Newsletter - 2025 Term 1 Week 9
Prayer
This week the Gospel reading shared at school was The Lost Son. The reading highlighted the importance of being sorry and forgiveness during this time of Lent. This is an important message for all of us as we prepare for the Easter Triduum. The Easter Triduum is a period of three days that marks the climax of the liturgical year, focusing on the core events of the Christian faith: Jesus's suffering, death, and resurrection.
Calendar
To access the School Calendar on Compass:
- Using a mobile phone: Click on the Calendar tab at the bottom of your Compass home page. You will have the option to view the calendar as daily or weekly. To see future dates, click on the small calendar at the top right hand side.
- Using a computer: Click on the Calendar icon at the top left hand side next to the Compass logo. You will have the option to view the calendar as a day, week, month or term.
Principal Message
Dear Parents and Carers
As we reach the end of this remarkably quick term, I want to express my deep appreciation for our dedicated staff. Their unwavering commitment to your children's academic and personal development is truly commendable.
Your partnership as parents and carers is equally vital; your support and encouragement significantly enrich our students' learning journey, and we are grateful for this strong bond as we move forward through the year.
To our students, thank you for a wonderful term. Your hard work, positive attitude, and enthusiasm have made St Agnes' a vibrant place of learning. We are immensely proud of each of you. We now look forward to the sacred observance of Holy Week, leading to our Easter celebrations, and the recognition of your achievements next week.
May the upcoming days of Holy Week be filled with the profound joy of anticipation for the Risen Christ.
Peace be with you
Brendan Kiely
Principal (Acting)
Harmony Day 2025 – Celebrating Kindness and Unity
As we journey through Lent, a time for reflection and growth, we embrace the spirit of Harmony Day which was held on 21 March. This special day reminds us of the importance of kindness, inclusiveness and unity in our community. Let’s stand together in solidarity and reflect on how to show kindness and compassion to everyone around us. Hopefully, we can all take up the challenge to positively impact the lives of those around us through our words and actions. May we all look for the goodness in the people in our community.
St Agnes' Catholic Parish Long Services Awards
The St Agnes' Catholic Parish Long Service Awards held on Wednesday 26 March at St Agnes' Church was a wonderful acknowledgement and celebration of the outstanding achievements of so many staff in our community. Staff across all the St Agnes' Parish entities were recognised and celebrated for 10, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 45 years of service. Staff of St Agnes' school who were recognised:
Kim Post – 35yrs
Craig Suosaari – 10yrs
I want to thank and congratulate our staff for their tireless efforts and what they bring to our school community.
Keeping School Funding Fair – What You Need to Know
Did you know that 6 in 10 Australians don’t fully understand how school funding works? Catholic Schools NSW has launched the Keep School Funding Fair campaign to ensure families have access to clear and accurate information.
Our schools play a vital role in providing high-quality education while keeping costs affordable for families. A fair, means-tested funding model ensures all students are supported, no matter their background.
Read the Catholic Schools NSW media release below to learn more, and visit keepfundingfair.org.au to watch the explainer video and take action.
Attendance
Consistent school attendance is a cornerstone of academic success and personal growth. Every day a student is present, they gain valuable knowledge, participate in crucial discussions, and develop essential social skills. Missing school can lead to gaps in learning, making it harder to keep up with coursework and potentially affecting future opportunities.
Regular attendance also instils a sense of responsibility and discipline, qualities that are vital for success in all aspects of life. By ensuring your child attends school regularly, you're investing in their future and providing them with the best possible foundation for a fulfilling and successful life.
The school is obligated by law to inform you of your child’s attendance at school regardless of the plans in place or the circumstances to why your child is absent. If you find yourself receiving a letter about your child’s attendance it is not meant to cause distress, rather communicate to you the school’s responsibilities and an opportunity to discuss any further plans needed. And, of course if you are having trouble getting your child to school please talk to your child's teacher.
Build the Habit of Regular Attendance
Artist - Ella 8 years old.
Regular attendance fosters strong relationships between students and teaching staff, building trust and understanding. Consistent interaction enables staff to better support students' needs, helping them feel valued and motivated. This sense of connection enhances students' belonging, driving both academic success and personal growth.
Contact Details
To ensure we can contact parents, carers or emergency contacts for the children if required, please ensure all phone numbers in Compass are correct and up to date. You can edit these at any time in Compass.
Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)
Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).
Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:
- Year of schooling
- Category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
- Level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.
