St Catherine's Catholic Primary School Berwick
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73 Ridgemont Drive
Berwick VIC 3806
Subscribe: https://sccpsberwick.schoolzineplus.com/subscribe

Email: info@stcberwick.catholic.edu.au
Phone: 03 9702 1466

Principal News

Dear Parents,

Welcome to 2025 

I trust you all had a safe and restful break and would like to welcome the new families to St Catherine’s. 

We enjoyed having our students back last Wednesday and our new Preps last Thursday. 

We have started the year with some extreme weather meaning some breaks have been inside play, which has not been ideal but a necessary evil. 

Over the break we have had to work through the ever-changing and relentless recruitment process due to the teacher shortage and the changes of personal circumstances of some of our staff. 

I am pleased to say that all classes have a classroom teacher who is permanent for 2025 and the only vacancy at the moment is a release role. 

I will start the recruitment for this shortly, but as you can understand our priority as an executive team, has been the students and to have great teachers teaching them in classrooms.

As we move into 2025, we are embarking on the use of the new Victorian Curriculum 2.0.

The biggest change within the new curriculum for parents is in the Maths reporting. Mathematics 2.0  has actually had the level achievement standard raised in some areas which means they are higher than the previous ones. 

This means that our teachers need to have an understanding of this but mostly it may reflect in your semester 1 reports for Mathematics as your child may be marked as lower than expected or show no growth due to the benchmark now being higher. 

We are currently working on a mobile phone and smartwatch process and policy. This will be socialised with the community in the next week or so.

Our learning and instruction starts at 8.50am for all students, we ask that all parents have left the learning spaces at this time to ensure learning can start with few disruptions. This is to maximise our learning times and ensure children are accessing the best and maximised learning. It is difficult for teachers to start with parents in the room and difficult for students to focus. Parents also please use the communal exits at all times during the morning dropping off  your child to the classroom.

It has become a bit of a problem having a stream of parents moving through spaces while students are getting set up for the day, especially in those classrooms being used as a shortcut to get to the crossing.

I have added the 2025 staff roles below for your information.

I hope the start to the school year has been smooth and we look forward to a successful and engaging year of learning.

Regards Anna

 

2025 Staff and roles  

Anna Viney 

Principal

Rian Prestwich 

Deputy Principal / Religious Education Leader

Rebecca Cox

Curriculum Leader (whole school)/ Learning Adjustment Leader (Prep- 2)

Victoria Donlan

Curriculum Leader (whole school)/ Learning Adjustment Leader ( 3- 6)

Jasmine Bentley 

Mental Health in Primary Schools Leader

Debbie Carpentier 

Prep-2 Level Leader/ Prep - 2 Curriculum Support

Joanna Perfetto 

Prep M1 classroom Teacher 

James Bortolus 

Prep M2 classroom Teacher 

Bridie Kniese

Prep M3 classroom Teacher 

Claire Faulkner 

Prep M4 classroom Teacher - Mon- Thurs

Mihaela Horvat

Prep M4 classroom Teacher - Fri

Samitha Perera

Grade 1M5 classroom Teacher 

Angella Cha

Grade 1M6 classroom Teacher 

Stephanie Yates 

Grade 1M11 classroom Teacher 

Lexie Weber

Grade 1M12 classroom Teacher 

Samantha Johnstone 

Grade 2M7 classroom Teacher 

Alice Li

Grade 2M8 classroom Teacher

Ashlee Dow Philcox

Grade 2M9 classroom Teacher Mon - Wed

Debbie Carpentier

Grade 2M9 classroom Teacher Thurs/ Fri

Michelle Vincent

Grade 2M10 classroom Teacher Mon-Wed & Fri

Gabby Mifsud

Grade 2M10 classroom Teacher - Thurs

Gavin Balzary 

 Grade 3 & 4 Level Leader

Natalie Kechichian

Grade 3S1 classroom Teacher

Kristie Coe 

Grade 3S2 classroom Teacher

Chloe Venville 

Grade 3S7 classroom Teacher

Eliza Rastall

Grade 3S8 classroom Teacher

Bethany Peterson

Grade 4S3 classroom Teacher

Vanesssa Keenan 

Grade 4S4 classroom Teacher- Mon-Wed

Charmaine D’Silva

Grade 4S4 classroom Teacher- Thurs & Fri

Gavin Balzary

Grade 4S5 classroom Teacher Mon-Wed & Fri

Stephanie Jansz

Grade 4S5 classroom Teacher - Thurs

Madison Nuttall

Grade 4S6 classroom Teacher

Ella Bell

Grade 5 Level Leader

Ella Bell

Grade 5P1 classroom Teacher

Melissa O’Brien

Grade 5P2 classroom Teacher

Laura Thorne 

Grade 5P3 classroom Teacher - Mon-Wed

Jasmine Bentley

Grade 5P3 classroom Teacher - - Thurs/ Fri

Mary Hall

Grade 5P4 classroom Teacher

Deearne Mellor 

Grade 6 Level Leader

Ashlea Rettalick

Grade 6P5 Classroom Teacher

Jeyeshtha Mandhar

(Jey)

Grade 6P6 Classroom Teacher

Deearne Mellor

Grade 6P7 Classroom Teacher

Daina Balnionis

Grade 6P8 Classroom Teacher

Vanessa Jennings

Specialist Level Leader

Vanessa Jennings 

STEM Specialist teacher

Claire Cullpitt

Performing Arts Specialist teacher

Patrick Pawlokowski

P.E. Specialist teacher and whole school sport co-ordinator

Amanda Pleydell 

Visual and Media Arts Specialist teacher

Yveie Tonks 

Science Specialist teacher

Marie Takahashi 

Japanese Specialist teacher

Danielle Hinds 

Admin/ Pam account assistance/ First Aid/ Newsletter

Jacinta Holmes

Admin/ enrolments/ First Aid /attendance

Margaret Lonergan 

Admin/ Fees/ accounts

Hayley Martin

Library Technician/ admin support / PSG support - Mon- Thurs

Katrina O’Sullivan 

Library Technician - Fri

Matt Browne

Library support - Fri

Education Support Officers

ZIETTA COX

LORETTA MANUEL

CAROLINE PEQUENO

HELEN OVERBURY

LISA MCNAMARA

VIKKI LEWIS

CHELSEA RYAN

AMANDA EBBAGE 

SU SENANAYAKE

GEORGIA KAPOTIS

DORINA BARRETT

MICHELLE EWAN


MELANIE IMRIE


KATRINA O’SULLIVAN

NILUSHI KALUARACHCHI

BERNADETTE CHAMBERLAIN

BELINDA CADD

YASMIN CERDA FREDES

BEN BRENNAN

Laura Schapendonk (Ms Roberts)

2025 NAPLAN
In Term 1, Year 3 and Year 5 students will sit the NAPLAN standardised assessment. We will hold a parent briefing via Google Meet on Thursday 13 February 7pm. The briefing will explain all important information regarding NAPLAN and give parents the opportunity to ask questions. 
Slides from the briefing will be made available for parents who are unable to attend. 
We look forward to seeing you there!

School fees

Fee statements will be emailed to families on Monday 17 February. If any families have an eligible Health Care Card please contact the Office if you have not already. If any families require a discussion regarding fees please contact Margaret Lonergan at the School Office.

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund provides payments for eligible students to attend school camps, excursions, and sports and outdoor education programs.

Please see the information below.

Out of School Hours Care Program

CAMP AUSTRALIA

Please follow the link to find out about our before and after school care program!  Bookings are now Open!