Newsletter Week 8, Term 1 2025

Principal's Messages

We have had a busy fortnight as we well and truly get into our Term 1 learning and routines.

Well done to our Year 3 and 5 students for completing NAPLAN! Tomorrow, we lace up for our Cross Country, and next week, we celebrate inclusivity and diversity on Harmony Day. We’re also preparing to welcome colleagues and executives from the Diocesan and Catholic Schools Office for our Annual School Visit. This is a wonderful opportunity to share our successes and look ahead to the future.  

Our Parents and Friends Association is transitioning to a Family and Community Engagement (FACE) model, fostering even stronger connections between home and school. We are grateful for the dedication of our P&F committee and executive, whose commitment has been invaluable. A special note of appreciation is shared later in the newsletter—thank you for your continued support! 

Calling All Volunteers – We Need You!

Despite the changes to the P&F Fundraising events like our Easter Raffle and Mother’s Day Stall will continue to support school projects, with updates shared regularly in our newsletters. However, we need your help to keep them running!

🎟 Easter Raffle: Can you help wrap hampers, fold raffle tickets, or bring a little joy to our students? Ribbon skills are a bonus!

🌸 Mother’s Day Stall: We’re looking for a new coordinator (or a small team) to source gifts and run the Mothers Day Stall.  

Whether you can assist with one event or help behind the scenes, every bit of support makes a difference. If you’re interested or would like more information, please email admin@waratah.catholic.edu.au or rebeccajeffery47@gmail.com 

Katie Kingsford

Principal

Faith In Focus

As we approach Harmony Day on Friday, as a Catholic community we use this opportunity  to reflect on how we treat one another and how we live in peace as a community. The Gospel asks us, Who is my neighbour?—reminding us that harmony means caring for each other, offering hope, and working together in faith.

As a school community, we are called to treat each person with dignity and respect, just as God loves and accepts everyone. We will celebrate Harmony Day on Tuesday 25, and we will reflect with the students and pray that we may open our hearts and minds to others, showing kindness, support, and understanding.

Religious Education and Spirituality

Learning through 'The Pedagogy of Encounter'

Our Religious Education Curriculum is designed to invite and engage students in learning through opportunities for creating personal meaning that is based on stimulating curiosity and giving students the freedom to investigate, inquire and use religious imagination. 

Our RE Curriculum is based on way of teaching and learning called the PEDAGOGY OF ENCOUNTER. This pedagogy invites all students to:
* engage in mystery through concepts and big ideas. 
*Ask deep and challenging questions.
*Engage in meaningful dialogue and discussion. 
*Search for Truth through a process of inquiry. 
*Engage in Catholic thinking where students are given opportunities to learn more then just content 
about the topics being studied; it invites them to reflect on the meaning of this content in their everyday lives.

Kindergarten have been using loose parts to create a personal image of God. They have been discussing and responding to how people talk to God in different ways. The photos below show some Kinder students talking to God on the phone. Kinder have also been exploring Lent and thinking of how they can make a difference to someone this Lenten Season. Mrs Ayres reports that Kinder are  so curious about God and really enjoy the Religion lessons. They ask some amazing question. 

Year 1 have been learning about  Living In Right Relationship and investigating what it means to belong to the human family. They have been learning about what it means to belong to one global family.

Religious Education in Kindergarten

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SOCIAL JUSTICE at CCW

There are many reasons to be proud about our school, and one important reason is the enthusiastic and  positive engagement students have in social justice initiatives. In 2024 we had a large number of students across our primary grades who wished to participate in Mini Vinnies and community visits. 

To ensure students are supported and encouraged to be of service to others and look out for those in need we have widened our Social Justice Initiatives across the school.

In 2025 we are offering:

• Mini Vinnies more meaningful opportunities to participate and lead social justice activities by assigning each grade a whole term for Mini Vinnies membership: Year 5- Term 1, Year 4 -Term 2, Year 3- Term 3 and Year 6-Term 4.
• Continuing our Mini Vinnies/PBL  Dominican Detectives initiative.
• Opening up community outreach activities to all primary classes. Year 4 will outreach to St Martin De Porre Nursing  Home in 2025 and Year 5 will continue to outreach to Tilly's 2 Daycare. Year 6 and Year 3 community outreach is in planning.

Confirmation Sacramental Program

Our Parent Information Meeting for the Confirmation Sacramental Program is Tuesday 1st April 6:00pm at 6p.m at St John’s Lambton. Student lessons will commence straight after the school holiday break.                      