This information assists schools to:
- Formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in
schools - Consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
- Develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.
The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.
The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).
Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au). If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.
Assistant Principal - Mission
Penance
Congratulations to all of the students who made their Sacrament of Penance last week. We are grateful to all families, staff, priests and Vanessa Denham for her amazing work behind the scenes for this and all of the sacraments.
Stations Of The Cross
The Stations of the Cross are a series of 14 images or carvings depicting key events in Jesus' Passion, from him being condemned to being laid in the tomb. They are used for prayerful meditation and reflection on his suffering and death. These stations can be found in all Catholic Churches and currently displayed on our school hall windows for students to participate in their own pilgrimage.
Students are also invited to join the parish in presenting the Stations of the Cross on Oxley Beach on Good Friday at 9:00am. Please email donna.sprague@lism.catholic.edu.au if you would like your child to be involved in the acting. All families are welcome to attend for this beautiful experience.
Easter Raffle
There is still time to donate an easter egg towards our annual Easter Raffle. Each child who makes a donation automatically receives a ticket in the raffle.
Raffle tickets are still available for 50 cents each. All proceeds will go to our Caritas initiative of providing maintenance for the water tanks we donated last year in Samoa. We will also provide funds for families to start their own food selling businesses in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The raffle will be drawn on Wednesday 9 April after Lunch 2.
Staff Professional Learning Day - Friday 11 April and Monday 28 April
Supervision will be available at school on Friday 11 April and Monday 28 April for any families that are not able to organise alternative arrangements. Children should be in their uniform and will need to bring lunch, fruit, hat and a water bottle. Lunch orders are available, the canteen will be operating as normal on this day. Please use the link below to register your child.
To book your child’s place please log on to www.schoolinterviews.com.au. The unique code to log on for:
Friday 11 April - 9zdwy
Monday 28 April - 5zsjr
Little Muzos Band Workshop
The Little Muzos Band Workshop will take place on Monday 28 April from 9:00am to 3:00pm in the St Agnes' Primary hall. Please visit the following LINK to book.
Assistant Principal - Learning and Teaching
Year 1 Oral History Visit
In History lessons, Year 1 have been talking about different ways to learn about the past. We have looked at artefacts, photographs, and today we conducted an interview!
Ann is a parishioner and she came to answer some questions we had about what like was like when she was a child.
We learnt that in the past:
~ Marbles and hopskotch were fun games.
~ Children used mini-chalkboards to write on instead of paper.
~ Families had lots of children in them, usually 4.
~ Dolls and tea-sets were popular toys.
~ Children helped at home by vacuuming the floor and hanging the washing. Nappies were not ones that you could throw away!
~ Children often walked to school, and not all families had a car.
~ When ladies had a baby, they often stayed home to look after the children.
Amazing Artworks!
Year 6 are so proud of their amazing artworks being created with Mrs Post! We continue to be impressed with the creativity of our amazing students. Did you know that in 2026 the new NESA Creative Arts Syllabus will be implemented. We are currently in the staff learning phase for this curriculum and look forward to sharing updates with you.
2025 Mathematics Focus
Evidence based practices for English and Mathematics continues to be part of our school improvement work, as we strive to always ensure excellence and equity for all students. Our teachers work hard to use the student’s data to inform their instruction in the classroom and ensure that all of our students are able to provide reasoning for their decisions. In Term 2 we will be focussing on Mathematics as our professional learning goal as we begin our roll out of the Number Fluency Program Trial. This will not replace, simply complement our current Mathematics work. We look forward to sharing lots of wonderful maths updates throughout next term.
Tell Them From ME
In Term 2, Weeks 1 – 2, we will be inviting students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.
We would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Agnes' Primary School.
The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. The URL to access the parent survey will be communicated once the survey period opens.
Sports News
Diocesan Winter Sports Trials (Netball, Soccer, League)
The Diocesan Winter Sports Trials for Soccer, League, and Netball were scheduled for Thursday 27 March. Unfortunately, the Soccer and League matches were postponed due to heavy rain and wet grounds. The Soccer trials were able to go ahead today at the synthetic Hockey fields in Grafton and the League trials have been rescheduled to next Thursday 10 April at the Frank McGurren fields in Grafton.
Since Netball is played on an all-weather court, our Netball players were still able to attend their selection day. Having progressed through the Zone selections, Ava S, Georgina F and Alba W participated in the trials to impress the selectors. Despite the wet conditions, the girls played hard during both skills sessions and trial games. All three girls performed admirably to reach this selection stage and should be proud of their achievements.
