30th June 2025

Term 2 - Week 10

• Monday 30th June 2025
  • Choir with Mrs Sadler @ 8.35am
  • Gospel Reflection & Assembly    @ 9.10am (Friends and Family Welcome)
• Tuesday 1st July 2025
  
  • Mini Vinnies @ Recess 
• Wednesday 2nd July 2025
  
  • Guitar Group @ 11.00-11.40am (Early recess in classroom at 10.50am)
  • Year 2 Ukulele Group @ 1.10pm
  • Voiceology @ 1.30pm
  • Didgeridoo Group @ 1.40pm
    
• Thursday 3rd July 2025
  • Senior Band @ 7.50-8.50am 
  • Junior Band @ 11.00-11.40am (Early recess in classroom at 10.50am)
    
  • Last Day of Term 2
• Friday 4th July 2025
  
  • Pupil Free Day

Term 3 - Week 1

• Monday 21st July 2025
  
  • Choir with Mrs Sadler @ 8.35am
  • Gospel Reflection & Assembly @ 9.10am (Friends and Family Welcome)
    
• Tuesday 22nd July 2025
  
  • Mini Vinnies @ Recess
    
• Wednesday 23rd July2025
  
  • Guitar Group @ 11.00-11.40am (Early recess in classroom at 10.50am)
  • Year 2 Ukulele Group @ 1.10pm
  • Voiceology Group @ 1.30pm
  • Didgeridoo Group @ 1.40pm
    
• Thursday 24th June 2025
  
  • Senior Band @ 7.50-8.50am 
  • Grandparents Day Mass @ 10am St Michael and St Johns Cathedral (Morning Tea will follow Parents/families welcome)
  • Junior Band @ 11.00-11.40am (Early recess in classroom at 10.50am)
    
• Friday 25th June 2025

Important Dates

From the Principal

Thank you to our school community for such a joyful Term 2. We especially thank the love and support of our Cathedral families and our teaching staff who through their example and support have created such wonderful conditions for learning (in so many forms) to take place. 

This term we witnessed so many collaborations from our community as we worked to bring learning to life for our children. Below is a snapshot of the term in photos, just a small sample of learning alive at Cathedral.

This Friday is a pupil free day to accommodate our annual staff retreat. This year our staff again travel to our Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Carcoar followed by time at the Eco Hub in Blayney as we contemplate the teachings of the late Pope Francis on  caring  for our common home. 

We wish our students a happy term break (last day of school this Thursday 4th July) and we look forward to welcoming all students back on Monday 21st July in full winter uniform. 

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

Congratulations

Congratulations to Mrs Catherine O’Neill, who over the past weeks has celebrated her leadership review. During this time we have celebrated and taken stock of the wonderful contribution that Catherine makes to our school. The review process highlighted her calm, professional manner along with her strong knowledge of curriculum and support of our staff in unpacking and delivering the requirements of our NSW syllabus documents in line with current educational practices. Congratulations and thank you Catherine!

Staffing

Miss Paige Ryan has been a beautiful asset to our school but is now heading off on a new adventure. Paige will finish up at the end of this term. Recruitment for this position has begun and we will advise you of our replacement PDHPE teacher as soon as we can. 

We thank Mrs Jane Hands who has worked with Mrs Danielle Rice in 4RS over the past term. Next term, we welcome back Mrs Abbie Bowman who will teach alongside Mrs Rice in 4RS. 

Scheduled Leave
In the coming weeks we have a number of teachers on leave. The following will be in place during this time. We are so grateful for the wonderful support and expertise of our part time and casual teachers. While we will miss out teachers who are away, we know their classes will be in great hands in their absence. 

Miss Esther Inwood - leave from 19th June - 1st August replaced by Mrs Kerry Cashen 
Mr Ashley Boylan - leave from 23rd June - 25th July  replaced by Mrs Sonika Lata
Ms Deidre McGregor - leave from 30th June - 1st August replaced by Mrs Alice Gallagher
Mrs Carolyn Wood - leave from 30th June- 29th August replaced by Mr Stephen Ranger
Mrs Anna Clayton leave from 21st July - 5th August  replaced by Mrs Katrina Whitehead & Louise Condon on Thursdays

Classroom teachers will prepare their students for these changes as they approach the time of their leave. 

Mrs Julia Baird will be acting in the position of Religious Education Coordinator while Ashley is on leave.

