10th February 2025

Term 1-Week 2

• Monday 10th February 2025
  

  • School Liturgy & Assembly let by 6LB @ 9.00am - Family & Friends welcome

  • School Choir @ 8.35am in the Library
  • Agriculture Club @ Recess
• Tuesday 11th February 2025
  • Mini Vinnies @ Recess 
  • Safer Internet Day
    
• Wednesday 12th February 2025
  • Guitar Group @ 11.00-11.40am (Early recess in classroom at 10.50am)
  • Year 2 Ukulele Group @ 1.10pm
  • Didgeridoo Group @ 1.40pm
    
• Thursday 13th February 2025
  • Senior Band @ 7.50-8.50am 
  • Junior Band @ 11.00-11.40am (Early recess in classroom at 10.50am)
  • Opening School Mass @ 10.00am
  • Year 6 Parents Farewell Dinner Committee Meeting @ 5.00pm
• Friday 14th February 2025
  

Term 1-Week 3 2025

• Monday 17th February 2025
  

  • School Liturgy & Assembly led by 6B @ 9.00am - Family & Friends welcome

  • School Choir @ 8.35am
  • Agriculture Club @ Recess
    
• Tuesday 18th February 2025
  • Mini Vinnies @ Recess 
  • Parents Information Evening & Volunteer Induction @ 6pm
    • 6:00pm - Whole School Information in the Mother Ignatius Croke Hall
    • 7:00pm - Parent Volunteer Induction
    • 7:15pm - Meet the teacher
• Wednesday 19th February 2025
  
  • Guitar Group @ 11.00-11.40am (Early recess in classroom at 10.50am)
  • Year 2 Ukulele Group @ 1.10pm
  • Didgeridoo Group @ 1.40pm
    
• Thursday 20th February 2025
  • Senior Band @ 7.50-8.50am 
  • Junior Band @ 11.00-11.40am (Early recess in classroom at 10.50am)
    
  • School, Chaplain Visit - Year 2
• Friday 21st February 2025
  

Important Dates

More important dates listed here 

School Calendar Handy Hints

Google Calendar is an easy way to keep up to date with the school events.  This can be found on our school website under the Parents and Families tab. Below is the link that will take you straight to the Calendar section of the site, where the calendar can be displayed by month. If you click on the event, more details (if confirmed) will be available for the event. 

Most end of year events and special celebrations have already been added to the calendar and all other events appear as soon as we can confirm the details.  Website Calendar Link

For those with a Google Account the calendar can be added to your Google calendars for easy access
on your phone or device. Google School Calendar Link

From the Principal

Guided by Faith, Inspired by Hope, Committed to Learning

Full of hope, we welcome all of our students, families and staff to the 2025 academic year. Pope Francis encourages us in this Jubilee Year of Hope, to seek out opportunities to be vessels of peace. So, as we begin the school year, we acknowledge our place in this special community and commit ourselves to accept the love of Christ in our lives so that we may be a source of love and peace for our families, our school, our community and in our world. 

Over the past two years we have, like most schools, focused on the implementation of the new NSW English Syllabus. With this implementation, our students have been highly engaged with the study of rich quality literature, creating more explicit connections with the wider world. Throughout 2025, our teachers will leverage the collective capacity of our teacher teams to evaluate, adjust and grow our approach to the teaching of Writing. We welcome Mrs Tess Barnes, as we launch our whole school focus in this area. Tess will guide us using the Schmic Cycle of Inquiry and Learning as we continue to strive for personal excellence for all of our students. 

We ask that you join us on Tuesday 18th February at 6pm in the Mother Ignatius Croke Hall for our 2025 Parent Information Session. Last year we outlined our plans for the implementation of our focus on Wellbeing. This year we are excited to present our plans around the learning of Writing along with providing an opportunity for you to meet your child’s teacher and preview the exciting learning that will be taking place in our school. At this meeting a yearly overview of important dates and information will be available.

As we look with hopeful anticipation for the 2025 school year, we pray that our Cathedral community will continue to be a beacon of hope, always stepping out to meet the future with a steadfast desire to bring high levels of learning to all students in our care. 

