We are now approaching the middle of the term and hopefully the weather will continue to improve. The cold mornings are a challenge but the beautiful days are a blessing. Our playground has taken a beating as the weather and the hundreds of busy feet have worn the grass back to bare dirt. We will be looking in the warmer days to rehabilitate the play areas so that we have some grass for the summer months. We are grateful to our dedicated maintenance man Paul Thompson for his tireless efforts to keep the tired playground space functional and in use. Also some of our ‘green thumb’ staff are enthusiastically reinvigorating gardens so that our school is a happy and pleasing space to be in. There is the possibility of a parent working bee in the warmer days to help to maintain our campus. Stay tuned.

This week is ‘Book Week’ a highlight for our students culminating in the Book Week parade on Friday. All students K-6 and some enthusiastic Year 9 students will join the Cootamundra schools to parade down the main street this Friday 22 August at 11am. The students will leave from the school at 10.15 to make their way to the beginning of the parade and return to school at 11.30am. They will be decked out in their favourite book character and we look forward to all the fabulous costumes and characters. Thank you to all our staff who are excitedly preparing their costumes as well. Let us pray that the weather will be kind!

Last Friday our Kindergarten students celebrated 100 days of Kindergarten. Considering that by the time they complete their Year 10 education they will have completed over 2255 days this is an excellent start to their learning journey. Mrs Chesworth, Mr Niddrie, Mrs Fry and the wonderful CSAs Mrs Kingwill, Mrs Vitnell and Ms Tobin helped our littles people mark this milestone with dress ups an afternoon of celebrations.

Last week school fees were sent out and we are grateful for the continued financial support of our families to make this commitment and sacrifice for their children to have an education at our school. The importance of fee collection is very important for our school to continue to meet the needs of our students and to provide the educational resources and facilities to help our students learn. We appreciate that it is often very hard to find the funds to manage this financial commitment but there are different options to help families contribute to their child’s education. Scheduled payments helps to avoid the seemingly insurmountable total figure that can be quite confronting. If it is necessary to seek a remission of fees there is a diocesan system that we must apply, and it requires a transparent assessment of capacity to pay. This is confidential and is a discussion that happens with the principal. Please make an appointment if this is necessary. Ultimately the Archdiocesan office is the decision maker with recommendations offered by the school.

This week we will be hosting our community breakfast. Please join us on Wednesday at 8.15 for breakfast. Our students will also be coming in casual clothes for ‘Pyjama Day’ to raise morning for the annual Vinnies Sleep out appeal. Please ensure that the pyjamas are ‘appropriate’ and that footwear is also appropriate to the lessons of the day (eg sports activities).

It seems hard to believe that we are nearly half way through Term 3 and we are staring down the reality of Term 4 and the end of the year. Already we have held the majority of interviews for the new students in 2026 and are busily preparing for the new academic year. If you are aware of your plans for next year including student movement please make contact with the school asap so that we can consider that in our planning.

Have a fabulous week and remember that “we make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.’ (Sir Winston Churchill).

God Bless

Ms Nicky Trinder

Principal