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Community Engagement & Parish Links at St catherine’s
The staff and I have been working hard to be an outward facing school and give back to our local community. There have been many examples of this throughout the year and particularly this term. We are so lucky at St Catherine's to have staff that go ‘Above and beyond’ to provide these amazing experiences for our school, parish and local community.
- Free Community Playgroup- Provided every Tuesday and Thursday 9:00-11:00pm. Congratulations to Kath Barca who has won the Playgroup Victoria Champion 2025 Nominations – People’s Choice Award. We all know how hard Kath Barca works and this is an amazing achievement. See further below in the newsletter for the link.
- 2025 Art Show- This Year we opened up the Art Show on a Sunday and invited families, friends and Parishioners to attend. We also invited the local kinders to visit the Art Show and they engaged in some interactive art experiences. We provided morning tea which was thoroughly enjoyed by all our visitors. Thanks to Jo Boers, our Visual Arts Teacher for this initiative.
- Local Kinder and Childcare engagement- We have opened up our playground and school library to three local childcare/kinders in the Area. We have regular visits from Bruthen Street Kinder, Guardian Childcare and Kinder (Moorabbin) and Excellent Education and Care (East Bentleigh).
St Catherine’s Substantive Principal Advertised
Applications closed for the position on Monday, 20th October. The screening and interview process has begun. An announcement will be made to the school community once the process is finalised over the next few weeks.
Staffing News
Staffing and class structures for 2026 are currently being worked through. We are not in a position to announce class structures or which staff will teach which classes at this point in time. We appreciate your patience and understanding. If your children will not be attending St Catherine’s beyond 2025 (Except students going into Year 7) please inform me in writing as soon as possible as this may impact planning re: class structures in 2026.
2025 Student Shout Outs!
Please email me if your child has achieved an amazing milestone either individually or with their team. We will showcase them in our newsletter. Please include a photo of your child showing off their award/trophy/certificate etc. Please note we cannot add team photos to the newsletter as we don't have photo permission for the team members.
Socktober Fundraiser 2025
During the month of October we raise funds for the Catholic Missions. This is a project that the Year 5/6 classes take on to plan and lead each year. They have come up with an exciting way to bring our community together and make a real impact on global issues. By participating, you not only help those in need but also foster a sense of empathy and social responsibility. It's a chance to engage in meaningful activities, learn about important causes, and see the difference your efforts can make.
This year the senior classes have come up with an idea that will raise lots of money but is also fun. As we reach certain targets staff will be asked to engage in a fun activity in front of the whole school. This will take place just before pickup time on some afternoons for the next few weeks (Around 3:10 pm weather permitting). Families are welcome to come along and join in the fun.
Holy Trinity Parish St Vincent De Paul Campaign
Every year we think about how we can assist others during the Christmas Season.
The Parish has asked us to collect the following items for the Appeal. We will accept items up to Thursday, 27th November. The Parish will collect the items from the school office on Friday, 28th November. We thank you in advance for your generosity during the Christmas season. Please only send the requested items (no soft packaging has been requested).
REQUESTED ITEMS
- Tinned biscuits
- Tinned cakes
- Tinned chocolates/sweets
- SPAM/Tinned Ham
- Tea bags
- Coffee sachets
- $20 Coles/Wollies/Kmart Vouchers
Term 4 Dates
School Closure Days
- Monday 3rd November
School Closure Day- Staff Professional Practice Day
- Tuesday 4th November
School Closure Day- Melbourne Cup Day Holiday
- Friday 21st November
School Closure Day- 2026 Planning
Playgroup each Tuesday & Thursday 9:00-11:00 unless advised
Term 4 Week 4
Monday 27th October
- Newsletter published
- Walking Club & Anthem @ 8:40 a.m.
- Private Music Lessons - Srebrenka
- Bruthen Street Kinder visit @ 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground & activity
- Choir @ 1:45 p.m.