“I know the plans I have in mind for you- it is the Lord who speaks- plans for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Our Newsletter will be published fortnightly in 2025 and we encourage you to access the Google Cathedral Community Calendar so that you can stay current with school dates and celebrations. 

Camille Tavares   | Principal

Staffing 2025

This year we welcome the following staff to Cathedral:

Mrs Kathy Wilkinson - Year 1
Miss Paige Ryan - PDHPE teacher (all classes will have Miss Ryan once a week for 80 minutes)
Mr Mark Bradbury and Mr Mark Fulthorpe - Grounds and Maintenance
Mr Kevin Toole - Casual Grounds and Maintenance
Miss Cherie O’Shannessy - Casual canteen

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful team at Cathedral and look forward to a great year ahead.

Cathedral Teachers 2025 

Kindergarten
KA - Genevieve Avinash 
KM - Aimee Morris 

Year One
1W - Kathryn Wilkinson 
1M - Danielle Mitchell  

Year Two
2IC - Esther Inwood (Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri) and Kerry  Cashen (Wed) 
2MG - Dee McGregor with Alice Gallagher (from Term 2) 

Year Three
3TJ - Cassie Toole (Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri) and Jerdin Jenkins (Mon) 
3MO - Courtney Muldoon (Mon, Tue, Wed) and Catherine O’Neill (Thu, Fri) 

Year Four
4W - Carolyn Wood 
4RS -  Danielle Rice (Mon, Tue, Wed) and Melissa Stait (Thu, Fri) (Abbie Bowman from Term 3)

Year Five
5C - Anna Clayton 
5A - Antoinette Angelucci 

Year Six
6B - Julia Baird 
6LB - Ashley Boylan (Mon, Tues, Wed)  and Sonika Lata (Thu, Fri)

Parent Information Evening

We invite all parents and carers to join us on Tuesday 18th February at 6pm in the school hall for our Parent Information Evening. We will outline our focus areas for the year and then you will have time to meet our teachers. This evening is for parents only.

At the conclusion of the session, we invite any parents wishing to volunteer throughout the school year to join us for a brief volunteer induction. This induction takes place annually and to support our efforts to promote a safe environment for our children, we ask that anyone wishing to volunteer throughout the year attends this session (canteen, sporting, P&F etc). 

Tuesday 18th February

6:00pm - Whole School Information in the Mother Ignatius Croke Hall

7:00pm - Parent Volunteer Induction

7:15pm - Meet the teachers

Morning Drop Off

School supervision begins at 8:30am.

We ask that students are not dropped of at or around the school before this time as adequate supervision can not be provided. 

Catherine O'Neill   | Assistant Principal

Afternoon Pick Up

Our students have been practising their going home procedures to ensure student and family safety. Our students have some important safety messages to share with their families which includes the use of pedestrian crossings and walking when entering and exiting the school.

Below are our afternoon procedures that we ask students and families to follow. 

Walkers - Only students walking to a workplace or home should join the walkers. If you are picking your child up and you are parked across any nearby road, then you need to walk over to school to collect your child from the William St or George St collection point.

Teachers only escort students across the crossings on William, Keppel and George Sts. Students are then left to make their way home. Please ensure that your child has the knowledge of and ability to walk the safest route home before allowing them to cross busy streets. Please note that not all streets around the school have pedestrian crossings.

George St - If collecting students on the George St exit, please walk to students who will be seated on the pavers for collection. Students are not allowed to meet you on the street. If parked on the opposite side of the road, please use the pedestrian crossing and do not cross in front of or behind buses.

William St - If collecting students on the William St exit, please collect students from the gate. If parked on the opposite side of the road please use the pedestrian crossing on William St.

Please hold your child’s hand when exiting the school grounds.

We thank you for supporting these procedures and for modelling safe and calm behaviors at pick up time.

Religious Education & Catholic Life

Servant Leadership
Each year at our Opening School Mass, we have the opportunity to commission our new school leaders. 
Please join us this Thursday (Cathedral Church @10am) at our Opening School & Commissioning Mass as we bless and induct our leaders and present our Captains, Vice Captains, Music and House Captains, along with our
Years 3,4 & 5 Grade Representatives with their important badges.

