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WELCOME TO TERM FOUR! 

Our students have made a great start to the new term.  I thank our dedicated staff for their work, ensuring a smooth start to the new school term. 

LETTER TO PARENTS & CAREGIVERS 

Parents and caregivers would have received correspondence from me through Seesaw on Thursday 16 October. I encourage you to read through this information, if you haven’t already. Several important points are covered in this email including: 

• Uniform expectations 
• Annual Community Meeting 
• Parents & Friends Committee nomination information – NOMINATION FORM 
• Catholic School Advisory Council nomination information – NOMINATION FORM 
• Enrolment information 
• Feedback form 
• School fees 
• World Teachers’ Day 

SACRAMENTS – FIRST HOLY COMMUNION & CONFIRMATION 

Congratulations to our First Communicants, Thomas, Billy and Jaxon, who celebrated their First Holy Communion on Sunday 26 October. I thank Fr Paul for leading this special celebration and Hannah Starcevich for preparing our students. 

Please keep Nate, Mitchell, Pippa and Eli in your prayers as they prepare to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday 23 November. May they be filled with the Holy Spirit and strengthened in their faith. We ask for your support and blessings during this important milestone in their spiritual journey. We look forward to welcoming Bishop George back to Esperance to lead this celebration. I thank Erin Tyrrell for preparing our students. 

STAFFING NEWS 

We say farewell to the following staff members at the end of the school year. 

• Cat Moir has decided to retire from her Library Assistant role. 
• Carmel Halls has resigned from her Education Assistant position and will be joining the staff of Infant Jesus School, Morley. 
• Anna Swan concludes her fixed-term contract at the end of the school year. 

While we will have the chance to formally say farewell to Cat, Carmel, and Anna at the end of the school year, I take this opportunity to thank each staff member for their service to our school. I particularly acknowledge Cat and Carmel, who have been members of staff for over 20 years.  

WORLD TEACHERS’ DAY 

Today we celebrate World Teachers’ Day across Australia. This day presents an opportunity for us to come together as a community to show our appreciation and gratitude for the hard work and dedication of our teachers. I encourage you to take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate your child’s teacher. Whether it’s a simple thank-you note, a small token of appreciation, or a heartfelt message, your kind words and gestures can make a significant impact. I thank our amazing teachers for all they do! 

FACTION CROSS COUNTRY 

We look forward to our Faction Cross Country event, taking place on Friday 7 November from 1:20 – 2:45pm, for Pre-Primary to Year Six. Miss Anna Swan has been assisting our students with their preparation for this event. This will take place on the Walker St Oval – please come down to support our students. Please see further information regarding this event within this newsletter. 

ENROLMENTS FOR 2026 

We continue to prepare for the 2026 school year. Our Pre-Kindy classes (Tuesday and Friday) for next year are very close to full, with just a few spots left in each class. If you would like your child to join Pre-Kindy next year, or know someone who does, please complete an enrolment application as a priority. Please note that we are only reviewing enrolment applications for students who are three-years old during Semester One of 2026, at this stage. We also have vacancies in all year groups, Kindergarten to Year Six. 

I hope you all had a restful and refreshing holiday break. It’s wonderful to see our school community back together for another exciting term. 

This term, we celebrate two important sacraments within our Parish and School community. The Sacrament of First Holy Communion was celebrated last Sunday, and the Sacrament of Confirmation will take place on Sunday 23 November in our church. 

Confirmation strengthens us with the special gifts of the Holy Spirit, empowering us to spread and defend our faith through word and action, as true witnesses of Christ. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us: “Confirmation gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ and to confess the name of Christ boldly.” (CCC 1303) 

We warmly invite all families from our school community to attend the Confirmation Mass and show support for our students.  Please keep all the children receiving a sacrament this year in your prayers. 

October is the month of the Rosary. We are encouraged to spend time in prayer each day, the Rosary is a great prayer to focus our attention, to express our gratitude and to place our intercessions before God. 

Hail Mary, full of grace. 

The Lord is with thee. 

 Blessed art thou amongst women, 

 and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. 

 Holy Mary, Mother of God, 

 pray for us sinners, 

 now and at the hour of our death. 

Amen. 

Remembrance Day

On Tuesday 11 November, the Year Four class will lead the school in a Remembrance Day Liturgy. All families are welcome to attend this event at 9am. 

Silly Sock and Soccer Day

A big thank you to everyone who supported our silly socks and soccer day last term we raised $122.25 to support Catholic mission. 

Esperance Show 

Thanks to Mrs Connolly and her helpers for coordinating the children’s artwork display at the show. 

