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  

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.

CAMP AUSTRALIA

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

Australian Girls Choir Open Day

Look no further than the Australian Girls Choir (AGC) because we encourage, challenge and inspire girls as they learn to sing, dance and perform. School aged girls are invited to come along to our February Open Day to try our fun and inclusive classes and learn more about being part of the AGC! Please visit our website to register to attend our free Open Day: ausgirlschoir.com.au/joinagc