experiences, sacramental programs and social justice initiatives. We recognise our role, together with families and the local Parish in developing the faith life of each child. 

Students are provided with an environment where dialogue about faith and religious plurality is valued. In our ever-changing society we want to ensure our students feel welcomed and included in our school community. 

At Holy Spirit Primary and Infants, we are working hard to ensure consistency across both our schools.

Our School Charism - Josephite

Holy Spirit Primary School is grounded in the traditions of Mary MacKillop and the Sisters of Saint Joseph who were instrumental in the foundation of Catholic education in the Kurri Kurri community. We strive to honour our Josephite heritage and ensure our students respond to social justice issues in the community. 

Being a Josephite school means we value: 

Inclusivity

Dignity of all- respect for everyone

Supporting the poor

Serving others (servant leadership) – promoting a selfless attitude

Courage

Perseverance

Striving for excellence and making a positive difference to others

Our role is to be the face of God’s love by promoting the dignity of all with justice, equity and respect. 

Opening School Mass 

On Friday 27th February, Holy Spirit Primary and Infants Schools held our Opening Schools Mass in the Church at 10:00am.

It was an exciting day as our two schools combined to celebrate the 2025 school year and to commission our school leaders. Parents and Carers of our leaders were called upon to pin the leadership badge on their child’s shirt/tunic.

Thank you to Fr James and Fr Solomon for blessing our badges, students and staff for the school year ahead. Thank you to parents for coming along and sharing in this special day with us

Congratulations to the following students:

Abermain School Leaders

Caleb Hernandez, Maverick Welch, Carter Williams, Georgia Lodge, Zoe Percival, Pippa Johnson.

Kurri Kurri School and Vice Captains

Henry O’Brien and Sophie Miller- School Captains

George Firth and Xanthie Smith- Vice Captains

Kurri Kurri Sports Captains

Marians- Lyla Schoupp and Kade Power

Joseph- Chloe Dela Gente and Zayne Mueller

Patrick- Isabelle Mahomet and Rhyleigh Cockerill

Francis- Cruz Cresswell and Sophie Patton

Shrove Tuesday

On Tuesday 4^th March we celebrated Shrove Tuesday. The students learnt about the significance of Shrove Tuesday and enjoyed a pancake.  

Shrove Tuesday is a Christian festival celebrated in many countries across the world. It falls on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. The exact date of Shrove Tuesday changes from year to year. However, it’s always 47 days before Easter Sunday and on a Tuesday. 

The name shrove comes from the old word ‘shriving’, which means to listen to someone’s sins and forgive them. Traditionally, Christians would go to church on Shrove Tuesday to confess their sins before Lent. In Australia, Shrove Tuesday can be also called Pancake Day! Traditionally during Lent, Christians would give up rich, tasty foods such as butter, eggs, sugar and fat. Shrove Tuesday was the last chance to eat them – and what better way to do so than with a delicious pancake! 

Ash Wednesday and Lent

On Wednesday 5^th March Holy Spirit Primary celebrated Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent by joining the Parish at Mass in the Church.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the season of Lent. It is called Ash Wednesday as we have the sign of the cross marked in ash on our foreheads. The purpose of the symbol of the cross is to remind us of Jesus and the sacrifice he made by his crucifixion. The ashes are created from burnt palms from Palm Sunday.

Lent is a time in which Christians are supposed to be quiet and thoughtful, preparing themselves for Easter. During Lent we often pray, donate to charities and fast from food or give up some of the things we like to do. This is in memory of Jesus who fasted in the desert for 40 days. Throughout Lent we are encouraged to reflect upon our lives and our actions. We are called to fast from qualities of anger, selfishness and insincerity but to instead feast on being patient, compassionate and truthful. The colour associated with lent is purple and is represented in our sacred spaces in the classroom. During Lent, people often create Lenten promises which they hope to keep for the 40 days. This can include choosing to give something up or including acts of kindness. 

Project Compassion

Project Compassion 2025- ‘Unite Against Poverty’ 

Caritas Australia is the international aid and development organisation of the Catholic Church in Australia and is part of one of the largest aid networks in the world – working in over 200 countries and territories. It mobilises Australians to raise much-needed funds to help alleviate poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity in the most vulnerable and marginalised communities in the world. 

Project Compassion is held throughout Lent as a timely reminder of the importance of solidarity and how a single act of kindness – whether big or small, can make a life-changing impact in the lives of those who need it most.  

This year the theme of Project Compassion is ‘Unite Against Poverty. This phrase invites us to take action to make a lasting difference. It is a call for all of us to play our part in making the world a better place by working together. 

Each year, Project Compassion runs during the Church season of Lent. Holy Spirit Primary will again be participating in Project Compassion. We invite you to help us raise funds and stand in solidarity with the millions of people across the world.

We ask you to join us in building a more just and fairer world: a world in balance, at peace and free of poverty. 

Project Compassion boxes will be sent home with one box per family. Thank you in advance to all those that generously give what they can to this great cause. For those donating, if boxes could be returned to the office with your child’s name and class that would be greatly appreciated.

The Caritas website has more information about Project Compassion and stories of people living in vulnerable communities. 

https://www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion/

Phoebe Spencer

REC Kurri Kurri

Harmony Day Abermain

Harmony Day Kurri Kurri

On Friday 21^st March, Holy Spirit will celebrate Harmony Day. This year the theme of Harmony Week is ‘EVERYBODY BELONGS’. The day will be an OUT OF UNIFORM day. Children are asked if they could wear something ORANGE on the day. Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect. By wearing orange during Harmony Week, we are showing our support for cultural diversity and inclusiveness in Australia.