You should have received your Book Club pamphlets last week. Please ensure that all Book Club orders are submitted by Monday, 3rd November. Book Club Issue 7

How Parents can order from Book Club online: 

1. Log in, or create a new account at LOOP
2. New parents can follow the Wizard to set up a child’s profile  
3. Click the Order tab, and select the child’s school and Issue of Book Club  
4. Select your child’s name  
5. Enter the product item number from the Book Club catalogue  
6. Apply promotional codes that children may have earned from previous issues  
7. Make a payment via credit card  
8. Feel great about the Scholastic Rewards that have been earned for the school 

We were thrilled to celebrate our Faction Swimming Carnival last term! It was an exciting day filled with energy, teamwork and school spirit as our Year 3 to 6 students took to the pool.

Congratulations to MacKillop, who took out the overall win. A huge well done to all our Champions and Runners-up, and to every student who participated, supported their team, and contributed to a fantastic day of fun and friendly competition.
We’re so proud of the effort, sportsmanship and enthusiasm shown by everyone involved — what a wonderful way to finish the term!

We would like to thank all the teachers, Esperance Senior High School students, and parent helpers for making this event run smoothly.

First MacKillop 309pts

Second Xavier 229pts

Third Salvator 188pts

In Year Two/Three, we have been reading ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and using it as inspiration for our own imaginative writing. Students wrote creative pieces as if they had received a Golden Ticket and were about to visit Willy Wonka’s incredible chocolate factory. They were all very excited to imagine what they might see, taste, and discover inside! To bring their stories to life, students designed and built their own 3D Wonka Bar boxes to hold their golden ticket writing pieces. These colourful and creative displays showcase their excitement and creativity beautifully.

To kick off the final school term, students in Year Five/Six used their impressive persuasive writing skills to write creative rebuttals to my letter to them, claiming my holiday was better than theirs. Students effectively rebutted my exaggerated claim, using wit, humour and a range of persuasive devices to prove theirs, in fact, was superior!

We have had an excellent year so far in sport and continue to have a very full and exciting calendar for the rest of the year. We concluded term three with a great faction swimming carnival. Thank you so much to all the families who came down and got involved, we couldn’t do it without you. The students displayed courage, excellence and sportsmanship throughout the day.

We had our Interschool Summer Carnival last week, where our Year Four and Five students represented the school in tennis and cricket. We had a great day playing alongside the other schools.

This term we also have our Faction Cross Country Carnival on Friday 7 November for students from Pre-Primary to Year Six. Our first race will begin straight after lunch at 1.15pm. We will begin with our Year Six students, with each year group to follow. There will be individual champion and runner up awarded for boys and girls in every year group. Presentations will commence at approximately 2.20pm, however it will be straight after the last race. Please come down and cheer on our students throughout the afternoon! We will be on the Walker St Oval, right next to the school (where the athletics carnival was held). In the meantime, enjoy some extra movement such as a jog around the block with friends or family to prepare for our cross-country carnival.

Only 21 days to go until Monty’s Slime Fun Run! 🎉

Jump online today to create your fundraising profile (watch this quick how-to: https://youtu.be/zCWhpLKty-w) and start collecting donations from family and friends.

Don’t miss your chance to fundraise with Monty the Monstar and score some awesome rewards:
⭐ Monty Handball – collect all of Monty’s virtual badges
🥇 Champions Medallion – awarded to our school’s top fundraiser
💰 Golden Coins – complete online tasks to earn up to $75 extra prize credit

Let’s get fundraising and make this the most colourful, slimy fun run yet! 💚

As Mr Shaw shared in this Term’s School Update, every parent is automatically a member — and with several vacancies for 2026, we’d love to welcome some new faces!

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me via email 8269.pnfchair@cewa.edu.au

Tash McCarthy

P & F Chairperson

At URSTRONG, we look at social-emotional wellbeing through the lens of friendship. This month, we’re exploring the importance of HONESTY in friendships.

Through our Friendology 101 curriculum, our URSTRONG Schools teach students how to be brave and have open, honest conversations with their friends. They are encouraged to ‘speak their truth’ and stand strong in their values. Creating a culture of kindness in schools allows children to feel safe, cared for, and accepted for who they are…which ensures all children feel a sense of community and belonging.

While we do want to encourage children to tell the truth, it is important they learn that they can be kind & honest at the same time. Rather than “honesty is the best policy”, we believe that “kindness is the best policy “.

The Raising Healthy Minds app is a free, personalised, pocket resource to help parents and carers raise confident, resilient children. Co-designed with parents and experts and funded by the Australian Government, Raising Healthy Minds aims to support children’s social and emotional wellbeing with evidence-based information.  

You’ll find information on topics like dealing with worries and making friends, as well as ideas for day-to-day life, like creating family routines, looking after yourself as a parent, and building strong relationships.  

The app offers a mix of quick-read articles, videos and animations aimed at parents and carers of children aged 0-12 years. You can tailor information to the age of your child and opt-in to receive helpful tips.  

Raising Healthy Minds provides simple-to-use information at your fingertips with clear actions you can start today.  

Download from Google Play or the App Store or go to raisingchildren.net.au/rhm to learn more and raise a healthy mind 🧠

To registration follow the link below.

https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/221563