We wish our Year 6 graduates all the best as they finish their primary school journey and embark on their secondary school journey. Farewell and best wishes to: Ben Anstee, Paige Beatie, Sophie Brown, Veronika Cary, Rebecca Castrillon, Cristina Chiodo, Albie Hupfeld, Xavier Knowles, Daania Lebdeh, Jacob Pho and Chris Thomas.

2024 Staffing

2024 staffing has been finalised. Next year we will welcome two new staff members, Jaimee Hall and Dylan Knoll. I have asked them to introduce themselves to you. They are both very excited to be joining the St Catherine’s family.

Jaimee Hall - Classroom Teacher

Hello! My name is Jaimee Hall and I am incredibly excited to be teaching at St Catherine’s in 2024! I am currently a Year 6 Teacher at Good Shepherd Primary School in Wheelers Hill, where I commenced my teaching career as a graduate in 2020. In the last four years I have taught Year 3 for one year and Year 6 for three years. I love dogs, music, going to the footy and spending time with my friends and family. I look forward to meeting everyone very soon!

See you soon!  Jaimee

Dylan Knoll- Classroom Teacher

Dear St. Catherine's families, I am Dylan Knoll and I am delighted to begin my teaching journey at St. Catherine's Primary School. I grew up in Blackburn South and studied a Bachelor of Film and Television before working in the creative arts industry, having been employed in many different jobs, both in Australia and Canada. In my spare time I enjoy hiking, camping, photography and travelling to new places. I completed a masters degree in teaching at the Australian Catholic University and, as a graduate teacher, I believe in developing strong student-teacher-parent relationships and creating a safe and inclusive classroom environment that promotes a growth mindset and ‘can do’ attitude. I am very much looking forward to teaching in the upcoming school year.

We will be farewelling some staff members at the end of the year

Emma Longmuir will take up a teaching position at St Peter’s, East Bentleigh. She has worked with our Foundation students this year. Emma replaced Maree Hills for 12 months while she took personal leave during 2023. Maree Hills will resume her teaching position in Foundation in 2024.

Ciara Geheran joined our school community in 2022 and has taught Year 1 and Year 1/2 over the last 2 years. She will take up a teaching position at Cornish College next year. 

Tess Carlisle joined our school community as a graduate in 2022 and has taught Grade 2 and Grade 1/2 over the last 2 years. She will take up a teaching position at Haileybury College, Berwick Campus in 2024. 

Nicola Pearson joined our staff in Term 3 this year and has worked in 3/4MP on Thursday and Friday. Nicola was employed on a short term contract until the end of this year. 

 

We thank Emma, Ciara, Tess and Nicola for everything they have contributed to the St Catherine’s family. We wish them all the best for their future teaching careers.

2024 Staffing

Lynda O’Donnell - Principal

Carmel Donlon - Assistant Principal/RE Leader/Student Diversity Leader

Laura Bailey - Administration

Alana Tavcar - Classroom Teacher

Dylan Knoll - Classroom Teacher

Maree Hills - Classroom Teacher & Wellbeing Leader

Jaimee Hall - Classroom Teacher

Megan Moore - Classroom Teacher & Learning & Teaching Leader

Jenny Burnet - Classroom Teacher

Helene Lionakis - Japanese Teacher

Sandra Renehan - Visual Arts/Performing Arts/Classroom Support

Susan Pattinson - Physical Education & Sport

Antonella Chiodo- Education Support

Catherine Dudley- Education Support

Kath Barca- Education Support/Library/Playgroup Leader

Paula Hamilton- Education Support & Administration

 

2024 Meet and Greet

Students from Foundation to Year 5 will meet their 2024 classes and teachers on Wednesday, 13th December. This will be in the middle block from 11.45-1.35pm. 

 

Semester 2 Reports

Semester 2 Reports will go home on Wednesday, 13th December.

CHRISTMAS EVE FAMILY MASS NATIVITY- 6pm ST CATHERINE’S

This year I’m assisting Sheelagh in the Parish to organise a Nativity at the 6pm Christmas Eve Children’s Mass at St Catherine's Church. Families that were involved last year really enjoyed the experience.

• If you would like your child/children to be involved please respond to the Operoo that was sent out on Sunday, 3rd December.
• You will need to come to a rehearsal at St Catherine’s Church at 4.30pm on Monday, 18th December. At this rehearsal we will allocate roles & organise costumes  (These will be provided for all the children). This rehearsal should take about an hour and we ask parents to stay for the whole time. Children involved need to be school age.
• We will have a dress rehearsal at 4.30pm on Friday, 22nd December.
• You will need to bring your child/children to church at 5.15pm on Saturday, 24th December to have a final rehearsal and get fitted into their costumes.

Please let me know if you are able to help at either of the rehearsals and on Christmas Eve.

Please contact me if you have any questions or need clarification.

2024 School Fees

Each year the school receives Commonwealth and State Government grants which support some of the educational and running costs of the school. As these grants do not cover the full operation of the school, we rely on a fee contribution to help cover education costs for each student. The local contribution collected from families assists in paying for the maintenance, utilities, insurances, cleaning etc. We have carefully balanced the need to continue school improvement and learning experiences to ensure the best learning outcomes for the children, while assessing the increased cost of services and remaining focused on engaging the most competitive suppliers. We have managed to keep our school fee increase to less than current inflation. 