Teaching and Learning

Celebrating Public Speaking Success
We are delighted to celebrate the outstanding achievement of Perrie (Year 3), who proudly represented our school at the recent Inter-Group Public Speaking Competition. Competing against the most talented young speakers from across the Western Region, Perrie delivered her speech on Weird and Wonderful Hobbies with confidence and clarity, earning an impressive 2nd Place.

Congratulations, Perrie! We are incredibly proud of your success at such a high level of competition.

Semester 1 Student Reports
This week, our teachers are finalising Semester 1 Assessment Reports for all students from Kindergarten to Year 6, ahead of their distribution on Thursday, 3rd July. These reports offer families a valuable snapshot of each child’s progress and achievements across the first half of the year.

We congratulate our students on the learning and growth reflected in these reports. Behind each report is the ongoing, dedicated work of our teaching staff—across planning, instruction, and assessment throughout Terms 1 and 2. We extend our heartfelt thanks to our teachers for their commitment to student learning and wellbeing.

Reports are based on the A to E grading scale, which reflects the standard of achievement—including depth of understanding and range of skills demonstrated by students.

To help make this system more relatable, you might find the following analogy useful:

Upcoming Parent–Teacher–Student Conferences
We look forward to welcoming families to our Parent–Teacher–Student Conferences in Week 4 next term. These meetings are an important opportunity to reflect on the learning journey so far, with a particular focus on progress in Writing. They also provide time to revisit the learning goals set during Term 1 and consider next steps for growth.

We value these conversations as a way to deepen the partnership between home and school, and we encourage all families to participate.

Wishing You a Safe and Restful Break
As we approach the end of Term 2, we thank you for your continued support throughout the semester.

We wish all our families a safe, relaxing, and refreshing holiday break, and we look forward to seeing you again in Term 3.

Catherine O’Neill   | Assistant Principal

Awards

Religious Education & Catholic Life

Grandparents Mass: 
We warmly invite all grandparents to join us for Grandparents Mass on the Feast of St Joachim and St Anne, the grandparents of Jesus. This special occasion will begin with a beautiful school Mass, followed by a shared morning tea to honour the love, wisdom, and guidance our grandparents bring to our lives.

We encourage all students to help their grandparents mark this date on their calendars—we would love to celebrate with as many of them as possible!

This event will take place on Thursday 24th July at 10am (Term 3 Week 1) and is open to grandparents or special ‘older’ role models in our lives (ie. elderly neighbours, special great aunts/uncles, older family friends). 

Monday Liturgy & Assembly:
Please join us each week between 9:00 and 9:30 am as we pray together and acknowledge the achievements in our school community. Classes, Grades and Committees each take responsibility for leading these celebrations and it is a wonderful way to find out all of the special things happening inside and outside of our learning spaces. 

Sacramental Program
A reminder that parents in Years 2-6 can now approach the Parish Office for the relevant sacrament as all class preparation requirements have been completed. Year 2 - First Penance, Year 3, 4 and 5 First Holy Communion and Year 6 (Confirmation).  As always please feel welcome to contact your child’s teacher, or myself if you require any further information.

Please email cathedral@bth.catholic.edu.au with a photo of your child at their Sacramental Celebration of First Holy Communion & Confirmation if you would like it featured in the newsletter. We are unable to publish photographs where students’ names are visible or publish any images from First Penance.

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.

Coming Up
Please always reference the School Community Calendar for the latest event details and changes:

Julia Baird | Acting Religious Education Coordinator

Class in Focus

In 3MO we have been busy learning about 3D objects and volume in our Mathematics lessons. We used our knowledge of the properties of a rectangular prism to explore and build our own using MAB blocks. We then practiced using cubic centimetres to measure our shapes’ volume and recorded the results. We have also experimented with water and various sized containers to explore capacity using litres and millilitres. 

In Science, we have been learning about solids, liquids and gases. To extend our understanding we have designed containers to insulate ice, to investigate whether you can slow down the transfer of heat energy and we also investigate substances that could speed up the melting process such as sand and salt. Throughout these activities we have been learning how to make predictions, record observations and represent our results in tables and/or graphs. 

We have also been exploring the climate and population density in our capital cities, in Geography. We chose to focus on Darwin and have been researching the city - its climate, natural features, facilities and recreational activities. Our task has been to create a persuasive poster to convince someone to move to Darwin. We have been getting creative and using descriptive keywords to help with our objective! 

Mrs Catherine O'Neill & Ms Courtney Muldoon   |  Year 3 Teachers

Sports

Rugby Union Polding Trials
Good luck to Harryson from 6LB who will be competing in the Bathurst Diocesan Rugby Union Team next week in Forbes. Harryson will be trialling for the Polding Team, all the best Harryson!