Positive Behaviour for Learning - PB4L

Our Rule Focus for this week is Be Safe. We look forward to sharing our Veritas Values awards at assembly on Thursday. Our 'Dominican Detectives' have been on the look out for great examples of this rule in action over the past two weeks.

Social and Emotional Learning -Attitude of Gratitude

This week, Corpus Christi has adopted a whole school focus on GRATITUDE.  Inez, Grace an Evan from Year 6 have led a Gratitude campaign across the school to highlight and encourage staff and students to become more aware and focused on what we are grateful for.

Happiness and gratitude have been studied in positive psychology for many years and researchers have found that gratitude is always strongly associated with greater happiness. 

In our faith life, the virtue of gratitude to God brings joy and happiness to our community. Pope Francis said "If we are bearers of gratitude, the world itself will become better, even if only a little bit, but that is enough to transmit a bit of hope." 

St Therese of Lisieux lived a life of gratitude. Therese was always offering gratitude to others, however small the favor might be. She said "It is the spirit of gratitude which draws down upon us the overflow of God's grace." 

Corpus Christi has been engaging in regular gratitude prayer with class prayer jars or journals. Take a look at some students Gratitude prayers below.

Please take some time to this week to join in sharing an attitude of gratitude with your children at home. You will find some tips and resources to help your family a develop habits for gratitude in our school TV section below.

Our Gratitude Prayers

School TV Growing Gratitude

In this edition of SchoolTV - Happiness & Gratitude

Happiness is a term that captures a huge variety of positive emotions such as humour, serenity, optimism, joy, pride, inspiration, love and hope. Happiness means different things, to different people and is essential to your understanding of emotional literacy. Throughout history, philosophers, religious writers and poets have pondered on the meaning of happiness and how it might be achieved. In the last few decades, scientists and psychologists have researched this further by studying a field of science called positive psychology.

The result of this research suggests there is a strong correlation between gratitude and greater happiness. Practising gratitude helps you shift your focus to positive memories or experiences, noticing the good in your life. Over time, this will re-wire your brain to create new neural pathways, increase your state of happiness and overall wellbeing.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents and care-givers will learn how to achieve happiness and the benefits of practising gratitude.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Happiness & Gratitude edition of SchoolTV

HARMONY DAY at CCW

Sports Update

Good luck to the following students who will be representing the North Region at the Winter Sports Trials next week:

• Netball: Isabelle (Year 6)
• Soccer: Lewis (Year 5)
• Hockey: Isaac B., Harvey, Isaac D., Jack, Elijah, Alfie, and Ted (Year 4)
• Rugby League: Harlan (Year 5), Gus (Year 6)

Congratulations to Sam and Gus (Year 6), who were successful at the Diocesan AFL trials and will now progress to Polding selection!

Well done to all students on this fantastic achievement!

Parents and Friends Association - P&F

At last Tuesday's special meeting of the P&F, all motions were passed to support the transition from a Parents and Friends Association to the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) model. We have had a long history of parents and carers supporting the school through the P&F, achieving many wonderful milestones along the way. Our current P&F executive has sustained the operation of the group in recent years, fostering parent involvement and strengthening our school community.

My sincere thanks to Rebecca Jeffrey (President), Kate Miller (Vice-President), Christian Southward (Treasurer), and Erika Logan and Erin Rowley (Secretaries) for their dedication and leadership on the executive committee. Your hard work and commitment have been invaluable.

For many years, the P&F has been at the heart of our school, with countless parents and carers giving their time, energy, and passion to build community and support students, teachers and families. 

In past years, the P&F has also overseen the canteen and uniform shop and raised significant funds for school projects, including the Dominic Courtyard, essential school resources, and IT equipment. 

We look forward to engaging with parents and carers in the new FACE model, with meaningful connections to our School Improvement Plan and a collaborative approach to shaping the future. Thank you to all who have contributed to the P&F over the years—we deeply appreciate your time, effort and commitment to our community.

The uniform shop will still operate 'as normal' as a school committee, and run by volunteers.

Guitar Club/Lessons

Merewether Guitar Studio has offered to run guitar lessons at Corpus Christi, with sessions starting at 8:00am before school. If your child is interested in learning guitar, please contact Merewether Guitar Studio for more information. All arrangements and fees will be handled directly through them.

A minimum number of students will be required for lessons to commence next term.

Uniform Shop

Open Fridays  8:30am to 9:00am (Walk-in shopping)

Online orders via Qkr! close at 8:00am each Friday and will be sent home with your child.

To keep costs low and provide this service to Corpus Christi families, all items are sold close to cost price. If you are available to volunteer on a casual or regular basis, please reach out to admin@waratah.catholic.edu.au.

Dates and Reminders