- Student Voice @ 3:00pm
Tuesday 28th October
- Term 4 Chess Fanatics with Felix 3:25-4:20pm
Wednesday 29th October
- Guardian Kinder Moorabbin Visit Group 1- 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground
- Kingston Council Yr 7 Transition Session 1 @ 10:00-1:00 a.m.
- Private Music Lessons - Rachel
Thursday 30th October
- NO RUNNING CLUB TODAY
- Guardian Kinder Moorabbin Visit Group 2- 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground
- PE for all classes F-6 (Volleyball clinic)
Term 4 Week 5
Monday 3rd November
School Closure Day- Staff Professional Practice Day
Tuesday 4th November
School Closure Day- Melbourne Cup Day Holiday
Wednesday 5th November
- Private Music Lessons - Rachel
- Guardian Kinder Moorabbin Visit Group 1- 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground & activity
- Kingston Council Yr 7 Transition Session 2 @ 2:15-3:15 p.m.
Thursday 6th November
- Running Club @ 8:15 a.m.
- Guardian Kinder Moorabbin Visit Group 2- 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground & activity
Term 4 Week 6
Monday 10th November
- Newsletter published
- Walking Club & Anthem @ 8:40 a.m.
- Private Music Lessons - Srebrenka
- Bruthen Street Kinder visit @ 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground & activity
- Choir @ 1:45 p.m.
- Student Voice @ 3:00pm
- SAC- School Advisory Board @ 6:00-7:30pm
Tuesday 11th November
- Playgroup @ 9:00-11:00 a.m
- Excellent Education Kinder & Childcare visit @ 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground & activity
- Remembrance Day Commemoration @10:40-11:00 a.m.
- Foundation 2026 Foundation Information @ 7:00pm
- Term 4 Chess Fanatics with Felix 3:25-4:20pm
Wednesday 12th October
- Private Music Lessons - Rachel
- Guardian Kinder Moorabbin Visit Group 1- 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground & activity
- Kingston Council Yr 7 Transition Session 3 @ 2:15-3:15 p.m.
Thursday 13th November
- Running Club @ 8:15 a.m.
- Guardian Kinder Moorabbin Visit Group 2- 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground & activity
Term 4 Week 7
Monday 17th November
- Walking Club & Anthem @ 8:40 a.m.
- Private Music Lessons - Srebrenka
- Foundation 2026 Transition Session 1 @ 9:19-10:45 a.m (Morning Tea for families & Second Hand Uniform Shop)
- Choir @ 1:45 p.m.
Tuesday 18th November
- OLSH Year 7 Orientation
- Term 4 Chess Fanatics with Felix 3:25-4:20pm
Wednesday 19th November
- Private Music Lessons - Rachel
- Parish Mass Year 6 & Foundation @ 10:00 a.m.
Thursday 20th November
School Athletics- Rowan’s Road @ 9:00am-11:30 a.m.
Friday 21st November
School Closure Day
Term 4 Week 8
Monday 24th November
- Walking Club & Anthem & Term 4 Class Awards @ 8:40 a.m
- F-4 Aquastar Swimming Program @ 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.
- Newsletter published
- Private Music Lessons - Srebrenka
- Choir @ 1:45 p.m.
- Student Voice @ 3:00pm
Tuesday 25th November
- F-4 Aquastar Swimming Program @ 12:00 - 2:000 p.m.
- Foundation 2026 Transition Session 2 @ 9:19-10:45 a.m
- Bruthen Street Kinder visit @ 9:15-10:45 a.m. Playground
- Term 4 Chess Fanatics with Felix 3:25-4:20pm
Wednesday 26th November
- Private Music Lessons - Rachel
- Parish Mass Years F-6 @ 10:00 a.m. (St Catherine Laboure Feast Day 28th November)
- F-4 Aquastar Swimming Program @ 12:00 - 2:000 p.m.
Thursday 27th November
- Running Club @ 8:15 a.m.