Sport News Kurri Kurri

Highlights in Sport

This term’s sporting events have kicked off at a rapid pace, with many students proudly representing our school at carnivals and representative trials. Excitement is building as we approach the upcoming gala day at the end of the term.

A heartfelt thank you to the families who have supported their children by transporting them to these events. Your dedication ensures that our students can showcase their talents and participate in the sports they love.

A friendly reminder that all sports communication this year will be shared via Compass Events or announcements. Paper notes will only be provided for students progressing to regional trials. If you experience any issues accessing the Compass App, please contact the front office for support and assistance.

School Swimming carnival

Our swimming carnival was held on the second day of the school year, and it was a fantastic community event for our school. Once again, we headed to Cessnock Pool, where our swimmers showcased their talents, while others demonstrated great sportsmanship and a willingness to give it a go.

Students also had a wonderful time on the splash pad, with plenty of happy, smiling faces highlighting what a fantastic day it was.

A special thank you to Mrs. O’Brien for her support in recording the carnival results—we truly appreciate your help!

Regional swimming carnival

This year’s Regional Swimming Carnival was scheduled to take place at East Maitland Pool. Unfortunately, due to thunderstorms and ongoing bad weather, the event was cancelled before our swimmers had the chance to compete.

A huge thank you to our students for their patience, resilience, and for representing our school with pride despite the disappointment. Your sportsmanship is truly appreciated!

Representative Sports Pathways

Throughout this term, Representative Sports Pathway trials have been held for Year 5 and Year 6 students across a range of sports. These trials provide opportunities for students with exceptional talent to compete at a representative level in their chosen sport. Trials are structured into three categories Winter sports (netball, soccer, rugby league, rugby union and hockey), Summer Sports (basketball and tennis) and Stand-Alone Sports (cricket, touch football, AFL and softball).

Due to the large number of students participating in certain sports, the representative pathway requires students to progress from a school-level trial to a regional trial. Congratulations to the following students who will attend or have already attended the Regional trials in their chosen sport.

Cricket: (these were held at the end of 2024): Kade Power
Netball: Xanthie S, Lillian B, Penny O and Sophie P.

Congratulations to Xanthie who was selected as a member of the Regional team and will now attend the Diocesan Trials later in the term.

Soccer: Braiden G, Travis K and Nixon B
Touch Football: Sophie M, Sophie P, Penny O, Grace S, Kade P, Henry O and Braiden G

Selected sports progress straight to a Diocesan level trial in their representation pathway.

AFL (CSNSW Pathway): Henry O’Brien and Kade Power.

Congratulations to Henry who progressed to the Diocesan level trials later in the term.

AFL (Girls Independent Pathway): Sophie M, Sophie P and Penny O. Congratulations to Sophie M and Sophie P for being selected to progress to the Mid North Coast and Hunter Trials later in the term.
Rugby League: Kade Power, Sophie M and Jude B

We wish all students the best of luck and encourage them to embrace the challenge, display resilience, and give their best effort as they showcase their skills and represent our school throughout the representative trial process.

Gala days

Thank you to the families who completed the expression of interest forms this year. We hope this helps streamline communication and keep families informed about upcoming gala days.

We have two NRL gala days approaching, with all event details posted on Compass. If your child is not currently included and would like to participate, please contact the office to have them added.

Sporting Schools Program

This term, we were fortunate to receive a Sporting Schools Grant from the Australian Sports Commission. This initiative aims to increase children's participation in sport and connect them with community sporting opportunities.

With the support of Play NRL, our students have been developing fundamental Rugby League skills, including holding a football, running, catching, passing, changing direction, and working as a team. We have been lucky to have two fantastic coaches leading these sessions—Jett and two-time premiership winner Kayla Romaniuk, a current Newcastle Knights NRLW team member.

These sessions will continue each Friday for the next two weeks, with the final session taking place on Friday, 28th March.

Upcoming Cross Country Event

This year, our Cross Country will be held in collaboration with Abermain on Thursday, 27th March. Thank you to the families who have already completed the permission forms on Compass. If you haven’t yet submitted the form, please do so by Friday, 21st March, to help ensure the event runs smoothly and that children are entered into the correct events.

We’ve also arranged a lunch order option for the day. To ensure your child doesn’t miss out, please place your lunch order via the QKR app.

CSNSW Sport

For those parents interested in the representative sporting pathways that are available to students and current information on Regional and Diocesan representative sports events, I encourage you to look at the following website. This website is updated on a regular basis.  https://csnsw.sport/maitland-newcastle/primary/home.  

Upcoming Sports Dates for the Calendar

Cross Country- Thursday 27^th March (WK 9, Term 1)
Stage 2 NRL Gala Day- Wednesday 2^nd April 2025. (WK 10 Term 1)
S3 NRL Gala Day- Wednesday 30^th April 2025 (WK 1 Term 2)
Dio Cross Country- Wednesday 14^th May 2025 (WK 3 Term 2)
Athletics Carnival- Thursday 22^nd May 2025 (WK 4 Term 2)
Regional Athletics Carnival – Wednesday 2^nd July 2025 (WK 10 Term 2)

If you have any questions or concerns regarding sport please do not hesitate to contact by calling the office via email amy.williams@mn.catholic.edu.au

Amy Williams

Sport Coordinator