Our Parish
Please follow this link to the Parish Bulletin.  This includes updates on parish masses and the various ministries.

Sacramental Program
Further  information will be provided through grade outlines distributed at our Parent Information Evening next Tuesday (Term 1, Week 3) on the structures, requirements and key dates for our school supported Parish coordinated program. 

Year of Jubilee Prayer
We thank You, O God, for every blessing and for all the gifts we have received.  

Open our eyes to the beauty of Your creation so that our hearts may rejoice in the wonder and greatness of Your works.
In this Jubilee year, teach us to recognise Your hand in every moment of our lives and to welcome each day as a gift of Your mercy and love. 

Amen

Up Coming School Events:

Please make sure that you are also aware of all the events listed on the School Calendar. 

IN OUR PARISH
We are proud to be an important part of the Cathedral Parish of Ss Michael & John.   For information about our parish please click here. This includes Mass Times, Ministries, Sacraments and current edition and archived stories from the Catholic Observer and Parish Bulletin.

Ashley Boylan | Religious Education Coordinator

Library

Welcome back! I hope you had a restful holiday filled with lots of good books.

The Library is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

My aim is for the Library to be a safe space where children are exposed to a variety of books, creating readers and ultimately lifelong learners. We focus on literature and information literacy in our forty minute lessons each week. Children are encouraged to borrow each week with borrowing starting for all grades this week. Please help your child remember to bring a Library bag and their books to return on their Library day.

Tuesday - KM, 2IC, 3TJ, 5A & 5C

Wednesday - KA, 1M, 1W, 4W, & 6B

Thursday - 2MG, 3MO, 4RS & 6LB

Merryn Sadler   | Teacher Librarian

SPB4L-School Wide Positive Behaviours for Learning

Julia Baird   | On behalf of the SPB4L Committee

Wellbeing

With the 2025 school year upon us, now is the perfect time to have conversations with your children about online safety. The eSafety Commissioner (eSafety.gov.au) has practical resources to help with hard-to-have conversations, information for children under 5 and cyberbullying. To learn more, visit eSafety parents and share this with your friends and family!

Merryn Sadler   | Wellbeing Coordinator

Sports

Congratulations to Zara who represented the Bathurst Diocesan Team at the Polding trials for tennis last week. Despite her best efforts she narrowly missed selection into the Polding team. We are very proud of your efforts Zara, well done!

A big thank you to our students, staff and volunteers for a successful swimming carnival last Friday. It was wonderful to see excellent sportsmanship, smiley faces and school spirit. Congratulations to all of our winners:

Champion House: Delany
Spirit Cup: Quinn
Involvement and Effort Awards: Oisin and Paige

Cassie Toole   | Sports Coordinator

Uniform

We ask that families support the school in presenting a positive image to our community by encouraging the wearing of the correct school uniform. 

Shoes

We ask families to ensure that their children are wearing the correct shoes. 

• Joggers may be worn on your child’s sport day only. 
• On all other days, we ask that students wear covered in black leather shoes. Black joggers are not suitable on these days nor are other joggers.
• If students are wearing boots, we ask that they do not wear boots with a reinforced toe. If students wear boots with a reinforced toe, we will need to request that they sit out of games throughout the day as these pose a safety risk to other students. 

If at any time you are experiencing financial difficulty and this is a barrier to providing your child with the correct uniform we ask that you contact the office so that we can assist you.  Our school uniform expectations are clearly set out upon enrolment and so we ask that you please adhere to these.

Winter uniform for Girls
Marietta’s need to order their Australian made tunics by March 8.  We will have the uniform pool ones out before then as many people will want to check them out before deciding whether to buy a new one.  The rest of the uniform and boy’s winter uniform is best left till late March or early April.

Combined Catholic Uniform Pool
This pool is available to families from all Catholic Schools in Bathurst (and to anyone else who wears the same colours).  It is situated in two sites – at Holy Family School and behind Marietta’s in George St.  Both are basically self-serve. Both accept payment by bank transfer or cash – no cards.