Congratulations to Georgina F, who impressed selectors on the day. Georgina was selected for the Polding Netball Trials, which will be held in Bathurst on Friday 2 May. Congratulations Georgina.
School Cross Country
Last Friday, the school held its Cross Country Carnival under beautiful conditions. We had been keeping an eye on the weather all week, but with some hope, the rain held off, and the day stayed dry. Students from Year 2 to Year 6 participated in both championship and non-championship events. Our senior students in the 12 year and 11 year categories kicked off the carnival, completing six laps of the bottom field to secure their place on the Aggies team. The 10 year, 9 year and 8 year students completed four laps. There was some fantastic racing on the day, combined with great sportsmanship from all houses.
We had an excellent turnout of families who came to cheer on the students and stayed for the picnic lunch. After lunch, the infant students had their turn on the track, completing one lap in a friendly, non-competitive fun run with their friends. Well done to all the students who participated, supported their teams, and cheered on their friends. The day ended with some impromptu dancing to the Macarena and the Cha Cha Slide. Congratulations to Clarence House, the 2025 Cross Country Champions!
A big thank you to the Aggies' staff for all their help on the day, ensuring the event was enjoyable for the students. Special thanks to Dave, who mowed the field the day before and arrived at 6:30am on the carnival day to help mark out the track and set up the tents.
The carnival served as a selection event for the Hastings Zone Carnival. Congratulations to the following students, who were selected to compete in Kempsey on Wednesday 7 May.
8/9 Years - Arlow F, Thomas M, Lachlan F, Lachlan H, Tommy B, Charlie R, Leo H, Frankie C, Evie E, Claudia F, Eva D, Sylvia L and Molly B.
10 Years - Arie F, Ardan B, Daniel I, Jaxson F, Rocky W, Alex M, Pippa T, Evie D, Asha GR, Ella M, Annie L, Ella R and Aisha M.
11 Years - Hunter F, Dominic R, Ciaran D, Archie SB, Jho’Arryan C, Liam O, Ivy G, Sienna L, Grace L, Mikayla D, Lola F and Asha W
12 Years - Kitt Q, Oliver W, Beau L, Koby S, Ryan C, Lucas G, Ava S, Hermione P, Emily K, Emilia A, Elise GR and Imogen H.
Congratulations to the following Age Champions and Age Champions Runners-up.
8 yrs Boys 9 yrs Boys 10 yrs Boys 11 yrs Boys 12 yrs Boys | 8 yrs Girls 9 yrs Girls 10 yrs Girls 11 yrs Girls 12 yrs Girls |
Polding Swimming
Congratulations to Daniel I, who competed at the Polding Swimming Trials at the Sydney Aquatic Centre on Wednesday. Daniel had a busy day, swimming in three events against some of the best swimmers from the Catholic system between Northern Sydney and Tweed.
Congratulations Daniel, on your impressive results:
- 2nd Place: Junior Boys 200m Individual Medley
- 4th Place: Junior Boys 50m Butterfly
- 10th Place: Junior Boys 50m Backstroke
With his second place finish in the 200m Individual Medley, Daniel has earned a spot on the Polding Swimming Team and will compete in next week's NSW PSSA State Championship. Best of luck, Daniel.
Zone Rugby Union Winter Sports Trials
Best of luck to the Year 5 and 6 students attending the Rugby Union Winter Sports Trials in Kempsey next week. These students aim to impress the selectors for a chance to secure a spot at the Diocesan Union Trials in Grafton on Friday 16 May. Notes for this event were sent out via Compass this week. Please note that no bus will be provided for this event, so students will need to arrange private transport. Thank you to Mr Behan, who will attend the trials with our players.
Diocesan AFL Winter Sports Trials
Good luck to Beau L next week at the Polding AFL Trials in Newcastle. Beau will compete against Catholic school players between Northern Sydney and the Tweed. We look forward to hearing about your experiences, Beau!
Sydney Grammar Rugby Union Visit
Next Thursday, we will host Sydney Grammar School for a Rugby Union match. The Sydney school is passing through the area and looking to compete against regional teams before attending an event in Tamworth. The game will take place on our field, and all students and families are invited to attend. Mr Brazel has been busy organising a team for the match, and our students will proudly wear our new Rugby Union jerseys as they represent the school.