- F-4 Aquastar Swimming Program @ 12:00 - 2:000 p.m.
Friday 28th November
St Catherine Laboure Feast Day
- STOMP Dance Company F-2 @ 9:30 - 10:00 a.m.
- STOMP Dance Company 3-6 @ 10:00 -10:30 a.m.
- F-4 Aquastar Swimming Program @ 12:00 - 2:000 p.m.
Term 4 Week 9
Monday 1st December
- Walking Club & Anthem.
- Private Music Lessons - Srebrenka
- Choir @ 1:45 p.m.
Tuesday 2nd December
- Term 4 Chess Fanatics with Felix 3:25-4:20pm
Wednesday 3rd December
- Foundation 2026 Transition Session 3 @ 9:15-10:45 a.m
- Private Music Lessons - Rachel
Thursday 4th December
- Running Club @ 8:15 a.m
- Christmas Carols & Twilight Market Carnival @ 5:00-8:00 p.m.
Term 4 Week 10
Monday 8th December
- Newsletter published
- Walking Club & Anthem @ 8:40 a.m.
- Private Music Lessons - Srebrenka
- Choir @ 1:45 p.m.
Tuesday 9th December
- Term 4 Chess Fanatics with Felix 3:25-4:20pm
Wednesday 10th December
- Semester 2 Reports sent home to families
- Private Music Lessons - Rachel
- End of Year Mass & Foundation Nativity @ 10:00 a.m.
- 2026 Class & Teacher Meet & Greet @ 11:3001:30 a.m.
Thursday 11th December
- Running Club @ 8:15 a.m.
- Playgroup @ 9:00-11:00 a.m
Friday 12th December
- Year 6 Luna Park end of year celebration - TBC
Term 4 Week 11
Monday 15th December
- Last day of school for Year 6 students
- Walking Club & Anthem @ 8:40 a.m.
- Year 6 Guard of Honour @ 3:15 p.m.
- 5:45 p.m. Year 6 Graduation
Tuesday 15th December
- Last day of school for Year F-6 students
Wednesday 17th December
- St Catherine’s Christmas Eve Mass & Parish Nativity 1 @ 5:00pm
Tuesday 23rd December
- St Catherine’s Christmas Eve Mass & Parish Nativity 2 @ 5:00pm
Thursday 24th December
- St Catherine’s Christmas Eve Mass & Parish Nativity @ 6:00pm
Resilience - Perspective in Groups - Creating Stop Motion Videos
By engaging with dedicated lessons and activities, Year 5/6 students have been developing key social and emotional competencies, specifically in the areas of resilience and perspective-taking. Students were learning practical ways to approach disagreements, including active listening, validating feelings, appreciating diverse viewpoints, and using empathetic communication. To solidify this learning, students worked in groups to design characters and scenarios and create their own short stop-motion video. This hands-on project encouraged students to reflect on their own ability to work in groups, consider diverse perspectives, and respond with compassion. All the students were incredibly proud of their filmmaking skills and we might just have some future filmmakers and stop-motion producers among us!
Writing Ballads - Poetry Slam
As part of the English writing curriculum, students are expected to investigate a genre of poetry. Each student wrote a ballad following the ABCB rhyme scheme including 4 line stanzas called quatrains. They were expected to include a chorus and to use a thesaurus to explore the myriad of word choices available to them. The results were outstanding.
The English curriculum also expects students to prepare and deliver a text in front of an audience following the structures of spoken interactions by varying voice, volume, tone, pitch, and pace. Each student presented their ballad in the form of a poetry slam.
Reading ‘The Explorer’ - We Are Illustrators!
Reading in the senior school involves the ability to infer and evaluate text. During our reading sessions of ‘The Explorer’, students were able to analyse the meaning of complex sentences and paragraphs, use evidence from the text to support their beliefs and understandings, and extract key details from the text to visualise the scene and characters.
We have attached the drawings of the main characters (that were created by senior students) where they used information from the text to determine what the character looks like.
