2025 Term 1 Week 5 Newsletter
Prayer Focus
From the Principal
As Tropical Cyclone Alfred approaches, we pray that all our students, families, and staff remain safe. The school is closed today and will be closed on Monday 10 March to ensure everyone’s safety, and we will communicate with you again on Monday. We also keep in our thoughts and prayers the communities up north, who are expected to be most affected by Cyclone Alfred. Let’s all continue to support one another to stay safe.
Barista Skills?
We are lucky to be able to offer parents and visitors barista-made coffee on special occasions like sports carnivals and celebration days. We understand that making good coffee involves a special skill set and are keen to provide a good quality brew! If you have barista skills and would be interested in helping out for an hour or two, for a one off or on a more regular basis, please contact the school office.
We are looking for someone who is interested in working casually in the school canteen, if this is you, please contact the school office.
Attendance Matters
Caroline Lewis
Principal
Faith & Mission
Stage 1 students have been learning about the history of our local area, with a special focus this week on the history of our school. They explored historical sources such as signs, plaques, and photos to understand how our school has grown and changed over time.
Sr. Margaret Bannon, the founding principal of our school, is also the patron of Bannon Sport House. As a Mercy sister, she embodied the values of kindness, compassion, care, and service—especially for the poor, disadvantaged, and marginalised. These values continue to shape our school community today, forming the foundation of our unique school charism.
The Season of Lent
This week we marked the beginning of Lent with pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and the celebration of Ash Wednesday Mass. Lent is a special season of reflection, prayer, and preparation leading up to Easter. During Ash Wednesday Mass we received ashes as a sign of repentance and a reminder of our need for God’s grace. During Lent, families are encouraged to focus on prayer, fasting, and acts of kindness to grow in faith together. This season is a wonderful opportunity to talk with your children about gratitude, compassion, and the importance of helping others.
All families have received a Project Compassion Box and we encourage you to consider how your family can contribute to the important work of Caritas in helping those in need during this season of Lent. We would love to hear about creative ways your family is engaging with this.
Donating to the Easter Raffle is a great way to contribute!
Katrina Ryan
Assistant Principal Mission
All Things Learning & Teaching
NAPLAN Assessments
NAPLAN Assessments for Years 3 and 5 will take place during Week 6.
Our assessments are scheduled as follows:
#NB: Students will need to have their own headphones for NAPLAN
Please see below NAPLAN Information for Parents and Carers.
Michaela O’Shea Miller
Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching
Spotlight on Learning
Stage 2
During the first few weeks of school, Stage 2 focused on creating a positive, nurturing environment by blending relationship-building activities along with setting high academic and classroom expectations. A key part of establishing relationships and classroom routines, has been integrating the wonderful concepts from the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. In this heartwarming story, the concept of "bucket filling" teaches children about kindness, empathy, and the importance of positive actions. The metaphor of filling someone's bucket by offering kindness or encouragement is one that has been embraced in Stage 2’s classroom community.
Each day, students are encouraged to "fill" each other's buckets with kind words, helpful actions, and a spirit of cooperation. When students focus on being "bucket fillers," this helps to create an atmosphere of support and positivity, which is essential for fostering both emotional well-being and academic growth.
As Stage 2 moves forward into the rest of the term, they will continue to focus on filling buckets with kindness, respect, and understanding. They will also maintain their commitment to high expectations, ensuring that every student is equipped with the tools they need to succeed. Together, this can be a year full of growth, achievement, and, most importantly, kindness.
Suzie Coster
Leader of Learning
School Counsellor's Corner
Parent Education Opportunities - Wellbeing
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents who responded to our Parent Education google form over the past two weeks. Your responses provide valuable insight into what areas of wellbeing you would like to learn more about from our school.
We are working towards facilitating our first parent night in Term 2 and also finding other ways to provide this information to you including our newsletter and “wellbeing wednesdays” which will be posted on our social media platforms.
If you did not have an opportunity to provide your input please see below the link to the google form.
Seasons for Growth
I will be facilitating Seasons for Growth this term for students in Stage 3. Please see below for information regarding the program. If you would like your child to participate in the program please contact the office by email woolp@lism.catholic.edu.au for a consent form.
Seasons for Growth:
Number of Sessions: 8 (not inclusive of celebratory session)
Participants: 6-8
Facilitated by: “Companion” Alessandra Isgro
Seasons for Growth offers children and young people an opportunity to come together and share their experiences of grief and loss. This could include a death in the family, changes in family arrangements including parental separation/ divorce, moving house, the arrival of new siblings or adjusting to other changes that may have impacted their lives. The seasons for growth program uses the seasons of the year as a metaphor that change and loss is a part of life and individuals experience the “seasons” in different ways.
Note: Under the framework of Seasons for Growth, if a referral to the program is in relation to a major change, that a minimum of 6 months has passed before your child is able to participate in the program.
Resources Needed
We are looking for donations of board/card games or other quiet activities to replenish our resources in our Wellbeing Room. If you have anything that would be suitable and you are willing to donate please drop them off at the office, or in our Wellbeing Room.
Thank you in advance.
Alessandra Isgro
School Counsellor
Hayley Evans
Student Wellbeing Officer
Awards
Congratulations to the Certificate of Recognition award recipients at last week's Assembly. Keep up the great work!
Assembly
Assemblies in 2025
This year our students are taking on a greater role in fortnightly assemblies. Each class will take turns to ‘host’ assembly, by preparing prayer and sharing something from their learning. Each stage will also take responsibility for preparing and hosting larger events such as Mothers Day and Grandparents Day. Next week’s assembly is hosted by Stage 1. In addition to our usual assembly items, including Certificates of Recognition, the 2025 Parent Representatives will be commissioned. We are also very excited to launch our new Student Council this year, with the 2025 representatives from Years 1 - 6 also also being commissioned at the assembly. Families are always welcome to join us for assembly. We hope to see you there!
School Community Forum
A huge thank you to all families who attended the first School Community Forum event for the year, the Welcome Swim last Friday afternoon. A great time was had by all!
The next School Community Forum meeting will be held on Monday, 24 March at 6.30pm in the school library. There is a Zoom link below for those who are unable to attend in person.
Click on the link below to read the Minutes of the previous School Community Form meeting held on Monday, 24 February.
Fete Date Saver
Salina McIvor
President
Playgroup POSTPONED
Playgroup will be postponed on Wednesday 12 March due to NAPLAN taking place.
Playgroup will return as normal on Wednesday 19 March.
2026 Kindergarten Enrolments
Open Day
