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Pentecost Sunday - Year 6 Confirmation
As we continue preparing our Year 6 students for the Sacrament of Confirmation in July, it's fitting that we reflect on the meaning of Pentecost, which we celebrated last Sunday.
Pentecost takes place 50 days after Easter and marks the end of the Easter season. It's a very special time in the Church, often described as the “birthday” of the Church, because it’s when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples, just as Jesus had promised. This moment gave them the courage and strength to go out and share Jesus’ message with others.
In the Gospel of John, the Holy Spirit is called The Advocate, someone who helps, supports, and reminds us of what Jesus taught. This is exactly what the Holy Spirit does in our lives today: guides us, gives us wisdom, and helps us live out our faith, especially when we gather with others to pray, reflect, and learn together.
As our Year 6 students prepare for Confirmation, they are getting ready to welcome the same Spirit that came at Pentecost. It’s a powerful reminder that they are not alone on their journey of faith. God is with them, and through Confirmation, the Spirit will be with them in a special way—helping them grow into strong, faith-filled young people who can share God’s love in the world.
Thursday 24th July - Year 6 Confirmation Reflection Day & Meet Bishop Tony Ireland (St Peter’s School)
Sunday 27th July - 2.00pm Year 6 Confirmation (St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne)
Parent/Teacher/Student Meetings
Semester 1 student reports will go home on Friday, 27th June.
Term 2 Parent/Teacher/Student Meetings will take place in your child’s classroom.
Please do not book back to back sessions for siblings. Leave at least 15 minutes between bookings.
Students are required to attend to share their learning and achievements.
Parent/Teacher/Student Meetings will take place on:
Monday, 30th June
Tuesday, 1st July.
Please click on the link to make a booking.
Bookings are now open.
MACSEYE- Onsite School Holiday Program
I’m pleased to announce that MACSEYE will be running a School Holiday Program onsite at St Catherine’s during the July School Holidays.
More information to follow soon.
Year 5/6 School Camp ‘The Ranch’ 28th - 30th May
Staffing Update
Holly Burke has accepted a new opportunity at another school starting in Term 3, 2025. We’re very grateful for everything Holly has brought to our school community over the past 12 months, and we wish her all the best in her new role. Holly’s last day at St Catherine’s will be Friday, 4th July (last day of Term 2). I’m pleased to welcome back two familiar faces - Sandra Renehan and Alana Tavcar, who will be teaching the 1/2 class for the remainder of the year. Sandra will be teaching on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, while Alana will teach on Wednesdays.
Playground Update - Bus Cubby (Sponsored by Bowen’s East Bentleigh)
A huge thank you to the Walters family for their amazing work in building the new bus cubby. Troy was instrumental in the construction of the cubby and added the finishing touches over the weekend. Thanks also to Abbey, Jensen and Pace who assisted along the way. We will formally thank them soon. Megan Moore will now take over with the painting and decorating. She has the paint and requires some parent helpers that can assist with this task during school hours. Please reach out to Megan if you are available to assist with this. megan.moore@scmoorabbin.catholic.edu.au
Holmesglen Moorabbin & Chadstone Community Service Students
We have started a partnership with both campuses. A student group from Moorabbin will come out on Fridays to work on our gardens and general tasks around the playground. The students have already prepared and planted the vegetable garden beds. We are looking forward to harvesting the produce and cooking with the students. A group from Chadstone (Tiling and paving) will come on Thursdays. The students and their teachers have started to mosaic our white pots in the courtyard. This is another way St Catherine’s is supporting our local community groups.
Drop off and Pick Up - Park in legal, designated areas only
A reminder that parents/families must not pull up across the double driveway in Fletcher street to drop off or pick up students. You must park in a designated, legal parking space for the safety of your child/children and others. A ‘ Drop off/Pick up’ area is marked along the oval fence line in the church car park. Please use the church car park if you want to pull up and drop off or pick up your child/children (parents must stay in the car). Please come and see me if this is not clear.
Term 3 Afterschool Chess Club - ‘Chess Fanatics’
I have engaged an outside provider to run an after school Chess Club on Tuesday afternoon during term 3. The Chess Club will run from Week 2 until Week 8 (7 sessions). The Chess Master, Felix Chandler has offered a great introductory price of $90 for the term. Classes will run in the Learning Hub from 3.30-4.30pm. Beginners and experienced players are welcome. Please see the PDF for more information. Payments are to be made directly to Felix. I will supervise the students before the class begins (send an extra snack to school). MACSEYE will collect any students for After School Care if required after the class. An Operoo notification was also sent today.
2025 Student Shout Outs!
Please email me if your child has achieved an amazing milestone either individually or with their team. We will showcase them in our newsletter. Please include a photo of your child showing off their award/trophy/certificate etc. Please note we cannot add team photos to the newsletter as we don't have photo permission for the team members.