Many students also expressed their love of this story via their book reviews which shared their perspective of the book, and the impact it had on them.
At the end of term 3, the Year 5 and 6 students learned about geometry, specifically focusing on angles. They learned how to accurately measure and draw angles using protractors and through hands-on and problem-solving activities, students honed their ability to find missing angles on straight lines, in triangles and around a full rotation.
This term, the students have been focusing on Measurement. They tackled questions related to the concepts of mass, volume, and capacity, developing crucial skills that extend far beyond the classroom. A key focus was on converting between different units (like kilograms to grams, or litres to millilitres), ensuring a solid understanding of how these units relate to each other.
Parliament in the classroom
To culminate a successful term of learning about Civics and Citizenship, the students were engaged in a parliamentary role play to decide on whether the “No Homework “ bill should become a law. Students were given a role to play, a speech to write and they were assigned a members seat (either on the government's side or the opposition). This activity was an excellent ‘hands on’ learning experience where they gained a deeper understanding of how Parliament and the Law work.
Science - Light Luminates Life
This term’s Inquiry invites the students to research and learn about the properties of light. This week’s topic focused heavily on reflections and the students explored specular reflections, incident rays, reflective rays and diffuse reflections. Attached are photos of their experiments where they cleverly reflected torch light through a maze to hit a bullseye.
Terry Hamond Cycles has kindly serviced and donated this children's bike (20 inch, suit 7 yrs+, 3 speed with rear foot break) ready for a new home with one of our school families. If you are interested please email office@scmoorabbin.catholic.edu.au (first in best dressed). We are very greatful and thankful for Terry's ongoing generosity and kindness. If you have any bike needs (servicing or purchasing) please reach out to Terry on 0409549557.
OSHC Newsletter Update – Term 4
Dear Families,
We hope you had a restful break and are ready for another exciting term at OSHC!
We’re thrilled to welcome a new permanent staff member to our team — Lan Peng, who will be working with us from Monday to Thursday each week. On Fridays, we will continue to be supported by our fantastic casual staff from MACSEYE.
Pupil Free Day – Monday, 3rd November
We will be closed on the upcoming Pupil Free Day.
Bookings can be made via the app, or simply text us on 0493 948 980 or email us at sc.moorabbin@macseye.vic.edu.au
A Look Back at Last Term
Last term was packed with fun, creativity, and collaboration! The children explored new games, expressed themselves through creative activities, and truly embraced play-based learning. It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm, imagination, and growing confidence as they took ownership of their experiences.
What We've Been Up To This Term
This term has been full of fun, exploration, and hands-on learning experiences! Here are just a few of the exciting activities the children have enjoyed so far:
- Chalk painting inspired by spring animals
- Bug hunt around the school grounds – which led to the children creating their very own bug hotel!
- Origami creations, including fish, cranes, and even designing the fastest paper planes
- Chopstick challenge – a fun way to build fine motor skills and patience
- Paper craft spider webs – just in time for spring and Halloween themes
- ...and many more creative experiences still to come!
It’s been amazing to see the children take the lead in their learning through play, teamwork, and imagination. Their curiosity and enthusiasm continue to make OSHC a fun and engaging place to be each day.
We look forward to another term full of laughter, learning, and connection!
Community Bank Highett · 322-324 Highett Road, Highett VIC 3190
https://www.bendigobank.com.
Invite your friends and family along to share in a magical evening under the warm twilight sky filled with festive cheer, good vibes, family fun and local love.
- Market stalls & displays showcasing local businesses
- Take home creative kids activities to spark joy
- Delicious food & sweet treats to satisfy every craving
- A festive raffle with exciting prizes
Thank you to our wonderful sponsors
Hartick Property- 0421 272 726
Community Bank Highett- Contact Community Bank Highett at 322 Highett Road, Highett, for all your banking needs. PH 9555-6055
IFAS Group (Security)