Interschool Equestrian Championships
Good luck to Harrison in 6B who will be competing at the State NSW Interschool Equestrian Championships over the school holidays. Harrison will be competing in a variety of events in the hopes of gaining selection for the State Team. All the best Harrison!

US Open World Martial Arts Championships
During the school holidays Kral from 4RS will be representing Australia as he competes at the US Open World Martial Arts Championships for Karate. We wish Kral a safe trip as he and his family travel to Orlando, America. The entire school wishes you the best of luck as you proudly represent Australia. We’re all cheering for you and can’t wait to see you shine on the international stage!

Eastern Region Athletics Carnival
The Eastern Region Athletics Carnival will be held in week 3 of next term on Thursday 7th August at MacKillop College, Bathurst. A note went out on Compass earlier this week for the students who have progressed to this next level.

Soccer Gala Day
We had a wonderful day on Friday 20th June at the annual Assumption Soccer Gala Day. 150 of our primary students attended the day. The students demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and teamwork throughout the soccer gala day, supporting each other with respect and enthusiasm on and off the field. A big thank you to our parents who generously helped out on the day by coaching — we couldn’t have taken so many students without your incredible support!

Cassie Toole   | Sports Coordinator

Library

Children will be able to borrow for the holidays this week. Please help your child remember their books and Library bag on their day. 

We are getting very excited for next term because it’s Book Week! The Book Week theme this year is Book An Adventure. More information will be given next term however you may like to organise a costume during the holiday. Our Book Week Activity/dress up day is Friday August 22nd.

Merryn Sadler   | Teacher Librarian

Wellbeing

Police Visit - Cyber Safety
Senior Constable Joyce talked to Year 5 and 6 about Cyber safety. Her advice was to have no technology in the bedroom and bathroom. She advised the children to use technology in a family space where parents/carers can supervise. 

She reminded the children to treat people how you would like to be treated, be selective about who you give your number to, block offenders and tell an adult if you are being bullied or are worried. 

Merryn Sadler   | Wellbeing Coordinator

SPB4L

School Wide Positive Behaviour Focus: Welcoming and Including Everyone

This week at Cathedral School, our School Wide Positive Behaviour for Learning (SPB4L) focus is: “We welcome and include everyone and celebrate our differences.”

We are guiding students to recognise that kindness, respect, and inclusion are essential to building a safe and positive school environment. Through short classroom lessons, reflective discussions, and meaningful stories, students are learning that our differences — whether in culture, ability, background or personality — are what make our school a vibrant and special place to be.

Families are encouraged to continue the conversation at home by asking children about the ways they have included someone this week, or how they’ve celebrated what makes them (and others) unique. Together, we can continue to build a school community where every student feels seen, heard, and valued.

Julia Baird | SPB4L Committee

Year 6 Fundraiser - Winter Woolies Day

Celebrate the End of Term with Winter Woolies Day!
As the winter holidays approach, the Year 6 students and the Year 6 Fundraising Committee is excited to announce our upcoming Winter Woolies Day! 

For a gold coin donation, your child can cozy up by adding a warm and snuggly item to their school uniform for the day.
Thursday 3rd July - Join us in celebrating the season and showing off your winter woolies!

Mrs Julia Baird & Hospitality and Wellbeing Committee

Parents and Friends

OPTIONAL SCHOOL JACKETS
The Cathedral School logo is embroidered on the chest, the jackets are lightweight, windproof and water-resistant, perfect for the cold weather.  These optional school jackets are available to try on at the school office and ready to order via Flexischools or through the school office for $75.

Please note: The optional jacket is NOT compulsory - All maroon/navy/black school jackets are also acceptable.

If you have any enquiries about our projects or would like to get involved, please email us at cathedralpandf@gmail.com

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. 

THE BACKPACK CAN ALSO BE PURCHASED AT THE FRONT OFFICE.

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

If you have any enquiries about our projects or would like to get involved, please email us at cathedralpandf@gmail.com

Melissa Bray   | P & F Publicity

Canteen & Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club Roster

Canteen Roster Term 2 Week 10

Canteen Roster Term 3 Week 1

PLEASE CAN YOU HELP??

The Canteen is open on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

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.

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

Update your Details

Update your email, phone number, address, your child’s medical details or emergency contacts by emailing the information to cathedral@bth.catholic.edu.au

Community Notices