If you'd like to attend and watch the game, students will head to the field at 2:00pm, with kick-off at 2:10pm.
Northern NSW Soccer Gala Day
Unfortunately, the Stage 2 and Stage 3 Soccer Gala Day scheduled for Monday was postponed due to field closures. Northern NSW Football has announced that a backup date will be arranged in Term 2, but the exact date is yet to be confirmed.
Future Dates
Term 1
- Tuesday 8 April - Polding AFL - Newcastle
- Wednesday 9 April - Zone Winter Sports Trials - Rugby Union - Kempsey
- Thursday 10 April - Sydney Grammar V St Agnes’ Rugby Union friendly - St Agnes' oval
- Diocesan Winter Sports Trials - Grafton (League)
- PSSA Swimming - Sydney - Friday 11 April - PSSA Swimming Sydney
Term 2
- Friday 2 May - Polding Winter Sports Trials (Netball, League, Hockey, soccer) - Bathurst
- Wednesday 7 May - Hastings Zone Cross Country - Kempsey
- Friday 16 May - Diocesan Union Trials - Grafton
Student Awards
Congratulations to the following students who received an award at today's assembly:
Adelaide W, Amelie W, Angus F, Annabelle B, Annalisa L, Arabella Y, Archer M, Ariah A, Arie F, Aston G, Aurora P, Aurora S, Ava W, Bailee C, Benjamin D, Benjamin M, Billie J, Billie P, Bonnie C, Brodie D, Casey C, Caylee O, Charlie R, Charlotte E, Charlotte F, Charlotte M, Chelsea O, Daizjah S, Damien B, Dash D, Dean, Deion D, Eli M, Ella M, Ella R, Emily H, Emily K, Eva D, Eva S, Evana A, Everett B, Felix F, Flynn A, Flynn L, Frankie C, Fritz T, George S, Grace B, Harriet M, Hartley O, Hermione P, Hudson M, Imogen W, Indi S, Ivy C, Jada U, Jenson T, Jovan A, Jupiter S, Kaiden D, Kanata N, Kaushik M, Oto V, Lucky S, Lawson M, Leo R, Lexie M, Lilyana P, Logan S, Lucas G, Makayla D, Michelle A, Mila S, Miles G, Olivia C, Oscar H, Paityn P, Ryan F, Skylah N, Sylvia L, Theodore H, Thomas B, Thomas M, Tiger Lily R, Tully D, Willow H and Zayne D
Pastoral Care
Autism Awareness Month
Dear Families
April is Autism Awareness Month and this year there is a focus to move from Awareness to Acceptance and Understandin
While each autistic person is unique, there are some common characteristics such as differences in social relating, and sensory preferences. Please see the handout from Aspect 'What is Autism' for some more information about these characteristics.
As always, please reach out if you would like further information.
Kate Watson
School Counsellor
Positive Behaviour Support
The last few weeks and for the remainder of the term our PBS focus is on being safe at school especially when it comes to physical contact. We are learning that at St Agnes' we are Respectful towards each other. Everyone has the right to feel safe and be safe. Our students have been given a challenge to help support and acknowledge our understanding of this focus.
School Community Forum
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are excited to share with you the 2025 Key Dates for SCF activities, plus invitations for the inaugural Mother’s Day Lunch and Ironman volunteering opportunity.
There are four complimentary tickets available to the Mother’s Day Lunch for mothers or mother figures that our school community would like to recognise. The SCF are calling for silent nominations. Please email donna.sprague@lism.catholic.edu.au by 9:00am Thursday 10 April if you wish to nominate someone. Please include their contact details in your email. All nominations and the successful recipients will remain confidential and not be shared with parents or publicised at any time. Donna will contact the four chosen recipients and offer the ticket on behalf of the SCF. If the recipient has already purchased a ticket to the event, payment will be refunded.
Last weekend we welcomed kindergarten families including over 60 children to our first 'Social Sunday' for 2025. A big warm welcome to all our new kindergarten families.
Minutes of our AGM and March SCF meeting can be found below.
If you have any questions regarding SCF activities, please contact our parent executive via pandfstagnes@gmail.com
Kind regards,
Allison Ritchie
Chairperson
St Agnes’ Primary School Community Forum
Canteen News
| Week | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Week 10 7/4 - 11/4 | Sharon McCarthy | Lana Clarke & Dominque Jackson-Hope | Renee Lisle & Emma Schuch |
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Parish News
Community News