In 2024 the school fee and levy structure will increase by 5%.  This information will be provided in the 2024 Fee Payment Set Up letter that comes home with school reports.

Family Fee $2025

Capital Levy $394

Foundation Levy $618  

Year 1 Levy $618

Year 2 Levy $618

Year 3 Levy $618

Year 4 Levy $618

Year 5 Levy $1013

Year 6 Levy $1013

*Due to significant rises in bus and camp costs and in a continued effort to ensure we obtain the most competitive price possible for families, an additional charge will be billed separately for camp.

‘DR SEUSS’S- CAT IN THE HAT’ FREE TICKETS (Showcase Entertainment Group)

The school has been gifted with 2 free tickets to see the stage show ‘Dr Seuss’s Cat in the Hat’  at 6pm on Wednesday, 24th January at Hamer Hall (Arts Centre- Melbourne). 

Congratulations to Rhiannon Mahoney (Xander 1/2TC) for being the first to email the correct answers to the ‘Cat in the Hat’ mini quiz. She has won the tickets to see the show in January.

Congratulations to Lauren Cariss (Sophie 5/6AT) for coming in a close second. She has won a consolation prize which will be sent home with Sophie.

1: What is the name of the girl in ‘The Cat in the Hat’? 

2: Who was in the red wooden box that the Cat in the hat brings into the house?

3: What does the boy use to catch Thing 1 & Thing 2?   

SCHOOL HATS  & UNIFORM - 2024 Requirements             

As of Term 1, 2024 all students from Foundation - Year 6 will be required to wear the new uniform. This includes the official St Catherine's school hat. No maroon coloured hats will be accepted next year. The 2 year transition to the new uniform ends this term. Please see the PDF outlining the requirements which are available from PSW, the official school uniform provider.

All uniform requirements are available at

PSW Pty. Ltd. 1 Age St. Cheltenham  

Ph: 9768 0332

   

                         

Click on the image to catch up on the latest Parish News

We were very lucky with the weather as it actually turned out to be a perfect day for running and showing off our skills. 

Congratulations to all St Catherine's children who I think rose to the occasion and displayed excellent skills, team work and sportspersonship.

This was one of our closest events with 1 point between all teams going into our last event, the Championship Relay. Blue was able to win this event thanks to Xavier, Chris, Lachie and Harry giving them the overall win on the day. Gold and Red were equal 2nd. 

Thank you to all spectators for coming to watch and support our children.

Thank you to the parents who were judging at the finish line, helping with marshalling, photography and first aid.

Thank you to Alexander and Sabine who took time off out of their busy schedules to present all trophies and shields to our winners. 

Thank you to all teachers and support staff who helped with transporting equipment, setting up, scoring, announcing, marshalling, and supporting the students. 

I would not be able to run this event without this support. 

Paige did an incredible job to win, experiencing technical difficulties with her bike and was able to win by a narrow margin from Veronika and Alexis.

George, our only grade 5 competitor, took the lead at the ball handling section and never looked back, leaving Albie and Xavier in 2nd and 3rd positions. 

A fantastic achievement by all to make it into the final. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my leaders who have done an outstanding job assisting me throughout the year. They have been great role models to the children of St Catherine's. I know they will all have amazing futures and I look forward to hearing about their accomplishments in the sporting world. 

 

Today, the year six students began their day with some old-school party fun, playing Pass the Parcel and taking some happy snaps on the Polaroid camera before heading off to Jump Central for some bouncy fun. 

We ended our day with some delicious burgers at Royal Stacks - YUM! Followed by a treasure hunt around the school.

We hope that the students can take away these memories with them, looking back with a smile. Thank you to all the year six students for a fantastic year. Three cheers to you!

The Library has now CLOSED for borrowing.

It is now time to start looking for and returning books to school.

A list will go home with each child later in the week.

If you can’t find any books please either email me -

Or come in and see me, so we can look at school.

The Library will remain open for classes to use.

I would like to extend a huge thanks to the P&F Committee for all their hard work this year! One of the wonderful things about being at a small school like St Catherine's is the friendships formed through volunteering for school committees and events, and getting to know other families across all year levels through the work we do, and being the P&F Coordinator for the last 18 months has been a pleasure. It truly does take a village to make something great, and our village at St Catherine's flourishes because of the hard work parents and friends put in behind the scenes to make sure our school is a place where our students and families can thrive in learning and in play. We strive to make sure all students and their families feel connected and part of this school community throughout the year with the events we run, and I'd like to thank the committee, and all the families who have volunteered their time or made donations when needed this year - every little bit helps, so thank you!

I would also like to extend the Committee's thanks to Laura Bailey and Paula Hamilton in the school office for supporting us throughout the year with our endless requests for Szapps, Operoos, printing, grocery orders, laminating, and much, much more. We are so grateful to you both, and to all the staff at school for helping us make our events a huge success.

Thank you to Suzanne Currie and Rhiannon Brook who will be stepping down from their committee roles in 2024 - we couldn't have done it without you both.

Thank you to the committee as a whole for all the hard work throughout the year:

Karen Glancy

Juliette Greskie

Abbey Walters

Laura McKell

Bec Megyeri

Kirsty Goold

Nat Taffe

Kate Boxer

Here's to an even bigger and better 2024! We'd love to see some new faces on the P&F Committee next year, so please keep an eye out for a call for new members in early Term 1.