ADVANCE NOTICE
Remaining 2025 School Closure days
Term 3
Week 9 Friday 19th September
Term 4
Week 5 Monday 3rd November (Day before Melbourne Cup Day)
Week 7 Friday 21st November
Last day of school for 2025
Week 11 - Yr 6 Monday 15th December @ 3:20 pm
Week 11 - Foundation - Year 5 & Staff 16th December @ 3:20 pm
Term 2 Dates
Week 8
Tuesday 10th June - Playgroup 9-11am
Tuesday 10th June - Chess club @ 1:45 pm
Tuesday 10th June - P&F meeting at school @ 7:30-8:30 pm
Thursday 12th June - Playgroup 9-11am
Thursday 12th June- HOLT Netball Lightning Premiership (Year 5/6)
Week 9
Monday 16th June - Walking club @ 8:40 am
Monday 16th June - School choir @ 1:45 pm
Monday 16th June - Student voice @ 3:00 pm
Tuesday 17th June - Playgroup 9-11am
Tuesday 17th June - Chess club @ 1:45 pm
Wednesday 18th June - Year 3/4 parish mass (Families welcome) @ 10:00 am
Thursday 19th June - Running club @ 8:15 am
Thursday 19th June - Playgroup 9-11am
Thursday 19th June - 5/6 Learning Assembly
Week 10
Monday 23rd June - Walking club @ 8:40 am
Monday 23rd June - School choir @ 1:45 pm
Tuesday 24th June - Playgroup 9-11am
Tuesday 24th June - Chess club @ 1:45 pm
Thursday 26th June - Playgroup 9-11am
Friday 27th June- Semester 1 Reports sent home
Week 11
Monday 30th June - Walking club @ 8:40 am
Monday 30th June - School choir @ 1:45 pm
Monday 30th June - Parent / Student / Teacher meeting
Tuesday 1st July - Playgroup 9-11am
Tuesday 1st July - Chess club @ 1:45 pm
Tuesday 1st July - Parent / Student / Teacher meeting
Thursday 3rd July - Playgroup 9-11am
Friday 4th July- Last day of Term 2 @ 3:20 pm (Term 3 begins Monday 21st July)
Religion:
Year 1/2HB have been exploring how Jesus’ forgiveness and compassion can help us build strong, loving communities. They have been learning about kindness, forgiving others and what actions they can take to show love and care for everyone like Jesus. They explored belonging to God’s family, the sacraments and their symbols, with a focus on baptism.
Mathematics:
Place Value:
1/2HB has continued to consolidate their knowledge of place value in two and three digit numbers. Students have been using hands-on materials like blocks, counters and number charts to make, break apart, and rearrange numbers. For example, how the number 47 is made up of 4 tens and 7 ones - 40 + 7 = 47, or how 126 is made up of 1 hundred, 2 tens and 6 ones - 100 + 20 + 6 =126.
Length:
Students learnt to compare, order, and measure the length of objects using both informal and explored formal units. They estimated the length of objects and used informal units such as their hands, blocks, or paperclips to measure them accurately.
Addition and Subtraction:
Students have been developing their addition and subtraction through hands-on activities, games, and problem-solving tasks. They have been learning to use a variety of strategies such as using MAB blocks, number lines, doubles, near doubles partitioning numbers and bridging to ten.
English:
Students have continued learning phonics through the Little Learners Love Literacy (LLLL) program and phonemic awareness through daily Heggerty sessions. They have been practising segmenting and blending words, building fluency, and developing confidence as independent readers and writers. The focus has been on: ar, or/aw, ir/ur, er/suffix -er and air. Year 2 students have also focussed on morphology: suffixes -ed, -ure, -ion and prefixes pre-, and re-.
Through shared reading, students have been developing their comprehension skills by:
- Making predictions and connections
- Exploring characters' feelings and actions
- Identifying the author’s message
- Discussing illustrations and language used in texts
1/2HB has been busy learning all about procedure texts. Students have learnt all about the purpose, structure and features such as verbs (cut, mix, pour, crush, sprinkle), adverbs (carefully, slowly, gently) and images to match steps. They have followed and written simple instructions for activities such as making recipes, mixing bubble mix, creating fun crafts and potions. We read wombat stew and wrote our own version of a wombat stew.
Chemical Science:
Students have been exploring materials and their properties. They observed uncooked and cooked pasta properties and tested pasta properties through building towers. Students have learnt about melting/freezing liquids by investigating a mysterious melted liquid we found.
*** Please ensure your Scholastic book club orders are submitted by this Thursday 12/6 ***
How does it work?
You have two easy options:
- At School – Bring in your uncrushed and rinsed cans and drop them into your house-coloured bin, located near the office entrance.
- At a Collection Point – Take your cans and bottles directly to a Container Deposit location, such as South Rd, Moorabbin or the Waves carpark.
Simply use the code, by selecting 'enter zone id' c2000057651
You can also spread the word—grandparents, neighbours, and friends are welcome to donate too! Just forward this information to them so they can help support our cause.
We’ll be sharing more details soon, but in the meantime, start collecting those eligible cans and bottles. If every student donates just 6 items a week for 10 weeks, we could raise around $500!
For more details on how to return containers, visit:
https://cdsvic.org.au/how-to-make-a-return
Dad's Group - Zero Latency
Date: Friday, 20th June
Time: 7:30pm
Followed by drinks nearby