Marietta’s Section – Cathedral Sports uniform, pink dresses, tunics, winter blouses and shirts, maroon and grey trousers, skorts, jumpers, ties and parkas.  Open when the shop is open.  (Open 9.00am-5.30pm Monday - Friday and 9am-1pm Saturday)

They are jointly run by volunteers and clothes can be donated or sold on commission.  Proceeds are used to help those in need either through the schools or Vinnies. 

Please do not bring clothes in during the April and October holidays – as the volunteers are very busy and don’t have time to process them or room to store them. Winter uniform can be brought in from mid-February.

Parents and Friends

Cathedral School Parents & Friends would like to welcome the new families and the existing families back for a great 2025 school year. We would like to introduce the school P&F committee President Alison Cornish, Vice President Liz Faber, Secretary Bianca Cutler, Treasurer Hollie Casey, Publicity officer Melissa Bray and Fete Coordinator Courtney Anderson.

DATE FOR THE DIARY:

Shrove Tuesday: 4th MARCH 2025
Shrove Tuesday is part of our fundraising efforts for project compassion.
Pancakes will be available in exchange for a gold coin donation on the day.
Gluten Free pancakes will be available.
If your available to help on the Monday afternoon or the Tuesday morning, please send an email: cathedralpandf@gmail.com

Next P&F Meeting: Wednesday 5th March 5:30pm - School Library
Everyone is invited to attend our monthly P&F meetings, which are held on the first Wednesday of each school month at 5:30pm in the Library. For those who cannot attend in person, we have a zoom link, if you would like to join from home!
 https://bthcatholic.zoom.us/j62675200979?pwd=duYyV3M2MvdoTVVjclRKZE5jdnlMdzo9
ID:62675200979@zmau.us  Password: 106688

Welcome Picnic: Friday 7th MARCH
We’re excited to invite our existing and new families to our Welcome Picnic to celebrate
the beginning of the school year.
This will be held from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at the school, it’s a BYO picnic (no alcohol please!)
Entry is through the George Street gate.
The Welcome Picnic is a wonderful opportunity to meet other families,
and members of the school community in a relaxed setting.

SCHOOL BACKPACKS
The school backpacks can be ordered on FlexiSchools for $65 – click on shop, then your child’s name, then uniform shop. The back pack will be delivered to your child’s classroom along with the lunch orders so you can select a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday for delivery, then select backpack and finalise your order. 

BAGS CAN ALSO BE BOUGHT AT THE FRONT OFFICE - Cash/Efpos Available

We have attached the flyer about the backpack here for your reference

Melissa Bray   | P & F Publicity

Music

Please feel free to contact Mr Dove if you have any further questions regarding your child participating in the Music Enrichment program in 2025. 

Choir with Mrs Sadler Monday @ 8.35am

Guitar Group with BAM Wednesday @ 11am

Senior Band with Mr Dove Thursday @ 7.50am

Junior Band with Mr Dove Thursday @ 11am

Places are still available for various ensembles in 2025.  If your child is interested in participating in any of these groups please feel free to contact me chris_dove_trumpet@hotmail.com

Chris Dove   | Band Director

OSHC

Canteen

CAN YOU HELP?

The Canteen is open on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Canteen will be reopen on Wednesday 12th February 2025

We are in need of helpers in the Canteen on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. 
For the canteen to run smoothly 3 volunteers are essential.

Please contact Alana Watson on 0417 044 116 if you would like to be included in the canteen roster,
any time offered is welcomed.

Thank you to all our friends and family for all your ongoing support of the Cathedral Canteen.

Community Notices

Bathurst Bus Lines - School Bus Tracking App
The school bus tracking app is available for parents to download on their phone and track their child's bus in real time.  This might alleviate some of the anxiety related to putting students on the bus. Please see instructions below.

Parents requiring any bus pass or general bus travel information are welcome to contact our office and we will be able to discuss their needs accordingly.

If you have any queries please contact us on 6331 2744

Kind regards,

Carolyn
Bathurst Bus Lines