Welcome back to 2023! The St Catherine's Parents and Friends Committee are excited to get started planning plenty of terrific events for parents, kids and fundraising for our amazing school!

We'd like to invite mums, dads, and carers to consider volunteering on the P&F committee this year. All are welcome and it's a fantastic way to meet other families in the school community and get involved in helping the school thrive and continue to be the amazing place of learning all our kids know and love. We meet twice a term for an hour on Tuesday evenings, and when events are run we ask for any extra time you may have to donate to help coordinate events either prior to their date or on the day. Previous events include the school disco, the parents' trivia night, Bunnings Barbecues and the end of year carols. We're always looking for new ideas and creative ways we can run events, and we encourage you to join us for our first meeting this week!

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 7

Time: 7.30pm

Location: School P&F room next to the asphalt basketball courts.

If you're not able to come to meetings, there are other opportunities to volunteer a few hours of your time throughout the year and we thank you in advance for doing so.

Our first social event for mums this year is on Thursday, February 23 at 7pm at Wilbury & Sons in Moorabbin. For new families it's a great chance to meet other mums and start to put faces to names from the school yard, so if you'd like to come along please RSVP to Nat Taffe on 0438 548 739. You can also ask Nat to be added to the Mum's WhatsApp Group to stay up to date with other social events for mums.

Last year a few dads got together to start a social group for other dads in the school with great success! This is another great opportunity to get to know other dads from the school and socialise in a relaxed environment with dinners, golf days, barefoot bowls and other fun events. The Dad's Group first social event for 2023 is on Friday evening, February 24 at Grape and Grain in Moorabbin. Drinks are available for purchase and food is BYO. If you'd like to attend the first social event or join the Dad's Group WhatsApp Chat to stay up to date with all the calendar events, please send a message to Bernard Laville on 0429 055 911 or Pete Brook on 0422 082 281.

Each year a welcome picnic is held on the school oval for the entire school to start off the new school year. This year's welcome picnic is being held on Friday, February 17 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Families are invited to BYO their dinner and non-alcoholic drinks and enjoy meeting other families as well as spending time with families they already know. The P&F committee will also be selling drinks and ice creams on the night as a special treat. We hope to see you there!

Keep an eye out in the newsletter each fortnight for P&F news and event information, as well as SZapp and Operoo throughout the year.